James C. Aikens
Plot V, Lot 2
Mount Pleasant Cemetery, Toronto
Born in the township of Toronto on March 30, 1823 young Aikins was educated in the local schools and then at Victoria College, which was at that time still located in Cobourg, Ontario. He received his law degree, but decided that he’d rather be a farmer, at least until 1854 when he represented the county of Peel in the legislative assembly. Defeated in the general election of 1861, he returned the following year to represent the Home District, a position he held until Canadian Confederation in 1867. He was then appointed to the Senate, but he soon retired from that position to assume the post of Lieutenant-Governor of Manitoba.
In 1869 he returned to a life of politics and served under Sir John A. Macdonald as secretary of state until Macdonald’s defeat in 1873. With the re-election of the Conservative Party in 1878, Aikins again served as secretary of state holding the position until 1880 when he became Minister of Inland Revenue. Resigning from the Cabinet in 1882, Aikins was again appointed Lieutenant-Governor of Manitoba and the district of Keewatin. Following the expiration of his term in office, Aikins returned to Toronto where he took up residence at 29 Wellesley Street East, Toronto and in 1894 was appointed a trustee of the Toronto General Burying Grounds (now Mount Pleasant Group of Cemeteries), a position he held until 1904. James Cox Aikins died at his Wellesley Street home on August 6, 1904.
Mike Filey
Mount Pleasant Cemetery: An Illustrated Guide
Second Edition Revised and Expanded