James_Rea_Benson

James Rea Benson

James Rea Benson

Canadian politician

James Rea Benson (January 21, 1807 – March 18, 1885) was an Ontario businessman and political figure. He represented Lincoln in the 1st Canadian Parliament as a Liberal-Conservative member until March 14, 1868, when he was named to the Senate of Canada for St. Catharines.[1]

Quick Facts The Honourable, Member of the Canadian Parliament for Lincoln ...

He was born in Ireland in 1807[1] and came to Kingston in Upper Canada with his family in 1819. He later moved to St. Catharines, where he was a hardware merchant,[2] also operating mills and ships in partnership with Thomas Rodman Merritt.[3] Benson was president of the Niagara District Bank, the Welland Loan Company and the St. Catharines Gas Company.[2] He served on the town council for St. Catharines and on the council for Lincoln County.[1] He died in 1885 in Ottawa while still in office.[4]

The city of St. Catharines purchased his residence and used it for some time as the city hall.[5]

Benson married the daughter of Charles Ingersoll.[2] His daughter Helen married Calvin Brown, the first mayor of St. Catharines.[5] His son Sir Frederick William Benson was a British Army officer. His niece, Mary Benson, the daughter of his brother Thomas, married Thomas Rodman Merritt.[6]

References

  1. [1]
    James Rea Benson – Parliament of Canada biography
  2. [2]
    The Canadian parliamentary companion, HJ Morgan (1872)
  3. [3]
    Warwick, Peter D. A. (1994). "Thomas Rodman Merritt". Dictionary of Canadian Biography Online. Retrieved 15 September 2009.
  4. [4]
    Johnson, J.K. (1968). The Canadian Directory of Parliament 1867-1967. Public Archives of Canada.
  5. [5]
    St. Catharines : Canada's Canal City, JN Jackson, SM Wilson (1992) Archived 2011-05-16 at the Wayback Machine
  6. [6]
    The Canadian biographical dictionary and portrait gallery of eminent and self-made men (1880)


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