James Baillie (1860 – April 7, 1935) was a woodworker, merchant, contractor and political figure in

Quebec Quebec is Canada's List of Canadian provinces and territories by area, largest province by area. Located in Central Canada, the province shares borders with the provinces of Ontario to the west, Newfoundland and Labrador to the northeast, ...

. He served as mayor of Aylmer from 1914 to 1916.

Personal life

He was the son of

Scottish Scottish usually refers to something of, from, or related to Scotland, including: *Scottish Gaelic, a Celtic Goidelic language of the Indo-European language family native to Scotland *Scottish English *Scottish national identity, the Scottish ide ...

immigrants who settled in Aylmer in 1850: James Baillie, a woodworker, and Elizabeth Gow. He married Jessie Catherine McIntosh. In 1890, with his brother William, he built a steam-powered

sawmill A sawmill (saw mill, saw-mill) or lumber mill is a facility where logging, logs are cut into lumber. Modern sawmills use a motorized saw to cut logs lengthwise to make long pieces, and crosswise to length depending on standard or custom sizes ...

. They also built boats and sold lumber. Baillie served on the Aylmer municipal council and on the South Hull township council. He also was a building contractor, building summer resorts on both sides of the

Ottawa River The Ottawa River (, ) is a river in the Canadian provinces of Ontario and Quebec. It is named after the Algonquin word "to trade", as it was the major trade route of Eastern Canada at the time. For most of its length, it defines the border betw ...

Death

Baillie died at home in Aylmer at the age of 75. The Baillie sawmill played an important role in the development of the town and continued to operate until 1940. A plaque marks its former location.

References

1860 births 1935 deaths Mayors of Aylmer, Quebec 20th-century mayors of places in Quebec {{Quebec-mayor-stub