Memorable Manitobans: William Ernest “Bill” Ingersoll (1880-1968)

Author, journalist.

Born at Shoal Lake on 29 July 1880, son of William Merritt Ingersoll (1857-1912) and Mary Elizabeth Ball (1857-1886), he joined the Manitoba Free Press as a reporter in 1908 and also served as secretary to John Wesley Dafoe. He published the books Daisy Herself (1918) and The Road That Led Home; A Romance of Plow-land (1918), and had a short story in the first anthology of Canadian writing, published in 1929. He was best known as Church Editor (1935-1960) and for writing the “Looking Back” column in the Free Press. After retirement, he continued as a freelance writer, contributing historical sketches to the Free Press.

He was married twice, first on 11 March 1912 to Marguerite Hazel Thomson (?-?), with whom he had three children: William Frederick “Benny” Ingersoll (1915-1973), Miriam “Mini” Ingersoll (?-?, wife of S. B. Hayward), and Frances Ingersoll (?-?, wife of ? Murphy). On 4 March 1922, he married Mary Marguerite Clendenan (1892-1973). They had a son, ? Ingersoll (1923-?). He was a fan of boxing and music, collecting Elvis Presley records at the age of 80.

He died at the Grace Hospital on 31 December 1968.

Sources:

Birth registrations [William Ernest Ingersoll, Unnamed Ingersoll], Manitoba Vital Statistics.

Marriage registration [William Ernest Ingersoll, Marguerite Hazel Thomson], Manitoba Vital Statistics.

Birth registrations [William Frederick Ingersoll, Unnamed Ingersoll], Manitoba Vital Statistics.

1916 Canada census, Ancestry.

Marriage registration [William Ernest Ingersoll, Mary Clendenan], Manitoba Vital Statistics.

“Former church editor dies here at 89,” Winnipeg Free Press, 1 January 1969, page 6.

“William Ernest Ingersoll,” Winnipeg Free Press, 2 January 1969, page 28.

Obituary, Winnipeg Free Press, 1 January 1969, page 30.

“Deaths [William Frederick Ingersoll],” Winnipeg Free Press, 19 June 1973, page 5.

Obituary [Mary Marguerite Ingersoll], Winnipeg Free Press, 11 July 1973, page 41.

Dictionary of Manitoba Biography by John M. “Jack” Bumsted, Winnipeg: University of Manitoba Press, 1999.

Obituaries and burial transcriptions, Manitoba Genealogical Society.

This page was prepared by Gordon Goldsborough.

Page revised: 2 April 2024

Memorable Manitobans

Memorable Manitobans

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