Robert McLaughlin
Encyclopedia
General Motors
General Motors Company , commonly known as GM, formerly incorporated as General Motors Corporation, is an American multinational automotive corporation headquartered in Detroit, Michigan and the world's second-largest automaker in 2010...
.
He was born in Cavan Township, 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...
in 1836, the son of an Irish
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...
immigrant, John McLaughlin. He moved to Darlington Township with his family in 1837. He married Mary Smith in 1864. In 1869, he set up a carriage
Carriage
A carriage is a wheeled vehicle for people, usually horse-drawn; litters and sedan chairs are excluded, since they are wheelless vehicles. The carriage is especially designed for private passenger use and for comfort or elegance, though some are also used to transport goods. It may be light,...
works at Enniskillen, Ontario (Hamlet)
Enniskillen, Ontario (Hamlet)
Enniskillen is a community located in the municipality of Clarington, Ontario, Canada. Enniskillen was established in the early 1800s . Enniskillen has one school, Enniskillen Public School, which goes from junior kindergarten to grade 6. Enniskillen is mostly a farmer's community with one small...
. McLaughlin also taught Sunday school in the Presbyterian
Presbyterian Church in Canada
The Presbyterian Church in Canada is the name of a Protestant Christian church, of presbyterian and reformed theology and polity, serving in Canada under this name since 1875, although the United Church of Canada claimed the right to the name from 1925 to 1939...
church there. In 1877, he moved his business to Oshawa
Oshawa
Oshawa is a city in Ontario, Canada, on the Lake Ontario shoreline. It lies in Southern Ontario approximately 60 kilometres east of downtown Toronto. It is commonly viewed as the eastern anchor of both the Greater Toronto Area and the Golden Horseshoe. It is now commonly referred to as the most...
, feeling that moving to a larger urban centre with railway access was necessary for the growth of the business.
He established the Oshawa Carriage Works, later known as McLaughlin Carriage. In 1878, he married Sarah Jane Parr; his first wife had died of consumption
Tuberculosis
Tuberculosis, MTB, or TB is a common, and in many cases lethal, infectious disease caused by various strains of mycobacteria, usually Mycobacterium tuberculosis. Tuberculosis usually attacks the lungs but can also affect other parts of the body...
. His sons John James, George William and Sam
Samuel McLaughlin
Colonel Robert Samuel McLaughlin, CC, ED, CD was an influential Canadian businessman and philanthropist. He started the McLaughlin Motor Car Co...
also became involved in the business. McLaughlin served on the board of health and board of water commissioners at Oshawa and also served as mayor. He was first president of the local YMCA
YMCA
The Young Men's Christian Association is a worldwide organization of more than 45 million members from 125 national federations affiliated through the World Alliance of YMCAs...
. After a fire in 1899, he relocated to Gananoque
Gananoque, Ontario
Gananoque is a town in Leeds and Grenville County, Ontario, Canada. The town had a population of 5,287 year-round residents in the Canada 2006 Census, as well as summer residents sometimes referred to as "Islanders" because of the Thousand Islands in the St. Lawrence River, Gananoque's most...
but returned to Oshawa the following year. In 1901, he married Eleanor McCulloch after the death of his second wife. In 1907, on the advice of his sons Sam and George, he set up the McLaughlin Motor Car Company Limited to manufacture automobiles. McLaughlin supported tariffs restricting trade with the United States
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
and opposed Sir Wilfrid Laurier
Wilfrid Laurier
Sir Wilfrid Laurier, GCMG, PC, KC, baptized Henri-Charles-Wilfrid Laurier was the seventh Prime Minister of Canada from 11 July 1896 to 6 October 1911....
's free trade
Free trade
Under a free trade policy, prices emerge from supply and demand, and are the sole determinant of resource allocation. 'Free' trade differs from other forms of trade policy where the allocation of goods and services among trading countries are determined by price strategies that may differ from...
proposals in 1910–11. In 1915, he sold off his carriage manufacturing business.
In 1918, his companies were taken over by General Motors. McLaughlin died at Oshawa in 1921 of colon cancer.
His brother James
James Wellington McLaughlin
James Wellington McLaughlin was an Ontario doctor and political figure. He represented Durham West in the Legislative Assembly of Ontario as a Liberal from 1879 to 1890....
was a doctor and member of the Ontario assembly.