Mayor William Lyon MacKenzie

1795 - 1861  (66 years)

• Name	William Lyon MacKenzie
  Prefix	Mayor
  Born	12 Mar 1795	Dundee, Scotland   [1]
  Gender	Male
  Eby ID Number	dnf-81669
  Died	28 Aug 1861	Toronto, York Co., Ontario, Canada   [1]
  Buried	Toronto Necropolis Cemetery and Crematorium, Toronto, York, Ontario, Canada   [1]
  Person ID	I81669	Generations
  Last Modified	7 Nov 2024

  
  

  Children	1. Isabel Grace MacKenzie,   b. 1845, New York City, New York, USA. ,   d. 1916, Ottawa, Carleton Co., Ontario, Canada  (Age 71 years)
  Last Modified	12 Nov 2024
  Family ID	F21279	Group Sheet  |  Family Chart

  
  

• Photos		William Lyon Mackenzie
  		William Lyon Mackenzie

  
  

• Notes

  William Lyon Mackenzie (March 12, 1795 - August 28, 1861) was a Scottish born American and Canadian journalist, politician, and rebellion leader. He served as the first mayor of the city of Toronto (1834) and was an important leader during the 1837 Upper Canada Rebellion . Mackenzie was born in Dundee, Scotland . Both of Mackenzie's parents, Daniel Mackenzie, a weaver, and Elizabeth Mackenzie, née Chambers, came from Kirkmichael . They married in May 1794: a widow, Elizabeth was seventeen years older than Daniel. Daniel allegedly died three weeks after William Lyon Mackenzie's birth (though historians have been unable to find a record of his burial) and Mackenzie was raised by his mother. Elizabeth Mackenzie was a deeply religious woman, a proponent of the Secession, a branch of Scottish Presbyterianism deeply committed to the separation of church and state . While William Lyon Mackenzie was not a religious man himself, he remained a proponent of separation of church and state for his entire life. Mackenzie entered a parish grammar school at Dundee at age 5, thanks to a bursary, and then moved on to a Mr. Adie's school. Mackenzie early on adopted habits as a voracious reader, keeping a list detailing the 958 books he read between 1806 and 1820 . By 1810, at age 15, he was writing for a local newspaper . During this time he also joined a scientific society . It was there that he met Edward Lesslie and his sons James and John, who would play a large role in Mackenzie's life. Mackenzie's mother arranged for him to apprentice with several tradesmen in Dundee, but in 1814, he was able to secure financial backing from Edward Lesslie to open a general store and circulating library in Alyth . During this period Mackenzie had a romantic relationship with one Isabel Reid, of whom nothing is known except that she gave birth to Mackenzie's illegitimate son on July 17, 1814. The boy was raised by Mackenzie's mother. During the recession which followed the ending of the Napoleonic Wars in 1815, Mackenzie's store in Dundee went bankrupt and he had to travel to seek work, first returning to Dundee; then going to Wiltshire in 1818 to work for a canal company; travelled briefly to France ; and then worked briefly for a newspaper in London . Lacking stable employment, at age 25, Mackenzie decided to emigrate to British North America, along with his friend John Lesslie. Early years in Canada, 1820-1824 Mackenzie initially found a job working on the Lachine Canal in Lower Canada . He wrote for the Montreal Herald during this period. John Lesslie on the other hand, had settled in York, Upper Canada (now Toronto ) and Mackenzie soon became employed at Lesslie's bookselling / drugstore business. Mackenzie fell in love with Upper Canada and began writing for the York Observer. In 1822, Edward Lesslie and the rest of his family, along with Elizabeth Mackenzie, joined Mackenzie and John Lesslie in Upper Canada. Elizabeth brought along a young woman, Isabel Baxter (1805-73), whom she had chosen for William Lyon Mackenzie to marry - the couple were married July 1, 1822 in Montreal . Isabel would ultimately bear Mackenzie 14 children (including Isabel Grace Mackenzie, the mother of William Lyon Mackenzie King). Wikipedia 2011

  
  

• Sources

  [S3231] Find A Grave, https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/6359/william-lyon-mackenzie.

  
  

• Event Map

  Born - 12 Mar 1795 - Dundee, Scotland Died - 28 Aug 1861 - Toronto, York Co., Ontario, Canada Buried - - Toronto Necropolis Cemetery and Crematorium, Toronto, York, Ontario, Canada  = Link to Google Earth