Properties and People

STEWART TO LEWIS (N12)

This property was first occupied by Alexander Stewart.1 Alexander (1814-1873) had married Flora MacLean (1820-1915) of North River. Alexander and Flora had a total of fifteen children: Donald, a tanner; Allan, farmer and merchant; James, carriage builder; Alexander, tobacconist; William Snodgrass, judge; Evelyn (Anderson), David, John, blacksmith; Flora Helen, Jemima, Elizabeth, Bruce, Robert, Ambrose and Alfred. The last three were all farmers.

In the 1861 census, Alexander Stewart and his household of fifteen, were living on the farm which had been leased 999 years. Alexander died on November 10, 1873.2 After Alexander’s death, it appears that the land was shared among the brothers who farmed.

In Meacham’s 1880 Atlas, the heirs of Alexander Stewart, Lot 34, are listed as having one hundred and eighteen acres. Between 1885 and 1894, brothers Allan, David, Bruce, Alfred and Ambrose released their shares of the property to their brother William S. Stewart, who was a judge, and handled many of the legal land transactions in the Marshfield area.3 William, in turn, sold the land to John F. Simmonds in 1898.4

John Frances Simmonds was born on November 18, 1850 in Wiltshire. At fourteen, John went to work as an apprentice in the cooperage business with Henry Coombs.5 After this he was employed in Montague with the carriage building firm of McLean and Fraser.6

John married Mary Alice Dixon, daughter of Alexander Dixon and Frances Brown of Wiltshire on December 13, 1876.7 He first settled in Kingston, and resided there until he purchased the property in Marshfield in 1898. He and his family remained in Marshfield until 1902, at which time Simmonds moved to St. Avards and returned to his trade of carriage building.

John and Mary’s children were: J. Percy (Charlottetown), Albert (Cleveland), George (Vancouver), Mrs. W.A. Miller (Charlottetown), Mrs. Allison Holmes (West Royalty), and Mary Frances (wife of Reverend W.I. Green, a missionary in Trinidad). John F. Simmonds died on August 29, 1935 at eighty—five years of age.8

J. Percy Simmonds was the founder of Central Creameries Ltd., which was the largest processor of milk on the Island for a number of years,

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producing butter, ice-cream, cheese, condensed milk and skim-milk powder.

John Simmonds sold this property to William H. Godfrey on May 16, 1902.9 William, originally from Suffolk, had married Elizabeth Isabella Munn, daughter of R. Munn of Marshfield on March 13, 1890.IO They had five children: Harry, Clifford, Wilfred, Jean, and W. Rupert. William died in Marshfield on June 18, 1939. ” Inscribed on William and Elizabeth’s headstone is “John Karl Wilhelm, born in Tomuskirch, Germany, 2 March 1886 - 26 January 1978, a Godfrey employee for fifty-four years”. After Willliam’s death, his son Rupert operated the farm with his wife Marguerite Terrell.

W. Rupert was born in Marshfield in 1910. After public school in Marshfield, Rupert continued his education at Acadia University. For many years, he worked on staff at the Royal Bank of Canada. A meeting between Colonel Dan MacKinnon and Rupert determined that something needed to be done in determining the winners of close horse race finishes. The Atlantic Post Calls, Year End Edition in 1992 stated that Rupert was “something of a mechanical wizar 3’12

After his meeting with Colonel Dan, Rupert traveled to the United States to order photo- finishing equipment. On July 9, 1947, the Montague race track was chosen for the pioneer photo finish experiment. Many racing tracks within the Maritimes were quick to adapt this new system, and from this humble beginning, it grew into a full business.13 W. Rupert is seen by many within the horse racing world, a pioneer in photo finish. Rupert died on the 21 July 1985.14

Marguerite Godfrey, who was born in the United States, grew up in Dunstaffnage. She taught school in Marshfield for many years, was a leader in the Women’s Institutes and a member for more than forty years. She has also volunteered with United Appeal, Salvation Army, Red Cross, and Girl Guides.

After Rupert’s death in 1985, the property was sold to Ross and Chad Lewis and today is the residence of Chad, his wife Lori Anne and their children: Thomas, Jodi, Morgan, Katelyn and

Sydney.

Submitted by J. Rossiter & W. Wood