John Strange (September 2, 1788 – October 14, 1840) was a merchant and political figure in

Upper Canada The Province of Upper Canada (french: link=no, province du Haut-Canada) was a part of British Canada established in 1791 by the Kingdom of Great Britain, to govern the central third of the lands in British North America, formerly part of the ...

. He was born in East Kilbride,

Scotland Scotland (, ) is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. Covering the northern third of the island of Great Britain, mainland Scotland has a border with England to the southeast and is otherwise surrounded by the Atlantic Ocean to the ...

in 1788 and emigrated with several siblings around 1805. He served during the War of 1812 as a volunteer in the Canadian Militia, being a Lieutenant of the first Regiment of the Royal Lanarkshire Light Infantry Militia. He was present at the Battle of Lundy's Lane and at Fort Erie. At the close of the war, John settled in Kingston and became Major in the First Regiment of the Frontenac Militia. In 1818, he married Mary McGill in Albany, New York (sister of his brother Maxwell's wife Elizabeth). John built a limestone house in Kingston between 1824 and 1826 that served as the family home at the site of what is now 55 Barrack Street in Kingston. There is a historic plaque on the site. He was named a justice of the peace for the

Midland District Midland District was one of four districts of the Province of Quebec created in 1788 in the western reaches of the Montreal District and partitioned in 1791 to create the new colony of Upper Canada. Historical evolution The District, originally ...

in 1834. In the same year, he was elected to the

Legislative Assembly of Upper Canada The Legislative Assembly of Upper Canada was the elected part of the legislature for the province of Upper Canada, functioning as the lower house in the Parliament of Upper Canada. Its legislative power was subject to veto by the appointed Lis ...

for

Frontenac County Frontenac County is a county and census division of the Canadian province of Ontario. It is located in the eastern portion of Southern Ontario. The city of Kingston is in the Frontenac census division, but is separated from the County of Fron ...

. He died at Caledonia Springs in 1840. He was originally buried in the Upper Burial Grounds (now McBurney Park in Kingston Ontario), and his remains later relocated to Cataraqui Cemetery. His headstone is laid flat in the ground but still legible. Strange was a father of five, of whom only two survived to adulthood. His son Maxwell served as a conservative in the Ontario legislative assembly 1867–1871. Another son,

Orlando Orlando () is a city in the U.S. state of Florida and is the county seat of Orange County. In Central Florida, it is the center of the Orlando metropolitan area, which had a population of 2,509,831, according to U.S. Census Bureau figures rele ...

, was Mayor of Kingston in 1859-1860. He also raised his brother Maxwell's four children, who were orphaned in Albany in 1826.

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