(fl. 1870s-20th century; born about 1848?), merchant. (C. Sugarman) Born in Russia. Of Jewish origin. He and his family settled at Fassifern, GC, about 1875. Caspar Sugarman was a peddler who travelled the roads carrying his pack on his back. At the time of the 1881 census, he and his wife had five children, aged from two to 11; 4 of the children had been born in the United States. The Sugarmans moved in 1882 to Alexandria, where he ran a highly-successful store, evidently one of Alexandria’s most prestigious at the time. In 1885, he bought a building lot in Alexandria for a store and dwelling. (Cornwall Freeholder 13 March 1885, cited DTL Standard Freeholder 13 March 1948) That was the year in which he erected the brick building known as the Sugarman Block on the southeast corner of Kenyon and Main Streets. The Sugarman Block contained his store and apparently also his home. The Sugarman store dealt in clothing, groceries, kitchenware, and the full range of merchandise of a GC general store of the time, and like the other general stores took a wide range of farm produce in trade. Sugarman, in 1889, held that his store was the largest in SDG. (Glengarrian 13 Dec. 1889) In 1892, he was one of the merchants who by entering a charter arrangement made special customer privileges available to members of the farm movement known as the Patrons of Industry. (Glengarrian 23 Dec. 1892) He left Alexandria in 1894. (Clarence Ostrom gives the exact date as 27 Oct.)

     The history of his later years has not been traced. When he sold his property at the corner of Main and Kenyon to I. Simon in 1908, he was evidently a Toronto resident. (Glengarry News 8 May 1908) The fact that his son Ephraim) attended public schools in Kitchener and Toronto and high school in Edmonton suggests residence of the family there. The aforementioned son Ephraim R. Sugarman, born at Alexandria 3 June 1890, was called to bar of Ontario at same time as D.A. (Donald Sandfield) Macdonald (GN 19 Sept. 1913). Ephraim practised law in Toronto and Edmonton and during the 1920s and 1930s in Vancouver. Again, his later years have not been traced. Caspar Sugarman also had a daughter, Hattie, who died 15 Jan. 1886, at Alexandria. (Cornwall Freeholder 15 Jan. 1886, cited DTL Standard Freeholder 18 Jan. 1947)

Butternuts and Maple Sugar 226-227 (with picture of store) * Ostrom 246, 312, 313 * Sugarman Block: Glossary this dictionary for “Block”; biogs. for Abraham Markson and Isaac Simon * large advert. for “C. Sugarman’s Popular Store,” Alexandria, Glengarrian 6 Dec. 1889 * is in Montreal this week for the celebration of Passover, Glengarrian 11 April 1890 * Mrs Sugarman and Miss Allan, both of Alexandria, attend spring millinery openings in Montreal, Glengarry News 2 March 1894 * W. Sugarman and F.T. Costello visit Valleyfield, GN 16 Nov. 1894 * Ephraim R. Sugarman: A. D. Hart, The Jew in Canada (1926) 396 (biog., portrait); Vancouver city directories 1920-1941