Showing 2264 results

The eldest son of James E. Dickie and Harriet Tupper, Alfred Dickie was born in Upper Stewiacke, Nova Scotia, on 28 March 1860. Dickie was educated at Dalhousie College and went on to become a prominent businessman known for a time as the ‘lumber king’ of Nova Scotia.

After college, Dickie assisted with his father’s businesses; he worked in the general store and lumber business in the Stewiacke area, and in 1886 became secretary of the Stewiacke Valley and Lansdowne Railway Company, of which his father was president. On 8 September 1885 he married Alice Amelia Dickie, his father’s second cousin, with whom he had five children: Rufus, Walter, Aileen, Ethel and Harold. Rufus and Walter would both work for the family business, although Walter eventually left to practise medicine.

Between 1899 and 1904 Dickie established several lumber companies of his own, notably Alfred Dickie Lumber Co. in Lower Stewiacke, and Grand River Pulp and Lumber Co., located in a small trapping community along the shores of the Grand River in central Labrador. A conflict between Quebec surveyors and Dickie's company escalated into a dispute between the Dominion of Canada and the colony of Newfoundland over the Labrador-Quebec boundary. In response, the Imperial Privy Council eventually mapped out the current boundary.

Despite the early rapid expansion experienced by Dickie’s business ventures, which supplied local, national and international lumber markets with a variety of timber products, his business experienced a downturn between 1904 and 1906. Slower markets and difficulties with bankers forced Dickie to reorganize his assets. He sold many of his timber limits; obtained woodlots in Nova Scotia under the names of his wife and son; established new companies such as the Albion Lumber Company; diversified his interests by investing in utility and insurance company stocks, currencies and real estate; and established the Colchester County Steam Ship Company with boats previously used in his lumber business.

In addition to his business enterprises, Dickie had political ambitions and was active in the community. He made several unsuccessful runs for Parliament and served as mayor of Stewiacke for four years. In 1914 Dickie and his family moved to Halifax, where he became active in local charities, boards, clubs and other organizations. Towards the end of his life, chronic health issues affected Dickie's activity. While his longstanding banking problems were resolved and he and his son Rufus formed the Canadian Lumber Company, his time as lumber king had passed. Alfred Dickie died in 1929.

John Robert Bigelow, the son of Halle Bigelow and Hannah Ann (Blenkhorn) Bigelow, was born 16 September 1906 in New Salem, Nova Scotia. He was raised and educated in Canning, Nova Scotia, with his four sisters, Anna, Laurabel, Mabel and Lydia. He studied engineering at Acadia University for two years before transferring to the University of New Brunswick, Fredericton, from where he graduated in 1933 with a Bachelor of Science in Forestry.

He began his career marketing forestry products for the government of Nova Scotia. During World War II he moved to Ottawa to work on federal lumber export policies and controls. IN 1946 he returned to Nova Scotia and became the manager of the Maritime Lumber Bureau, later taking employment as a provincial civil servant and ending his career as Deputy Minister for the Department of Trade & Industry.

John Bigelow married Muriel Olga Smith in 1938, with whom he had two children, John Robert, Jr. (1942-1994) and Mary Emery (1946-). He died in 1997.

Heitor Villa-Lobos was one of the foremost composers of the twentieth century, combining elements of music indigenous to Brazil and Latin America with Western classical music. His work is heavily influenced by Johann Sebastian Bach (e.g., Bachianas Brasileiras), Richard Wagner, and Giacomo Puccini).

Born in Rio de Janeiro on March 5, 1887. he started learning the cello at age 6. Although his mother did not approve of his musical aspirations and wanted him to become a doctor, Villa-Lobos left home at the age of 18 and supported himself playing the guitar and cello while travelling around Brazil.

In 1915, his works were featured in a concert in Rio de Janeiro and the publishing firm Artur Napoleão began to publish his compositions. In this year, he also met pianist Artur Rubinstein, who performed his works across the world. From 1923 until 1929, he lived in Paris, composing, and organizing a number of concerts. In 1930, he became director of the São Paulo school system in Brazil and in 1932, he became in charge of music education throughout the country. In 1945, he established the Brazilian Academy of Music with Oscar Lorenzo Fernandez.

By the time of his death, in 1959, Villa-Lobos had written over 2000 compositions, including orchestral, chamber, instrumental, and vocal works. His guitar compositions, in particular, have become part of the standard repertory for the instrument.

Villa-Lobos married Lucília Guimarães, a pianist and teacher, in 1913. In 1936, he left his wife for Arminda Neves d’Almeida, who remained his companion until his death, Arminda took Villa-Lobos' name, although they never married. Many of his works are dedicated to Arminda, or "Mindhinha."