Walter John ("Jack") Hawkins, professor, soldier, politician, broadcaster, and author, was born in Halifax in 1932. He was raised in Enfield, Hants County and graduated with a Bachelor of Arts Degree from Saint Mary's University, Halifax, receiving the University Literary Award. In 1956, Hawkins married Monique Marie Roach, also of Nova Scotia. The couple have three children. From 1955 to 1959, Hawkins served as a captain in the Canadian Army, and was posted in both Canada and Europe.-- After his military service, Hawkins received a Master of Arts Degree in English from the University of New Brunswick and became a professor of English at the Nova Scotia Agricultural College in Truro. During this time he did broadcast commentary on C.B.C. Maritimes and a Truro radio station.-- Hawkins entered politics as an East Hants County Councillor in 1963, a position he held until 1967. Hawkins, a Liberal, was elected M.L.A. for East Hants in 1970. He was the Minister of Agriculture and Marketing from 1972 to 1978. He also served as the Minister of Environment (with responsibility for the Emergency Measures Organization) in 1976. He was Chairman of the Nova Scotia Treasury Board from 1975 to 1978. Defeated in the general election of 1978, Hawkins was twice re-elected, serving as M.L.A. for East Hants from 1981 to 1984 and from 1988 until his resignation from the Liberal caucus in May, 1992. Hawkins had authored two books on Nova Scotian politics: "The Life and Times of Angus L." (1969), about former Premier Angus L. MacDonald, who was arguably one of the most popular and influential politicians in Nova Scotia's history, "Recollections of the Regan Years: A Political Memoir" (1990), about his time in the government of Premier Gerald Regan. As an author, Hawkins is perhaps the best known for "Deer Hunting in Eastern Canada" which was first published in 1981 and has since been through at least ten reprints. In response to the popularity of his works, Hawkins wrote "More About Hunting Deer and Rabbits in Eastern Canada", which was published in 1993. In 1995, Hawkins' history of the Nova Scotia gold mining town of Renfrew, "Renfrew Gold: The Story of a Nova Scotia Ghost Town" was published. Hawkins has also written numerous articles for national publications and newspapers. John Hawkins and his family reside in Enfield, Hants Co.
Marjorie Grace Wambolt, barrister at law, was born at Halifax, N.S. on 6 December 1901, the youngest of eleven children of James Peter and Mary Ann (Allen) Wambolt. She entered Dalhousie University in 1920 and earned her LLB in 1925. She joined the Halifax firm of Yeoman and Matheson and was admitted to the Bar on 10 July 1925. In 1929, she became a partner with Robert F. Yeoman under the name Yeoman and Wambolt, and later Yeoman, Wambolt, and Graham. She took over the practice under her own name in 1940, specializing in probate. In 1950, Wambolt became the first woman in Nova Scotia to be appointed King's Counsel. She was also the first woman elected to the council of the Nova Scotia Barristers' Society. She was active in numerous other professional and civic organizations including the Halifax Club of Business and Professional Women (charter member and president), Halifax University Women's Club, Dalhousie Alumnae Association (president), Board of Governors of Dalhousie University, Canadian Bar Association, and Committee on Laws for Women and Children of the Local Council of Women, Halifax.
Watson Smith (ca1865-1953), merchant and tinsmith, was born at Folly Mountain, Colchester County, Nova Scotia in circa 1865 to Sydney Smith and Agnes (Rae) Smith. He married Jeanetta “Nettie” Allison Blair (ca1867-1963) on October 28, 1890 in Nappan, Cumberland County, NS, daughter of Harriet and Colonel William Blair, Member of the NS Legislative Assembly for Colchester County 1878-1886 and Superintendent of Dominion Experimental Farm at Nappan 1888-1896. Watson and Nettie lived at Acadia Mines, then settled in Shubenacadie, Hants County, NS in 1895 where Watson opened his tinsmith shop and hardware store. They had four children: Cullen Blair (b.1891), Alfred (b.1893), Jeanetta “Jennie” May (b.1897) and Harry Victor (1903-2002). Both Cullen and Harry worked with their father at the Watson Smith & Sons Hardware and Tinsmith Metal Shop and ran the business after Watson’s death in 1953.
It appears Alfred died in childhood. Jennie became a nurse. Cullen married Gwendolyn F. Lynch on September 1, 1915 in Shubenacadie and had four children: Cullen Jr., Kathleen, Blair and Donne. He worked at the family business until retirement in 1964.
Harry, the youngest son of Watson and Nettie, was a mechanic and inventor prior to the Second World War. He patented a car turning signal in 1930, and built his own version of a snowmobile. He was a member of the Chebucto Road Flying Club in Halifax, 1932-1934. From 1940 to 1944 Harry volunteered with First Canadian F Squadron of the Royal Canadian Air Force and served at Topcliff and York in the United Kingdom as an air frame mechanic, earning the rank of sergeant in 1943. Upon his return to Canada, he resumed work in the family business, taking over from Cullen from 1964 until he closed it in ca1982. He donated the building to the Village of Shubenacadie as a museum. Harry never married but kept in close contact with his brother Cullen’s children. He died in Shubenacadie in 2002.
Ralph Waugh was born in Amherst, Nova Scotia, Canada on the 5th of March 1943 to George and Muriel Waugh and raised in the Cumberland County village of Wallace, Nova Scotia. After graduation from Mount Allison University, Sackville, New Brunswick, he studied Radio and Television Arts at Ryerson University, Toronto, Ontario. He married Mary Lee McCrady in Ottawa, ON in 1966. Mr. Waugh's television career included positions in the technical departments of CFTO Television station, Agincourt, ON and of the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation (CBC) at their International Broadcasting Centre in Montreal, Quebec during Expo '67 in 1967. He was a producer-director with the CBC at CBHT TV station in Halifax, NS from 1966 to 1986. Mr Waugh also worked with several private production companies including Tide's Table of Saint John, NB, Sight & Sound Productions and Ralph Waugh Productions of Halifax. One of his hobbies was to record people, places and events in his home village of Wallace and the nearby community of Tatamagouche. Ralph Waugh retired in 2003 and lives in Dartmouth, NS.
Charles Ashton Webster was born at Yarmouth, N.S. on 1 June 1864, son of John L.R. Webster (1835-1885), MD and Helen Ogilvie (Geddes) Webster. He received his early education in Yarmouth and attended the Halifax Medical College. In 1886 he was admitted to the College of Physicians and Surgeons in New York. As an intern, he spent eighteen months on Randalls Island, N.Y. at the Infants' and Randalls Island Hospitals. Dr. Webster settled in Yarmouth in October 1887 where he resumed his late father's general practice and also performed a large share of surgical work in Yarmouth County. He was appointed medical officer for the federal Department of Marine and Fisheries in 1899 and health officer by the Town of Yarmouth in February 1909, coinciding with a small pox outbreak. He was made a fellow of the American College of Surgeons in 1917 and was active in the Canadian Medical Association and several other professional, civic, and charitable organizations. Webster also took an active interest in horse breeding, and was largely connected with the introduction of the Hackney and Clydesdale horses into Yarmouth County. He and his wife, Mary Page, daughter of Alexander S. and Ellen C. (Page) Murray of Pugwash, N.S., married 1 February 1912 and had six children: Mary Elizabeth, John Alexander, Ellen Page, Geddes Murray, Robert McNaught,and David Richan.
Harold Alexander Weir was born in Truro in 1902, the son of James and Isabella (Johnston) Weir. He began his professional career in Pugwash where he taught school from 1924 to 1927 after completing graduate work at King's and Dalhousie Universities. He joined the staff of Halifax Academy, where in 1935 he won a Carnegie Fellowship in education. This enabled him to continue his studies at the University of London. In 1938 he was appointed inspector of schools for the County of Colchester and in 1940 was asked to assume the position of inspector for the County of Halifax. His leadership in setting up a municipal school board in his own inspectorate was recognized by the department of education and his services were then made available to all counties in the province. He later became chief inspector and, eventually, Director of Educational Services. In 1967 he was appointed to the position of Director of School Planning and Conveyance in which he served until his retirement. He was twice married, first to Ethel Smith of Pugwash who predeceased him and later to Grace Kirby of Porters Lake. He had two children. He died on 20 November 1978 at Halifax, Nova Scotia.
In October 1930, a Council of Social Agencies was established by, and for, social welfare agencies in Halifax and Dartmouth, N.S. The purpose of the council was to study, plan, and advise the community in the areas of health, welfare, and recreation services and programs. Its name changed to the Welfare Council of Halifax in 1951 and the Welfare Council (Halifax-Dartmouth area) in 1963, with its services extending to the surrounding area of the cities.
Donald Dawson Wetmore, CM, author, playwright and educator was born 23 January 1907 in Truro, N.S., the son of Abram Douglas and Christina (Stevenson) Wetmore. He was educated in Truro and received BA and MA degrees from Acadia University and the University of West Virginia. He undertook theatre training in New York and Montreal, and during World War II he organized stage productions for servicemen through the YMCA in Debert, N.S. and St. John's, Nfld. After the war he became a longtime employee of the Nova Scotia Department of Education. He was drama advisor for the continuing education division, from 1946-1966, and then supervisor of the cultural services section of the adult education division, 1966-1971. Through this latter position he was an integral (and often founding) member of many key drama and performing arts organizations in Nova Scotia, including the Theatre Arts Guild, Nova Scotia Drama League, Nova Scotia Arts Council, Nova Scotia Committee of the Dominion Drama Festival, and Canadian Authors Association. He also served on the National Board for the Dominion Drama Festival from 1964-1972. As a playwright he is known for such works as The Londonderry Heirs and Dashing Through the Years, radio dramas such as Lamb in the Lea and Highland Heart in Nova Scotia, and folk operas such as The Broken Ring and Scottish Landing. He edited Loyalists in Nova Scotia: Biographies of Loyalist Settlers, a collection of essays by members of the Canadian Authors' Association, and wrote for The Canadian Author and Bookman and other periodicals. In 1972 he was awarded the Order of Canada (CM) in recognition for his contributions to community theatre in Nova Scotia, and in 1973 received the Diplome d'Honneur from the Canadian Conference of the Arts. He died in 1992.
In 1822 certain inhabitants of Digby Township petitioned Governor Kempt to establish a separate township but no formal steps were taken until 10 April 1841 when a bill constituting the Township of Weymouth became law.-- Townships acquired some powers, such as the administration of poor relief, but most of the control of local affairs was under the Courts of General Sessions of the Peace. Townships were required to keep vital records of settling families, including records of town meetings, cattle marks, land records, and grant descriptions.
W.H. Chipman and Son, iron and hardware merchants of Cornwallis, N.S. was one of several businesses established by merchant and politician William Henry Chipman, MPP (1807-1870). The firm commenced operations ca. 1842.
Gideon White, farmer, merchant and shipowner, was born in 1754 at Plymouth, Mass., the son of Gideon White (1717-1779) and Joanna Howland (1716-1810). He married Deborah Whiteworth (1760-1851) in 1787 and the couple had nine children: Joanna, Miles Whitworth, Deborah Foxcroft, Nathaniel Whitworth, Gideon Consider, Cornelius, John Dean Whitworth, Sarah Whitworth, and Thomas Howland. During the War of Independence he fought for the British cause, and as a result at the end of the war, like many other British supporters, was forced to leave his home. White became an agent for the Port Roseway Associates, a group of men working to organize loyal British-Americans to remove to Port Roseway (presently Shelburne), N.S., where they would receive land and support. Following the Loyalists' arrival at Shelburne in 1783, steps were taken to form a local government. In 1785 White was appointed Deputy Registrar of the Court of Vice-Admiralty, and later elected to represent Barrington Township in the Legislative Assembly from 1790-1793. In 1794 he was appointed Justice of the Inferior Court of Common Pleas, and one year later, appointed customs collector. White continued to receive government appointments; in 1796 he was appointed seizing officer for Shelburne and Queens County and the following year sheriff. Circa 1812 he was appointed Custos Rotulorum and he also served as Judge of the Court of Probate for Shelburne County from 1823-1832. White died at Shelburne in 1833 and his wife Deborah died in 1851. Several of White's children continued to reside in Shelburne and also received numerous government appointments. Nathaniel Whitworth White (1793-1860) became a lawyer and represented Shelburne Township in the Legislative Assembly from 1826-1827, and was also appointed Registrar of the Court of Chancery and was the Master in the Supreme Court of Judicature from 1855-1860. Cornelius White (1797-1871) was also a lawyer and represented Shelburne County in the Legislative Assembly from 1855-1859, and was appointed Registrar for Shelburne County. Another son, Reverend Thomas Howland White (1806-1898) was the rector of Christ Church for close to sixty years. Some of White's grandchildren and great-grandchildren also became prominent members of the community. Cornelius White (1847-1925), son of Cornelius White and his wife Agnes, was appointed Registrar of Deeds and Probate for Shelburne County. Nathaniel Whitworth White (1837-1917), son of Reverend Thomas Howland White, was a practicing lawyer, and was elected to represent Shelburne County in the Legislative Assembly from 1878-1882 and was elected to represent Shelburne in Parliament from 1891-1896. Nathaniel's grandson, also named Nathaniel Whitworth White (b.1905) also operated a law practice at Shelburne.
Marjory Whitelaw, broadcaster and author, was born in Moncton, N.B., ca. 1919. From 1939-1944, she was employed by the federal Department of Fisheries and the Children's Hospital in Halifax, N.S. She spent the next five years as administrative and editorial assistant with the International Labour Office [ILO] in Montreal and later, Geneva. From 1955-1973, Whitelaw was a writer and broadcaster for CBC and BBC, and lived in London, England, Halifax, N.S., and Toronto. She received two Ohio Awards in the early 1960s for documentaries, CBC Radio Soundings: Phoenix Halifax and CBC Radio Soundings: Tree of Peace. Her publications include a re-writing of Helen Joseph's Tomorrow's Sun: a Smuggled Journey from South Africa (1966), The Life and Times of Thomas McCulloch (1985), and First Impressions: Early Printing in Nova Scotia (1987).
Bessie May Acker (1874-1973) married James William Whynot (1857-1941), son of Cyrus and Elizabeth Whynot, on 10 December 1891. They had five children: Atwood Roy (1893-1939), Elsie May (1895-1962), Seymore Morse (b. 1899), Clarence Murdock (b. 1902) and Ruth Marion (b. 1912). The family resided in New Albany, N.S. Atwood relocated to Farmingham, Mass. and joined the American Expeditionary Force during the First World War. He married Alexandria Clark, 18 October 1919, and died 9 November 1939 serving in the Third Field Artillery, 6th Division, USA Army.
John Wightman was born in Digby, Nova Scotia on 1 February 1900, the son of George Warren and Mary Edith (Coombs) Wightman, descendants of United Empire Loyalists. He studied at both Mount Allison and McGill Universities. At the latter he received a B.Sc. (Mining Engineering) in 1922. Thereafter, between 1922 and June 1926, he worked in British Columbia in the vicinity of Kimberley, surveying, mapping, and drafting. From June 1926 to September 1934 he did explorations in Eastern Canada investigating mineral claims. From September 1934 to July 1946 he was the resident engineer in charge of operations for Consolidated Mining and Smelting Company of Canada (Cominco) and served as mine manager at the Caribou Gold Mines, in Caribou, Halifax County. In 1946, he was transferred to Yellowknife in the Northwest Territories, staying until February 1947 when he became the testing engineer at the Sullivan Mine in Kimberley, British Columbia. He died in 1989.
Donald Roy Wiles, amateur linguist and chemistry professor, was born in Truro, Nova Scotia, Canada in August 1924 to Neil Douglas Wiles (1899-1983) and Hilda M. (Vaughan) Wiles (1896-1986). Educated in Amherst, then Mount Allison University in Sackville, New Brunswick he earned a Bachelor of Science degree 1946, and Bachelor of Education degree 1947. Before his career in chemistry took him to Norway, the United States, and Western Canada, he spent the summer of 1946 visiting his mother’s family in Martin’s Point, Lunenburg County. Both sides of the family could trace their roots back to the “Foreign Protestants” who first settled Lunenburg. While there he recorded the German language spoken by the elders of that community and wrote down some of the German customs persisting there. After earning his Ph.D. in nuclear chemistry from Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge, Massachusetts, United States in 1953, he worked at the University of British Columbia 1955-1959, then joined the Chemistry Department faculty at Carleton University, Ottawa, Ontario from 1959 until his retirement in September 1990. He continued teaching occasional courses in chemistry until just before his death on July 13, 2022 in Almonte, Ontario.
William (Bill) Perrot was born in 1953, in Portsmouth, Virginia. He grew up in Petersburg, Virginia,. Bill graduated from Westminster Choir College Princeton, NJ, in 1975 and has been involved in school, church, and community choirs since his arrival in Nova Scotia that same year. It was in 1982 as past-president of the Nova Scotia Choral Federation (NSCF) that he met Liz Batstone who joined the NSCF as Executive Director. Liz welcomed Bill to stay with her family when they had NSCF meetings, and Bill became a friend of the Family. Bill lives in the Annapolis Valley at present, and remains active in the choral world.
Jane Barnes Wisdom was a pioneer in the social welfare movement in Canada. She was born March 1, 1884 to Freeman W. and Mary Bell (McQueen) Wisdom in Saint John, New Brunswick, the third of four children. After graduating from McGill University with a Bachelor of Arts in 1907, she worked as ‘visitor on staff’ at the Charity Organization Society of Montreal while living in their University Settlement residence. In June 1910, she attended one of the first diploma courses in social work at the New York School of Philanthropy, an experimental training program affiliated with Columbia University. She returned to Montreal for a brief time, then took employment with the Brooklyn Bureau of Charities 1912-1916 as executive director of 2 districts. In July of 1916 she was recruited by the new Bureau of Social Services of Halifax (also known as the Halifax Welfare Bureau), to be their first permanent “General Secretary” (today’s equivalent of executive director) and served there until 1921. She survived the Halifax Explosion of Dec 6, 1917, and played an active role in the recovery efforts, being seconded to the Halifax Relief Commission as Supervisor of the Rehabilitation Department. In that role, she organized the building of Community Houses for survivors. In 1920 she worked on the Nova Scotia Provincial Commission researching and reporting on Mother’s Allowances, wages and working conditions of women in Nova Scotia factories. In the summer of that year she traveled around the British Isles (United Kingdom). In 1921 she returned to Montreal to earn a graduate degree from the Department of Economics at McGill University. While there, she was part time instructor of social case work in their Department of Social Science and School of Social Work, until 1924. From 1925 to 1939 she worked as executive director for the Women’s Directory of Montreal, a social services agency specializing in the care of single parent families. In 1941 she conducted a study of the social conditions in the coal mining town of Glace Bay, NS for the Canada Welfare Council, working with fellow social worker Charlotte Whitton (later mayor of Ottawa). She stayed in Glace Bay as the town’s first welfare officer and developed their program of social services, from 1941 until retirement in 1952. She retired to Sutherlands River, Pictou County and died June 9, 1975 at the age of 91.
William Stairs (1789-1865), general merchant, established his store in Halifax in 1810. By 1825 business had expanded and William re-located to the corner of George Street and Bedford Row. His son W.J. Stairs (1822-1906) became a partner in 1841 and the firm was named Wm. Stairs and Son, changing to Wm. Stairs and Sons three years later when William's other son John entered the partnership. Its name changed again to Wm. Stairs, Son and Morrow in 1854 when William's son-in-law Robert Morrow joined the firm. At the time of William's death in 1865 when W.J. succeeded him as head of the business, the firm had diversified its product line and branched into the shipping business. By 1880, the firm owned or managed thirty-two vessels. In 1869, the Dartmouth Rope Works factory was established as a branch plant and remained a wholly owned subsidiary until 1892. The firm was incorporated by an Act of the Legislature in 1900 but was liquidated in 1926 with a new company organized under the same corporate name. By 1970, Wm. Stairs, Son and Morrow, in addition to its subsidiaries and its wholesale hardware distributorship, consisted of four divisions and had branch offices in Sydney, N.S. and Moncton, N.B. The most lucrative component of the Stairs group was N.S. Tractors and Equipment, which continues to operate. The firm existed until 1975 when it merged with J.W. Bird and Co. of Fredericton. The former Stairs family firm survives under the name Bird-Stairs, a division of J.W. Bird and Company of Fredericton.
The Women for Music Society dates back to 1952 when a group of women met in the home of Mrs. Angus L. Macdonald to establish an auxiliary for the Halifax Symphony Orchestra. The organization was originally called the Women's Auxiliary of the Atlantic Symphony Inc. However, in 1983 the name changed to the present Women for Music Society, with a mandate to support and promote live performances of music and to assist with the ongoing work of Symphony Nova Scotia.
The Women's Institute has its organizational roots in rural Ontario. The first branch was formed in 1897, at a time when rural women lived in isolation and often with little or no education. Farmers had organized as the Farmers' Institute but there was nothing similar for their wives.
The beginnings of Women's Institutes in Nova Scotia are due also to the influence of Nelville Cumming. In 1911, Dr. Cumming, then principal of the Nova Scotia Agricultural College and Secretary of Agriculture for the province, visited Ontario. Upon returning to Nova Scotia, he recommended to the provincial government that the organization be established here. In 1913, Miss Jennie Fraser of New Glasgow, a graduate of MacDonald College, was appointed superintendent of the Women's Institutes of Nova Scotia.
With the assistance of Mrs. Laura (Rose) Stephen of Ontario, the first Institute was organized in Salt Springs, Pictou County on 17 July 1913. In 1919, Miss Helen J. MacDougall took over the position of superintendent and remained with the organization for the next 26 years. Also in 1919, the Federated Women's Institutes of Canada (FWIC) was formed to coordinate the work of the provinces and became the national voice for rural women in Canada.
The Workmen's Compensation Board was established in 1916 to administer the act providing for compensation for injuries sustained and industrial diseases contracted on the job. The gradual introduction of medical care and hospital insurance led to the board's adopting the concept of the mutual accident assurance plan, which not only protects employers against liability but also insures employees against loss of earnings. In 1975 the Workmen's Compensation Appeal Board was established to hear appeals from the Workmen's Compensation Board. In 1979 the name of both boards was changed from "Workmen" to "Workers" and in 1996 the Workers Compensation Appeal Board was replaced by the Workers Compensation Appeals Tribunal. In 1992 a chief executive officer of the Workers' Compensation Board of Nova Scotia was appointed, replacing the executive director, and in 1995 a board of directors established. The board is now for all practical purposes a crown corporation.
Journalist, author, lawyer, and politician George Renny Young was born at Falkirk, Scotland on 4 July 1802, son of John and Agnes (Renny) Young. He emigrated to Halifax, N.S. with his parents in April 1814 and assisted in his father's business as a dry goods merchant prior to entering Pictou Academy. He founded the Novascotian newspaper in 1824, selling it to Joseph Howe in 1828 in order to pursue legal studies in Britain. Young became a barrister in 1834 and practiced law in association with his brother William. He entered politics in 1843 as member of the Legislative Assembly for Pictou County and was also a member of the first Executive Council. A dispute over the formation of an intercolonial railway led to his resignation from the cabinet in 1851. He died at Halifax on 30 June 1853. Young was the author of numerous books and pamphlets. Among his best-known works is On colonial literature, science, and education (1842). Young married Jane Frances Brooking (d. 1841) of London, England on 19 April 1838; they had a son, John Brooking (1839-1870).
John Young, son of William and Janet Young, was born at Falkirk, Scotland in September 1773 and educated at Glasgow University. He was a merchant in Glasgow before emigrating to Nova Scotia with his wife and four sons in April 1814. He established a business in Halifax importing and selling dry goods under the name John Young and Company. His interest in agriculture prompted him to write a series of letters to the Acadian Recorder in 1818 under the pen name Agricola, urging the improvement of agricultural practices in Nova Scotia. He was subsequently appointed secretary and treasurer of the newly established Central Board of Agriculture in 1819 and also served as member of the Legislative Assembly for Sydney County from 1824 until his death. He died at his farm, Willow Park, near Halifax on 6 October 1837. Young and his wife Agnes "Nancy" (Renny) had nine children, three surviving to adulthood: William, George, and Charles.