Charles E. Ivens (1860-1946)

Farmer, municipal official.

Born in England on 6 June 1860, he served for six years in the British Army with the Scots Guard. He emigrated to Canada in 1883 and, the next year, settled on a farm in western Manitoba near Virden. He remained there until his later years, when he retired to Virden.

On 24 November 1885, he was married to Isabel Jeffrey (1863-1935). They had a son and two daughters. He was known as a rifle marksman as a young man, and remained interested in military affairs throughout his life, serving as Treasurer of the Virden Branch of the Canadian Legion. He served as Reeve of the Rural Municipality of Wallace, being replaced in the position by H. C. Odell. He was President of the Union of Manitoba Municipalities from 1915 to 1916, acknowledged as one of the founders of the Good Roads movement in Manitoba, and a champion of municipally owned telephone systems. In 1921 he ran unsuccessfully in the federal election against Robert Forke.

He died at Virden, Manitoba on 29 May 1946 and was buried in the Virden cemetery.

Sources:

1901 Canada census, Automated Genealogy.

Obituary for Isabel J. Ivens, Winnipeg Free Press, 5 February 1935, page 16.

“Col. C. E. Ivens Dies After 50 Yrs. Service” Winnipeg Free Press, 30 May 1946.

Profile revised: 28 August 2009

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