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James William Baker (1877-1936) and Handley Wilcox Loomer (1867-1939) appear to have become business partners about 1920. In 1926 they purchased the cooperage business of George Dexter Payzant (1846-1947) of Falmouth, Nova Scotia. Baker and Loomer continued to operate for a further ten years, until Baker's death, manufacturing lumber, staves, headings and barrels predominantly for fruit transfer and storage. Thereafter, the business was known as the H. Loomer Mill which continued to operate until 31 October 1940.

H. Loomer Greenhouses Limited of Falmouth, Hants County, Nova Scotia, was incorporated on 18 April 1941. The business acquired the plant, machinery, equipment and real estate of the previous owner, Handley Loomer, from his heirs, Earl, Alice and Helen Loomer. Handley Loomer (1867-1939) had started the vegetable greenhouse business in Falmouth in 1897; in 1935 Ralph Loomer (1905-2003), Handley's son, and a cousin of the other Loomers, organized Avon Valley Greenhouses Ltd. The first directors of H. Loomer Greenhouses were Cecil W. Townshend of Windsor, solicitor; Adelaide R. Gallagher of Windsor, stenographer; and Marjorie A. Poole of Windsor, clerk. They resigned in June 1941 and Earl, Alice and Helen Loomer replaced them as directors. Earl Loomer was named president and Alice Loomer, secretary. They continued in those offices until the Falmouth Greenhouse ceased operations in 1977. The company operated greenhouses at Falmouth and Kingston, and flourished until the early 1970s because of cheap and stable fuel, labour and construction costs. However by 1975 there was a great deal of financial uncertainty, with escalating costs and prices. In 1977 it was decided to discontinue the Greenhouse operation at Falmouth, and offer the property for sale. In December 1979 H. Loomer Greenhouses legally changed its name to H. Loomer Industries Limited. In October 1980, the company ceased doing business and surrendered its certificate of incorporation, with its assets being dispersed to shareholders and holding no outstanding debts or liabilities.

John Frederick Traugott Gschwind (ca.1748-1827), Hessian army and Nova Scotia militia officer, physician, and office holder, was born circa 1748 in Oberdaubnitz, near Meissen, Saxony (German Democratic Republic). In 1776 he arrived in New York City, United States as part of the Hessian army recruited by the British government to suppress the colonial rebellion. In October 1778, his regiment was transferred to Halifax, Nova Scotia and he became a military surgeon with a civilian medical practice on the side. He married Anna Fletcher (1750-1805) on August 3, 1782 and they had one daughter, also named Anna. When his regiment returned to Europe after the conclusion of the Treaty of Paris in 1783, Gschwind stayed in Halifax. As a reward for his military service, he was granted land in Halifax County in 1784 and 1788. In 1793 he was appointed surgeon of the 2nd Halifax Militia Regiment, promoted to surgeon and physician general of the provincial militia in 1796. He was appointed health officer for the Port of Halifax in 1799, responsible for inspection of incoming ships to prevent the spread of contagious diseases, a post he held until 1825. He died 2 September 1827 in Halifax.

The Group of 7 (G-7) leaders held their twenty-first economic summit in Halifax, Nova Scotia, in June 1995. Most meeting were held in the Maritime Museum of the Atlantic and Summit Place, Lower Water Street. The leaders included Prime Minister Jean Chretien, Canada; President Jacques Santer, European Commission; President Jacques Chirac, France; Chancellor Helmut Kohl, Germany; Prime Minister Lamberto Dini, Italy; Prime Minister Tomiichi Murayama, Japan; Prime Minister John Major, United Kingdom; and President Bill Clinton, United States of America. President Boris Yeltsin, Russian Federation, also attended the summit.

Cora de Jong Greenaway, C.M., D.F.A., D.Hum.L., F.R.S.A., teacher, broadcaster, history researcher and author, was born in Medan, Indonesia 4 July 1915 to Klaas and Bernardine Antoinette Louise (Calkoen) de Jong. She was educated at universities in Europe until the German occupation of Holland in 1940, when she became active in the Dutch Resistance and subsequent liberation of Holland. On 7 July 1949 Cora de Jong married British Major William (Bill) Greenaway, MC, and together they immigrated to Canada and settled in Paradise, Nova Scotia. From 1956 to 1979 she worked for CBC Radio as a freelance broadcaster on cultural and heritage subjects. She was a founding member of the Heritage Trust of Nova Scotia in 1959. In 1963 she became a teacher and vice-principal of Dartmouth Academy private school in Dartmouth, NS until 1979. In 1960 she discovered the painted 19th century wall murals of the “Croscup Room” in Karsdale, NS, now preserved as part of the permanent collections of the National Gallery of Canada. Subsequently, Dr. Greenaway received funding from the Canada Council and became a full time researcher on historic interior decorative painting. She discovered and documented examples in private homes (including folk artist Maud Lewis), published several articles, curated an exhibit at the Art Gallery of Nova Scotia (1986), and lectured nationally and internationally, from 1980 to the late 1990s. In 2011 she published the book Painted Dreams, the culmination of her life’s work on the subject. She received multiple awards, including the Order of Canada in 1996. Dr. Greenaway died in The Hague, Netherlands, February 2, 2017.

Hon. Nathan Green, QC and chief judge of the Nova Scotia Provincial Court, was born in 1913 at Glace Bay, N.S., the son of Morris and Annie (Diamond) Green. Green attended Dalhousie University and graduated with a BA in 1934 and LL.B. in 1936. He practiced law in Halifax as a sole practiioner from 1936-1954 and was associated with his brother Allan, who took over the practice upon his appointment to the bench. Green was appointed a provincial magistrate for Halifax County in 1959 and first chief judge of the Provincial Court in 1981. He also served the province in the field of labour relations, as conciliator, mediator, arbitrator and industrial inquiry commissioner. In 1974, and again in 1981, he served as a one-man commission of inquiry into the Police Act and police regulations for Nova Scotia. At the time of his death he was chairman of the provincial Royal Commission on Forestry. A recipient of the Centennial Medal in 1967, Green was also part-time lecturer at Dalhousie Law School and active in numerous professional, charitable, civic, and community organizations including the Canadian Jewish Congress and Dalhousie University board of governors. He died in 1982.

Administrative functions for British colonies were given in 1696 to "The Lords Commissioners for promoting the trade of our Kingdom and for inspecting and improving our plantations in America and elsewhere." This body was also referred to as the Board of Trade and Plantations. By 1702, responsibility for the colonies was assumed by the Secretary of State for the Southern Department. In 1768 the separate office of the Colonial Secretary was created. In 1782 the Board of Trade was abolished and colonial affairs were placed in the Home Secretary's Department until 1801 when responsibility for colonial affairs was transferred from the Home Office to the Sercretary of State for War and the Colonies. The Colonial Office emerged as an independent administrative unit in 1854 with the appointment of a separate Secretary of State for the Colonies. A detailed account of the history of the Colonial Office and its record-keeping practices can be found in the National Archives of Canada's publication General Inventory of Manuscripts / Manuscripts Division - Ottawa : Public Archives of Canada, 1976. The introduction to the National Archives' MG 11 has been rerpoduced and is appended to Inventory #123 in the Nova Scotia Archives' on site finding aid system.

Established in 1716 by royal warrant of King George I, the Corps of Engineers was the engineering branch of the British Army. In 1787 the corps was granted the title Royal Engineers. The first officers of the corps arrived in Nova Scotia in the 1740s and were stationed at the army's office headquarters in Halifax under the direction of the commanding Royal Engineer. Engineering offices were also established at the detachments in Cape Breton, New Brunswick, Prince Edward Island, Newfoundland, and Bermuda. The primary responsibility of the Royal Engineers was the construction and maintenance of military buildings including fortifications, barracks, storehouses, hospitals, and prisons. Other engineering duties included surveying, demolition work, and occasionally civil works, such as the construction of roads, canals, and bridges. Engineer officers later became supervisors of the actual construction work which was contracted out to local builders beginning in the early decades of the 1800s. Until reorganization of the army in the 1850s, the Royal Engineers were under the supervision of the inspector general of fortifications in Britain who, in turn, reported to the Board of Ordnance. In 1855, the Board of Ordnance was amalgamated with the War Office. The functions of the Royal Engineers were eventually transferred to the Canadian Militia who formed a formed a permanent corps of engineers under the name Canadian Engineer Corps on 1 July 1903. In 1904 it was renamed the Royal Canadian Engineers.

Barbara (nee Lucas) Grantmyre was born in Bolton, England in 1908 and lived most of her life in Elmsdale, N.S. Throughout her career she published a number of short stories, articles, novelettes, plays, and three books: Lunar Rogue (1963), A Rose for Minnie Mullet (1964), and The River That Missed the Boat (1975). Many of her stories were used for radio dramas on CBC. She died in 1977.

Charles Wilkie Grant, QC was born in 1912 at Beaver Mountain, Antigonish County, N.S., son of Norman and Margaret (Taylor) Grant. He graduated from Dalhousie Law School and was called to the bar in 1937. After employment in the attorney-general's department and in New Glasgow, he established a law practice in Guysborough in 1939. He was appointed Queen's counsel in 1972. In addition to his law practice, he was municipal clerk and secretary of the school board. He was also a member and long-time elder of Wesley United Church, charter member of Guysborough Lions Club and served for forty years as member and chairman of the board of Guysborough Memorial Hospital. At the time of his death in 1991, he was the oldest practicing lawyer in Nova Scotia.

MacCallum Grant, former Lieutenant-Governor of Nova Scotia (NS), was born in 1845. He lived in Halifax, NS, and married Laura McNeill Parker of Dartmouth, NS on 24 October 1887. They had six children born between 1889 and 1899: Eric, Gerald, Margaret, John (“Jack”), Grainger, and Harold. Gerald and Grainger received the British Military Cross for gallantry in World War I. The family lived in a series of homes in Halifax, including Armdale House owned by Sir Charles Tupper. Grant was a prominent business man in Nova Scotia, employed with Black Bros. & Co for 15 or 20 years and master of the ship “Vibilea” in October 1884, before he established Grant, Oxley & Company Ltd., a fire and marine insurance business, with partner Harold Oxley in June 1892. He was appointed marine Pilotage Commissioner for Halifax in July 1892. He was also trustee or director of other businesses, including Nova Scotia Savings, Loan and Building Society, the Old Ladies Home, the Halifax Electric Tramway Company, and the Bank of Nova Scotia. Grant served two consecutive terms as Lieutenant-Governor of Nova Scotia, from December 2, 1916 to January 21, 1925. During his time he played host to British Prince Edward in August 1919, and British Admiral Jellicoe in December 1919. He received many honours, including a degree from Acadia University in 1919, and life membership in the Canadian Army & Navy Veterans Association in 1922. He retired from the Lieutenant-Governor’s position in 1925 due to ill health and died in Halifax February 23, 1928 at the age of 83.

Dorothy Annette (Metie) Grant, freelance author, medical patients’ advocate, consumer affairs columnist and television reporter, was born 24 August 1935 to Stanley Metie and Florence (Lawrence) Metie in Halifax, Nova Scotia. After graduating from Halifax Infirmary School of Nursing in 1956, she worked for 7 years as a registered nurse in Halifax, then in 1966 began a career as a freelance writer and broadcaster with CBC Radio One for shows “Radio Noon”, “Maritime Magazine” and “Information Morning”. Dorothy Grant expanded into television in 1975, as a researcher, writer and sometimes producer for national (“Market Place”) and regional programs (“First Edition”, “Land and Sea”, “Take Thirty from Halifax” and “High Noon”). In 1977, Dorothy worked on “The Other Child” a documentary about badly burned children, filmed at the I.W.K. Hospital for Children in Halifax. It won the Association for Canadian Television and Radio Artists (ACTRA) Award for Best Television Program in 1979. In 1989, Dorothy Grant left broadcasting to work for The Medical Society of Nova Scotia as their Director of Communications & Public Affairs until 1995 when she became their Patient-Physician Relations Coordinator, one of the first in Canada, 1995-1998. Throughout her career, Dorothy authored multiple articles on consumer affairs issues, doctor-patient relations, and local history, some of which were published in "Canadian Medical Association Journal", "Family Practice Magazine", "The Canadian Nurse", and "The Senior’s Advocate", among others, as well as regular columns for "The Metro Telecaster", and "The Chronicle Herald" newspapers. In 2011 Dorothy co-authored a book "Amazing Medical Stories" with Dr. George Burden, published by Goose Lane. Dorothy served on several organizations’ boards of directors including the Provincial Medical Board, Family Caregivers Association of NS, and the Canadian Consumer Council. Her work and dedication were recognized with an Award from Consumer and Corporate Affairs Canada and Progress Women of Excellence Award, both in 1992. Following the death of her son in 1984 at age 11, she became very active in fund-raising efforts for the IWK Hospital for Children, establishing the David Grant Memorial Foundation, and one year co-hosting their annual televised Children’s Telethon. As of 2016, Dorothy lives with her husband William (Bill) Grant and continues to write and publish articles.

The Graham family resided in the communities of Rockville and South Maitland, in Hants County, Nova Scotia. The original progenitors were John Graham (1775-1862) and Ruth Smith (1791-1845), who settled and lived in Maitland, Nova Scotia. Their original frame house was occupied by four generations of the family in succession. Their son, John Graham (1823-1896), was a shipbuilder who went to sea at the age of 17, becoming a master by age 25. He married Martha Cox (1826-1904) and together they raised eleven children. The eldest, John Brown Graham (1849-1931) was also a master mariner. He married Jane Z. Nelson (1859-1897), a niece of the famed Maitland shipbuilder, W.D. Lawrence. John Brown Graham sailed for thirty-three years before leaving that life and returning home. At the age of seventy he moved west to be closer to his daughters: Alice Haworth (1898-1992) of Prince Rupert, British Columbia and May Strangways (1900-1984) of Claresholm, Alberta.

Hugh Graham was born in Scotland in 1754. He came to Nova Scotia in 1785 and settled in Cornwallis, where he took part in forming the first Presbytery of Nova Scotia with a group of six fellow ministers. In 1799 Rev. Graham relocated to Stewiacke with his wife and children, where he served the congregation of Stewiacke and Musquodoboit. He died at Stewiacke on 5 April 1829. He married Elizabeth (Whidden) (ca. 1774-1816) of Cornwallis in 1792. They had five children: Hugh (1793-1857), John Whidden (1795-1867), Isabell (1799-1864), William (1804-1849), and James (b. 1808).

Jean Middleton Gow, née Donald, writer, illustrator and journalist, was born in 1903 at Hampshire, England. She was educated at London's Royal Drawing Academy, obtaining a teacher-artist certificate. In 1910 she immigrated with her family to Victoria, B.C. In her early career she was an artist and exhibited widely in B.C. 1929 she married Lieutenant Commander F.R. (Peter) Gow in England, where they remained until 1935. They were then stationed in Halifax until 1938, and later Esquimalt, Ottawa, and Halifax again during the Second World War. In 1940, Gow wrote the book Quebec Patchwork, a tourist guide and historical narrative, under the name "J. M. Donald ". When her husband died at sea in 1942 she turned to volunteer activities such as organizing the "Naval Reading Service", which sent reading material to naval personnel on ships. After the war she was a librarian with the Department of National Defence, then became a self-supporting illustrator and writer. She began a career as a researcher for the CBC in 1951 (retiring in 1968), researching and writing for radio and television, including children's shows, documentaries, and public affairs. As well in the 1950s she began 40 years of research on her major work, a biography of Edward, Duke of Kent, which was never published. She also authored Design of Days in 1988, and in 1999 she published the book, Alongside the Navy, 1910-1950 which relates her experiences as a navy wife living in Halifax, Esquimalt, and Ottawa.

John Gorham was born 12 December 1709 (OS) at Barnstable, Massachusetts, U.S.A., and died in London, England during December of 1751. Although descended from a number of generations of military men Gorham appears to have started a career as a merchant, landholder, whaler and trader before entering military service around 1741 in Massachusetts. During this phase of his life he was recorded as seeking a land grant on Sable Island and indeed appears to have been active in the affairs of the Island. He appears to have recruited, organized and led an auxiliary unit “of the Massachusetts provincial army” who became known as Gorham’s Rangers and who patrolled the inland waters in modified whaleboats that facilitated their ability to appear and strike anywhere. Some accounts suggest rangers also specialized in less conventional warfare taking more advantage of the natural ability to conceal and hide in the woods than would regular soldiers. As a captain in the military he was dispatched to Annapolis Royal in September of 1744 with his company of 50 described by Massachusetts Governor Shirley as “picked Indians and other men fit for ranging the woods,” to provide relief to the garrison then besieged by French forces based in Louisbourg, NS. The following year he returned to Boston and then was sent, with his Rangers, to Louisbourg where they participated in a series of actions that eventually led to the fall of the fortress. Although he returned to Boston in 1746 he was quickly back in the province and during the period 1746 to 1747 erected blockhouses at Chignecto and Cobequid to support the defense of Nova Scotia. In 1747 he was sent to London to unsuccessfully plead the case for imperial support to help Massachusetts subdue the remaining French forces in Nova Scotia and to ensure the safety of the Annapolis Royal settlement. The imperial denial of support left Gorham and his company of rangers the principal defenders of Nova Scotia in its then wider boundaries including modern New Brunswick. With the settlement of Halifax in June 1749 Gorham relocated to Halifax and was named a member of Council. To support the new settlement he built a fort at Sackville (head of Halifax Harbour) and was engaged in various skirmishes with French and Mi'kmaq forces. He died of smallpox in London in December of 1751 after having sailed there on his boat the Osborne, the first vessel built in Halifax. His death was reported in the first issue of the Halifax Gazette, 23 March 1752.

Joleen (nee Aldous) Gordon was born 7 July 1945 in Toronto, Ontario, the daughter of Dr. John Gray and Eileen (Hooley) Aldous. She received a BSc (Hon) from Dalhousie University and a Masters of Marine Biology from the University College of North Wales. She is a gifted teacher and lecturer. She has worked as a research associate with the Nova Scotia Museum since 1972 and is the author of a number of books, articles and reviews, principally about material culture in Nova Scotia. She is a founding member of the Helen Creighton Folklore Society and the Nova Scotia Basketry Guild. She was awarded the Portia White Prize in 2007.

Gordon Eugene “Gordie” Silver (1945-2018), country music fan and collector, was born May 1, 1945 in Springfield, Nova Scotia, to Wesley and Florence (Wile) Silver. Gordie trained as a cartographer and was employed with the Provincial Government, Bowater Mersey and the County of Annapolis Assessment Division. He retired in 1996. He married Terry Whitman in circa 1970 and had 2 daughters. Gordie Silver loved music, especially international country music star Hank Snow (1914-1999). Gordie started his massive record collection of Hank Snow albums in 1955 at the age of 10 and served as president of the Hank Snow International Fan Club in the 1980s. He died November 4, 2018 at his home in Round Hill, NS.

Camilla Grace (nee Pierce) Goldie was born on 24 March 1916 in Parrsboro, N.S. She was the daughter of Fred M. Pierce and Carrie Grace (Harrison). Camilla married Charles Walker Goldie of Sydney, N.S. on 24 February 1936 in Sydney. As a hobby she researched and collected data related to her family history. She died in 1991 in Vancouver, B.C.

Edith Isabel Girouard was born on 9 October 1905 in Halifax, Nova Scotia, the daughter of Prof. Murray and Kathleen (Holmes) Macneill. She attended Tower Road School, the Halifax Academy and graduated with an Honours B.Sc. from Dalhousie University in 1926. She taught at Fairmont Junior College in Washington, D.C., and became Dean. She returned to Halifax in 1939. She assisted Mrs. Stuart McEuen in the creation of the Ajax Club, which provided hospitality to the Allied Navies during the early part of the Second World War until the Club's dissolution in 1942. In 1941 she married Major Rene Girouard in Halifax. Shortly after he was posted overseas, Edith found employment in Halifax with the Dominion Board of Statistics, where she was involved in the implementation of price controls. She was also an active member of the Women's Voluntary Services. Upon her husband's return to Canada after the war, she moved with him to Quebec and Ontario for his remaining military postings. She died 18 March 1989 in Bridgewater, Nova Scotia, and was buried in Perth, Ontario.

George W. Churchill Estate Ltd. was a limited company incorporated in 1908 in order to administer the large estate of George W. Churchill. George was the son of Ezra Churchill, who established the E. Churchill & Sons Shipyard in Hantsport in the 19th century, among the foremost in the province in its day. At Ezra's death, his fleet and yards were taken over by his two sons, John and George, who operated the business for approximately 25 years. In the 1890s the company, in addition to shipbuilding, which had been in decline for a few years, diversified into banking, quarrying and construction. By the turn of the century George W. had accumulated great wealth. His real estate holdings were enormous: besides his own residence, he had secured an interest in nearly sixty properties in Hants and Kings Counties, including houses, shipyards, mortgages, hotels, stores, wharves, timberlands, quarries, gypsum and gypsum rights, farms and saw mills. In 1906 George W. died intestate, leading to a family dispute over distribution of his estate. As a consequence a family company was established to disperse of the assets: the George W. Churchill Estate Ltd. The company consisted of Ezra's eight heirs: his widow, plus his sons and daughters: Clara Pullen Florence W. Sircom, Ezra Churchill, Lena Macdonald, Nita DesBarres, Cecil Churchill and Randolph Churchill. The estate was inventoried and evaluated at $342,513.00 cash, with a large portfolio of stocks and shares and many other investments. For the next several years the company engaged in disposing of property to order to split the proceeds amongst the heirs.

George Hames was born in Boston, Massachusetts, in 1926. Around 1929 his family relocated to Halifax, where Mr. Hames still resides. From 1950 to 1954 he worked for the Nova Scotia Government Film Bureau [Nova Scotia Bureau of Information] in the capacity of assistant film editor. In 1954 he joined the CBC where he worked until his retirement in 1991. During his 37 year career with CBHT he held a variety of positions including film director, senior film editor and executive assistant of design. He had an interest in film as a hobby and began collecting footage as early as 1933 or 1934. Through his own efforts and through the efforts of others who knew of his interest as a collector he acquired a large collection of film footage about Nova Scotia as well as other subjects of personal interest.

George Edwin Holland was born on October 25, 1874, in King Stanley, Gloucester, England. His parents were William Henry Holland (b. 1844-June 19, 1922) and Louisa Jane Cooper (b. 1841-July 28, 1910). In 1917 when Holland was 42 years old, he enlisted in the Canadian army at Kamloops, British Columbia. He was part of the 102nd Regiment, 47th Battalion and sailed from Halifax on the SS Olympic on June 2, 1917. Near the end of September 1918, he was severely injured after his ankle and foot were hit by shrapnel in France. The injury was debilitating, and as a result he was discharged shortly afterwards. Holland returned to Vancouver, BC, after serving close to two years. During the 1917 holidays Holland was involved in a Christmas sock exchange with a Nova Scotian mother and daughter. Laura May Patterson and her one-year-old daughter Christine sent a handmade stocking through an exchange program. Private Holland received the stocking and sent back a letter to the family thanking them for the Christmas gift and describing the soldiers experience over the holiday.

The Genealogical Association of Nova Scotia was formed on 19 June 1982. The association originated as a standing genealogical committee of The Royal Nova Scotia Historical Society (founded in 1878). Its primary objectives are to collect and preserve genealogical material; to promote and further the study of genealogy and family history in Nova Scotia; to further ethical practices and scientific techniques of genealogical research; and to publish and distribute genealogical materials. The association holds monthly lectures, provides occasional workshops, and publishes The Nova Scotia Geneaologist. GANS is governed by an executive committee and is a member of the Genealogical Institute of the Maritimes and the Federation of Nova Scotia Heritage.