Delino Dexter Calvin

Canadian politician

Delino Dexter Calvin (May 15, 1798 – 18 May 1884) was a naturalized Canadian citizen, former resident of New England, successful Ontario businessman and political figure. He represented Frontenac in the Legislative Assembly of Ontario as a Conservative member from 1868 to 1875 and from 1877 to 1883.

Calvin was born in Clarendon, Vermont in 1798, the fourth of five children to Sandford Jenks Calvin and Abigail Chipman. Sandford Calvin, an unsuccessful attorney, died when Delino was only eight years old. Delino later moved to northern New York state in 1818, specifically near La Fargeville, New York, where he farmed and became involved in the lumber trade. This would represent the beginnings of his successful business career in the timber trades. He later moved to Clayton, New York to concentrate on lumber operations.

In 1836, he became involved in the Kingston Stave Forwarding Company with John Counter and an American, Hiram Cook, (later, in 1838 it became, Calvin and Cook) and, in 1844, moved to Garden Island in Canada West because the location was the most ideal to collect and raft timber that was to be forwarded down the St. Lawrence River. The Garden Island location was ideal because Calvin could operate within the British (Commonwealth) system. Further, the location, at the foot of the Great Lakes, provided a sheltered bay for building rafts of timber and for access to retrieve the bound rafts. The contract with the Province was renewed in 1858 and again in 1863. The firm would later be known only as Calvin & Co who were owners of Garden Island, lumber merchants, forwarders and ship owners.

Calvin held a number of significant roles in local politics in and around Garden Island. He became reeve of Garden, Wolfe and the surrounding islands in the area in the St. Lawrence. Additionally, he became the first warden of Frontenac County after it separated from Lennox and Addington in 1863. This position he held a total of four times in his career. In 1870, John A. Macdonald appointed him to a canal commission to improve the quality of the canals in the St. Lawrence Seaway. This commission position he shared with Hugh Allan and Casimir Stanislaus Gzowski, a famous Canadian engineer and military officer, born in Russia.

Calvin was preceded as representative of Frontenac by Speaker of the House, Sir Henry Smith. When Smith died, during recess, Calvin was sent to fill the vacant position. Later, he ran against Byron Moffatt Britton and won an easy victory as most of the residents of Garden Island voted for Calvin. His grandson noted that the residents, "the men wisely voted Conservative". His politics were oftentimes a curiosity. For example, he sided with agriculture against lumber when the interests of both were in conflict. This showed a considerable objectivity of his, as his personal financial interests would have required him to side with the lumber industry. His son Hiram Augustus took over the operation of the business on his father's death and later served in the House of Commons. His daughter Minerva Edna married Nelson Gordon Bigelow who served in the Ontario legislative assembly.