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  • Evans, Lewis and Betty (Morewood)

    Evans, Lewis and Betty (Morewood) Back to ALL Bios Robert Lewis Evans & Elizabeth (Betty) Anne Morewood 1911 - 1977 1922 - 1993 God gave all men all earth to love, But, since our hearts are small, Ordained for each one spot should prove Beloved over all. Rudyard Kipling On May 7th, 1911, Emily Elizabeth (Bethune) Evans, at age 46, gave birth to her first and only child, Robert Lewis Evans. Her husband, the Reverend Dean Thomas Frye Lewis Evans, was 67 and the father of five adult children and already a grandfather. So baby Lewis entered this world with a readymade niece and nephew, and only nine years to get to know his father. On October 19th, 1922, Caroline Annie (Rhodes) Morewood, at age 42, gave birth to her second child, Elizabeth Anne (Betty) Morewood. Her husband was her first cousin, Francis Edmund Morewood, who was 5 years her junior. Twenty months earlier, Carrie and Frank had produced a son, William Henry Morewood. On August 5th, 1944, at the Coupe in Tadoussac, 33-year-old Lewis asked 21-one-year-old Betty to marry him. She said yes, and their lives came together on December 27th of that year. Until the Dean died in 1920, the Evans family had spent their winters in Montreal and every summer in their house in Tadoussac, which at that time was the farthest east Price brothers house, later sold to the Beatties. After his death, however, mother and son moved to Toronto for the winter, but still got to Tadoussac each year. Emily must have been concerned that her son should have male role models in his life, so she had him attend Trinity College School – a boys boarding school in Port Hope, ON. Lewis liked the school and had positive memories of it. This is remarkable because on a personal level, these were difficult years. At the age of 14, he was hit by a severe case of alopecia, an autoimmune disorder whereby one’s hair falls out, and over the next year or so, he lost all his hair. When asked how Lewis handled this in an often unsympathetic boarding school environment, one of his classmates said that such was his quick wit that any boy who set out to tease him was swiftly put in his place. Between graduating from TCS and starting at Trinity College in Toronto, Lewis was taken on a European tour by his mother. They travelled extensively and visited many specialists in an effort to reverse the effects of alopecia. The tour was wonderful, the hair did not come back, and perhaps worst of all, they missed their summer in Tadoussac. This was the only summer Lewis missed in his 77 years. It was after this tour that Lewis chose to wear a wig, a decision he frequently regretted especially in the heat of the summer. Meanwhile, Betty, one of Col. William Rhodes’s many great-grandchildren, was growing up in Doylestown, Pennsylvania. She attended the Baldwin School for girls and subsequently Bryn Mawr and University of Pennsylvania. Her family would spend time in Tadoussac most summers, renting rooms in Catelier House (now the Maison du Tourisme) but then, in 1936, her father designed and built a house, now called Windward. From then on, she never missed a summer visit. In 1948, Frank Morewood sold Windward to Betty and Lewis for $1, and suddenly, Lewis, whose mother had died the year before, found himself with two cottages in Tadoussac. He chose to keep Windward, partly because it was newer, partly because it was politic, partly because of its view, but especially because he could see his boat at its buoy in the bay! At university, Lewis had studied English, graduating in 1933, and Betty had majored in business, graduating in 1944. Lewis followed through on his plan to be a teacher, receiving offers from a school in Bermuda and one in Lennoxville. Because Lennoxville was closer to Tadoussac, he started his career in 1934 at Bishop’s College School from which he retired in 1972. He did take a year away to get his teaching credential at University of London where he was delighted to have a front-row seat for the abdication of King Edward VIII and was on the very crowded street watching the parade leading to the coronation of George VI. Any career plans Betty had upon graduation were trumped by her summer engagement and winter wedding... and in the fullness of time, by the arrival of Anne, Lewis, Tom and Alan. She was of the generation when women were mothers and homemakers, and to these functions, Betty added the role of steadfast supporter of all that her husband did, and BCS benefitted from her unpaid and often unknown contribution. For the first 18 years of their marriage, Lewis was a Housemaster. Betty knew all the boys and welcomed them into her home as a matter of course. Every teacher new to BCS was invited to Sunday dinner, and she frequently found herself hosting parties for faculty and friends. She has been called a world-class knitter and a world-class worrier (especially about her children no matter how old they were). Meanwhile, Lewis, who had moved to the Upper School after five years teaching in the Prep, was completely immersed in the life of the school – teaching, coaching, directing plays and running his residences. He was one of the pioneers of ski racing in the Eastern Townships, and spent many hours freezing at the bottom of a hill, clipboard in one hand and stop watch in the other. He was an example of service and character. When he died, one Old Boy remembered him as “an oasis of calm in an otherwise harsh and demanding school.” Indeed, he was. But his contributions went beyond BCS. From the mid-50s until his retirement in 1972, he spearheaded the Lennoxville Players, directing many plays from British farces to Broadway musicals. This was a group of amateur “actors” from all levels of the community who were, like their leader, looking for an enjoyable night out... and all proceeds to go to a local charity. In 1972, Betty and Lewis retired to Brockville, Ontario. Here, they joined Tadoussac friends, Rae and Coosie Price and Jean and Guy Smith who had already retired to this comfortable town on the eastern end of the Thousand Islands. From there, they travelled to Tadoussac – for many years by boat, almost 700 kilometers down the St. Lawrence in their cabin cruiser, Anne of/de Tadoussac. For all their lives, home was where the family was, but Tadoussac was where the family was at home. The village, the river, the tides, the mountains, the beaches, the people, all had a strong hold on their hearts. In late spring, the family would leave Lennoxville before dawn on the first morning after the last teachers’ meeting, and at the end of the summer, they would return the day before the first meeting for the coming school year. After retirement, the summer would extend from the May long weekend until Thanksgiving. An accomplished sailor and boatman, Lewis knew every cove and anchorage on the Saguenay, learned from his own experience, but even more, from local captains whom he respected and adored, and, it would seem, they held him in equal esteem. Over the years, his passion for boats gave way to his passion for fishing. There were many overnight trips up the Saguenay, often to the Marguerite, to fish the falling tide, then the rising, then up early to start again. One can still see him standing in hip-waders off the point above the crib, rod in hand, pipe upside down against the drizzle, as dawn was lighting the sky. Betty and Lewis were practicing Christians, and while their church in Lennoxville tended to be the BCS Chapel, the one that they were most committed to was the Tadoussac Protestant Chapel. Betty’s great-grandfather had been instrumental in its creation, and Lewis’s father, the Dean, had, for decades, been the summer priest. In 1974 Betty, undertook to organise several summer residents to needlepoint the altar kneeler cushions with images of local wild flowers, and for many years, Lewis served as the secretary on the church committee executive. They were also strong supporters of the Tadoussac Tennis Club. Though Lewis played more than Betty, each made a memorable comment about the game. In his later years, Lewis would stand on the court, ready to deliver a flat baseline forehand or backhand (being equally good at both) and declare, “I’ll do anything within reason, but I will not run!” Betty’s line was less attitudinal, but gives an insight to why she did not play as much: “I find every shot easy to get back except the last one!” And then there was golf, which Betty loved and Lewis tolerated, and Bridge, which… Betty loved and Lewis tolerated. Their love for Tadoussac is best articulated in Lewis’s book, Tides of Tadoussac, and his fascination with the history of the place in his fictional Privateers and Traders. Betty and Lewis were amused at the double numbers that marked their lives: Lewis born in ‘11, Betty in ‘22, Lewis graduates in ‘33, Betty in ‘44, marriage in ‘44... so it was not a surprise that in 1988, Lewis died at age 77. Betty survived him just 4 ½ years. Theirs was a great love, a love of each other, a love of family and friends, a love of people and community, and a love of place, and that love of place, of that place, of Tadoussac, has been inherited by each of their four children and by each of their families. Lewis Evans

  • Price, William Gilmour

    Price, William Gilmour Back to ALL Bios William Gilmour (Gilly) Price 1910 - 1940 William Gilmour (Gilly) Price was the fifth child and the eldest son out of ten children of Henry Edward Price and Helen Muriel Gilmour. Muriel was the granddaughter of John Gilmour who was a contemporary of the original William Price and an equally renowned lumber merchant in Quebec City at that time. The Harry Prices lived at 2 and then 16 St. Denis Ave, near the Citadelle. At the time they were comfortably off during Gilly’s childhood, as his sister Helen talked of trips to Europe in 1913, 1921 and 1928. Gilmour attended Trinity College School, Port Hope from 1924 to 1928. After leaving TCS, he lived with his parents, and according to his family, he loved children and had a wonderful rapport with them. Later, during the depression, the family lost their money with the bankruptcy of Price Brothers. William Gilmour worked for Price Brothers and in 1940 was working in a maintenance position in the paper mill at Riverbend. Gilly was very much of the family tradition of the Price family of working your way up the ladder from the lower ranks. He married Maimie Ida Elizabeth Fletcher from Lachute in 1938 or 1939. He had been courting her for many years but was not allowed to marry earlier due to the company policy at the time. His nieces Joan and Susan Williams were flower girls at their wedding, and remember the reception at 16 St. Denis Avenue. Gilmour died in an industrial accident while maintaining a paper machine at the Riverbend Mill on July 9, 1940, at the age of thirty. This was two months before his son, also named William Gilmour (and usually known as Gil), was born. Ida was living in Kenogami at the time of the accident. In those days industrial plants did not use lock-out techniques (known in French as cadenessage) to ensure that equipment could not accidentally be put into motion while workers were in vulnerable situations, such as when they were repairing a machine. Since that time when workers needed to maintain a piece of equipment such as a paper machine, the maintenance worker physically locks the control panel and keeps the key with him to ensure that nobody can accidentally start it up. A beautiful stained glass window in remembrance of Gilly was commissioned and initially located in the Anglican chapel in Riverbend. Later it was moved to the Sir William Price Museum in Kenogami where it is found today at one end of the chapel facing the stained glass window made in memory of Sir William Price at the other end. Ida worked as a teacher to support herself and Gil and was Vice-Principal at the High School of Quebec for many years. She spent the summers running a shop in Metis Beach and sent Gil to Sedburgh School near Montebello. After retirement, she went into real estate in Montreal. She died in 1990. Gil married Gayle Lennon and had two sons, Andrew Gilmour in 1970 and Peter Llewellyn in 1972. Gil later moved to Constable, N.Y. near Cornwall, Ont., and was remarried to a woman named Lady. He died in 2019 after picking up a disease in the Philippines. As a postlude to the tragedy of Gilmour’s death, Ida and her grandsons Andrew and Peter were part of the Saguenay tour prior to the 1992 Price Family reunion in Tadoussac. While in Kenogami, Ida had an emotional meeting with the woman, a former employee of Price Brothers, who had brought her the news of Gilmour’s death over fifty years before. Greville Price

  • Williams, Caroline Anne (Rhodes)

    Williams, Caroline Anne (Rhodes) Back to ALL Bios Caroline Anne (Nan) Rhodes Williams 1861 - 1937 Caroline Anne (Nan) Rhodes Williams was the seventh child of Col. William Rhodes and Anne Catherine Dunn. She was born in Sillery, Quebec on January 10, 1861 and died at Tadoussac on July 30, 1937. Her family called her “Annie”, but to her children she was known as “Nan”. The ages of her brothers and sisters were spread over almost 20 years, yet they grew up actively engaged with each other. Army, her eldest brother made her a big snow house; Godfrey took her and her sister Minnie skating and sliding. They all spent summers in Tadoussac together, Nan with her dog “Tiney”. She and her brother Godfrey frequently “apple-pied” all the beds, causing bedlam in the house. Growing up at Benmore the family home in Sillery, she was surrounded by an endless collection of birds and animals - geese, chickens, bantams, rabbits, guinea pigs, ducks and ponies and even beehives. All were welcome inhabitants of her family’s farm. Her brothers, Godfrey and Willy procured a bear cub and had a pole for it to climb. The family meals often included Caribou and rabbit meat from her father’s hunting trips. Croquet was a favourite family game on the lawn. In winter, Nan and her sister Minnie traveled by sleigh through the deep snow to their lessons at dancing school. Nan was a lively young girl who always loved jokes. Her father described her as “full of play”. Nan became engaged to a young clergyman at St. Micheal’s Anglican Church in Sillery. She and Lennox Williams were married there on April 26, 1887. Her sister Gerty and her best friend Violet Montizambert were her bridesmaids. Their first child, James, was born in 1888, followed by Mary (Wallace), Gertrude (Alexander) and Sydney Williams. As their children were growing up in Quebec, Lennox served at St.Michael’s. His work always involved people and when he became Dean, and later Bishop of Quebec, his duties extended over the vast geography of the Quebec Diocese. Assisting him in his work brought Nan in contact with the many different people in the City and the Province, some of whom would go overseas to serve in the South African (Boer) War, WW1 and WWII. Winter of 1913-14 in Quebec was the last carefree time before WWI began. Nan always welcomed her children’s friends around the Deanery for supper or tea. According to one of her future sons-in-law, “On some evenings it was quite amusing. The Dean and Mrs. Williams sat in his study, Jim Williams and Evelyn Meredith sat in an upstairs sitting room, Mary Williams and Jack Wallace in the drawing room, and Gertrude and Ronald Alexander in the dining room. Mrs. Williams was a very understanding person.” This was still the age of chaperons. Before going overseas, Jim and Evelyn were married, and both enjoyed summers in Tadoussac with the family at Brynhyfryd. In November, 1916, Nan received the news that her son Jim was killed at Grandcourt, the Battle of the Somme. Two months later in January 1917, she and Lennox, accompanied by their daughters, Mary and Gertrude, sailed to England. Mary went to see Jack Wallace and Gertrude to be married to Ronald Alexander. They stayed in London at Queen Anne’s Mansions and remained there until April. After the War, Nan and Lennox continued their active life together as Lennox had been consecrated as Bishop of Quebec in 1915. The Rhodes family house in Tadoussac, built in 1860, had been left to Nan. It was to burn down in 1932 and be rebuilt the next year. Brynhyfryd remains in Nan’s family today. When Lennox retired in 1934, they had more time to spend in Tadoussac and ten grandchildren to enjoy it with them. One day, walking to town with one of her ten grandchildren, Nan discovered that her grandchild had lifted a bit of candy from Pierre Sid’s general store. She marched her back to return it and to apologize. To one of her grandchildren “Granny was always game for some fun and she had lots of energy”. Nan loved to be out rowing the boats and like others her age, she swam regularly in the refreshing salt water of the Bay. On June 30, 1937 she climbed up the path from the beach and reaching the house feeling a bit tired, she took a rest and died suddenly that evening. Micheal Alexander

  • Humphrys, Phyllis Frances

    Humphrys, Phyllis Frances Back to ALL Bios Died in 1974 so someone must remember her. Please let me know! NOTE: We have almost no information. Who spent time with her? Who put the memorial plaque up? Any memories or even conjecture might be helpful. Phyliss Frances Humphreys 1900 - 1974 Very little is known about Phyliss Frances Humphrys. Several people remember her name, but no details about her. It is thought that she first came to Tadoussac with the Languedoc's. She stayed with Adele Languedoc at Amberly, and sometimes with Grace Scott at Spruce Cliff. She was born on August 8, 1900 in Ottawa, Ontario. Her father, Beauchamp, was 50 and her mother, Clara, was 38 when Phyliss was born. She had six brothers and two sisters. She died on May 28, 1974 in Ottawa and is buried in Beechwood Cemetery, the National Cemetery of Canada with her parents and siblings. Her mother Clara, was born in Quebec City in 1861, her father in Montreal in 1849. Several of her siblings were born in Manitoba. Her father died when she was one.

  • Rhodes, Monica

    Rhodes, Monica Back to ALL Bios Monica Rhodes 1904 – 1985 Monica Rhodes was born on April 7th, 1904, in Sillery, Quebec, and died in Montreal in 1985. Her father was Armitage Rhodes (born in 1848) and her mother was Katie von Iffland of Sillery, Quebec, the daughter of Reverend von Iffland and the second wife of Armitage Rhodes. She was the sister of Armitage (Peter) Rhodes and half sister of Dorothy Rhodes and of Charlie Rhodes. Monica’s father, Armitage, died in 1909 and a couple of years later her mother took her young family to England. She lived first in Caterham, Surrey, where she attended Eothen School, along with Imogen Holst, daughter of the musician and composer Gustav Holst. After the end of the First World War, her family moved to St Marychurch, Devon and finally, after her younger sister’s marriage, to Chiddingfold, Surrey. After her Mother died in 1938, Monica studied at St Christopher’s College, Blackheath to be able to work for the Anglican Church in Canada. She served as a Bishop’s Messenger in Manitoba. She was deeply religious and after she retired, she moved to the Town of Mount Royal where she was a member of St. Peter’s Anglican Church. Monica often stayed with her sister Dorothy, Grace Scott, and at Boulianne’s Hotel during the summer in Tadoussac. Monica is interred in the Rhodes family plot at Mount Hermon Cemetery in Sillery, Quebec. Michael Skutezky

  • Smith, Herbert Carington

    Smith, Herbert Carington Back to ALL Bios Herbert Carington Smith 1866 - 1915 Herbert (Herbie) was born in Quebec City in 1866, the second son of Robert Herbert Smith and Amelia Jane LeMesurier. He attended the Royal Military College in Kingston, Ontario. He had a long and distinguished army career. He served in the Dublin Fusiliers for twenty-seven years, receiving his commission in 1910. He was stationed in Egypt in 1898, under Lord Kitchener, also in South Africa (1899-1902) and Aden (1903). As a Lieutenant-Colonel he was serving as commanding officer of the 2nd Hampshire Regiment in the Dardanelles when he was shot and killed during World War I at the Battle of Gallipoli, Turkey on April 25, 1915. He is buried at the Helles Memorial at the tip of the Gallipoli Peninsula, Turkey. He was survived by his wife Helen (Lawton) and a daughter, Helen Carington 1910-1932. Eve Wickwire

  • Price, Llewellyn Evan

    Price, Llewellyn Evan Back to ALL Bios Llewellen Evan Price 1919 - 1944 Evan was the youngest son of Henry Edward and Helen Gilmour Price. He grew up in a family of ten siblings of ages ranging over twenty years. They all spent their summers in Tadoussac at the Harry Price House. Evan grew up in Quebec City and attended Quebec High School As a teenager in Tadoussac, his active young group of friends included his older brother Ted, Jimmy Alexander, Jean (Alexander) Aylan-Parker, Betty (Morewood) Evans, Phoebe (Evans) Skutezky and Ainslie (Evans) Stephen, Mary (Hampson) Price, Barbara (Hampson) Alexander and Campbell, Nan (Wallace) Leggat, and Jackie Wallace. When World War II was declared, Evan joined the Royal Canadian Airforce. He did his pilot training at Camp Borden and Trenton and went overseas in 1940. He was assigned to North Africa where he took part in the allied advance from El Alamein to Tripoli. In 1943 Flight Lieutenant Evan Price returned to Canada as a flight instructor at the RCAF Operational Training Base at Bagotville, Quebec. Six months later, in January 1944, while flying to Quebec to attend the funeral of Lt. Col. “Canon” Scott, his plane crashed near Baie St. Paul. He is buried in Mount Hermon Cemetery in Quebec. Greville Price

  • Price, Sir William & Amelia Blanche (Smith)

    Price, Sir William & Amelia Blanche (Smith) Back to ALL Bios Sir William Price 1867 - 1924 and Amelia Blanche Smith 1863 - 1947 William Price was born in Talca, Chile to Henry Ferrier Price (1833-1898) and Florence Stoker Rogerson. He was the eldest of seven children (though 2 died young). His brothers and sisters were Henry (Harry), Edward, Arthur, John, Terracita (Terry), and Florence (Flo). Amelia Blanche Smith was born in Quebec City to Robert Herbert Smith (1825-1898) and Amelia Jane (Lemesurier) (1832-1917). She had six brothers and one sister (see above). The three original Price Brothers running the family lumber company were bachelors. Having no heirs, they turned to their brother Henry Ferrier and his family, his eldest son being William Price Senior’s eldest grandson, and persuaded them to return to Canada. William arrived in Canada in 1879, five years before his family moved north. After one semester at Bishop’s College School, he was sent to St Mark’s in England where he completed his studies in 1886. He then started an apprenticeship with Price Brothers. In 1899, with the death of the last surviving ‘Price Brother’, he became sole proprietor, president, and managing director of the family business. In 1884, William married Amelia Blanche (Smith) at the Cathedral of the Holy Trinity in Quebec City. Three years his senior and a celebrated beauty, she would bear him eight children. The first two died in infancy. The surviving six were John (Jack), Arthur Clifford (Coosie), Charles Edward, Willa (Bill) (Glassco), Richard Harcourt (Dick), and Jean (Trenier-Michel) (Harvey). At the turn of the century, they built a substantial residence at 145 Rue Grand Allee a building which, albeit much modified, stands to this day. William inherited a tottering empire, heavily indebted, technically in receivership…. more of potential than actual wealth. In the first decade of the 20th century, William planned and built a large newsprint mill in the town of Kenogami. The Kenogami Mill, the most productive newsprint mill in the world at that time, began operations in 1912. William associated with James Buchanan Duke, the legendary North Carolina tobacco tycoon, and Max Aitken (later Lord Beaverbrook), who helped with, respectively, hydroelectric power (the Ile Maligne dam and power plant in which he and Duke were partners), and financing for the Kenogami Mill. On August 7, 1914, William was asked, by the Minister of Militia, to build, in twenty days, a camp where troops could be assembled and trained. William shut down his establishments, moved his workforce to Valcartier, and built the camp on schedule. Quebec had been selected as the port of embarkation for the Canadian Expeditionary Force. William was appointed Director-General of Embarkation, and, while not a soldier, he joined Quebec’s militia 8th Royal Rifles and had risen to Captain when he resigned in 1903. For his contribution to Canada’s War effort, William was knighted by King George V on January 1, 1915. On October 2nd, 1924, Sir William was taken down by a landslide on the Au Sable River behind the Kenogami Mill. His body was found ten days later in the Saguenay River at St. Fulgence. His grave lies at the end of Price Park in Kenogami on the point of a high cliff overlooking the confluence of the Au Sable and Saguenay Rivers where he lost his life. Also, in Kenogami, is the Sir William Price Museum. Its focus is on the employees of the Company – something that would deeply please Sir William who never tired of demonstrating his appreciation for their loyalty and work skills. There remains today, amongst descendants of those families, fond memories of what it was like working for a company that so valued its employees. To quote from Tony Price’s notes, “Sir William was foremost a family man, a patriot, and an industry visionary and builder; amongst them, it is difficult to say which stood first. While his wife did not share his fascination for a remote, largely wilderness area and his love of the outdoors and, in fact, rarely came to the Saguenay/Lac St. Jean, he was a loving and inspirational father and nobody who knew him mentions his name without talking of his affection for children.” Along with his business, war efforts, political activities, and sport William was President of the Quebec Harbour Commission in 1912, Director of many companies including Union Bank, the Canadian General Electric Company, the Wayagamack Pulp and Paper Company Ltd., the Montreal Trust Company, the Quebec Railway, Light and Power Co., the Transcontinental Railway, and the Prudential Trust Company. William’s first mention of Tadoussac is in a letter written during the summer of 1880 to his parents who were still in Chile. He tells of happy days spent in a canoe in the bay fishing for cod, perhaps hinting at the renowned salmon fisherman he would become. He did not spend much time in Tadoussac but he did acquire Fletcher Cottage, a lifelong source of pleasure for his wife, and built what is known as the Harry Price House where his sister ‘Terry’ spent her summers with the Harry Price family. Blanche travelled occasionally to England and New York with Sir William. A few years after his untimely death she moved from 145 Grande Allee to Ave de Bernier where she lived the rest of her life. Her memory had faded. She was fortunate in her full-time companion, Muriel Hudsbeth, daughter of Dean Evans and his first wife. We are told Blanche was handsome and charming and though her memory faded her charm did not. Teatime at Fletcher Cottage could have been the inspiration for the tea party scenes in the New York Broadway hit ‘Charlie’s Aunt’. She invited whoever passed by… the Bishop, the son of the grocer next door, whomever. Maids skillfully dodged about keeping teacups under the moving teapot spout. Visitors were charmed and left thinking she remembered them well. With her during her summers at Fletcher Cottage were her sister Edie and brother Edmond. The three would play card games and pass the time happily in each other’s company. Also in residence for the summer were many grandchildren (six to ten or more at a time). They were kept to the eastern addition of the original house. The sleeping porch and playroom were where they ate their meals. Bill Glassco’s first stage plays were presented there to an audience of relatives. On school days in Quebec City, six of her grandchildren lunched in the kitchen of her home on de Bernier. By then she remembered only ‘long ago stories’ yet she continued to extend a warm welcome and to look most elegant, dressed in black as she had since the death of her husband. Amelia is buried in Mount Hermon Cemetery in Quebec City. Willa (Lal) Price Mundell – 4/21

  • Powel, Robert Hare

    Powel, Robert Hare Back to ALL Bios Powel Family who built the Bailey house Robert Hare Powel – 1825 – 1883 & Amy Smedley Powel – 1825 – 1908 The Powel family came from Pennsylvania. Robert’s father - John Powel Hare (1786 – 1856) was an American agriculturist, politician, art collector, and philanthropist. He was born John Powel Hare and was adopted by his mother's widowed and childless sister, Elizabeth Willing Powel. He legally changed his name to John Hare Powel when he attained his majority and inherited the immense fortune of his late uncle, Samuel Powel. He was educated at The Academy and College of Philadelphia and after college joined a counting house. As part of his job in mercantile affairs, he travelled to Calcutta and returned at age twenty-two with $22,000 as his share of the profit. Robert’s mother, Julia (De Veaux), was the daughter of Colonel Andrew De Veaux. She and John married in 1817. They had seven children: Samuel, De Veaux, Henry Baring, Robert Hare, Julia, John Hare Jr., and Ida. The couple and their young family lived on the Powel family farmland known as Powelton, in west Philadelphia, where John began efforts to improve American agriculture. Robert Hare Powel married Amy Smedley (Bradley) who had been born in 1825, in Chester, Pennsylvania. Together they had six children: Julia De Veaux (1851), William Platt (1853 who only lived one year) Robert Hare jr. (1857), Amy Ida (1858), De Veaux (1861) and Henry Baring (1864) Robert and Amy purchased land in Tadoussac in 1865 from Willis Russell and built a house next door to him (The Bailey house). The adjoining lots were connected by a gate and Mrs Powel visited Mrs Russell nearly every afternoon. These Rhodes, Russell, and Powel properties were referred to as “our three cottages” by the men and the three of them often played whist together in the evening. Mr Powel was said to be “the life of every party” and they were very generous and hospitable to young people from Tadoussac who visited them in Philadelphia, not least some of Col. Rhodes’s sons who worked in Mr Powel’s rail yards. Both Robert Powel and Willis Russell were charter members of the Marguerite Salmon Club. There were a number of other charter members, all American, Willis Russell being the only Canadian. Robert died in 1883. His obituary, taken from The Daily News of Huntingdon, Pennsylvania, describes his activities during his career. “Robert Hare Powel, the great coal operator, died suddenly at Saxton, Bedford County, on Monday evening last. His death was caused by indigestion … On Monday morning he was unable to get up and continued to grow worse until about 7 o'clock in the evening when he expired. Dr Brumbaugh, of this place, had been summoned, but the train did not arrive at Saxton until five minutes after Mr Powel died… The intelligence of his sudden death was received here the same evening, and could scarcely be believed, as he had been well on Saturday and was in the best of health. Mr Powel's loss will be greatly felt in this section. He was the first to penetrate the semi-bituminous coal region in this county and the first to ship the coal to the east. He continued to develop not only the vast deposits of coal but of iron and while wealth accumulated as the result of his foresight and sagacity, he sought other channels for investing his means, thereby giving employment to thousands of workmen. He was honest and honourable in business transactions, plain and unassuming in manner, a self-made man.” 4 His widow and family continued to come to Tadoussac in the summers and it wasn’t until 1906, a year before Amy’s death, that the house was sold to Sam and Alfred Piddington.

  • Rhodes, Army & Phebe Ida (Alleman) & Catherine (Katie) (von Iffland)

    Rhodes, Army & Phebe Ida (Alleman) & Catherine (Katie) (von Iffland) Back to ALL Bios Armitage Rhodes – 1848 – 1909 Phebe Ida Alleman 1854 - 1893 Armitage Rhodes was born September 02, 1848 at Benmore (Sillery) Quebec, the eldest son of Col. William Rhodes and Anne Catherine Dunn. He died in 1909. A Civil Engineer, (a founding member of the Society of Engineers of Quebec), he was educated at Bishop’s College School and in Philadelphia, U.S.A. He enjoyed camping, hunting, boating, and fishing. As a young man, he sang in the choir of the Tadoussac chapel. His first wife was Phebe Ida Alleman who was born in Pennsylvania in June 1854, the daughter of Frederick O. Alleman and Mary B. Alleman (born Ogelsby). Their children were Mathew Charle Kingsley Rhodes (adopted) and his daughter Dorothy Gwendolyn Esther Rhodes who was born in 1892. Ida was a prolific amateur painter. Several of her oil portraits, sea and landscapes survive to this day in family hands. She died June 05, 1893 in Sillery, Quebec at age 39. Armitage subsequently married Catherine von Iffland and had children including Monica Rhodes, Armitage (Peter) Rhodes mother of Ann Hargreaves Cumyn. Like his father William, Armitage was a prominent Quebec City businessman and served as President and Chairman of several companies including Quebec Warehousing Corporation, the Quebec Bridge Corporation, a director of the Union Bank and the Grand Trunk Railway. He served as president of the Royal Literary and Historical Society. Armitage brought his family to the family cottage, Brynhyfryd, in Tadoussac, for many summers spent with the rest of the Rhodes family. The memorial plaque in the chapel lists the names and dates of Armitage and his first wife, as well as his daughter, Dorothy, and her husband, Trevor. Michael Skutezky More Photos at https://www.tidesoftadoussac.com/armitage-rhodes-1848-1909

  • Price, Coosie & Ray

    Price, Coosie & Ray Back to ALL Bios Arthur Clifford (Coosie) Price 1900-1982 & Ethel Murray (Ray) (Scott) 1899-1987 “COUNT THAT DAY LOST WHOSE LOW DESCENDING SUN VIEWS FROM THY HAND NO WORTHY ACTION DONE.” Margaret Olivia Slocum Sage Coosie was the second of six surviving children of Amelia Blanche Carrington-Smith and William Price. His siblings were: John Herbert (Jack), Charles Edward, Willa (Bill) (Glassco), Richard Harcourt (Dick) and Jean (Trenier-Michel) (Harvey). Ray was the second of four born to James Archibald Scott and Ethel Breakey. Her siblings were Harold (killed in WW I), John (Jack) and Mary (Mimi) (Warrington). Coosie and Ray knew each other growing up - Coosie in Quebec City and Ray in Breakeyville. Ray was often included in Price Family parties in Quebec and Tadoussac. Coosie attended Bishop’s College School and school in England. In 1924 he graduated from the Royal Military College of Canada and began his apprenticeship with Price Brothers. A fine athlete, he was on the RMC hockey team and won awards in other sports. In his final year, he was one of four Company Sergeant Majors. Devoted to his father, he was with him the day he died in a landslide in Kenogami. By chance, he had at that fateful moment, been sent to the mill to pick up mill plans. His father’s death would change the course of his life as well as that of the entire Price family and the Price Brothers Pulp and Paper Company. Ray, thanks to many things, including a charmed life growing up in Breakeyville, enjoyed more than her share of style and hosting skills. She also spoke French, a rarity amongst anglophones then living in Quebec. In 1926 Coosie married Ray in the Presbyterian Church in Breakeyville. They could not be married in the Anglican Cathedral because Ray was a Presbyterian. Their first home was in Kenogami where their son Harold was born, then Quebec City, where Tony, Scott and Willa (Lal) were born. In 1933, Coosie, then in the bankruptcy court with a wife and four children, left Price Brothers, moved the family to Ottawa and worked for the Eddy Company until his return to Quebec. In spite of having lost their fortune, some of their happiest years were those spent in Ottawa. In 1939 Coosie was asked to come back to Price Brothers as Vice President, Head of Sales. He became President in 1948, later Chairman and retired in 1964. In 1949 Laval University honoured him with a Doctor of Laws for leading the fundraising for University City. When his great friend Mathew Ralph Kane died leaving him much of his estate he set up the Mathew Ralph Kane Foundation. To this day donations are focused on the Quebec and Saguenay/Lac Saint-Jean regions where Matt Kane lived and worked his whole life. Coosie’s mother died in 1947 leaving Fletcher Cottage to her two daughters. They sold it to their cousin Harkey Powell. Harkey later sold it to Bill Glassco (a son of Willa). The Pilot House was left to the four boys. They drew straws and Charlie won. After moving to Victoria, Charlie sold the Pilot House to Coosie. By this time Coosie had built Maison Nicolas (1948) so a few years later he sold it to his son Harold. All sales were ‘token’ – happy to keep the houses in the family. Coosie and Ray shared a love of entertaining. They did much of their business entertaining at the fishing Lodges - Anse St Jean and Sagard. Coosie was, by all accounts, a world-class fly fisherman. Ray was more than accomplished and together the whole family spent much time at these two fishing lodges. They also gave many memorable parties in their homes and on their boats. Coosie’s day in Tad started with a round of golf with his cousin Harkey Powell and later Lewis & Betty Evans. When the Hotel decided to stop managing the Golf Course, Coosie put together arrangements to insure its continuation. He had great affection and admiration for the local families and could often be seen chatting with the regulars gathered on the bench in Pierre Cid’s. Like his father he especially loved children and at house events could often be found outside orchestrating children’s games to the delight of all. Among his many pre- and post-retirement hobbies were writing, photography, landscape oil painting, and mushroom hunting. Ray, a passionate gardener, coaxed flowers and vegetables out of small beds in the granite on which Maison Nicolas sits. Though she started life a stranger to the kitchen, she became a fine cook and was ahead of her time with her insistence on the freshest of everything – not easy in Tadoussac in those days. Her management of the galley on Jamboree IV was nothing short of heroic. She entertained visitors aboard who showed up in ports from Quebec City to Anticosti Island and Tadoussac to Chicoutimi and graciously accommodated a captain known for casting off regardless of the weather forecast. After retirement, they spent winters in Sonoma, California with their daughter and family, spring and fall in Brockville and, as always, summers in Tadoussac. It was ‘Coosie and Ray’ with everything - travel, fishing, boating, entertaining, gardening and the game of bridge. They shared a great love with family and friends throughout their fifty-six years together. Lal Mundell 4/21

  • Powel, Henry Baring

    Powel, Henry Baring Back to ALL Bios Henry Baring Powel 1864 – 1917 Henry was the youngest of Robert and Amy Powel’s six children. He was born in Haddon, Camden, New Jersey in 1864. He married Edith Elizabeth Smith in 1888. She was the daughter of Robert Herbert Smith and Amelia Jane (LeMesurier) (see above) so this marriage connected the Powel and Smith families in Tadoussac. Henry and Edith had four children: Robert Hare 1888, Herbert De Veaux 1890, Harcourt 1896, and Blanche Valliere 1899. Harcourt, called Harky, acquired Fletcher Cottage from his aunt, Blanche (Smith) Price and lived there in the summer up until he sold it to his first cousin’s son Bill Glasgow. Henry Baring passed away in 1917, in Chicoutimi.

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