Silas Alexander Ramsay (August 27, 1850 – December 5, 1942) was a Canadian politician and merchant 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. He served as the 14th mayor of Calgary. A native of

Quebec Quebec ( ; )According to the Canadian government, ''Québec'' (with the acute accent) is the official name in Canadian French and ''Quebec'' (without the accent) is the province's official name in Canadian English is one of the thirtee ...

, Ramsay first travelled to the west with the

Wolseley Expedition The Wolseley expedition was a military force authorized by Canadian Prime Minister John A. Macdonald to confront Louis Riel and the Métis in 1870, during the Red River Rebellion, at the Red River Colony in what is now the province of Manitob ...

in a suppression effort to the

Red River Rebellion The Red River Rebellion (french: Rébellion de la rivière Rouge), also known as the Red River Resistance, Red River uprising, or First Riel Rebellion, was the sequence of events that led up to the 1869 establishment of a provisional government by ...

in 1870. Before returning home, he visited the Calgary area and hunted buffalo. This was prior to the initial

Fort Calgary Fort Calgary was a North-West Mounted Police outpost at the confluence of the Bow and Elbow rivers in present-day Calgary, Alberta, Canada. Originally named Fort Brisebois, after the outpost's first commander, the outpost was renamed ''Fort Calg ...

settlement, which happened in 1875. In 1883, Ramsay returned to Calgary and established several businesses. In the 1885 North-West Rebellion, he was a Government dispatch rider. He served eight total years on the city council as an alderman and was also mayor from January 5, 1904, to January 2, 1905, during which time he was a stringent supporter of municipal ownership, working to establish a lighting and water system for the city. After his retirement in Calgary from his business, he moved to Vancouver, British Columbia, where he died in 1942.

Early life, career

The son of William and Sarah (née Mohr) Ramsay, Silas Alexander Ramsay was born at Aylmer, Quebec in 1850. He attended public schools in his birthplace, completing high school. At the age of nine in 1860, Ramsay would witness the cornerstone lying ceremony of the Canadian Parliament buildings at

Parliament Hill Parliament Hill (french: Colline du Parlement, colloquially known as The Hill, is an area of Crown land on the southern banks of the Ottawa River in downtown Ottawa, Ontario, Canada. Its Gothic revival suite of buildings, and their archit ...

. He moved to

Almonte, Ontario Almonte ( ; ) is a former mill town in Lanark County, in the eastern portion of Ontario, Canada. Formerly a separate municipality, Almonte is a ward of the town of Mississippi Mills, which was created on January 1, 1998, by the merging of Almont ...

around 1867 and lived there for three years, when he participated the suppression of the

in a faction commanded by

Garnet Wolseley, 1st Viscount Wolseley Field Marshal Garnet Joseph Wolseley, 1st Viscount Wolseley, (4 June 183325 March 1913), was an Anglo-Irish officer in the British Army. He became one of the most influential and admired British generals after a series of successes in Canada, We ...

. During that time he participated in the

, travelling through Port Arthur and then embarking westward, in a journey of around three months, to

Fort Garry Fort Garry, also known as Upper Fort Garry, was a Hudson's Bay Company trading post at the confluence of the Red and Assiniboine rivers in what is now downtown Winnipeg. It was established in 1822 on or near the site of the North West Company' ...

(presently

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, ...

). Being the first trip he undertook Canadian West, he also visited the Calgary area and hunted buffalo, prior to

's establishment in 1875. He would later home via railway through Ottawa after heading through

Montana Montana () is a state in the Mountain West division of the Western United States. It is bordered by Idaho to the west, North Dakota and South Dakota to the east, Wyoming to the south, and the Canadian provinces of Alberta, British Columb ...

and St. Paul, Minnesota. There he would open up a general store and operate it for around eight years, when he closed up and became a

wool Wool is the textile fibre obtained from sheep and other mammals, especially goats, rabbits, and camelids. The term may also refer to inorganic materials, such as mineral wool and glass wool, that have properties similar to animal wool. ...

merchant for four years. Intrigued by the opportunity and potential it held, in 1883, Ramsay decided to move west, settling in the village of Calgary, in the North-West Territories, which was then the

terminus Terminus may refer to: * Bus terminus, a bus station serving as an end destination * Terminal train station or terminus, a railway station serving as an end destination Geography *Terminus, the unofficial original name of Atlanta, Georgia, United ...

of the Canadian Pacific Railway. At Calgary he would ranch and enter the agricultural product manufacturing business as an agent for an Ontario company, producing buggies,

wagons A wagon or waggon is a heavy four-wheeled vehicle pulled by draught animals or on occasion by humans, used for transporting goods, commodities, agricultural materials, supplies and sometimes people. Wagons are immediately distinguished from ...

, ploughs, and mowers. This was one of the first such businesses in the province of

. He was also an agent for a sewing machine company, with an office located on

Stephen Avenue Stephen Avenue is a major pedestrian mall in downtown Calgary, Alberta, Canada. The mall is the portion of 8 Avenue SW between 4 Street SW and 1 Street SE. It is open to vehicles only from 6:00 p.m. to 6:00 a.m. The street is known for some of C ...

. When the North-West Rebellion of 1885 broke out, Ramsay would be involved in it, serving as a government dispatch messenger and later a scout. During his rebellion duties, he was attacked in encounter with local

First Nations First Nations or first peoples may refer to: * Indigenous peoples, for ethnic groups who are the earliest known inhabitants of an area. Indigenous groups *First Nations is commonly used to describe some Indigenous groups including: **First Natio ...

peoples, forcing him to fire shots from his rifle in self-defence. In Calgary he also built the Ramsay Block, on a piece of land, opposite of the city's old post office.

Civic politics

Keenly interested in Calgary's civic politics, Ramsay first served as an alderman on the

Calgary City Council The Calgary City Council is the legislative governing body that represents the citizens of Calgary. The council consists of 15 members: the chief elected official, titled the mayor, and 14 councillors. Jyoti Gondek was elected mayor in October 202 ...

from January 7, 1895, to January 3, 1899, and January 6, 1902, to January 5, 1904. A strong supporter of

public ownership State ownership, also called government ownership and public ownership, is the ownership of an industry, asset, or enterprise by the state or a public body representing a community, as opposed to an individual or private party. Public ownershi ...

utilities A public utility company (usually just utility) is an organization that maintains the infrastructure for a public service (often also providing a service using that infrastructure). Public utilities are subject to forms of public control and ...

, he also served a stint as chairman of the council's Water and Light Committee, in which he oversaw the installation of the city's first electric lighting system, as well as the purchase of the water system by the municipality from a private company. He was later lauded for this action by the ''

Calgary Albertan The ''Calgary Sun'' is a daily newspaper published in Calgary, Alberta, Canada. It is owned by Postmedia. First published in 1980, the tabloid-format daily replaced the long-running tabloid-size newspaper ''The Albertan'' soon after it was ...

'', who stated that it had helped set the foundations the municipal utility system that was later established and improved upon of Calgary. He was an

Independent Independent or Independents may refer to: Arts, entertainment, and media Artist groups * Independents (artist group), a group of modernist painters based in the New Hope, Pennsylvania, area of the United States during the early 1930s * Independ ...

. On December 7, 1903, municipal nominations day for the upcoming election, Ramsay was acclaimed as mayor of Calgary, with no opposing nominees for the office. Ramsay served as mayor until January 5, 1905, when he was succeeded by John Emerson. During his term, the city moved to establish a numbering system for its streets, and the Canadian Pacific Railway initiated an irrigation project east of the city, which would later become

Chestermere Lake Chestermere Lake is a man-made reservoir in Chestermere, Alberta, Canada. It was built in the 1880s by the Canadian Pacific Railway, for irrigation of the area between Calgary and Strathmore. It is now used mainly for recreation purposes, such as ...

, Alberta. He did not seek re-election as mayor in the 1904 election, instead accepting a nomination to once again serve as alderman. He was later elected and would serve a final aldermanic term, from January 2, 1905, to January 14, 1907. He later retired from his business around 1921 and moved to Vancouver.

Personal life

Ramsay married Jessie Ann Wilson in Alamonte on April 18, 1876. Together they had four children: Bertha Maud, Robert Wilson, Charles Henry, and Percival Clod. One of his brothers served as mayor of

Prince Albert, Saskatchewan Prince Albert is the third-largest city in Saskatchewan, Canada, after Saskatoon and Regina. It is situated near the centre of the province on the banks of the North Saskatchewan River. The city is known as the "Gateway to the North" because ...

. He was active member of the Calgary Rifle Club, and the

Methodist Methodism, also called the Methodist movement, is a group of historically related denominations of Protestant Christianity whose origins, doctrine and practice derive from the life and teachings of John Wesley. George Whitefield and John's ...

church. In 1939, at the age of 90, Ramsay travelled to

to visit the site of the Fort Garry gate, where he had travelled almost 70 years prior. At the time it was noted that he was one of the last remaining survivors of the Wolseley Expedition. He died at his daughter's home in

Vancouver Vancouver ( ) is a major city in western Canada, located in the Lower Mainland region of British Columbia. As the List of cities in British Columbia, most populous city in the province, the 2021 Canadian census recorded 662,248 people in the ...

British Columbia British Columbia (commonly abbreviated as BC) is the westernmost province of Canada, situated between the Pacific Ocean and the Rocky Mountains. It has a diverse geography, with rugged landscapes that include rocky coastlines, sandy beaches, ...

on December 5, 1942, at the age of 92. He was survived by his daughter and two sons. His wife predeceased him on May 16, 1925, in Vancouver. It was said about him that he was "one of those wholesome toilers in behalf of the people who never grow old in years and energy." A 1912 biography in the publication ''History of the province of Alberta'' noted that Ramsay was a man of "broad mental grasp, cosmopolitan ideas and notable business sagacity", with a "thorough understanding of life, its principles and possibilities" that was "honoured and respected by all". His former residence was in the present-day Calgary neighbourhood of Ramsay, situated east of the

Elbow River The Elbow River is a river in southern Alberta, Canada. It flows from the Canadian Rockies to the city of Calgary, where it merges into the Bow River. Course The Elbow River originates at Elbow Lake in the Front Range of the Canadian Rocky ...

and south of the CPR tracks, which is named in his honour.

References

Bibliography

* * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Ramsay, Silas Alexander Mayors of Calgary Politicians from Gatineau 1850 births 1942 deaths 19th-century Canadian politicians 20th-century Canadian politicians