Negligible evidence for regional genetic population structure for two shark species Rhizoprionodon acutus (Rüppell, 1837) and Sphyrna lewini (Griffith & Smith, 1834) with contrasting biology

Biodiversity of sharks in the tropical Indo-Pacific is high, but species-specific information to assist sustainable resource exploitation is scarce. The null hypothesis of population genetic homogeneity was tested for scalloped hammerhead shark (Sphyrna lewini, n = 237) and the milk shark (Rhizoprionodon acutus, n = 207) from northern and eastern Australia, using nuclear (S. lewini, eight microsatellite loci; R. acutus, six loci) and mitochondrial gene markers (873 base pairs of NADH dehydrogenase subunit 4). We were unable to reject genetic homogeneity for S. lewini, which was as expected based on previous studies of this species. Less expected were similar results for R. acutus, which is more benthic and less vagile than S. lewini. These features are probably driving the genetic break found between Australian and central Indonesian R. acutus (F-statistics; mtDNA, 0.751–0.903, respectively; microsatellite loci, 0.038–0.047 respectively). Our results support the spatially homogeneous monitoring and management plan for shark species in Queensland, Australia.

John Nathan Cobb (1868–1930): Founding Director of the College of Fisheries, University of Washington, Seattle

John Nathan Cobb (1868–1930) became the founding Director of the College of Fisheries, University of Washington, Seattle, in 1919 without the benefit of a college education. An inquisitive and ambitious man, he began his career in the newspaper business and was introduced to commercial fisheries when he joined the U.S. Fish Commission (USFC) in 1895 as a clerk, and he was soon promoted to a “Field Agent” in the Division of Statistics, Washington, D.C. During the next 17 years, Cobb surveyed commercial fisheries from Maine to Florida, Hawaii, the Pacific Northwest, and Alaska for the USFC and its successor, the U.S. Bureau of Fisheries. In 1913, he became editor of the prominent west coast trade magazine, Pacific Fisherman, of Seattle, Wash., where he became known as a leading expert on the fisheries of the Pacific Northwest. He soon joined the campaign, led by his employer, to establish the nation’s first fisheries school at the University of Washington. After a brief interlude (1917–1918) with the Alaska Packers Association in San Francisco, Calif., he was chosen as the School’s founding director in 1919. Reflecting his experience and mindset, as well as the University’s apparent initial desire, Cobb established the College of Fisheries primarily as a training ground for those interested in applied aspects of the commercial fishing industry. Cobb attracted sufficient students, was a vigorous spokesman for the College, and had ambitions plans for expansion of the school’s faculty and facilities. He became aware that the College was not held in high esteem by his faculty colleagues or by the University administration because of the school’s failure to emphasize scholastic achievement, and he attempted to correct this deficiency. Cobb became ill with heart problems in 1929 and died on 13 January 1930. The University soon thereafter dissolved the College and dismissed all but one of its faculty. A Department of Fisheries, in the College of Science, was then established in 1930 and was led by William Francis Thompson (1888–1965), who emphasized basic science and fishery biology. The latter format continues to the present in the Department’s successor, The School of Aquatic Fisheries and Science.

Bu fy mywyd yn un diliw o hapus: them?u yn Atgofion John Gwilym Jones

Morgan, M. (2004). Bu fy mywyd yn un diliw o hapus: them?u yn Atgofion John Gwilym Jones. Y Traethodydd. 159, pp.235-251.

Indian and white in the Northwest : a history of Catholicity in Montana, 1831-1891 / by L.B. Palladino ; with an introduction by John B. Brondel.

http://www.archive.org/details/indianandwhite00palliala

Happy hour followed by hangover: financing the UK brewery industry, 1880-1913

In the last 15 years of the nineteenth century c.300 British brewers incorporated and floated securities on the stock market. Subsequently, in the 1900s, the industry suffered a long-lived hangover. In this paper, we establish the stylised facts of this transformation and estimate the gains enjoyed by brewery investors during the boom as well as the losses suffered by investors during the bust of the 1900s. However, not all brewery equity shares suffered alike. We find that post-1900 performance correlates positively with capital-market discipline and good corporate governance and negatively with family control, but does not correlate with indebtedness.

Edward Mirynech fonds, 1913-1914, 1946, 1952-1957, 1959-1960, 1965-1982, n.d.

Edward Mirynech joined the faculty at Brock University in 1964 as assistant professor of Geology. Edward Mirynech, the son of John and Katherine Mirynech, grew up in St. Catharines, attended Connaught Public School and received his formal education at the University of Toronto. Dr. Mirynech played several critical roles in the early development of the University. In addition to teaching, Dr. Mirynech was also the acting director of the athletics department, a coach for many of the early rowing, hockey and basketball teams and served the University as marshall for the sod turning ceremony for the new DeCew campus in 1965. Dr. Mirynech was instrumental in the founding of the physical education, geography and geological sciences programs. He served as acting chairman in 1968 when the department of geological sciences enrolled its first students. Part of the unique teaching program was the annual field trips to locations such as the Belleville area, extended summer teaching programs held in Trinidad-Tobago and the following year in Iceland. In 1972, the first graduation ceremony ever to be held in the Arctic, at Pond Inlet, NWT, made national news. Three geology students, on a study trip to the Arctic, received their degrees during a special ceremony. Dr. Mirynech was among the faculty team in Pond Inlet, NWT, representing Brock University. Dr. Mirynech retired from teaching in 1985, and passed away in 2004.

Canadian Niagara Power Company fonds

Power at the Falls: The first recorded harnessing of Niagara Falls power was in 1759 by Daniel Joncairs. On the American side of the Falls he dug a small ditch and drew water to turn a wheel which powered a sawmill. In 1805 brothers Augustus and Peter Porter expanded on Joncairs idea. They bought the American Falls from New York State at public auction. Using Joncairs old site they built a gristmill and tannery which stayed in business for twenty years. The next attempt at using the Falls came in 1860 when construction of the hydraulic canal began by the Niagara Falls Hydraulic Power and Manufacturing Co. The canal was complete in 1861 and brought water from the Niagara river, above the falls, to the mills below. By 1881 the Niagara Falls Hydraulic Power and Manufacturing Co. had a small generating station which provided some electricity to the village of Niagara Falls and the Mills. This lasted only four years and then the company sold its assets at public auction due to bankruptcy. Jacob Schoellkopf arrived at the Falls in 1877 with the purchase of the hydraulic canal land and water and power rights. In 1879 Schoellkopf teamed up with Charles Brush (of Euclid Ohio) and powered Brush’s generator and carbon arc lights with the power from his water turbines, to illuminate the Falls electrically for the first time. The year 1895 marked the opening of the Adam No. 1 generating station on the American side. The station was the beginnings of modern electrical utility operations. The design and operations of the generating station came from worldwide competitions held by panels of experts. Some who were involved in the project include; George Westinghouse, J. Pierpont Morgan, Lord Kelvin and Nikoli Tesla. The plants were operated by the Niagara Falls Power Company until 1961, when the Robert Moses Plant began operation in Lewiston, NY. The Adams plants were demolished that same year and the site used as a sewage treatment plant. The Canadian side of the Falls began generating their own power on January 1, 1905. This power came from the William Birch Rankine Power Station located 500 yards above the Horseshoe Falls. This power station provided the village of Fort Erie with its first electricity in 1907, using its two 10,000 electrical horsepower generators. Today 11 generators produce 100,000 horsepower (75 megawatts) and operate as part of the Niagara Mohawk and Fortis Incorporated Power Group.

John Smith, M.P fonds, 1930, 1949-1950, 1954, 1957-1962, n.d.

John Smith (1894-1977), son of Daniel Smith and Annie Douglas was a native of Scotland, immigrating to Canada in 1913. He first worked as a coach builder, then as a carpenter, finally developing his own contracting business. During WWI he served overseas with the 10th Battery, RCA as a sergeant. In 1924 Smith married Jean Wood, and together they had a daughter Irene (Hugh Langley). Smith first entered politics in 1940 serving as an alderman for the next 11 years. In 1954 he was elected mayor of the city of St. Catharines, and was twice returned to office by acclamation, serving until 1957 when he successfully ran as the Progressive Conservative candidate representing Lincoln County in the federal election. He won the election by a 10 000 vote majority. He served his constituents in Ottawa until he was defeated in the 1962 election. After leaving politics Mr. Smith was active in his community. He spearheaded the establishment of the St. Catharines Museum, and then was appointed its first director in 1966, serving in that capacity until 1972. He was an active member of the board of governors of the St. Catharines General Hospital and a life member and former president of the Lincoln County Humane Society. In 1971 he was voted Citizen of the Year for the city of St. Catharines. John Smith died on February 8, 1977 and was buried at Victoria Lawn Cemetery. Source: The St. Catharines Standard, February 9, 1977, page 1

Contract between John Cronyn and Nelson Forsyth, December 16, 1854.

John Cronyn (1827-1898) emigrated to Canada from Ireland in 1837. He studied medicine at the University of Toronto, but was not granted his degree upon completion of the requirements. He refused to take the test oaths meant to exclude Catholics from the profession and was not granted his degree until several years later, when the discriminatory laws were rescinded. In 1850, he married Elizabeth Willoughby of Toronto. They settled in Fort Erie and he established a successful medical practice there. He was active in the community, serving as Superintendent of schools and one term as Reeve. In 1859 he relocated to Buffalo and continued to practice medicine there. Cronyn was instrumental in the establishment of a medical department at Niagara University, where he was a professor and president of faculty. Nelson Forsyth was the son of William Forsyth (1771-1841), a prominent businessman in Niagara who owned and operated the Pavilion Hotel (later known as Forsyth’s Inn). Nelson was also a businessman and lived in Fort Erie with his wife Archange Warren.

Marriage Bond between John Smith of Glanford in the Gore district and Jane Atkins of Ancaster

Marriage Bond between John Smith of Glanford in the Gore district and Jane Atkins of Ancaster signed by Edmund Smith of Ancaster and Jeremiah Smith of Glanford, Jan. 17, 1837.

Appointment of John B. Parkynn [Parkin] (J.P. Bradley’s brother) to be an Ensign of the 1st Company of the Royal Quebec Volunteers

Appointment of John B. Parkynn [Parkin] (J.P. Bradley’s brother) to be an Ensign of the 1st Company of the Royal Quebec Volunteers. This is signed by the Governor General, the Earl of Gosford and Governor General, Secretary J. Walcott, Nov. 27, 1837.