John Inkster (1799 – June 30, 1874) was a

Scottish Scottish usually refers to something of, from, or related to Scotland, including: *Scottish Gaelic, a Celtic Goidelic language of the Indo-European language family native to Scotland *Scottish English *Scottish national identity, the Scottish ide ...

-born merchant and politician in

Manitoba Manitoba ( ) is a Provinces and territories of Canada, province of Canada at the Centre of Canada, longitudinal centre of the country. It is Canada's Population of Canada by province and territory, fifth-most populous province, with a population o ...

. He served as a member of the

Council of Assiniboia The Council of Assiniboia (french: Conseil d'Assiniboine) was the first appointed administrative body of the District of Assiniboia, operating from 1821 until 1870. It was this council who is credited for the arrival of a functioning legal system, ...

from 1857 to 1868. He was born in the

Orkney Islands Orkney (; sco, Orkney; on, Orkneyjar; nrn, Orknøjar), also known as the Orkney Islands, is an archipelago in the Northern Isles of Scotland, situated off the north coast of the island of Great Britain. Orkney is 10 miles (16 km) north ...

and came to

Rupert's Land Rupert's Land (french: Terre de Rupert), or Prince Rupert's Land (french: Terre du Prince Rupert, link=no), was a territory in British North America which comprised the Hudson Bay drainage basin; this was further extended from Rupert's Land t ...

in 1819 as a stonemason employed by the

Hudson's Bay Company The Hudson's Bay Company (HBC; french: Compagnie de la Baie d'Hudson) is a Canadian retail business group. A fur trading business for much of its existence, HBC now owns and operates retail stores in Canada. The company's namesake business div ...

. In 1826, he married Mary Sinclair, the daughter of William Sinclair, chief factor of the Hudson's Bay Company. Later, Inkster began farming and also operated as an independent merchant. He operated a water-powered mill and also was president of a company which constructed a steam-powered

grist mill A gristmill (also: grist mill, corn mill, flour mill, feed mill or feedmill) grinds cereal grain into flour and Wheat middlings, middlings. The term can refer to either the Mill (grinding), grinding mechanism or the building that holds it. Grist i ...

. He served as a magistrate, as a petty judge and as auditor of public accounts. He died at Kildonan in 1874. His eldest son Colin served in the Legislative Council of Manitoba and was sheriff for Manitoba. His former home, Seven Oaks House, now operates as a museum.

References

1799 births 1874 deaths Members of the Council of Assiniboia {{Manitoba-politician-stub