(April 1836-1 Nov. 1895), lumberman and political figure. (Big Jim Rayside) Born in Montreal. Parents: John Rayside and his wife Janet Grant. He grew up in Martintown, GC, and was trained as a carpenter and millwright. In 1862 he went to the gold rush in British Columbia. He was married on 7 April 1864 to Margaret McDougall of the Martintown area. (children surviving him: r6) Rayside was a farmer during his early married life, but became prominent in the GC area of Eastern Ontario through his lumbering activities. For many years, he owned a sawmill at Martintown. He was a partner in the lumber business from 1871 to 1889 with Archibald McArthur, and they owned a sawmill at South Lancaster. Rayside also owned or had financial interest in sawmills at Monkland, Williamstown, Maxville, and Coteau. For some 16 years he was associated in lumbering with Donald MacIntosh. Also, Rayside was a partner of the hotel man Donald MacMaster (d. 1893) in the lumber firm of Rayside & MacMaster. And for Rayside’s lumbering interests, see also the entry for Duncan P. MacDougall. In May 1880 Rayside moved from Martintown to South Lancaster, where he made his home for the rest of his life.

     In the Ontario general election of 5 June 1879 he ran as a Liberal, but was defeated by Donald (later Sir Donald) MacMaster, Conservative. In 1882 a Cornwall Conservative paper malevolently reported a rumour that the Grits (Liberals) intended to “shelve” Jim Rayside and run D. M. Macpherson, Cheese King, instead for the Ontario legislature. (Cornwall Reporter 15 April 1882) On 18 Oct. 1882 there was a GC by-election, made necessary by Macmaster’s resignation of his provincial seat to seek the GC federal seat. This time, whatever waverings there might once have been in the party, Rayside was again the candidate and won the election (defeating Donald A. MacArthur, Conservative). With a fine commitment to their party and to the need of the public for recreation, the Liberals of Dunvegan celebrated Rayside's election victory with speeches and Gaelic songs till 4 a.m. and a bonfire that was kept burning for three days. (Cornwall Freeholder 3 Nov. 1882) Rayside continued to hold the GC seat till 1894, winning the Ontario general elections of 27 Feb. 1883 (defeating Big Rory McLennan), 28 Dec. 1886 (again defeating McLennan) and 5 June 1890 (defeating Archibald D. McPhee). When the Toronto Globe of 2 Feb. 1884 published a text of Rayside’s recent speech in the Ontario Legislature, it commented “Mr. Rayside’s speech was one of the best of the week. His style is fluent but concise, and his delivery pleasing to the hearer. He possesses in a remarkable degree of the power of retaining the attention of the House.” Rayside did not run in the Ontario general election of 1894.

     Besides his involvement in provincial politics, he had served as councillor and reeve in Charlottenburgh Township. Rayside was one of three men who contributed $100 each to the founding of the Glengarry Times newspaper. (Glengarry Times 24 Dec. 1880)

     Rayside’s highly-successful political career saw one of the relatively rare but not unknown clerical interventions in GC 19th-century politics (for other examples, see Fr John McLachlan and Fr A. Langcake). In the 1886 GC provincial election, Bishop Cleary intervened with a pro-Mowat pastoral letter which led The Toronto Daily Mail, 29 Dec. 1886, to say that “Bishop Cleary returned Mr. Rayside over Mr. McLennan in Glengarry.” Sir Oliver Mowat was the Liberal premier, and GC was still a part of Cleary’s diocese of Kingston. Addressing the electors of GC, McLennan made a measured reply to these developments: “Of course I regret that the contest became so unequal at the last, and that the humble exertions of my friends were pitted against, not merely my political opponents, but the mandate of the learned and Right Rev. Bishop of Kingston. I had hoped that I deserved better treatment at his lordship’s hands, and that he might have trusted me to give my vigorous opposition to any injustice to his flock in Glengarry or elsewhere, if anything of the kind were attempted.” (The Toronto Daily Mail, 8 Jan. 1887) Rayside himself had stated, two years before in the Ontario legislature, that he had never known a Roman Catholic priest in GC “to interfere with the elections directly or indirectly.” (Toronto Globe, 2 Feb. 1884)

     An obituary noted that “The disease to which he fell a victim was one of several years’ standing. His magnificent physique and sound constitution, it was hoped, would enable him to overcome the ailment, but although he was treated by the best specialists of New York and Montreal, all was in vain. In appearance Mr. Rayside was a typical Glengarrian. Tall of stature and broad-shouldered, he was a prominent figure in the legislative halls at Toronto until his declining health compelled him to retire from political life.” (ASC ii, 167) . He was a Presbyterian. His wife, who survived him, died 17 March 1911, aged 70, at her home, Inkerman Cottage, South Lancaster. Their daughter Janet was married to the Rev. J.U. Tanner. Another daughter, Edith Rayside, is noticed separately in this dictionary, and a son, James Stuart Rayside (Stuart Rayside) (1874-1951) was a noted athlete and a Montreal businessman. He was inaugurated into the Glengarry Sports Hall of Fame in 1980.

Cornwall Freeholder 1 & 8 Nov. 1895 (with editorial tribute & portrait), Glengarrian & Vankleek Hill Review both 8 Nov. 1895 * obituary (undated clipping) in ASC, ii, 167 * Rose, I, 669-670 * Harkness: index * MacGillivray & Ross: index * his gravestone, St. Andrew’s cemetery, Martintown * Ross, Lancaster, 226, 339, 350-351, 370 * widow dies, Glengarry News 24 March 1911 * obituary of Rayside’s son David John Rayside (1876-1945), Standard Freeholder 14 April 1945 * Stuart Rayside: obituary, Glengarry News 30 March 1951; biog. sketch by Angus H. McDonell, for Glengarry Sports Hall of Fame, with line portrait by D. A. Fales, GN 21 May 1980 * biog. sketch of James Rayside’s grandson, Neil Stewart (“Buster”) McGillis (1900-1975), for Glengarry Sports Hall of Fame, GN 9 June 1982, by Angus H. McDonell, with line portrait by D. A. Fales      McArthur & Rayside’s sawmill at South Lancaster destroyed by fire, Cornwall Freeholder 19 Aug. 1881, Glengarry Times 20 Aug. 1881, Gleaner 25 Aug. 1881; burning of Rayside’s “large saw mills” at [South?] Lancaster last Monday, CF 13 April 1883 * “has bought an immense quantity of logs” in Alexandria area for his new saw mill at Coteau. (Cornwall Freeholder 21 Dec. 1883) * report on recent “lumbering purchases” of McArthur & Rayside, CF 18 Jan. 1884 * elaborate account of convention in which Rayside was nominated GC candidate for the provincial election, with précis of his speech; he declares himself a prohibitionist, Witness 11 Dec. 1886 * Rayside makes “a very fine speech for nearly two hours” at McCrimmon; Hon. G. W. Ross, later Ont. premier, was also present. CF 24 Dec. 1886 * Bishop Cleary’s intervention in 1886 GC provincial election, The Toronto Daily Mail, 27 & 29 Dec. 1886, 4, 6, 8 Jan. 1887 * report on recent GC provincial election, Witness 24 Jan. 1887 * “If Mr. Rayside runs for the Commons, who will pay his expenses? Mr. Purcell, as before?,” Glengarrian 24 Feb. 1888 (an enigmatic note) * Rayside nominated as GC Liberal candidate for provincial election; declines; reasons why, Gleaner 12 Oct. 1893, 31 May 1894 * Stuart Rayside appointed a director of CNR, Glengarry News 19 Sept. 1924