James McIntyre

James McIntyre (baptised 25 May 1828 – 31 March 1906) was a Scottish poet who emigrated to Upper Canada in 1851. He is sometimes called "The Cheese Poet", as cheese was a recurring theme in many of his poems.

Life and works

McIntyre was born in Forres, Scotland, in 1828 and immigrated to Upper Canada. He worked as a hired hand to begin with, performing pioneer chores that formed the basis of a number of his works. Later, he settled in St. Catharines, Upper Canada, where he dealt in furniture. There he married and had a daughter and son John William McIntyre.

He later moved to Ingersoll, then a town of 5,000 on the banks of the Thames in Oxford County; depending on when he moved it was either in Upper Canada or Canada West, the heart of Canadian dairy country at the time. He opened a furniture factory on the river as well as a store which sold furniture, along with such items as pianos and coffins.

He was well loved in the community, from which he often received aid in hard times.

The ancient poets ne'er did dream

That Canada was land of cream,

They ne'er imagined it could flow

In this cold land of ice and snow,

Where everything did solid freeze

They ne'er hoped or looked for cheese.

from "Oxford Cheese Ode"[1]

The Toronto Globe ran his pieces as comic relief, and the New York Tribune expressed amusement, but their mockery did not dampen his enthusiasm. He is assumed to have continued writing until his death, in 1906.

He published two volumes of poetry:

Musings on the Canadian Thames (1884)

and

Poems of James McIntyre (1889).