Thomas Farquhar
| Thomas Farquhar | |
|---|---|
| 7th Mayor of Sault Ste. Marie, Ontario | |
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In office 1920–1922 |
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| Preceded by | George Boyd |
| Succeeded by | James Dawson |
| Member of the Ontario Provincial Parliament for Manitoulin |
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In office 1926–1929 |
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| Preceded by | Beniah Bowman |
| Succeeded by | Alvin Edwin Graham |
| Member of the Canadian Parliament for Algoma East |
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In office 1935–1948 |
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| Preceded by | George Nicholson |
| Succeeded by | Lester B. Pearson |
| Personal details | |
| Born | January 28, 1875 Simcoe County, Ontario |
| Died | December 24, 1962 |
Thomas Farquhar (January 28, 1875 – December 24, 1962) was a Canadian politician and businessman from northern Ontario. Farquhar served in municipal politics in Sault Ste. Marie, Ontario becoming the city’s seventh mayor from 1920 to 1922. He represented Manitoulin in the Legislative Assembly of Ontario from 1926 to 1929 and represented the federal riding of Algoma East in the House of Commons from 1943 to 1948.
In 1948, Farquhar accepted an appointment to the Senate. The subsequent by-election allowed Prime Minister William Lyon Mackenzie King’s Minister of External Affairs, and future Prime Minister Lester B. Pearson the opportunity to be elected to the House of Commons.
In the 1940s Farquhar founded a family-owned dairy on Manitoulin Island that today operates as Farquhar’s Dairy Limited.
Farquhar was the third of ten children of William and Jane Farquhar. He was born on a farm in Simcoe County, Ontario. In 1877 the family moved to a farm near Kagawong on Manitoulin Island where Farquhar was educated. In 1896, he traveled west to British Columbia's Slocan Valley where he mined several claims and became a prominent member of the Western Federation of Miners, serving one year as president of the union.
In 1903, Farquhar returned to Manitoulin to take up the family farm. Five years later he moved to Sault Ste. Marie to work at his father's meat business. After a stint in real estate, he and a partner purchased the Star Clothing Company at Queen and Gore Streets where he became a successful merchant.
In June 1905, he married Kathleen Wiber who died six months later. He married his second wife, Florence Amy Wiber in October 1914.
Farquhar was active in Sault Ste. Marie politics. After serving as secretary-treasurer of the public school board from 1915 to 1916, he won a seat as city alderman by acclamation in 1918 and was elected in 1919.
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