Francis Cleary (November 9, 1840 – March 29, 1924) was an

Ontario Ontario is the southernmost Provinces and territories of Canada, province of Canada. Located in Central Canada, Ontario is the Population of Canada by province and territory, country's most populous province. As of the 2021 Canadian census, it ...

lawyer and political figure. He was mayor of the town of

Windsor, Ontario Windsor ( ) is a city in southwestern Ontario, Canada. It is situated on the south bank of the Detroit River directly across from the U.S city of Detroit, Detroit, Michigan. Geographically located within but administratively independent of Esse ...

from 1883 to 1885. He was born near

Enniskillen Enniskillen ( , from , ' Ceithlenn's island') is the largest town in County Fermanagh, Northern Ireland. It is in the middle of the county, between the Upper and Lower sections of Lough Erne. It had a population of 14,086 at the 2011 censu ...

County Fermanagh County Fermanagh ( ; ) is one of the thirty-two counties of Ireland, one of the nine counties of Ulster and one of six counties of Northern Ireland. The county covers an area of and had a population of 63,585 as of 2021. Enniskillen is the ...

Ireland Ireland (, ; ; Ulster Scots dialect, Ulster-Scots: ) is an island in the North Atlantic Ocean, in Northwestern Europe. Geopolitically, the island is divided between the Republic of Ireland (officially Names of the Irish state, named Irelan ...

in 1840, the son of Hugh Cleary, and came to

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 ...

Lower Canada The Province of Lower Canada () was a British colonization of the Americas, British colony on the lower Saint Lawrence River and the shores of the Gulf of Saint Lawrence established in 1791 and abolished in 1841. It covered the southern portion o ...

with his parents the following year. The family later moved to

Toronto Toronto ( , locally pronounced or ) is the List of the largest municipalities in Canada by population, most populous city in Canada. It is the capital city of the Provinces and territories of Canada, Canadian province of Ontario. With a p ...

where he was educated. Cleary was admitted to the practice of law in 1867 and set up practice in Windsor. In 1871, he married Rose C. Anderson. He served four years as a member of the city council including his term as mayor. He ran unsuccessfully for the federal seat in Essex North in 1887, losing to

James Colebrooke Patterson James Colebrooke Patterson, PC (1839 – February 17, 1929) was a Canadian politician. He served as a federal cabinet minister from 1892 to 1895 and as the sixth Lieutenant Governor of Manitoba from 1895 to 1900. Early life Patterson was ...

. In 1890, he was an unsuccessful candidate in the same riding for a seat in the provincial assembly. In 1901, he was appointed deputy clerk of the Crown, clerk of the County Court and Surrogate Registrar for Essex County. Cleary also served as president of the Essex County Historical Society.

External links

''Commemorative biographical record of the county of Essex, Ontario'' (1905)
{{DEFAULTSORT:Cleary, Francis 1840 births 1924 deaths Mayors of Windsor, Ontario Irish emigrants to Canada People from Enniskillen Politicians from County Fermanagh 19th-century mayors of places in Ontario