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People and organizations
Person · 1879-1970

Flora McCrea Eaton was a nurse in Toronto when she met her future husband, John Craig Eaton. In 1915 at the knighting of John Craig Eaton, she became Lady Eaton.

Flora McCrea Eaton was born in Omemee, Ontario to a middle-class protestant family of Irish descent. At the age of eighteen, Flora McCrea moved to Toronto to train as a nurse. In 1900, while working at Rotherham House on Isabella Street, Flora McCrea met patient John Craig Eaton.

The couple married in Omemee, Ontario in May 1901. Flora gave birth to five children: Timothy Craig; John David; Edgar Allison; Gilbert McCrae; and Florence Mary. The couple also adopted a girl named Evlyn.

John Craig Eaton died in 1922 at the age of 46. Flora McCrea Eaton raised the six Eaton children and held the Eaton vice-presidency until 1942 when her son, John David Eaton, became president.

As a member of Eaton's executive, Lady Eaton specifically influenced the style and menus for Eaton's restaurants. In addition, she regularly hired women as managers of the restaurants in an era where women's employment options were limited to more traditional choices.

Lady Eaton died at the age of 91 in 1970. An elementary school in Omemee, Ontario is named in her honour.

Person · 1875-1964

Dr. Clara Cynthia Benson (1875-1964), a professor of chemistry at the University of Toronto, was the daughter of Thomas Moore Benson and his second wife, Laura A. (Fuller) Benson.

Dr. Benson was the first woman to obtain a B.A. in chemistry from the University of Toronto in 1899, and was one of the first two women to earn a Ph.D. from the University of Toronto in 1903. She joined the faculty of the Lillian Massey School of Domestic Science, and in 1906, she was appointed Associate Professor in the Faculty of Household Science, with a specialization in food chemistry. In 1926, she became a full professor and head of the Department of Food Chemistry, and continued working in the department until her retirement as Professor Emeritus in 1945. A number of honours have been associated with her name, including the naming of the Benson Building (1959) and the Clara C. Benson scholarship (1950) at the University of Toronto, and the Clara Benson Award (1992) of the Canadian Society for Chemistry.

In addition to her professional activities, Benson became first president of the Women's Athletic Association at the University of Toronto in 1921, and also served on the national board of the YWCA.

Person · 1839-1895

Donald George Sutherland (1839-1895) was a lawyer and Methodist clergyman who married James Aikins' daughter, Helena Aikins.

Donald George Sutherland was born in Toronto and was educated at local schools in Hamilton and at Victoria University. After obtaining his B.A. in 1859, he began to study law in the office of Judge O'Reilly of Hamilton. He was admitted to the bar in 1862, and practised law for one year. He then gave up the legal profession to become a probationer in the Wesleyan Methodist Church. After his ordination in 1868, Sutherland held pastoral charges in several Ontario centres. He also occupied several church office, including secretary of the London Conference of 1883-4, and member of the General Conferences of 1878 and 1882-3. He continued his studies, and received an M.A. from the University of Victoria in 1869, and an LL.B. degree from the University of Toronto in 1873. He was also an ensign in the 8th Battalion of the Wentworth Regiment. In 1872 he married Helena Aikins, the daughter of James Cox Aikins. By the time of his death in 1895, he was a member of both the Board of Regents and the Senate of Victoria University.

Corporate body · 1911-

Women's College Hospital, located in downtown Toronto, was the first hospital in Canada to offer affordable medical care exclusively to women, by women physicians.

Women's College Hospital grew out of the Woman's Medical College. Established in 1883 by Dr. Emily Stowe, Women's Medical College offered medical education to women. In 1894, Woman's Medical College amalgamated with Kingston Women's Medical College and changed its name to the Ontario Medical College for Women. In order for students to gain practical clinical experience, a clinic called the Dispensary was opened on Sackville Street in 1898.

When the University of Toronto began admitting women to its Faculty of Medicine in 1905, the Ontario Medical College for Women closed its doors. However, the Dispensary remained open, offering medical service from women physicians to women who did not otherwise have access to affordable health care. In 1908, the Dispensary moved to the corner of Parliament and Queen and operated as an out-patient clinic.

In 1909, a group of prominent women in Toronto formed the Women's College Hospital Committee. The committee decided that a hospital must be built and they arranged for the amalgamation with the Dispensary. The new hospital opened at 18 Seaton Street in 1911. In 1913, the hospital was officially incorporated and named the Women's College Hospital and Dispensary. The name was changed to Women's College Hospital in 1924.

In 1915, the Women's College Hospital moved to 125 Rusholme Road. The Rusholme hospital had nine wards and a four-room dispensary, and could accommodate twenty-five adult beds and 10 infant cots. In 1935, Women's College Hospital moved again, this time into its current location at 76 Grenville Street.

Women's College Hospital is fully affiliated with the University of Toronto: the hospital was granted status as a university teaching hospital in 1961. Full accreditation as a general hospital was also granted in 1961.

Women's College Hospital is well-known for its numerous "firsts" in the field of women's health. These firsts include the Cancer Detection Clinic, which opened in 1948 – at the time, screening healthy women for cancer was unheard of. In 1963, Women's College Hospital also became the first hospital in Ontario to use mammography to screen for breast cancer. Other firsts include: the first Perinatal Intensive Care Unit in Canada, opened in 1971; the Bay Centre for Birth Control, the first hospital-supported walk-in centre, opened in 1973; the Psoriasis Education and Research Centre, the first centre in Canada to place emphasis on self-care treatment, opened in 1976; the first regional Sexual Assault Care Centre in Ontario, opened in 1984; and the Brief Psychotherapy Centre for Women, the first hospital-based therapy program in Canada, opened in 1987.

In June 1998, Women's College Hospital amalgamated with Sunnybrook Health Sciences Centre to form Sunnybrook and Women's College Health Sciences Centre. In 1999, the Women's College Hospital was renamed the Women's College Ambulatory Care Centre through a joint agreement between Women's College and Sunnybrook.

On April 1, 2006, Women's College Hospital and Sunnybrook Health Sciences Centre de-amalgamated and began operating independently under the Public Hospitals Act.

In 2010, Women's College Hospital began construction on a new state-of-the-art building. The new building was completed in 2015.

Throughout its history, Women's College Hospital has maintained a focus on women's health-care needs. In 1995, Women's College Hospital was designated as a national historic site by Parks Canada, as a site of national importance in women's history. Today, Women's College Hospital is the first and only independent ambulatory care hospital in Ontario, and the only hospital in Ontario with a primary focus on women's health.

Wellesley Central Hospital
Corporate body · 1911-

Wellesley Central Hospital operated as a public facility from 1996 as a result of the merger of Wellesley Hospital and Central Hospital until it was mandated by the government to merge with St. Michael's Hospital in 1998 through the provincial restructuring of the health care system. Prior to 1996, Wellesley Hospital functioned as a public facility from 1942 and a private hospital from 1911.

Wellesley Hospital, the predecessor of Wellesley Central Hospital, was founded as a private hospital in 1911. It was situated on the corner of Wellesley and Homewood Avenue with 72 beds for patients who came primarily from Rosedale and who were accustomed to meals being served on china imported from Limoges, France, and silver cutlery from England. It evolved into a large public health care institution serving not only Rosedale but also the large urban neighbourhood surrounding the hospital and from across Ontario. By 1942 Wellesley Hospital had become a public facility. It opened Toronto's first postoperative case unit in 1955 and established Canada's first Rheumatic Disease Unit, the forerunner to the Canadian Arthritis Society, in 1960.

Wellesley Hospital opened the St. James Town Health Centre in 1973 and founded the Wellesley Hospital Research Institute in 1980, known best for its work in arthritis and musculoskeletal diseases, minimally invasive day surgery and diseases of the immune system. Wellesley Hospital was affiliated with the University of Toronto as a teaching hospital providing education programs for the study of medicine and promoting medical research. In 1984, it opened the Ross Tilley Burn Centre, southern Ontario's regional burn centre for adults with round the clock treatment methods. Two specialty intestinal units were functioning in 1985 and Ontario's only adult Cystic Fibrosis Program in 1992 with a new Health Centre for family and community medicine, a Maternity centre, and a new Mental Health Services in 1994.

Wellesley Hospital attempted mergers with other hospitals in an effort to unite certain programs and services. They came into discussions for a potential merger with Sunnybrook Hospital in the early 1980's that would have potentially relocated Wellesley Hospital to the Bayview site with its university association with the Medical / Health Science Centre, but this merger was unsuccessful. They then approached Central Hospital and a merger with Central Hospital was approved by the Ministry of Health on February 2, 1996. As a result two established hospitals were brought together and provided better services to a greater community.

Central Hospital was founded in 1957 by the doctor-brother team of Paul and John Rekai as a private hospital functioning with quality interpreters able to provide culturally sensitive translations in an environment based on multilingual, multicultural services. The hospital initially occupied the old residence of the Canadian National Institute for the Blind at 331 Sherbourne Street, Toronto. It opened new facilities in 1969 and with a major expansion in 1975 initiated a fully integrated Central Clinic with the hospital to provide total health care services to the community, operated by the Central Hospital Foundation. In 1988, Central Hospital opened the Drs. Paul and John Rekai Centre (aka Rekai Centre) serving as a first multilingual, multicultural, non-profit, nursing home in Canada and the first hospital affiliated nursing home in the City of Toronto.

A Health Services Restructuring Commission was appointed in 1996 by the government to change Ontario's health care by imposing a large-scale restructuring. The process involved at least 36 hospitals scheduled for closure or change in governance over a period of 4 years. As a result a number of hospitals were to be closed. Wellesley challenged and opposed the hospital restructuring both in local campaigns and in the courts, in order to remain an operating hospital. It initiated the “Staying Alive” campaign in this challenge. During this period, Wellesley Central Hospital also initiated discussions with Women's College Hospital in an alliance to save both hospitals from closing. Eventually the Health Services Restructuring Commission ordered the complete take over of the entire operation and management of Wellesley Central by St. Michael's Hospital in 1998 along with the bulk of its programs. Its Arthritis & Autoimmunity Research Centre was transferred to the University Health Network. After the hospital building was closed, the hospital corporation became the Wellesley Central Health Corporation (later known as the Wellesley Institute), which lists as its objectives "four strategic directions; development of the Wellesley Hospital lands, community based research and grants, capacity building through extensive training workshops and coalition development, and framing the urban health agenda through public policy."

Moriyama, Raymond, 1929-
Person · 1929-

Raymond Moriyama is a contemporary Canadian architect (b. at Vancouver 11 Oct 1929), who established an architectural practice in Toronto in May 1958.

Person · 1899-1971

Verschoyle Benson Blake (1899-1971) worked as an historian with the government of Ontario and was a founding member of the Architectural Consevancy of Ontario.

Williams (family)
Family

The Williams family were involved in the military, land speculation, farming, and politics during the nineteenth century. John Tucker Williams (d. 1854) was a former Royal Navy Lieutenant who arrived at York (Toronto) about 1818 and became a land speculator, M.L.A. and gentleman farmer at Port Hope, Ontario. Arthur T. H. Williams (1837-1885) was a gentleman farmer, Alberta land speculator, Lieutenant-Colonel of Militia, and Member of the House of Commons during the nineteenth century. Henry Alfred Ward (1849-1934) was a lawyer, politician, and judge based in Port Hope, Ontario during the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries.

Corporate body · 1881-ca. 1910

Trent Valley Woollen Manufacturing Company operated a woolen mill on the Trent River in Campbellford, Ontario from about 1881 to about 1910.

The company was operated by Gault Brothers and Company of Montreal. After an older existing mill was destroyed by fire, the Campbellford village council arranged to pay Gault Brothers $1000 a year for ten years in exchange for building a new woolen mill and employing 100 people.

The two invoice books of the company for 1881 to 1892 contain invoices addressed to Trent Valley Woollen Manufacturing Company and to Campbellford Woollen Mills Company. Campbellford Woollen Mills Company was probably established in 1887 and was also operated by Gault Brothers and Company.

Person · 1842-1903

Edward Wilkes Rathbun was the son of Hastings County lumber entrepreneur Hugo B. Rathbun. He became General Manager of his father's Rathbun Industries around 1862. He was also the Vice President of the Boiler Inspection and Insurance Company of Canada.

Birmingham, Robert, b. 1852
Person · 1852-[ca. 1910]

Robert Birmingham (1852-ca. 1910) was a Conservative Party official and active in the Grand Orange Lodge of Ontario West.

Robert Birmingham was born in Ireland in 1852, and emigrated to Canada about 1870. He became a Conservative Party organizer in Toronto, rising to Secretary of the Conservative Party. He was also very active in the Grand Orange Lodge of Ontario West and held various positions, including Secretary of the Grand Orange Lodge of Ontario West in 1884. Birmingham favoured "very strongly the perpetuation of the connection between Canada and the Mother Country." His son, A.H. Birmingham, similarly wielded influence in the Conservative Party and the Grand Orange Lodge. Robert Birmingham died between 1910 and 1913.

MacLaren Advertising Company
Corporate body · 1922-

The MacLaren Advertising Company was an outgrowth of an earlier advertising company, Campbell-Ewald Advertising. John A. MacLaren was first associated with it in 1922, named it MacLaren Advertising in 1935, and developed it into an international advertising business that is still in operation.

MacLaren Advertising clients included General Motors, General Electric, Imperial Oil Canada, Canada Packers, and the Government of Canada. It established the first radio department in any Canadian advertising agency and through a deal negotiated with Conn Smythe, John MacLaren secured the advertising rights to the radio and television broadcasts of Hockey Night in Canada, by Foster Hewitt. By 1948, MacLaren was first to advertise its corporate clients on television featuring celebrities and well-known jingles.

John MacLaren, a journalist and newspaper reporter, joined Campbell-Ewald Advertising in 1922 as General Manager of the Toronto office. He became Vice-President and General Manager in 1926 and President and Managing Director in 1930, changing the name to MacLaren Advertising in 1935 with the head office in Toronto and offices throughout Canada and England. Although John MacLaren died in Florida in 1955, the Canadian firm continued to develop and in 1967 it became MacLaren International. By 1979, MacLaren Advertising International was a member of Intermart Inc., a holding company. Through mergers and acquisitions, MacLaren joined Lintas Canada in 1988 and McCann Canada in 1995 to become MacLaren McCann Canada, Inc., a Canadian-based international advertising firm that is owned and controlled by an American company.

MacLaren Advertising has won numerous awards.

Lenscape Incorporated
Corporate body · 1981-

Lenscape Incorporated is a photography firm based in Toronto that provides photography and presentation services to architectural firms and construction companies.

Lenscape Incorporated was founded in 1981 by two photographers, Elizabeth Jones and Pedro Ho, with the intention to provide photography and presentation services to architectural firms and construction companies. From the very beginning, Lenscape established their own photography lab to ensure the final look of their images. Throughout the 1980s, the company grew to become the largest purely architectural business of its kind in Canada. In 1982, Lenscape purchased the commercial property at 645 King Street East in Toronto as a studio and photography lab. By 1986, they relocated to a larger space at 222 Eastern Avenue to accommodate the growth in their company. Although based in Toronto, Lenscape documented additional project sites in Ontario, throughout Canada, and globally.

The 1990s witnessed the proliferation of digital photography and Lenscape responded by switching their focus from print to digital images. These changes precipitated a steady decrease in staff until 2001, when the co-founders split. Pedro Ho left the company to pursue digital printing while Elizabeth Jones continued Lenscape and focused on print-based images. Lenscape remained committed to film until 2006, when client demands for digital images dictated the total adoption of digital photography.

Some of the more prominent architectural and construction projects photographed by Lenscape include: the SkyDome in Toronto; the Metro Toronto Convention Centre, and the Bay Adelaide Centre in Toronto.

Truman, Ron, 1944-
Person · 1944-

Ron Truman is a retired freelance journalist, photographer, speech writer, technical writer and communications consultant based in eastern Ontario.

Ron Truman was born in Belleville, Ontario, on December 24, 1944. He grew up in Trenton, Ontario, St. Thomas, Ontario, Alberta and Texas. Mr. Truman attended Carleton University where he received a Bachelor of Arts in 1966 and a Master of Arts in 1968.

Truman worked for The Globe and Mail newspaper as a freelance journalist and photographer between 1976 and 1983. He contributed 530 feature articles and 500 photographs to The Globe and Mail. From 1978 to 1992, he contributed 12 articles to Landmarks: Ontario's Natural Resources Magazine. Truman used the pseudonym Russell V. Franklin when more than one of his stories appeared in an issue of Landmarks. He also worked for the Ministry of Natural Resources in photographing the Ministry's Moose and Deer Hide Program in 1986. Throughout his time at The Globe and Mail and the Ministry of Natural Resources, Truman's journalism and photography focused on the subjects of adventure, outdoor life, science, sports and recreation.

In addition to his career as a freelance journalist and photographer, Truman has worked in the field of communications for several private companies including the Heart and Stroke Foundation of Ontario, Nortel and the Fur Institute of Canada.

Furthermore, Truman has worked as a speech writer and crisis communications consultant for several Ontario government ministries and agencies including the Ministry of Energy, Ontario Hydro, the Solicitor General and the Ministry of Tourism, Culture and Recreation.

Corporate body · 1993-2005

Russian Orthodox Immigrant Services of Canada (ROIS) was a charitable organization established in 1993. ROIS' primary objective was to assist newly arrived Russian-speaking immigrants and refugees in settling and acclimating to life in Canada.

Founded by Father Vladimir Malchenko and a group of parishioners from the Holy Trinity Russian Orthodox Church (23 Henry Street, Toronto), the ROIS provided services including counselling, guidance, training, education, temporary shelter, food, clothing, employment assistance, financial assistance, translation services and government mediation services to new Canadians from the former Soviet Union in order to facilitate their integration into Canadian society and to ensure the welfare of these new citizens.

ROIS was founded at a unique time in world history. The dissolution of the Soviet Union in December of 1991 sparked the largest wave of immigration of Russian people to Canada since the Second World War. From 1991 to 1999, over 50,000 Russian people immigrated to Canada. Of this number, more than 30,000 settled in Ontario, including 9,000 within the Greater Toronto Area (GTA).

During its first five years of operation, ROIS assisted over 300 families from the former Soviet Union: from Russia, the Ukraine, Belarus, Latvia, Estonia, Moldova, Georgia, Uzbekistan, Kazakhstan, as well as Israel and the United States. Approximately 40% were baptized Orthodox Christians, while the remaining 60% had other religious affiliations, including Judaism and Islam.

In 1999, ROIS received charitable status and established a family counselling service to assist new families in the course of their integration, as well as a volunteer-run telephone information service to assist individuals with a variety of settlement issues.

As the need for its services diminished, ROIS ceased functioning in 2005.

Person · d. 1854

John Tucker Williams (d. 1854) was a former Royal Navy Lieutenant who arrived at York (Toronto) about 1818 and became a land speculator, M.L.A. and gentleman farmer at Port Hope, Ontario.

John Tucker Williams arrived at York about 1818 as a Lieutenant on half pay from the Royal Navy. By October, 1821 he had moved to Port Hope and had begun accumulating land. In March of 1837 he purchased 4100 acres in the Newcastle District from the Canada Company. In July of 1845 he took full ownership of 3220 acres in three counties. He bought land from the Canada Company, at Sherriff's auctions, and from widows and daughters of Loyalists to whom free grants had been given by the Crown. In August of 1823 he bought land from John and Ann Spooner on which he built his estate, Penryn Park, then adjoining the western side of Port Hope. About 1835 he married Sarah Spradbrown Ward, daughter of Thomas Ward, County Registrar. He was also a member of the Legislative Assembly from 1840 to 1848.

Children of John Tucker Williams and Sarah Spradbrown (Ward) Williams were: Arthur Trefusis Heneage Williams (1837-1885) (see separate entry), Charles Hervey Aston Williams (born ca. 1844), who was in partnership with his brother Arthur in the development of Fraserville; Emma Alicia Williams (born ca. 1850); Charlotte Elizabeth; Henry Jocelyn Brinley Williams (d. 1904) lived in Canandaigua New York and was considered to be of unsound mind; Mary Eliza Sophia Williams; Amelia Louise Lavinia Williams (d. 1862); and Augusta Matilda Seraphina Williams.

Person · 1849-1934

Henry Alfred Ward (1849-1934) was a lawyer, politician, and judge based in Port Hope, Ontario during the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries.

He was a grandson of Thomas Ward and a cousin of Arthur T.H. Williams. He studied law and carried on a legal practice in Port Hope. He succeeded his cousin Arthur as representative for East Durham in the House of Commons after Arthur's death in 1885 and sat until 1891, and again from 1900-1908. In 1885, 1894, and 1895 he was Mayor of Port Hope, and was County Judge for Northumberland and Durham from 1914 to 1924. He handled most of the estate matters for the Williams family, and was also involved with his cousin in law John Ogilive (husband of Mary Eliza Sophia Williams) in the Touchwood Qu'Appelle Land and Colonization Company which received patents for 37.75 sections of land in Saskatchewan.

Person · 1837-1885

Arthur T. H. Williams (1837-1885) was a gentleman farmer, Alberta land speculator, Lieutenant-Colonel of Militia, and Member of the House of Commons during the nineteenth century.

He was the eldest son of John Tucker Williams, was born in Port Hope and was educated at Upper Canada College, Toronto, and at Edinburgh University. He returned to Canada and became a gentleman farmer, taking over Penryn Park after his father's death. He represented East Durham in the Ontario Legislature from 1867 to 1875, and in the House of Commons from 1878 to 1885. By the time of the outbreak of the 1885 Riel Rebellion, Williams had bought eight sections of land in Southern Manitoba from the Canadian Pacific Railway. He joined the military force that was sent by Ontario to put down the uprising, as commander of the 46th (Midland) Battalion of volunteer militia from Port Hope. A few weeks after the battle at Batoche, when returning from a pursuit mission, he became ill and died on the steamer Northcote, near Fort Pitt.

Beer, Frank, 1864-1949
Person · 1864-1949

George Frank Beer (1864-1949) was an urban reformer, and a trade and unemployment expert in Toronto in the first half of the twentieth century.

He was born in Badeque, Prince Edward Island, where he received his formal education and joined the family business, Beer Bros. In 1900 he moved to Toronto and was the treasurer of the Ellipse Whitewear Company. About 1912, Beer joined the urban reform movement, becoming involved in many private and government sponsored projects for urban development. He was the first President of the Toronto Housing Company (a private concern with government backing), and planned the construction of tenement units for the amelioration of living conditions for the poor. He was also made a member of a committee appointed by Clifford Sifton's Conservation Commission to draft a Model City Planning Bill for Canada. In addition, he was involved in G.H. Gooderham's committee for building a Toronto-Hamilton highway, which was completed in 1917. Beer was an active member of the Canadian Manufacturers Association (acting as chairman, 1911-1912), the Canadian Political Science Association and, as an imperialist and free-trader, was a signatory to the Round Table Memorandum and a staunch advocate of an Empire organization for intra-Empire and world trade.

Person · fl. 1875-1879

James Langton (fl. 1875-1879) was a merchant in Minden, Ontario in the nineteenth century and filed for bankruptcy circa 1875.