James Crocket Wilson was a Canadian

Canada

Canada is a North American country consisting of ten provinces and three territories. Located in the northern part of the continent, it extends from the Atlantic Ocean in the east to the Pacific Ocean in the west, and northward into the Arctic Ocean...

 businessman and politician in the province of Quebec

Quebec

Quebec or is a province in east-central Canada. It is the only Canadian province with a predominantly French-speaking population and the only one whose sole official language is French at the provincial level....

.

Born near Rasharkin

Rasharkin

Rasharkin , is a small village and townland in County Antrim, Northern Ireland. It is south of Ballymoney, near Dunloy and Kilrea. It had a population of 864 people in the 2001 Census, after 30 years of gradual decline from a peak of 1,000 in 1971.-History:...

, County Antrim

County Antrim

County Antrim is one of six counties that form Northern Ireland, situated in the north-east of the island of Ireland. Adjoined to the north-east shore of Lough Neagh, the county covers an area of 2,844 km², with a population of approximately 616,000...

, Ireland

Ireland

Ireland is an island to the northwest of continental Europe. It is the third-largest island in Europe and the twentieth-largest island on Earth...

, the son of Samuel Wilson and Elizabeth Crocket, Wilson emigrated to Montreal

Montreal

Montreal is a city in Canada. It is the largest city in the province of Quebec, the second-largest city in Canada and the seventh largest in North America...

 with his parents in 1842. He studied at the McGill Normal School and became a teacher in Beauharnois in 1859. In 1862, he became a clerk in a bookstore in Belleville, Upper Canada

Upper Canada

The Province of Upper Canada was a political division in British Canada established in 1791 by the British Empire to govern the central third of the lands in British North America and to accommodate Loyalist refugees from the United States of America after the American Revolution...

 and soon worked in press agency at Toronto

Toronto

Toronto is the provincial capital of Ontario and the largest city in Canada. It is located in Southern Ontario on the northwestern shore of Lake Ontario. A relatively modern city, Toronto's history dates back to the late-18th century, when its land was first purchased by the British monarchy from...

. In 1863, he became a clerk for a New York publisher. He married Jeanie Kilgour in 1865 and moved back to Montreal with her in 1867 where he was employed as a cashier and bookkeeper for a paper manufacturer. In 1870, he started his own business manufacturing paper bags. He soon built a paper-mill in Lachute, Quebec to supply his factory. The mill proved to be very successful and was expanded to become one of the largest paper factories in Canada.

Politically, he was elected to the Montreal City Council

Montreal City Council

The Montreal City Council is the governing body of Montreal, Quebec. The head of the city government in Montreal is the mayor, who is first among equals in the City Council. The mayor is Gérald Tremblay, who is a member of the Union des citoyens et des citoyennes de l'Île de Montréal...

 in 1880 and was re-elected by acclamation in 1883. He was elected to the Canadian House of Commons

Canadian House of Commons

The House of Commons of Canada is a component of the Parliament of Canada, along with the Sovereign and the Senate. The House of Commons is a democratically elected body, consisting of 308 members known as Members of Parliament...

 for the electoral district of Argenteuil in the 1887 federal election

Canadian federal election, 1887

The Canadian federal election of 1887 was held on February 22, 1887 to elect members of the Canadian House of Commons of the 6th Parliament of Canada.The Conservative Party of Prime Minister Sir John A...

. A Liberal-Conservative, he did not run in 1891.

He died in Montreal in 1899.

External links