Adam Oliver
| Adam Oliver | |
|---|---|
| Born | 1823-12-11 Queens County, New Brunswick |
| Died | 1882-10-09 Ingersoll, Ontario |
| Occupation | Businessman, contractor, politician |
| Father | |
| Mother | |
| Partner | |
Adam Oliver (11 December 1823 – 9 October 1882 (aged 58)) was a New Brunswick-born businessman, contractor, and politician who played a central role in the early development of the Thunder Bay district during the 1870s, and served in the Ontario legislature as a Reform member for Oxford South.
Early life
Oliver was born on 11 December 1823 in Queens County, New Brunswick, the son of John Oliver and Jeanett Armstrong.[1] In 1836 the family moved to Westminster Township in Upper Canada, where Oliver subsequently apprenticed as a carpenter in London.[1] He settled permanently in Ingersoll in 1850.
Business career in Ingersoll
Oliver established a building and contracting business in Ingersoll that grew steadily through the 1850s. His firm secured a substantial railway depot contract in 1853, and by 1861 his enterprises employed twenty-four men.[1] In 1867 he formalized his business interests through the Adam Oliver Company, a partnership with William Cairns Bell and Hugh MacKay Sutherland.[1]
Thunder Bay ventures
In 1872 Oliver organized Oliver, Davidson and Company in partnership with Joseph Davidson, Peter Johnston Brown, and Thomas Wells (lumber pioneer), directing the firm's ambitions toward the resource-rich northwest.[1] The company established what is recognized as the Thunder Bay district's first sawmill, located near Fort William, in 1873, and by 1874 controlled approximately 40,000 acres with $100,000 invested in the region.[1][2]
Following the designation of Fort William as the Canadian Pacific Railway's Lake Superior terminus in 1875, Oliver's company was well positioned to benefit from government activity in the district. The firm received proceeds from government land sales totalling $12,410 and secured several significant contracts: a telegraph line running to Winnipeg ($243,000, February 1875), construction of an engine-house ($3,500, September 1875), and operation of the telegraph between Fort William and Rat Portage (June 1876).[1]
These advantages provoked a complaint from residents of Prince Arthur's Landing, leading to a Senate investigation. The 1878 report criticized inflated land valuations and raised concerns about compensation paid to Oliver's company for a hotel that had been built after railway plans were already public.[1] An 1882 Royal Commission on the Canadian Pacific Railway concluded that the telegraph contract had exploited Oliver's connections to the Department of Public Works, and specifically his relationship with Minister Alexander Mackenzie.[1][3]
Thunder Bay district public life
Beyond his business interests, Oliver took an active part in the public life of the Thunder Bay district during the 1870s. In 1874 he was named to a committee — with E. B. Brown, P. J. Brown, Thomas Marks and Peter McKellar — formed by the municipality of Shuniah to gather evidence and statistics in support of Thunder Bay as the Lake Superior terminus of the Canadian Pacific Railway.[4] When a change of government late in 1873 threw the terminus decision into doubt and the district's supporting evidence was reported lost in Ottawa, Oliver was among the delegates — with P. J. Brown, Thomas Marks and Peter McKellar — who travelled east to press the case for Thunder Bay.[5]
On 1 June 1875 Oliver, then a member of the Legislative Assembly, cut the first sod for the terminus wharf works on the north bank of the Kaministiquia River in Fort William West, before a gathering of some five hundred people, and addressed the crowd on the district's prospects.[6]
Oliver served as one of the health officers for Prince Arthur's Landing and Neebing,[4] and in July 1873 agreed to act as a trustee for a church lot at Fort William.[7] On his advice, two printers established an early Fort William newspaper, the short-lived Fort William Day Book, in 1877.[8]
Political career
Oliver entered provincial politics as a Reformer, winning the Oxford South seat in 1867 and again in 1871.[1] He sponsored legislation in 1868 establishing standards for cheese and butter manufacturing, though he was largely inattentive to his constituency during these years.[1]
His political career encountered serious difficulties in 1874 when he resigned from the Ontario legislature over a potential violation of the independence-of-parliament principle — his company had inadvertently sold timber to a provincial government buyer. He was returned by acclamation in the subsequent by-election, but won only a narrow plurality in the 1875 general election, and was subsequently unseated following an investigation into bribery by his supporters.[1]
Municipal career
Oliver had been active in Ingersoll municipal affairs long before his provincial career. He served on the town's first school board in 1852, on village council from 1855 to 1856 and again from 1859 to 1863, and as village reeve from 1859 to 1862. He also served as Oxford County warden in 1862.[1] Although he had opposed Ingersoll's incorporation as a town — fearing the associated increase in costs — he became the town's first mayor, serving from 1865 to 1866.[1] He was a captain in the Ingersoll Infantry Company volunteer corps from 1864 to 1866, and a member of the Independent Order of Odd Fellows from 1856 to 1865.[1]
After his provincial career ended, Oliver made an unsuccessful bid for Ingersoll deputy reeve in 1877, but won election to that office in 1880. He resigned four months later following a paralysis stroke.[1]
Personal life
Oliver married Elizabeth Grieve on 5 December 1846; they had six children together. Elizabeth died on 5 June 1866. Oliver married Ellen Rintoul on 13 June 1868, and they had four children.[1] He was a supporter of Erskine Presbyterian Church in Ingersoll.[1]
Death
Oliver died on 9 October 1882 in Ingersoll, Ontario. His estate was valued at $70,070 and passed primarily to his widow following the dissolution of his business partnerships and the conversion of company property.[1][9]
In the Papers of the Thunder Bay Historical Society
A cairn unveiled at Heath Park commemorated the turning of the first sods of the Canadian Pacific Railway and Grand Trunk Pacific Railway. The tablet inscription recorded that "the first sod of the Canadian Pacific Railway was cut by Adam Oliver on the first of June, 1875," at the mouth of the Kaministiquia, described as "for ages the gateway to canoe traffic with the interior."[10]
At the unveiling ceremony, A. F. Hawkins, terminal superintendent of the Canadian Pacific Railway, recalled that the first-sod ceremonies had been presided over by D. D. Van Norman and were accompanied by gala day celebrations in the town.[10]
References
[1] [2] [3] [9] [11] [12] [13]
- ↑ 1.00 1.01 1.02 1.03 1.04 1.05 1.06 1.07 1.08 1.09 1.10 1.11 1.12 1.13 1.14 1.15 1.16 1.17 1.18 1.19 G. N. Emery."G. N. Emery, "Oliver, Adam," Dictionary of Canadian Biography, vol. 11."[website].Dictionary of Canadian Biography, vol. 11 (University of Toronto/Université Laval).1982.University of Toronto/Université Laval.Link.(Rights: copyrighted | Access: open)
- ↑ 2.0 2.1 Arthur, M. E. (ed.)."Thunder Bay district, 1821–1892: a collection of documents."[book].1973.Toronto.(Rights: unknown | Access: open)
- ↑ 3.0 3.1 "Report of the Canadian Pacific Railway Royal Commission."[record].Canada, Canadian Pacific Railway Royal Commission, Report (3 vols.).1882.Ottawa.(Rights: unknown | Access: open)
- ↑ 4.0 4.1 J. J. Wills."Papers of the Thunder Bay Historical Society."[book].Thunder Bay Historical Society.1911–1912.p. 130.Link.(Rights: public_domain | Access: open)
- ↑ Peter McKellar."Waiting for the Mail."[book].Papers of the Thunder Bay Historical Society.1911–1912.p. 91.Link.(Rights: public_domain | Access: open)
- ↑ "Papers of the Thunder Bay Historical Society."[book].Thunder Bay Historical Society.1913.p. 239.Link.(Rights: public_domain | Access: open)
- ↑ Belle Dobie."Extracts from Rev. D. W. McKeracher's Diary of 1873."[book].Papers of the Thunder Bay Historical Society.1913.p. 384.Link.(Rights: public_domain | Access: open)
- ↑ F. Fregeau."Reminiscences of Early Journalism in Fort William."[book].Papers of the Thunder Bay Historical Society.1911–1912.p. 86.Link.(Rights: public_domain | Access: open)
- ↑ 9.0 9.1 "Will of Adam Oliver."[record].No. 1252, will dated December 26, 1882.Oxford County Surrogate Court, Woodstock, Ontario.(Rights: unknown | Access: open)
- ↑ 10.0 10.1 Moose River."History of New Ontario."[book].Papers of the Thunder Bay Historical Society.1924–1925.p. 320.Link.(Rights: public_domain | Access: open)
- ↑ Emery, George."Adam Oliver, Ingersoll and Thunder Bay district, 1850–82."[book].Ontario History, vol. 68.1976.pp. 25–43.(Rights: unknown | Access: open)
- ↑ Berton, Pierre."The national dream: the great railway, 1871–1881."[book].1970.Toronto and Montreal.(Rights: unknown | Access: open)
- ↑ "Thunder Bay Sentinel."[newspaper].Thunder Bay Sentinel (Thunder Bay, Ontario).1875–1879.(Rights: unknown | Access: open)