William Fitzgerald's home was in Camden East, Ontario. However he had to move about to find work and in 1892 and 1893 he spent most of his time in Pittsburg Township where he managed a cheese factory. At that time his diary notes he frequently visited Kingston where he was a member of Zion Church.
Hilda Geddes was the daughter of John A. Geddes. Like her father she was very active in the community. She was the organist at the church, pianist at the family "dance hall', first president of the local Women's Institute, active in the Rebekah Lodge, and Secretary-Treasurer of the church. Since her retirement she has rented summer cottages including one built out of the remains of the old Snow Road Station.
In 1940 she entered the Civil Service in Ottawa where she worked in various departments until her retirement in 1967. While in Ottawa Miss Geddes was in little theatre in Ottawa, including receiving a "best performance by and actress" award for one of her roles.
Miss Geddes has written several books about the history of Snow Road Station and area.
Alfred Wellington Purdy, a prominent Canadian poet, was born on 30 December 1918 at Wooler, Ontario and died on 21 April 2000 at Victoria, British Columbia. Purdy was one of an important group of poets recognised as "working class" poets, or "poets of the people." His formal education ended after only two years of high school, and he spent the Depression years "riding the rails" and worked at a number of jobs in British Columbia.
When the Second World War broke out, Purdy joined the R.C.A.F. and served for six years. After his discharge, he lived in British Columbia, supporting himself and his wife as a labourer. In 1956, they returned east, living for a period in Montreal -- where Purdy encountered the leaders of the contemporary Canadian literary scene, among them poet Irving Layton -- and then settling in Ameliasburgh.
By the mid-sixties, Purdy had found his own voice and was able to establish a considerable reputation as a poet. Purdy received several Canada Council Grants that enabled him to travel to such places as the interior of British Columbia in 1960, to Baffin Island in 1965, and to Greece in 1967, in order to broaden his base of experience. He published steadily in the sixties and seventies, to wide acclaim, and by 1982, had twenty-five volumes of poetry plus numerous works of prose, radio plays and dramas, and book reviews. In 1968, he edited the collection of essays, The New Romans. In the eighties, Purdy reached the critical pinnacle of an illustrious career with the publication of The Stone Bird (1981), Piling Blood (1984), and The Collected Poems of Al Purdy, 1956-1986 (1986). In 1990, Purdy published his first novel the semi-autobiographical Splinter in the Heart, and then the autobiography Reaching for the Beaufort Sea (1993).
Purdy's work won him the Governor General's Award for poetry twice; the first time in 1965, for The Cariboo Horses (1965) and the second in 1986, for "The Collected Poems of Al Purdy, 1956-1986." He also won the A.J.M. Smith Award for "Sex & Death" (1973). In 1982, he was also rewarded by the larger community with an Order of Canada and, in 1987, an Order of Ontario.
Al Purdy married his wife, Eurithe Mary Jane Parkhurst, in 1941. Al Purdy is survived by his wife.
Russ Waller is a former member of the Department of Drama at Queen's University. He is a native of the Kingston area and has for many years been compiling genealogical records for the area. Among his publications is the book, "Like Rabbits in Ernestown."
Jack Chiang, a prominent Kingston photographer, was born on 20 March 1950 in a village near Canton, China. The Chiang family left China at the time of the Communist takeover; going first to Macau, a Portuguese colony, and then to the British colony of Hong Kong. Although his family was extremely poor, Mr. Chiang was able to finish high school and then, with the help of scholarships, attend university. He pursued a Bachelor of Arts degree at the National Taiwan University, where he studied foreign languages and literature, particularly French and English. After receiving his degree in 1972, Jack Chiang was granted a research assistantship in order to pursue his Masters in journalism at Marquette University in Milwaukee, Wisconsin.
After immigrating to Canada in 1974, Mr. Chiang began work as a reporter, in 1975, for the Orillia Packet and Times. In November 1977, he became a photographer for the Kingston Whig-Standard, the daily for which Chiang has worked ever since. Over the course of his career at the Whig-Standard, Mr. Chiang has worked as both a photographer and a reporter, both at home and abroad. Since 1980, he has been the Picture Editor for the newspaper and has held other managerial positions, including City Editor, Region Editor and Sports Editor, simultaneous to it.
Mr. Chiang has won more than two dozen awards for his photography, including Canadian Press Picture of the Month and Ontario News Photographers Association Picture of the Year (News and Sports) as well as their Picture of the Month. His pictures have appeared in the New York Times, the Christian Science Monitor, Moscow News and Readers Digest as well as every major newspaper in Canada. As well, the cover photographs for both editions of Images of Kingston were selected to hang in the front lobby of Kodak Canada head office in Toronto. In 1990, the first edition of Mr. Chiangs Images of Kingston was published. The second edition followed eight years later. In addition, Chiangs photography has appeared in a number of other books.
Active in a number of community fundraising campaigns, Mr. Chiang has been involved with the annual Easter Seals Telethon, as an on-air host; the Community Foundation of Greater Kingston; and the Boys and Girls Club. Since 1995, he has been the honorary chairman of the annual Salvation Army Hamper campaign. In 1999, he was the honorary co-chairman of the United Way campaign and in 2000, the honorary chairman of the Save the Kingston Exhibition campaign. Jack Chiang is also the founder and president of the National Association for the Easily Amused, an organization for those who think laughter is the best medicine.
In 1977, Jack Chiang married his first wife Larraine Mullen. They have two sons: Jeffrey, born in 1984, and Christopher, born in 1987. The marriage ended in 1989. In August 1996, he married Catherine Lincoln.
Catherine Diane Lincoln, a Kingston teacher and principal, was born on 31 May 1950 in Shawinigan, Quebec. She is the eldest child of Donald and Anna Lincoln. In 1966, she moved to Niagara Falls, Ontario, to live with her aunt and finish high school. She graduated from A.N. Myer Secondary School in 1969. Ms. Lincoln-Chiang received her Bachelor of Arts and Bachelor of Education from Queens University in 1976 and 1977 respectively. She taught in Orangeville before moving back to Kingston with her two sons, Adrian and Alastair, in 1981. For the next five years, she taught for the Frontenac County Board of Education and then starting in 1986 she worked as a consultant for French as a Second Language with the Board for two years. Following this, Ms. Lincoln-Chiang became the Vice Principal of Polson Park Public School, Kingston. The next year, she was promoted to Principal of the same school. Ms. Lincoln-Chiang is currently the Principal of Central Public School, Kingston. Ms. Lincoln-Chiang regularly accompanies and aids Jack on his photographic expeditions to various part of the country.
The original house ("Camp Iroquois") was built in 1875 by James Wallace for himself and his wife, Annie Brough. In the beginning it was a simple dwelling, with a widow's walk and an outdoor stairway leading up to it. The house was subsequently purchased by David Wallace who, in the latter part of the 19th century, added two septagonal towers, plus stain glass windows, in order to make the house more elegant. A windmill pumped water to the house, but plumbing and electricity were non-existant. He also constructed a boat house with a large half-moon window in the front, and an iron frame, complete with wheels, for lifting boats out of the water.
Following the death of David Wallace in 1904, the house passed into the hands of his four nieces, Belle, Edith, Annie, and Jennie Wallace. The sisters travelled each season from Boston to "Camp Iroquois" via Clayton, New York, and then the ferry to Gananoque, Ontario. They would arrive, by skiff, on Bostwisk Island in early May, and not return to Boston until the first snowfall.
As their were no heirs, the Wallace sisters, who had close ties of friendship with the Byers family arranged for the transfer of the house and property to Donald N. Byers. "Camp Iroquois" has been in the Byers family ever since.
The School of Military Instruction at Kingston was "established by Militia General Orders, dated 10 February 1865, for the purpose of enabling Officers of Militia or Candidates for Commissions or promotion in the Militia to perfect themselves in a knowledge of their military duties, drill and discipline."