Pioneer, farmer.
Born at Kildonan, Manitoba on 14 January 1874, son of John Matheson, he moved into the Springfield district with his parents at the age of six. A descendant of Lord Selkirk settlers, he spent the duration of his life on his parents’ farm. He contributed to the early development of the area by hauling gravel from Bird’s Hill for the first buildings at the Transcona shops of the Canadian National Railway and materials for T. Eaton company buildings in Winnipeg. Along with other family members, he operated the first steam-threshing outfit in the Springfield district.
An active Liberal, he was first elected in 1918 serving 26 years as a member of the Springfield municipal council. He was a Liberal candidate for the Springfield constituency in the 1932 provincial general election. He retired from politics in 1946. A life-long member of the Springfield Presbyterian Church and later the United Church, he was also a member of the session and superintendant of the Sunday school. He also held memberships in the Transcona lodge 123, G.R.M., AF & AM, and the Transcona chapter of the Royal Arch Masons. He and his wife Isobel Mary Gunn, whom he married in November 1902, shared two sons: Archie Matheson and John G. Matheson.
He died in September 1948 and was buried in a family plot at Old Kildonan Cemetery.
1911 Canada census, Automated Genealogy.
“J. A. Matheson, Springfield pioneer, dies,” Winnipeg Free Press, 14 September 1948.
“A pioneer citizen passes,” Winnipeg Free Press, 23 September 1948. [Manitoba Legislative Library, Biographical Scrapbook B10, page 51]
This page was prepared by Sarah Ramsden and Gordon Goldsborough.
Page revised: 23 June 2018
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