BARKER, EDWARD JOHN, doctor, publisher, and editor; b. 31 Dec. 1799 at Islington (now part of London), England, son of William Barker and Margaret Greenwood; m. first in 1821 Elizabeth Phillips (d. 1859), and they had 13 children; m. secondly 8 May 1868 Ellen Griffiths; d. 27 April 1884 at Barriefield, near Kingston, Ont.
The Rural Co-operator started publishing in 1936, first as an organ of the United Farmers of Ontario, and then later by Ontario Federation of Agriculture. It was a direct descendant of the earlier papers of the farm movement, beginning with the Canada Farmers’ Sun, the Weekly Sun and the Farmers’ Sun. In 1944, editor Leonard Harman brought a proposal to the Federation suggesting that the Rural Co-operator should be operated as a separate department with its own staff. Subsequently, Andrew Hebb of Newmarket was hired to be the new Editor and Manager of the paper. The Rural Co-operator was re-branded as "Farm and Country" in 1966.
The Reverend Edmund John Senkler was born at Docking, Norfolk, on March 4th, 1802. After private tuition, he entered Gonville and Caius College, Cambridge, in 1821, and took his B.A. in 1824. He took orders. and was Vicar of Barmer, Norfolk (no church) from 1820 until his death. Senkler married Eleanor Elizabeth Stevens, in 1827,eldest daughter of the Reverend William Stevens, Fellow of St. John's College, Cambridge
Reverend Edmund John Senkler and family left England for Canada in April 1843. They resided in Quebec till 1846 when they went to William Henry, now Sorel in 1847. They moved to Brockville and after living in Brockville a short time they moved to Horningtoft, about two miles west of Brockville, where they lived until 1860, then returned to Brockville, first to a rented house until he bought 126 King Street East where he resided until his death in 1872.
Shernold Edwards is an award-winning film and TV writer with roots in genre/sci-fi and family drama. Shernold adapted the novel A Day Late And A Dollar Short by Terry McMillan ( into a TV movie for Lifetime for which she received the 2015 NAACP Image Award for Outstanding Writing in a Television Movie or Mini-Series. Shernold wrote for the final three seasons of the television show Haven, was a Producer on the third season of Fox’s Sleepy Hollow and a Producer on season two of Amazon’s Hand of God. She was also a Supervising producer on season two of Netflix’s Anne With An E (based on the novel Anne of Green Gables) and wrote a TV pilot for eOne adapted from the bestselling Fiona Griffiths mystery novel series from Harry Bingham. Shernold was a production/development executive at CTV Network(Canada) where her projects included award-winning TV movies and series like Degrassi: The Next Generation. She attended Queen's University, the Canadian Film Centre’s Professional Screenwriting Program, and has a Screenwriting MFA from Columbia University.
The Rankin family traces its ancestry in the Kingston district to one Captain Daniel McGuin, U.E.L. He was one of the leaders of the Associated Loyalists who settled Kingston Township in 1784. McGuin's son, Anthony, established the family at Collins Bay in 1806 when he bought land out of the "Mile Square" from the Reverend John Stuart. Anthony McGuin and his son, also named Anthony, established a prosperous milling business on Collins Creek and over the years built three fine stone houses along the "Bath Road" near the mills. Anthony Jr. never married and passed on his estate, two of the stone houses and the mills, to his nephew David Rankin. Dr. William Henry Rankin was a grandson of David Rankin. After graduating from Queen's University, M.D. 1889, and studies in Scotland, Dr. Rankin established a successful medical practice near New York City. His wife the former Jennie Reid, purchased the western most of the three Rankin houses in Collins Bay, now 4111 Bath Road, for use by their family. The house was extensively renovated to become a rich man's summer home and the family spent most of their summers there from that time on. The house and these Fonds passed through inheritance to Dr. Rankin's son Reid and from him to the Diane Kennedy the former wife of Mr. Robert Kennedy a grandnephew of Dr. Rankin.
William (Bill) Walker Hamilton Gunn was born in Toronto in 1913. Bill graduated with a degree in Business Administration from the University of Toronto in 1934. He worked in accounting and public relations until 1941 when he enlisted in the Army (Ordnance Corps). In 1945 He participated in Operation Muskox, an Arctic research operation, where he represented the Canadian Wildlife Service. Gunn was discharged with the rank of Lieutenant Colonel in 1946.
Returning to school, Gunn completed his Ph.D. in 1951. His research examined the relationship between bird migration and weather patterns. His application of radar data to understanding migratory patterns contributed to migratory bird forecasting still used at airports today. It was during this period that Gunn started to record bird songs. When he joined the then-fledgling Federation of Ontario Naturalists (F.O.N.) as its first executive director (1952-1955) he produced an LP recording of bird songs consisting predominantly of common woodland and garden birds. Based on the great success of the project he went on to record more volumes for the organization. His second record was "A Day in Algonquin Park”, followed by Birds of the Forest, Warblers, Flores Morades, Finches, Prairie Spring, Thrushes, Wrens and Mockingbirds of British North America, and Birds of the African Rain Forests.
His expertise in pioneering bird recording led to his appointment in 1963 as a consultant and recordist for the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation (CBC). He regularly worked recording and producing sound for "The Nature of Things". For this series he recorded in Canada, the Galapagos, Sri Lanka, East Africa and Madagascar. He also worked for Untamed World on CTV as well as various other television productions.
Bill Gunn was one of the founders of LGL Limited. He was the firm’s first president from 1970 to 1980 and a chairman from 1980 to 1984. LGL was one of the earliest ecological firms in Canada and still provides biological and environmental research and consulting services to the public and private sectors.
William Walker Hamilton Gunn died of cancer on the 15th of October, 1984, at the age of 71.
Born in 1796 in Worcester, Worcestershire, England, Thomas Burrowes served as a Corporal in the Royal Sappers and Miners from 1813 until 1824, the last nine years of his enlistment being in Canada. Following a short stay in England Burrowes returned to Canada with his family in 1826, and secured a position as Overseer of Works on the Rideau Canal construction project. Thomas Burrowes worked with John Burrows, a fellow Overseer of Works, who claimed that he trained Thomas Burrowes in the skills of surveying, preparing Thomas for his registration as a Provincial Surveyor. Later promoted to Clerk of Works of the southern section of the Rideau Canal, Burrowes continued in this service until 1846. Based at Kingston Mills during these years, he chose to retire there at the end of his service, taking up the roles of farmer, postmaster and Justice of the Peace in the local community. During these years, Burrowes lived in his cottage"Maplehurst" overlooking the Rideau waterway and Kingston. Burrowes died in 1866 and was buried in the Cataraqui Cemetery.
Orest Rudzik (b. 1936, Toronto) earned his Honours B.A. (University College) at the University of Toronto, his M.A. from the University of Chicago and a Ph.D. from the University of Toronto. He taught in the Department of English at University College from 1961 to 1986, during which time he was a Post-Doctoral Fellow at the Humanities Center of the Johns Hopkins University from 1968 - 1969. He created a Canadian Literature Programme for Atkinson College at York University. After completing his LLB (with honours) at Osgoode Hall Law School, he received his Call to the Bar in March of 1975. In his legal career, he served as Senior Counsel to the Public Guardian and Trustee of the Province of Ontario. He was a speaker at many academic conferences and published both academic and legal papers.
Rudzik was active in the Ukrainian community becoming the President of the Ontario Ukrainian-Canadian Committee and served as a member of the Ontario Multicultural Committee. Then he served as First National Vice President of the Ukrainian Canadian Congress (UCC) and in a variety of positions with the UCC and the Ukrainian Canadian Professional and Business Federation thereafter. He spent from 1993 - 1994 in Kyiv, as Director of Law Training through the auspices of the Ukrainian Legal Foundation. Rudzik was also engaged in three of the quasi-war criminal cases as launched by the Department of Justice (Canada) against naturalized Ukrainian post-war citizens, against who allegations of fraud and consequent sanctions of deportation were threatened.
Later, Rudzik continued his law practice but mainly dealt with estates and estates litigation. He continued research into a variety of areas of intellectual history, including that of the assassination of Simeon Petliura and the judicial proceedings consequent upon his murder. He ended a 50 year association with the University when he became a member of the Senior Faculty at the University of Toronto, a member of its Executive Committee and was given the title of Senator. Orest Rudzik passed away in Oakville, December 8, 2016.
RCAF Station Kingston was a World War II air training station built in 1940 at Collins Bay near Kingston, Ontario, Canada. The station was originally built by the Royal Canadian Air Force (RCAF) for use by the Royal Air Force (RAF). Like other RAF schools in Canada, it was subject to RCAF administrative and operational control. No. 31 Service Flying Training School (SFTS) was the first British Service Flying Training school to be established in Canada and the first flying training school at Kingston.In 1942, the school formally became part of the British Commonwealth Air Training Plan. In 1944 No. 31 SFTS was merged with the RCAF's No. 14 SFTS when this school was transferred to Kingston from RCAF Station Aylmer. No. 14 SFTS closed down in September 1945.
William Coverdale (1801-1865), son of Christopher Coverdale, came to Kingston in 1832 or 1833. There is conjecture that the family came to Lower Canada about 1810 from England. The first two children of Catherine and William Coverdale were born at Île aux Noix, Lower Canada, the remainder in Kingston. The earliest mention of Coverdale in Kingston appears in the St George’s Church parish register, recording the birth of a son on 23 Sept. 1833.
Coverdale became the “master builder” at the penitentiary in June 1834 and held the post 14 years. During that time the main building and gatehouse were slowly constructed, mostly with convict labour. In 1848, a bill introduced by Henry Smith, son of Warden Henry Smith of the penitentiary, passed parliament; the bill cut the architect’s salary and increased that of the warden. Coverdale resigned and, because of the constant difficulties he had experienced with the warden, refused reappointment when the salary was restored.
In 1859 Coverdale also became the architect – the term he had used to describe himself after 1842 – for the asylum in Kingston and continued on this project to his death. The building he planned was erected mainly by convict labour and took over eight years to finish; the centre and the east wing were formally opened in March 1865.
The penitentiary and asylum buildings, both still standing, mark the beginning and end of Coverdale’s work in Kingston. Between his activities on these two massive works, he designed and built every manner of structure. The residences he planned ranged from workmen’s cottages to country mansions. Although his account book lists a few commissions in an area extending from Prescott to Port Hope and up to Perth, most of his work was in Kingston.
In 1844 Coverdale took over the superintendence of the building of Kingston’s magnificent town hall from George Browne. When the rear wing burned in 1865, he prepared plans for its rebuilding, but was unable to complete the project, passing away in 1865. The work was carried out after his death by his son, William Miles Coverdale (1828?-1884). W. M. Coverdale had trained under his father, and in addition to rebuilding City Hall he completed a number of building and restoration projects on his own before becoming City Engineer, a post he held until his death on 11 June 1884.
William Hugh Coverdale (1871-1949), son of William Miles Coverdale, was a collector of Canadiana and President of Canada Steamship Lines, 1922-1949. W. H. Coverdale is recognized as one of the first collectors to take an interest in objects reflecting the traditional culture of French Canada.