Fonds moth-9 - Dan Riley fonds

Daniel Edward Riley, 1860-1948, was born at Baltic, Prince Edward Island. He was educated at Malpecque and Charlottetown normal schools and taught school for a few years. In 1883, after a year working as a carpenter in the Winnipeg CPR shops, he settled in the High River, Alberta district. He worked as a carpenter and ranch hand, and during the North West Rebellion volunteered as a dispatch rider. He became a ranch manager for William Roper Hull. In 1890 he married Edith Kate Thomson, a neighbor of his family in Prince Edward Island. In partnership with his brother-in-law Fulton Thomson, he acquired several ranch holdings in the foothills region, and established a real estate agency, livery stable, and machinery business in the settlement of High River. He was a member of the first school board, and in 1906 was the first mayor of the Town of High River. He was the founding president of the High River Local of the United Farmers of Alberta in 1909, and was president, and later, honorary president, of the Western Stock Growers' Association. He was appointed to the Canadian Senate by Mackenzie King in 1926, and was an active advocate for the agricultural industry. He and Edith had six children, Kenneth, Claude, George, Neil, Helen (Wilson), and Daniel W. Senator Riley Junior High School in High River was named in his memory.