Professor Roger Jones is Professor Emeritus of Trent University. He was a faculty member of the Biology Department for 32 years and retired in 2000. Professor Jones was a member of Trent's Nature Areas Committee.
Gene Kelly was born as Eugene Curran Kelly on August 23, 1912 in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvannia, U.S.A. His father, James Patrick Joseph Kelly, was born and raised in Peterborough, Ontario. Gene Kelly was educated at Pennsylvannia State University and he graduated in 1933. He had a number of different jobs before work as a dance instructer placed him on the stage. He played in "Leave it to Me", "The Time of Your Life" and "Paul Joey" in New York Theatre as well as many other theatres. When he was thirty he started to appear in movie films such as various musicals for MGM, where he found success with Judy Garland in "For Me and My Gal". In 1951 Gene Kelly received an Oscar for his contribution to dance in film. Gene was married three times and three children. Gene Kelly died on February 2, 1996. (Taken from: Thomson, David. "A Biographical Dictionary of Film." New York: William Morrow and Company, Inc., 1981.) Gene Kelly's aunt, Mary Anne Kelly, married Richard Sheehy and at one point they lived at 751 George St. N. in Peterborough - the Stratton, later, Sheehy and even later Sadleir House.
Judge John de Navarre Kennedy, son of Gilbert and Alice Kennedy, was born on May 31, 1888 in London, England. He graduated from Cambridge University with a B.A. in 1909. In 1914, Kennedy married Elsie Margaret Pinks and they had one daughter, Anne Macomb (Mrs. Dudas). In 1970, after the death of his first wife, Kennedy married Marjorie Helen Troop. Kennedy was called to the Bar in B.C. in 1918, and in Ontario in 1921. He practised with the law firm Manning, Mortimer and Kennedy in Toronto. Judge Kennedy held the position of judge in the Court of Peterborough from 1952-1963. Kennedy was well-known for his work in the Canadian Federation of Humane Societies where he was president, and in the Humane Trap Development Committee where he was chairman. He was also involved in several recreational activities, such as painting in watercolours, exhibiting his works at the Roy Canadian Academy, National Gallery of Canada. Kennedy is author of "In the Shadow of Cheka", "Crime in Reverse", "Aids to Jury Charges", and several other books and publications. He was also the editor of Chitty's Law Journal. In 1978 Kennedy received the Queen's Jubilee Medal. Kennedy died December 3, 1979.
Walter Kenyon was a noted Ontario archaeologist, and curator of Canadian archaeology at the Royal Ontario Museum for twenty-five years.
Alfred O.C. Cole was born in 1925 and was the youngest son of Dr. C.E. Cooper Cole and Sarah Renwick Tuckett. He had three brothers and one sister, and was married to Jean Murray Cole. They had six children. Cole was an avid researcher and historian. He played a major role in the life and history of Trent University, as Registrar from 1966 to 1987, and as a member of the Department of History. He was a RCAF pilot during World War II, a political reporter for Toronto's Daily Star and Globe and Mail, and he served as an executive assistant in the Ontario Ministry of Public Works at Queen's Park in Toronto. He wrote articles, and books such as A Victorian Snapshot and Trent: The Making of a University, 1957-1987, both published in 1992. He and his wife, Jean, shared the editorship of a number of books including The Illustrated Historical Atlas of Peterborough which was published in 1975 and Kawartha Heritage, published in 1981. Together Jean and Alfred had six children of which one has followed into their literary footsteps. Alfred O.C. Cole died on October 20th, 1996.
Roy MacGregor is a journalist and author. He was born in Whitney, Ontario in 1948 and raised in Huntsville, Ontario. He was educated at Laurentian University and later acquired a degree in journalism from the University of Western Ontario. He has worked for several magazines and newspapers including MacLean's, Toronto Star, Globe and Mail, and the Ottawa Citizen. His more than 40 books include: Canoe Country: The Making of Canada, 2015; Wayne Gretzky's Ghost: And Other Tales from a Lifetime in Hockey, 2011; Northern Light: The Enduring Mystery of Tom Thomson and the Woman Who Loved Him, 2010; Canadians: A Portrait of a Country and Its People, 2007; The Dog and I: Confessions of a Best Friend, 2006; The Weekender: A Cottage Journal, 2005; A Life in the Bush: Lessons from my father, 1999; Home Team: Fathers, Sons and Hockey, 1996; Road Games: A Year in the Life of the NHL, 1993; and Home Game: Hockey and Life in Canada (co-authored with Ken Dryden), 1989. MacGregor is also the author of the Screech Owl mystery series for young readers. Roy MacGregor has been the recipient of many book and journalism awards. He was inducted into the Order of Canada in 2005, and received an honorary degree from Trent University in 2016.
David Stirling Macmillan was born 9 October 1925 in Scotland. He received his Masters degree from Glasgow, Scotland and his Ph.D. from Sydney, Australia. He was archivist at University of Sydney from 1954 to 1968 and left Australia in 1968 to come to Trent University. Before he came to Trent he had been named a Fellow of the Royal Australian History Society. He was a Trent University professor for 20 years where he taught History from 1968 to 1987, with courses such as the Expansion of Europe, 1400-1825 and Russian History as well as, his specialty, Business and Economic History. He also taught some evening courses at Durham College in Oshawa for Trent. After a lengthy illness David Stirling Macmillan died 4 September 1987.
Stafford Frederick Kirkpatrick was born December 12, 1809, the seventh son of Alexander Kirkpatrick, in Coolmine, County Dublin, Ireland. He later emigrated to Canada and settled in Peterborough, Upper Canada, where he was a Barrister at Law and later became a Judge. He was also a militia officer. In 1835, Kirkpatrick married Henrietta Fisher, daughter of Alexander Fisher, and together they had six children. He died in 1858.
Professor John Marsh was a Professor of Geography at Trent University from 1972 to 2002. He obtained his Ph.D. from University of Calgary in 1972 and organized the first "Rails to Greenways" conference in 1993. He is also active in the Canadian Parks and Wilderness Society (formerly the National and Provincial Parks Association of Canada), and the Canadian Canoe Museum.
John R. Marshall was born in England in 1876 and came to Canada in 1885. He was educated in Toronto. Much of his working life was in the employ of Canadian Nashua Paper Company from which he retired as general manager in 1945. During his 31 years in Peterborough he held senior administrative posts with the Chamber of Commerce, the Board of Education, the Public Library Board, the Peterborough Manufacturers' Association, the YMCA, St. Andrew's United Church, and the Civic Hospital. Marshall died in 1952.
Charles Vincent Massey was born in Toronto on February 20, 1887, grandson to Hart Massey who developed the farm-implement company to an international corporation. He was educated at the University of Toronto and Balliol College, Oxford, England. He was a lecturer at Victoria College, University of Toronto, in history from 1913 to 1915. He joined the army and served as staff officer in Canada and eventually worked for the war committee of the Cabinet. He was President of the Massey-Harris Co. from 1921 to 1925. At this point he joined Prime Minister Mackenzie-King's Cabinet. From 1926 to 1930 he was Canada's first minister to the United States. He became High Commissioner to Britain from 1935 to 1946. After World War II, the Prime Minister placed Vincent Massey in charge of the Royal Commission on the National Development in the Arts, Letters and Sciences. In his 1951 report he recommended the establishment of the Canada Council which became a reality in 1957. In 1952 Vincent Massey became Canada's first Canadian-born Governor General. He retired in 1959. Charles Vincent Massey died in London, England on December 30, 1967. (Taken from: The Canadian Encyclopedia. Edmonton: Hurtig Publishers, 1985.)
Mary Jane Moncrief was a school girl in South Monaghan in 1861.
Norman McBain was born in 1914 and died in 1989. He had a long-standing interest in local history and offered great support to the Millbrook and Cavan Historical Society in the preparation of the history of This Green and Pleasant Land: Chronicles of Cavan Township. The McBain family homesteaded in northeast Cavan Township, and his interest in the family history led to McBain's extended research into all aspects of the history of the Township.
Edwin Victor McNeill was born in Arran Township, Bruce County, in 1896. He belonged to the 3rd Canadian Company of Royal Engineers during World War 1. He became involved in Ontario Public Service by joining the Ontario Provincial Police at an early age and advancing to Commissioner in 1953. (Taken from: The Canadian Who's Who, 1952-1954. Vol VI. Toronto: Trans-Canada Press, 1954.)
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).
Bishop Edward Cridge was born at Bratton-Heming, Devonshire, England, on December 17, 1817, the son of John Cridge. He was educated at St. Peter's College, Cambridge (B.A., 1848) and was ordained a priest of the Church of England in 1849. In 1854 he married Mary Winnelle of Boniford, Essex, England, and that same year he was appointed Chaplain of the Hudson's Bay Company in Vancouver Island. He was Rector of the church at Victoria until 1874.
Cridge split away from the Church of England in 1874 and joined the Reformed Episcopal Church (of the U.S.A.). He became the Rector of Our Lord at Victoria Episcopal Church. In 1875 he was elected Bishop of the Reformed Episcopal Church and his diocese included all of Canada and the United States west of the Rocky Mountains. He administered this diocese until his death at Victoria on May 6, 1913. Bishop Cridge was the author of "As it was in the beginning" (Chicago, 1890).
Harley Richard Cummings was born in 1909 in Bond Head, Ontario, the son of Dr. James A. and Mildred Cummings. In 1933, after obtaining an Honours BA from the University of Toronto and graduating from the Ontario College of Education, he began teaching at the Boys' Vocational School and the Glashan Intermediate School and York Street School in Ottawa. In 1942, he was a volunteer education officer with the Royal Canadian Air Force and later became a flight lieutenant. At the conclusion of World War II, Cummings returned to Ottawa and, over the next twenty years, was school principal at a number of schools. Of significant importance is Cummings' book, Early Days in Haliburton, which he wrote in 1962. It includes an introduction by Ontario Premier Leslie Frost. Cummings married Shirley Stotesbury in 1964. He died at the age of 90 on May 10, 1999.
Sir Louis Hippolyte LaFontaine was born near Boucherville, Chambly county, Lower Canada, on October 4, 1807, the third son of Antoine Menard dit Lafontaine, a farmer; and the grandson of Antoine Menard LaFontaine, a member of the Legislative Assembly of Lower Canada from 1796 to 1804. He was educated at the College of Montreal, was called to the Bar of Lower Canada, and practiced law in Montreal. From 1830 to 1837 he was a member of the Legislative Assembly of Lower Canada for Terrebonne; and he was a supporter of Louis Joseph Papineau. He opposed the appeal to arms by the Patriotes in 1837; but he deemed it wise to leave Canada, and on his return to Canada in 1838 was arrested. He was released, however, without trial; and when the union of 1841 was brought about, he became the leader of the French Canadian Reformers. He was defeated in the election of 1841 in Terrebonne, but found a seat, through the offices of Robert Baldwin, in the fourth riding of York, Upper Canada. He was able to sit continuously in the Assembly until 1851, first for the fourth riding of York, second for Terrebonne, and lastly for the City of Montreal. In 1848 he became the Prime Minister of the Province of Canada until 1851 when he resigned from the government and withdrew from public life. In 1853 he was appointed Chief Justice of Lower Canada and he occupied this position until his death on February 26, 1864. (taken from "The Macmillan Dictionary of Canadian Biography." 4th ed. Toronto: Macmillan of Canada, 1978.)
Susanna Moodie (nee Strickland), born December 6, 1803 at Bungay, England, was the youngest daughter of Thomas Strickland and Elizabeth Homer. The Strickland's were a literary family of whom Catharine Parr Traill and Samuel Strickland are best known in Canada, as well as their sister Susanna Moodie. Susanna began to seriously pursue her literary career in 1818, after the death of her father. In 1831, Susanna moved to London, England were she became associated with the Anti-Slavery Society. For the society she wrote two antislavery tracts, "The History of Mary Prince, a West Indian Slave" (1831) and "Negro Slavery Described by a Negro" (1831). While working in London, she met her future husband John Wedderburn Dunbar Moodie. They were wed April 4, 1831. In July 1832, Susanna, John, and their eldest child emigrated to the Cobourg region of Upper Canada. After two unsuccessful attempts at farming in this area, the Moodie family moved to Belleville in 1840. In Belleville, Susanna wrote and published a number of works, primarily romantic fiction. From 1847 to 1848, both Susanna and her husband edited and wrote for Victoria Magazine. In 1852, she published Roughing it in the Bush which is her best known literary work. The books to follow included Life in the Clearings, published in 1853, and Flora Lyndsay, published in 1854. Susanna Moodie lived in Belleville until the death of her husband in 1869. She then moved to the Toronto area where she continued to live until her death, April 8, 1885.
Mr. John Tylor Lyon is a photographer in Lakefield, Ontario and the grandson of Harold Tylor.
Frank Morris was, firstly, a classics master at Trinity School , Port Hope, Ontario. After acquiring a Master of Arts degree at the University of Toronto, Morris joined the staff of Peterborough Collegiate Institute and taught Classics and English there from 1913 to 1936. He was an enthusiastic naturalist and photographer, and, with Edward Eames wrote Our Wild Orchids (New York: Scribner and Sons, 1929).
Francis J.A. Morris was born in a parsonage near the town of Crieff, in Perthshire, Scotland. Living in the country, he developed a passion for nature very early in life, and, with his brother, Charles, he enthusiastically investigated the various forms of flora and fauna in the countryside. Morris' father died when he was thirteen, and the family was forced to move to a suburb of London. There he entered Dalwich College to study the Classics and English Literature, and with his brother and a friend, continued to make excursions into the country to collect insects. Through his studies, Frank developed an interest in Darwin and the theory of evolution. Later, he continued his study of the Classics and English Literature at Balliot College, Oxford. His encounters with Wordsworth's poetry added to his own emotional feelings towards nature. In 1895, at the age of twenty-five, Frank Morris came to Canada and attended the School of Pedagogy in Toronto. There, he came under the influence of Dr. William Brodie who introduced him to Canadian natural history. In 1896, Morris joined the staff of Smith's Falls High School. There, the science teacher taught Morris some basic scientific botany and the use of identification keys. In 1899, he returned to Toronto to carry on more pedagogic study. By 1900, he had become the Classics Master at Trinity College School in Port Hope. He spent thirteen years there, during which time he married Miss Elma Walker. In 1911, he attended the University of Toronto to take a Master of Arts Degree and a Specialists Certificate in Classics. In 1913, he was appointed to the staff of the Peterborough Collegiate Institute, where he first taught Classics and later became head of the English Department. He remained in this position until ill health forced him to retire in 1936. Francis J.A. Morris died 31 December 1949.
Margaret Jean Laurence (nee Wemyss) was born in Neepawa, Manitoba in 1926. Her mother died when she was four years old. Her father remarried her aunt. He died when she was nine years old and at that point her aunt and stepmother raised her. Margaret married Jack Laurence on September 13, 1947 (they later divorced) and they had two children; Jocelyn and David. She was educated at the University of Manitoba in Winnipeg.
Margaret Laurence lived in a number of different places including: Somaliland (1950-1952), Ghana (1952-1957), Vancouver (1957-1962), England (1949-1950 and 1962-1969) and finally Ontario until her death in 1987. Her most important piece of literature was the Manawaka series which consists of: "The Stone Angel" in 1964, "A Jest of God" in 1966, "The Fire Dwellers" in 1969, "A Bird in the House" (connected short stories) in 1970 and "The Diviners" in 1974. The subject matter of this series dealt with women and how the prairies were treated by politics. She also wrote about Africa which included: "This Side of Jordan" in 1960, "The Tomorrow-Tamer" in 1963, "The Prophet's Camel Bell" in 1963, "Drums and Cannons" in 1968, "Heart of a Stranger" (personal essays about Africa, her Canadian roots, and her discovery and recognition of her own Canadian identity) in 1976, various short stories, a non-fictional account of her life in Somaliland and a study of Nigerian novelists and playwrights. Her autobiography "Dance on the Earth" was published posthumously in 1989. (Taken from: Ousby, Ian. "The Cambridge Guide to Literature in English." Great Britain: Cambridge University Press, 1993.)
Laurence won the Governor General's Award for "A Jest of God" and "The Diviners". She received honorary degrees from 12 universities including Trent University in 1972. She was made a Companion of the Order of Canada in 1973 and a Fellow of the Royal Society of Canada in 1977. She was Chancellor of Trent University from 1981 to 1983, a writer-in-residence and frequent guest speaker at Trent. Margaret Jean Wemyss Laurence died at Lakefield January 5, 1987. (See the Trent Fornightly, Vol. 17, No. 9.)
