Showing 938 results

Donato Faini & Figli (Canada) Ltd. was a subsidiary of Donato Faini & Figli Ltd. of Milan, Italy, a woollen garment company which had been in business for sixty years. It was incorporated in Nova Scotia in 1958, and through the encouragement of the NS government, located in Stellarton. Its plant opened on March 24, 1959, with a workforce of one hundred. Key personnel came from Italy, and trained local employees in the machine knitting process. The plant began to produce knitted and coloured skirts, sweaters, dresses, bathing suits, cardigans and similar outer apparel, which were sold across Canada, the US and other countries. Because of ongoing financial problems the Stellarton plant shut down in 1972.

Terence (Terry) Donahoe was born in Halifax N.S. on 30 October 1944. Donahoe received his Bachelor of Commerce degree from Saint Mary's University and his law degree from Dalhousie University. He married Lynne Sheehan in 1967. A member of the Nova Scotia Progressive Conservative Party, Donahoe was first elected to the provincial legislature by the riding of Halifax Cornwallis in 1978. He was re-elected in the general elections of 1981, 1984, and 1988. Donahoe was elected as the first representative for the new riding of Halifax Citadel in 1993. He held a number of cabinet posts during his years in the legislature, including Minister of Education, Minister of Vocational and Technical Training, Minister of Labour, Minister of Government Services , Minister of Tourism Culture, Attorney General, and Minister of the Environment. He also served as Chair of the Management Board and was designated minister responsible for the Status of Women, the Civil Service Commission, and the Emergency Measures Organization. Donahoe became leader of the Nova Scotia Progressive Conservative Party in June 1993 and, as such, served as leader of Her Majesty's Loyal Opposition until 1995, when Dr. John F. Hamm became provincial Conservative leader. Early in 1997, Donahoe resigned his seat in the provincial legislature. He ran in the federal election held in June of that year, standing as the Progressive Conservative candidate in the Halifax riding, but was defeated.

Richard A. Donahoe was born September 27, 1909 at Halifax, N.S. The son of Edward Donahoe and Rebecca Margaret Duggan he was educated at St. Mary's University and graduated from Dalhousie Law school. After some unsuccessful attempts at municipal, provincial and federal office he was elected an alderman for the City of Halifax in 1951 and as Mayor in 1952. Following the death of Premier Angus L. Macdonald, Donahoe was elected as a Progressive Conservative member of the legislature for Halifax South in 1954. When the Stanfield government came to power in 1956 Donahoe began to serve as as Minister of Health and also as Attorney General. He held both posts until the Liberal administration came to office in 1970. In 1979 he was named a Senator. In community life he has been prominent in Irish and Catholic organizations and was named a Knight of the Order of St. Gregory in 1970. He is also amember of the Canadian Curling Hall of Fame. Two sons, Arthur and Terrence R. B., have also served in the Nova Scotia legislature.

William (Bud) Dixon was a student at the Institution of the Deaf and Dumb in Halifax, N.S., in 1868.

Thomas Nixon DeWolf was born in 1813 to George and Ann (Nixon) DeWolf of Windsor, Nova Scotia. Thomas was a student at King's College School (now called Kings Edgehill School) and became an Anglican minister. He served as Rector at the churches in Fredericton, Richibucto and Sackville, New Brunswick as well as in Dartmouth and in Douglass Township, Nova Scotia. After his father's death his mother married the Rev. William Colsell King on 8 January 1821. Thomas died in 1895 at the home of his half-sister Mary (King) Wiggins.

Isaac Deschamps was born circa 1722, presumably of Swiss descent, and arrived in Halifax, N.S. in 1749. He was employed by Joshua Mauger and in 1754 he ran Maugher's truckhouse at Pisiquid (Windsor) where he traded with local Acadians and First Nations. In 1760, Deschamps was appointed truckmaster for the trade at Fort Edward and justice of the peace for Kings County. In the following year he was named judge of the Inferior Court of Common Pleas and judge of probate for Kings County. He served as MLA for Annapolis County, 1759-1769, Falmouth Township, 1761-1770, and Newport Township, 1770-1783. Deschamps was appointed acting chief justice, 1785-1790, and became the subject of an investigation concerning the partiality of his rulings. In 1799 he became road commissioner for Kings County. Isaac Deschamps died on 11 August 1801 in Windsor.

Joseph Frederick Wallet DesBarres (1721-1824), army officer, military engineer, surveyor, landowner, and colonial administrator, was born in Paris or Basel and was educated at the Royal Military Academy in England. Following his service with the British Army during the Louisbourg, Quebec, and Newfoundland campaigns, DesBarres surveyed the coasts of Nova Scotia from 1764 to 1773 and published the results of the survey in The Atlantic Neptune. While in Halifax in 1764, he met Mary Cannon (ca. 1751-1827), with whom he had six children: Amelia Louisa Matilda Lutterell (d. ca. 1856); John Frederick William "William" (d. 1800), had one son William Frederick (1800-1805) who became solicitor-general and puisine judge of the Supreme Court of Nova Scotia; Spry Ann (d. 1842); Martha Sophia "Sophia"; Mary (b.1784) and an unidentified daughter (d. 1783). While DesBarres was in England overseeing the publication of The Atlantic Neptune, he met Martha Williams and fathered eleven children by her, including: James Lutterell (1787-1831); Augustus Wallet (ca. 1793-1866); Dolben Windham; Joseph Frederick (d. 1817); Martha Frederica; Isabella Matilda (ca. 1786-1832); Clara; Louisa; and Grace Frederica. In 1784 DesBarres was appointed Lieutenant Governor of Cape Breton Island and subsequently became Governor of Prince Edward Island in 1804. He died at Halifax in 1824, predeceased by Martha Williams in 1821. From 1773 to 1794 Mary Cannon was appointed administrator of DesBarres' extensive land holdings. She lived at his estate, Castle Frederick, at Falmouth until her death in 1827.

Desbarats and Company was founded by George Edward Desbarats of Quebec with partner William Leggo. They invented a new method for reproducing photographs for publication, known as photo-engraving, and featured this method in their weekly magazine The Canadian Illustrated News, published from 1869 to 1883. The company was appointed official printer of Canada in 1869 by Prime Minister Sir John A. Macdonald.

Alexander Pierrepont Deroche was born 12 October 1881 in Napanee, Ontario, Canada to Hammel M. Deroche and Sarah Ann Pile. He graduated from the Royal Military College in Kingston, ON in 1903 and became an engineer with the Canadian Army. In September 1908 he married Bessie Campbell Bogart in Toronto. He had a successful military career, rising to the rank of Colonel by March 1917. He served as Director General of Works and Buildings during the First World War, stationed in Quebec. He was called in to help with the reconstruction of Halifax, Nova Scotia after the Halifax Explosion of 6 December 1917. After his service in the First World War, he joined Bate McMahon Construction company in Ottawa, as manager until 1940, then became manager with Dominion Arsenals, Lindsay, ON until his retirement in 1947. He died in Kingston, ON, 4 Dec 1950 at the age of 69.

The Dept. of Transport was established in 1936 with the amalgamation of the Dept. of Marine and the Dept. of Railways and Canada. The origins of the Dept. can be traced back to 1868 when the federal Department of Marine and Fisheries was established to administer Canada's national marine services and all matters related to navigation within territorial waters, including the classification and registration of vessels.

Clarissa Archibald Dennis was born 24 November 1881 in Truro, N.S. After attending Mount Allison College, Dalhousie University, and Halifax Business College, she worked for her father, Senator William Dennis, at the Halifax Herald office. As a reporter and author, she published numerous newspaper and magazine articles on topics including Nova Scotia history, prominent citizens, and Mi'kmaq folklore and customs. Her books include Down in Nova Scotia (1934), More about Nova Scotia (1937), and Cape Breton Over (1942). Clara Dennis died in Halifax on 16 February 1958.

Agnes Miller was born 11 April 1859 at Truro, N.S., the daughter of Alexander and Sarah (Archibald) Miller. She attended Truro's Model and Normal Schools and taught at the Model School for two years prior to her marriage in 1878 to William Dennis, later owner and publisher of the Halifax Herald and senator. The couple had four sons and six daughters. Dennis began her public work in 1903, serving as president of the Halifax Victorian Order of Nurses for forty-three years. She was also a charter member and president of the Halifax Local Council of Women, 1905-1920, and executive member of its national council. Through the LCW, she assisted in organizing the Nova Scotia Provincial Red Cross Society and served as president, 1914-1920. Other organizations in which she actively participated include the Women's Auxiliary, YMCA 1910-1921, Halifax Relief Committee, Canadian Council of Immigration of Women, and Nova Scotia Provincial Girl Guides. She was also president of Halifax Herald Limited. Dennis received several national and international awards for her achievements including the Belgian Order of Queen Elizabeth (1919), Commander of the British Empire (CBE, 1934), King's Silver Jubilee Medal (1935) and honourary degrees from Acadia (MA, 1920) and Dalhousie (LLD, 1940). She died at Halifax on 21 April 1947.

William Henry Dennis (1887-1954), newspaper publisher and senator, was born in 1887 in Stewiacke, Colchester County, Nova Scotia to Henry Parnell Dennis (d.1928) and Wilhelmina Dennis. He worked for his uncle Senator William Dennis (1856-1920), publisher of The Halifax Herald and The Evening Mail newspapers. After his uncle’s death, William H. became President and Managing Editor of The Halifax Herald Company Ltd. Later that year he began the International Fishermen’s Schooner Race. In 1932 he was appointed to the Senate of Canada. From 1936 to 1940 he was a Director with the Canadian Press Agency. He married Hilda Pauline Wood (1887-1970), daughter of E.A. Wood of Halifax, NS, in October 1914 and had two children: Pauline (1921-1993) and Graham. Graham William Dennis (1927-2011), newspaper publisher and philanthropist, succeeded his father as President after William H.’s death on January 18, 1954. Born August 17, 1927, Graham graduated from Montreal’s McGill University in 1949. He published The Chronicle-Herald and The Mail-Star newspapers for over 57 years. He was made a member of the Order of Canada in 1984. He married Ann on December 28, 1955 and had one daughter, Heather (b.1956- ). After Ann’s death from cancer, he married J. Gay Thompson in the late 1960s and had Sarah (b.1970- ) and William (1972-2002). Graham Dennis died in Halifax on December 1, 2011.

Louis de Mezangeau was born in 1766 in Brittany in France. He served in the French navy, first in Guinea in West Africa and then on the islands of St-Pierre and Miquelon beginning in 1785. By 1793 he was second in command to Governor Danseville on the island of St-Pierre. In the spring of 1793 the islands of St-Pierre and Miquelon surrendered to the British and on June 20th that same year Mezangeau along with five or six hundred prisoners were transported to Halifax on board the frigate Alligator. He became a British subject and was commissioned as a lieutenant in the Nova Scotia militia in 1797. He served as an officer in the 2nd Battalion of Halifax militia and he took a regiment to Chezzetcook and Lawrencetown to defend the coast from an attack by Napoleon's navy in 1804. In 1802, owing to his education, he received a license to teach in Nova Scotia. He was first married to a Mrs. Whittear and later, circa 1805 or 1806, married Maria Louise Naugle from Eastern Passage, with whom he raised seven children. He returned to France later in life to address either family money matters or arrears in his pay and is believed to have died there.

Henry Davison was born in Bridgewater, Nova Scotia, in 1903, the son of Archie and Lena (Benjamin) Davison. He was educated at Bridgewater public schools and King's College. He served in the Canadian Army during the Second World War and married Joye Fenton of Saint John, New Brunswick in 1943. Following the war he settled with his family in West LaHave, Nova Scotia, where he operated a poplar log brokerage business until his death in 1959. He was buried in Brookside Cemetery in Bridgewater, Nova Scotia.

The Davison Lumber Company, which existed from 1903-1921, originated as a small lumbering, farming and fishing business in Mill Village, Queens County, Nova Scotia in the early 19th century. It was owned and operated by the prominent Davison family. Edward D. Davison (1819-1894) assumed control of the business in 1837. He built the first steam sawmills in Nova Scotia in 1845 and 1850. After a devastating fire in Mill Village, the business was moved to Bridgewater in 1865 and assumed the name E.D. Davison & Sons. It was now a family conglomerate run by Edward and his three sons: Henry, Edward Jr., and Frank. The business grew with a steady absorption of smaller competitors. By the 1890s it was the largest lumber company in NS, with a virtual monopoly in the South Shore lumber industry, employing more than 350 men and 50 teams of horses. Edward D. Davison Sr. died in 1894, the same year the company incorporated. His eldest son, Henry died in 1896. The remaining management team – Frank and his cousin Archie – found it difficult to maintain the company and in 1903 sold the firm to the American Lumber Company. The name was changed to Davison Lumber Company, incorporated in 1903 with head office in New York and local office near Bridgewater. The restructured company reached a plateau of success in the first decade of the 20th century, owning over 325,000 acres of woodland. At the end of World War 1 (1918) sales slowed down, although 16 lumber camps were still producing for the mills at Hastings and Bridgewater, NS. By 1920 slumping markets combined with large overhead costs, effectively terminated the business. The company went into bankruptcy in 1921.

Jean Davis was born in Glasgow, Scotland on 13 October 1907 to Malcolm and Mary McIntyre. Malcolm had been an immigration agent for the Canadian government working in Alberta and had been sent to Glasgow, Scotland where Jean was born. Other siblings had been born in Edmonton and in Ontario. The family arrived in Halifax a few years before the Halifax Explosion and lived on Windsor Street, and later Summit Street. Jean attended schools in Halifax, graduated from what is now the Nova Scotia College of Art and Design and later married Bert Davis. After her marriage Bert and Jean relocated to Nanaimo where she lived for 50 years. Widowed in 1980 she moved in 1996 to Victoria, BC where she died on 1 April 2004.

In 1989 Jean Davis considered the idea of organizing a reunion of Halifax Explosion survivors and was interviewed on this topic in a March 1989 newspaper article published in the local Nanaimo newspaper. The story was picked by the Canadian Press and subsequently appeared in a number of Canadian newspapers. In December of 1989 BIll Paul of the Halifax Chronicle Herald did a follow up story on her project. While the reunion never happened Jean Davis did hear from 44 people who recounted their experiences of the Halifax Explosion through letters sent to her. Jean sent Christmas cards to Explosion survivors and a correspondence developed with a number of them.

The Dartmouth Chamber of Commerce was organized in 1950 "for the purpose of advancing the general welfare, and more particularly the commercial, industrial and civic interest of the Town of Dartmouth and vicinity." It now functions as a Board of Trade for the City of Dartmouth.

Brian Craig Uniacke Cuthbertson was born in 1936 in Sackville, New Brunswick, the son of Arnold Craig and Eileen Mary (Odevaine) Cuthbertson. He served with the Canadian Army before completing his MA at the University of New Brunswick and Ph.D. at King's College, London, England. Cuthbertson moved to Halifax in 1973 and served as head of the Public Records Division at the Nova Scotia Archives from 1974 to 1984. It was while he was at the Archives that he began his publishing career. He served as head of the heritage unit in the Nova Scotia Department of Tourism and Culture from 1984 until his retirement in 1995. He then embarked on a career as an historical researcher. For the Halifax Regional Municipality, he completed submissions to the Historic Sites and Monuments Board of Canada on Melville and Deadman's Islands, Starr Manufacturing Limited, and the Halifax Memorial Tower. He has done historical and graphic research under contract to Canada Post for over 22 commemorative stamps. As part of the activities for Democracy 250 in 2009 he was the historian for the online exhibit entitled, The evolution of parliamentary democracy in Nova Scotia, 1919-2008. Since 1998 he has been the editor of the Journal of the Royal Nova Scotia Historical Society.

Donald Edward Curren, CM, LLD (Honoris Causa), QC, was born in Halifax, N.S., 21 January 1923, the son of Capt. Reginald H. and Mary (Roche) Curren. He served as a flying officer in the RCAF during the Second World War and was severely injured in an airplane crash in 1943, which left him paraplegic. Curren graduated from Dalhousie Law School in 1950 and was admitted to the Bar of Nova Scotia in 1951. He founded the Maritime Branch of the Canadian Paraplegic Association and served as its executive director from 1951 until 1984. He was appointed chairman of the Nova Scotia Human Rights Commission in 1986. Curren was an advocate for, and proved instrumental in, the improvement of the quality of life of disabled people and others throughout Atlantic Canada. He was a founding member of the Nova Scotia Wheelchair Sports Club and represented Canada at international games such as the British Commonwealth Paraplegic Games in New Zealand in 1974 and the Pan-American Wheelchair Games in Halifax in 1982. He was recognized provincially and nationally, receiving numerous professional and humanitarian awards including honorary degrees and membership in the Order of Canada. Curren died in Halifax, 25 November 1996.

Georgia Harriet Cunningham, the youngest of three daughters of saddler and justice of the peace James P. and his wife Lucinda (Whitman) Cunningham, was born at Kentville in 1888. Georgia moved to Bridgetown shortly after her father's death in 1907 and was joined there by her mother and sisters, Grace (1883-1967) and Alice (1884-1955). In 1909 she purchased the former photographic studio of Joseph Rice on Queen Street in Bridgetown and commenced work as a photographer. She was a member of the Maritime Professional Photographers Association and was awarded an honourary lifetime membership. She died at Bridgetown on 1 November 1969 following a short illness and was buried at Whitman Cemetery, Lawrencetown.

The Cumberland Coal and Railway Company was incorporated in 1883 and changed its name to Cumberland Railway and Coal Company in 1884 when it purchased the assets of the Springhill and Parrsboro Coal and Railway Company. The latter had been incorporated in 1872 as a mining and railway company that built a rail link from a mine at Springhill south to the port of Parrsboro on the Bay of Fundy. There coal was to be shipped to destinations in southern Nova Scotia and along the eastern seaboard of North America. The Cumberland Coal and Railway Company refurbished the line, repaired bridges, and laid the track with steel rails. It began mining on a much larger scale, opening the No. 1 and No. 2 collieries at the Springhill coal field. The company's coal production in the late 19th century was fed by the railway boom across Canada and the economic protection afforded by the National Policy which prevented a flood of cheap American coal into the country. In 1910 the Dominion Coal Company Limited (DOMCO) absorbed the company, maintaining it as a subsidiary. The Dominion Steel and Coal Corporation (DOSCO) took over DOMCO in 1930. At a later date the railway was abandoned.

Fred E. Crowell was an avid genealogist who compiled a series of genealogies entitled "New Englanders in Nova Scotia", which were published in the Yarmouth Herald from the late 1920s to 1930s. Crowell was living in Boston, Mass. at the time. His genealogies were later published by the New England Historical and Genealogical Society in Boston in 1979.