Alexander Mackenzie and his Family: Building a Community, Making a Nation

Alexander Mackenzie rose from humble beginnings to become Canada’s second Prime Minister. He was born on January 28, 1822, at Logierait in Perthshire, Scotland, the third of ten brothers. He started working full-time at age 13 after the death of his father and trained as a stonemason. He immigrated to Canada with his sweetheart Helen Neil and her family in 1842.

For several years, Mackenzie worked as a foreman and contractor on building sites around Kingston and Montreal. He married Helen in 1845. The following year, Mackenzie was reunited with his mother and six surviving brothers in Sarnia. The extended Mackenzie family had considerable impact on their new country and community in the years to come.

Mackenzie was medium height and had a slender build, with kind blue eyes and fair hair. He was described as “a strong, vigorous, well-trained and well-disciplined man, who will undertake whatever work, of whatever kind, his hand may find to do, and will do it with his might.” He quickly found employment building homes and civic buildings. In Sarnia, these included the old courthouse and jail, the original Anglican church, and Mackenzie House on Christina Street (built for his brother John in 1861). Mackenzie edited the Lambton Shield, a liberal-minded paper that was a rival to the conservative-leaning Sarnia Observer. 

Mackenzie’s brothers also established themselves in Sarnia. Hope Fleming Mackenzie (1820-1866) was a carpenter and cabinetmaker who came to Sarnia to build ships. Several pieces of furniture that he built are now part of the museum’s collection. His impressive High Victorian breakfront sideboard is made of oak. Oak was not favoured in the 1860s, so it was stained to look like walnut. This piece is called a “game cupboard” because of the game birds in the design.

Hope was elected to Sarnia Council and became Sarnia’s second Mayor in 1857. During his tenure, a farmers’ market was built downtown at the corner of Lochiel and Victoria streets. It lasted for 90 years. Hope was elected to the House of Commons in 1859. According to historian Victor Lauriston, “Hope had the clear-sighted mentality of the Mackenzies.

In 1861, Hope declined to represent Lambton at the provincial Legislative Assembly. Alexander Mackenzie stepped up to the task. He held egalitarian anti-establishment views in line with the Reform (Liberal) movement and believed in individual enterprise and hard work. After confederation in 1867, he was elected to the House of Commons.

Before the federal election of 1872, Prime Minister John A. Macdonald came to Sarnia for a public meeting with Mackenzie. Macdonald arrived by gun boat from Goderich and was met by a crowd of thousands. Macdonald performed poorly during the debate, and paved Mackenzie’s path to victory in his home riding. Although Macdonald won that election, Canadians were becoming increasingly frustrated with the scandals surrounding his government. 

Several items in the museum collection are believed to have belonged to Alexander Mackenzie. They provide a glimpse into the life of an early Canadian politician. A desk, settee, footstool, and several pieces of china came from one of the Mackenzie family homes. Restoration work on the Mackenzie desk included returning it to the original colour and introducing a crackle in the new stain to give it an aged appearance. The ironstone “Hymena” pattern platter and plate were made by Wedgwood & Co. in Tunstall, England (not to be confused with the more famous Josiah Wedgwood & Sons Ltd.). 

Three crescent-shaped bone dishes in a brown “Blossom” pattern were made by Alfred Meakin at potteries also located in Tunstall.

The eldest Mackenzie brother, Robert (1818-1896) followed in the footsteps of Hope. Robert became Sarnia’s sixth mayor, serving from 1864 to 1866. He was described in the Sarnia Observer as “reserved in manner and unambitious of public honours, yet of high intelligence and good business capacity.” Outside of politics, Robert was a builder and businessman. He had a furniture business with his brother James (1831-1887). On the morning of July 13, 1879, a tornado tore through Sarnia. It lifted the roof off their furniture warehouse and slammed it into the hardware store owned by their brother Charles across the street. 

In 1848, John Mackenzie (1828-1877) and Charles Mackenzie (1833-1900) opened a store in John’s name to sell stove supplies. Alexander was a silent third partner. In the 1860s, John and Charles established the Liverpool Oil Company. They refined oil on Exmouth Street in Sarnia’s first refinery and exported it by ship. Charles lived a long life and was very involved in the community. Among many accomplishments, he was Reeve of Sarnia (1888-1894), a Member of Provincial Parliament, Chief Director of the St. Clair Tunnel Committee, founder and president of Lambton Trust Co., and founder of the Sarnia Consumer’s Gas Co. After John died in 1877, their store became known as Chas. Mackenzie & Co. The store lived on after Charles’s death as Mackenzie Milne.

After his term as Prime Minister, Alexander Mackenzie resigned from leadership of the Liberal Party. He remained a federal Member of Parliament until his death. His beloved wife Helen died in 1852. She succumbed to excessive doses of a mercury-based calomel used to treat marsh fever (likely malaria). Mackenzie meticulously recorded the facts of her death on the back of their marriage certificate. Their surviving child, a daughter named Mary, was three years old. Mackenzie remarried within two years. He met his second wife, Jane Sym, at the Baptist church in Sarnia. She was also a native of Perthshire. The couple were happily married for nearly forty years. Mackenzie frequently commented how much he hated to be away from her when travelling to fulfill his political duties.