Adam Ferrie (April 15, 1777 – December 24, 1863) was a

Canadian Canadians () are people identified with the country of Canada. This connection may be residential, legal, historical or cultural. For most Canadians, many (or all) of these connections exist and are collectively the source of their being ''C ...

businessman and political figure who lived much of his life in

Scotland Scotland is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. It contains nearly one-third of the United Kingdom's land area, consisting of the northern part of the island of Great Britain and more than 790 adjac ...

Biography

Ferrie was born in

Irvine, Ayrshire Irvine ( ;
; ) is a town and former royal burgh on th ...

in 1777 and set up a cotton printing shop there in 1792. He moved to

Glasgow Glasgow is the Cities of Scotland, most populous city in Scotland, located on the banks of the River Clyde in Strathclyde, west central Scotland. It is the List of cities in the United Kingdom, third-most-populous city in the United Kingdom ...

in 1799. After expanding rapidly until around 1815. After that, his business declined due to failures of associates he invested in. To improve his sales in Canada and establish his sons, he set up an import-export firm with William Cormack in

Montreal Montreal is the List of towns in Quebec, largest city in the Provinces and territories of Canada, province of Quebec, the List of the largest municipalities in Canada by population, second-largest in Canada, and the List of North American cit ...

. He moved to Montreal with his family in 1829 so that he could keep better control of the business. Ferrie opened a branch in

Hamilton Hamilton may refer to: * Alexander Hamilton (1755/1757–1804), first U.S. Secretary of the Treasury and one of the Founding Fathers of the United States * ''Hamilton'' (musical), a 2015 Broadway musical by Lin-Manuel Miranda ** ''Hamilton'' (al ...

; his sons, Colin Campbell and Adam Jr., managed the operation there. Additional branches were opened in Preston,

Brantford Brantford ( 2021 population: 104,688) is a city in Ontario, Canada, founded on the Grand River in Southwestern Ontario. It is surrounded by Brant County but is politically separate with a municipal government of its own that is fully indep ...

Nelson Nelson may refer to: Arts and entertainment * ''Nelson'' (1918 film), a historical film directed by Maurice Elvey * ''Nelson'' (1926 film), a historical film directed by Walter Summers * ''Nelson'' (opera), an opera by Lennox Berkeley to a lib ...

and Dundas. Adam Ferrie played a central role in keeping the banks of the Clyde River open as a public right of way. He and four other people were awarded "The Reward of Public Spirit" for their efforts. Ferrie was a member of the Montreal Committee of Trade and helped form its successor, the Montreal Board of Trade, in 1842. He was appointed to the municipal council for Montreal in 1840 and, in 1841, to the

Legislative Council of the Province of Canada The Legislative Council of the Province of Canada () was the upper house for the Province of Canada, which consisted of the former provinces of Lower Canada, then known as Canada East and later the province of Quebec, and Upper Canada, then known ...

. Besides his involvement with politics, he also invested his time in the less fortunate members of the community, helping to aid victims of

cholera Cholera () is an infection of the small intestine by some Strain (biology), strains of the Bacteria, bacterium ''Vibrio cholerae''. Symptoms may range from none, to mild, to severe. The classic symptom is large amounts of watery diarrhea last ...

, mainly new immigrants, and forming a cooperative bakery so that bread could be purchased at reasonable prices. Ferrie helped form the City Bank of Montreal and held shares in the Gore Bank at Hamilton. He left Montreal for Hamilton in 1853 and died there in 1863.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Ferrie, Adam 1777 births 1863 deaths Members of the Legislative Council of the Province of Canada Anglophone Quebec people Scottish emigrants to pre-Confederation Quebec People from Irvine, North Ayrshire