Charles Vance Millar

Charles Vance Millar (June 28, 1854 – October 31, 1926) was a Canadian lawyer and financier. He was the president and part-owner of the Toronto brewery of O'Keefe Brewery. He also owned racehorses, including the 1915 King's Plate–winning horse Tartarean. However, he is now best known for his unusual will which touched off the Great Stork Derby. Millar attended the University of Toronto and graduated with an average of 98% in all his subjects. He chose to study law, passed the bar examination at Osgoode Hall in 1884 and opened up his own law office in Toronto.

Business career

The BC Express Company and the Millar Addition

In 1897, Millar purchased the BC Express Company from Stephen Tingley and took over the government mail delivery contracts for the Cariboo region in British Columbia.

When it was announced that the construction of the Grand Trunk Pacific Railway would go through Fort George (later named Prince George) Millar expanded the company's services to Fort George and built two sternwheelers, the BX and the BC Express. Millar also foresaw that Fort George would become a major centre in Northern British Columbia and he made arrangements to purchase the First Nations reserve at Fort George. However, the railway was already planning to purchase the property and they convinced the Department of Indian Affairs to cancel their negotiations with Millar. When Millar took the railway to court, the railway agreed to sell him of the property, which became known as the Millar Addition. In the 1910s, Millar had planned to build a racetrack in Kingston, Jamaica, where he holidayed, but abandoned the idea. In 1912, he had made arrangements with the builder of the Belmont Park racetrack, C. W. Leavitt to design the track. Millar was an investor in Kenilworth Park Racetrack, built just outside Windsor, Ontario, in 1916.

Death

Millar died in his law office in the Crown Life Building at Yonge and Colborne Streets on October 31, 1926, of a stroke. When his executors filed his will for probate, Millar's estate was estimated to be worth . O'Keefe was suspended from brewing "strong beer" during the dispute, until it provided the books to the commission. O'Keefe offered a reward for the return of the books and continued with its other activities. In May 1927, O'Keefe appealed for a reinstatement of its licence. F. H. Phippen, the president of the company testified that Millar, the president of O'Keefe in October 1926, did not want to give up the books to the commission and proposed an injunction. Phippen was in favour of giving up the books to the commission. Phippen described Millar as "a lawyer and an honourable man", and that he had only thought that Millar had put them away for safekeeping.

Character

Though highly successful in the law and in his investments, Millar was known for his love of jokes and pranks which played on people's greed. One favourite was to leave money on a sidewalk and watch from a hiding place as passers-by furtively pocketed it. As a law student, Millar was jilted once by a girl of a prominent family and never had a serious relationship again.

The home in Kingston, Jamaica, had already been sold by Millar. It was not in his estate when it was submitted for probate. The legatees each received $56.38.

In October 1928, five pastors in Windsor claimed the bequest of the Kenilworth shares. The value of the shares was hard to judge, as the stock did not trade publicly. One estimation was that they were worth less than one cent each.

Most of this prize was shared by four Toronto women who each had nine children,

Bibliography

External links

Charles Vance Millar's will
"The Toronto 'Stork Derby' Baby Race" at Snopes