James Gooderham Worts (June 4, 1818 - June 20, 1882) was the eldest son of

James Worts James Worts (c. 1792 – February 18, 1834) was one of the co-founders of the Gooderham and Worts partnership which, after his death, evolved from a simple mill into a prosperous distilling company which eventual become the largest in the worl ...

and Elizabeth Gooderham. James and his father emigrated from

England England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Wales to its west and Scotland to its north. The Irish Sea lies northwest and the Celtic Sea to the southwest. It is separated from continental Europe b ...

York York is a cathedral city with Roman origins, sited at the confluence of the rivers Ouse and Foss in North Yorkshire, England. It is the historic county town of Yorkshire. The city has many historic buildings and other structures, such as a ...

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 ...

(now

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 ...

) in 1831, where his father constructed a flour mill at the mouth of the Don River; the rest of their family remained in the

United Kingdom The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, commonly known as the United Kingdom (UK) or Britain, is a country in Europe, off the north-western coast of the continental mainland. It comprises England, Scotland, Wales and North ...

. His father's partner in the undertaking was his uncle, his mother's brother William Gooderham who joined them from England in 1832. His father gave James considerable independent authority, even though he was a teenager, including overseeing the difficult transport of millstones by water, up the

St. Lawrence River The St. Lawrence River (french: Fleuve Saint-Laurent, ) is a large river in the middle latitudes of North America. Its headwaters begin flowing from Lake Ontario in a (roughly) northeasterly direction, into the Gulf of St. Lawrence, connecting ...

and across

Lake Ontario Lake Ontario is one of the five Great Lakes of North America. It is bounded on the north, west, and southwest by the Canadian province of Ontario, and on the south and east by the U.S. state of New York. The Canada–United States border sp ...

from

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 ...

. His mother died in childbirth in 1834 and his father committed suicide two weeks later by drowning himself in a well on his own company's property. William Gooderham took charge of the business and responsibility for his nephew after James Worts death. In 1837 a distillery was added and in 1845 Worts became a partner in his uncle's firm, which was renamed Gooderham and Worts. Worts children included: * James Gordon Worts 1843-1846 * James Gooderham 1853-1884 - whose son James-Gooderham Worts II was named for James Goodherham * Thomas Frederick Worts 1857-? * Charlotte Louisa Worts - married

William Henry Beatty William Henry Beatty (December 10, 1833 – November 20, 1912), was a Canadian lawyer and businessman. William Henry Beatty was the eldest of three sons and five daughters of James Beatty, an Irish-born Toronto merchant. James had operated the ...

External links

Biography
at the '' Dictionary of Canadian Biography Online'' Canadian businesspeople 1818 births 1882 deaths Gooderham family Drink distillers Whisky distillers English emigrants to pre-Confederation Ontario {{Canada-business-bio-stub