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Dennis Dickens Sweeting was born in Calgary, Alberta. He was the second child of John Findlay Sweeting and Jessie Craven Dickens. Sweeting was a professional actor from the age of 38 and was founding director of Kawartha Summer Theatre (1964). He was producer/artistic director of Canadian Players, and president of the Association of Canadian Television and Radio Artists. He also organized the Actor's Equity Association of Canada and served as reeve of Lindsay and ward of Victoria County. Sweeting received his BA from Trent University in 1980, and was recipient of the Maggie Basset Award (1988), an honorary degree from Trent University (1990), and the Order of Canada (1994).

Dennis Patrick Sears was born in Vancouver in 1925. As a young boy he moved to Saskatchewan near Moose Jaw, where he witnessed an event at the age of six which was to affect his entire life, that of the killing of the hired hand by his father. His father was never charged, and the family moved to central Ontario in Carden Township in 1933. Upon finding hundreds of books stored in his grandfather's house, Sears developed an early interest in reading. In 1943 he joined the navy, and after the World War II, became a policeman in Oshawa. He had already married and had three children, but left his family and job and moved to Calgary, where he continued a troubled life. He soon joined the army and was sent to Kingston to serve in the plainsclothes division of the Provost Corps. Years later he began operating a lift bridge in Kingston, where, in his spare time, he found a renewed interest in literary matters. Soon he was sending letters to the Kingston Whig-Standard, where a favorable response by the editors lead to a regular column, beginning in 1971. Some years later, several of his columns were combined in a book entitled "The Lark in the Clear Air". He has written other books since.(Taken from an article by Ron Base, entitled "Dennis Patrick Sears Grows Up", in Maclean's, June 1975).

Harold R. Scott was appointed Minister of Lands and Forests for Ontario on October 19, 1948. He was made a member of the Executive Council of the province of Ontario the following year.

Dr. Hugh D. Logan (ca. 1900-1952), a resident of Lindsay, Ontario, was one of the founders of Physicians Services Incorporated, a health insurance program which was developed under the Auspices of the Ontario Medical Association in the late 1940's. This program was the forerunner of the present government health program. Incidently, Dr. Logan was also the personal physician to the Honourable Leslie M. Frost.

Hugh David Lumsden was born at Belhevie Lodge, Aberdeenshire, Scotland, September 7, 1844, the son of Colonel Thomas Lumsden and Hay Burnett. Lumsden was educated at the Bellview Academy in Aberdeen, and at the Wimbledon School, Surrey, England. He came to Canada in 1861 and became a Provincial Land Surveyor in 1866. In 1870, Lumsden became a Civil Engineer and had a long and successful career in the location and construction of railways across Canada. He was involved with the Toronto and Nipissing Railway; the Credit Valley Railway; the Toronto, Grey & Bruce Railway; the Northern Railway; the Georgian Bay Branch of the C.P.R.; The Ontario and Quebec Railway; various eastern extensions of the C.P.R.; and the Crows Nest Pass Railway to name a few. From 1904 to 1909 Lumsden was the Chief Engineer of the Eastern Division of the Transcontinental Railway. He held the presidency of the Canadian Society of Civil Engineers in 1907. Lumsden was also involved in activities outside engineering. In 1870 he was the Reeve of Eldon Township, and also president of the Eldon Agricultural Society. He was involved in the military, having joined the 34th Regiment as a Lieutenant in 1867. He married late in life, to Mary Frederica Whitney, daughter of J.W.G. Whitney, in 1885. Hugh David Lumsden died in 1928.

Ian Lachlan Campbell (1927-) was born in Ottawa, Ontario and married Marion Isabel Wellwood (1926-) in 1950. He attended graduate school at the University of London and studied political and social philosophy. Campbell taught at Mount Allison University (1954-1965), where his research interests concerned criminal behaviour. He served as alderman and Mayor of Sackville, New Brunswick, and as Dean at Bishop's University, Sir George Williams University, and Concordia University, and was commissioner of the Government of Canada's Commission of Inquiry into the Non-Medical Use of Drugs (the LeDain Commission). Campbell was also Principal of Renison College at the University of Waterloo, and president of the Canadian Heraldry Society. He is also a Fellow of several societies and serves on many university associations.

James Roddy was a farmer and landowner in Cavan Township in the early 1900s.

James Watson Curran, newspaper editor and author, was born in Armagh, Ireland, on April 24, 1865. When he was eight years old, his family emigrated to Canada, eventually settling in Orillia, Ontario. The Curran family was in the newspaper business and James' father owned two newspapers, the Essex Chronicle and the Orillia News-Letter (1884). James became the first news editor of the latter. In 1890, James moved to Toronto to work first as a reporter for the Toronto Empire and then as city editor. In 1895, he moved on to Montreal to become the city editor for the Montreal Herald. Six years later, while passing through Sault Ste. Marie, he became so impressed with the city that he quit his job at the Herald and bought the Sault Ste. Marie Star, which at the time was a weekly newpaper. By 1912, Curran had turned the Star into a daily paper. Curran was also a promoter of Sault Ste. Marie as an author and his two books "Here Was Vinland" (1939), and "Wolves Don't Bite" (1940), are examples of his enthusiasm for the region. He married Edith Pratt and they had a number of children including Jane W. who married Judge H. Deyman. Curran died in Sault Ste. Marie on February 20, 1952 just before his 87th birthday.

James Walter Curry was born in 1858 in Port Hope, Ontario. He was a lawyer and practiced in Port Hope, Millbrook, and Toronto. In Toronto, he headed the law firm O'Connor, Wallace and Macdonald and specialized in criminal law. Curry was also Crown Attorney (Toronto) (1892-1906), managing director of Canada-Cuba Land and Fruit Company (1906-1907), president of the Toronto Lacrosse Club, and director of the Ontario Lacrosse Club. Curry also ran unsuccessfully for MPP as the Liberal candidate for East York (1908).

Jane W. Deyman (nee Curran) was born November 7, 1914 to James W. Curran (see 74-006) and Edith Pratt. She married Harry R. Deyman (1912-1975) and they had three children: Mary, Susan and Peter. Her husband was a supreme court judge for Cobourg and then Peterborough. Jane was the chair of the Board of Directors at the Peterborough Centennial Museum and Archives as well as chair for the Peterborough Historical Atlas Foundation. She was a long time member of the Peterborough Historical Society and volunteered at Hutchinson House. She was an active participant in heritage and humane fields and volunteered her time to numerous heritage activities. Jane Deyman died January 27, 1993.

Jean Shearman was born in Montreal. She was a great great granddaughter of Thomas Alexander Stewart and Frances Browne Stewart, and great granddaughter of their son, William Stewart and his wife, Louisa McNabb. She spent much of her life transcribing the Frances Stewart letters and researching the genealogy of the Stewart family and families with whom the Stewarts had some relationship. Ms. Shearman wrote A Sense of Continuity: The Stewarts of Douro along with her sister, Elizabeth Shearman Hall. She died in Toronto in 2005.

Professor Jennifer Stacey Harcourt Brown was born on 30 December 1940, in Providence, Rhode Island. Brown’s parents, Professor Harcourt Brown of Brown University and his wife Dorothy were good friends of Professor Kenneth and Martha Kidd, who were long associated with Trent University. Her father and Professor Kidd became friends through similar research interests. Their families visited one another throughout the summer months in Providence, Rhode Island, and at their summer island place near Perry Sound. Browns family visited the Kidds in Scarborough and later in Peterborough. Professor Jennifer Brown’s uncle, Quentin Brown, was a generous supporter of the Archives at Trent University and accessioned over 100 records into the collection.

Professor Brown was invited by Professor Kidd to participate in the Serpent Mounds archaeological dig at Rice Lake when she finished high school. She was a student digger for 10 weeks during the summer of 1958. She then went on to complete an archaeological dig in San Carlos, Guatemala, during the summer of 1959.

Professor Brown received a BA Honours in Ancient and Medieval Culture from Brown University in 1962. She received her AM in Classical Archaeology from Harvard University in 1963 and her PhD in Cultural and Social Anthropology from the University of Chicago in 1976.
Professor Brown has published many books in which one in particular has received Honourable Mention for the Canadian Historical Association’s Sir John A. Macdonald Prize. This book is titled Strangers in Blood, published by The University of British Columbia Press.

The Munros were writers and local historians who lived in Peterborough, Ontario.

John A. Bradshaw was a crown attorney and clerk of the peace for the City of Peterborough from 1948 to 1975. John researched the Bradshaw family and he was able to trace the Bradshaw lineage as early as 660 A.D., with a connection to the Sutton Hoo ship which was discovered in Britain in 1939. John was very successful in tracing many of his ancestors throughout the centuries, from Haigh Hall in England, 1295, when Sir William de Bradshaigh was owner, to a succession of baronets, captains, knights and earls. There is a noteworthy connection, by marriage, with the Fraser family originally of Scotland, of which Simon Fraser was a descendent. The ancestry of the Fraser family is extensively presented in this fonds as well.

John Bee owned Lot 16, Concession 1 in Cavan Township in the 1850's. His family owned and operated a grist and saw mill on the Ganaraska River near Port Hope from the 1850's onwards. John was also a cobbler from 1847 onwards. Hiram Bee had a store and at some point the Bees married into the Austin family.

Captain John C. Boylen was paymaster and assistant adjutant of the 127th Battalion, Queen's York Rangers during the World War I. He compiled a war diary from the weekly reports of Headquarters Officers and O.C. Companies. Boylen also wrote news articles on the York Rangers. He was, at one time, secretary for the Ontario Historical Society and Mayor. He was the author of several books including Castle Frank, 1956, and York Township: a historical summary, 1954.

John Carleton Grover of "Balsam Farm," Norwood, Ontario married Rachel Elmhurst in 1942. He was a civil servant employed as pay and allowance ledger keeper with the Royal Canadian Air Force Recruiting Centre in Ottawa. In World War II, Grover became a member of 432 Squadron and served as a pilot officer overseas. For his service, he received the following R.C.A.F. decorations: 1939-1943 Star; R.C.A.F. Operational Wings; and the Canadian Volunteer Service Medal and Clasp. Grover was the great grandson of the Rev. Michael Andrews Farrar of Hastings, Ontario.

John Edward Proctor was a resident of Brighton, Ontario involved in the lumbering trade in 1869. He was responsible for building and equipping the large schooner "E.R.C. Proctor" and the "Minnie Proctor". J.E. also had a grain elevator and dock which were in use until 1895. He also operated sawmills. (Taken from: "Centennial of the Incorporation of the Village of Brighton, 1859-1959." Brighton: Centennial Book Committee, 1959.)

Margaret Ash Heideman received her Master's Degree from the University of Toronto. She was married to Alan H. Heideman. Margaret was an active member in the University Women's Club and arranged events with such people as contralto Maureen Forester. Other visits to Peterborough were arranged with Betty Jean Hagen and Hilda Neatby. Margaret wrote book reviews for the Peterborough Examiner under the editorship of Robertson Davies.

Margaret Jane Scott (Maggie) was born in 1881 at Fitzroy in Carleton County, Ontario. She and her twin sister Ida were born to Annie Knox and Archibald Scott. She and her sister were educated at the Lindsay Model School and the Toronto Normal School. Both girls were teachers and taught for a time between the Lindsay and Toronto schools. Before the family lived in Omemee, they had resided at Perth, near Ottawa, Ontario. Margaret died in 1905.

Margaret Van Every is the daughter of Janet and Alan Van Every. Her aunt, Molly Gibson, was a friend of Mary Northway's. Janet Van Every, Molly Gibson, and Mary Northway, were all campers at Glen Bernard Camp. Molly Gibson and Mary Northway were associated with the Brora Centre.

Mark Robinson was Superintendent and Ranger in Algonquin Park between 1908 and 1941. He served as an Army officer with the Canadian Militia during the First World War. He resided in Barrie and Elmvale, Ontario with his wife and Children but spent many months each year in Algonquin Park.

Marlow Banks was a resident of Peterborough, Ontario and the owner of the Banks Bicycle Store. He was a hockey fan, and more specifically, a fan of the Peterborough Petes hockey team. Mr. Banks used to sponsor the "Banks Bicycle Store Trophy" which was awarded annually to the Petes regular season scoring champion.