High Quality Content by WIKIPEDIA articles! William Lyon Mackenzie (March 12, 1795 ? August 28, 1861) was a Scottish-Canadian journalist, politician, and rebellion leader. He served as the first mayor of the city of Toronto (1834) and was an important leader during the 1837 Upper Canada Rebellion. Mackenzie was born in Dundee, Scotland. Both of Mackenzie's parents, Daniel Mackenzie, a weaver, and Elizabeth Mackenzie, née Chambers, came from Kirkmichael. They married in May 1794: a widow, Elizabeth was seventeen years older than Daniel.