Francis Cleary (November 9, 1840 – March 29, 1924) was an

Ontario Ontario ( ; ) is one of the thirteen provinces and territories of Canada.Ontario is located in the geographic eastern half of Canada, but it has historically and politically been considered to be part of Central Canada. Located in Central Ca ...

lawyer and political figure. He was mayor of the town of

Windsor, Ontario Windsor is a city in southwestern Ontario, Canada, on the south bank of the Detroit River directly across from Detroit, Michigan, United States. Geographically located within but administratively independent of Essex County, it is the souther ...

from 1883 to 1885. He was born near

Enniskillen Enniskillen ( , from ga, Inis Ceithleann , 'Cethlenn, Ceithlenn's island') is the largest town in County Fermanagh, Northern Ireland. It is in the middle of the county, between the Upper and Lower sections of Lough Erne. It had a population of ...

County Fermanagh County Fermanagh ( ; ) is one of the thirty-two counties of Ireland, one of the nine counties of Ulster and one of the six counties of Northern Ireland. The county covers an area of 1,691 km2 (653 sq mi) and has a population of 61,805 a ...

Ireland Ireland ( ; ga, Éire ; Ulster Scots dialect, Ulster-Scots: ) is an island in the Atlantic Ocean, North Atlantic Ocean, in Northwestern Europe, north-western Europe. It is separated from Great Britain to its east by the North Channel (Grea ...

in 1840, the son of Hugh Cleary, and came to

Montreal Montreal ( ; officially Montréal, ) is the List of the largest municipalities in Canada by population, second-most populous city in Canada and List of towns in Quebec, most populous city in the Provinces and territories of Canada, Canadian ...

Lower Canada The Province of Lower Canada (french: province du Bas-Canada) was a British colony on the lower Saint Lawrence River and the shores of the Gulf of Saint Lawrence (1791–1841). It covered the southern portion of the current Province of Quebec an ...

with his parents the following year. The family later moved to

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 ...

where he was educated. Cleary was admitted to the practice of law in 1867 and set up practice in Windsor. In 1871, he married Rose C. Anderson. He served four years as a member of the city council including his term as mayor. He ran unsuccessfully for the federal seat in Essex North in 1887, losing to

James Colebrooke Patterson James Colebrooke Patterson, PC (1839 – February 17, 1929) was a Canadian politician. He served as a federal cabinet minister from 1892 to 1895 and as the sixth Lieutenant Governor of Manitoba from 1895 to 1900. Early life Patterson wa ...

. In 1890, he was an unsuccessful candidate in the same riding for a seat in the provincial assembly. In 1901, he was appointed deputy clerk of the Crown, clerk of the County Court and Surrogate Registrar for Essex County. Cleary also served as president of the Essex County Historical Society.

External links

''Commemorative biographical record of the county of Essex, Ontario'' (1905)
{{DEFAULTSORT:Cleary, Francis 1840 births 1924 deaths Mayors of Windsor, Ontario Irish emigrants to Canada People from Enniskillen Politicians from County Fermanagh