Minnie McHolm (nee Ayres) was born May 14, 1876 in Diveyis, Wiltshire, England, and grew up in the town of Frome, Somerset, England, with her paternal grandparents. In early March, 1913, she sailed from Liverpool, England, to St. John's, Newfoundland. Minnie then set out across Canada by train to Regina, Saskatchewan. The purpose of her journey was to accept a position as a housekeeper for a large grain farm near Tyvan, Saskatchewan. In 1917, she married her husband, Mr. McHolm, and they had their son John the following year. The young family moved to Winnipeg, Manitoba, in 1920, where, for several years, they managed the stock farm of John Graham, M.P. for Winnipeg. The McHolm's later moved east to Port Hope, Ontario, and settled on a small farm on Rosebury Hill, near the hamlet of Morrish. Since 1967, Minnie McHolm published five booklets of poetry, and on November 7, 1971, at the age of 95, she received a certificate of merit from the Board of Editors of the "International Who's Who in Poetry." McHolm died in Port Hope, Ontario in 1978 at the age of 102.
Dr. Barclay McKone completed his medical training in the mid-1940s and went directly into treating those with tuberculosis in Hamilton, and later tuberculosis rehabilitation work in London, Ontario. From there he was invited by the Director of Indian Health Services to become the medical superintendent of the Moose Factory Indian Hospital, a task he undertook on 1 January 1951 and held until August 1954. In 1955 he led one unit of three which undertook a major medical expedition through the eastern Arctic to investigate illness in the area.
G. Wilson Craw started work at the Peterborough Examiner in 1926 and worked his way, from a cub reporter to Executive Editor. He was interested in municipal affairs and for years reported the City Council and Board of Education news. He took an active part in developing the City's educational system. For 16 years he was a member of the Board of Education and a past Chairman. His articles on the Mayors of Peterborough were compiled by the Examiner in 1967 in a book entitled "The Peterborough Story: Our Mayors 1850-1951". The work is an important chronicle dealing with the major events of the City's history.
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.
Isabella Brownlie was born in approximately 1828 in Scotland. Her mother died in childbirth and her father remarried. She had a number of sisters and a brother Claud. Isabella was brought to Otonabee, Upper Canada at the age of eight, from Scotland, by William Christie and his mother as a servant. She married James Miller who was from Perthshire, Scotland on December 1, 1845. They settled on land in Otonabee Township, half a mile from the Otonabee River. They had five sons: William Wallace, born December 29, 1846; Thomas Menzies, born September 18, 1849; James, born October 23, 1852; Peter, born September 4, 1859, died October 11, 1859; and John Claud, born October 14, 1863. They also had two daughters: Isabelle Fulton, born August 5, 1848; and Margaret Ann, born May 7, 1855. Isabella died September 8, 1869.
John Miller was born in Keene, Ontario and was the son of Isabella Brownlie Miller and James Miller. His siblings were William, Thomas, James, Peter, Isabelle, and Margaret. He attended Queen's University from 1882 to 1886 and worked for the Mail and Empire and the News as a journalist. He was also a world traveller and an avid canoeist.
William Langford came to Canada as a small child with his parents in 1851. He married Louise Jane Walton in 1872 and their children included William Langford Jr. and Ernest Walton Langford. William first had a furniture store in Peterborough but he soon became involved in the building trade, building in the London and Water Street areas. His own residence was on Water Street. He was contracted to build the laundry and an addition to the Nicholls Hospital. Langford also built a number of local schools and churches.
Olive Langley (nee Reinhardt) was born in 1891 in Montreal. She graduated from McGill University in 1913, and in 1914, married Gordon R. Langley of Peterborough. When the University Women's Club of Peterborough was formed in 1937, Langley became a Charter Member and was President of the Club from 1946-1947. Upon her death in 1962, the Club named its annual prize in Langley's honour - the Olive Langley Prize. This prize was awarded annually to the grade 13 female student with the highest standing in a Peterborough area high school. Langley's interests included nature study, painting, literature, badminton, and tennis. She is the author of a book of poetry and the novel, The Old Sentinel. (Taken from The Golden Year, 1987: A History of the University Women's Club of Peterborough, Ontario, 1937-1987 / ed. Kathleen R. Barclay Bowley, 1987 (see 89-010 Box 3))
Miriam A. Leith graduated from the Macdonald Institute of Guelph in 1962 before going on to graduate school at Aberdeen University. She returned to Guelph in 1963 and enrolled in Extension Education at OAC. Her interest in ‘Eskimos and Indians’ stemmed from a volunteer position she held with the Indian-Eskimo Association at Broughton Island, Northwest Territories, in 1961. When she finished university, Leith went on to work as an adult educator for the Government of Newfoundland until 1970, and later became an adult educator for the Government of the N.W.T. Leith’s research in the N.W.T. entailed an in-depth look at the life of the Indigenous inhabitants of the north during the 1960s and 1970s.
Erik Loder was born in 1933 in Wilmington, Delaware. He was educated at Bard College and received a Master of Fine Arts degree from Pratt. He taught drawing, print-making and painting at a number of colleges in the United States before moving with his wife Robin Loder to Canada in 1972 to live and work. He taught numerous courses at Sir Sandford Fleming College and in the Cultural Studies department at Trent University from 1980 until his death in 1993. His work was exhibited widely in Peterborough, Toronto, the United States and in Europe.
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.
Shirley Quan worked for the Department of Native Affairs as a student volunteer during the summer of 1962. She was sent to Baker Lake in the Northwest Territories. She completed an arctic wild flower project while she was there.
Sir Robert Peel was born February 5, 1788, the eldest son of (Sir) Robert Peel and Ellen Yates. In 1805, he entered Christ Church, Oxford, where he studied classics and mathematics. Upon completing his degree, his father bought him the seat of Cashel in Tipperary, and at the age of twenty-one, Sir Robert Peel entered the House of Commons. In 1810, Peel was made the Under-Secretary for War and Colonies, and in 1812, he accepted the post of chief secretary to Ireland, a post he held for six years. From 1818 to 1822, Peel remained in the House of Commons, but as a private member. In 1820, he married Julia Floyd, daughter of Sir John Floyd, and they had two daughters and five sons. In January, 1822, Peel rejoined Lord Liverpool's government until 1827, when Lord Liverpool died and Peel resigned from the House due to political differences with Liverpool's successor, Lord Canning. On August 8, 1828, Canning died and Sir Robert Peel ventured back into the political arena. One of Peel's most notable successes occurred in 1829, when three bills written by him were successfully passed into law. The bills dealt with the suppression of the Catholic Association, Catholic emancipation, and the regulation of franchise in Ireland. On May 3, 1830, upon the death of his father, Robert Peel succeeded to the baronetcy. In 1834, Peel was assigned the double office of First Lord of the Treasury and Chancellor of the Exchequer. He retired from office on June 29, 1846. Sir Robert Peel died on July 2, 1850 after a fall from his horse four days earlier. Peel's most notable achievements include the revision of the British penal laws, the creation of a sound financial system, the incorporation of free trade, and the establishment of a metropolitan police force.
Peter Robinson was born in New Brunswick in 1785. Actively involved in politics, Robinson was a commissioner of crown lands and served in the Seventh and Eighth Parliaments from 1817 to 1824. In 1823 he was approached through his brother, Sir John Beverley Robinson, Attorney General for Upper Canada, to lead an emigration of 182 families from Ireland to Canada. Most of those emigrants were to settle in the Lanark area of the Ottawa Valley. Two years later he led an additional emigration, and nine over-crowded ships left Cork for Upper Canada. Several people on board were to die before they reached their new homeland. Several of the lists of passengers have survived, and Robinson's table of statistics show that, under his leadership, approximately 2,000 people emigrated to the Peterborough area from Ireland during that time period. In 1827, it was suggested by Frances Stewart, wife of Thomas A. Stewart, that, in honour of Peter Robinson's contribution to the settlement of the area, the name Scott's Plains be changed to Peterborough, meaning "Peter's Borough". Robinson died in 1838. (taken from: LaBranche, Bill. "The Peter Robinson Settlement of 1825" 1975, and Jones, Elwood and Bruce Dyer. The Electric City. Burlington: Windsor Publications, 1987.)
Professor Peter Royle was born in Coventry, England in 1934, the only son of James and Doris Royle. He received a Masters degree from Oxford University and a PhD from the University of Natal.
A scholar whose research focused on the existentialist philosopher Jean-Paul Sartre, Professor Royle taught in the French and Philosophy Departments at Trent University in Peterborough, Ontario from 1969 to 1996. He wrote many books, articles, plays, and short stories; a few of these include: L'Enfer et la liberté: Étude de "Huis clos" et des "Mouches" (1973); The Sartre-Camus Controversy. A literary and philosophical critique (1982); L’homme et le néant chez Jean-Paul Sartre (2005); and The Kaffir Killer, a black comedy (2010). The Kaffir Killer was earlier read twice as a radio play on BBC Radio 3 in 1971 and performed in theatres in 1982 and 1986. After retiring from Trent University, Professor Royle, together with his life partner Maren Thomas, lived in Germany and England. He died in England in 2017 and is survived by Maren Thomas and his two daughters, Eleanor Royle and Frances Royle (Roger Brush), both of Halifax, Nova Scotia.
Thomas Alexander Stewart was born in Ireland and worked for the firm of Robert Reid and Son, which manufactured linen, cotton and silk. When the company ran into financial trouble, and eventual bankruptcy, Thomas and his wife, Frances Browne Stewart (1794-1872), emigrated to Canada with their children and Thomas' brother-in-law and former business partner, Robert Reid and his family. The party of 27 set sail from Belfast Lough on June 1, 1822. Seven weeks were spent on the ship before reaching Quebec. From Quebec they travelled to Kingston, and then on to York, where Stewart and Reid were each granted 1200 acres, provided they settled in an unsurveyed township. Douro Township in Peterborough County was suggested as a promising region. On September 9, 1822, Stewart and Reid travelled to the area with surveyor Richard Birdsall, and each chose land on the Otonabee River. Thomas Stewart became a prominent and influential citizen in the area and died in 1847 from typhoid fever. Extensive biographical information on the Stewart family, plus friends, neighbours, and associates, may be found in accession [02-001]:https://www.trentu.ca/library/archives/02-001
"Harold B. Rye, Otonabee Boat House","Harold B. Rye boat builder and paddle mfr", and "Rye's Pavilion & Boat Livery, Harold B. Rye, prop" appear in Vernon's City of Peterborough Directory for 1926. The location of the business is listed at Lock Street, Peterborough. Again,"Harold B. Rye paddle factory", and "Rye's Pavilion and Boat Livery" appear in Vernon's City of Peterborough Directory for 1936. These are listed as being situated at 628 Lock Street, Peterborough.
Gladys Gertrude Stacey (nee Devlin) was born October 4, 1883 in the province of Quebec and, in early adulthood, worked as a teacher and a reporter in Montreal. She married Frederick Harold Stacey (1880-1944), formerly of England and Alberta, in Montreal in 1910 and had five children (see below). Documents reveal that the births of two of the children, at least, were registered in Peterborough, Ontario in 1911 and 1915 and that the family moved to Toronto in the early 1920s. Frederick Stacey, an engineer, worked briefly beginning in 1917 at Canadian General Electric in Peterborough, as did one son who moved to Peterborough and then Lakefield in the 1950s. Gladys Stacey continued her writing career into the 1960s and published in church publications for children, in the Canadian Bookman, Maclean’s, Canadian Home Journal, Canadian Magazine, and in various newspapers in Toronto and Montreal. Her writings appear under several pen names and name variations: Dolly Dimples; Gladys G. Devlin; Gladys Devlin; Gertrude Woodard; Jo Joan; Christie Carew; Mary Burke; Millicent Moore; Laura Greenwood; Gladys Devlin Stacey; Gladys D. Stacey; Gladys Stacey; Gladys G. Stacey; Gladys Stacey; Mrs. S.; G.G. Stacey; G.D.S.; G. Stacey; and G.G.S. Information about Stacey is included on the website [Canada’s Early Women Writers]: https://ceww.wordpress.com/?s=stacey%2C+gladys&search=Go (site last visited 27 August 2015). She died in New Jersey in 1977.
Regarding the children of Gladys and Frederick Stacey, there were five, born between the years 1911 and 1921. They are listed as follows:
Harold Gordon Stacey (1911-1979): a noted Toronto silversmith and teacher of metalsmithing at Ontario College of Art and Humber College; married Margaret Ellen West Jefferys (1915-2008), daughter of the Canadian artist and historical illustrator Charles William Jefferys (1869-1951); had two children, one of whom is the donor of this fonds, Clara (Callie) Jeanette Stacey;
William “Bill” Arthur Stacey (1915-1959): served in Canadian Air Force during WWII; died of a bee sting in Peterborough, Ontario; married Beryl Bernice Benham (1909-1984);
John “Jack” Frederick Stacey (1916-1995): served with the Royal Canadian Air Force, 400 Sqd, City of Toronto (later renumbered 110 overseas) during WWII and worked for Canadian General Electric in Peterborough from the early 1950s; lived above T.J. Cavanaugh’s appliance store on Charlotte Street (Peterborough), Henry Sharp's farm 4th line of Smith Township, Hamilton Street (Peterborough), and Water Street (Peterborough) before moving to 7th line of Smith Township; married Delysia Alice Ward [1920-2008];
Clifton David Stacey (1917-2010): served in the USA Army; stenographer; married Ruth Gaskin (1917-2002);
Dorothy Joan (1921-2005): secretary and office manager; married Reginald Wray (1928- ).
(Taken from information supplied by the donor).
Professor Dawn L. Smith was born in London, England, in 1932 and studied French and Spanish at Oxford University from 1952 to 1955. She emigrated to Canada in 1961. She received her D.Phil in Spanish Literature from Oxford University in 1975 and taught Spanish at Trent until her retirement in 1996. She currently holds the position of Professor Emeritus of Hispanic Studies. She is the author of numerous articles on the Spanish Comedia and has edited a critical edition of Tirso de Molina's La mujer que manda en casa.
Arthur Thibert was an oblate who served from 1927-1936 in the Saint Joseph and the Mother of the Saviour Roman Catholic mission in the Southampton Island and Baker Lake area of northern Canada. A work by Thibert, Eskimo-English, English-Eskimo dictionary = Inuktitut-English, English-Inuktitut Dictionary, has been published.