James McCrie Douglas was born 5 Feb 1867 in Middleville, Larnark County, Ontario to Presbyterian minister Rev. James Douglas and Margaret Blyth Douglas, both of Scotland. James McCrie Douglas was educated at Morris, Manitoba and became an early career there as a school teacher. He moved to Strathcona in 1894, where he operated a general store with his brother, R.B. Douglas. The Douglas Brothers’ store was located on the northwest corner of 104th Street and Whyte Avenue and soon became a landmark in the Strathcona area. The same year James married Mary Cameron Brickerton.
He was elected an alderman of Strathcona before 1909. In that year he was elected Liberal Member of Parliament for Strathcona, a seat he held until 1921. In 1911 he was chosen as part of the Canadian delegation which traveled to England for the coronation of King George V.
In 1914 James joined the Canadian Army. He worked in the Supply Division, achieving the rank of Captain. After the war, returning to Edmonton, he was elected a city alderman in 1922 and in 1929 he was elected Mayor of Edmonton, a position he held until 1931. In 1941 he was once again elected as an alderman and he remained in office until his retirement in 1949.
James McCrie Douglas also pursued farming after purchasing land (west half section 26, township 51, range 25, west 4th meridian) from Col. F. C. Jamison in 1922. Mr. Douglas spent a great deal of time over the next 10 years clearing the land and learning farming. In 1931 a nephew, J. Douglas Shaw, was sent to the farm for the summer to help James. Shaw would spend the following two summers on the farm with his uncle, eventually going to the Olds School of Agriculture. J. Douglas Shaw and his wife helped James McCrie Douglas on the farm after the death of Mary Douglas in 1947 and eventually took over the farm after James’s death.
James McCrie Douglas died on 16 Mar 1950 at at the age of 83 yrs.
Gilda Rath is a descendant of the Lamoureux family, of Lamoureux, Alberta. She worked as a nurse in charge of health services for the Edmonton Indian Agency where she became involved in research in a rare blood type found among some First Nations people in the Edmonton area. She did considerable research on this topic, some in association with Dr. D.I. Buchanan (Province Medical Director, Canadian Red Cross for Alberta), Rev. Emile Tardif (Archivist for Alberta-Saskatchewan Province), Oblates of Mary Immaculate, and her husband, Dr. Otto Rath (the Regional Director of the Canadian Department of Health and Welfare). The Raths moved to Ottawa in the mid 1970s. Otto Rath died 1 Apr 1979 in Montreal.
David Mellec was born in 1958 to Rose and Stanley Mellec in Edmonton. David worked as a labourer in Edmonton. David Mellec died 30 Jul 1994. He is buried with his parents at the Peaceful Pines Cemetery in Whitecourt, AB.
Alexander Cameron Rutherford was born in Osgoode, Carleton County, Ontario, on February 2, 1857 to James and Elizabeth (Cameron) Rutherford. His parents emigrated to Canada from Aberfeldy, Scotland in 1855. He was educated in the public and high schools in Metcalfe, Ontario and attended Woodstock College. He taught school for a year and then attended McGill University in Montreal where he received his Bachelor of Arts and Bachelor of Civil Law degrees in 1881. He articled with Sir Richard Scott in Ottawa, was admitted to the Bar of Ontario in 1885 and immediately went into the partnership of Hodgins, Kidd and Rutherford with offices in Ottawa and Kemptville. In 1888 he married Mattie Birkett and they had two children, Cecil, and Hazel.
He came west to South Edmonton (later Strathcona), North-West Territories in 1895, set up a law practice and became active in local politics. He served as Secretary of the local school board for nine years. With the incorporation of the Town of Strathcona, he became Secretary-Treasurer in 1899, serving until 1905. After two defeats in 1896 and 1898, he was elected to the North West Territories Assembly in 1902, serving until 1905. During this period he was Deputy Speaker.
In 1905, he was called to lead the first government of Alberta. Dr. Rutherford also held the portfolios of Provincial Treasurer and Minister of Education. In 1906, he introduced a bill which founded the University of Alberta and also founded the Provincial Normal School. In recognition of his efforts to establish higher education in the new prairie province, the University of Toronto awarded him an LL.D. in 1907. He resigned as Premier on May 26, 1910
He continued to take an interest in higher education the University of Alberta. In 1924 he was appointed the West Member of the Board of Governors for McGill University. He was elected Chancellor of the University of Alberta in 1927 and continued in that position until his death on June 12, 1941.
Isabel P. Perrin was born in 1903, possibly in Alberta. She married J. Murray Perrin and they lived in Edmonton. Isabel worked as a secretary and Murray worked as service technician. At the time of donation, both Isabel and Murray were retired.
J. Murray Perrin died in 2003. Isabel Perrin died in 2007. They are buried at the Westlawn Memorial Garden Cemetery in Edmonton.
Hazel Rutherford was born in 1893 to Alexander Cameron Rutherford and Mattie Birkett in Kemptville, Ontario. The family moved to Edmonton in 1895. Her father was the first premiere of Alberta.
She married Stanley Harwood McCuaig in 1919. Stanley McCuaig articled with Rutherford's law firm. They had four children: Eric Alexander, Ruth Elizabeth, Helen Rutherford and Harwood Stanley.
Hazel McCuaig worked for the preservation of Edmonton's heritage, retaining strong ties with the University of Alberta, and serving on a variety of civic committees.
Hazel Rutherford McCuaig died in 1992 and is buried at the Mount Pleasant Municipal Cemetery in Edmonton.
Merrill E. Wolfe was born in Wilkie, Saskatchewan in 1919 and moved to Edmonton at an early age. After graduating from the University of Alberta he served in the Royal Canadian Air Force as a pilot during the Second World War.
After the war he joined Edmonton Motors, the firm his father had started in 1925, and later he assumed the presidency. Mr. Wolfe was president of the Rotary Club, and Chairman of the Fort Edmonton Foundation for six years. He also served as Chairman of the Historical Advisory Board and as Honorary Chief Factor of Fort Edmonton. He served on the Steering Committee, Foundation for Cultural Heritage, which ultimately influenced the establishment of the Edmonton Community Foundation.
Merrill E. Wolfe died in 1975.
Kenneth McDonald was born in Stornoway, Isle of Lewis, Scotland in 1828 and came to Rupert’s Land as a Hudson’s Bay Company employee ca. 1847. He married Emma Rowland (daughter of William Rowland, an employee of the Hudson’s Bay Company, and Betsey Ballendine) on Feb. 10, 1854. They settled in the Fort Edmonton district in 1860 and he claimed River Lot 20 after the transfer of Rupert’s Land to Canada in 1870. They had seven children, William, Alex, Caroline, Betsy, Flora, Eliza and Catherine.
Kenneth McDonald died on 6 Aug 1906.
Kenneth McDonald’s farm home was moved to Fort Edmonton Park in 1967 and preserved.
Ernest Scudamore George was born in Calgary on 10 Feb 1893. His father was a doctor and the family moved to Red Deer in 1907 where George attended school. Ernest George worked for the Northern Crown Bank (later the Royal Bank of Canada) and he was transferred to Edmonton during the World War I. He later worked as a chartered accountant in private practice and for the provincial government as an auditor and the federal government as an excise tax auditor. His federal territory extended from Lacombe AB to the Peace River country of Alberta and British Columbia.
Ernest George was a member of numerous social and historical groups, including the Northern Alberta Pioneers and Old Timers Association and the Historical Society of Alberta, for which he served as Treasurer and contributed articles to its periodical, the Alberta Historical Review.
Ernest married Marie Beatrice Gertrude MacDonald, a widow, in the 1930s.
Ernest S. George died on 16 Aug 1962 and he is buried at the Westlawn Memorial Gardens cemetery in Edmonton.
Iain C. Taylor was born May 25, 1943. He was educated at the universities of Leeds (B.A. Hons., 1964), Toronto (M.A., 1966) and Liverpool (Ph.D., 1976) as a geographer, specializing in urban studies. While studying, he worked for the Ontario government, University Of Toronto and Seneca College, the University of Liverpool and Open University in England. In 1973, he became an original member of the faculty of Athabasca University when it was created as an institutional primarily focused on distance education.
Iain Taylor was involved in a number of community and political groups in Edmonton AB, including the Cromdale Community League (1974-1978), Action Edmonton, an community advocacy group on the design and construction of the Commonwealth Games stadium (1974-1976), a member of the Mayor's ad hoc Commonwealth Games Stadium Committee (1974-ca. 1979); and the Urban Reform Group Edmonton (URGE), a civic political party (Board member, 1976-1978, 1980-1981, President, 1977-1978). He ran unsuccessfully as an URGE candidate for alderman in 1980.
From 1991-1996, he was Chief Geographer, National Atlas of Canada (later Geomatics Canada) and Manager Conservation Programs, Atlantic Canada region, Environment Canada, 1996-1999. From 1995, he has been a land use and heritage property consultant, operating under the firm, North by Northwest, in Halifax NS.