John Wait McGauvran was a merchant and political figure in 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....

. He represented Montreal-Ouest

Westmount (provincial electoral district)

Westmount was a provincial electoral district located in the province of Quebec, Canada. Located in the Montreal region, Westmount was formed in 1912. In 1994, it became part of Westmount—Saint-Louis. From 1939 to 1966, it was part of Westmount-Saint-Georges...

 in the Legislative Assembly of Quebec

Legislative Assembly of Quebec

The Legislative Assembly of Quebec was the name of the lower house of Quebec's legislature until 1968, when it was renamed the National Assembly of Quebec. At the same time, the upper house of the legislature, the Legislative Council, was abolished...

 from 1873 to 1878 as a Conservative.

He was born in Glengarry County

Glengarry County, Ontario

thumb|right|Glengarry located within OntarioGlengarry County , an area covering , is a county in the Canadian province of Ontario, and is historically known for its settlement of Scottish Highlanders due to the Highland Clearances.Glengarry was founded in 1792 by Scottish loyalists, mainly from...

, 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...

, the son of Patrick McGauvran and Elizabeth Wait, and educated at Plantagenet. He owned several 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....

s and also was a director of the National Insurance Company. McGauvran was a justice of the peace

Justice of the Peace

A justice of the peace is a puisne judicial officer elected or appointed by means of a commission to keep the peace. Depending on the jurisdiction, they might dispense summary justice or merely deal with local administrative applications in common law jurisdictions...

. He served as a member of Montreal city council from 1864 to 1877 and also served as president of the aqueduct

Aqueduct

An aqueduct is a water supply or navigable channel constructed to convey water. In modern engineering, the term is used for any system of pipes, ditches, canals, tunnels, and other structures used for this purpose....

 commission from 1866 to 1877. He was first elected to the Quebec assembly in an 1873 by-election held after the death of Francis Cassidy

Francis Cassidy

Francis Cassidy QC was a Canadian lawyer and politician, the Mayor of Montreal, Quebec for three months in 1873, until his term was cut short by death....

. McGauran was defeated when he ran for reelection in 1878. He was buried in the Notre Dame des Neiges Cemetery

Notre Dame des Neiges Cemetery

Founded in 1854, Cimetière Notre-Dame-des-Neiges is a 343-acre cemetery located in the borough of Côte-des-Neiges—Notre-Dame-de-Grâce, Montreal, Quebec, Canada. The entrance and the grounds run along a part of chemin Côte-des-Neiges and up the slopes of Mount Royal...

.