Showing 46 results

People and organizations
Adams, John Gordon
Person

John Gordon Adams was the husband of Myrtle Reynolds Adams.

Becher, Archibald Valancey
Person · 1877 - 1915

The youngest son of Henry and Katharine Campbell Becher, Archibald Valancey Becher was born at Thornwood on August 3, 1877. He was educated in private schools and graduated from the Medical Department of Western University in 1900. After completing his training, Dr. Becher practiced medicine in London. Becher interrupted his medical studies in 1900 to serve with Canada’s volunteer units in the South African War. He joined the 6th Field Battery in London in 1905 and became the unit’s medical officer, with the rank of Major, in 1912. Major Becher enlisted in the Canadian Expeditionary Force in World War I and served as medical officer in the 33rd Battalion. A member of the Conservative Club, Becher served as its vice-president and was elected its president shortly before his departure for military service in 1915. He also and served as president of the Irish Benevolent Society from 1914 to 1915. On January 8, 1913, Becher married Flora (“Topsy”) Adine Wilson, daughter of Dr. John Dolway Wilson and Flora Jessie Edith Cameron of London. The Bechers had two children: John Campbell (born 1913) and Archibald Alexander Cameron (1916). Archibald Becher died on December 25, 1915, on his way overseas with the 33rd Battalion.

Becher, Henry
Person · 1846 - 1889

The second son of Henry Corry Rowley Becher and Sarah Evanson Leaonard Becher, Henry Becher was born at Thornwood on July 5, 1846. He studied law with his father's firm of Becher, Barker and Street, joined the firm after being called to the bar in 1867, and was admitted as a partner in the firm of Becher, Street and Becher in 1872. After his father's death, he remained in partnership with Street, as the firm Street and Becher. When Street was elevated to the bench in 1887, Becher was associated with Henry Stephen Blackburn in the firm of Becher and Blackburn. Henry Becher was appointed Queen's Counsel in 1885. He served as solicitor for the Bank of Montreal, served as a London alderman for several years and was mayor of the city in 1886. He was active in the London Hunt and served as the organization's president.

On September 19, 1872, Becher married Katherine Moore Campbell, eldest daughter of Duncan Campbell of Simcoe. The couple had three children: Henry Campbell (born 1874), Alexander Lorne (1875) and Archibald Valancey (1877).

Henry Becher died at Thornwood on January 15, 1889.

Becher, Henry Campbell
Person · 1874 -1915

The eldest son of Henry and Katharine Campbell Becher, Henry Campbell Becher was born at Thornwood on January 20, 1874. He was educated privately and at Trinity College School in Port Hope. He articled with the firm of Blackburn and Cox before being admitted to the Bar and entering into partnership with Andrew Greenlees. Becher retired from legal practice in the early 1900s to open a brokerage business. Becher was a member of the London Hunt and Country Club and served as its honourary secretary. A member of the London Dramatic Club, he appeared with the company in London, Toronto and Winnipeg. Active in the 7th Regiment, Becher assumed command of the unit, with the rank of Lieutenant-Colonel, in May, 1914. He enlisted in the Canadian Expeditionary Force in September, 1914 as a Major in the 1st (Western Ontario) Battalion. He was promoted to Lieutenant-Colonel, second in command of the battalion, in 1915. Henry Campbell Becher was killed in action at Givenchy, France on June 15, 1915.

Becher, Henry C.R.
Person · 1817 - 1885

Henry Corry Rowley Becher was born June 5, 1817 in London, England, the youngest son of Captain Alexander Becher, Royal Navy, and Frances Scott Becher. He immigrated to London, Ontario in 1835.

Becher began his legal career by articling with John Wilson and was admitted a law student at Osgoode Hall in 1836. He was appointed Registrar of the Surrogate Court of Middlesex County in 1839. Admitted as an attorney in 1840 and called to the bar in 1841, Becher was elected a Bencher of the Law Society of Upper Canada in 1853 and called to the bar at the Inner Temple, London, England in 1882. Becher was partner with Samuel Barker and William Purvis Rochfort Street in the law firm of Becher, Barker and Street. The firm became Becher, Street & Becher, when his son, Henry Becher, was admitted to a partnership in 1872. He served as solicitor for Colonel Thomas Talbot in the 1850s, drawing up the will that bequeathed the bulk of Talbot's estate to George Macbeth and settling a dispute between Talbot and his nephew Richard Airey; was involved in the settlement of the estate of George Jarvis Goodhue in the 1870s; and served as municipal solicitor for London from 1849 to 1853. In April and May of 1855, he alone handled the crown business at the assizes at St. Thomas, London, and Chatham, and submitted civil briefs at St. Tomas and London. Becher completed the transaction in which the Huron Diocese acquired Rough Park, the estate of Lionel Ridout which became the first site of Huron College in 1863. In 1856, Becher was appointed Queen's Counsel and lectured for a tern at Osgoode Hall. He became solicitor for the Gore Bank and a director of the Great Western Railway in 1857.

Becher served on the London town council from 1850 to 1854. Attempting to enter provincial politics, he failed obtain the Conservative nomination for London in 1857. He won the nomination in 1860, but lost the by-election. In 1861, he again vied for the nomination, but withdrew, after the intervention of John A. MacDonald, to stand for the Legislative Council for Malahide. Defeated, Becher did not run again for public office; however, he remained an active party organizer.

Becher built Thornwood on 13 acres in London, and took up residence there in 1845. He rebuilt the house after it was destroyed by fire in 1852. Becher travelled extensively in Europe, visited the Middle Ease, made several trips to Florida, and wrote A Trip to Mexico after travelling there 1878. In 1880, Becher became a fellow of the Royal Geographic Society. His diary has been published in the London Advertiser in 1926 and in Papers and Records of the Ontario Historical Society in 1939.

Becher married Sarah Evanson Leonard, daughter of Richard Leonard, the sheriff of the Niagara District, on October 27, 1841. Together, they had seven children: Frances Anna Maria (born 1842), Alexander (1844), Henry (1846), Richard Leonard (1848), twins Florence Mary and Constantia Ann (1850) and Alice Ethel Jane (1857), who died in infancy. Sara Becher died in 1864. On August 20, 1874, Becher married Mrs. Caroline Robertson, daughter of Samuel Street of Niagara Falls.

Henry Corry Rowley Becher died on July 6, 1885 in Sidcup, England.

Person · 1849 - 1940

Katharine Moore Campbell was born on December 4, 1849 to Duncan Campbell and Clara Anne Perkins Campbell of Lynnwood, Simcoe. She married Henry Becher on September 19, 1872. The couple had three children: Henry Campbell (born 1874), Alexander Lorne (1875) and Archibald Valancey (1877). Mrs. Becher was active in church organizations working on behalf of St. Paul’s Cathedral, was a honourary president of the Red Cross Society, and served for twenty-five years as president of the Protestant Orphans Home Board. Katharine Campbell Becher died at Thornwood in London, Ontario on February 2, 1940.

Bigelow, Jane
Person · 1928 -

Jane Bigelow (1928 - ) was a politician and the mayor of London, Ontario from 1972 to 1978. She also served as controller on the city's Board of Control before and after her term as mayor.
She was born in Toronto in 1928 and educated at St. Clement's Girl's School and the University of Toronto where she completed a B.A. in Physical and Health Education in 1950. She trained as a teacher and taught in high schools in Ottawa, Hamilton and Edmonton.
After settling in London in 1965 with her husband and two children, she took courses at the University of Western Ontario towards a B.A. and began a master's program in urban studies. She participated in the founding of the Central London Association and the Urban League, a group that was designed to coordinate the efforts of local citizens' groups. She also became involved in the London Council of Women, serving on the committee which helped save the Broughdale Lands. Bigelow was active in local and provincial NDP organizations, serving as vice-president of the provincial party from 1968 to 1972. She organized several conventions for the party and was responsible for the Handbook for Municipal Politicians, published in 1968.
In 1969, she was elected to the Board of Control and when she was re-elected in 1971, she received the most votes out of all the controllers making her the deputy mayor. When mayor Fred Gosnell resigned for health reasons in February 1972 she took over as acting mayor. In March 1972, Bigelow was elected mayor by council and in 1973 she was elected mayor by the public in a general election. She was re-elected in 1974 and 1976 but was defeated in the 1978 election by Al Gleeson, an instructor at Fanshawe College.
As mayor, Jane Bigelow advocated for accessible day care, better public transit with special fares for senior citizens, neighbourhood improvement schemes, funding for the arts, more parks and better city planning. She was criticized for being uninterested in development. During her mayoralty, London received a triple A rating from two independent American organizations. In her last years of office, she became interested in financial planning and tax reform for municipalities. She was actively involved in several joint municipal-provincial organizations and represented London's interests at both higher levels of government. In 1974, she was invited with six other Canadian mayors to visit Israel and in 1976, she was a representative to the Habitat Conference and the Conference of Mayors held in Milan.
Some of the major issues during her term as mayor included the Talbot Square development, the London Regional Art gallery, the restoration of the Middlesex Court House and the possibility of siting a prison in London.
She was elected to the Board of Control in 1980 but did not run in 1982. She was later employed by Employment and Immigration Canada. She was honoured with several awards and recognitions for her public service.

Person · 1923 - 2011

Born August 27, 1923. Died 2011. Daughter of George Frederick Kingsmill and Netta May (Nixon) Kingsmill. Sister of Doris (Kingsmill) Hoskins and Thomas Frederick Kingsmill. Married Corporal Thomas Buchanan Brandon (June 6, 1938 - December 20, 1965), RCAF on December 16, 1944 at Bellevue Park. Parents of one child, Netta Nixon Brandon.

Brown, Vesey Agmondisham
Person · 1824 - 1895

Dr. Vesey Agmondisham Brown was a physician and amateur artist. Brown was born in Limerick, Ireland on 3 June 1824, the third of six children, to John-Southwell Brown and Margaret-Anne Vesey. Brown attended the Medical School of Trinity College at the University of Dublin in 1844 before completing training at the Royal College of Surgeons in London, England in October, 1848. He was appointed to the British Army as Assistant Surgeon in 1849 and was attached to the reserve battalion of the Twenty-third Regiment of Foot (Royal Welsh Fusiliers), which was ordered to London, Ontario in May, 1850. He became licensed to practise “physic, surgery and midwifery” in the Province of Canada a year later.

When the Twenty-third Regiment moved to Toronto in May of 1852, Brown remained in London and served as the physician in charge of enrolled pensioners. By 1856 he was also serving as physician to the Great Western Railway Company. He married Mary Jane Massingberd, daughter of Anglican Reverend Hompesch (sometimes Edward) Massingberd in that same year. They resided on Kent Street. For the majority of his medical career he worked as a general practitioner and surgeon out of the family's London home. He was also a skilled amateur artist. Brown died in London on September 4, 1895 at the age of 71.

Bucke, Richard Maurice
Person · 1837-1902

One of seven children, Richard Maurice Bucke was born on March 18, 1837 at Methwold, Norfolk, England to parents Horatio Walpole Bucke and Clarissa Andrews Bucke. His parents emigrated to Canada in his first year and settled in London, Ontario. At 16 Bucke left home and moved to the United States, where he worked in several locations as a labourer. In 1856 Bucke travelled to the Sierra Nevada where he joined forces with the prospectors Allen and Hosea Grosh. Hosea died within the year of blood poisoning, and in 1857 Bucke and Allen Grosh were lost in a snowstorm. They went 5 days and 4 nights without food or fire, until they arrived at a small mining camp. Grosh died of exhaustion and exposure, while Bucke recovered, despite losing one foot and part of the other to severe frostbite.

Upon his return to Canada in 1858, Bucke enrolled at McGill University to study medicine. He graduated in 1862 with the distinction of being the gold medalist of his year and winning a prize for his thesis, "The Correlation of Vital and Physical Forces." After spending time in Europe for post-graduate studies he returned to Sarnia to take over his late brother's medical practice. He was summoned to California in 1864 to give evidence in the Comstock Lode Litigation before returning to Canada in 1865 where he married Jessie Maria Gurd and settled down to practice medicine in Sarnia for the following ten years. Bucke and his wife had 8 children: Clare Georgina (1866 - 1867), Maurice Andrews (1868 - 1899), Jessie Clare (1870 - 1943), William Augustus (1873 - 1933), Edward Pardee (1875 - 1913), Ina Matilda (1877 - 1968), Harold Langmuir (1879 - 1951) and Robert Walpole (1881 - 1923). His first born, Clare Georgina, died at 10 months old, and his eldest son, Maurice Andrews, was killed in an accident in 1899.

Bucke was appointed Medical Superintendent at the new mental hospital in Hamilton in 1876, and after a year he was transferred to the Ontario Hospital in London where he served for 25 years. Bucke read Walt Whitman's "Leaves of Grass" in 1867 and claimed it to be one of the most important events of his life. He travelled to New Jersey to meet Whitman in 1877 which marked the beginning of a long, close friendship between the two men. Upon Whitman's death in 1892, Bucke became one of his literary executors and was a pall bearer at his funeral.

Bucke was one of the first of his time to depart from orthodox therapeutics at the Asylum. By 1882 he had abolished the medicinal use of alcohol in the Asylum and by 1883 he had discontinued the use of physical restraints and initiated an open-door policy. He also pioneered many surgical "cures" for lunacy, including gynaecological surgery.

Bucke was an active writer, and his many noted works include several psychiatric papers, "Walt Whitman, a biography of the man," "Man's Moral Nature," and "Cosmic Consciousness," the last of which has been held in high esteem for many years and reprinted many times since its publication.

Bucke was one of the founders of the University of Western Ontario's Medical School and in 1882 was appointed Professor of Nervous and Mental Diseases, as well as elected Fellow of the Royal Society of Canada. Bucke delivered the opening academic lecture of the year at McGill University by request of the medical faculty in 1891. He became President of the Psychological Section of the British Medical Association in 1897, and the following year he was elected President of the American Medico-Psychological Association.

Bucke died suddenly after slipping on the veranda of his home and striking his head on February 19, 1902. He is buried in Mount Pleasant Cemetery, London, Ontario.

Cameron, Deane
Person · ca. 1954 - 2019

In 1977 Deane Cameron became a manager for talent acquisition at EMI Music Canada. Ten years later he became president of the company, a position he held until 2012. He was instrumental to the success of many Canadian artists, some of which include Tom Cochrane, Anne Murray, and Stompin' Tom Connors. In 2010 he was appointed to the Order of Canada and in 2011 he received the Walt Grealis Special Achievement Award at the Juno Awards. Cameron lobbied for anti-piracy and copyright policies on behalf of record labels and artists and participated in the development of the Canadian music education charity MusiCounts. He also served on various music industry executive committees’, such as the Board for Music Canada, the Canadian Academy of Recording Arts and Sciences, and the Canadian Country Music Association, among others. He was appointed as President and Chief Executive Officer of Massey Hall and Roy Thomson Hall, in Toronto, in 2015.

Carroll, Kenneth K.
Person · 1923 - 1998

Kenneth Kitchener Carroll was born on March 9, 1923 in Carroll's Crossing, New Brunswick to Mr. and Mrs. Lawrence Carroll. He graduated with first class honours in 1939 from Fredericton High School, and soon after enrolled at the University of New Brunswick. Carroll briefly served as a 2nd Lieutenant in the University of New Brunswick Contingent of the Canadian Officers Training Corps. He earned both a Bachelor of Science degree (1943) and a Master of Science degree (1946) at the University of New Brunswick, as well as a Master of Arts degree from the University of Toronto (1946). Carroll then moved to London, Ontario; after three years of study under the supervision of James Bertram Collip and Robert Laing Noble, Carroll earned the first Doctor of Philosophy ever conferred at the University of Western Ontario (in medical research).
In 1952, Carroll pursued post-doctoral studies the University of Cambridge, returning in 1954 to teach biochemistry at the University of Western Ontario. Upon his retirement in 1988, Carroll was named Professor Emeritus. Carroll continued to research after his retirement; he was instrumental in developing Western's Centre for Human Nutrition, and acted as its director from its opening in 1990 until his death.

Kenneth Carroll was elected as Fellow of the Chemical Institute of Canada, the American Institute of Nutrition, and the Royal Society of Canada. He was awarded the Earle Willard McHenry Award from the Canadian Society of Nutritional Sciences and the Lifetime Achievement Award from the Canadian Section of the American Oil Chemists' Society. In 1993, Carroll was awarded an honorary Doctor of Science from the University of New Brunswick.

On August 26, 1950, Kenneth Carroll married Margaret Eileen Ronson (b. 28 July 1923); the Carrolls had three children. Kenneth Carroll died on October 3, 1998; he is interred at London's Mount Pleasant Cemetery.

Cooper, Frank
Person · 1845-1914

Frank Cooper was a photographer working in London, Ontario, in 19th and early 20th century.

Davies, William
Person · 1831-1921

William Davies was born in Wallingford, England in 1831. When he was 12 years old, he left school to complete an apprenticeship in trade. In 1853, he married Emma Holtby. They immigrated to Toronto, Ontario, Canada in 1854 and had six children. In 1906, Emma died and he remarried Rosa Bessa Talbot in 1907.
William Davies began his business with a stall at the St. Lawrence Market in Toronto in 1854, where he sold cured hams and bacon. He realized that Canadian meats would sell well in England and wrote to his brother for support in starting a new venture. He convinced his brother of the quality of Canadian meats in 1860, stating, “I think you will say that the quality of the meat that I send you is as good as you ever saw.”
He then began his meatpacking business, William Davies Company, by renting a two-storey building at Front Street and Frederick Street in Toronto. Business expanded rapidly and he was able to grow his company with new buildings and products. In 1874, he built Canada’s first large-scale hog slaughtering facility in Toronto. He was also credited with the creation of peameal bacon. When sending pork shipments to England, he would pack them in ground yellow peas to preserve them, which was well-received and the product became very popular.
A pioneer in many ways, William Davies also built the first continuous hog-slaughtering facility in Canada. The millions of pigs that came through his facility helped Toronto earn its “Hogtown” nickname. In 1891, he was the first in Canada to install an artificial refrigeration unit. Eventually, the company also became one of the first Canadian food producers to establish its own retail and grocery stores. This venture was successful as they chose busy locations in Toronto where streetcar lines stopped, ensuring customers had easy access to their products. The William Davies Company was the largest meat packer in Canada, with some claims that it may have been the largest meat packer in the British Empire by the early 1900s.
In 1892, William Davies sold shares to Joseph Wesley Flavelle, another prominent businessman in Toronto. Flavelle took on a leadership and management role in the company, acting as president. The company now became the William Davies Company Limited. Flavelle was known for bringing new strategies and ideas to the company and boosting profits. Although William Davies did not always approve in the beginning, he often admitted the success of Flavelle’s ideas. Due to the success of the company, both Flavelle and Davies became millionaires.
The company continued to prosper throughout the First World War, but profits decreased due to price drops in the 1920s. This greatly effected the company and led to a merger with Canada Packers Limited in 1927. They eventually joined with Maple Leaf Mills, which became known as Maple Leaf Foods.
Williams Davies passed away in 1921. The original company buildings have been demolished or renovated, but a commemorative plaque was installed in 2012 at their old location in honour of William Davies’ legacy.

Durand, George F.
Person · 1850 - 1889

George F. Durand was born in 1850 to James Durand, a building and contracting business owner in London, Ontario. Noticing his son’s artistic ability, James Durand wrote to sculptor and drawing teacher J.R. Peel in 1964 arranging for his son to enroll at Peel’s school. In the late 1860s, Durand articled for architect William Robinson where he met his friend and future partner Thomas Tracy. After his apprenticeship, he was hired by Thomas Fuller to work on the New York State Capital building in Albany, New York. The project became embroiled in scandal when the cost of the building ballooned to well over the original projected cost. As a result of the controversy, Fuller was dismissed which led to Durand leaving the project as well. His experience in New York lasted from 1870 to 1876.
Durand returned to London and formed a partnership with Robinson and Tracy in 1878. In 1880, Robinson left and Tracy and Durand worked as partners. This partnership lasted until Tracy became city engineer and Durand then partnered with architect John M. Moore. In 1888, a legal dispute between Durand and Moore dissolved their partnership. In 1889, Durand began to take large lengths of time off work due to illness and on December 20th of that year he passed away.

Eisenhardt, Jan, 1906-2004
AFC 451 · Person · 1906-2004

Jan (Ian) Eisenhardt was born April 24th, 1906 in Hjørring, Denmark. After attending schools in Denmark and France, Eisenhardt received a scholarship to study at the University of British Columbia’s School of Commerce in 1928. From 1929-1930, Eisenhardt worked as a Playground Attendant for the City of Vancouver before returning to France to play professional football (soccer) for the Olympique de Marseille football club. In 1932, Eisenhardt returned to Vancouver and became the Playground Supervisor for Vancouver. In 1933, Eisenhardt became a Canadian citizen.

In 1934, as the Director of Physical Education for the Province of BC, Eisenhardt developed and led the Provincial Recreation program, popularly known as Pro Rec. In this role and as the Chairman of a federal committee on Youth Welfare, Eisenhardt developed recreation and fitness programs for the unemployed during the Depression. At the outbreak of World War II, Eisenhardt enlisted in the Canadian Army, rising to the rank of Major and becoming the director of the Canadian Army Sports Program in 1943. In 1944, he was named National Director of Physical Fitness for Canada and appointed chair of the National Council on Physical Fitness where he participated in drafting the National Physical Fitness Act. After the war, Eisenhardt became the Director of Staff Activities for the United Nations in New York in 1947 and was later assigned to UNESCO in Paris.

In February of 1950, Eisenhardt became the Supervisor of Physical Education and Recreation for the Indian Affairs branch of the Department of Citizenship and Immigration. In this role, he toured and drafted a physical education programme for residential schools and established the Tom Longboat Awards. By November of 1951, dissatisfied with the lack of support for the physical education program, Eisenhardt resigned from his position effective December 1951. In January 1952, shortly after beginning his job as the Director of Canadair Employees’ Recreation Association in Montreal, he was fired from this position after having allegedly been ‘blacklisted’ by the Canadian government. Eisenhardt later spent years working to clear his name and made a claim for compensation from the government.

In Quebec, Eisenhardt worked for the Community Club in La Tuque in 1953 and was hired by the Dominion Life Assurance Company in Montreal in 1954. Eisenhardt was active in the Danish community in Canada, serving as President of the Danish Club in Montreal from 1960-1965. In the 1970s, Eisenhardt worked as a lecturer of Scandinavian literature and Campus Administrator for John Abbott College where he organized tours of Denmark and East Germany for students. Eisenhardt continued to promote fitness and recreation initiatives, including crossing the Øresund Bridge from Denmark to Sweden in 2000 and Walk for Health, where he visited elementary schools to promote staying active. As a resident of Dorval, Eisenhardt ran for Alderman in 1992 and Mayor in 1998.

Later in life, Eisenhardt received many accolades for his contributions to sport and recreation in Canada including a Canadian Sports Lifetime Achievement Award, a Queen’s Jubilee Medal, and was a member of the Canadian Sports Hall of Fame and the Order of Canada. He received an honorary Doctorate of Laws from Malaspina University College (now Vancouver Island University) in 2004. Jan Eisenhardt married Barbara Ferdon in 1949 and had four children. Barbara died in 1995 and Jan Eisenhardt died on December 26, 2004 at the age of 98.

Ermatinger, Edward
Person

The Ermatinger family is well-known in the history of pre-Confederation Canada; members of several generations of the Ermatinger family were involved with the fur trade, and others achieved notoriety as politicians, lawyers, and public servants. The first Ermatinger known to have settled in North America was Lawrence Ermatinger (b. ca. 1736 in Schaffhausen, Switzerland), a merchant who settled in Montreal in the early 1760s. Ermatinger supplied goods to North American and British buyers, including fur traders and the British army. Lawrence Ermatinger married Jemima Oakes and had eight children. Two of the Ermatinger sons were particularly prominent in North America. Frederick William Ermatinger (1769-1827) served as Sheriff of Montreal and was one of the Bank of Montreal’s first directors. Charles Oakes Ermatinger (1776-1833) was a fur trader, initially working for the North West Company and then independently. Another Ermatinger son, Lawrence Edward Ermatinger, moved from Montreal to Italy, Spain, and England. Lawrence Edward Ermatinger is the father of Edward and Francis Ermatinger, brothers who came to North America as clerks for the Hudson’s Bay Company. Records from many members of the Ermatinger family survive in libraries and archives throughout Canada. The Ermatinger Old Stone House in Sault Ste. Marie, Ontario (built 1814) and the Francis Ermatinger House in Oregon City, Oregon (built 1845) are today museums dedicated to providing insight into North American pioneer life.

Evans, J.E.
Person · 1877-1958

John E. Evans was a postcard distributer and photographer (c1913-1954) and working from Port Rowan and Walsingham. In his business he went by J.E. Evans and also worked from 1935 to 1939 in joint venture as Evans & Bowman but ended in bankruptcy. His initial business was distributing lithograph postcards he had printed in Germany and continued this practice post World War 1 (mostly printed 1922-1935). He began taking photographs of communities or interesting sites so could produce photographic postcards and distribute for sale in those communities. He restarted the postcard business in 1941. He produced images of Ontario and other provinces.

John was born on September 1, 1877 in Cayuga, Haldimand County to John E. Evans and Sarah Michener. He resided for over 50 years in Walsingham, Norfolk County and retired in July 1954. He died on September 4, 1958. An employee, William "Duke" Vela, purchased the business and continued to run until his retirement in 1975.

Gale, Elizabeth
Person · c. 1801-

Elizabeth Gale was born c. 1801 in England. It is unknown when Gale immigrated to Canada. She settled in London, Ontario and worked as a milliner. In the 1883 City Directory, Gale’s residence and business are listed at 264 Dundas Street. Her business was categorized as millinery and fancy goods. On November 14, 1882, the county sheriff seized the inventory of stock of her business. Gale was accused of absconding debtors. On June 4, 1884, Elizabeth Gale did not appear at the Court of the County of Middlesex for her hearing. She was required to pay $248.57 plus $20.01 in taxes to John D. Ivey and Co. The inventory seized by the county sheriff was sold to pay this debt. In 1884, Gale is listed as a widow and a boarder with Alfrid Avery at 8 Horton Street.

Gillan, Charles H.
Person · 1911 - 1980

Charles Hansen Gillin was born in Winnipeg, Manitoba in February of 1911 to Hugh Clement Gillin and Margaret Hansen. After Hugh’s death, Margaret married Patrick J.Malloy. Gillin had one sister, Marnie Hubbs-Gillin; four half-brothers, Alexander Molloy, Patrick Malloy, Peter Malloy and John (Jack) Malloy and a foster brother, Gerald Giba. He attended Kelvin Technical High School in Winnipeg and later graduated with a Bachelor of Architecture from the University of Manitoba in 1936. Gillin began his career as an architect with Green, Blankstein, Russel and Ham and eventually moved to Ottawa where he met his wife Madeleine Belanger. In 1943 he joined the Royal Canadian Engineers and trained as an officer, but did not serve overseas. In 1946 he moved to London, Ontario and began working for the engineering firm, M.M. Dillon and Co. In 1948 he opened his own office, Charles H. Gillin Architect, BArch MRAIC, at 389 Queens Avenue in London. As an architect in London, Gillin worked on several projects for the Separate School Board taking a role in the design and building of many of London’s Catholic schools including Catholic Central High School. Gillin also designed private residences, including the heritage listed Ginsberg residence in London; public buildings, including the Southwest Middlesex Health Centre in Mount Brydges and the club house at the Highland Country Club in London. His advocacy of the contemporary modernist style of architecture can be seen in all of these projects. Gillin and his wife had five children and lived in a house on Cathcart Street in London, which Gillinde signed himself. He was a member of the Royal Architectural Institute of Canada, the Ontario Association of Architects and the London Society of Architects. Gillin was also a member of the Knights of Columbus and the Highland Golf Club. He died on September 23, 1980 at St. Joseph’s Hospital in London, Ontario.