People of Note

  John McGeorge and his friend named Ray were the first settlers in Lake George, Prince William. He and his family ate mostly fish that they caught from the river and animals they hunted. He had a big house and a small barn where he kept his cow. Very early one morning in February of 1822, John shot a deer outside of his home. When his friend Ray awoke to build his fire he saw John’s cow outdoors and went up to see what was going on. John didn’t know either so when they went up to investigate an Indian appeared demanding the deer that he had shot earlier that morning. As Ray neared the barn he saw a flash from a gun and watched John fall to the ground. The Indian had been tracking John’s deer for three days and his family was starving. Ray ran towards a dead John and saw the two Indians standing near the barn door. John had refused to give any meat to the Indians so they had shot him.

  A warrant was issued from Fredericton for the arrest of the Indians. A huge manhunt was formed until Pennard; the Indian was found. Three weeks of searching and no trace of Pennard the party of men organized from the Prince William area returned to their homes.

  One of the Indians showed up later near Waterloo Stream and began killing farmer’s sheep. After a long chase the Indian was caught, at one point Pennard was said to have jumped a gorge 100 feet deep and 16 feet wide to avoid capture.

  This was the capture of Peter Pennard who was said to be living with a woman whose strength gave out. He killed her and buried her in the snow. There are conflicts to whether he was hung or acquitted. The search party passed the other Indian, said to have been part of the Pennobscott Tribe, over to Caption Joselin who in turn placed him in jail in Fredericton.

  The rifle that killed John McGeorge is owned by the Joslin family. McGeorge was buried in the Micmac Cemetery in Lake George. He will never be completely forgotten, for it was after him that they named Lake George

Don Messer

 

  Don Messer was born May 9th, 1909 in Tweedside New Brunswick, just outside of Harvey Station. As a young child he discovered his love for the fiddle and Scottish music. Don learned how to play the fiddle when he was five. As he got older he would play shows in the local area and later throughout southwestern New Brunswick. At the age of sixteen, Don moved to Boston and lived with his aunt for three years. While there, he received his only formal training in music.

  In 1929, when Don returned to the Maritimes, he began his radio career on CFBO in Saint John New Brunswick when he joined the station staff. Don began putting together a small studio band of musicians and in 1934 they began a regular radio show for CBC on CHSJ under the name “New Brunswick Lumberjacks”. Don began making special appearances throughout the Maritimes and New England under the name “Backwoods Breakdown”.

  In 1939 Don moved to Charlottetown PEI and started working at CFCY as a music director. He formed the "Islanders" and by 1944 the group was airing a show nationally on CBC radio. The show established itself as the most popular on Canadian radio during the 1940s-1960s and "Don Messer and His Islanders" began to tour outside of the Maritimes. “Don Messer and His Islanders” radio show ended 1956.

  CBC television began airing a summer series called “The Don Messer Show” on August 7th, 1956. The show continued on through the fall as “Don Messer’s Jubilee” which carried on through out the 1960’s. In 1969 “Don Messer’s Jubilee” was cancelled with much protest.

  On March 26, 1973 Don Messer died in Halifax, Nova Scotia. A monument was erected in his memory in Tweedside. Also, a fiddle stands in Harvey as a monument to Don Messer.

Inez Davis

  During the 1920s, Inez Davis taught fourteen year old King Ananda of Thailand, who lived for two years in the United States with his father, who was studying medicine at Harvard. At this time, Ananda learned his ABC’s from Miss. Inez Davis of Harvey, New Brunswick. She had first heard about the job while working with the late President Woodrow Wilson’s daughter, Jesse, and her husband, Professor Sayre. Professor Sayre worked at Harvard and asked Miss. Davis if she would mind working with royalty. She taught him for two years. He was then old enough to go to school and then she returned home to Harvey only to continue teaching.

Wendy Nielsen

  Wendy Nielsen was born and raised in Harvey New Brunswick. Wendy is a graduate of Harvey High School. She has become one of Canada’s great sopranos. Wendy is highly acclaimed for her appearance in the opera, concerts, and recital platforms. She has sung major roles at the Metropolitan Opera in New York in addition to other engagements across North America and Europe, including her recent debuts at Carnegie Hall and with the New York Philharmonic. Critics love her extraordinarily rich, vibrant voice and she receives rave reviews for her winning style. Wendy mesmerizes audiences with her appealing voice and her charming presence. Wendy lives in Cambridge Narrows, NB with her husband and son. She is also a vocal instructor and is totally committed to helping young Canadian singers

Sarah Emma Edmonds (Edmondson)

  Sarah Emma Edmonds was born in Magaguadavic in December of 1841 but left home after her abusive father Isaac tried to force her to marry a man she didn’t want to marry. Her father had wanted a boy but ended up with four daughters. Her and her sisters had grown up wearing pants and doing “man chores”. When she ran away from home, she decided herself as a man named Franklin Thompson and worked for quite a while selling books in Saint John. She was afraid that her father would catch her; she fled to the United States and joined the Civil Army. She worked as a female nurse and some how managed to survive all of the disease and death while under fire in the hospital tent.

  During the battle of Bull Run she had an encounter with former admirer John Vance of Saint John. Later she heard of his murder, and vowed to avenge the death of her friend. She set out on what would be her most dangerous mission ever: that of a secret agent. Some of her disguises included a Negro, an Irish peddler named Bridget O’Shea, a rebel cavalryman, and a clerk. In 1865 she wrote a book entitled "Nurse and Spy in the Union Army". The book can be found in the rare book section of the archives in the Harriet Irving Library on the U.N.B. Campus

  Edmonds' career as Frank Thompson came to an end when she contracted malaria. Unable to go to the military hospital, because she would be revealed as a woman, she left the army and checked herself in to a private hospital, intending to return to military life once she had recuperated. Once she was better, however, she saw posters looking for Frank Thompson as a deserter. Rather than return to the army as a woman, she decided to serve as a female nurse at a Washington, D.C. hospital for wounded soldiers run by the United States Christian Commission.

  Sarah met her future husband, Linus Seelye of Saint John, near the end of her career, and they were married in 1868 and they had three children. She was the first woman in the Civil War to receive a pension. On September 5, 1898 Sara Emma Evelyn Edmonds Seeyle died and was buried with full Military Honours in the Grand Army Section of the Washington Cemetery in Houston, Texas. On March 19, 1990, she was inducted into the New Brunswick Women's Hall of Fame

  The PBS television network ran a program called "Canadians in the Civil war" that told Edmonds' story. In Canada, a documentary of Edmonds' life was produced in 2004 entitled The Unsexing of Emma Edmonds