Lumber merchant.
Born at Dalton, Minnesota in 1885, son of William Henry McWilliams and Carrie Jane Pinkney (1862-1921), he came to Winnipeg in 1902 and rose to become Vice-President and General Manager of the Monarch Lumber Company. In 1946, he retired from active participation in the business but served on its board of directors until his death. He also served on the boards of the Toronto General Trusts Corporation, Winnipeg General Hospital, Western Grocers Limited, Canadian Consolidated Grain Company, and Wesley College. On 18 June 1913, he married Pearl Alma Maud Spink (1886-1962), daughter of Samuel Spink, and they had four children: Margaret Jean McWilliams (1915-2003, wife of John H. Kilgour), Rosemary McWilliams (1917-2007, wife of Allan Douglas Bracken), Jocelyn McWilliams (1919-2017, wife of Edward A. Lemon), and William Henry “Bill” McWilliams (1924-2009). He was a member of the St. Charles Country Club, Winnipeg Winter Club, Pine Ridge Golf Club, Manitoba Club, and St. Stephen’s Broadway Church. He died at his Winnipeg home, 81 Roslyn Road, on 17 April 1949 and was buried in the Elmwood Cemetery.
See also:
Historic Sites of Manitoba: Maclan Cottage (253 Gimli Road, Dunnottar)
Birth and marriage registrations, Manitoba Vital Statistics.
“H. C. McWilliams, lumber merchant, executive, dies,” Winnipeg Tribune, 18 April 1949, page 4.
Obituary [Margaret Jean Kilgour], Winnipeg Free Press, 1 December 2003.
Obituary [Rosemary Bracken], Winnipeg Free Press, 24 February 2007.
Obituary [William Henry McWilliams], Winnipeg Free Press, 19 September 2009.
Obituary [Jocelyn Lemon], Winnipeg Free Press, 5 August 2017.
We thank Rose Kuzina for providing additional information used here.
This page was prepared by Gordon Goldsborough.
Page revised: 10 February 2024
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