Memorable Manitobans: Valentine Winkler (1864-1920)

Merchant, farmer, MLA (1892-1895), MLA (1896-1899), MLA (1900-1903), MLA (1903-1907), MLA (1908-1910), MLA (1911-1914), MLA (1914-1915), MLA (1916-1920).

Born on 18 March 1864, at Neustadt, Ontario, son of David and Barbara J. Winkler, brother of Enoch Winkler, he moved to Manitoba in 1879 and worked in his brother Enoch’s lumberyard. In 1883, he began a grain and lumber business in Morden. He began farming in 1888. Winkler served as the first Reeve of the Rural Municipality of Stanley, from 1890 to 1892. In the latter year, the village of Winkler, where he had a flourishing grain elevator and lumber operation, was named afterhim.

Fluent in German, he served in the Manitoba Legislature as a Liberal from 1892 to 1900, and again from 1900 to 1920. Winkler was Minister of Agriculture and Immigration in the government of Tobias C. Norris, introducing many legislative initiatives vital to farmers. A legislative scheme to provide cows on credit to settlers in the Interlake region was always known as the “Winkler Cow Scheme.”

He married Josephine Rombough on 31 March 1886, with whom he had son Howard W. Winkler. He followed the Methodist faith.

Uncle of David Grant Potter.

He died of diabetes on 7 June 1920 while campaigning in the provincial campaign. He was inducated posthumously into Manitoba Agricultural Hall of Fame. His extensive papers are at the Archives of Manitoba.

See also:

Valentine Winkler, Dictionary of Canadian Biography XIV, 1,072-73.

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.

Dictionary of Manitoba Biography by J. M. Bumsted, Winnipeg: University of Manitoba Press, 1999.

“Minister is dead after 2 days’ illness” Newspaper clipping dated 8 June 1920. [Manitoba Legislative Library, Biographical Scrapbook B7]

This profile was prepared by Gordon Goldsborough.

Profile revised: 20 March 2011

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