John Rochester

John Rochester Jr. (May 22, 1822 – September 19, 1894) was a Canadian industrialist, mayor of Ottawa, Ontario from 1870 to 1871, and a member of the House of Commons of Canada representing Carleton from 1872 to 1882.

He was born at Rouses Point, New York in 1822 born in Berwick on Tweed, England in 1786, and his wife Barbara Young, born 1790 in Sunderland, Northumbria, England. There were nine offspring: Susanah (James Anderson), James (Ann Frost), Elizabeth (McLaughlin), George (Marion Baillie), John Jr. (Elizabeth Bevitt), Mary Ann (George Honey Preston), Emily (Cressle, Norman), William (Helen Baillie), Margaret (William Bunting). The Rochesters were a pioneer family in early Bytown that branched out into timber and mining enterprise across the Canadian shield. Many Rochesters had distinguished military careers.

Other early Ottawa Valley names, besides marriages listed above, connected to the Rochester family include: Cole, McDougal, Church, McLaren, and Bryson, to name but a few.

His father John Rochester Sr. and elder brother James established a brewery in 1829 (which he took over in 1856 and sold to James in 1870) and he also opened a tannery at that time and operated two sawmills at Chaudière Falls on the shore of the Ottawa River in the Lebreton Flats area of Ottawa.

John Rochester Jr. was for 11 years a member of Ottawa City Council. after suffering for several weeks from a kidney ailment.

Electoral record