Pharmacist, municipal official.
Born at Bright, Ontario on 21 March 1876, son of Henry Hewitt and Ellen Riesberry, he was educated at Bright Public School and Woodstock Collegiate. He came to Manitoba in 1893 and engaged in the drug business with W. Harrison at Neepawa and A. Young & Company at Wawanesa. In 1898, he graduated from the Manitoba College of Pharmacy and worked at Neepawa, Roland, and Morden. He moved to Melita in February 1901 and purchased the drug business of A. N. Pope, operating a pharmacy until retirement in 1930 when he moved to Winnipeg.
On 11 September 1902, he married Margaret Catherine McKerchar (1875-1950) at Winnipeg and they had two daughters, Margaret Bernice Hewitt (1906-1970) and Mary Melba Hewitt (1911-1973, wife of Charles T. Wellman, mother-in-law of Ronald C. Kirbyson). Elected to Melita town council, he served for two years and was elected Mayor of Melita by acclamation, serving from 1924 to 1925. He was a member of the Masons (Oriental Lodge No. 54), Granite Curling Club, Presbyterian church, Conservative party, Melita Board of Trade (President), and Melita School Board (six years). He took a keen interest in sports, played lacrosse on a Roland team (intermediate champions), and was a prominent curler, playing in local and Winnipeg bonspiels.
He died at Winnipeg on 18 May 1941 and was buried in the Kildonan Presbyterian Cemetery.
Marriage registration, Manitoba Vital Statistics.
Pioneers and Prominent People of Manitoba, Winnipeg: Canadian Publicity Company, 1925.
“James Hewitt, druggist, dies,” Winnipeg Tribune, 20 May 1941, page 17.
Obituary [Margaret Beatrice Hewitt], Winnipeg Free Press, 7 January 1970, page 36.
Obituary [Mary Melba Wellman], Winnipeg Free Press, 12 October 1973, page 29.
Obituaries and burial transcriptions, Manitoba Genealogical Society.
This page was prepared by Gordon Goldsborough.
Page revised: 27 October 2019
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