Farmer, municipal official.
Born in Tyendinaga Township, Hastings County, Ontario on 30 March 1845, a son of Irish immigrants George Sexsmith and Mary Smily, he was educated in local public schools. He came to Manitoba as part of the Wolseley Expedition but the sojourn was cut short by a broken leg. In June 1872, he returned to Manitoba, becoming one of the first farmers on the Boyne River when he took up a homestead near the present site of Carman.
In 1875, he married Flora Field (1859-1949, a daughter of Henry Field) and they had sixteen children: Russell Sexsmith (?-?), Jane Sexsmith (?-?), Mary Ellen Sexsmith (1878-1909, wife of James Skinner), Sarah Jane Sexsmith (1879-?), Maggie Sexsmith (1881-1962), George Russell Sexsmith (1883-?), Thomas A. Sexsmith (1885-?), Laurie Sexsmith (1887-?), William Sexsmith (1888-1916), John Alexander Sexsmith (1891-?), Fred Havelock Sexsmith (1892-1918), Colin Campbell Sexsmith (1895-1916), Flora Nethelia “Nettie” Sexsmith, Dorothy Sexsmith (1898-?), Bert Sexsmith (1900-?), and Nelson Sexsmith (1900-?). The family home in Carman is a municipal historic site.
Sexsmith was a councillor for the Rural Municipality of Dufferin from its organization in 1894. He served as its Reeve from 1890 to 1894, and from 1900 to around 1906. He was also a founding member of the local school board. He was a member of the Masons, Loyal Orange Lodge, Canadian Order of Foresters, and the Anglican church.
He died at Carman on 2 April 1912 and was buried in the Greenwood Cemetery.
See also:
Historic Sites of Manitoba: Dufferin Historical Society Museum (44 Kings Park Road, Carman)
1901 Canada census, Automated Genealogy.
A History of Manitoba: Its Resources and People by Prof. George Bryce, Toronto: The Canadian History Company, 1906.
Birth and death registrations, Manitoba Vital Statistics.
Obituaries and burial transcriptions, Manitoba Genealogical Society.
We thank Nathan Kramer for providing additional information used here.
This page was prepared by Gordon Goldsborough.
Page revised: 27 December 2020
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