Memorable Manitobans: Joseph Maw (1854-1916)

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Joseph Maw
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Implement and automobile merchant.

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Joseph Maw
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Born at Peel County, Ontario on 4 February 1854, son of Thomas Maw and Sarah Corbett, he received a common school education while helping his father farm and then took a course at the Commercial College, Toronto. At the age of seventeen he began an independent career as a travelling salesman for a manufacturing concern at Brampton, Ontario.

In 1882, he came to Winnipeg as general agent for the Massey Manufacturing Company, and represented the firm for four years in Manitoba and the North-West Territories. He moved to Calgary as manager for Massey & Company, where he was an organizer of the Calgary Exposition and Turf Association, and for a term a City Councillor.

Returning to Winnipeg he entered into partnership on 1 January 1892, with J. M. Ross of Hamilton, Ontario, in a carriage business named Ross & Maw. In 1896 he took over the entire business under the name Joseph Maw and Company. He was an enthusiastic pioneer motorist as a founding member of the Winnipeg Automobile Club and, in 1905, he won the Winnipeg Industrial Exposition five-mile open race.

In 1886, he married Mary Goodfellow (1858-1908) of Peel County, Ontario. They had four children: Evelyn Goodfellow Maw (1888-1969, wife of Robert G. Rogers), Joseph Stanley Maw (1889-1932), Kathleen Alberta Maw (1891-1955), and Thomas Gordon Maw (1897-1970). After his wife’s death, Maw married Elizabeth Strevel McLean (c1865-?), daughter of George Henry Strevel and widow of Daniel McLean.

In 1913, ill health forced his retirement and he died at Los Angeles, California on 31 July 1916. He was buried in the St. John’s Cathedral Cemetery.

See also:

Historic Sites of Manitoba: Maw Garage (111 Princess Street, Winnipeg)

Historic Sites of Manitoba: Maw Block (280 William Avenue, Winnipeg)

Sources:

Who’s Who in Western Canada: A Biographical Dictionary of Notable Living Men and Women of Western Canada, Volume 1, 1911. C. W. Parker, editor. Canadian Press Association, Vancouver.

A History of Manitoba: Its Resources and People by Prof. George Bryce, Toronto: The Canadian History Company, 1906.

The Leading Financial, Business & Professional Men of Winnipeg, published by Edwin McCormick, Photographs by T. J. Leatherdale, Compiled and printed by Stone Limited, c1913. [copy available at the Archives of Manitoba]

Pioneers and Early Citizens of Manitoba, Winnipeg: Manitoba Library Association, 1971.

This page was prepared by Gordon Goldsborough.

Page revised: 6 December 2016

Memorable Manitobans

Memorable Manitobans

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