Benjamin Woodruff Price Papers, 1851, 1853-1860, 1862-1863, 1874, n.d.

The fonds includes sixty two items of correspondence between Benjamin Woodruff Price, aka Woodruff, Ben or Uncle, and various family members, both immediate and distant cousins. Also included is business correspondence related to Price’s activities as a watchmaker and/or jeweler. Benjamin Woodruff Price was born in Thorold Township ca. 1831, the son of Joseph Price and Mary Smith. B.W. Price married Ella or Ellen McGlashan (1851-1906) ca. 1868. Price died between 1891 and 1901, his burial location is unknown at present. A watchmaker and jeweler, Price lived most of his life in Fonthill, Ont. He also included auctioneer, undertaker and photographer as some of his other professional activities. His siblings included David Smith Price (wife Isabella Ann), John Smith Price (wife Elizabeth Jane), and sisters Susan Page (husband Edward Rice Page), Jerusha Price, Mary Price and Martha W. Stone (husband Dudley Ward Stone). John Smith Price died 18 April 1860, leaving no descendents. It is likely that G.W. Stone was a nephew to B.W. Price, the son of his sister Martha W. Stone and her husband Dudley Ward Stone. Susan Page was a sister of Benjamin Woodruff Price. She was married to Edward Rice Page and they had at least two children, Joseph and Clayton. At the time of this correspondence they lived in Suspension Bridge, NY, now part of Niagara Falls, New York. Edward Rice Page’s occupation was listed as saloon keeper. The Price family appears to have had a very large extended family. This information was gleaned from the contents of letters of Maggie Tisdale, daughter of Ephraim and Hannah (Price) Tisdale, P.A. or Ann Morgan, [may also be Phebe Ann] of Newark, NY? and Marietta House of Bayham Township. DeWitt Higgins of Suspension Bridge, NY aka Niagara Falls, NY was an auctioneer, specialized in buying jewellery, watches, clocks, from individuals and reselling his product to others like B.W. Price.

Bowslaugh Family fonds, 1860-1861, 1868, 1876-1877, 1880-1882, 1886-1890, 1892-1893, 1895, 1898-1899, n.d.

Edward W. Bowslaugh (1843-1923) was the son of Jacob and Anna (Beamer) Bowslaugh. Edward Bowslaugh married Mary Southward, and the couple had six children, Edgar Morley, Edward Freeman, twins Alfred Malcolm and Alice Mary, Annie Olivia, John Jacob and Mabel Florence. Edward W. Bowslaugh was a farmer, contractor and owner of the Grimsby Planing Mills in Grimsby, Ont. and Bowslaugh’s Planing Mill in Kingsville, Ont. The mills manufactured door and sash trim and other wood related products. Some customers contracted the firm to provide wood products for cottages being built at Grimsby Park, the Methodist camp ground. Some time before 1885 Edward Bowslaugh and his family moved to Kingsville, Ont. to open up a new planing mill and door and sash manufactory. He later sold the Grimsby Planing Mills to Daniel Marsh. The diaries and account books include many names of workers as well as friends and family members residing in the Grimsby and Kingsville areas. James M. Bowslaugh (1841-1882) was the son of Jacob and Anna (Beamer) Bowslaugh. James married first Anna Catharine Merritt and after her death in 1875 he married Mary Gee in 1877. James and Anna had three children, Eliza, James Herbert, George Hiram, all died very young. James and Mary Gee had one son, Charles Leopold Kenneth Frederich Bowslaugh, b. 1881. James Bowslaugh was a farmer and lumberman, much like his younger brother Edward. James’ early diaries often note the activities of himself and his brother Edward. Both Edward and James were heavily involved in the Methodist church, teaching or leading Sunday school and attending prayer meetings. Alfred M. Bowslaugh b. 1873 was the son of Edward W. Bowslaugh and his wife Mary Southward. The school notebook is from his days as a student in Kingsville, Ont.

Rick Bell Family fonds, 1874-1875, 1879, 1884, 1886, 1888-1889, 1896, 1898, 1909-1910, 1939, 1945, n.d.

Lewis Tyrell married Jane Gains on August 31, 1849 in Culpeper Court House, Virginia. Jane Gains was a spinster. Lewis Tyrell died September 25, 1908 at his late residence, Vine St. and Welland Ave., St. Catharines, Ont. at the age of 81 years, 5 months. Jane Tyrell died March 1, 1886, age 64 years. Their son? William C. Tyrell died January 15, 1898, by accident in Albany, NY, age 33 years, 3 months. John William Taylor married Susan Jones were married in St. Catharines, Ont. on August 10, 1851 by William Wilkinson, a Baptist minister. On August 9, 1894 Charles Henry Bell (1871-1916), son of Stephen (1835?-1876) and Susan Bell, married Mary E. Tyrell (b. 1869?) daughter of Lewis and Alice Tyrell, in St. Catharines Ontario. By 1895 the Bell’s were living in Erie, Pennsylvania where children Delbert Otto (b. 1895) and Edna Beatrice (b. 1897) were born. By 1897 the family was back in St. Catharines where children Lewis Tyrell (b. 1899), Gertrude Cora (b. 1901), Bessie Jane (b. 1902), Charles Henry (b. 1906), Richard Nelson (b. 1911) and William Willoughby (b. 1912) were born. Charles Henry Bell operated a coal and ice business on Geneva Street. In the 1901 Census for St. Catharines, the Bell family includes the lodger Charles Henry Hall. Charles Henry Hall was born ca. 1824 in Maryland, he died in St. Catharines on November 11, 1916 at the age of 92. On October 24, 1889 Charles Hall married Susan Bell (1829-1898). The 1911 Census of Canada records Charles Henry Hall residing in the same household as Charles Henry and Mary Bell. The relationship to the householder is step-father. It is likely that after Stephen Bell’s death in 1876, his widow, Susan Bell married Hall. In 1939, Richard Nelson Bell, son of Charles Henry and Mary Tyrell Bell, married Iris Sloman. Iris (b. 22 May 1912 in Biddulph Township, Middlesex, Ontario) was the daughter of Albert (son of Joseph b. 1870 and Elizabeth Sloman, b. 1872) and Josie (Josephine Ellen) Butler Sloman of London, Ont. Josie (b. 1891) was the daughter of Everett Richard and Elizabeth McCarthy (or McCarty) Butler, of Lucan Village, Middlesex North. According to the 1911 Census of Canada, Albert, a Methodist, was a porter on the railroad. His wife, Josephine, was a Roman Catholic. Residing with Albert and Josie were Sanford and Sadie Butler and Sidney Sloman, likely siblings of Albert and Josephine. The Butler family is descended from Peter Butler, a former slave, who had settled in the Wilberforce Colony in the 1830s. Rick Bell b. 1949 in Niagara Falls, Ont. is the son of Richard Nelson Bell. In 1979, after working seven years as an orderly at the St. Catharines General Hospital while also attending night school at Niagara College, Rick Bell was hired by the Thorold Fire Dept. He became the first Black professional firefighter in Niagara. He is a founding member of the St. Catharines Junior Symphony; attended the Banff School of Fine Arts in 1966 and also performed with the Lincoln & Welland Regimental Band and several other popular local groups. Upon the discovery of this rich archive in his mothers’ attic he became passionate about sharing his Black ancestry and the contributions of fugitive slaves to the heritage Niagara with local school children. He currently resides in London, Ont.

Proceedings : Grand Lodge, A.F. & A.M. of Canada in the Province of Ontario - 1868

On spine : The Grand Lodge of Canada in the Province of Ontario.

Proceedings : Grand Lodge, A.F. & A.M. of Canada in the Province of Ontario - 1874

On spine : The Grand Lodge of Canada in the Province of Ontario.

British Methodist Episcopal Church Tithing Ticket, 1874

A quarterly tithing ticket from the British Methodist Episcopal Church, signed by Walter Hawkins, Minister, issued on August 16, 1874. This ticket was in the possession of the Richard Bell Family of St. Catharines.Minister Walter Hawkins was Superintendent of the Conference for the British Methodist Episcopal Church (Brant Co.) This excerpt from the Dictionary of Canadian Biography Online describes his role in reestablishing the BMEC in Canada following a period of reunion with the African Methodist Episcopal Church, an initiative spearheaded by Richard Randolph Disney, a free-born black American Methodist preacher. "By the end of the 1870s the BMEC had 56 congregations with about 3,100 members, the bulk of the latter being in the Danish West Indies and British Guiana. Because mission work outside Canada had overtaxed the church's financial resources, in 1880 Disney began negotiations towards reunion with the AMEC. The reunion was effected that year, and it was overwhelmingly ratified at a BMEC convention held at Hamilton in June 1881. A referendum showed that although a majority in Ontario was opposed, 86 per cent of the membership was in favour. Disney was accepted as an AMEC bishop and was assigned to its Tenth Episcopal District, a region embracing his former territory as well as some of the AMEC churches in Canada which had not joined the BMEC. Reunification appeared to have been a triumph for Disney, but trouble soon occurred. A majority of the Ontario churches and preachers, led by the Reverend Walter Hawkins of Chatham, sought to re-establish the BMEC, fearing the loss of their distinctive identity and perhaps feeling that the Caribbean groups had exercised too much influence on the reunification question. In 1886 this group held an ecclesiastical council at Chatham, at which it was claimed that Disney had defected to the AMEC. At a subsequent general conference that year the BMEC was reconstituted. The conference deposed Disney, agreeing to "erase his name and ignore his authority, and cancel his official relationship as bishop." The conference minutes also refer to a court case instigated by Disney which reached the High Court of Chancery in Britain, but records of this case have not been located. The reconstituted BMEC elected Hawkins as its general superintendent, avoiding the title of bishop for several years." Source: Dictionary of Canadian Biography Online. Government of Canada.

Office of the University President Sous fonds: Dr. James A. Gibson

Dr. James A. Gibson was born in Ottawa on January 29, 1912 to John W. and Belle Gibson. At an early age the family moved to Victoria, B.C. where John W. Gibson was a director of the Elementary Agricultural Education Branch, Department of Education. Gibson received his early education in Victoria, receiving a B.A. (honours) at UBC in 1931. In 1931 he was awarded the Rhodes scholarship and received his B.A., M.A., B.Litt and D. Phil at New College, Oxford. This was to be the beginning of a long and dedicated relationship with the Rhodes Scholar Association. Upon his return to Canada, Dr. Gibson lectured in Economics and Government at the University of British Columbia. In 1938 he was married to Caroline Stein in Philadelphia, and the same year joined the staff of the Department of External Affairs as a Foreign Service officer. Within twenty minutes of his arrival he was seconded to the Office of the Prime Minister and Secretary of State for External Affairs, W. L. Mackenzie King in charge of War Records and Liaison Officer. This was a critical time in the history of Canada, and Dr. Gibson experienced firsthand several milestones, including the Royal Visit of King George VI and Queen Elizabeth in 1939. Dr. Gibson was present at the formation of the United Nations in San Francisco in 1945, being part of the Prime Minister’s professional staff as well as attending conferences in Washington, Quebec and London as an advisor to the Canadian delegation. Gibson contributed many articles to the publication bout de papier about his experiences during these years. After his resignation in 1947, Gibson joined the staff of the fledgling Carleton College, as a lecturer. In 1949 he was appointed a professor and in 1951 became Dean of Arts and Sciences. Dr. Gibson acted as President from 1955 to 1956 upon the sudden death of Dr. MacOdrum. In 1963 Dr. Gibson accepted the invitation of the Brock University Founders’ Committee, chaired by Arthur Schmon, to become the founding president. Dr. Gibson guided the new University from a converted refrigeration plant, to an ever expanding University campus on the brow of the Niagara Escarpment. Dr. Gibson remained firmly “attached” to Brock University. Even after official retirement, in 1974, he retained the title President Emeritus. Gibson’s final official contribution was an unpublished ten year history of the University. In retirement Gibson remained active in scholarly pursuits. He was a visiting scholar at the Center of Canadian Studies, University of Edinburgh; continued his ongoing research activities focusing on W. L. Mackenzie King, the Office of the Governor General of Canada, and political prisoners transported to Van Dieman’s Land. He remained active in the Canadian Association of Rhodes Scholars, becoming editor from 1975 to 1994 and was appointed Editor Emeritus and Director for Life in 1995 in honour of his dedicated and outstanding service. In 1993 he was awarded one of Canada’s highest achievements, the Order of Canada. Gibson retained close ties with Brock University and many of its faculty. He maintained an office in the Politics Department where he became a vital part of the department. In 1996 Brock University honoured Gibson by naming the University Library in his honour. James A. Gibson Library staff was instrumental in celebrating the 90th birthday of Gibson in 2002, with a widely attended party in the Pond Inlet where many former students, including Silver Badgers. The attendees also included former and current colleagues from Brock University, Canadian Rhodes Scholars Association, family and friends. Gibson was later to remark that the highlight of this event was the gift of his original academic robe which he had personally designed in 1964. In 2003 Dr. Gibson moved to Ottawa to be near some of his children and the city of his birth and early career. In that year “two visits to Brock ensued: the first, to attend a special celebration of the James A. Gibson Library; his late to attend the 74th Convocation on Saturday, October 18, 2003. A week later, in Ottawa, he went for a long walk, returned to his residence, Rideau Gardens, went into the lounge area, took off his coat and folded it up, put it on the back of his chair, sat down, folded his hands in his lap, closed his eyes, and died”. With sources from: Carleton University The Charlatan, Gibson CV, and Memorial Service Programme

Sawney's Letters, or Cariboo Rhymes 1864 to 1868

Poetry of James Anderson during his time in the Cariboo of British Columbia. He left Scotland for British Columbia during the gold rush.

Proceedings of the Grand Chapter of Royal Arch Masons of Canada at the annual convocation, 1874

Annual Convocation proceedings for the year 1874. The title varies slightly and convocation is held at different cities or towns in Canada. Seventeenth annual convocation.

Reflected rays of light upon Freemasonry, or, the Freemason's pocket compendium (1874)

"With an emblematical frontespiece." Inscribed on front free endpaper: A. Graham Barrie 30th Sep 1881.

Niagara Ship Canal : letter from the Secretary of War, transmitting report by Colonel Blunt, on the surveys for a ship canal to connect Lakes Erie and Ontario (1868)

March 3, 1868. -- Referred to the Select Committee on the Niagara Ship Canal.

Collection of Canadian periodical clippings and Peninsular Game Club of St. Catharines broadside, 1874, [1910-1950]

Items include: 13 small poems clipped from newspapers. None of the poems list authors. Most of the poems are based on life lessons. Clippings of short stories which appear to have come from a St. Catharines newspaper. The stories include anecdotes, humour and medical advice. There is no author listed on any of the stories. 2 coloured sewing machine advertisements each measuring 9 cm. x 13 cm. and 9 cm. x 14 cm. 1 broadside measuring 27 cm. x 37 cm. and posted by the Peninsular Game Club of St. Catharines. The broadside is a copy of the game laws of 1874 with a warning that breach of these laws will bring rigorous prosecution.

Erie & Niagara Railway Collection, 1864-1884

William Alexander Thomson (1816-1878) was a promoter and developer of railway systems in western Ontario. He incorporated the Fort Erie Railroad Company in 1857, purchased the Erie and Ontario Railroad in 1863, and incorporated the Erie and Niagara Extension Railway Company in 1868 (later renamed the Canada Southern Railway). Thomson was also elected to the House of Commons for Welland in 1872, and re-elected in 1874. He was known for his support of public management of the currency and is seen as a pioneer advocate of government monetary policy. He was also an advocate of radical agrarian economic doctrine, believing that Canadian laws favoured mercantile interests over those of the producers of goods, and that this hindered national development.