Wellington County, Ontario GenWeb - Pioneer

Wellington County, Ontario GenWeb - Pioneer - INNES, James

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Pioneer - INNES, James

Biographical Sketches of
Early Settlers of Wellington County

Information from: Historical Atlas of the County of Wellington, Ontario.
Toronto: Historical Atlas Publishing Co., 1906

INNES, James (d.) was the son of Alexander Innes of Huntley, Aberdeenshire, Scot., where he was b. Feb 1 1833. He received a good education, and for five years followed the occupation of a school teacher. Coming to Canada in 1853, he devoted himself to newspaper work, and was reporter and editor of several leading papers, including the Toronto Globe, Hamilton Times, and the Galt Advertiser. In 1862, he assumed the editorship and proprietorship of the Guelph Mercury, which in his hands, and under his management, became a power among Liberal newspapers in Ontario.

He was a writer of the old school, calm and moderate, but capable when occasion required of a trenchant and forcible article; a student of George Brown, he inculcated the ideas and was guided throughout his carreer by the journalistic precepts of his former chief. Zealous for the success of his own paper, he was never unfair to his contemporaries, and could be depended upon to do what was right and just. He made the Guelph Mercury a great success, and his unswerving integrity of purpose, and faithful advocacy of everything he deemed for the public welfare, won for him the esteem and respect of both political friends and opponents, while the many noble qualities of head and heart which he possessed, endeared him as a public spirited citizen and a generous warm-hearted friend. Few men, if any, have filled as large a place in the business, social and educational life of Guelph, and no man in the city or county was better known or more highly respected than Mr. Innes. He was, for 17 years, a member of the Board of Education, and retired from the Chairmanship on his election to Parliament. He was Director of the Guelph and Ontario Investment and Saving Society, and of the Guelph Light and Power Co., and was President of the Dominion Life Assurance Co. He sat in the House of Commons for South Wellington, in the Liberal interest, from the G.E. 1882, to G. E. 1896, when he was defeated by Mr. C. Kloepfer, a Conservative candidate, by a majority of 138. He as a member of the Presbyterian church, and took an active interest in church matters. In 1873, he m. in London, Eng., Helen Gerrard of Grenada W. I., and a native of Aberdeenshire, Scot. He passed away unexpectedly, of pneumonia, at Sydney C. B., on July 16, 1903, while on his way to St. John's Nfld., to pay a visit to his friend Mr. Harry Reid of the Newfoundland Railway Co.

From: Historical Atlas of the County of Wellington, Ontario. Toronto:Historical Atlas Publishing Co., 1906