Biography

William Preston was born July 26, 1848 in Bethany

Bethany, Kawartha Lakes, Ontario

Bethany is an unincorporated village in the Canadian province of Ontario, within the single-tier municipality of Kawartha Lakes. Bethany is centred on Highway 7A, which forms part of the Trans-Canada highway...

, Manvers Township

Manvers Township, Ontario

The Township of Manvers was a municipality in the former Victoria County, now the city of Kawartha Lakes, in the Canadian province of Ontario....

, Durham County, Ontario

Durham County, Ontario

Durham County is a historic county in the Canadian province of Ontario. It was named from the English County and city.Durham County was created in 1792. It was composed of the townships of Cartwright, Manvers, Cavan, Darlington, Clarke and Hope, and portions of what is now Peterborough County,...

. He was the son of Major Isaac Preston Jr. (New Amsterdam, New York; Amherst Island, ON, Manvers Township, ON, and Vancouver, BC) and Mary Anne Woodside (Bellin, County Londonderry

County Londonderry

The place name Derry is an anglicisation of the old Irish Daire meaning oak-grove or oak-wood. As with the city, its name is subject to the Derry/Londonderry name dispute, with the form Derry preferred by nationalists and Londonderry preferred by unionists...

, Ireland

Ireland

Ireland is an island to the northwest of continental Europe. It is the third-largest island in Europe and the twentieth-largest island on Earth...

, and Amherst Island, ON.)

Preston was a merchant at Prince Arthur's Landing

Port Arthur, Ontario

Port Arthur was a city in Northern Ontario which amalgamated with Fort William and the townships of Neebing and McIntyre to form the city of Thunder Bay in January 1970. Port Arthur was the district seat of Thunder Bay District.- History :...

 from 1875-79 where some of his Woodside kin resided. He was acclaimed a councillor for the South Ward of Prince Arthur's Landing in the Municipality of Shuniah 1876/77-1877/78, then was elected at a by-election 10 June 1879 for Crooks Ward. He then became a railway contractor, and in later years was heavily involved in gold mining.

He was first elected to the Ontario Legislature

Legislative Assembly of Ontario

The Legislative Assembly of Ontario , is the legislature of the Canadian province of Ontario, and is the second largest provincial legislature of Canada...

 in 1905 as the MPP (Conservative) for Port Arthur

Port Arthur, Ontario

Port Arthur was a city in Northern Ontario which amalgamated with Fort William and the townships of Neebing and McIntyre to form the city of Thunder Bay in January 1970. Port Arthur was the district seat of Thunder Bay District.- History :...

 and Rainy River

Rainy River District, Ontario

Rainy River District is a district and census division in Northwestern Ontario in the Canadian province of Ontario. It was created in 1885. It is the only division in Ontario that lies completely in the Central time zone. Its seat is Fort Frances...

; then, re-elected in 1908 and 1911 as the member for Rainy River. After James Arthur Mathieu

James Arthur Mathieu

James Arthur Mathieu was an Ontario lumber merchant, philanthropist and political figure. He represented Rainy River in the Legislative Assembly of Ontario as a Conservative-Liberal and then Conservative member from 1911 to 1923 and 1926 to 1929.Mathieu came to Rainy River from Minnesota around...

 won the Conservative nomination in 1911, Preston chose to run as a Liberal and was defeated.

He, along with others, had applied for a charter to form the Rainy Lake Pulp and Paper Company in Fort Frances

Fort Frances, Ontario

Fort Frances is a town in, and the seat of, Rainy River District in Northwestern Ontario, Canada. The population as of the 2006 census was 8,103 and Fort Frances' population peaked in 1971 at 9,947...

.

After living in California for a number of years, he returned to Winnipeg to live with his daughter Olive Elliott. William Preston died in 1944 in Winnipeg, Manitoba.