1. ‘Jack’ JOHN CRERAR II (b.7 November 1857 Pictou - d.30 November 1932 Lake Forest, Illinois) = Marie Girvin OWENS (b.29 November 1871 Chicago - d.26 March 1957 Halifax )
Of the two philanthropic Chicago millionaires of the late nineteenth century named John Crerar, this Pictonian Crerar was the poorer. He was born on the seventh day of either November or January 1857 in Glenalmond House, Pictou [Pictou Advocate, 8 December 1932, p1]. He attended the Pictou Academy to the age of fourteen, when he was sent by his father to the famous King’s School of Canterbury, England. At the time his uncle, Doctor James Peter Crerar was living nearby at Hythe, probably accounting for the choice of schools. In a letter of 7 March 1865 James wrote that “I hope you will send him soon to a good school out of Pictou” [letter in possession]. John’s entry in the Entry Book of the King’s School is brief: “September 9, 1871 John Crerar, son of John Crerar, Merchant. Born 7 January 1857 at Pictou, Nova Scotia. Expelled for Rebellion 1873.”
And not just any rebellion, but what is known as “The Rebellion” in the history books of the school. The headmaster at the time was the Reverend Mitchinson, a sadist noted for his penchant for caning boys in an age notorious for its corporal punishment. He later became Bishop of Barbados, which a King’s Scholar observed to be a suitable place for him, as “the canes grow wild and the boys wear no breeches”. The situation got so bad at the school that the parents of one boy, who claimed to have been attacked with twenty-five lashes for mistakes in a Greek lesson, charged Mitchinson with assault (charges which were scoffed by Victorian jurists and dismissed). In the chapter “Mitchinson: Reform with Tears,” King’s school historian Thomas Hinde describes the incident leading to my great-uncle’s dismissal:
Then, to simplify, he ordered the expulsion of four ringleaders and the flogging of thirty more, seven each day during the following week. The first seven had been flogged when Mitchinson received confirmation of his appointment as Bishop of Barbados, and made this the reason for declaring an amnesty.
When Mitchinson’s account was eventually published (1933) in The Cantuarian it provoked a bitter answer from the Reverend F.N.Crowther, one of the members of the rising. The revolt, according to Crowther, ‘was not a mere senseless outbreak…against necessary discipline, but a protest against a tyranny and brutality both in the school and out which a rising generation could no longer tolerate.’ Though the immediate provocation was the brutality of the monitors he did not blame them since they were only imitating their superiors, in particular Cobb, master of the Fourth Form, who ‘had drawn up what he called a penal code, which made such simple mistakes as the infinitive for the subjunction in a Latin prose subject to three hard blows on the cheek with his open hand: while three such faults in an exercise entitled a caning by the Headmaster.’
Following the expulsion, John was sent to the Inverness Academy and then went on to Glasgow University, where he distinguished himself as an athlete, rowing “stroke” on the varsity crew, and winning the cup in 1877 . He was also a member of the First Lanark Rifles [Crerar and Owens, and Allied Families]. It would appear from university that he had planned to follow his uncle into a medical career, as he studied medicine in 1877 [Univ. of Glasgow letter]. After one year, however, he abandoned this idea, and began work in the office of a Glaswegian ship office, paying the firm for the experience. The next year he left Scotland for America with a letter of introduction from Lord Leith of Fivy, and obtained a job with the Joliet Steel Company in Joliet, Illinois. In 1884 he entered into business for himself, establishing an ore smelter at Duluth, Minnesota.
The Duluth venture being unsuccessful, he went to Chicago, where with Richard Floyd Clinch he founded the coal, coke, ore and iron firm of Crerar, Clinch and Company. This firm grew to be one of the largest firms in its industry, controlling the Equitable Coal & Coke Company, the Searls Coal Company, and the Duncan Coal Company, with an aggregate capital of 1.5 million dollars, and an annual output of 2.5 million tons of coal. These companies were consolidated in 1923, and purchased by the Peabody Coal Company in 1930. Crerar thus had a successful but quiet business career, marred by a prolonged lawsuit against a defendant who had apparently defrauded the company [1904 John Crerar et al. v. Edwin F. Daniels 209 Ill. 296; 70 NE 569.]. He retired from business in October 1923 [National Cyclopaedia, 168]
In 1903 a ship built in Chicago was christened the John Crerar, a name it retained from 1903 to 1916 while under ownership of the Great Lakes and St.Lawrence Transportation Company of Duluth, Minnesota. It later sailed under the names of Fouras (1916-1921), Glengarnock (1921-16), Courtright (1926-1940), Cedarbranch (1940-45) and Empire Newt (1945-46), the last under the ownership of the English Ministry of Transport [internet].
He married relatively late in life, at age forty-three. His bride was Marie Girvins Owens, whom he wed 20 June 1900 at the Grace Episcopal Church, Chicago. Marie was the daughter of Alithea S. Jamar (daughter of Reuben Davis Jamar of Elkton, Maryland) and Dr. John E. Owens (14 October 1836 Charlestown, Maryland - 22 December 1922, Chicago). Her father was a prominent and wealthy doctor specialising in female ailments. The marriage of John and Marie was one of the great social events of the season in Chicago. The Chicago Tribune reported the wedding as follows:
The bride entered with her father. She wore a gown of white silk tuile made with a full court of white satin. Her veil of tuile was caught with orange blossoms, and she carried a prayer book. The groom and his brother, Mr. James Crerar of Ottawa, Ontario, who was the best man, awaited the bride in front of the chancel. The Reverend Ernest M. Stires read the marriage service.
Immediately after the ceremony a reception was held at the residence of the bride’s parents, 1806 Michigan Avenue, and a breakfast was held for 200 guests. As at the church, decorations were in green and white, the table being trimmed with wild smilax and white peonies. Mr. and Mrs. Crerar left in the afternoon for their wedding trip. They will visit in Canada before returning to Chicago.
Although immersed in his work, Crerar spend a great deal of time engaged in hobbies and charitable pursuits. He was a member of many clubs, including the Chicago Club, Onwentsia Club, Saddle and Cycle Club, Casino Club, of Chicago; and the Canadian Club of London, England. Marie was also a member of the Scribbler’s Club and an avid golfer. In 1942 she commissioned a genealogical study of the family of her father and husband, entitled, “Crerar, Owens, and Allied Families.” (a copy of which she gave to the Library of Congress). John and his wife did much for St.Luke’s Hospital of Chicago, John serving as trustee for many years. Although he had become an American citizen in 1887, he retained ties to Canada and to Britain. He was president, for several years, of the St.Andrews Society and the British Empire Association. From during the First World War, he served as president of the Canadian Red Cross Fund in Chicago, receiving as thanks the Queen Victoria Cross. On 30 April he received the following letter from Lord Reading, British Ambassador to Washington:
After his retirement, he travelled extensively. For the last five years of his life he was confined to his home, and he passed away at 900 East Illinois Road, Lake Forest, Illinois on 30 November 1932. Among various bequests, he left all of his guns and hunting equipment and hunting tackle to his brother James Peter, and $1000 to keep up the Crerar graves in Pictou. At his funeral one of the pall bearers was W. H. Davies, another native of Pictou, and then manager of the Bank of Nova Scotia in Chicago [Pictou Advocate, 8 December 1932, p.1: obituary]. The rest of the family story is not happy. While her daughters struggled with too much money and too little moderation, Marie’s health and fortunes gradually diminished. In 1952 she bought property in, and moved to Chester, Nova Scotia, for health reasons. In 1956 she lost a devastating court case in Chicago, in which she was ordered to pay over $1000 in back taxes: now a large amount to the financially-drained Marie [1956 Marie G. Crerar v. Commissioner, 26 Tax Cases 702, 705-706]. That year she suffered a series of strokes and died. The next year she was joined in death by her last remaining daughter.
John and Marie had two daughters:
a. MARIE OWENS CRERAR (b.7 April 1901 Chicago - d. 22 May 1957 Surrey, England) = 1. Robert Henry REID 2.Donald DOWNS (divorced before 1956)
i. ‘Jack’ John Crerar Reid (b.c. 1922 - d. after 1957)
It was Mrs.Crerar who made the announcement of the surprise wedding, which took place several days ago in Harrison, New York. The bride is 22 and the bridegroom 24. Mrs. Kaehn is the granddaughter of the man who founded the Crerar Library. Her marriage to Ralph Otis in 1927 was an outstanding social event. The romance ended last July, when Mrs. Otis obtained a divorce and the right to use her maiden name. She was presented in 1926 at court in London.
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Above: 1901 Prairie Avenue, Chicago, where John Crerar and his
family resided. (Printed with the kind permission of Special Collections
and Preservation Division, Chicago Public Library)
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The third generation of Pictou Crerars: Left to right, Laura
Boyd (née Crerar) of Edinburgh; James Peter Crerar of Pictou, Texas,
and Ottawa; and Henry Poole MacKeen, the Lieutenant-Governor of Nova Scotia.
2. JANE KATE CRERAR (b.1 August 1859 Pictou - d. between 1930 and 1950) = David MACKEEN (b.1839 Mabou, Inverness, Nova Scotia - d.1916 Halifax)
In 1888 Jane Kate became the third wife of David MacKeen, the son of a wealthy and prominent Cape Breton family. In 1718 his ancestor James McKeen (b.1666 Ballymony - d.9 Nov. 1756; m.Ann Cargill) had come from Londonderry, Ireland to Londonderry, New Hampshire, and in 1760 his Great Grandfather John McKeen (b.1700 Ireland-d.30 Dec.1767 Truro; m.Martha Cargill) had come to Truro [Thomas Miller, Historical and Genealogical Record of Colchester County , 1873].
David’s parents were William MacKeen (b.18 August 1789 Truro -d. 17 May 1865), a farmer, merchant and member of the Legislative Assembly, and Christiana Smith, William’s second wife. David was their fifteenth (or twelfth?) child. He was born in Mabou and started work as a merchant and land surveyor on Cape Breton Island. He moved to Glace Bay where he was employed by a man named Poole at the Dominion Coal Company. He married Poole’s daughter and Poole promoted him through the ranks, eventually sending him to the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. He later became the General Manager of the company. Later, he served as President of the Halifax Tram Company and a Director of the Royal Bank. In 1898 he was reputed to be one the four richest men in Nova Scotia, with a fortune of $400,000. The year before his marriage to Jane Kate, he had been elected as the Conservative Member of Parliament for the riding of Cape Breton. In 1896 the Tory government in Ottawa, headed by his friend Sir Charles Tupper, named him to the Senate. For the final year of his life he was Lieutenant Governor of Nova Scotia. Like the Crerars and Hattons, the MacKeens were staunch Tories. David and Jane once fired their long-serving chauffeur Gregory when he admitted to having voted against Tupper.
Despite his high status, David was apparently not approved of by Jane Kate’s parents, as he lacked a proper profession. One day he picked her up at the Crerar home on Spring Garden Road and walked to St.Matthew’s Church, where they were married. They caught the train to Ottawa that evening. The elopement seemed not to have had a happy ending, and John and Jane Kate Crerar were essentially estranged from their daughter.
An anecdote is told that Jane Kate MacKeen was a vivacious but not pretty woman. Her daughter Marjorie was herself no beauty. The next time Jane Kate saw her parents was shortly after Marjorie’s birth, when they were staying at the Wentworth Inn on Barrington Street in Halifax. They were walking up the stairs when they noticed her parents coming down the stairs. They all stopped and Jane’s mother looked in the basket at the baby. She turn turned to her husband and said, “The poor girl’s as ugly as her mother.” They continued on their way and Jane never saw them again.
The MacKeens moved to Halifax in 1896 into a new house called Maplewood on the Northwest Arm (now destroyed) [photo; sketch in A.Penney, Houses of Nova Scotia, p.97]. The house was designed by the same architect who designed Alexander Graham Bell’s summer house, Ben Briah, in Baddeck, Cape Breton Island [sketch in Penney, p.135].
They apparently ran a strict Presbyterian household, held Bible sessions each Sunday and would not let their children swim on the Sabbath. David once kicked Harry up the stairs because while reciting the Ten Commandments he had said “Thou shalt not covet thy neighbour’s…ass.” Despite the dour trappings of Calvinism, Jane was apparently an affectionate and fun mother. She used to call Harry, who loved cats “Howling Wailing Wanting Harry Pussycat MacKeen.” His grandson Peter Moreira wonders if this was an attempt to use the initial P. without actually saying Poole [letter from Peter Moreira, 15 Sept 1995].
David and Jane Kate had four children:
a. Marjorie Primrose MacKeen (b.1890s - d.c.1981 Halifax) = Sheffield Bacon
In 1936 Alice was badly burned in the Halifax Harbour boating accident described below, after she was trapped in the flames near the bow of the vessel [the article includes a photograph of Alice, Judith and H. David].
From 1963 to 1968 he served in the role once occupied by his late father, Lieutenant-Governor of Nova Scotia. In 1968 Acadia University appointed him its first chancellor. He was Conservative in politics, and Presbyterian in religion, being a member of St. David’s Presbyterian Church for most of his life. He died in 1972 and was buried in Fairview Cemetery, Halifax [Who’s Who Canada 1967]. The service was held at St. David’s Presbyterian Church, with the Rev. Donald B. Mackay officiating. They had two children:
i. Judith Tilley MacKeen (b.1931) = Arthur Moreira, Q.C. (b. 24 Sept 1927 Oporto, Portugal)
I. Peter MacKeen Moreira = _____ Brookbanks :
In 1936, David and Mary were injured, along with other family members, in the MacKeen boating accident in Halifax Harbour, described below. David was burned about the arm and face. The newspaper reports of the accident credit Mary’s quick actions for saving the lives of her children.
In the 1930s to 1950s he was living in Ottawa and considered to be a wealthy citizen. They owned a large property on the Aylmer Road facing the Royal Ottawa Golf Club. The property encompassed all of the land down to the lower Aylmer Road from the Champlain Bridge. When the main house burned down after the war, they moved from this site. The MacKeens were good friends with Lester B. and Marion Pearson. In the late 1930’s MacKeen built a log cabin on a private island in what was formerly known as “Lake Commandant,” owned by the Seigneurie Club. The club is the site of the current Chateau Montebello. In 1962 and 1971 he was living in Chester, Nova Scotia in his summer home, “Haddon Hall” (built in 1905 by Vernon Woolrich and named after his wife’s family home in England, now a bed and breakfast). All of their four children settled in Toronto:
i. Rosemary MacKeen (b.1929)
ii. Marjorie MacKeen (b.1931)
iii. David MacKeen Jr. (b.after 1936?)
On 26 August 1936 J. C. MacKeen’s yacht the Kinara (formerly Buccaneer II) exploded in Halifax Harbour. The boat had just refuelled at the Imperial Oil Company’s Wharf. David MacKeen turned the key in the ignition switch, and the boat exploded. The explosion send many passengers flying 15 to 20 feet into the air, and shook buildings on shore. All 11 passengers on board were injured [ 27 August 1936 Halifax Herald Headline; the article includes a photograph of David, Dorothy, and Christina].
He became a prominent businessman, acting as chairman and executive of many companies [Who’s Who in Canada]. In 1936 he was the vice-president of the Royal Securities Corporation. The family home was Bilton, North West Arm, Halifax. Like his brother, he was a member of St. David’s Presbyterian Church. He is buried in the Camp Hill Cemetery, Halifax. After his death his will was disputed in court. John and Dorothy had four daughters:
i. Jane MacKeen
ii. Christina MacKeen (b.1932)
Laura, a beautiful and generous woman, had an affluent but sad life. She travelled to England in 1882. On 16 July 1890, probably in Edinburgh she married William Boyd, third son of Sir John Boyd of Maxpoffle, Roxburghshire and Isabella Lawson of Cairnmuir, Peebleshire. Boyd had been an apprentice to Robert Bruce Johnston and became a member of the Society of Writers to Her Majesty’s Signet, Chambers, 6 York Place, Edinburgh. This was an “ancient and honourable branch of the legal profession in Scotland” according to its historian. In 1905 he was a Member of the King’s Bodyguard for Scotland, Royal Company of Archers [History of the Society of Writers for his Majesty’s Signet, p.85 ]. He was related to Commander John Gordon Boyd, of the Royal Navy, whose daughter Elizabeth Violet Boyd inherited from Laura upon her death [1946 Will]. After their marriage their first address was 18 Drummond Place, Edinburgh [1892 Will of William Grant Crerar].
In the late nineteenth century, Laura became the chief heiress of the fortune left by the Browns of Newcastle-upon-Tyne, her maternal grandmother’s family. Emma (or Emily) Brown left her the perhaps exaggerated sum of one million dollars and the house at 26 Inverleith Place, Edinburgh. She lived at that location until 1945, when her health declined. She lived for a short while at Vogrie House, Gorebridge, Midlothian, and then retired to The Lodge, Greenlawn, Berwickshire. It was there that she died on 5 September 1946. She was buried with her husband and two sons in Dean Cemetery, Dean Village, Edinburgh.
Despite the distance from her Canadian relatives, she was a kind and generous aunt to her nephews and nieces overseas. In her 1946 Will this generosity continued. She also left scholarships in memory of her husband and two sons, both of whom were killed in the First World War. To Clifton School she bequeathed a scholarship in memory of William Noel Lawson Boyd, and to Winchester College one in memory of Nigel John Lawson Boyd. To Queen Victoria School at Dunblane, Scotland, she left £150 to provide prizes for piping and dancing “…such as I have been accustomed to give annually; these prizes to be called the ‘Boyd Prizes’.” She also left money to place in Saint Giles’ Cathedral, Edinburgh a bronze table or memorial window in memory of her two sons [Will 1946]:
From 1880 to 1884, James Peter had an enjoyable course of studies at Fettes College, so much so that he left a scholarship to send Canadian boys to his alma mater. Like his younger brother Henry Hatton, he spent those years resident in Glencourse House [Fettes College Register]. At Fettes he was an accomplished athlete, and this reputation continued as he was remembered as an “outstanding” football player at the Wanderers’ Amateur Athletic Association in Halifax [obituary]. Upon graduation, he worked as an accountant at the Halifax branch of the Bank of Montréal for sixteen or so years.
In 1896 he purchased electric lines in Sherman, in northern Texas, and began construction of an interurban railway between Sherman and Denison. It was the first intercity electric line in the state. In 1900 James affirmed judicially his right to “build, construct and operate a line of electric railway over certain streets,” in Denison, Texas [Law Reports: 96 Texas 233], which James owned and managed for several years. On May 1, 1901 the first interurban to operate in Texas made its first run from Denison to Sherman and back, to great fanfare, with bands playing and speeches predicting a great future for public transit and the twin cities [J.Mahuire, Katy’s Baby, 64-65]. The trip took 30 minutes and cost 25 cents. Part of the marketing strategy was the construction in between the cities of a lake resort and amusement park , Woodlake Park. As a local history recounts:
In 1900 he served as best man at his brother John’s grand wedding in Chicago. In 1914 he was living in Ottawa, working for the Royal Trust Company. At the outbreak of the war, he joined the Canadian Army, and was appointed to Lieutenant. On his army attestation he lists his occupation as “gentleman.” On 19 June 1916 he left Halifax for Liverpool on the S.S.Missanabie. On 14 August he disembarked at Havre. From 1916 to 1918 James served in France and Belgium with the 77th and 38th (Ottawa) Battalions, Eastern Ontario Regimental Depot, and District Depot No.3. From March to September 1917, he was “Town-major” of the district of Camblain l’Abbé, near Arras, France. In 1918 he returned to England, and then to Canada. For his service, he received the Medaille d’Honneur en argent.
Back in Canada he resumed his active business career and social life. He was President of Upland Fields and then Elgin Realty, which owned the old Grand Union Hotel. His final major post was as President of Canadian Malarctic Mines. Remaining single all of his life, he lived at a variety of addresses in Ottawa: Old Victoria Chambers (1901: suite 44, and 1912), Wellington Street; Roxborough Apartments and, towards the end, a “beautiful home” on Aylmer Road, Hull, Quebec (which was formerly associated with the Eddy family of matches fame). James Peter was a Presbyterian all his life, opposed to Church Union. He served as vice-president of the Moderation League, taking an active part in the repeal of prohibition; throughout his life he was a dedicated and generous patron of the alcohol industry. He was an active member of the Rideau and Country Clubs of Ottawa, and the headline of his obituary reads, “Well-known Clubman Dies:”.
Almost to the end of his life, gardening was his chief hobby. He was persistent in his efforts to develop “a perfect lawn”, the hope and aspiration of many a home owner and amateur gardener
6. “Harry” HENRY HATTON CRERAR (b.7 May 1868 Pictou - d. 3 December 1948 Vancouver) = Margaret Maude Mortimer MACKENZIE (b.26 January 1872 Seaforth House, Pictou -- d.16 Sept. 1952 Vancouver)
Henry Hatton Crerar was a gentleman, not so much disdainful of work as foreign to the concept. This aspect of his personality seems to come out in his 1885 report card from Fettes College of Edinburgh: in Classics, he “seems to work hard, though in a dreamy lethargic way: quiet, attentive but shows very little improvement: his writing and spelling are bad: I should like to see him a little brighter and keener (K.P.W.). In Mathematics and Natural Science (master J.S.Yeo) and Drawing, he did quite well, however. In that year C.C. Cotterill was his tutor and A.W. Potts the Headmaster of this prominent Scottish school. He lived at Glencourse House and left in 1886 [Fettes College Register, Scottish New Record Office, Edinburgh]. Probably connected with his departure that year was an unfortunate incident in which several Fettes boys, Henry apparently among them, threw snowballs at a passing train. The driver of the train was seriously injured, and the Headmaster Potts solicited funds for the victim from the parents of the boys involved [letter, 19 March 1886].
After Fettes, he was sent to a school in Texas to assist him cope with what would now likely be diagnosed as dyslexia. He then travelled extensively through Europe and North America. After dreamily writing to his family that he wanted to homestead in the American west, his father bargained that if Henry returned to Nova Scotia, he would buy him a house [Margaret Evans interview]. This house was to be the property at Crystal Cliffs, located outside of Antigonish on St. George’s Bay.
Crystal Cliffs formed part of lot No. 1 of the Soldiers’ Grant, drawn in June 1784 by Lieut. George Wetmore and occupied by his family for some fourteen years. Shortly before the turn of the century the Wetmore family left for the United States, leaving the farm vacant for several years. It was eventually purchased in 1784 by Mrs. Wetmore’s brother, Benjamin Ogden, a New York merchant who had resided previously at Morristown. His wife was Cornelia, a daughter to Col. Hierlihy. The Ogden family erected the present farmhouse in the 1820’s. They also built a mill and millhouse, although these structures no longer exist. From the Ogden family came the name of Ogden Pond for the body of water between the farm and the beach. In 1830 the family returned for permanent residency at Crystal Cliffs when their son Augustus was sent to recover from tuberculosis. The seaside cure was a success. Benjamin (until his death in 1835) and then Augustus (inhabitted 1835-1873) occupied the farm for the rest of their long lives. Augustus willed the farm to his spinster daughters Lucy and Augusta Ogden [Will Book A;129]. In 1884 the sisters sold the property to Thomas G. Dundas, an “old countryman”. Dundas remodelled the house and greatly improved the farm in general, spending, it is said, $33,000 in the process. In 1889 Henry Hatton Crerar became the proprietor of the estate and was to possess it until 1918.
At the end of the First World War, Harry sold Crystal Cliffs to the late John Kennedy, a prominent Nova Scotia railway contractor, for a high figure [The Casket, 29 July 1937]. “Contractor” Kennedy and his son Daniel were the last farmers on the site, which at this time was farmed extensively, supporting up to 300 cattle. Under the Kennedy family, the old two-roofed barn burned down and was replaced by the present structure.
In 1934 the farm was for sale again:
In 1949 the provincial government purchased the property which was operated at the Nova Scotia Centre for Geological Sciences, in cooperation with the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. During this period were erected some six barrack-style buildings along the beach, now removed [picture], and the upper floors of the manor were gutted to make room for institutional showers. In 1963 the Public Works Ministry announced its sale, and in 1965 ownership passed to St. Francis Xavier University, the present owner. The university has used it as a zoological observatory for the rare cormorants which built their nests on the cliffs below. While the house is showing its age, and the gatehouse gable is near collapse, the property and its buildings are in stable condition.
Henry married Margaret Maude Mortimer MacKenzie at 8:15 a.m. on 13 November 1889 at the Knox Church, Pictou. The Rev. George S. Carson performed the service, and witnesses were J.H. MacKenzie and J. Curry [Pictou County Marriage Records 1889, p.50, #164]. The E.Chronicle [14 Nov. 1889, p.1] described the service:
Their family grew at the farm at Crystal Cliffs. Soon after their marriage, Henry’s father John died, living a small fortune to each of his sons. They lived a happy life of leisure, boating, playing tennis, and entertaining friends, relatives, and the occasional famous visitor. During the War they were host to Lord Beaverbrook. Henry planted the impressive row of linden trees which line the road to the house; while they are said to come from England it may be that they were transplanted from Glenalmond in Pictou.
As the war progressed, three occurrences prompted them to leave Antigonish and start life anew in the Canadian west. The first was no doubt the increasing financial strain of an opulent lifestyle. The second was the difficulties their sons John and William had undergone in the First World War, the horrors of which were growing apparent even in their Anglophile, patriotic household. The final factor was a custody battle which raged in Margaret’s family. J. Henry MacKenzie, Margaret’s uncle had died in 1914, leaving three children in the care of his widow, Florence (née Smith). Florence remarried a Thomas Lott of Pictou, but had died soon after the marriage. In a prominent court case of the day, Henry and Margaret were named as guardians of their twice-orphaned nieces and nephew, Helen Louise MacKenzie, Margaret MacKenzie, and James MacKenzie [19 July 1918 Pictou Advocate, , 8.]
In 1919 the family made the great move from Antigonish to Vancouver, thus bringing to a close a century of Crerars in Nova Scotia. In Vancouver, they could have a clean, and economical start for their immediate and extended family. The 1920 and 1923 directories list Henry Hatton Crerar as a “farmer,” living at 2162 West Third Avenue, a residential area, with few farms around (house now gone). He worked nominally for the F.A. Cleland real estate company. During a period of separation from his wife over a minor spat, Henry lived at 1115 16th Avenue, Vancouver (house gone). They eventually reconciled, living at 2127 West 23rd Avenue until their deaths (house still standing).
Henry’s letters to his daughter Laura reveals his sense of humour even in the face of financial distress:
Margaret is remembered as a strict but kind mother, with good sense of humour. She enjoyed laughing but a Presbyterian sense of decorum, and an aristocratic bearing which made her seem distant and somewhat cold, suppressed this temptation. A diabetic, she was troubled in later years by complications of the affliction, which caused her enormous pain. She died of stomach cancer and gangrene related to her diabetes. Margaret was cremated on 18 September 1952.
Henry and Margaret are both buried in Forest Lawn Cemetery, Burnaby,
B.C [death certificates: reg.# 1948-09-010652; reg.# 1952-09-008893].
Children of Henry Hatton Crerar and Margaret Maude Mortimer MacKenzie:
a. “Jean” JANE KATE CRERAR (b.13 December 1890 Antigonish Harbour, N.S. - d.26 July 1983 West Vancouver )
Jean was a proud woman, and embittered by her family’s fallen fortunes. As the eldest, she best remembered the luxury of life at Crystal Cliffs and refused to recognize the changed circumstances. Instead, she escaped through travel and estrangement from her family.
She had a seemingly dull job -- stenographer -- but an exciting life. After working for a variety of Vancouver firms, such as Pacific Marine and Wagham Gwynn, in the 1920’s and 1930’s, she left for the Orient. This stage of her life is a mystery, as she did not correspond often with her family. The first Chapter of her incomplete book, is entitled “The Road to Mandalay,” opens with her arrival in Burma:
Our first stop was Victoria Pointon the long arms of Burma that stretches into the Bay of Bengal. There was little to be seen except dense jungle and a few buildings. While I was watching some goods being loaded from lighters, a middle aged man standing near came over and introduced himself as “Captain L., Hon. Aide de Camp to the Governor of Burma;” he asked me if I was on my way home, but no doubt wondered what on earth I was doing in that part of the world by myself. He had taken the round trip to Penanag, and said that although he liked the life out these, he was looking forward to the time when he could retire to a rose-covered cottage in England.
This was the road to Mandalay; swarms of flying fish played about; magnificent sunsets suggesting palaces and all sorts of fanciful images; small white wats (temples) and villages were scattered among the foliage…
From 1936 to 1939 she worked for the Public Works Department of Singapore. Upon the outbreak of war, she was transferred to work in the Food Supply Office, living at “The Mansion,” 5 Oxley Rise. In January the Japanese began their siege of Singapore. The second chapter of her book makes better reading than the first, aside from a few painful, and in the circumstances, understandable racial slurs, and tells of “The Flight from Singapore:”
One day there were rumours that a large fleet, presumably Japanese, was seen streaming through the Gulf of Siam, which caused quite a lot of comment, but was eventually dismissed as being merely manoeuvres in all probability of the little yellow men who had recently acquired another portion of French Indo China through diplomatic endeavours.
How well I remember that last peaceful Sunday of December 7th, 1941. For some reason or other I had put on a rather special dress for dinner, and before going into the dining room I had dropped in to chat with one of the women in the boarding house: she was reminiscing of persons and places, particularly of a favourite beach which she called her little bit of blue heaven, and remarked that if the war spread to Asia she would undoubtedly go to Java, as it was unlikely that the Dutch would become involved in any way with the Japanese.
The war began for me with the sound of bombs exploding and the wailing of sirens shortly after four o’clock on the morning of December 8th. I leaped out of bed and made my way along the covered outside passage to the main part of the house, where I found the others excitedly wondering if it was a mock raid, or the real thing. Captain H., seemingly as an afterthought, telephoned Fort Canning and was told, evidently, that it was real enough.
The blackout was not at all good, and all the street lights as well as a light at the Fort were burning. Suddenly there were bright flashes and loud explosions on the direction of the docks and the town. The anti-aircraft guns started firing. We could hear the drone of the bombers and saw a bright flash which later proved to be a bomb dropping just two streets away. The drone gradually died away. The searchlights continued their search for the raiders. The lights in the streets still shone brightly.
At breakfast I learned that the Japanese had taken Kota Bahru in Kelantan, Northern Malaya, an aerodrome lightly held by the British, which became an advanced base for fleets of Zeros, and blew our few planes from the sky…
…One evening at dinner Commander C. told us that the great battleships Prince of Wales and the repulse had put to sea, and saying he feared for them. But it was a case of staying to be bombed or getting out and fighting. They were soon spotted and strafed and both went down in the mud of the Gulf of Siam. Malaya’s morale went down, too. There were only a few survivors. Commander C. told us a few days later he had been to the hospital to see a young lieutenant who was badly burned; he had been asked if there was anything he would like and replied, “Yes, a book on tropical birds !”
…Raids increased, there were more during the night and at different times during the day. The docks, oil installations and Naval Base were blazing infernos, black smoke poured from them in the daylight and at night the sky was as a molten glow. We walked about in the grounds in the evening in a state of fury and frustration, hopelessness and despair, and yet able to admire the tragic scene spread around us, Through all this, a light always burned during the blackout in the tall Cathay Building, as well as a Fort Canning on the neighbouring hilltop -- there were stories of collaborators: the large colony of Japanese had been interred, of course, but even so, one wondered.
…Our office had a direct hit. One morning the siren rang at an unexpected time, the Asiatic staff as usual were the first to leave for the shelter; one of them in passing called out to me to hurry, but I was the last person to leave the office. I had no sooner got down stairs that the raiders were over us, the building shook with crashing and banging as a bomb fell directly into the Commissioner’s office overlooking the street. I shall never forget the look on everyone’s face when it was all over; most of them had been flat on their faces and in picking themselves up, there was an air of satisfaction that at least they were all in one piece. I remember I found I had got no further than my knees and had been holding the arm of an Indian clerk, who happened to be the person nearest me. My desk outside the Deputy Commissioner’s office was buried in debris, and my new noiseless typewriter useless, unless sent to be repaired. We moved downstairs and continued work as before…
… Meanwhile The Straits Times continued to publish every day, there were notices of dancing at Raffles Hotel, movies, firms advertising stocks held; a call to all communities to report Fifth Column activities and letters to the Editor on every conceivable subject filled its depleted pages.
In retirement, she kept meticulous notes of her financial affairs. She
also submitted her manuscript of “Who Travels Alone” to the Ryerson Press
and received an encouraging reply. Only the two chapters above, however,
seem to have been completed, and the work was never published. She also
compiled extensive scrapbooks, mostly of poetry and travel writing. She
wrote marginalia on many of the clippings. On Macau she states that “I
was in Macao in the 1930s. A lovely old-world place.” Bermuda “reminded
me rather of Hong Kong, narrow twisting roads and many flowers.” She shows
herself to be a true native of Vancouver in rebutting in the margin an
article assertion that Sydney, Australia is “the world’s most beautiful
city;” she corrects this to read, “one of the world’s loveliest
cities” Her favourite poets were Byron and Houseman, with whose poetry
about the individual, alienated to a solitary existence, she probably identified.
Throughout her life she remained extremely proud, at times absurdly so.
A story is told, one hopes apocryphally, that she once asked the pilot
of her flight which was flying ahead of schedule, to circle the airport
because her brother would not arrive to pick her up for another thirty
minutes. Her glorious, stubborn snobbery and yearning for a return to Edwardian
Canada are at times endearing. As she states in a 1962 letter to her sister
Laura:
b. LAURA HENRIETTA CRERAR (b.13 November 1892 Antigonish- d.26 February 1911 Antigonish)
Laura died of typhoid fever. She is buried in St. James Presbyterian Cemetery, Antigonish. Jean was very fond of her younger sister and always travelled with her photograph.
c. JOHN CRERAR (b.16 July 1896 Antigonish - d.1 June 1961 Hakone, Japan)
At King’s Collegiate in Windsor, Nova Scotia, John was a strong athlete
in soccer, rugby and tennis. King’s is one of the oldest schools in British
North America (founded in 1788), and is located on the grounds of King’s
College, which is now part of Dalhousie University in Halifax. The school
joined with its sister school in 1974, to form King’s-Edgehill School.
All three brothers excelled at hockey at King’s, which in fact claims to
be the place where ice hockey was invented. John had typical Crerar physique
and was nicknamed “Jumbo,” although photographs give him the appearance
of being thin. After graduation, he enlisted for the 2nd Canadian General
Army in Charlottetown 16th Sept 1915. His papers describe him as: 5’11
1/2’; light complexion; blue eyes; golden hair; appendix cut on right side.”
[photograph in the Pictou Advocate, 18 Dec., 1915, part 2]. In December
he arrived in England, and on 19 June 1916 he embarked for France with
the 98th Canadian Siege Battery. Although he had difficulty with some of
his superior officers, he received some recognition for bravery at the
front. A.H. MacKinnon in a letter to the headmaster of King’s Collegiate,
writes as follows: ‘John (Crerar) did some good work at Souchey, volunteered
as one of the stretcher party and went through what appeared as an impossible
barrage, with four others. They got their man, but unfortunately the latter
was in vain -- he died in the dressing station. This bit of valour, like
so many others, has passed unrecognized.’ John Crerar is son of Mr. and
Mrs. Harry Crerar of Antigonish, and he has a younger brother in the service...”
[Pictou Advocate, 12 April 1918, p.1]. Like the future General Crerar,
he was at Vimy Ridge Easter 1917, when Canadian troops captured this important
point on the front, and as some historians say, forged a Canadian nation,
at the cost of 3,000 Canadian lives. The family still has in its
possession John’s cigarette case, on which is engraved, “9 April 1917 Vimy
Ridge.” On 15 July 1919 he returned to Canada from Liverpool aboard the
S.S.Regina. Upon discharge, he stated that his proposed residence
after the war would be GPQ Moose Jaw, but he soon joined his family in
Vancouver. He worked as a carpenter and gardener. John never married, and
lived most of the time with his parents, except towards the end of his
life when he resided at 1075 Jervis Street. He retired in 1958 and travelled
extensively. It was during a visit to the beautiful hot spring resort at
Hakone, Japan, that he suffered a heart attack and died. A letter written
from his brother Hatt to his sister Jean recalls the events leading up
to his death:
John thought that Japan was the most beautiful country that he had visited. When he went there last fall he intended to stay all winter but the hotels were very cold and returned home before Christmas, all he could talk about was returning. He did a great deal of travelling since he retired three years ago. He seemed to be in excellent health although was probably a little overweight, he didn’t over indulge in food and was a very moderate drinker…John’s ashes arrived in Vancouver on June 7th and we had a memorial service on June 10th. The chapel was crowded, some of the chaps that he was overseas with spoke to me after the service, fellows which I had never seen before.
Just before we received word of John’s death I had forwarded a letter to him that was postmarked Charlottetown. I asked Dan McDougall (John’s old sergeant) if he knew what it was about and he said it was a letter from the 2nd Canadian Siege Battery Association, stating that there was to be a reunion in Charlottetown this summer, if John hadn’t been in Japan I am sure he would have gone and would be alive today, rather ironic don’t you think ?
d. ‘Bill’ WILLIAM GRANT CRERAR (b.19 Sept. 1899 Antigonish - d.4 July 1921 Lacombe, Alberta)
Like his brothers, “Bill” was a great athlete at King’s Collegiate, which he attended from 1913 until 1915. He won prizes in track and field and was captain of the rugby team.
He left at Christmas 1915 and enlisted in the No.5 Siege Battery on 9 March 1916 at Antigonish [The Windsorian]. His attestation in the army describes him: “ 5’11; fresh complexion; grey eyes; brown hair; scar of cut palm surface left thumb; also scar of cut vertical left shin 3 inches long.” He arrived in England October 28th and after training and a stint in the Bonn Hospital, Ewshott, was sent to the front, with the 8th Canadian Siege Battalion on 8 May 1917. He later was transferred to the 2nd S.Battery [16 October 1917] then the 23rd CGA, and then the 5th C.S.B. During this tour of duty he was badly gassed in the trenches. He returned to England on 6 March 1919, and to Halifax on 9 May aboard the H.M.T. Mauritania [sailing #53]. Joining his family in Vancouver, he tried work as an automobile mechanic. His health destroyed by the war, Bill retired to the farm of his Uncle William D. MacKenzie in Lacombe, Alberta, where he died. His death certificate lists the immediate cause of death as heart failure, and primary cause as pulmonary tuberculosis. He is buried at Fairview Cemetery, Lacombe, in Plot H048, A, as William Grant Crearer.
e. “Hatt” HENRY HATTON CRERAR II (b.5 April 1901 Antigonish - d.15 October 1961 Vancouver) = Kathleen Jean Burke (b. 4 May 1908 Barclay Street, Vancouver, B.C.)
From 1916-1919 “Hatt” Crerar attended King’s College School, Windsor, Nova Scotia [The Windsorian]. Like his brothers, he was an athletic presence, serving as Captain of the Rugby team, and secretary of the Hockey team. His nickname, “Jumbo Crerar” indicates his appropriateness for these sports. In his graduating year he was a prefect, and received the W.T.Whitehead Cup for best all-round Boy in the Upper School - Scholarship, Sports, Conduct and Popularity. The Windsorian bid him farewell as follows: “Jumbo” was the strong man. He tore the end off his bed one night just to show us he could do it. However he never exerted himself unless he had to. Just the same, few of us dared to “tread on the tail o’ his coat!” The consequences were apt to be disastrous. Cr’ar is working in a bank at Vancouver where rumours has it he throws the safes around like tennis balls.” [The Windsorian]
In 1919 he moved west with his family, and took up employment first as a bank clerk and then at the British Columbia Telephone Company. He also worked as a lumberjack. For a while he “batched” in San Francisco, working at a bank. On 1 January 1936 at the Manse of St.Stephen’s United Church in Kitsilano, Vancouver, he married Kathleen Jean Burke, the daughter of William Wilmer Burke and Sarah Jane Hunter of New Westminster, British Columbia. Kathleen was a schoolteacher, attending the Normal School, situated near the site of the present Vancouver City Hall. She taught kindergarten for about thirty years at the now-defunct Athlone School, giving many of Vancouver’s leading figures their first taste of education. Her family had a pet parrot named Pedro, who would terrorize suitors.
Kathleen and Hatt lived at 3534 W.38th [1938], 2167 West 38th Avenue, [1944, 1946, 1948], 1637 West 61st Avenue [1956, 1957]. Only the last house still survives the wrecking ball. A few years before Hatt’s retirement from B.C.Tel, they moved to Beach Grove, Tsawwassen, a suburb of Vancouver. On 15 October 1961, a year after retiring from his company, and a few months after his brother John’s death, Hatt passed away suddenly of heart failure. He is buried in Forest Lawn Cemetery, Burnaby, British Columbia [reg.# 1961-09-012013]. Kathleen Crerar still lives at Beach Grove, plays golf regularly, and is the world’s best Nana, descriptions of whom dull genealogical texts cannot do justice. Hatt and Kathleen had two sons:
I. “Kelly” KATHRYN LAURA CRERAR (b.23 August 1959 Vancouver) = “Jamie” James Bruce KIRKLAND (b.______)
A. Benjamin Kirkland (b. 4 August 1986)
B. Megan Kirkland (b. 4 May 1988)
A. Samantha Hannah Friisdahl (b. 13 October 1995 Toronto)
A. HARRISON GRANT CRERAR (b. 9 August 1990 Toronto)
B. ALEXANDER THOMAS CRERAR (b. 26 Oct 1991 Toronto)
C. CAELEN JEAN CRERAR (b. 12 August 1994 Toronto)
I. DAVID ANTHONY CRERAR (b.19 May 1969 Vancouver) = Julia Elspeth LAWN (b.12 September 1969 Brockville, Ontario)
f. LAURA CRERAR (b. 6 June 1911 Antigonish - d.3 February 1988, North Vancouver, B.C.) = “Dick” Richard Maurice BAILEY (b.12 February 1906 Bristol, England - d.9 February 1974 Vancouver)
Like her siblings, Laura was a tall and striking presence. She was a kind lady, with a great sense of humour. She passed away on 3 February 1988, North Vancouver, B.C., of lung cancer. In a note written a few months before her death, she wrote, “…The next thing is an operation which I’m not looking forward to but I know I’ll be alright so don’t worry. After all, I’m a Nova Scotian and we’re tough.” She is buried with her parents in Forest Lawn Cemetery, Burnaby. Laura and Richard had two children :
i. Joanne Patricia Bailey (b.15 May 1940) = Keith Richardson
I. Christopher John Joseph Bailey (b.3 Sept 1978 Edmonton)
II. Katherine Ann Bailey (b. 6 Dec. 1979 Edmonton)
THE MacKENZIES OF PICTOU
a. RODERICK MACKENZIE (b.Scotland) = Mary ______
Roderick’s family lived at Glaschoil, a farm near Garve, parish of Contin, on the road between Inverness and Ullapool.
Roderick may have married a second wife, a Mrs.McRea of Hilton.
ii. RODERICK MACKENZIE (b.c.1777 - d.1 August 1866 Montreal, P.Q.)
= Marion Stewart ? or Anne __?____: see Jean M.Stine of Bellevue, Michigan
iii. NANCY MACKENZIE (b.1788 -d.24 Dec. 1853) = Alexander MacLennan
i. DONALD MACKENZIE (b.1775 Contin, Ross & Cromarty - d.7 May 1860 Four Mile Creek, N.S.) = Barbara MacKenzie (b.1787 West River, N.S. - d.23 Oct.1864)
Donald was an elder in the Church of Scotland for 37 years, and attended the old St. John’s Church of Scotland (1835-1907), beside the cemetery. The church is gone, but the United Church of Canada maintains the churchyard. Donald and Barbara are buried at St. John’s Cemetery, Scotsburn, Pictou, County. Barbara’s gravestone reads: Barbara McKenzie, Spouse of Donald McKenzie, having lived an ornament to the Christian profession in her every relation of life. She slept in Jesus Oct. 23rd 1864, aged 77 years.” Donald and Barbara and had 10 children:
I. JOHN MACKENZIE (b.3 Jan 1806 - d.12 April 1886) = Margaret Fraser (b. Sept 1813 - d. July 1899)
A. DANIEL MACKENZIE = Margaret Ann McKenzie
IV. MARY MACKENZIE (b. 22 April 1814) = Hugh Fraser (b.c.1808)
A. ANNIE MACKENZIE ((b.17 Dec.1850 - d.Feb 1942) = ‘Tycher’ John R. Tycher MacKenzie (b.23 Nov.1846 - d.16 May 1919) m. 13 Feb.1873 in Pictou: refer to J.B.Logan chart for descendants
B. ‘Maggie’ BARBARA MARJORIE MACKENZIE (b.11 Nov.1852 - d.1 Oct. 1939) = ‘Big John’ John J. MacKenzie (b.8 March 1842 N.S. - d. 16 April 1923) m. 20 Nov.1877 : refer to J.B.Logan chart for descendants
C. DANIEL COLIN MACKENZIE (b.24 April 1855 - d.20 April 1928) = Marion Ann MacLeod (b.6 Feb. 1860 - d.June 1942) m. 31 December 1894 : refer to J.B.Logan chart for descendants (including Shirley McCormick, researcher of Pictou MacKenzies)
D. JESSIE BELLE MACKENZIE (b. 18 October 1857 - d. 15 March 1903 Trenton, N.S.) = Robert George Murray (b.9 Nov. 1849 - d. 28 October 1915 Trenton, N.S.) m.28 June 1877: refer to J.B.Logan chart for descendants
E. GEORGE McLEOD MACKENZIE (b.20 April 1860 -d. 12 May 1866)
F. MARY ELIZABETH ‘Lizzie’ MACKENZIE (b.31 August 1862 - d. 1927) = 1. James Edward Barry (b.Dec.1843 - d.10 July 1899) m.1884 = 2. Daniel Murray (d.24 Feb.1920) m. 15 Nov.1913: refer to J.B.Logan chart for descendants
G. GEORGINA ELLEN/HELEN MACKENZIE (b.22 August 1867 - d.15 Jan.1932) = Duncan Fraser m.1 June 1895: refer to J.B.Logan chart for descendants
H. COLINA BLYTHE MACKENZIE (b.2 April 1870 N.S. - d.1 April 1926 Saskatoon, Sask.) = Isaac M. Logan (b. 28 Dec. 1875 N.S. - d.29 April 1913 Berkeley, Calif.) m. 17 Feb 1900 Saltsprings, N.S. : refer to J.B.Logan chart for descendants (including J.B.Logan, researcher of Pictou MacKenzies).
III. “Rory” RODERICK MACKENZIE (b.22 May 1810 Four Mile Brook, Pictou County- d.3 April 1890) = Margaret A. SWINBURG (chr.6 June 1802 Christ Church, Shelburne, N.S. - d.19 October, 1891)
Roderick was the son of Donald MacKenzie and Barbara MacKenzie. He marriedon28 October 1834 Margaret A. Swinburg, who was of German ancestry. Margaret was the eleventh daughter of Christian Swinburg (born Hesse, Germany - d. 16 August 1827 Trinidad) and Catherine Harpel (b.c.1755 - d.27 Nov.1847 Shelburne, N.S.). Christian was likely a member of the Hessian Kassel-Regiment Landgraf who served for the British during the American Revolutionary War. During this service he married Catherine in New York, where they had their first son Garret Oakes Swinburg (b.c.1779 - d. 9 June 1855 Shelburne) After the war, the disbanded soldiers received land grants in Shelburne, Nova Scotia, where the Swinburg clan is centred. Margaret had ten older siblings: Sophia (chr.16 Oct. 1787 Shelburne) = ___ Sweeney; John Conrad Swinburg (chr.15 Nov.1789 Shelburne - d.8 Nov.1850 Shelburne) = Harriet Graham and Rachel Smith; Christian Swinburg; George Swinburg; Catherine Swinburg (chr.26 June 1796 Shelburne) = Thomas Muirhead; Elizabeth Swinburg; Mary Swinburg = Robert Rudd; Sarah Swinburg = George Robertson; and Jane Swinburg (chr.20 April 1800 Shelburne). Confusingly, another family tree states that a Christian Swansburg, with similar Hessian soldier background, fathered a James Hemeon Swansburg (b.28 December 1828 Little Harbour, Shelburne County) by Mary Ann Hemeon. This account has Christina dying in Martinique [Malcolm Hupman]. Alternative spellings of the name are Swanburg(h), Swineburg(h) and Swinesburg(h), all likely derived from the German Schweinberg [Eleanor Smith, Shelburne County Genealogical Society Book at 1-2; Michele Bagley].
Either Roderick or his father had been a ship’s architect, and had travelled to Russia before working in Pictou. Roderick MacKenzie gained a small fortune as a merchant, sending lumber to the West Indies in exchange for molasses and spirits. He owned a store and wharf on Wharf Street in Pictou. On 8 August, 1849 he was appointed commissioner for examining and appointing pilots at the Port of Pictou. Both he and his wife are buried in the Haliburton Cemetery. In his will he left most of his fortune to his grandson J. Henry MacKenzie. They had three children:
William was a ship owner and farmer. In his early life he ran away from
home, and went whaling in the Pacific Ocean, from the Japan Sea to New
Zealand. During that time he became involved with the Taiping War in China.
He settled down to a more conventional life after marriage, living with
his wife in the Lowden farm at Seaforth, on Beaches Road. After his son,
J. Henry took over Seaforth, William A., and Louisa, his wife, moved to
Tulach-Ard Cottage on Denoon Street [Letter from Mrs. Shirley McCormick].
Around 1906 they moved west to their son’s homestead in Lacombe, Alberta,
where they died. Louise’s obituary reads: “The death of Mrs. William MacKenzie
occurred April 16 at the home of her son William, Lacombe, Alberta [nb.
Louise Koleyak claims that her grandmother died at her own home]. She had
not been well for some time. With her when she passed away were her two
daughters, Maggie - Mrs. Harry Crerar, Annie, Mrs. Charles Berry. Her son
Rod - who was in Australia, was to have visited his mother when he landed
at Seattle. We understand that he is in a ship running between Australia
and American ports. Mr. Layton, who conducted the funeral, was formerly
of Truro.” [Pictou Advocate, 20 May 1927]. They are interred in
the “New Cemetery” at Pictou. They had five children.
1. ‘Henry’ JAMES HENRY MACKENZIE (b.c.1867/68 - d.31 October 1914) = 1. Mary FARQUHARSON; 2. Florence SMITH (b. 1882 Lunenburg - d.c.10 April 1918; buried in Catholic Cemetery)
The funeral will be held on Sunday afternoon. A short service will take place at the house and the funeral will commence at 3 p.m. Internment will be in the New Cemetery” [Pictou Advocate, 31 October 1914, p. 1].
His widow later married Thomas Lott of Pictou, and then promptly died. A custody battle followed, in which the surviving children were adopted by their uncle and aunt, Henry Hatton and Margaret (née MacKenzie) Crerar [19 July 1918 Pictou Advocate, p. 8]. Their children:
a. HELEN LOUISE MACKENZIE = Albert CHEESEMAN
3. “Bud” WILLIAM D. MACKENZIE = “Norah” Angelica DESMOND (b.1884 - d.21 June 1964 Vancouver?)
a. “Bill” WILLIAM DESMOND MACKENZIE (d. 1980s) = Maxine FITZPATRICK
i. NORAH MACKENZIE = _________
ii. PATRICK MACKENZIE = Fran _________
I. son MACKENZIE
II. daughter MACKENZIE
i. David Koleyak = Carol ______
I. Ryan Koleyak (b. 1978)
II. Steven Koleyak (b. 1980)
I. Erin McFadden (b.ca 1974)
II. Sean McFadden (b.ca 1976)
5. RODERICK MACKENZIE (d. 1924, near Canary Islands) = 1. ______ 2. Florence ‘Flo’ (sisters)