William Puffer

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William Franklin Puffer (born: 1861 North Crosby , Ontario died: 1948 Lacombe) He was a farmer, businessman, and former member of the Legislative Assembly of Alberta.

[edit] Early life

William got married on July 1, 1885 and ended up having seven children. He moved to Lacombe around 1893 and became very active in the community serving Lacombe in a number of capacities. He served as director of the Lacombe General Hospital and of the Lacombe Creamery Ltd. William was also interested in local education, He served as a member of the school board from 1893, 94 and 1896-1902. In 1903 he was elected as a member of Lacombe town council and held his council seat until 1906 when he took his provincial seat.

[edit] Provincial political career

William was first nominated by the Northwest Territories Liberal Party in the Lacombe territorial electoral district as a candidate to replace Peter Talbot who had elected to the Canadian House of Commons. He won the hotly contested nomination for Lacombe by a vote of 62 to 54 over runner up C.D. Alger on December 15, 1904. The territorial by-election never occurred and the Lacombe seat remained vacant until the dissolution of the 5th North-West Legislative Assembly when Alberta became a province in 1905.

His nomination was carried over to the new Lacombe provincial electoral district in Alberta by the Alberta Liberal Party in the 1905 Alberta general election. In the hotly contested election for the Legislative Assembly he defeated Conservative Andrew Gilmour by 65 votes.

In the 1909 Alberta general election, William kept his seat easily and held a second term in office after he was Acclaimed to his district.

He won his third and final term he with a comfortable plurality of votes over Conservative Angus MacDonald, his election gain was one of the few increases for the Liberal party province wide in the 1913 Alberta general election.

He would be defeated after attempting to run for a fourth term in office in the 1917 Alberta general election by Conservative Andrew Gilmour whom he had defeated 12 years earlier.

William attempted to regain his seat in Lacombe by running against Irene Parlby from the United Farmers of Alberta in the 1921 Alberta general election and the 1926 Alberta general election. In both elections he placed a distant second.