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2nd
Generation:
John Lawson (1749-1828)
the son of the emigrants
was born in
Boston and
came to Halifax as an infant. In 1769, he married Sarah
Shatford, and together they had nine children. After Sarah's death at the age of
42, he married Elizabeth Foster in 1791. John
was
a merchant in 1784, actively engaging in trade and was
associated with
other merchants in pursuing the cod
fishery in 1811, and signed a
petition
to standardize the values of various foreign coin circulating in
Halifax.
Charles Fenerty (1821-1892) is credited as the inventor of the modern paper-making process using pulp made from spruce wood chips. His experiments produced usable paper in a process which he explained in The Acadian Recorder on October 26, 1844.
Hon. John
L.
Lawson (1794-1874), was
Solicitor-General
of Prince Edward Island, member of the Legislative Assembly and
the
Recorder
of the City of Charlottetown (CEO). He was one of six lawyers
practicing on
PEI
when he arrived from Nova Scotia. His book describing life on
PEI was
published
as, Letters on Prince Edward Island.
Jessie Jane Lawson (1838-1901), married Rev. George Monro Grant, a Halifax minister, whose career took him across Canada as Secretary to the expedition led by Sanford Flemming, the Engineer-in-Chief of the proposed transcontinental railway in 1872. The expedition which was documented in Grant's best selling book, Ocean to Ocean, describes the vast and growing country. Grant became Principal of Queen's University in Kingston, Ontario and became a leading figure in Canada, including a term as Moderator of the Presbyterian Church in Canada. Materials at Queen's tells of his career and of the Grant family.
Edward Lawson Fenerty (1843-1932) invented and patented the Peerless Club self-fastening skate. He manufactured skates and other products in Halifax, during a time when hockey and skating in Nova Scotia where fast growing ice sports.
Henry
Lawson
(1829-1897), was Editor of
the Charlottetown Patriot and the Summerside
Progress,
at
the same time, eventually buying the Patriot. He was a
writer
for
the Toronto Globe, both the Montreal Herald and
the
Montreal Star, before assuming the editorship in 1888 of
the Victoria
Colonist, in Victoria BC.
Dr. Archibald Lawson (c1843-1919), of Halifax, NS married Anna Eliza Mitchell. Archibald was a prominent medical doctor; he and Anna were parents of American Impressionist painter Ernest Lawson. (1873-1939).
James George Aylwin Creighton (1850-1930), "the Great JGA", took the game of hockey - which he had learned in his native Nova Scotia - to other parts of Canada. Moving to Montreal he introduced the game to friends with hand carved sticks sent by friends in Halifax. In the first public hockey game held indoors - in Montreal on March 3, 1875 - JGA was captain of the winning team. Called Canada's Father of Organized Hockey - when he moved to Ottawa to serve as Law Clerk of the Canadian Senate, he played with William and Arthur Stanley, the sons of Lord Stanley and Dad realized a need for recognition within their new sport. Being the Governor-General of Canada at the time, Lord Stanley donated the trophy which is now know as the Stanley Cup.
The work of
American/Canadian Impressionist
painter
Ernest
Lawson (1873-1939) who was born in Halifax, NS is
well
documented
in
gallery collections. Robert Henri insisted that, among landscape
artists, he was "the biggest we have had since Winslow Homer."
William
Lawson
Cotton, (1848-1928) was Editor of the
Charlottetown Patriot, and a leading figure in Prince
Edward
Island.
William married Margaret Ellin Harris, a sister of prominent
Canadian
portrait
painter, Robert Harris, and William Critchlow Harris an
important
Maritime
architect.
William
Lawson Grant (1872-1935) was
born in Halifax and educated at Queen's University and taught
history there.
However, he is most noted for his principalship at Upper Canada
College. Under W. L. Grant, attendance at Upper Canada College
more than
doubled, and improvements were made to buildings, staff and
curriculum.
A life time advocate of learning opportunities for adults,
particularly
in the fields of liberal education and citizenship training he
was a
founder and first president of the Workers' Educational
Association of
Ontario and played a leading role in establishment of the
Canadian
Association for Adult Education.
John "Jack" Lawson (1854-1947) was born in New London, Prince Edward Island and was first associated with the Cambridge Press, Cambridge, Mass., and then with the Pioneer Press, St. Paul, Minn. Later, he worked with small newspapers in Minnesota including Northfield, and was well known throughout the state as a political writer, writing under the pen name, " TOM NOSWAL. " [Lawson spelled backward]. Upon leaving the newspaper field, he located in Chicago and was associated with Donnelly Press until he was 79 years of age. When he was 80, the company asked him to return and resume his work but he chose to retire. He lived to the age of 92.
7th Generation:
Philosopher George
Parkin
Grant (1918-1988), has been described as "one of Canada's
most
significant thinkers."
The legacy
of philanthropist Robert
Lawson
Cotton (1881-1968), continues to enrich the lives of
students and
communities
on Prince Edward Island. His efforts in rural beautification and
the
donation
of parkland significantly enriched PEI. Over his lifetime his
donations
including a major contribution to the building of Confederation
Centre
so that it would include an art gallery. One calculation of his
total
philanthropic
efforts, in 2003 currency, has been estimate at $10
Million.
John
Lefurgey Lawson, a reporter
for The Chicago Tribune,
was
one of the best-known newspapermen in the American Midwest. He
met a
tragic death in 1914 when he fell down an elevator shaft in the
Chicago
Press Club Building. In reporting the case The New York Times
indicated that "It is believed
that he opened the door of
the elevator shaft used for freight, mistaking it for the door
of the
lavatory adjoining, and stepped in before realizing his
mistake. Among
editors and reporters Mr. Lawson generally was considered "the
best
reporter in Chicago.'" As an investigative reporter who
had been
involved with covering many important stories, questions remain,
regarding the mysterious death. An article thirty years later
indicated
that "he was associated with
the
Chicago Tribune and was killed while with that
publication. How
he met death has never been known but at the time he was
conducting a
quack doctor campaign in Chicago."
Harry
Alexander Lawson, like his
brother, John Lefurgey Lawson carried on the newspaper tradition
of his
father Jack and grandfather Henry becoming editor of The Eagle Rock Sentinel, in
Los
Angeles.
Thomas
Grantham Norris (1893-1976),
was born in Victoria, British Columbia, and articled with the
law firm
Barnard, Robertson and Heisterman. Admitted to the B.C.
bar in
1919, Norris practised in Vernon and Kelowna as a lawyer for the
Soldier Settlement Board and later in private practice. He moved
to
Vancouver and continued to work in private practice until 1959
when he
was appointed to the B.C. Supreme Court, and in 1960 was
elevated to
the B.C. Appeal Court. In 1961 he also sat on the Canadian Court
Martial Appeal Board as well as acting Deputy District Judge of
the
Admiralty. Norris was president of the Kelowna and Vancouver
Board of
Trade, and president of the Vancouver Bar Association. Serving
as a
Bencher of the Law Society from 1944 to 1957 he was elected
Treasurer
of the Law Society of B.C. from 1957 to 1958. Justice Norris
gained an
international profile when he was placed in charge of the
"Industrial
Commission as to Shipping in the Great Lakes and St. Lawrence
River
System," in 1963. Violence and conflict between international
unions
had caused the "Great Lakes Shipping Dispute" and Norris was
appointed
sole commissioner of hearings over a sixteen month period. At
the time
the notorious Hal Banks, was leader of the Seamen's
International Union
- Justice Norris concluded that Banks was "a bully, cruel,
dishonest,
greedy, power hungry, contemptuous of the law." Banks, an
American with Mafia connections fled Canada in 1964 after
charges were
laid against him, and efforts by the Canadian authorities to
have him
extradited to face charges failed.
Michael
Ignatieff PhD, an
international scholar, professor, and writer who served in
Canada's
Parliament as leader of the Official Opposition. The author of
16 books
- including True Patriot
Love, which
tells the story of his maternal (Lawson-Grant) roots.
His official website michaelignatieff.ca
includes a biography.
Hon.
Frederick
Walter Hyndman (1904-1995) served as the Lieutenant
Governor
of Prince Edward Island. Well know for his work in
pioneering
radio
broadcasts, he along with a group of young radio enthusiasts
were on
the
cutting edge of an emerging technology. Walter enjoyed operating
his
"radio
shack" even moving his equipment into Government House, the
official
residence
of Lieutenant Governors during his term in office.
Betty
(Rogers)
Large, (1913-1990), tells
of the history
of
broadcasting in Prince Edward Island through her book Out
of
Thin Air. As it involved several
generations of Betty's family - the book documents both family
history as
well as significant developments in Island history. Betty began
her own
broadcasting career at the age of 12. Over sixty years later she
was
still involved in the broadcasting field in retirement; her love
of Barbados inspired her to write and item that was purchased
and broadcast by BBC.
Peter
Lawson Smith.
PhD (1933-2006) was professor of Classics at University of
Victoria with a long affiliation with the institution. As his
university states. "classical
scholar, author, honorary UVic historian, Dr. Peter Lawson
Smith has
been a major contributor to the development of the University
of
Victoria."
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