James Skead 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 politician. He was a Conservative

Conservative Party of Canada (historical)

The Conservative Party of Canada has gone by a variety of names over the years since Canadian Confederation. Initially known as the "Liberal-Conservative Party", it dropped "Liberal" from its name in 1873, although many of its candidates continued to use this name.As a result of World War I and the...

 member of the Senate of Canada for Rideau division from 1867 to 1881 and from 1881 until his death in 1884.

Biography

He was born near Moresby, Cumbria, England in 1817 and studied there, coming to Jesus Island, Lower Canada with his father and two siblings in 1829. The family later settled in Bytown, Upper Canada in 1832. Skead entered the lumber business, setting up operations on the Madawaska River

Madawaska River (Ontario)

The Madawaska River is a river in Ontario, Canada. The river is long and drains an area of . It originates at Source Lake in the highlands of Algonquin Park at an elevation of and flows east, dropping before emptying into the Ottawa River at Arnprior....

. As a result of his experience in building timber slides along that river, he was contracted to build a slide on the Ottawa River at Bytown. His lumber operations expanded to include forests along the Mississippi River

Mississippi River (Ontario)

The Mississippi River is a tributary of the Ottawa River in eastern Ontario in Canada. It is in length from its source in Upper Mazinaw Lake, has a drainage area of , and has a mean discharge of...

 in Ontario.

He was elected to the city council of Ottawa

Ottawa City Council

The Ottawa City Council is the governing body of the City of Ottawa, Ontario, Canada. It is composed of 23 city councillors and the mayor. The mayor is elected at large, while each of the councillors represent wards throughout the city. Council members are elected to four year terms with the...

 in 1861; he represented Rideau

Rideau Township, Ontario

Rideau is an historic township in eastern Ontario, Canada. It is located in the rural parts of the City of Ottawa, in the extreme south. Its eastern boundary is the Rideau River, its namesake....

 division in the Legislative Council of the Province of Canada

Legislative Council of the Province of Canada

The Legislative Council of the Province of Canada was the upper house for the Province of Canada, which consisted of the former provinces of Lower Canada, then known as Canada East and later the province of Quebec, and Upper Canada, then known as Canada West and later the province of Ontario...

 from 1862 to 1867, and was an unsuccessful candidate for Carleton

Carleton County, Ontario

Carleton County is the name of a historic county in Ontario, Canada. In 1969 it was superseded by the Regional Municipality of Ottawa-Carleton. In 2001 the Regional Municipality and the eleven local municipalities within it were replaced by the current City of Ottawa.-History:Carleton County was...

 for the Ontario Assembly in 1867. After Confederation

Canadian Confederation

Canadian Confederation was the process by which the federal Dominion of Canada was formed on July 1, 1867. On that day, three British colonies were formed into four Canadian provinces...

 in 1867, he was named to the Senate. Early in 1881, he resigned, but he was reappointed on 24 December of the same year.

In 1871, he built a large steam-powered sawmill

Sawmill

A sawmill is a facility where logs are cut into boards.-Sawmill process:A sawmill's basic operation is much like those of hundreds of years ago; a log enters on one end and dimensional lumber exits on the other end....

 on the Ottawa River at Kitchissippi Lookout; a community sprang up around it known as Skead's Mills which later became the Westboro neighborhood of Ottawa. Among extensive business interests he helped promote the Upper Ottawa Steamboat Company, later becoming its president. Skead was also an investor in several railway companies as well as vice-president of the Canada Central Railway and the Montreal and City of Ottawa Junction Railway. On his farm, he raised Ayrshire

Ayrshire cattle

The Ayrshire cattle is a breed of dairy cattle originated from Ayrshire in Scotland. The average mature Ayrshire cow weighs 1,000-1,300 pounds . Ayrshires have red markings. The red can be an orange to a dark brown, with or without coloured legs. They are known for low somatic cell counts,...

 and Durham cattle.

Skead was president of the Ottawa Agricultural Insurance Company and the Ontario Fruit Growers' Association. He was also a member and later president of the Ottawa Board of Trade and the Dominion Board of Trade. He was president of the Ottawa Liberal-Conservative Association, of the Liberal-Conservative convention that met in Toronto 23 September 1874, and of the Agricultural and Arts Association of Ontario.

Skead resigned from the Senate in January 1881 because he was suffering financial difficulties at the time; he was called again to the Senate later that same year and served until his death in Ottawa in 1884. He had suffered damage to his lungs when he fell from his carriage in 1882; this eventually led to his death two years later.

Legacy

The community of Skead in Greater Sudbury was named for James Skead. The community was established by lumber baron W. J. Bell, who was married to Skead's daughter Katherine.

In memory of Skead, there is a street located off the Ottawa river parkway in Westboro.

In in the Township of Madawaska Valley

Madawaska Valley, Ontario

Madawaska Valley is a township in Renfrew County, Ontario, Canada. It was formed on January 1, 2001, through the amalgamation of the village of Barry's Bay and the townships of Radcliffe and Sherwood Jones & Burns....

, near Barry's Bay, Ontario

Barry's Bay, Ontario

Barry's Bay is a community in the township of Madawaska Valley, Ontario, Canada, located two hours west of Ottawa on the shores of Kamaniskeg Lake, with a population of approximately 1,300 people...

, Skead Road is named after James Skead, although it was mistakenly titled Skeeds Road in the past. During his life, Skead owned a timber

Timber

Timber may refer to:* Timber, a term common in the United Kingdom and Australia for wood materials * Timber, Oregon, an unincorporated community in the U.S...

-cutting business nearby.