Bookseller, stationer.
Born in England on 26 June 1853, he came to Canada in 1880 and established a bookstore and stationery shop in Portage la Prairie. In 1885, he donated books to troops of the 91st Battalion organised locally during the Riel Resistance. In 1887 he purchased his own building on Saskatchewan Avenue that sold various goods, including wallpaper, games, and musical instruments. By 1899, his large store boasted 2500 cloth books in stock. He sold the store in May 1907 to open a bookstore in New Westminster, British Columbia. He sold this store to the Gaskell Stationary Company in 1910.
He and wife Agnes Gillespie (1853-?) of Lanark, Ontario had five children: Agnes Gillespie Todhunter (1883-1982), James Gillespie Todhunter (1885-1961), Mary Isabella Todhunter (1887-?), Annie Margaret Todhunter (1890-1947), and Jessie F. Todhunter (1894-1989). He prospected in British Columbia in 1891. Active in community life, he was one of a number of prominent Portage la Prairie businesspeople who supported the creation of Crescent Lake in 1905.
He died at Vancouver, British Columbia on 15 October 1911 and was buried in the Mountain View Cemetery.
See also:
Manitoba Historical Photographs: Souvenir of Portage la Prairie, Manitoba (c1905)
Birth registrations [Agnes Gillespie Todhunter, James Gillespier TodhunterMary Isabella Todhunter, Annie Margaret Todhunter, Jessie Todhunter], Manitoba Vital Statistics.
1901 Canada census, Automated Genealogy.
Bookseller and Stationer, Volume 25.
Thomas Todhunter, FindAGrave.
Obituary, Portage la Prairie Weekly.
This page was prepared by James Kostuchuk and Gordon Goldsborough.
Page revised: 12 May 2023
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