James William Scallion
| James William Scallion | |
|---|---|
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|
| Born |
14 February 1842 County Wexford, Ireland |
| Died | 24 April 1926 (aged 84) Virden, Manitoba, Canada |
| Nationality | Irish, Canadian |
| Occupation | Farmer |
| Known for | Manitoba Grain Growers' Association |
James William Scallion (14 February 1842 - 24 April 1926) was an Irish-born Canadian teacher, farmer and agrarian activist. He was the founder of the Manitoba Grain Growers' Association.
James William Scallion was born on 14 February 1842 in County Wexford, Ireland. He was the first son of William Scallion and Catherine O'Donohue. His family immigrated to Upper Canada around 1850 and settled near Ancaster in the Hamilton area. He attended the Toronto Normal School in 1867, and then taught school for five years. By 1871 his family had moved to Delaware, Middlesex County. He joined his family in Thorold, Ontario the next year, where he and his brother ran a store.
In 1882 Scallion moved with his siblings to Stonewall, Manitoba. In 1883 they moved to Virden, Manitoba, on the main line of the Canadian Pacific Railway in the southwest of Manitoba. There they bought 960 acres that they called "The Grange", where they successfully farmed grain and cattle. They were the first to buy a farm in the area, as opposed to homesteading. Scallion, his brother and two sisters built substantial stone buildings on the property, which was 2 miles (3.2 km) north of the village. None of them married. Visitors to the district would be taken to visit the Scallions to see an example of what could be done with the land. In 1891 Scallion and other leading men of the district set up the Farmer's Institute in Virden.
The Manitoba Grain Act was passed in 1901, designed to ensure fair practices and prices in the booming grain trade in the prairie provinces of Canada. There was a bumper crop that year, and farmers found they could not get their produce to market because the Canadian Pacific Railway (CPR) and the grain companies were failing to conform to the act. In December 1901 William Richard Motherwell (1860–1943) and Peter Dayman arranged a meeting where a group of Saskatchewan farmers agreed to form the Territorial Grain Growers' Association (TGGA) to represent their interests, and nominated Motherwell as provisional president and John Millar as provisional secretary. The first annual convention of the TGGA was held on 1 February 1902, attended by delegates from 38 local groups.
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