- William Neilson
William Neilson, (
March 16 ,1844 -February 10 ,1915 ) was a Canadian businessman and founder ofWilliam Neilson Limited . He was born in the Ramsey township,Lanark County ,Ontario .His working life began as a farmer in Rochester,
New York , then moved on to being a machinist's apprentice in Almonte, Ontario. In 1873 journeyman Neilson worked inBrockville , Ontario, moving on in 1889 to retail store. Afterward he sold his store in 1890 and moved toToronto and began a grocery store that eventually failed. Leaving his family behind, he moved toNorth Dakota to work as a farmer with his brother.Returning to Toronto, still in debt, he purchased some cows and began the sale of milk. Neilson then obtained
ice-cream manufacturing equipment. In 1893 the firm, William Neilson Limited, was started. Ice-cream andmincemeat were the first products, and these fueled the growth of the company.Expansion and modernization started in 1904 with a new location and the addition of new equipment. By 1905 production was at two thousand gallons of ice-cream per day, and mincemeat production was discontinued.
Chocolate was added to the product mix in 1908. This required further expansion and a new building was added, and by 1915 a new site was required and the production moved toBeachville, Ontario .By 1928, the company employed a thousand people in all departments and production was at one thousand gallons of ice-cream per hour, and the company opened branches in South America, South Africa, Japan, China, Australia and New Zealand.
Neilson married Mary Eva Kaiser on October 6, 1875 in Brockville, Ontario. They were the parents of five children, of which the sons continued the business after the death of their father in 1915.
William Neilson Limited, now headquartered in
Georgetown, Ontario , is currently being held byGeorge Weston Limited .References
Middletown, Jesse Edgar, The Municipality of Toronto - A History, Dominion Publishing, 1923
External links
* [http://www.biographi.ca/009004-119.01-e.php?&id_nbr=7618 Biography at the "Dictionary of Canadian Biography Online"]
* [http://www.neilsondairy.com/en/ Neilson Dairy ] at www.neilsondairy.com
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