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Stratford, John H., Brantford, Ontario, is a native of New York state, having been born in Oswego, on the 30th May, 1840, came over with his parents and settled in Brantford in 1844, where he has since resided. Mr. Stratford’s father, who died in 1884, was born at Sheerness, Kent, England, and was a gentleman of the old school. He was educated at Eton and Trinity College, Dublin, and was highly respected by the citizens of Brantford, for his charity and the strict sense of honour he had practised from the day he first took up his residence among them to the day of his death. When he retired from business in 1875, he divided his large fortune among his three sons, retaining a life annuity. His mother, who died in 1875, was also greatly respected and beloved for her charitable deeds. She belonged to an Irish family, and was niece of the late Colonel George Hamilton, for many years manager of the Canada Company at Toronto. John H. Stratford’s grandfather, Dr. John Stratford, and his uncle, Dr. Samuel John Stratford, both members of the Royal College of Surgeons, London, England, were known as eminent physicians in Canada. The latter, who was assistant surgeon in the 72nd Highlanders, sold his commission, and with a number of other British officers, settled at Woodstock, Ontario, where they received grants of land from Sir John Colborne, the then military governor of Upper Canada. In this town he successfully practised his profession for many years, and subsequently left this country, having received the appointment of emigration agent for the British government in New Zealand, where he died. Another member of the family, Elizabeth Stratford, his sister, married in 1839 Mr. Davidson, a celebrated lawyer in New York, who was appointed chief justice of the Supreme Court of the United States, but died just before being sworn into office. Joseph and Charles, brothers of John H. Stratford, still reside in Brantford, Joseph being a wealthy merchant, and owner of “Stratford’s Opera House,” one of the handsomest in the province. John, the subject of this sketch, received his education in Brantford; and after leaving school, for a number of years up to 1871 he managed first the retail and afterwards the wholesale drug business of his father. In 1865, he formed with the late C. Gilbert a partnership, the object of which was the carrying on of a wholesale oil business; and this firm was the first to introduce on our Canadian railways the use of natural petroleum as a lubricant for car wheels. In 1868, Henry Yates was admitted into the partnership, and it then operated under the style of John H. Stratford & Co. The following year Mr. Gilbert withdrew, and since then the firm has been known as Yates & Stratford, wholesale oil and lumber merchants. In 1870, Mr. Stratford formed, with Donald Nicholson, since deceased, and Robert Chisholm, of Hamilton, a special partnership for the construction of that section of the Great Western Railway, from Glencoe to Simcoe, a distance of seventy-five miles. This piece of work, a very difficult one, owing to the Canada Southern Railway being in course of construction at the same time, almost parallel, was completed in 1872, to the entire satisfaction of the Great Western Railway authorities. In 1884, Mr. Stratford purchased seven acres of land, beautifully situated, overlooking and within the limits of the city of Brantford, on which he erected, under his own superintendence, an hospital capable of accommodating fifty patients and a regular staff of nurses, etc., at a cost of over $20,000. And on the 10th February, 1885, it was formally opened by His Honour, John Beverley Robinson, lieutenant-governor of Ontario, and Mrs. Robinson, in the presence of a large assembly of citizens, when Mr. Stratford handed it over as a free gift to the city of Brantford. Mrs. John H. Stratford and Mrs. Arthur S. Hardy also took a deep interest in the hospital, and through their united exertions, collected from friends $4,000, wherewith to equip it with suitable furniture, instruments, etc. It is called “The John H. Stratford Hospital,” and is without doubt,—being perfect as to heating, light, ventilation, laundry, stables, and other modern improvements—one of the finest institutions of its kind in the Dominion. When of age Mr. Stratford joined the Masonic body, and has continued to keep up his connection with it ever since. He is a member of the St. James Club, Montreal. He married in 1868, Sara Juson Harris, fifth daughter of the late T. D. Harris, at one time a prominent wholesale hardware merchant in Toronto. Mr. Stratford is a member of the Episcopal church; a thorough business man of strict integrity, and has been eminently successful in all his undertakings.