Born in Nova Scotia around October in 1840, he reportedly enlisted for military service with the Union Army in the American Civil War, signing up at Detroit, Michigan with the 1st Michigan Engineers at the age of 22. He came to Winnipeg in 1882 and worked as a building contractor for many years, including for several Salvation Army structures.
He married Elizabeth Ann [Anne] “Bessie” Henderson (1850-1925) in Nova Scotia and they had eight children: Bessie May McBain (1882-?, wife of Henry Edward Wilson), Henrietta “Mamie” McBain (c1887-?, wife of Maurice Edmund Farwell), Andrew McBain (1889-?), Robert Murray “Robin” McBain (1894-?), Charles Clark McBain (1891-?), George McBain (c1891-?), Donley McBain (?-?), and Alex McBain (?-?). He lived at the Warwick Apartments (1910-1911), 105 Lansdowne Avenue (1912-?), and 1038 Dorchester Avenue (1925).
He died at Winnipeg on 24 October 1927 and and was buried in the Brookside Cemetery.
Some of his construction works in Manitoba included:
Building
Location
Year
Status
First Baptist Church (expansion)
400 Hargrave Street, Winnipeg
1904
Demolished (1985)
Home Street, Winnipeg
1910
669 Elgin Avenue, Winnipeg
1910-1911
Apartments (2022)
229 Pritchard, Winnipeg
1910-1911
Standing (2022)
2281 Main Street, Winnipeg [West Kildonan]
1911
Demolished (1970)
Birth [Andrew McBain, Charles Clark McBain, & Robert Murray McBain], marriage [Bessie May McBain/Henry Edward Wilson & Henrietta McBain/Maurice Edmund Farwell] and death registrations, Manitoba Vital Statistics.
1901 & 1911 Canada censuses, Automated Genealogy.
“Believed to be kidnapped [George McBain],” Winnipeg Tribune, 25 May 1904, page 11.
Obituary [Bessie Anne McBain],” Manitoba Free Press, 8 October 1925, page 7.
“Pioneer contractor of Winnipeg is dead,” Manitoba Free Press, 25 October 1927, page 7.
Henderson’s Winnipeg and Brandon Directories, Henderson Directories Limited, Peel’s Prairie Provinces, University of Alberta Libraries.
Preparation of this page was supported, in part, by the Gail Parvin Hammerquist Fund of the City of Winnipeg.
This page was prepared by Nathan Kramer.
Page revised: 19 March 2022
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