A Cyclopaedia of Canadian Biography: Being Chiefly Men of the Time: A Collection of Persons Distinguished in Professional and Political Life, Leaders in the Commerce and Industry of Canada, and Successful Pioneers
History
A Cyclopaedia of Canadian Biography: Being Chiefly Men of the Time: A Collection of Persons Distinguished in Professional and Political Life, Leaders in the Commerce and Industry of Canada, and Successful Pioneers
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=Turnbull, William Wallace=, Merchant, of the firm of Turnbull & Co.,
Flour Dealers, Commission Merchants, and Importers of West India Goods,
St. John, New Brunswick, was born on the 23rd of May, 1828, at Bear
River, Annapolis county, Nova Scotia. His father was William Baxter
Turnbull, and his mother, Relief Ann Tucker. His father’s grandparents
emigrated from Edinburgh, Scotland, in the last century, and settled at
a small place now known as Bay View, about three miles distant from the
town of Digby, N.S., and here the father of the subject of our sketch
was born. His mother’s grandparents were U. E. loyalists, and came to
Nova Scotia from the United States shortly after, or during, the
revolutionary war between Great Britain and that country. Mr. Turnbull,
sen., was characterized by his keen sense of humour, his cheerfulness,
and his affectionate nature, his sympathy for the weak and suffering,
his strong religious convictions, and by his fealty to whatever he
believed to be just and right. He died at the comparatively early age of
forty-five years, and was buried at Bear River, greatly respected and
beloved by all who knew him. William’s education was confined to the
English branches, and was obtained at the Grammar School at Bear River,
and also by attendance, for a short time, at the Grammar School at
Albion Vale, a place about one mile distant from Annapolis, N.S. The
school at Albion Vale was taught by the late Andrew Henderson, and it
was at the time a somewhat celebrated place of instruction. Mr.
Turnbull, sen., died, in July, 1845, leaving a widow and nine children
(two sons and seven daughters), William being the younger of the two
brothers. On the winding up of his estate, and the payment of all just
debts, what remained for the family did not much exceed $1,000. For some
time previous to this event William’s health was in such a precarious
condition that it created a good deal of anxiety to the family, and it
may be readily supposed he could do little towards the support of his
mother and sisters, and to add to their troubles one of the younger
sisters, eight years old, died. In the following spring (1846) all of
the family except the brother removed to St. John, and shortly after
their arrival in that city William obtained a situation as clerk with W.
D. W. Hubbard, auctioneer. In this office he remained for about eighteen
months, when he became book-keeper for G. & J. Salter, a firm then
largely engaged in the West India trade, and as shipbuilders and
shipowners. On the 1st May, 1851, he left their employ and struck out
for himself as a wholesale flour, provision, and grocery merchant,
adding thereto a few years afterwards shipowning and sailing, and in
this business he is engaged at this time. When he started business he
had a capital of about $200.00, very small indeed, but he had himself
earned this money, and therefore knew its value. Owing, perhaps, to his
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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