Peter (Sr.) Sinclair

SINCLAIR, SR., PETER, farmer and justice of the peace; b. 18 November 1819 in Glendaruel, Cowal Peninsula, Argyll, Scotland, son of Peter Sinclair and Mary Crawford; m. 5 February 1879 Margaret M. MacMurdo, and they had 10 children, John F.., Adeline, Janette, James Norris, Archibald MacMurdo, Mary, Peter, Jr., Margaret, Winnifred, and Amy Ann; Presbyterian; d. 9 October 1906 in Summerfield. Sinclair, a Liberal, was first elected to the House of Assembly in the 1867 general election for I'1 Queens. He was re-elected in the general elections of 1870, 1872, 1873, 1882, 1886, and 1890. He was defeated in the general election of 1858. He was elected to the Legislative Assembly in the general election of 1893. He was re-elected in the general election of 1897. Sinclair served on Executive Council from 1868 to 1871, and was reappointed to Executive Council in 1872 when he was also elected Government House Leader. At this time, he was appointed a member of the Board of Works. From 1868 to 1871, Sinclair served as a member of the Board of Education. From 1871 to 1897, Sinclair served on Executive Council in the Frederick Peters8' Administration, and again in the Donald Farquharson* Administration from 1897 to 1898. In 1873 Sinclair resigned from the Assembly to contest, successfully, the special federal election in September 1873 for Queen's. He was reelected by acclamation in the 1874 federal general election. Sinclair was a proponent of requiring absentee landowners to sell their land to their tenants, and an advocate of tree schools and of temperance. He strongly believed that decisions on matters such as Confederation and the Railway should be made by consulting the citizens of the province in a vote on the issue. Sinclair moved to the Island in 1840 with his mother, after his father died in 1830. His mother purchased a farm in Lot 67 and the family named it Summerticld, atter their family home in Scotland. Sinclair was instrumental in the development of the farm. Sinclair was educated in Scotland before moving to the Island. Peter Sinclair died 9 October 1906. Margaret Sinclair, the daughter of Archibald MacMurdo of New Annan, was born in 1852 and died 14 December 1932. A son, Peter Sinclair, Jr. served in the Legislative Assembly and the House of Commons.