Archief F 58 - Aikins - Sutherland family fonds

James Cox Aikins, P.C. (1823-1904) was a farmer, member of the Legislative Assembly and Legislative Council, a Senator, a member of various Federal Cabinets, and a Lieutenant-Governor of Manitoba.

James Aikins was born in Toronto and was educated at local school and Victoria College, Cobourg. He became a farmer in Peel County and in 1854 was elected as a member of the Ontario Legislative Assembly for Peel County, which he held until 1861. In 1862 he was elected to the Home District seat (Peel and Hamilton counties) in the Legislative Council, which he held until confederation. In May of 1867, he was called to the Senate of the new Dominion, and sat until May of 1882. In 1869 he was made a minister without portfolio, and was sworn in as a Privy Councillor and as Secretary of State for Canada. He held the post of Secretary of State until 1873, and was given the post again in 1878. In 1880 he was made Minister of the Interior, and in 1882 he became the Lieutenant-Governor of Manitoba and Keewatin, a term which expired in 1888. He turned to business activities until 1896, when he was recalled to the Senate.

Aikins was also treasurer of the Methodist Missionary Society and President of the Methodist Social Union. He also served as vice- president of the Ontario Prohibition Alliance.

In private business, Aikins held directorships in several companies, including the Freehold Loan and Savings Company, the Ontario Bank, the Loan and Deposit Company, the Manitoba and Northwest Loan Company, and the Trusts Corporation of Ontario.

In 1845, Aikins married Mary Elizabeth Somerset, by whom he had four daughters and three sons. The eldest daughter, Helena, married the Reverend Donald George Sutherland, son of Captain James Sutherland, in 1872.

Captain James Sutherland (d. 1857) was a ship's Captain on the Great Lakes, and a soldier in the Rebellion of 1837 as captain of the steamboat Traveller.

Captain James Sutherland was born in Hoy, Orkney Islands, Scotland, and at an early age entered into the service of the Hudson's Bay Company. After sailing in the Baltic and the South Atlantic, he moved to Canada where he captained several vessels on the Great Lakes. During the Rebellion of 1837, he operated the steamboat Traveller, and continued to operate it and other vessels on the Great Lakes until his death in the Desjardins Canal accident in 1857.

His son, Donald George Sutherland (1839-1895), was a lawyer and Methodist clergyman who married James Aikins' daughter, Helena Aikins.

Donald George Sutherland (1839-1895) was a lawyer and Methodist clergyman who married James Aikins' daughter, Helena Aikins.

Donald George Sutherland was born in Toronto and was educated at local schools in Hamilton and at Victoria University. After obtaining his B.A. in 1859, he began to study law in the office of Judge O'Reilly of Hamilton. He was admitted to the bar in 1862, and practised law for one year. He then gave up the legal profession to become a probationer in the Wesleyan Methodist Church. After his ordination in 1868, Sutherland held pastoral charges in several Ontario centres. He also occupied several church office, including secretary of the London Conference of 1883-4, and member of the General Conferences of 1878 and 1882-3. He continued his studies, and received an M.A. from the University of Victoria in 1869, and an LL.B. degree from the University of Toronto in 1873. He was also an ensign in the 8th Battalion of the Wentworth Regiment. In 1872 he married Helena Aikins, the daughter of James Cox Aikins. By the time of his death in 1895, he was a member of both the Board of Regents and the Senate of Victoria University.