John Wright Sifton

John Wright Sifton (August 10, 1833 – September 19, 1912) was a 19th-century Manitoba politician and the founder of an important political family in Western Canada.

Sifton was the son of Bamlet Sifton (1793–1876) and his wife Mary (née Evans), members of the Anglo-Irish gentry who arrived in Upper Canada in 1832 from County Tipperary, Ireland. Members of the Sifton family, including Sifton's grandparents, Charles Sifton (1752–1842) and his wife, Rebecca (née Wright), had already established themselves in around present-day London, Ontario, in 1818 and 1819. Born in London Township, Ontario, he was educated at local schools. He married Kate Watkins (d. March 1909), third daughter of James Watkins, of Parsonstown, Kings County, Ireland in October 1853. and became a farmer and oil producer in Lambton County.

Following the birth of his son, Clifford, in 1861, the elder Sifton became a railway contractor in Brant County and then a businessman in London, Ontario. The Siftons went on to have five children in all.

In religion, Sifton was a Wesleyan Methodist, and in politics he was a Reformer, and supporter of and campaigner for George Brown and Alexander Mackenzie. When Mackenzie as Prime Minister formed Canada's first Liberal government in 1874, Sifton was rewarded with contracts to build two sections of rail line between northern Ontario and Manitoba and telegraph lines in the latter province. In 1875, Sifton relocated to Manitoba, settling in Selkirk, and became involved in the new province's political life.

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