Chain of Office: Biographical Sketches of the Early Mayors of Ottawa (1847–1948)

Kerry Abel is a professor of history at Carleton University. She is the author of Drum Songs: Glimpses of Dene History, co-editor of Aboriginal Resource Use in Canada: Historical and Legal Aspects, and co-editor of Northern Visions: New Perspectives on the North in Canadian History.

A passing acquaintance with the early history of Bytown/Ottawa leaves
one with the image of a raw colonial backwater, periodically engulfed by
riots and conflagrations. A reading of Chain of Office will reinforce
that dismal image with the new knowledge that civic leadership has
followed much the same historical patterns. Clearly the author prefers
the excitement of riots and conflagrations, but we are also introduced
to the quieter interregnums of allegedly dull worthies. The book is a
chatty conversation by an Ottawa journalist in which short sections
(appropriately called “sketches”) are devoted to highlights of the
lives of the men who have served as mayor of the city where politics is
more usually associated with the national scene. As the author points
out, very few of these mayors became famous or remembered characters.
Among them are more than a fair share of rogues, drunks, fraud artists,
and criminals, as well as rather pathetic tales of business failure,
mental illness, and family tragedy. The author’s purpose is neither
analytic nor explanatory, but through these stories, we get a glimpse
into the social and economic life of one growing Canadian city.

The book is intended for (and best suited to) a local Ottawa audience.
It is attractively laid out, with photographs or painted portraits of
each mayor and half a dozen historical photos of Ottawa scenes
accompanying the text. The individual sketches are often a little too
sketchy, probably reflecting the scarcity of source material, but they
could also benefit from broader historical contextualization to inform
the reader of the significance of an event or the wider role of a family
in Canadian society. It would have been useful to provide a brief
explanation of the rules and procedures for elections in the period
covered, and a city map would have made the information more accessible
for non-Ottawa readers. Nevertheless, the individual sketches are
sometimes quite compelling little vignettes, and the book stands as a
testament to the growing value of Internet-based research, something
that many professional historians still ignore or dismiss.