(17 March 1829-26 Sept. 1906), businessman, political figure. Born in Toronto Township, Peel County, Ont. Parents: Alexander Chisholm, described as being from the Township of Charlottenburgh, GC, who was a private in the GC militia, War of 1812, and his wife Mary McDonell, who was also a Glengarrian or of GC connections; both were of U. E. L. descent, and were settlers in Peel County, Ont., c. 1818. It appears that Kenneth Chisholm was a close connection, possibly a great-nephew, of Sir Alexander Mackenzie the explorer. His business career began humbly, when he was apprenticed as a clerk. Soon, however, he went into business for himself, and in time became a wealthy man with interests that included a general store and grain business at Brampton, Ont., mills at Eldorado near Brampton, and quarries at Credit Forks. He served on his town and county council, and was warden of Peel County three times. A Liberal, he was MLA for Peel County 1873-1892, being victor in six successive elections. A wealthy man, he was known as a generous benefactor of works of public interest.

     His business career ended disastrously, when the collapse of the Central Bank of Canada, of which he was a director and investor, and the malfunctioning of a foundry in which had an interest dragged him down. He lost not only his wealth, but his exceptionally fine house in Brampton. It was part of the outcome too that in 1892, he resigned as MLA, and about the same time became registrar of Peel County, a post he kept till his death. Originally a Roman Catholic, he became a Primitive Methodist about the time of his first marriage. He died at his home in Brampton. (children surviving him: 5) The burial was in Brampton Cemetery. Chisholm Township, in the Nipissing District of Ontario, was named after him in 1880. He is one of the relatively few people included in the present dictionary as children of Glengarrians, rather than Glengarrians in their own right by birth or residence. It has been thought that despite the prominence he once had, and his generosity, he proved to be in the several generations after his death a forgotten man of Peel area history–a process that began with his financial downfall.

Life by Gayle M. Comeau-Vasilopoulos, Dictionary of Canadian Biography, XIII, 197-198; see for further details, marriages, sources * Z. Kashmeri, “Chisholm Ignored in Brampton History: Eventual Financial Collapse Shadowed Contributions,” Brampton Daily Times, 6 Aug. 1977 * Rose, i, 519 * The Conservator (Brampton), 22 Aug. 1895 & 22 June 1897 for portrait, 8 April 1904 (not a fluent public speaker), 22 April 1904 (death notice, second wife), 27 Sept. 1906 (his obituary) * information kindly supplied by Region of Peel Archives * William Perkins Bull, From Macdonell to McGuigan (1940) 285 * Roderick Lewis, 284