Annabella MacGeorge

Other Events:

• Name: Annabella Edgar
• Eby ID Number: Waterloo-57492
• Immigration: 1883
• Occupation: 1901, Galt (Cambridge), Waterloo Region, Ontario, Canada; Clerk Store
• Residence: 1961, 33 Gilholm Ave., Cambridge, Waterloo Region, Ontario, Canada

Annabella married George Allison Edgar 26 Apr 1911, Galt (Cambridge), Waterloo Region, Ontario, Canada. George (son of Thomas Edgar and Jeanie D. Allison) was born 30 Mar 1882, , Scotland; died 23 Sep 1961, Galt (Cambridge), Waterloo Region, Ontario, Canada; was buried , Mount View Cemetery, Cambridge, Waterloo Region, Ontario, Canada. [Group Sheet]

1. Margaret Edgar
2. Agnes Edgar

Other Events:

• Interesting: life story, education
• Name: David McGeorge
• Name: Mac MacGeorge
• Eby ID Number: Waterloo-57371
• Immigration: 1882, , Canada
• Occupation: 1890, Galt (Cambridge), Waterloo Region, Ontario, Canada; caretaker of schools
• Occupation: 1901, Galt (Cambridge), Waterloo Region, Ontario, Canada; Caretaker

Notes:

DAVID MacGEORGE 1845-1925

Mary MacDonald - 1876

Affectionately known as "Mac", David MacGeorge was, in the words of R. S. Hamilton a long time teacher at the Galt Collegiate Institute, "at one and the same time...caretaker, poet laureate of the school, novelist, detective, florist and general radiator of sunshine in a sombre atmosphere with which tradition has surrounded all centres of learning". Mr. MacGeorge was born in Castle Douglas, Scotland and worked in his youth as a shepherd and, later, as a mail carrier. He first married in 1871 but his wife suffered chronic poor health and died about 1875. In 1876 Mr. MacGeorge married his second wife, Mary MacDonald. Five years later, on April 17, 1882, they left Scotland to start a new life in Canada at the then mainly Scottish settlement of Galt. Mr. MacGeorge's first job in Galt involved the transfer of bodies from the old cemetery, located at what is now Centennial Park, to their final resting place in Mount View Cemetery. Many of the bodies being removed were those of victims of the cholera epidemic of 1834 and his wife, who had joined him in Galt in 1883, was afraid that he might contract the disease from contact with the remains he was helping to relocate. She convinced him to quit this job and to apply for the position of caretaker at Tassie's School (G.C.I.). He got the job and started his duties at the school April 1, 1884. Although he had only two and one half years of formal schooling he was an avid reader, making good use of his right of access to the library at G.C.I. But his interest in the written word went beyond merely assimilating the ideas of others. He loved to write poetry about the things that touched his life and the school. The students, his garden and his family all found their way into his poetry. He wrote of "The Hespeler Pupils", "Preston" and of "Galt for Me". He wrote of "The G.C.I. Cadets of 1910", of the "Winning of the Track Cup" and the "Farmer's Daughter". But his favourite subject seemed to be of the girls of G.C.I. and through Mr. MacGeorge's pen we learn something of "Agnes Graham", "Lola Goodfellow", "Jennie Good", "Vera Wallace" and many more. In all, Mr. MacGeorge published three books of poems, "Original Poems" (1904), "Bubbles from the Boiler Room" (1910), "Ae Glint on Ither Days" (1917), and one novel, "The Doctor's Daughter" (1910). When Mr. MacGeorge had been at G.C.I. for thirty years he wrote a poem to mark the occasion and handed it to the editor of the Galt Evening Reporter. The editor spoke to one of the teachers at the school and it was decided that an event of this significance had to be noted in some manner. The teacher had students and staff alike collect copper pennies and when 2,999 and been gathered, they were placed in a gallon pail mixed with bran. On April 1, 1914, Mr. MacGeorge was persuaded to come to the Assembly Hall under the pretext of reading one of his poems. As soon as he arrived the pail of bran and coppers was brought in on a stretcher by a bugle band. A rather long address, "both humourous and affectionate" was read and the office of Poet Laureate of the school and the degree P.C. (Professor of Coppers) was bestowed. Mr. MacGeorge retired soon after but he did not leave the school. He and Mary were allowed to remain in the caretaker's house and he turned his attention and still ample energies to his gardens and his poems. Mr. MacGeorge died on August 24, 1925 and is buried in Mount View Cemetery.

Sources:
1. James R. Barrie A Century at Central 1881-1982, Central Presbyterian Church, Cambridge 1986. 2.Hilda Downey "David MacGeorge 'Dear Old Mac' ", Waterloo Historical Society Journal Vol. 68, 1980. 3. Jim Quantrell, "David MacGeorge" A Part of Our Past, Essays on Cambridge's History City of Cambridge Archives, Cambridge Ontario 1992


Cambridge Mosaic, Jim Quantrell, 1998, City of Cambridge [used with kind permission of Jim Quantrell]

David — Mary McDonald. Mary was born 12 Aug 1855, , Scotland; died 1945; was buried , Mount View Cemetery, Cambridge, Waterloo Region, Ontario, Canada. [Group Sheet]

Other Events:

• Name: Mary MacGeorge
• Eby ID Number: Waterloo-57421
• Immigration: 1883, , Canada