George Sterling Ansel Ryerson
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George Sterling Ansel Ryerson (January 21, 1855 – May 20, 1925) was an Ontario physician, businessman and political figure. He represented Toronto in the Legislative Assembly of Ontario from 1893 to 1898 as a Conservative and then Conservative-Protestant Protective Association member.
He was born in Toronto in 1855, the son of George Ryerson and Isabella Dorcas Sterling, and studied in Galt and then at the Trinity Medical School in Toronto, receiving his MD in 1876. He continued his studied in Europe. In 1880, he set up practice in Toronto and also lectured on eye, ear and throat diseases at Trinity Medical School. Ryerson was also surgeon at the Andrew Mercer Eye and Ear Infirmary. He married Mary Amelia Crowther in 1882. He was surgeon with the Royal Grenadiers, serving during the Northwest Rebellion. Ryerson helped found the Association of Medical Officers of the Canadian Militia and served as president from 1908 to 1909. He was later named honorary colonel for the Canadian Army Medical Corps. Ryerson helped establish the St John Ambulance Association in Ontario and the Canadian Red Cross Society.
He was elected to the legislative assembly in an 1893 by-election and reelected in 1894. He did not run in 1898 due to poor health. In 1896, Ryerson helped establish the United Empire Loyalist Association of Ontario. In 1902, he failed to secure nomination by the Conservative Party when he attempted to run for election in Toronto North.
On November 14, 1882 he married Mary Amelia Crowther, daughter of barrister James Crowther. They had five children: George Crowther (born 1883), Yoris Sterling (born 1886), Eric Egerton (born 1888), Arthur Connaught (born 1890), and Laura Mary (born 1893). His wife's sister, Sarah Ellen Crowther, married Hon. Sir William Mulock, MP, afterwards Post-Master-General and Chief Justice of Ontario. Mary Crowther Ryerson and daughter Laura were passengers aboard the Lusitania when it was sunk off the Irish coast in May of 1915. Laura survived, Mary did not.
On June 8, 1916, he remarried to Elizabeth Van Hook Thomas, daughter of Edwin Ross Thomas. Ryerson retired from his medical practice in 1920 and moved to Niagara-on-the-Lake. Elizabeth died on September 4, 1924. Ryerson died of a heart attack in Toronto in 1925.
