James Conmee
| James Conmee | |
|---|---|
| Born | 1848-10-13 Sydenham Township, Upper Canada |
| Died | 1913-07-23 Prescott, Arizona |
| Occupation | Contractor, lumberer, politician, businessman |
| Father | |
| Mother | |
| Partner | |
James Conmee (13 October 1848 – 23 July 1913 (aged 64)) was a Canadian contractor, lumberer, politician, and businessman who represented Port Arthur and the surrounding region in both the Legislative Assembly of Ontario and the House of Commons of Canada during the late 19th and early 20th centuries.[1]
Early life
Conmee was born on 13 October 1848 in Sydenham Township, Upper Canada, the son of Matthew Conmee and Rosanna O'Shaughnessy, Irish immigrants who settled in what became known locally as the Irish Block.[1] He had little formal schooling, a fact later remarked upon by journalists who marvelled at his oratorical ability. During the final month of the American Civil War, the teenage Conmee and his brother trained briefly with the 8th New York Regiment of Cavalry; later accounts considerably embellished these adventures into frontier mythology.[1][2]
On 12 October 1874 he married Emily Florence Cox, a daughter of Joseph Cox of Meaford, Ontario, in St. Vincent Township, Ontario. They had seven daughters and one son.[1]
Career
Early contracting and lumbering
Conmee arrived at Fort William in 1872 to work at the sawmill operated by Adam Oliver and Joseph Davidson on the Kaministiquia River.[1] He quickly turned his attention to more entrepreneurial pursuits: from 1876 to 1877 he held the mail contract between Silver Islet and Pigeon River, and then moved into lumbering and railway contracting. In 1877 he laid rails for the Prince Arthur's Landing and Kaministiquia Railway, secured a government contract for Canadian Pacific Railway Section A, and later—with partner John Donald McLennan—worked the stretch between Port Arthur and Current River as well as the remote Michipicoten section north of Lake Superior.[1][3]
In the early 1880s Conmee was a prominent presence in Section A's construction camps, where he reportedly debated Irish coercion legislation with fellow Irishman James McTeigue during the winter of 1881.[1]
Municipal and provincial politics
Conmee entered public life in 1878 as assessor and tax collector for the Township of Shuniah. In 1879 he was elected councillor for Prince Arthur's Landing South ward.[1] In December 1884 he was elected Mayor of Port Arthur.
When the province divided the Algoma riding in two, Conmee seized the opportunity to enter provincial politics, winning the July 1885 by-election in Algoma West as the Liberal candidate.[1] His inaugural speech to the legislature—a defence of provincial rights—drew favourable notice from the Toronto press and from Oliver Mowat's ministers, establishing his reputation as a forceful speaker despite his limited schooling.[1]
As one of few Catholic members of the legislature, Conmee introduced a bill in 1894 allowing secret ballots in separate school elections. He also championed labour interests: he worked to extend lien rights to lumbermen and miners who had previously been excluded from lien legislation. In 1894 he helped found the Ontario Mining Institute.[1] A 1899 amendment to the Municipal Act that he sponsored required municipalities to purchase existing privately-owned electrical and gas utilities before establishing their own systems, drawing directly on his experience as a utility promoter.[1]
Alongside Daniel Francis Burk and others, Conmee worked to bring attention to "New Ontario" among politicians in Toronto.[1]
Legal troubles
In 1885 Conmee was charged with defrauding the Canadian Pacific Railway on Lake Superior contracts. After four years of litigation involving prominent counsel including Britton Bath Osler and D'Alton McCarthy, he was vindicated in 1889. The protracted legal fight, and the large sums at stake, only strengthened his reputation among northern voters as a fighter.[1][4]
Business ventures
Beyond politics, Conmee pursued a wide range of business interests. He founded the Port Arthur (Ontario) Telephone Company in 1884, aligning it with the Toronto Telephone Manufacturing Company in opposition to Bell's patent monopoly.[1] He also established the Port Arthur Water, Light and Power Company and the Sault Ste. Marie Water, Gas and Light Company, and promoted an Île aux Hérons development; these ventures were described by contemporaries as "ill-fated and undercapitalized."[1] After 1885, he contracted for sections of the Port Arthur, Duluth and Western; Ontario and Rainy River; and Algoma Central railways, often in partnership with Charles Martin Bowman.[1]
Critics alleged that Conmee used his political position to steer government contracts to his son-in-law James Whalen, but working-class voters largely dismissed such allegations, preferring a politician who created jobs. The Toronto Empire observed of him: "He is a moneymaker before he is a politician."[1]
Federal politics
The collapse of silver mining in the early 1890s damaged Conmee's political standing. His opposition to the provincial government's new mining legislation, which would have increased state control over the industry, cost him his chance at becoming Ontario's first minister of mines.[1] He ran unsuccessfully for the federal seat in Nipissing in 1896. The provincial Liberal governments of Arthur Sturgis Hardy and George William Ross were weakened in part by controversy surrounding Conmee's electoral conduct and his utility and railway promotions.[1]
He left provincial politics at the close of the 10th Legislature in 1904 and immediately won the federal seat for Thunder Bay and Rainy River, retaining it again in 1908. His federal work centred on water and electric power development, and he benefited from Sir Wilfrid Laurier's transcontinental railway policy, which brought substantial federal spending to northwestern Ontario.[1][5]
Reputation
At the peak of his influence in the 1890s, Conmee was known to supporters as "Fighting Jim" and "the People's Jim"—the latter a play on Gladstone's popular nickname. The Toronto Globe eulogized him as "a self-made man, and essentially democratic, of natural talent, and intense perseverance — a strong debater and remarkable personality."[1] He co-wrote a patriotic song, "The National Flag," with Henry Herbert Godfrey.[1]
Death
Ill health forced Conmee to retire from politics in 1911. He began spending winters in warmer climates and died in Prescott, Arizona, on 23 July 1913, and was buried in Port Arthur.[1][6]
In his probate records he is listed as a "contractor", for some reason.
His estate was probated in the Thunder Bay District surrogate court in 1914 and inventoried at $245,574.22 (equivalent to $6,720,548 in 2025). He died testate, leaving a will, and was survived by five children.[7]
Another source states that "his estate was valued at $245,347, the bulk of it in property."[1]
References
- ↑ 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 1.20 1.21 1.22 1.23 1.24 F. Brent Scollie."F. Brent Scollie, "Conmee, James," Dictionary of Canadian Biography, vol. 14."[website].Dictionary of Canadian Biography, vol. 14 (University of Toronto/Université Laval).1998.University of Toronto/Université Laval.Link.(Rights: copyrighted | Access: open)
- ↑ "8th New York Regiment of Cavalry records."[record].RG 94.National Archives (Washington).(Rights: unknown | Access: open)
- ↑ "Canadian Pacific Railway contract records."[record].RG 43, AIII, 1, 751.Library and Archives Canada.(Rights: unknown | Access: open)
- ↑ "In the High Court of Justice."[record].1889.(Rights: unknown | Access: open)
- ↑ "Canada, House of Commons Journals."[record].1905.(Rights: unknown | Access: open)
- ↑ "Estate of James Conmee, probate file."[record].RG 22-398, 1913, no. 775.Archives of Ontario.(Rights: unknown | Access: open)
- ↑ Probate record of J. Conmee, contractor, Port Arthur (1914), surrogate court probate file no. 775. Canadian Regional Historical Wealth Micro-Data Collection, compiled by Livio Di Matteo, Lakehead University.