DCB/DBC Mobile beta
+

As part of the funding agreement between the Dictionary of Canadian Biography and the Canadian Museum of History, we invite readers to take part in a short survey.

I’ll take the survey now.

Remind me later.

Don’t show me this message again.

I have already taken the questionnaire

DCB/DBC News

New Biographies

Minor Corrections

Biography of the Day

Confederation

Responsible Government

Sir John A. Macdonald

From the Red River Settlement to Manitoba (1812–70)

Sir Wilfrid Laurier

Sir George-Étienne Cartier

Sports

The Fenians

Women in the DCB/DBC

The Charlottetown and Quebec Conferences of 1864

Introductory Essays of the DCB/DBC

The Acadians

For Educators

The War of 1812 

Canada’s Wartime Prime Ministers

The First World War

MacLAREN, ALEXANDER FERGUSON, businessman and politician; b. 3 Feb. 1854 in Perth, Upper Canada, son of John MacLaren and Helen (Ellen) Buchanan Ferguson; m. 29 April 1885 Janet McLeod in Woodstock, Ont., and they had a son; d. 19 April 1917 in Toronto.

When Alexander Ferguson MacLaren was quite young his family moved from the town of Perth to Perth County. Having settled first in Mitchell, they located two years later in nearby Cromarty. Alexander received a rudimentary education in public schools. At the age of 12 he stopped attending and began hiring himself out as a farm labourer.

At 17 MacLaren was taken on by a dairyman in Hibbert Township to learn the craft of cheese making, but he remained there for only a short while. In 1877 he was hired as a cheese buyer by Thomas Ballantyne* of Stratford, one of the largest cheese exporters in western Ontario. Later he accepted employment in the same capacity with a cheese factory in Ingersoll. He remained with it until 1890; in 1891 he formed a cheese-export company of his own in Stratford, MacLaren Brothers. Roughly a year later he introduced a new product, MacLaren’s Imperial Cheese, which became phenomenally popular. Made from ground cheddar and sold in small porcelain containers, it was evidently one of the first soft, processed cheeses to be commercially distributed. In 1892 a branch factory was opened in Detroit. Within a decade MacLaren had established offices in Toronto, New York, London, Chicago, Detroit, Mexico, China, Japan, and Africa to market the cheese. His firm was incorporated as A. F. MacLaren Imperial Cheese Company Limited in 1899 and relocated in Toronto.

MacLaren’s association with Ballantyne, a Liberal mla, probably contributed to his own interest in politics, though his loyalties were with the Conservatives. Elected to the House of Commons in 1896 for Perth North, he was returned in 1900 and 1904 but was defeated in 1908. As a politician his performance was less than inspiring, in part because he was always a member of the opposition. He rarely made speeches, but when he did he spoke knowledgeably about agricultural topics, including matters related to the cheese industry, such as transport, storage, and government inspection.

MacLaren’s true vocation was business. A director for numerous companies, he remained active in his own cheese business for many years. In addition, he was on the executive of the Dairymen’s Association of Western Ontario from the early 1890s to 1906, serving as its president in 1896–97. He acted as a judge of cheese at major exhibitions in Chicago and Buffalo, N.Y., and at fairs throughout Ontario; on many occasions he represented the dairymen’s association at the Toronto Industrial Exhibition. In 1920 his cheese company would be purchased by J. L. Kraft and Brothers Company of Chicago, which also specialized in processed cheese.

Around 1910 MacLaren moved to Toronto, where he established a financial agency with his son, Kenneth Ferguson. Toward the end of his life he suffered from poor health, and until World War I took trips to European health resorts in attempts to regain his strength. He passed away in Toronto in 1917 as a result of kidney problems, and was buried there in Mount Pleasant Cemetery. During his last years he appears to have experienced an unexplainable decline in his fortunes: he died intestate, his only assets being $1,351 in the bank.

Devoted to business, MacLaren sought the status and connections political life could bring him. Although he never attained great prominence, he belonged to a class of self-made businessmen who contributed considerably to Ontario’s prosperity.

Kerry Badgley

AO, RG 22-305, no.34305. Kraft General Foods Arch. (Morton Grove [Chicago]), “Kraft–MacLaren Cheese Company, Limited” (printed document, c. 1922, describing purchase of 1920). NA, MG 29, D61: 5464–65; RG 31, C1, 1871, Hibbert Township, Ont., div.3: 14; 1891, Stratford, Ont.: 20. Beacon (Stratford), 12 May 1896, 31 Oct. 1900, 31 Oct. 1904. Daily Herald (Stratford), 11 May, 13 June 1896. Globe, 20 April 1917. Sentinel-Review (Woodstock, Ont.), 1 May 1885. Toronto Daily Star, 19–20 April 1917. Can., House of Commons, Debates, 1896–1908. Canadian who’s who (1910). The dairy industry in Canada, ed. H. A. Innis (Toronto, 1937). Dairymen’s assocs. of the prov. of Ontario, Annual reports (Toronto), 1901–6, reports of the Dairymen’s Assoc. of Western Ontario. Directories, Stratford, 1880/81, 1885/88, 1891, 1896, 1902/4; Toronto, 1911–16. W. S. Johnston and H. J. M. Johnston, History of Perth County to 1967 (Stratford, 1967). William Johnston, History of the county of Perth from 1825 to 1902 (Stratford, 1903; repr. 1976). National Portland Cement Company Limited, Prospectus (Toronto, 1901). Newspaper reference book. Ont., Dept. of Agriculture, Annual report (Toronto), reports of the dairymen’s and creameries’ assocs., 1893.

General Bibliography

Cite This Article

Kerry Badgley, “MacLAREN, ALEXANDER FERGUSON,” in Dictionary of Canadian Biography, vol. 14, University of Toronto/Université Laval, 2003–, accessed March 29, 2024, http://www.biographi.ca/en/bio/maclaren_alexander_ferguson_14E.html.

The citation above shows the format for footnotes and endnotes according to the Chicago manual of style (16th edition). Information to be used in other citation formats:


Permalink:   http://www.biographi.ca/en/bio/maclaren_alexander_ferguson_14E.html
Author of Article:   Kerry Badgley
Title of Article:   MacLAREN, ALEXANDER FERGUSON
Publication Name:   Dictionary of Canadian Biography, vol. 14
Publisher:   University of Toronto/Université Laval
Year of publication:   1998
Year of revision:   1998
Access Date:   March 29, 2024