CRAIG, Joseph Ambroise Isaie

Joseph Ambroise Isaie Craig

by Carol Deckers

CRAIG, Joseph Ambroise Isaie, cabinetmaker, prosperous furniture manufacturer, inventor, involved with the Craig Piano Co., actively involved in the development of electric lights, bought the Phoenix Electric Co., with Francois Liguori Belique, and had shares in the Royal Electric Co.  Born in 1836 his family came from St. Mathais du Rouville in the Richelieu region of Quebec.  Married twice,  Sophie Gagnon and Marguerite Philomene Craig.  Philomene was his first cousin,  daughter of Andre Craig.  J.A.I. Craig died in Montreal in 1920.
Despite his English name J.A.I. Craig was a French speaking Montrealer, although fluent in English as well.

1874:  J.A.I. Craig & Co., founded  a very successful furniture manufacturing company in Montreal, "St. Bonaventure Furniture Factory".

St. Bonaventure Cabinet Furniture Factory



Building Technology Heritage Library

 

1876:  He attended the Centennial International Exhibition of 1876, the first official World's Fair in the United States.  Held in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, from May 10 to November 10, 1876.

Division of Carriage and Furniture he received a bronze metal.

 

Centennial International Exhibition Philadelphia 1876



 

1879:  The first public display of electrical lighting in Canada was engineered by J.A.I. Craig.

On a fall evening in 1879 J.A.I. Craig gave Canada its first public demonstration of electric lighting.  This new form of lighting was demonstrated in Montreal on the Champ de Mars.

 

Montreal City Hall on Champ de Mars 1878

 

 

It took a few years to catch on but on July 17th. 1886, the streets of Montreal were lit up for the first time with arc lamps.

 

The idea of electric streetlights came from the 3rd. Paris World's Fair, held from 1st. May, through to the 10th. of November 1878, when the arc lamp or electric candle made its debut.  Among the many inventions on display, was electric arc lighting which had been installed all along the Avenue de l'Opera, on the Place de l'Opera, and in June a switch was thrown and the area was lit up by electric Yablochkov arc lamps.  Invented by Pavel Nikolayevich Yablochkov, a Russian engineer and inventor.  The Yablochkov Candle improved on previous arc light designs and made the installation of electric lighting economically feasible.

 

 Yablochkov's demonstration of his brilliant arc lights at the 1878 Paris Exposition along the Avenue de l'Opera.

 

 

 

There are two different stories related to J.A.I. Craig and electric lighting.  One source says he was at the Paris World's Fair and was so impressed by the demonstration of electric lighting he returned to Montreal with the Jesuits, and began to construct arc lamps and the incandescent lights himself, and to install the first electric light in the city in front of the College of Jesuits, on Bleury Street.  Another source states the Jesuits in Montreal received a gift from their counterparts in France,  it was the first arc light in Montreal.  They called in J.A.I. Craig a tradesman to test the lamp.  Either way I guess the Jesuits had something to do with it.

 

Late 1800s: Not much is known about the Phoenix Electric Co., when it was formed or what happened to it, but during this period of time there were hundreds of electrical companies in Montreal, all competing with each other for street lighting contracts and, only a few survived.

 

1884:  J.A.I. Craig had shares in the Royal Electric Co. Headed by J.R. Thibodeau president, Frederic Liquori Beique who sat on the board, and Sir Rodolphe Forget, (Joseph David Rodolphe)  who by 1898 controlled almost 50% of the company.

 

Royal Electric Co.

 

1901:  With the merger in 1901 of the Royal Electric Co., Montreal & St. Lawrence Light & Power Co., the Imperial Electric Light Co., and one gas company, the Herbert Samuel Holt's Montreal Gas Co., the Montreal Light, Heat and Power Co., was established.  It soon dominated power distribution in and around the city of Montreal.

 

1903:  J.A.I. Craig's son Ernest Craig sat on the Board of Directors of the Montreal Light, Heat and Power Co.

 

Three of J.A.I. Craig's Patents

 

1882:  Patent:  Dynamo Electric Machine.  US patent US260541

1900:  Patent:  Street Car Fender.  CA 66712.  Canadian Patent Database.

1912:  Patent:  Coin Actuated Meter Control Mechanism. CA 140734.  Canadian Patent Database.

 

Joseph Ambroise Isaie Craig and his family came from very humble beginnings.  He was the grandson of Marie Rose Nadeau, a descendant of "Une filles du roi", and Andrew Craig a Scottish soldier,  my great x 4 grandparents.

Note:  According to oral family history, J.A.I. Craig, and or his father, James Craig, went to Scotland and purchased a granite stone which was used to make a headstone for the Craig family Plot, in Montreal's Cote des Cemetery. Aberdeen Scotland was a world renown producer of granite and their stones were exported all over the world.