Memorable Manitobans: Franklin Lightcap (1848-1924)

Farmer, businessman.

Born in Hazel Green, Wisconsin on 12 November 1848, third in a family of eight children of Solomon Lightcap and Sarah Lowe. On 22 February 1870, he married Susan Ann Williams and farmed until 1873 when the family moved to Dawson County, Nebraska and bought a ranch. He raised cattle and sheep for a time but quit due to poor health. In 1880 he went to Chicago and became a buyer in an animal hide plant. He was dispatched to Winnipeg to establish a branch of the firm, arriving in May 1882. He found that freight rates and duty were prohibitively high so the business operated for only three years, when he began buying hides for the Toronto firm of John Hallam. Three years later, he struck out as an independent hide buyer. The Lightcaps eventually had five children: Oliver F. Lightcap (father of Jack S. Lightcap), Bloomie Laura Lightcap, Herbert U. Lightcap, Winona M. Lightcap, and Elmer E. Lightcap. He was a member of the Ancient Order of United Workmen and the Congregationalist Church.

He died at Winnipeg on 21 April 1924 and was buried in Elmwood Cemetery.

Sources:

Death registration, Manitoba Vital Statistics.

The Story of Manitoba by F. H. Schofield, Winnipeg: The S. J. Clarke Publishing Company, 1913.

Obituary, Manitoba Free Press, 22 April 1924, page 7.

This page was prepared by Gordon Goldsborough.

Page revised: 27 December 2009

Memorable Manitobans

Memorable Manitobans

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