James Livingston was an Ontario

Ontario

Ontario is a province of Canada, located in east-central Canada. It is Canada's most populous province and second largest in total area. It is home to the nation's most populous city, Toronto, and the nation's capital, Ottawa....

 businessman and political figure. He represented Waterloo South

Waterloo South

Waterloo South was a federal electoral district and a provincial electoral district.Federally, it was represented in the Canadian House of Commons from 1867 to 1968. It was located in the province of Ontario...

 in the Legislative Assembly of Ontario

Legislative Assembly of Ontario

The Legislative Assembly of Ontario , is the legislature of the Canadian province of Ontario, and is the second largest provincial legislature of Canada...

 from 1879 to 1882 and in 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...

 from 1882 to 1900 as a Liberal

Liberal Party of Canada

The Liberal Party of Canada , colloquially known as the Grits, is the oldest federally registered party in Canada. In the conventional political spectrum, the party sits between the centre and the centre-left. Historically the Liberal Party has positioned itself to the left of the Conservative...

 member.

He was born in East Kilbride

East Kilbride

East Kilbride is a large suburban town in the South Lanarkshire council area, in the West Central Lowlands of Scotland. Designated as Scotland's first new town in 1947, it forms part of the Greater Glasgow conurbation...

, Scotland

Scotland

Scotland is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. Occupying the northern third of the island of Great Britain, it shares a border with England to the south and is bounded by the North Sea to the east, the Atlantic Ocean to the north and west, and the North Channel and Irish Sea to the...

 in 1838, the son of a weaver. He worked at weaving as a youth and then came to Perth County

Perth County, Ontario

Perth County is a census division of the Canadian province of Ontario. The county seat is Stratford and is located in Southwestern Ontario, west of Toronto. It encompasses , 90% of which is classified as prime agricultural land...

, Canada West in 1856. A year later, Livingston moved to Conestogo

Conestogo, Ontario

Conestogo is a community in the Canadian province of Ontario, located in the township of Woolwich in Waterloo Region.The community is located at the junction of the Grand and Conestogo Rivers....

 in Waterloo County

Waterloo County, Ontario

Waterloo County, created in 1853 and dissolved in 1973, was the forerunner of the Regional Municipality of Waterloo in Ontario, Canada. It consisted of five townships: Woolwich, Wellesley, Wilmot, Waterloo, and North Dumfries...

 where he worked for flax

Flax

Flax is a member of the genus Linum in the family Linaceae. It is native to the region extending from the eastern Mediterranean to India and was probably first domesticated in the Fertile Crescent...

 growers, soon afterwards becoming manager. In 1865, he went into business with his brother growing flax at Wellesley

Wellesley, Ontario

The Township of Wellesley is the rural, north-western township of the Regional Municipality of Waterloo in Ontario, Canada. It encompasses 277.84 km2 and had a population of 9,789 in the Canada 2006 Census.-Communities:...

. The company expanded into the production of linseed oil

Linseed oil

Linseed oil, also known as flaxseed oil, is a clear to yellowish oil obtained from the dried ripe seeds of the flax plant . The oil is obtained by cold pressing, sometimes followed by solvent extraction...

 at Baden

Baden, Ontario

Baden is a community in Township of Wilmot, Regional Municipality of Waterloo, Ontario, Canada. It has a population of less than 1000 and was named after Baden-Baden in Germany...

, also opening a foundry

Foundry

A foundry is a factory that produces metal castings. Metals are cast into shapes by melting them into a liquid, pouring the metal in a mold, and removing the mold material or casting after the metal has solidified as it cools. The most common metals processed are aluminum and cast iron...

 and general store. The business steadily expanded due to Livingston's shrewd business sense, and quickly acquired holdings in the Western Canada as well as Michigan. As the both the Livingston family and business grew, James required the assistance of his new son-in-law, who managed the Michigan holdings.

He served as reeve for Wilmot Township

Wilmot, Ontario

The Township of Wilmot is a rural township in the Regional Municipality of Waterloo in southwestern Ontario, Canada. Its 2006 Census population was 17,097.-Communities:*Baden* Mannheim*New Dundee*New Hamburg* Petersburg* Phillipsburg*St...

 from 1878 to 1879. In 1879, he was elected to the Ontario assembly but resigned his seat in 1882 to run for a seat in the federal parliament. He died in Kitchener at the age of 81.

Livingston's former residence, Castle Kilbride

Castle Kilbride

Castle Kilbride is the former residence of James Livingston, a Canadian member of parliament, and owner of flax and linseed oil mills. It was designated a National Historic Site of Canada in March 1994....

, has been designated a Canadian National Historic Site.

Livingston married Louise Liersch in 1861, with whom he had 12 children: eight daughters and four sons. John Peter (J.P.), one of James' sons, succeeded his father as head of the Livingston empire; he acquired the famed home, "Castle Kilbride", upon James' death in 1915. J.P. and wife, Laura, had one child, Laura Louise Livingston. Laura Louise married Harris Veitch, who together had three children. By the fifth decade of the twentieth century, the flax industry had begun a decline, and so too did the Livingston empire. Laura Louise and Harris were forced to sell the home by 1986, and auctioned off the home's furnishings in 1988. Unfortunately "Castle Kilbride" sat vacant for number of years until the Township of Wilmot purchased it and resorted it to its original Victorian Era beauty. The Livingston home remains 'the jewel of Wilmot Township'.