(2 June 1850-7 Feb. 1917), lawyer, judge. Born on the South Branch, Cornwall Township. Parents: William Leitch, a native of Scotland, and his wife Nicholas [sic] Bryden, from Williamstown. James Leitch, who attended high school at Williamstown and Cornwall, studied law in Cornwall and Toronto. The Cornwall law firm in which he studied included Alexander F. McIntyre, and the Toronto law firm included Alexander John Cattanach. (obituary) Called to the bar in 1876, James Leitch was a lawyer in Cornwall, and was made a Q.C. in 1889. He was mayor of Cornwall in 1885 and 1886. He stood unsuccessfully for MLA in the constituency of Cornwall and Stormont in 1886 and in the constituency of Stormont in 1890, being defeated in both elections by William Mack. Also, he stood unsuccessfully for MP in the constituency of Cornwall and Stormont in the by-election of Dec. 1896. Leitch was appointed chairman of the Ontario Railway and Municipal Board in June 1906, and as a consequence of the appointment he left Cornwall for residence in Toronto. In 1913, he was appointed a judge of the High Court of Justice for Ontario. He died in Toronto, but is buried at Williamstown. Presbyterian. J.G. Harkness studied law in Leitch’s office and was afterwards one of his law partners.

     Leitch was married in 1876 to Elizabeth Strickland (1849-1922), of Buckingham, Que. (children surviving him: 5) Their daughter Nicholas (sic; she was known as Nixie) was a close friend of Carrie Holmes MacGillivray, and was married to Dr A. Duncan Falkner of Westmount, Que., son of Dr Alexander Falkner of Lancaster, GC. Nicholas was born 10 Feb. 1881 at Cornwall and she died 25 Aug. 1969 at Westmount. James Leitch’s brother William C. Leitch, of the Laurin & Leitch Engineering and Construction Company of Montreal, was a successful contractor and businessman who maintained as a hobby a fine farm in Cornwall Township. He and James Leitch were the uncles of Archibald Leitch. James Leitch was a personal friend of Premier Sir James Whitney (obituary; Harkness 429). See also entry for J. F. Pringle.

Cornwall Freeholder 8 & 15 Feb. 1917, Cornwall Standard 15 Feb. 1917 (portraits) * Harkness: index, portrait) * Rose, i, 646-647 * Morgan (1898) 574 * Morgan (1912) 649 * Roderick Lewis, 53, 357 * Fraser, Gravestones, I, 136-137 * private information * William C. Leitch: Stiles 141-145 (portrait, other llustr.) * NOTE: Nicholas really seems to have been a correct name, as used in the present article