Colin Ferrie Strang (June 25, 1850 – December 10, 1900) was a politician in

Alberta Alberta ( ) is one of the thirteen provinces and territories of Canada. It is part of Western Canada and is one of the three prairie provinces. Alberta is bordered by British Columbia to the west, Saskatchewan to the east, the Northwest Ter ...

, Canada, and an alderman on

Edmonton Town Council The Edmonton City Council is the governing body of the City of Edmonton, Alberta, Canada. Edmonton currently has one mayor and twelve city councillors. Elections are held every four years. The most recent was held in 2021, and the next is in 20 ...

Biography

Strang was born in 1850 in

Toronto Toronto ( ; or ) is the capital city of the Canadian province of Ontario. With a recorded population of 2,794,356 in 2021, it is the most populous city in Canada and the fourth most populous city in North America. The city is the ancho ...

to Struthers Strang, originally from Scotland and Janet Ferrie. He was educated in

Hamilton Hamilton may refer to: People * Hamilton (name), a common British surname and occasional given name, usually of Scottish origin, including a list of persons with the surname ** The Duke of Hamilton, the premier peer of Scotland ** Lord Hamilt ...

. After a period working for hardware dealers W. McGivern & Co., in 1871 he moved to

Winnipeg Winnipeg () is the capital and largest city of the province of Manitoba in Canada. It is centred on the confluence of the Red and Assiniboine rivers, near the longitudinal centre of North America. , Winnipeg had a city population of 749,6 ...

, where he worked as a bookkeeper (eventually as the head of his own accounting office) until moving to

Edmonton Edmonton ( ) is the capital city of the Canadian province of Alberta. Edmonton is situated on the North Saskatchewan River and is the centre of the Edmonton Metropolitan Region, which is surrounded by Alberta's central region. The city ancho ...

in 1883. He became Edmonton's leading city accountant, and also worked as bank manager for Lafferty & Moore in 1890 and as business manager for the Moore and MacDowell sawmill in 1893. He was part owner of Ross Bros., a hardware firm. In

1892 Events January–March * January 1 – Ellis Island begins accommodating immigrants to the United States. * February 1 - The historic Enterprise Bar and Grill was established in Rico, Colorado. * February 27 – Rudolf Diesel applies for ...

he ran for alderman on Edmonton's first town council. He finished first of fourteen candidates (the top six were elected). He was re-elected in

1893 Events January–March * January 2 – Webb C. Ball introduces railroad chronometers, which become the general railroad timepiece standards in North America. * Mark Twain started writing Puddn'head Wilson. * January 6 – Th ...

1894 Events January–March * January 4 – A military alliance is established between the French Third Republic and the Russian Empire. * January 7 – William Kennedy Dickson receives a patent for motion picture film in the United S ...

, and

1895 Events January–March * January 5 – Dreyfus affair: French officer Alfred Dreyfus is stripped of his army rank, and sentenced to life imprisonment on Devil's Island. * January 12 – The National Trust for Places of Histor ...

, but was defeated (finishing last of eight candidates) in

1896 Events January–March * January 2 – The Jameson Raid comes to an end, as Jameson surrenders to the Boers. * January 4 – Utah is admitted as the 45th U.S. state. * January 5 – An Austrian newspaper reports that Wil ...

. Strang entered a partnership with James A. Stoval, with a firm name of Stoval & Strang, which he operated until his death. In

1898 Events January–March * January 1 – New York City annexes land from surrounding counties, creating the City of Greater New York as the world's second largest. The city is geographically divided into five boroughs: Manhattan, B ...

he ran for the public school board and was elected. He served as the board's secretary-treasurer, and was re-elected in

1899 Events January 1899 * January 1 ** Spanish rule ends in Cuba, concluding 400 years of the Spanish Empire in the Americas. ** Queens and Staten Island become administratively part of New York City. * January 2 – **Bolivia sets up a c ...

. During the same election, he returned to town council as an alderman. Aldermanic terms had been lengthened to two years, but his seat was declared vacant October 9, 1900. He did not seek public office again in his lifetime. Colin Strang also served as secretary of both the board of trade and the Edmonton Rifle Association. Strang died on December 10, 1900, after over a year of ill health.Edmonton Civic Politicians: Historical, Biographical, and Contemporary (2005) His final and fatal illness struck him on Friday, December 7, when he was bedridden and eventually lapsed into a

coma A coma is a deep state of prolonged unconsciousness in which a person cannot be awakened, fails to respond normally to painful stimuli, light, or sound, lacks a normal wake-sleep cycle and does not initiate voluntary actions. Coma patients exhi ...

. The news of the sudden death of his brother, Robert of Winnipeg came by

telegraph Telegraphy is the long-distance transmission of messages where the sender uses symbolic codes, known to the recipient, rather than a physical exchange of an object bearing the message. Thus flag semaphore is a method of telegraphy, whereas p ...

just as Strang was dying. Another one of Strang's brothers, Andrew, has previously visited him in the previous fall, taking Colin, suffering from his illness at the time, back to visit

, which resulted in Colin's health being "very much improved" upon his return to Edmonton. He was said to be "one of the best posted hardware men of the west". His wife, Emily Price, and one son survived him.

References

City of Edmonton biography of Colin Strang
{{DEFAULTSORT:Strang, Colin 1850 births Edmonton city councillors Canadian accountants Politicians from Toronto 1900 deaths