Preface / Pursuing the Past / How Westville Got It's Name / Minutes of the First Town Council Meeting, Sept.8, 1894
Pursuing the Past
Researching a history book is not an easy task. To guide the reader into some understanding of the work that was necessary to produce this commemorative history of Westville, we give you an insight into the process of identification of just one of the dozens of pictures that were submitted to the Book Committee.
To be of value, most pictures selected for publication needed a date, or an approximate date. For some the date was supplied; for others we were left guessing. When the committee received this picture of Alex MacBean, the first Town clerk (center at desk) and Mark Tupper (a Campbell’s Road resident), there was no date. We knew it was taken in the old Town Hall on Church Street, but for a picture of this vintage and quality, a date was imperative.
Here is how we succeeded.
The first clue emerged hidden away in the blurred wall calendar. Although the year was obviously obscured, the days of the weeks were legible. (We used an enlarged photo.)
The calendar clearly revealed the number of days in the month, and their sequence, both of which would show beneficial. It distinctly showed 30 days, making it either September, April, June, or November and that the first day fell on a Monday.
Close examination with the help of a magnifying glass revealed what looked like SEP….in a nine-letter formation, thus indicating September. But what year? We know from our research on other topics that Alex MacBean was town clerk from 1894 to 1920; so with the aid of perpetual calendar found in an Almanac, we found three possible years (in the time span that MacBean was Clerk) That had September 1st falling on Monday: 1902, 1913, and 1919. But which one?
We then went back to the photograph for further clues. Attention was focused on the phone on the desk behind MacBean. It was not of the crank variety. James M. Cameron’s book, Pictou County’s History, reports that previous to 1914 phones were of the crank variety, and during the year the “cranks’ were replaced with a newer pattern which contacted the switchboard operator by lifting the receiver.
Further research revealed that the Town Hall on Church Street was not constructed until the year 1918. It was then easy to eliminate the years 1902 and 1913, and confirm the date of Mark Tupper’s visit Alex MacBean, Westville’s first Town Clerk, sometime in the month of September 1919.
-The Book Committee-
Westville Book Heritage
Group Committee, l. to r., seated, Mae Bates, Violet Lacey,
Hannah Joyce, Isabel Wright, Dene Wadden, Christine Balfour,
Edith Mitchell, Anne Millen, Lynn Hale, Stella Hale;
standing: John Cameron,
Doug Simpson, Bert Baillie, James
Reid, Vincent Muirhead, Lewis Evans, Loretta Green, Leonard
Lacey, Ted MacPherson, Betty Baillie, Margaret MacKinnon
(project chairperson), Aileen Hale and Laura Yuill.
(Tom
Simpson photo)
