Donald Roy Wiles (1924-2022), amateur linguist and chemistry professor, was born in Truro, Nova Scotia, Canada in August 1924 to Neil Douglas Wiles (1899-1983) and Hilda M. (Vaughan) Wiles (1896-1986). Educated in Amherst, then Mount Allison University in Sackville, New Brunswick he earned a Bachelor of Science degree 1946, and Bachelor of Education degree 1947. Before his career in chemistry took him to Norway, the United States, and Western Canada, he spent the summer of 1946 visiting his mother’s family in Martin’s Point, Lunenburg County. Both sides of the family could trace their roots back to the “Foreign Protestants” who first settled Lunenburg. While there he recorded the German language spoken by the elders of that community and wrote down some of the German customs persisting there. After earning his Ph.D. in nuclear chemistry from Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge, Massachusetts, United States in 1953, he worked at the University of British Columbia 1955-1959, then joined the Chemistry Department faculty at Carleton University, Ottawa, Ontario from 1959 until his retirement in September 1990. He continued teaching occasional courses in chemistry until just before his death on July 13, 2022 in Almonte, Ontario.
In 1822 certain inhabitants of Digby Township petitioned Governor Kempt to establish a separate township but no formal steps were taken until 10 April 1841 when a bill constituting the Township of Weymouth became law.-- Townships acquired some powers, such as the administration of poor relief, but most of the control of local affairs was under the Courts of General Sessions of the Peace. Townships were required to keep vital records of settling families, including records of town meetings, cattle marks, land records, and grant descriptions.
Walter Herbert Boutilier, prominent Halifax business man and amateur film maker, was born in Halifax, NS, Canada on January 27, 1889. Following graduation from the Maritime Business College, Boutilier was employed in various capacities by the Halifax Cold Storage Company, which became the National Fish Co., Ltd. following a takeover by North Atlantic Fisheries. Boutilier was appointed director of National Fish in 1920, and operations manager in 1929. In 1937, he became vice president of National Fish, a position he held until his death. In 1913, Walter Boutilier married Lilla Beatrice Roberts, also of Halifax. In 1938 Boutilier had a schooner built in Lunenburg for the "Lilla B. Ltd.", named "Lilla B. Boutilier". The couple had no children. An avid golfer, Boutilier was a member of the Ashburn, Gorsebrook, and Brightwood golf clubs. He was a Mason, a member of the Philae temple, the Lodge of Saint Mark, and St. Andrew's Chapter, as well as a member of the Commercial Club and the Halifax Club. Walter H. Boutilier died in Halifax NS on April 21, 1942 after a brief illness.
The Video Theatre Association officially opened in June 1974 as a non-profit organization composed of approximately 50 independent television producers, most in Nova Scotia. The idea for the Association started in the winter of 1973 when the Atlantic Region of the National Film Board partnered with Teled Video Services Association, a Halifax-based non-profit community media group, to set up and run a Video Theatre as a joint project.
Its objective was to promote the making of television programmes which, in craftsmanship and content, contribute to the cultural, educational, and artistic commonwealth of the people of the Maritime Region. Its main work was to provide technical assistance and practical opportunities for individual, independent video makers by making video recording equipment available for borrowing and providing training on their use. As young filmmakers and videographers created productions, a copy was deposited with the Association. They developed a catalog of the productions and offered a copying service to interested members of the public. Video material was also traded and exchanged with different regions and countries.
Some of the people who played key roles with the Video Theatre were Ralph Holt, Mike Coyle, Sheila MacKenzie, Barry Burley, Brian MacNevin and Harold Rennie.
When funding dried up, staffing the Video Theatre became impossible and it ceased operations in approximately 1984.
Thomas Mower Martin (1838-1934), artist, writer, and educator, was born in 1838 in London, England to Edward H. Martin and Susan Abernethy. He and his wife Emma Nichols (1842-1911) immigrated to Canada in 1862 and eventually settled in Toronto, Ontario where he earned a living as a full-time painter in oils and watercolors. He travelled across Canada from the east to the west coasts and in the United States. He was a founding member of several art schools in Canada and was a member of the Railway Painters. In 1907 he produced a major book, Canada, with text by Wilfred Campbell. He also illustrated J. T. Bealby's book Canada published in 1909. Thomas Mower Martin continued to paint until a few months before his death in 1934 in Toronto, at the age of 95.
The Scotian Railroad Society was established in March 1968 "to promote the rail[way] enthusiast's cause"; it was incorporated in July 1969 and dissolved in 1983. Its aims were to provide a social organization in which all railway enthusiasts might meet and enjoy the various aspects of their hobby; to research, compile and publish current and historical information about railway transportation in the Maritimes; to acquire, preserve and display railway artifacts and rolling stock which had particular significance to the region; and to promote public awareness of, and interest in railway transportation by means of events such as railway travel excursions. The Scotian Railway Society (SRS) also sponsored a short-lived railway express car museum near the Mumford Road railway crossing in the west end of the former city of Halifax.
Sarah Ann Donaldson was born in July of 1885 to Captain John Henry and Elizabeth Ellen (Hirtle) Donaldson. Captain Donaldson was posted at Life Saving Station 3 on Sable Island, Nova Scotia, where the family lived in the late 1890s and early 1900s. John and Elizabeth Donaldson had several other children, including Robert, George, Mabel and Helen (Polly), at least some of whom were born on Sable.
It was on Sable Island that Sarah met her husband Reuben Alexander Naugle (sometimes Alexander Reuben Naugle, b. September 1878). After being a labourer there for several years, he was appointed Keeper of Sable Island’s #2 Station in June of 1904. They married in October 1904 and started their family, later moving on to Sable Island’s Life Saving Station #3.
The 1921 Census of Sable Island showed Sarah and Reuben still on the Island, now with a family of six children: Reuben (b. 1906), Ernest (b. 1908), Lawrence Robert (b. 1910), Dorothy Mabel May (b. May 4th 1913), Willard (b. ca. 1918), and Clyde (b. ca. 1920). When they left Sable Island (around 1924), the family settled in Eastern Passage, Nova Scotia.
Reuben Alexander Naugle died in 1961, and Sarah Ann Naugle in 1963.
Captain William Ross arrived at Sherbrooke (now New Ross), Nova Scotia, on 7 August 1816. He was appointed deputy surveyor of lands in 1817 and in 1819 was granted a section of the Sherbrooke grant, which became known as New Ross. He held various offices and acted as chief administrative officer of the New Ross settlement until his death in 1822. He married Mary Williams and they had five children: Mary (born 30 September 1806 in Cork, Ireland), William Henry (born 12 December 1810 at Fort Amsterdam, South Armenia), Edward Irlam (born 3 January 1813 in Sunderland, England), George Lockhart (born 9 September 1815 at Fort Coteau de Lock, Canada), and Charles Henry Lawson (born 2 February 1818 in Sherbrooke). The family home in New Ross was known as "Rosebank". Edward Ross assisted his brother George with the family farm and operated a small store. He was appointed justice of the peace in 1838. He died in New Ross in 1894.
Rosemary MacAulay, visual artist, was born in Halifax, Nova Scotia in 1935. She was educated at Dalhousie University and the University of King’s College, earning a Bachelor of Arts in 1956 and a Bachelor of Science in 1958. In 1982 she obtained a Bachelor of Fine Arts from the Nova Scotia College of Art and Design (NSCAD), all in Halifax. Subsequently, she worked as an instructor in the Continuing Education Department at NSCAD 1986-1993 and at the Art Gallery of Nova Scotia 1990. She served on the executive of Canadian Artists’ Representation / Le Front des artistes canadiens (CARFAC) Maritimes 1985-1990, co-chaired the NS Printmakers Association in 1990 and the NS Women Artists’ Network 1990-1992. She is a member of Visual Arts NS and facilitator for Tantramar Seniors’ College in 2012. She mounted solo exhibitions of her work from 1997 to 2017, and participated in group exhibitions/visual screenings from 1975 to 2011.
Roger Belanger, photographer and film maker, was born in Nouvelle, Quebec, Canada in 1935. He joined the Royal Canadian Air Force (RCAF) as a photographer and was posted in Europe until 1960, when he was transferred to R.C.A.F. base Greenwood, Nova Scotia, Canada. In 1965 Belanger retired from the R.C.A.F. to join the Photographic Division of the Bedford Institute of Oceanography in Halifax NS. During his time at the Bedford Institute Belanger did some film work, in addition to his work as a photographer. He worked on several documentary productions, including "Hudson '70" (co-production with the National Film Board of Canada) and a Canadian Broadcasting Corporation documentary about a hydrographic survey expedition to the Canadian Arctic. Belanger became involved with the Nova Iceboat Club, founded by Richard Vine, one of Belanger's friends during his time in Halifax NS. Roger Belanger retired from the Bedford Institute of Oceanography in 1991. His death date is unknown.