Thomas Rodman Merritt (October 17, 1824 – January 11, 1906) was a Canadian businessman and political figure in

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 t ...

, later

Ontario Ontario ( ; ) is one of the thirteen provinces and territories of Canada.Ontario is located in the geographic eastern half of Canada, but it has historically and politically been considered to be part of Central Canada. Located in Central C ...

, Canada. He represented

Lincoln Lincoln most commonly refers to: * Abraham Lincoln (1809–1865), the sixteenth president of the United States * Lincoln, England, cathedral city and county town of Lincolnshire, England * Lincoln, Nebraska, the capital of Nebraska, U.S. * Linco ...

in the House of Commons of Canada as a Liberal member from 1868 to 1874. He was born in

Mayville, New York Mayville is a village in Chautauqua County, New York, United States. The population was 1,477 at the 2020 census, 13.7% less than in the 2010 census. Mayville is in the town of Chautauqua and is the county seat of Chautauqua County. The village ...

in 1824, the son of

William Hamilton Merritt William Hamilton Merritt (July 3, 1793July 5, 1862) was a businessman and politician in the Niagara Peninsula of Upper Canada in the early 19th century. Although he was born in the United States, his family was Loyalist and eventually settle ...

. He studied at

Upper Canada College Upper Canada College (UCC) is an elite, Single-sex education, all-boys, private school in Toronto, Ontario, operating under the International Baccalaureate program. The college is widely described as the country's most prestigious University-prep ...

and Grantham Academy in

St. Catharines St. Catharines is the largest city in Canada's Niagara Region and the sixth largest urban area in the province of Ontario. As of 2016, it has an area of , 136,803 residents, and a metropolitan population of 406,074. It lies in Southern Ontario ...

. In 1839, he was working at a store in St. Catharines. In 1843, he opened a general store there in partnership with James Rea Benson. The partners bought

flour mills A gristmill (also: grist mill, corn mill, flour mill, feed mill or feedmill) grinds cereal grain into flour and middlings. The term can refer to either the grinding mechanism or the building that holds it. Grist is grain that has been separated ...

and had two ships built to transport flour. The partnership split up in 1849 and Merritt kept the mills and ships. In 1850, he set up a shipping line that transported goods to

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 independ ...

and returned to St. Catharines with wheat. In 1853, he married Mary Benson, the daughter of his former partner's brother Thomas Benso

Merritt served on the St. Catharines town council from 1857 to 1859. He was elected in an 1868 by-election to represent Lincoln in the House of Commons and was reelected in 1872. In 1869, his mills and ships were sold to the firm of Norris and Sylvester Neelon, Neelon. Merritt served as vice-president of the Niagara District Bank and became vice-president of the Imperial Bank of Canada after the two banks merged. He was also president of several companies in the area, including the Niagara Falls Suspension Bridge Company and the St Catharines Gas Light Company. He retired from politics in 1874. He helped found Bishop Ridley College at St. Catharines and served as president from 1888 to 1899. He died in St. Catharines in 1906. His former home, Rodman Hall, now serves as an art gallery.

External links

Biography at the ''Dictionary of Canadian Biography Online''
* {{DEFAULTSORT:Merritt, Thomas 1824 births 1906 deaths Members of the House of Commons of Canada from Ontario Liberal Party of Canada MPs People from Mayville, New York Merritt, Thomas Rodman