Memorable Manitobans: William Henry McWilliams (1860-1942)

Grain and lumber merchant.

Born at Peterborough, Ontario on 1 July 1860, son of John A. and Agnes McWilliams. Educated public schools Commenced career in grain business at Minneapolis, Minnesota. He came to Winnipeg in 1902. He was president of the Monarch Lumber Company, the Winnipeg Elevator Company, the Empire Elevator Company, and the Thunder Bay Elevator Company; and vice-president of the Canadian Elevator Company. In 1904, McWilliams, along with other grain merchants Samuel Peck Clark, Alexander Reid, John Love, and William Wallace McMillan, formed the North-West Grain Dealers’ Association.

In 1884 he married Carrie Jane Pinkney (1862-1921) of St. Cloud, Minnesota. They had two sons: Harry Cecil McWilliams (b 1885) and John C. McWilliams (b 1888). He was a member of the Presbyterian Church, Manitoba Club and the St. Charles Country Club, serving as president of the latter in 1918. He was a keen golfer.

He died at his Winnipeg home, 65 Kennedy Street, on 14 June 1942 and was buried in Elmwood Cemetery.

Sources:

Who’s Who in Western Canada: A Biographical Dictionary of Notable Living Men and Women of Western Canada, Volume 1, edited by C. W. Parker, Vancouver: Canadian Press Association, 1911.

A History of Manitoba: Its Resources and People by Prof. George Bryce, Toronto: The Canadian History Company, 1906.

“W. McWilliams businessman, dies aged 81”, Winnipeg Free Press, 15 June 1942, page 13.

We thank Susan Bracken for providing additional information used in this profile.

This profile was prepared by Gordon Goldsborough.

Profile revised: 7 November 2010

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