Just reminding our readers that there is a Facebook page dedicated to this blog so you can stay in touch with what I am researching and learning. I add lots of little facts and tidbits there, pose questions and seek input. Follow the Beyond the Names Facebook page to really know what I am discovering, with the help of the rest of the family.
Take a moment to click on the Google+ gadget on the blog so we can increase the readership. Reaching more relatives is the best way to learn about us.
Do you have any other suggestions about how we can reach more readers? Let me know.
Wednesday, 25 March 2015
Sunday, 22 March 2015
Wedding Bells for the Allisons and Haywards
Part Four of the Four
Part Series on the Merchants: Allisons and Haywards
 |
| Norma Grace Hayward looking beautiful in her spectacular gown |
When I was very young, I used to travel with my parents and
brothers to see my grand-parents Joseph and Norma Allison at their house in Rothesay,
New Brunswick. We were always guaranteed
a pleasant visit, with lots of space to play out of doors, some lovely dog
companions, and the company of my delightful grand-parents. I loved them and have the fondest childhood
memories of our visits. Later, when I
went to university at Mount Allison, I stayed with my grand-parents during
holidays and long weekends. Norma would
pick me up at the train station, and I would spend a quiet time studying and
visiting, and eating lots of pie and ice-cream.
With memories like these, I could never have imagined that
Norma and Joseph Allison were the centre of attention at the largest social
event of the year 1935 in Saint John, New Brunswick.
 |
| Joseph Ringen Allison |
Joseph Ringen Allison, second child of Walter Cushing
Allison and his only son, was named after a long line of Allisons, as far back
as the 17th century. His
middle name was his birth mother’s maiden name:
Hattie Belle Ringen died shortly after giving birth to Joseph.
Norma Grace Hayward was one of four daughters of William
Henry Hayward and his wife Alice Pearl McDiarmid.
I would imagine that, coming from two of the more
illustrious families in Saint John, they must have known one another at society
functions, even if in a peripheral way. Romance
didn’t bloom for them though until they met while boarding at Mount Allison
University in Sackville, New Brunswick.
When Norma and Joseph attended Mount Allison, it would have
likely been in the late 20s or early 30s (an inquiry at the school didn’t turn
up any records yet). At that time, Mount
Allison still had a Ladies College (a finishing school of sorts). The school was founded by a not very distant
relation, Charles Frederick Allison, so it would have stood to reason that my
grand-father would have attended there as a matter of family tradition.
While Mount Allison is widely known as the first educational
institution in Canada to grant a degree to a woman (in 1875 to Grace Annie
Lockhart), the Ladies College started as more of a finishing school, and in the
early 1900s was expanding its womens’ studies to include more “household
sciences” in order to prepare women for their domestic roles. When Norma attended, she was almost certainly
there for the purposes of inter-mingling with other members of the well-to-do
of Maritime society, and learning what it took to be a proper lady (my mother
tells me that Norma never talked about anything she learned at the college, so
academic pursuits were likely not her focus, and she was not granted a degree
of any kind).
There were two other aspects to Mount Allison: the College, which could grant degrees, and
the Boys’ Academy, which closed in 1953.
Degree granting areas of study by 1920 included Arts, Theology and
Engineering. It is pretty clear, though,
that my grand-father Joseph was not the studious type. As an Allison, it was likely expected that he
would spend some time at Mount Allison University mingling with others of his
age and class. Whatever time he spent
there, he did not receive any academic accreditation that anyone in the family
or at the University itself could find.
The one thing that Norma and Joseph did achieve during their
time at Mount A was to meet and fall in love.
They planned their wedding for the 1st of June 1935, and it
would be the social event of the year!
 |
| Centenary United |
The wedding took place in the Centenary United Church in
Saint John: a spectacular Gothic church built in 1879. It was reported that the
wedding would bring together “two of the oldest and most widely known of Saint
John’s mercantile establishments.” Joseph
and Norma were also, apparently, popular members of the “younger social set” of
Saint John. There is no doubt then, that
with history and popularity on their side, the wedding would attract
significant attention. Two pages of the
city’s newspaper were dedicated to a detailed report on the wedding –
everything from the décor to the dresses.
Here is a snapshot of the day my grand-parents wed “in fashionable
Saturday afternoon nuptials.” |
| The bridesmaids |
The pews were adorned with white chiffon ribbons, and the church
decorated with the blossoms of cherry and apple, with tall snapdragons
contrasted with ferns. Leading British
fashion designer of the early 1900s Edward Henry Molyneaux was responsible for
the design of Norma’s ivory satin dress with a long widening train. The veil was of ivory tulle caught at the
sides with knots of orange blossoms.
Norma held a bouquet of roses and lilies of the valley. The bridesmaids, sisters Margaret and Ruth
Hayward, and friend Mavis Peat were similarly dressed in classical style with Lanvin
gowns (as I know next to nothing about fashion, I will reproduce the
descriptions of these gowns and other attire in full as a supplement to this
blog).
Joseph was accompanied by his groomsman Reginald Arnold of
Truro. His ushers were James V. Russell
(his brother in law), William Hayward (brother of the bride), and friends Pat
McAvity and Clifford Sancton.
While Norma, accompanied by her father, made her way down
the long aisle, Lohengrin’s bridal chorus was played by Mrs. T.J. Gunn, church
organist. During the signing of the
wedding register, Miss Virginia Spangler sang “very sweetly” the song "Because",
a 1902 composition by Guy d’Hardelot with lyrics by Edward Teschemacher.
 |
| Bride and groom as reported in the newspaper |
The reception was held at the Haywards, where guests were met
with decorations of sweet peas and snapdragons.
It was a traditional affair with toasts by local men of importance, a
tasteful celebration and a farewell to the newly married couple as they left on
a tour of some American cities, starting in Boston and New York. Even the bride’s travelling attire was
reported on by the newspaper, Norma being dressed in an “ensemble of beige
imported French wool and linen tweed” (again, a full description will be
transcribed for those who would appreciate this).
When they returned, the newly married couple would reside on
Duke Street and Joseph would resume his work as a buyer for Manchester,
Robertson and Allison. They would have
four children, and twelve grand-children, and they would know them all. Many of us enjoyed long stays with Norma and
Joseph, their dogs and their comfortable life in Rothesay.
 |
| It's official! |
Sources
Various census and marriage documents
Newspaper article on the wedding from Joseph Allison’s
scrapbook
https://cqsunited.wordpress.com/our-story/
Sunday, 15 March 2015
Introducing Skippy the Cat
My Uncle Bill Allison uncovered a photo of the famous and brave Skippy the cat. You may remember Skippy from an earlier post about the fire at Woodside. This photo was taken by my great-grandmother Frances Allison (second wife of Walter). On the back she writes:
Meet Skippy, the bravest cat (that we know of) in the Allison clan.
“Skippy” our cat wakened Rebecca & saved her life & was the means of saving the few things they got out of Woodside. He was presented with an engraved collar by Animal Rescue League & Silver Bowl by the Mayor of the City of Saint John. First cat ever to receive such honor.I am a cat person myself, and it is satisfying to know that my love for the feline is consistent with my ancestors' fondness for the creature.
Meet Skippy, the bravest cat (that we know of) in the Allison clan.
Monday, 2 March 2015
Two Fine Family Saint John Business Establishments
Part Three in a Four Part Series on the Merchants: Allisons and Haywards
 |
| Saint John's bustling market |
I have the good fortune of
being directly related to individuals who founded thriving businesses in Saint
John, New Brunswick. I have written
about how the Haywards and the Allisons, through very different avenues, became
successful merchants. In the Haywards’
case, it was my third great-grandfather, William Henry, who started in the mercantile
business, while in the Allison case, my second great-grandfather, Joseph
Allison, got things going for the family in Saint John.
The Haywards – Hayward and Warwick
 |
| Princess Street exterior 1890 |
In Part One of this series, I ended with
William Henry Hayward (1829-1898) setting up shop at 85 Princess Street with
his brother in law William Warwick in 1855.
At the time, trade was done by
stagecoach and ship, and Saint John was a bustling maritime city. The trade in crockery well suited the
colonists, many of whom wanted to maintain close ties to roots in England.
He married Augusta Parlee in 1857
and their family began to grow in both size and prosperity.
The business did well, but by 1875
the partnership between Hayward and Warwick had dissolved. The business expanded to another site at
Princess Street. This was fortuitous as
the original shop was destroyed in the Great Saint John Fire of 1877. The business kept growing, adding buildings
and warehouses (a warehouse added in 1890 is still used today).
 |
| Prince William 1875 |
Harvey Parlee Hayward, W.H.’s son,
was destined to take over the family business.
He married Anne Everett Anderson in 1883. By the age of 21, Harvey was a clerk in the
family business, learning the trade with his successful father. Ten years later, Harvey was well entrenched
in the family business, and even at 61, William Henry was still listed as a
dealer in crockery (1891).
 |
| Harvey Parlee Hayward |
Harvey built a grand house in Saint
John (I will take you on a tour in another blog) and celebrated his success as
a merchant in the ever growing waterfront city of Saint John. In 1902, Harvey and Augusta incorporated the
business as WH Hayward - “the business
of buying and selling and dealing in all kinds of china, glassware, silverware
and plated ware, earthenware, jewelry, hardware, cutlery and fancy goods.”
A good friend will always return,
and by 1928, with the demands of the depression taking its toll, Hayward and
Warwick reunited their business partnership. The business passed eventually from
Harvey to his first-born, William Henry II, to his sonWilliam Henry III, then on to his sons Mark and David.
Mark Hayward and his brother David were the fifth and last generation of
Haywards to run the store when they sold it in 2012.
The Allisons – Manchester, Robertson &
Allison
Joseph Allison was the first of the
Allisons to head from Nova Scotia to Saint John. Part Two of this series talked about how Joseph left
the family home, and his father William, to learn the merchant trade in the
early 1850s. Just as William Henry
Hayward was establishing his new trade in crockery, Joseph was learning the trade as an apprentice in the dry goods business.
 |
| MRA 1930 |
Through some perseverance, Joseph
accumulated sufficient funds to join James Manchester and James F. Robertson in
a new business in 1866 known as Manchester, Robertson & Allison. In no time the partners had built up a fine
clientele for their trade in many goods, from clothing to furnishings. The
founders insisted on a business of “integrity and conscientious service”,
principles which made the department store something of a local institution,
and it soon became known as MRA to the locals.
 |
| MRA Interior 1900 |
The regular steamer service between
Boston and Saint John meant that MRA’s customers were spread far and wide. Americans who could no longer purchase high
quality British goods locally without exceedingly high tariffs, depended on import businesses like MRA to satisfy
their English yearnings.
 |
| Joseph, Helen and Walter |
In 1871, Joseph married Helen
Scammel, and within two years they had their first son, Walter Cushing
Allison. Walter joined the store at 17
to learn the trade from his father.
Walter’s ill health caused him to leave Saint John and go to Denver,
Colorado for the dry climate. It was
there that Walter met his first wife, Hattie Belle Ringen. He returned to Saint John in 1906 to a business that
continued to thrive. Hattie and Walter’s
life together was sadly short, and Hattie died shortly after giving birth to
their second child, Joseph Ringen in 1911. Walter persevered and continued to
rise through the ranks of MRA until he became president in 1925.
Walter retired in 1948, 59 years
after he started working at MRA. Walter’s legacy for MRA was to steer it
through almost a quarter of a century and at the end of his tenure initiate a rebuilding
program for the store, “a program with a great new ‘store of tomorrow’, an
outstanding shopping centre of Eastern Canada.”
MRA closed in 1973 after 106 years in business, and no
other department stores (other than Sears) tried their hand in the Saint John
market. The Allisons had passed down the
store through two generations and managed to take advantage of preferential
trade arrangements with England, but were unable to beat the tough economic
times that came to the city in the mid-twentieth century.
 |
| Walter Cushing Allison |
Were they rivals?
A question I asked of Mark Hayward was how two large business establishments could co-exist
in a relatively small market like Saint John, and do so successfully. Mark explained that their respective business
models were so different that they were well positioned to succeed without
competing with one another. I also
wondered why it was that other big Canadian department stores, such as Eaton’s
or The Bay didn’t try to work their way into the Saint John market. MRA enjoyed a high level of loyalty from the
locals, and given the size of the population, other department stores likely
felt that that wouldn’t succeed against such a well established business.
The fourth and final part in this series will focus on the marriage of the Haywards and Allisons - a social event that was the talk of the town!
Sources
I am
indebted to Mark Hayward, my second cousin, for his insights and historical
information on both MRA and Hayward and Warwick
Certificate
of Incorporation for WH Hayward (1902)
Walter C
Allison obituary and retirement newspaper articles
Newspaper
article by Mike Mullen
Various
census, marriage, birth and death records
Images
New Brunswick Museum
http://website.nbm-mnb.ca/Transition/english/details.asp?item=56
http://website.nbm-mnb.ca/Transition/english/details.asp?item=56
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