Helen Neil b. 21 October 1826 d. 4 January 1852

From Rodovid EN

Events

21 October 1826 birth: Irvine, Ayr, Scotland/Irvine, Scotland

6 November 1826 christening: Relief Congregation, Irvine, Ayr, Scotland

28 March 1845 marriage: Kingston (Ontario), Canada, St. George's Anglican Church, ♂ Alexander Mackenzie [Mackenzie] b. 28 January 1822 d. 17 April 1892

25 June 1846 child birth: Sarnia (Ontario), Canada, ♀ Mary Mackenzie [Mackenzie] b. 25 June 1846 d. 29 May 1847

25 August 1848 child birth: Sarnia (Ontario), Canada, ♀ Mary Mackenzie [Mackenzie] b. 25 August 1848 d. 9 May 1920

3 April 1850 child birth: Sarnia (Ontario), Canada, ♂ William Mackenzie [Mackenzie] b. 3 April 1850 d. 29 August 1850

4 January 1852 death: Port Sarnia, Ontario, Canada 7:45 PM, deterioration after overdoses of calomel administered by a drunken doctor during

burial: Lakeview Cemetery, Sarnia, Ontario, Canada

Notes

HELEN NEIL Sex: F Event(s): Christening: 6 Nov 1826 Relief Congregation, Irvine, Ayr, Scotland Parents: Father: WILLIAM NEIL Mother: JEAN GIBSON Batch number: Dates Source Call No. Type Printout Call No. Type C190801 1778-1831 0889478 Film 6901801 Film

When Alexander was working in Irvine around 1841, he met his beloved Helen.

As there was no room left in Alexander's file this has been added to Helen's file Source: http://www.nlc-bnc.ca/primeministers/h4-2016-e.html In the 1870s, following complaints by Alexander Mackenzie that he had to answer his own mail, a secretary was assigned to the prime minister. A century later, the Prime Minister's Office (PMO) and the Privy Council Office outgrew the East Block and were moved to the Langevin Block. For our leaders, the growth of the PMO and the Cabinet secretariat merely allowed them to keep pace with an expanding government.

The following from: http://www.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alexander_Mackenzie Alexander Mackenzie From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia. Alexander Mackenzie was the second Prime Minister of Canada from November 7, 1873 to October 8, 1878. He was born on January 28, 1822 in Logierait, Scotland. He emigrated to Canada in 1842 after completing an education in public schools at Perth, Moulin, and Dunkeld, Scotland. Mackenzie married Helen Neil (1826-1852) in 1845 and with her had three children, with only one girl surviving infancy. In 1853 he married Jane Sym (1825-1893). He led the Liberal party from 1873-1880 and became Prime Minister of Canada in 1873, ousting John A Macdonald from power largely because of the damage done to Macdonald's Conservative party when the Pacific scandal occurred. He remained Prime Minister until 1878, when the Conservatives came back into power. As Prime Minister, Alexander Mackenzie strove to reform and simplify the machinery of government. He introduced the secret ballot, created the Supreme Court of Canada, established the Royal Military College of Canada in Kingston, Ontario in 1874; created the Office of the Auditor General in 1878; and struggled to launch the national railway. At the time, it was customary for the British monarch to knight all Canadian Prime Ministers. But Scottish memories run deep and Alexander Mackenzie declined all offers of a British knighthood. He died in Toronto, Ontario on April 17, 1892 and is buried in the Lakeview Cemetery, Sarnia, Ontario.

The following from: http://web.rbe.sk.ca/cyber2002/life/stratton/amackenzie.html Alexander Mackenzie Alexander was born in Perthshire,Scotland on the 28, January, 1822 . He came to Canada in 1842, because his sweetheart Helen Neil had emigrated to Canada with her parents earlier. He was a stonemason and found employment quickly. In order to support his family he left school at thirteen and learned the trade of a stonemason., but he continued to study on his own. His education included the study of literature, history, science, philosophy and politics. He was a self taught man. As a stonemason in Canada he worked to build a bomb - proof stone arch at Fort Henry in Kingston.He also worked on the Beauharnois Canal near Montreal, the Welland Canal,the Episcopal Church and bank in Sarnia. Many of the monuments are still visible today. He married his sweetheart Helen Neil in 1845, afrer a three year courtship. They had three children.Two of their children died in infancy and only a daughter remained. Helen died in 1852. He remarried Jane Sym in 1853 and died in 1893. He became a contractor and in 1852 to 1854. In 1852 to 1854 he became became an editor of the Lambton Shield and persued a career in journalism. He was attracted to democratic reform and the Lambton Shield was a Reform newspaper. He was first elected as a Reform member to the Provencial Assembly in 1861. Reform was a fore runner of the Liberal Party in Canada. In 1866 he joined the military and became Major, 27th Lambton Volunteer Infantry. He was elected to fedral Parliament in 1873. In the same year a scandle broke accusing the Conservative party of accepting bribes for railway contracts under then Prime Minister,Sir. John A. Macdonald.The Conservatives resigned and Alexander Mackenzie became leader of Liberal Party . An election in 1874 gave him the mandate to govern as Canada's second prime minister. In those days such a position as prime minister was offered to people of privilege. Alexander Mackenzie was a person from the working class,but he had educated himself on several subjects such as history, philosophy and politics to name a few. Lord Dufferin, the Governor General at the time had some reservations but soon changed his mind in favour of Alexander Mackenzie. He also became the minister of Public Works and oversaw the completion of the Parliment Buildings. He included a ciurcular staircase leading from his office to the outside of the building.He did this to avoid patronage seekers wating for him in his anti - chambers. He disliked patronage which was part of politics. He was offered the knight hood three times and refused it because he was proud of being from the working class. The Supreme Court of Canada was established to reform the electorial system,thus introducing secret ballot.The 1878 election was lost because the government was blamed for the recession.In 1880 Mackenzie gave up the Liberal leadership but remained in parliment until his death in 1892.

MacKENZIE Helen Lakeview, Sarnia Lambton Sarnia LB-197-2

The Scot in British North America Chapter V Canada from 1840 to 1867 Part B The Hon. Alexander Mackenzie was born on the 28th of January, 1822, at Logierait, near the confluence of the Tay and the Tummel, in one of the most picturesque districts of the Perthshire Highlands. His father was an architect and contractor, and he was designed for the same occupation, beginning, as is the practical fashion in Scotland, with a solid grounding in masonry. He had previously finished his preliminary education, for thereafter he was the director of his own studies at the old cathedral city of Dunkeld and at Perth. His father died in 1836, leaving behind him seven sons, all of whom subsequently settled in Canada. Of these, Mr. Mackenzie was the third; another who entered public life, with great promise, Mr. Hope F. Mackenzie, sat for Lambton and North Oxford, but was too early called away. In 1842, he emigrated to Canada, and was joined by the brother just mentioned, in the following year; and four years after the remaining five also settled in Ontario. Mr. Alexander Mackenzie’s first place of residence was Kingston, where he worked as a journeyman, setting up soon after as a builder and contractor, on his own account. This was at Sarnia, in Western Ontario, and there, at a time when the tide of political passion ran high, he settled down to the serious work of life. A Whig in Scotland, he brought his Liberal principles with him, and naturally opposed the reactionary views of Lord Metcalfe. In 1848, he hailed the accession of Messrs. Baldwin and Lafontaine to office with delight; but, like Mr. Brown, felt dissatisfied with the Hincks-Morin Cabinet which succeeded them. In 1852, the Lambton Shield appeared at Sarnia, with Mr. Mackenzie as editor. For two years he fought through its columns, and when the Observer—transferred from Lanark—appeared, the Shield dropped out of existence. Mr. Hope Mackenzie was the first of the family who entered Parliament. He had been defeated in 1857, by Mr. Malcolm Cameron, but, in 1859, he was elected. In 1861, as his brother, on business grounds, declined re-election, Mr. Alexander Mackenzie entered Parliament for the same constituency. Mr. Hope Mackenzie afterwards sat for North Oxford, if we mistake not, up to the time of his death.

In Parliament, Mr. Mackenzie soon made his mark, not so much by eloquence, as by the plain, honest and firm statement of his opinions. He supported Mr. Sandfield Macdonald, because he saw in his continuance in office the only hope of the Reform party. When the project of Confederation took definite shape, he strongly favoured it; yet so persistent were his opinions that he felt considerable dislike to the coalition of 1864. Nevertheless, he gave the new experiment a fair trial, for the sake of the principle at stake. [Both the brothers Mackenzie voted for Confederation in 1865, with the majority.] When Mr. Brown retired from office, Mr. Mackenzie was offered the vacant Presidency of the Council, but declined; simply because he entirely approved of his leader’s action. In 1867, on the defeat of Mr. Brown, in South Ontario, Mr. Mackenzie succeeded to the leadership of the Opposition. What followed belongs to a subsequent chapter. Meanwhile, we may note the chief events in the hon. gentleman’s career up to the present time. Between December 1871, and October, 1872, he filled the office of Treasurer of Ontario, in Mr. Blake’s administration. The passage of Mr. Costigan’s Bill directed against "dual representation," forced both leaders to make their choice between the Houses, and they elected to sit in the Dominion Parliament. In 1873, Sir John Macdonald resigned in consequence of the Pacific Railway troubles, to which we shall have occasion to revert hereafter. Mr. Mackenzie, as the leader of the Opposition, became Premier in November, 1873, and held that high office until October, 1878, when, the party having suffered defeat at the polls, his Cabinet resigned. Since then, he has been in Opposition, but continued leader of the party until 1880, when he was succeeded by Mr. Blake.

The salient characteristics of Mr. Mackenzie are not far to seek. The secret of his success in public life has been staunch adhesion to principle, reinforced by an earnest and unwavering advocacy of it. As a speaker, he is, perhaps, seen at his best in the collection of speeches he delivered in Scotland during his Premiership. They were expository, informing and impressive, glowing with a fervid enthusiasm, essentially patriotic. In Canada, as a statesman, Mr. Mackenzie’s temper has often been severely tried by imputations he felt were undeserved, and which he naturally repelled with indignation. When he took office, he was entirely a novice, and yet his practical sagacity and common sense carried him through the bulk of the difficulties which encompassed him. No Minister ever worked harder in his department than Mr. Mackenzie; for it was not in him to "scamp" work. He has often been accused of narrowness of view, and impatience of dissent; but so far as the charge is true, it is a fault of temperament, and not of heart. The most earnest men are not usually the most tolerant; indeed the absence of stern and uncompromising fidelity to principle is as frequently as not an evidence of the absence of principle altogether. The facile spirit which tolerates all opinions is sometimes, though not always, the sign that earnest conviction is not to be looked for. Mr. Mackenzie is a warm partisan by nature and training, and could be no other than he is. His faults lie on the surface, open to criticism; and these have too often been dwelt upon by writers who do not care to sound the depth of solid worth that constitutes his chief claim to public esteem and regard. Source: http://www.electricscotland.com/history/canada/scot/chapter18.htm

He received the freedom of Perth and Dundee and on July 20th he returned to Logierait where a special banquet was prepared in his honour. In return, Mr Mackenzie gave his audience a rip roaring speech on the subject of the USA “he expressed his friendly feelings towards the United States. While he would not say an unjust word of the United States in order to magnify his own country, the sight of their flag, the stars and stripes, could not prevent him from bringing to mind that Canada was the only absolute free country on the whole of the North American continent; he could not forget that Canada alone was the friend of the downtrodden and oppressed; he could not forget that while the United States trafficked in flesh and blood they in Canada exercised their whole energies in the opposite direction. They had no reason to be grateful to the United States for anything. Source: http://www.perthshirediary.com/html/day0720.html

1875 Alexander Mackenzie Speech at Dundee

A SPEECH GIVEN IN DUNDEE, SCOTLAND BY ALEXANDER MACKENZIE July 13, 1875 Mr. MACKENZIE, who was received with loud and prolonged applause, said, - My Lord Provost, my Lords, and gentlemen, I feel very proud of the kindness shown to me by the events of the previous part of this day, and this entertainment, and by the kind remarks that you and some other gentlemen have made regarding my visit to this country. I not only feel grateful at present, but it will be a green day in my memory to the last day of my life. I only hope what some have been pleased to say may be the case, that improved commercial intercourse between Canada and this country may result, perhaps not from my visit, but from information I may be able to get. There is much to be said at a meeting of this kind, but I do not think it would be proper to go into any general discussion about the situation of Canada at the present moment. The gallant Colonel on my right was pleased to refer to military matters in connection with this country and in connection with Canada, and the relation that Canada bears to the Empire. I need not say we consider ourselves in Canada to be quite as much belonging to the Empire as any part of Great Britain or Ireland. We have, in fact, in Canada ceased to speak of the possibility of anything else ever taking place than a continuance of the intimate political relationship which at present exists. We believe it is quite consistent for England's greatness and Canada's happiness that this relationship should continue. We believe, as I stated in my remarks today in the other hall, that there is room on the American Continent for two political systems. We have long ago made up our minds to that, and this relationship will continue, no doubt; and I am sure that the same reciprocal feelings will not only be entertained but maintained by every person on this side of the Atlantic. We have had our little trials. The gallant Colonel, in speaking of the condition of the volunteers in England, alluded to the necessity that existed in Canada for something like an active force. We have a force of about 45,000 men-a force which could be turned out in a short time-and I shall only mention one fact-in connection with the second Fenian raid in 1870, when the Commander-in-Chief of our Militia, Colonel Ross-Robertson, was able to turn out nearly 20,000 men in 24 hours upon the frontier, and not merely 20,000 men, but 20,000 fairly drilled, equipped and clothed, of all arms of the service-cavalry, infantry, artillery and rifles. (Applause). To that efficient organization of our militia system we undoubtedly owed the salvation of the country at the time. After that one night's business-for I may say that I was out with the rest of my colleagues - we were secured from further molestation on the part of the Fenian bands in the United States, and we also destroyed all hope on the part of United States politicians that anything like a separation of the country could be attained by any means whatever in the power of man, unless it should be a desire on the part of England to separate from us. (Applause.) We believe in that country we have the means of building up a great and powerful nationality; and although all new countries are perhaps a little inclined to boast and somewhat inclined to feel a little too proud of their position, we believe we have a territory to occupy which will justify some brilliant hopes. We have a will to occupy it in all its parts; and although it is somewhat difficult for a handful of people such as we are compared to you-for we are not quite one-eighth part of your population-to occupy a territory so vast as ours, still we feel that by the natural increase of the population, and by the efforts of our emigration agents in Europe, we will be able in the course of a few years to throw a vast population into the country so sparsely inhabited at present. (Applause.) I may mention, as an example of the difficulties which we have to encounter in maintaining law and order in so vast a territory, that we have between the Rocky Mountains and Lake of the Woods 1,000 miles of territory from east to west, by 500 miles from south to north, fit for settlement, almost wholly unoccupied, excepting some; 20,000 or 30,000 people in the Province of Manitoba. There are some 50,000 Indians. This country was infested for years by traders from the United States selling intoxicating liquor to the .Indians, and causing much disturbance in our relations with them by keeping up a constant irritation on the frontier, and debauchery and war amongst the Indian tribes. The Government determined to send a force of Mounted Police, armed as cavalry, to establish law and order. This force was organized and sent, and you may imagine what sort of country it is when I tell you that it took six weeks marching from one end to the other along the frontier to reach the base of the Rocky Mountains. It accomplished its mission, however; order was completely established; and I was informed by a resident at Fort Benton, in the upper part of the Missouri country (in the United States), that they never knew on the frontier what it was to have order established till the Canadian troops did so. (Applause.) We hope in-the course of a comparatively short time to be able to enter that great territory by means of a railroad now under construction. It was one of the last things I did before leaving home, as Minister of Public Works, to let out by contract two or three hundred miles of the road for construction, and thousands of men are now engaged upon it in the wilderness north and west of Lake Superior, tracking out a way in which thousands will follow them-some to settle, some to work upon the railway, but all to extend the dominion of Canada and the dominion of Great Britain in those remote countries described by Butler as " The Great Lone Land." We hope that the efforts made by the Canadian Government will result in obtaining for the country such a population as may be amply sufficient in the course of a short time to develop some of its principal resources. (Applause.) We believe these resources to be great and that if we are favoured at all by fortune, we will have a most flourishing and industrious population in these new territories, occupying them to the common advantage of Canada and of Great Britain. You were pleased to refer to my political opinions upon one subject; and while I quite concur with you that in such a meeting it is perhaps improper to speak of local politics, still I think in the higher branches of political life we may refer to political principles. I take the true meaning of the term free trade to be the complete removal of all restrictions upon trade so far as that can possibly be done. I believe myself that the principles of Richard Gobden, and the principles of free trade over the world, are the real principles of civilization; and I believe that wherever these principles are interfered with by restrictions on trade by artificial means, to that extent there is retrogression from the higher principles of civilization. (Applause.) That, I think, is the view generally taken by the people of Canada. We have amongst us, no doubt, as you have amongst you, people who have the idea that the true trade principle is to build up a high stone and lime wall to prevent people coming in or going out ; who say;-"Let us keep the trade to ourselves, and keep the money in our own country." But we cannot do that-we can only make money by trading with other nations and individuals, and I quite appreciate your suggestion, my Lord Provost, that the people of Dundee and Canada should endeavour to trade a little more in the future then they have done in the past. (Applause.) I assure you that nothing will be wanting to that end on the part of the Canadian Government so long as I have the honour of being one of its members; and I believe no Canadian Government, whatever the political party, will attempt to hinder the extension of the true principle of free trade all over the world. We believe we will be in a position in the course of a few years to do a great deal of your business. We believe we shall be able, by way of the Pacific Ocean, to carry your tea across our railway, and to transport your goods to China by a much shorter route than at present. If we do that, you will obtain some advantages in return for wherever a large amount of business is transacted there must be a large amount of profit to somebody. (Laughter and applause.) A parliamentary friend of mine was privately discussing this subject with me. He said,-"The country is going to ruin; the balance of trade is against us. How can we continue to go on in this way many more years ? Our exports last year were so many millions, and our imports so many millions more, and we are poorer by the difference between the imports and exports." I said,-" We cannot be poorer, because the difference between the exports and imports represents the profits we have made. You send a cargo of ten thousand barrels of flour to Spain, which would cost fifty thousand dollars, and you sell it for ninety thousand; with this ninety thousand you buy other products and bring them back to Canada. The balance of trade would be against you in this case to the extent of forty thousand dollars, which would also be the exact amount of profit on the transaction. In this way you account for the difference of import and export. But do you-mean to say you are poorer?" (Applause.) This is the way advocates of restriction argue. We say the more trade there is, and the more the balance of trade seems against us, the more likely are we to obtain large profits, and the profits again are invested in loans to other countries, and in forwarding enterprises for the general benefit of the country. Everybody now admires the genius of Richard Cobden- and his associates; everyone-Conservative or Liberal-understands that it would never do to go back to the old days of trading, when vessels were charged with tonnage dues, and when it was necessary to construct them in a most unshapely fashion for exemption purposes, so that one of these old-time protectionist ships could only be moved in a harbour by having a tug on both sides to keep her upright. Now every one builds after his own fashion, and the rapidity in ocean transport which now prevails would never have taken place had this restriction remained. I am sure that in Canada the people appreciate this principle, and the general intelligence which prevails over that country is such that I am sure there is no danger of a reactionary policy ever finding a response in the hearts of any considerable number of our people. (Applause ) I feel obliged to you and the other gentlemen of Dundee for their kindness in welcoming me, as they have done, back to my native country. (Applause.) It is quite true that I am a native of Perthshire, and pretty far north, and it is equally true that I shall always feel a sincere affection for Scotland, and Perthshire in particular; but I am quite sure of this, that in our great colonies, and I trust also in England, there is every opportunity for those who desire to rise in political and social life, and who trust to their own unaided exertions. There is no royal road in Canada or in any other colony to any position of eminence, either in University, political, or commercial success. Everything must be got by hard labour, and I would be sorry to make an impression upon any one here or elsewhere that we have not as many difficulties to contend with there as you have to contend with here; but it is satisfactory to know that in the colonies, And I hope in England as well, there is a fair field and no favour, and every manly and independent mind will rejoice that there is, that fair field and will ask nothing more. The days of monopolies are ended; the days of class legislation, when one class was set over another, are ended; and I am glad to see that exemplified here tonight in the presence of two members of the most aristocratic and most powerful House of Parliament that has ever existed anywhere-the House of Peers of England. (Loud applause.) I apprehend your member will agree with me when I say that while the House of Commons does represent, in consequence of its electoral character, the power and influence of the kingdom in a sense somewhat different from the House of Lords, that yet the House of Lords has maintained its character for ability and power and eloquence in dealing with all public questions. Whatever may be said of some of the people of Canada and the other colonies as being more democratic than it is possible for this country to be, yet we are not so democratic as to refuse to listen to the voice of reason. We are not so democratic as to ignore the best means of govering a country, both as British subjects interested in the welfare of her people and as colonists specially interested in the government of our own country. I believe that the colonies are essential to British supremacy in the world. I don't say so because we are desirous of the slightest favour financially from Great Britain. We are able and willing, God knows, to bear our full share of all Imperial responsibility whenever required for the common interest. And we are doing so at the present moment. I believe that the power of ancient Rome departed when they began to desert the extremities and when the blood receded to the centre and produced a gorging that ended in paralysis. And if Great Britain cuts off her extremities, treats her colonies with contumely, or treats them in such a way that they don't care to remain, then I believe that a great portion of Great Britain's glory will have departed. (Applause.) I am as anxious as it is possible for any British subject to be that that glory should be unsullied, that that power should never be abridged, and that English supremacy shall last till the end of time, because it means universal freedom, universal liberty, emancipation from everything degrading. If that power is broken, and other Powers come in and take a share of the historical supremacy which peculiarly belongs to us, then I believe it will be worse for the world, and I am sure worse for England. If there is one thing I would desire to press more than another upon a British audience, it is that we are extremely anxious upon this point, and that we are extremely willing to do our full share in everything that may be necessary to maintain the status quo. (Applause.) I have little more to say, but I thank our, sir, most sincerely, and the other gentlemen present, for the kind words they have spoken. I receive them not so much for myself as for my friends in the Government in Canada and for my countrymen in Canada, and I can assure you that the kind words you have spoken will leave a lasting impression upon my mind. (Loud and prolonged applause.) Source: http://207.61.100.164/candiscover/cantext/speech/1875macd.html

[edit] Sources

1. ↑ Alexander Mackenzie: Clear Grit by Dale C. Thomson 1960 MacMillan Company of Canada Ltd. Toronto - 32
2. ↑ A Cyclopedia of Canadian Biography : by George MacLean Rose : 1886 - see alex3.pdf
3. ↑ FamilySearch.org- International Genealogical Index - British Isles -

From grandparents to grandchildren