Born at Elgin, Scotland on 19 October 1878, as a young man he moved to South Africa and worked in the building trade for six years. He then moved to Duluth, Minnesota for a short time then coming to Winnipeg in 1912. He worked as a building contractor and was responsible for several of the city’s apartment blocks.
He and wife Annie Stewart Mackenzie (c1878-?) had three daughters: Margaret Mackenzie Fraser (1916-?, wife of Allan Leslie Falconer), Muriel Gordon Fraser (1918-?), and Isabel D. Fraser (c1920-?). The family lived at 342 Oakwood Avenue from the 1920s to around 1934. He was a President (1931-1932) and Honorary Life Member of the Fort Rouge Curling Club, and a member of the Caledonian Society, Masons (Ancient Landmark Lodge), Khartum Shriners, and Knights Templar.
He died at his Winnipeg residence at the Empire Hotel on 24 October 1937 and was buried in the Elmwood Cemetery.
Some of his construction work in Manitoba included:
Building
Location
Year
Status
1 Ruskin Row, Winnipeg
1926
41 Kingsway, Winnipeg
1927
1611 Main Street, Winnipeg
1929-1930
Birth registrations [Margaret Mackenzie Fraser, Muriel Gordon Fraser], Manitoba Vital Statistics.
1921 and 1931 Canada censuses, Ancestry.
Death registration [James Alexander Fraser], Manitoba Vital Statistics.
Obituary, Winnipeg Tribune, 25 October 1937, page 10.
“Falconer-Fraser wedding takes place in Elgin, Scotland,” Winnipeg Tribune, 23 April 1941, page 11.
This page was prepared by Gordon Goldsborough.
Page revised: 3 October 2025
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