Notes
Result: Identified
John William McRae, was the eldest son of Scottish-born miller John McRae and his wife Catherine McLeod, of Renfrew, ON. John was born in Horton Township on January 31, 1848. He learned the milling trade from his father before moving to Montreal, and then relocating to Ottawa upon becoming an agent with the Montreal-based Ottawa and Rideau Forwarding Company. In 1875 he established the J.W. McRae and Company coal merchants. He also served as an alderman for St. George's Ward.
In 1883 John added pig-iron, piping, and other items to his coal yard stock, working with partners Denis Murphy and Cassius Ray. He later became an associate of Warren Soper and Thomas Ahearn, founders of the Ottawa Electric Light Company, and later the Ottawa Electric Company, of which he was the Vice President in 1899. The partnership soured, and later that same year he became the chief promoter of Consumers' Electric, the chief rival of the Ottawa Electric Company. During the Great Fire of 1900 much of the company's manufacturing was destroyed, as well as the paper-making and carbide mills that McRae had previously established at the Chaudi�re Falls.
Ever active, McRae was also involved with the Canadian Railway Accident Insurance Company, McRae Trading, Prescott Elevator, Ottawa Car, and several others. In his personal life, John was the President of the Ottawa Amateur Athletic Association in 1892-93, and his family lodge in Pontiac, PQ, is among one of the oldest logs cabins in that area. A plaque in his memory was installed above the lodge's fireplace.
He died in November after 1901 after accidentally shooting himself while cleaning his pistol in the bathroom of the Canadian Railway Accident Insurance offices. His funeral was attended by many of the city's most prominent citizens; businesses closed along Wellington Street as his procession passed.