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Alexander Houston is believed to have been a native of Galway [Galloway, Kirkcudbrightshire], Scotland, born circa 1746-1747. He emigrated from Scotland to Virginia and fought on the British side during the Revolutionary War. After the peace he accompanied his family of four, along with two servants, from New York to Shelburne, Nova Scotia. Once there the Crown granted him one farm lot, one town lot, and one water lot. According to his headstone in the Shelburne Presbyterian Cemetery, he died in July 1824. His wife, Janet, died on 26 August 1837 at 87 years of age.

Hostelling International – Nova Scotia was formally established in 1997 but its roots can be traced back to the Canadian Youth Hostels Association – Maritime Region dating back to 1938 which was spearheaded by Kell Antoft and Betty Callan. In 1962 the Wentworth Hostel was established with the help of Freda Wales. The organization changed its name in 1967 to the Canadian Hostelling Association – Nova Scotia Chapter and the following year established the Trail Shop Co-operative Ltd. In the spring of 1982 the Association opened its Halifax Hostel at 2445 Brunswick Street. The hostel continues to operate at 1253 Barrington Street.

Henry Youle Hind, geologist, naturalist, explorer, author, was born at Nottingham, England on 1 June 1823, third son of Thomas and Sarah (Youle) Hind. He attended college at Leipzig, Germany, 1837-1839, and studied in England and France before immigrating to Toronto, Ont. in 1846. In 1847 Hind was appointed lecturer of science and mathematics at the provincial Normal School, Toronto. In 1857 he was professor of geology and chemistry at Trinity College, Toronto when the Geological Survey of Canada asked him to accompany an expedition to explore the territory between Fort William and the Red River settlement at Fort Garry. Hind's Narrative of the Canadian Red River Exploring Expedition of 1857 was subsequently published in 1860. In 1864 Hind moved his family to the Maritimes where he conducted several geological surveys and wrote numerous works on geology, the natural sciences, and agriculture. He died at Windsor, Nova Scotia in 1908.

George Beaman Hillis (1873-1951), President of Hillis & Sons Ltd. iron foundry, was born November 11, 1873 in Bridgetown, Nova Scotia, to James Hillis and Sarah R. Stubbs of Saint John, New Brunswick. George worked at his father’s iron foundry in a section of the north end of Halifax known as Richmond, manufacturing stoves, furnaces, etc. eventually became president after his father’s death in 1919. He married Clara D. Compton (1882-1945) of Summerside, Prince Edward Island and together they raised two sons: Benjamin Franklin Hollis (b.1904) and James Gordon Hollis (1906-1964). George and his immediate family survived the Halifax Explosion of December 6, 1917, but lost their home at 6 Richmond Street. The family resettled at 77 Larch Street, Halifax and George continued with the family business, retired in 1949 and died June 29, 1951.

Oliver Massey Hill was born in England in 1848 or 1849, son of the Rev. James Ormerod Hill of Elginbrook House, Hereford. He emigrated to Canada in the early 1870s and shortly after obtained employment as a clerk at Notman Studio, Halifax. Hill trained there as a photographer and became manager in 1876. After William Notman's death in 1891, Hill purchased the studio and remained its proprietor until his death in 1923.

Kathleen Louise Hill was born 7 April 1917 in Halifax, Nova Scotia the daughter of Henry and Margaret Elizabeth (Ross) Hill. She completed one year of business school at Halifax County Academy and became a freelance fiction writer. Among her major book publications are: Glooscap and His Magic (1963); Badger the Mischief Maker (1965); and Joseph Howe: The Man Who Was Nova Scotia (1980). She also wrote children's books and numerous plays for radio, television, and stage. Hill was the recipient of many awards including the Canadian Library Association's Book of the Year award in 1969 for her children's book And Tomorrow The Stars, and the Vicky Metcalfe Award in 1971 from the Canadian Authors Association. She died on 14 March 2011 in Halifax, Nova Scotia.

Ben Church Hicks was born at Bridgetown, N.S. in 1901, son of John Herbert Hicks and his second wife Henrietta (Armstrong). He studied arts and applied science at Mount Allison and McGill universities, receiving a B.Sc. in electrical engineering from McGill in 1927. Hicks resided in Montreal and was employed in the electrical utility industry for 39 years as a consulting engineer with the Shawnigan Water and Power Company and its successor, the Quebec Hydro Electric Commission. A noted authority on tidal power, he also belonged to a number of professional associations including the Engineering Institute of Canada, Corporation of Engineers of Quebec, and the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers. Hicks married his first wife, Grace May Morrison (Watson) (1890-1943), in Montreal in 1934. Retiring in 1966, Hicks and his second wife Constance moved to the Annapolis Valley, Nova Scotia where he was very active in community affairs including the establishment of the Annapolis Valley Pioneer Musuem. He died at Halifax on 26 November 1982. Hicks' father, John Herbert Hicks Jr. (1844-1925), son of Bridegetown merchant John H. Hicks (1789-1863), was a teacher, federal government official, merchant, and founder of the firm J.H. Hicks and Sons Limited, building contractors and manufacturers, in 1891. He first married Sarah Collins Davies, with whom he had the following children: J. Herbert Hicks (1876-1954), Edward A. Hicks (ca. 1879-1968), and Henry B. Hicks (1879-1951). Children of John H. Hicks Jr. and his second wife Henrietta (Armstrong) (b. 1860) were: Ben Church, Ellis, Mary Helena (d. 1979), and Sarah Augusta.

Thomas Alexander Hickman was born in Grand Bank, Nfld. in 1925. After graduating with a law degree from Dalhousie University he practiced with the law firm Barron, Lewis and Hickman. In 1953 he entered into partnership with Jim Halley and a year later expanded the practice into Halley, Hickman and Hunt, which became one of Newfoundland and Labrador's largest and most successful law firms. In August 1966 Hickman accepted a position as Minister of Justice in the cabinet of Premier Smallwood and won election to office a month later in the Burin District. He unsuccessfully ran for the Liberal leadership against Mr. Smallwood and John Crosbie in 1969. Shortly afterwards, Hickman crossed the floor to join the Newfoundland Conservative Party and went on to serve successively as the Minister of Justice, Education and Finance under Premier Frank Moores. In 1979 Hickman left politics to return to private practice and eight months later accepted an appointment as chief justice of the trial division of the Supreme Court of Newfoundland. From 1982 to 1985 he chaired the Royal Commission on the Ocean Ranger Marine Disaster. In October 1986, Hickman, at the request of the Nova Scotia Government, became chair of the Royal Commission on the Donald Marshall, Jr., Prosecution.

The formation of a heritage preservation organization in Nova Scotia began when concerned citizens and societies of Halifax united to protest the demolitian of the eighteenth-century Gorsebrook estate of Enos Collins in 1958. The Heritage Trust of Nova Scotia was founded and incorporated as a charitable, non-profit organization in 1959 with a mission "to promote, foster and encourage interest in and preservation of buildings and sites of an historic, artistic and cultural nature within Nova Scotia." To fulfill its educational role, the trust has provided illustrated talks, films, tours and concerts. Since 1967 it has produced several publications including "Founded Upon a Rock", "Seasoned Timbers", "The Prince and Hollis Buildings" and "Lakes, Salt Marshes, and the Narrow Green Strip". The Heritage Trust of Nova Scotia has taken a leading role in promoting heritage legislation and campaigned to preserve historic buildings, streetscapes, and view planes. It helped to save the Historic Properties complex on the Halifax waterfront, the Carleton Hotel on Argyle Street, Halifax, and numerous other municipal and provincial buildings in the province.

Henry Magee & Sons was a business which operated at Horton Corner (Kentville, Nova Scotia) beginning in 1788. The shop served customers from the townships of Windsor, Falmouth, Horton, Cornwallis, Aylesford and Wilmot and did over £2000.00 of business per year. Magee dealt with a wide range of products at his store, including wheat, gaspereaux, rum, snuff, tea, coffee, saddle bags, sedan chairs, clothing, furniture and various other items. Henry Magee & Sons was run by Henry Magee until his death in 1806, when the business was taken over by his sons, John and Henry.

The Helen Creighton Foundation was established on 12 July 1990. The Province of Nova Scotia started it off with an initial endowment of $50,000 which was to be increased and administered by the University of King's College. The interest from this endowment was to be used to perpetuate Dr. Creighton's memory through the establishment of biennial memorial lectures, the presentation of concerts, merit awards for published works, folklore acquisitions for the library, and other measures approved by the Board. The mandate changed somewhat with the establishment of a grants-in-aid program in 1992 which was administered by the Foundation until it merged with the Helen Creighton Folklore Society on 5 October 1997.

The Helen Creighton Folklore Society was officially registered on 29 May 1997 after the organization changed its name from the Helen Creighton Folklore Festival Society. The mandate of the organization is to encourage and promote work that reflects the diverse folk culture of the Maritimes as exemplified by the work begun by Dr. Creighton. The Society hosts an annual ghost-story writing contest with the Halifax Public Libraries and awards prizes for traditional music at the Kiwanis Music Festival and the New Glasgow Folksong Festival. It also administers a grants-in-aid program which was taken over from the former Helen Creighton Foundation which merged with the Society on 5 October 1997. The Society also merged with the Fred Redden Society for Traditional Music on 5 August 1999. The Society continues to sponsor folk events and has been instrumental in the production of a number of compact disks including: Songs of the sea, traditional folk song and narratives from Dr. Helen Creighton and Acadian songs from Pubnico and Grand-Etang from the Helen Creighton collection .

The Helen Creighton Folklore Festival Society was officially registered on 11 April 1994 when the organization changed its name from the Helen Creighton Folklore Festival of Dartmouth Society. The mandate continued to be the organization of an annual festival for the presentation and preservation of folklore in Maritime Canada. Starting in 1994 and running through 1996 the festivals were held at the Halifax Citadel. Another project undertaken starting in 1994 was the “Baking with tradition” program which collected cooking folklore and recipes using Maritime flour through the sponsorship of Dover Mills Limited. In total six cookbooks were produced from this program. The organization was renamed the Helen Creighton Folklore Society on 29 May 1997 when it was officially registered with the Nova Scotia Registrar of Joint Stock Companies.

The Helen Creighton Folklore Festival of Dartmouth Society was officially registered on 12 March 1990. The mandate of the Society was to organize an annual festival for the presentation and preservation of folklore in Maritime Canada. These festivals were held at the Dartmouth Alderney Gate Library between 1990 and 1993. The organization also sponsored a national competition between 1990 and 1993 for a commissioned piece of music based on the collection of Helen Creighton's records at the Nova Scotia Archives. On 11 April 1994 the name of the organization changed to the Helen Creighton Folklore Festival Society.

Arthur Charles Hawkins was a physician and mayor of Halifax during the 1918 influenza pandemic, and is credited with being a key influence in keeping Nova Scotia's death rate comparably low. The son of Charles A. Hawkins and Charlotte (Simpson) Hawkins, he was born at Avondale (Newport Landing), Nova Scotia, in 1861. He attended Halifax Medical College and Dalhousie, completing his studies at McGill University, where he obtained his MD in 1885. He settled in Halifax and was appointed house surgeon at the Provincial and City Hospital by the Commission of Public Charities from 1885-1886. He later served as coroner for Halifax County and held positions as medical officer with the Immigration Branch of the Department of the Interior and attending surgeon at Victoria General Hospital. Hawkins was a Halifax City alderman for ward six from 1897-1908. He lost the election for mayor in 1908, but was returned to Council as alderman for ward five from 1911-1913. In 1918-1919 he was mayor of Halifax, but was defeated in the 1919 election and again in the mayoralty election of 1920. A former Liberal Party supporter, he ran unsuccessfully for the Labour Party in the 1921 federal election in Halifax. Hawkins was active in public health, as well as community organizations aimed at helping the poor. He opened his home to assist victims of the Halifax Explosion in 1917. He was married to Caroline (Cassie) McLelan Spike, with whom he had six children: Gertrude (Dolly), Rupert, Dorothy, Arthur, Mary Caroline (Carol), and James ("Pete"). Hawkins died on 19 March 1926.

Quentin A. Haughn was a shareholder of Himmelman Supply Co. Ltd. based in LaHave, N.S., which operated OK Service Shipping Ltd. and LaHave Shipping Ltd.

Hattie Bros. Lumber was a manufacturer that operated out of Caledonia, Guysborough County, Nova Scotia from 1915 to 1934. Primarily owned and operated by two brothers, Joseph Wilfred and Alexander William Hattie, they had their other siblings help at various times. Hattie Bros. manufactured wagons, carts and sleighs. They were also dealers for carriages, harnesses and farm machinery and were licensed to sell and export furs. According to the authors of Nova Scotia’s Industrial Centre their location was deemed ideal to be the provincial distributor for the International Harvester for the province of Nova Scotia. In addition to the business, Joseph was also a game warden and game inspector licensed under the provisions of the Forests and Games Act. He was also a surveyor of lumber in the Municipality of St. Mary’s. Alexander William, like two of his brothers became and elder of the church, with some of the records reflecting business contributions to the church.

Henry Charles Hatfield was born on 11 October 1899 in London, England. He served in both the British and Canadian merchant navies during the First and Second World Wars. By 1945 he had moved to Toronto, Ontario, married Elsie [surname unknown] and was serving as a merchant seaman with Canadian National Steamships.

Levi Hart (1826-1907), merchant and trader, was born March 18, 1826 at Guysborough, Nova Scotia, the youngest of 14 children born to Tyrus Hart and Martha Hull. He married Jane Dorcas Whitman of Canso, NS in 1852 and moved to Halifax in 1857. They had 5 children: Havelock McColl (b.1857), Frederick Walter (b.1861), Arthur Lee (1864-ca.1878), Eugene Eliza (b.1867), and Maud Maria (1878-1884). Levi Hart worked for Benjamin Weir & Company, then as a partner with Wylde, Hart and Co., as wholesale-retail traders with Americans. During the American Civil War (1861 to 1865) both companies were agents in Halifax for the Confederate government (the South), supplying coal and other goods to Confederate gunboats when they arrived in port. It is rumoured Levi Hart was involved in the escape of the Confederate blockade runner “Tallahassee” when it stopped in Halifax for repairs and fuel in August 1864, evading the Union vessels chasing it. In 1874 Wylde, Hart and Co. dissolved and Levi Hart continued the business in his own name, eventually becoming Levi Hart & Son Ltd. in 1902 when his sons joined him. He died in Halifax 23 December 1907.

Jairus Hart was born 1 March 1819 in Guysborough, Nova Scotia to [Tyrus and Margaret (Hull) Hart?]. In 1846 Hart married Eliza Cook, daughter of Guysborough shipbuilder Francis Cook. His first general business company was located in Canso, Nova Scotia. In 1850 he moved to Halifax, Nova Scotia, where he helped establish Young & Hart, which "became one of the largest flour and West India concerns in the Provinces." In 1876 Hart retired from active business and Young & Hart was dissolved. After retirement Hart served as director, and then president, of the Bank of Nova Scotia, as director of the Halifax School for the Blind and as treasurer on the Committee of the Methodist City Mission, of which church he was a leading member. Hart was one of the wealthiest citizens of Halifax and worth nearly half a million dollars. At his death he left a portion of his fortune not only to family and friends, but also to the Halifax School for the Blind, for the establishment of a Ladies College at Mount Allison University, Sackville, New Brunswick and to various branches of the Methodist church. He died on 26 October 1906.

Margaret “Peg” Lambert Outhit Harrison (1908-2004), comptometer operator then full time housewife and mother, was born September 8, 1908 in Parrsboro, Nova Scotia, to James Francis Outhit (1868-1957), lawyer, and Jennie Lambert (1871-1937). Margaret L. Outhit worked as a comptometer operator, an early mechanical adding machine, until she married Kenneth A. Harrison on October 17, 1931 in Kentville, NS. She had two children: William Ashley Harrison and Jennie Harrison. While Ken was overseas during World War 2, she managed the family’s potatoe seed export business and took in boarders while raising their children and caring for her widowed father. She died on March 13, 2004 in Wolfville, NS.

Major Kenneth “Ken” Archibald Harrison (1901-1991), Second World War veteran and plant pathologist, was born March 11, 1901 in Maugerville, New Brunswick to Charles Ashley Harrison (1868-1918), farmer, and Clarissa S. Roach (b.1873). He studied horticulture and plant pathology at the Ontario Agriculture College and Macdonald College and in 1926 started work at the Kentville Research Station, Plant Pathology unit in Kentville, Nova Scotia. His military career began in 1927 in the Canadian Reserves, as part of the 6th Machine Gun Battalion which became the King’s Canadian Hussars in 1936, then converted to artillery (87th and 88th Field Batteries), August 15, 1939. He married Margaret Lambert Outhit on October 17, 1931 in Kentville, NS. On July 1, 1940 he enlisted to serve overseas, received training in Nova Scotia and Ontario, and on September 19, 1941 left Halifax on the ship “Pasteur” to work on England’s coastal defence with the 88th Light Anti-Aircraft Battery, 5th Light Anti-Aircraft Regiment, Royal Canadian Artillery, Canadian Army Overseas. In 1942 he was promoted to Major and moved to the 4th Light Anti-Aircraft Battery, 2nd Light Anti-Aircraft Regiment. He returned to Nova Scotia April 8, 1944, was stationed at Halifax until the end of the War September 2, 1945, then resumed his civilian post as assistant plant pathologist with the Kentville Experimental Station as well as a business growing certified seed potatoes for export to Bermuda. He retired from the militia in 1954 with rank of Lieutenant Colonel, and from the Research Station in 1966. He died on November 5, 1991 in Kentville.

Reginald Vanderbilt Harris, lawyer, historian and author, was born in 1881 at Londonderry Mines, Colchester Co., N.S. He received his post-secondary education in Ontario at Trinity College and University of Toronto. He was admitted to the bar of Manitoba in 1907 where he practiced for two years before returning to Nova Scotia. Harris served as alderman for the city of Halifax, 1911-1913, school commissioner, 1911-1914 (chairman, 1913-1914), and school trustee, Bedford, 1921-1927. He served in the 246th Overseas Reserve Battalion during the First World War. In 1927, Harris was appointed prothonotary of the Supreme Court of Nova Scotia, clerk and registrar of the divorce court and official receiver of bankruptcy. Also active in community and public affairs, he was a founder and executive member of numerous organizations including Halifax Industrial School, Nova Scotia branch of the Canadian Cancer Society, and the Canadian Masonic Research Association. A member of the Masonic order, he served as grand master of Nova Scotia, 1923-1925. He was chancellor of the Anglican Diocese of Nova Scotia for over forty years and was the first layman to be elected prolocutor of the General Synod of the Anglican Church in Canada. Harris was the author of several plays, articles, and books, particularly about Freemasonry and Nova Scotia judicial and church history. Among his best known works is Oak Island Mystery (1958). He received honourary degrees from University of Bishop's College and University of King's College. Harris died at Halifax on 3 August 1968.

John Harris was born circa 1756, the son of Samuel and Mary (Cook) Harris, pre-Loyalist settlers in Granville Township who arrived in Nova Scotia in 1760 or 1761. He was educated at the Boston Grammar School. He first married Abigail, daughter of Michael Spurr on 30 October 1785 and secondly married Anna, daughter of William Letteney, on 3 August 1806. He was a farmer and land surveyor and laid out the Dalhousie Road as well as the Hessian Line. He served as MLA for Annapolis Township between 1811 and 1818. He is believed to have died in 1822. His son John Spurr Harris was born on 23 December 1787, married Christianna Heterick on 27 January 1814, and died on 3 February 1839. John Spurr's family consisted of the following: Josiah (1817-1883); John H. [Henry] (1818-?), married first Lemma Vanbuskirk (1819-1877), children John J., Charles H., Orval A., Mary E. - married second Catherine Copland (no Harris issue); James E. (1821-?), married Clarissa, children Harriet E., William E., George H.; George C. [Canning?] (1826-?), married Mary A., children John S., Henry B., Mary Anna, Frank H., Arthur, Tessa B., Canning, Hubert S., Susannah; and Andrew H. [died before 1883], children Matilda Short, Susannah Webb.