Kenneth Chisholm, of the firm of R. Chisholm and Co., member of the Ontario Legislature for the County of Peel, and one of the leading merchants in Brampton, is a descendant of an old Highland family, originally from Invernessshire, Scotland. His father, Alexander Chisholm, being born in the County of Glengarry, removed to Toronto township, in what is now the County of Peel, in 1818. His mother, whose maiden name was Mary McDonnell, was the daughter of a United Empire Loyalist, who moved from the State of New York to Glengarry at the time of the revolution. She drew lands in the County of Peel, and that property, after being out of the hands of the family for nearly fifty years, has recently been purchased by the subject of this sketch.
Mr. Chisholm was educated in the schools of this county; in his youth was a clerk in a Brampton store, and has been in mercantile trade for himself a little more than a quarter of a century, and doing a heavy business. They have also a flouring mill, with four run of stone, on the Credit river, four miles from town, and in connection with it a farm of five hundred acres; and they deal heavily in grain, flour and provisions, as well as in general merchandise. Their business amounts to about $1,000,000 a year, including their business at Orangeville.
Mr. Chisholm has probably done more work in the town and county councils than any other man in Peel, he having been a member of the town council twenty-four years, reeve half of that period, and warden three terms. Many of the improvements, village, town, and county, were suggested and largely engineered by him, he being a thoroughly enterprising and progressive man.
Mr. Chisholm was first elected to Parliament, for his present seat, in 1873, to fill a vacancy caused by the death of John Coyn; was re-elected in 1875, and unseated, on petition, on the 14th of June, of that year, but the judgment was reversed on appeal; and he was again re-elected in June, 1879. He is a strong Reformer, and one of the strongest men of his party in the County of Peel.
He belongs to the Primitive Methodist Church, and is a liberal supporter of religious and benevolent organizations.
The residence of Mr. Chisholm “ALDERLEA” on South Main Street, Brampton, is the finest in the County of Peel; and shows that he has good taste as well as business talent. The firm have also a large mercantile business at Orangeville.