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Authority record

Swackhammer, James

  • RC0632
  • Person
  • 1913-1983

James Albert Swackhammer (ca 1913-1983), script writer and film director, was born in Hamilton, Ont., the son of Albert Edward Swackhammer and Maria Isabella Swackhammer (née Edmonds). At an early age he was a gold miner, professional hunter, and trapper. At the age of 19, after a stint at the University of Toronto, he studied dramatics at the Pasadena Playhouse.

In 1935 he acted in radio dramas, and was a member of a little stock company in San Francisco. A year later he entered the production field of motion pictures in Hollywood and then was an associate producer at a Chicago theatre. In 1939 he was employed by the scenario department of Warner Bros. in London, England and was a member of BBC Dramatic department. He appeared in two films: In Night Invader and This Was Paris. He joined the Canadian military in 1940 and became a public relations member of the RCAF producing films for the Canadian government.

At end of war he was employed by Gaumont Films in Britain as a writer and director and went to Africa in June 1946 for four years as part of a three-man film unit making documentary films. He also worked for several other independent British film companies. Returning to Canada in December 1950, he established James Swackhammer Productions Limited in Hamilton at the beginning of 1952. He apparently made a few more films in association with the National Film Board for the Canadian Government Travel Bureau, including a documentary about the Trenton Steel Works in Nova Scotia. Swackhammer was married to Vivienne C. Walker and had a son named Christopher. He died on 28 October 1983.

Sutherland, Fraser

  • RC0282
  • Person
  • 1946-2021

Fraser Sutherland was born in Pictou county, Nova Scotia. He was educated at King's College, Halifax and Carleton University. He graduated in 1969 with a Bachelor of Journalism degree. He was a reporter and staff writer for several newspapers and magazines, among them the Toronto Star, the Globe and Mail and the Wall Street Journal before he became a freelance writer and editor in 1970. He was the founding editor of Northern Journey from 1971-1976, a columnist for Quill & Quire, and the managing editor of Books in Canada. During 1981-82 he was Writer-in-Residence at the University of Edinburgh, and in 1982-83 he taught at David Thompson University Centre, Nelson, B.C.

His published fiction, poetry and criticism includes books such as The Style of Innocence (Clarke, Irwin, 1972), Madwomen (Black Moss, 1978), John Glassco: An Essay and Bibliography (ECW Press, 1984), The Monthly Epic: A History of Canadian Magazines 1789-1989 (Fitzhenry & Whiteside, 1989), Jonestown: A Poem (McClelland & Stewart, 1996), Peace and War, with Goran Simic, privately published, 1999, and The Making of a Name: The Inside Story of the Brands We Buy (with Steve Rivkin, Oxford University Press, 2004).

Fraser Sutherland passed away 28 March 2021 in Toronto.

Sueños: Dreams

  • RC0045
  • Corporate body
  • 196?-197?

Sueños : Dreams was a magazine which published poetry and art related directly or indirectly to dreams. There appears to have been five issues in total, with the last issue a double one. Issues 1 and 2 appear to have been published in Puebla, Mexico, issue 3 was published in Los Altos, California, and issue 4-5 (a double issue) may have been published in Edmonton, Alberta. The editor was Bjarne Tokerud.

Such, Peter

  • RC0308
  • Person
  • 1939-

Peter Such, novelist, playwright, poet, and editor, was born in London, England in 1939. He emigrated to Canada in 1953, and obtained a B.A. and M.A. in English from the University of Toronto in 1960 and 1966 respectively. He has taught at several high schools, colleges, and universities in Ontario. In 1972 he helped to establish the Canadian Studies Programme at York University. In 1971 he founded the literary magazine, Impulse, and between 1975 and 1977, he was managing editor of Books in Canada. His novels include Fallout (1969), Riverrun (1973), and Dolphin's Wake (1979). He is also the author of Soundprints (1972), an introduction to the work of six Canadian composers, and Vanished Peoples (1978), a history of Newfoundland's aboriginal people. Such's other literary accomplishments include television scripts and films, plays and librettos.

Stuart, Harold Brownlee

  • RC0098
  • Person
  • 1889-1946

Harold Brownlee Stuart, draughtsman, field engineer and soldier, was born in Mitchell, Ontario on 31 January 1889. He was educated at the University of Toronto where he trained in Practical Science and received his B.Sc. Degree in 1909. Stuart was employed as a surveyor, fire ranger, and road diversions designer before becoming a draughtsman and eventually designer for Hamilton Bridge Works in 1912.

In 1913 he joined the Argyll and Sutherland Highlanders as a Private. He transferred from the 1st Field Troop to the 2nd Canadian Pioneers as a Lieutenant on active service in 1915 and served in France and Belgium, attaining the rank of Captain in 1916 and Major in 1918. Stuart returned to Hamilton in 1919 and rejoined Hamilton Bridge Works as an expert in the construction of bascule bridges. He assisted in designing the Burlington Beach Ship Canal and also designed numerous railway bridges, overpasses, public buildings and factories in Western Ontario.

Stuart served in England from 1941 to 1944 as consulting engineer and officer, commanding the 7th Canadian Construction Company Royal Canadian Engineers. His civilian experience in bridge design allowed him to design bridges and similar structures that could be quickly constructed and readily transported. He was awarded the Member of the British Empire in 1943. In 1944 Stuart returned to Canada where he was affiliated with the Directorate of Works and Construction in Ottawa. Stuart died in Ottawa on 14 October 1946 and was posthumously appointed an Officer of the British Empire.

Stringer, Arthur

  • RC0719
  • Person
  • 1874-1950

Arthur Stringer was born in Chatham, Ont. He studied at the University of Toronto between 1892 and 1894 and briefly at Oxford University. In 1900 he married Jobyna Howard, an actress. His second marriage occurred in 1914 to his cousin, Margaret Arbuthnot Stringer. They had three sons, Robert, Barney, and John. Stringer began his career as a journalist and freelance writer.

Up to 1922, he lived primarily on a farm on the north shore of Lake Erie. Thereafter, he moved to and lived in the United States, although he frequently returned to Canada. He contributed extensively to magazines, wrote more than fifteen books of poetry and non-fiction and forty novels, and authored scripts for silent film, including "The Perils of Pauline". His popularity as an author was established in a series of adventure and crime novels, beginning with The Wire Tappers (1906). Most of his novels have an American setting, but he completed a trilogy on the early days of the Canadian West: Prairie Wife (1915), Prairie Mother (1920), and Prairie Child (1921). In 1946 the University of Western Ontario awarded him the honorary degree of LL.D. in recognition of his literary contribution to Canadian letters. He died on 14 September 1950 at Mountain Lakes, New Jersey.

Straus, Ralph

  • RC0248
  • Person
  • 1882-1950

Born in Manchester, Ralph Straus was educated at Harrow and at Pembroke College, Cambridge. His first novel, Heart's Mystery (1903), was privately published while he was still an undergraduate. He wrote thirteen further novels and a number of works of non-fiction, several pertaining to the history of printing. He reviewed fiction for the Sunday Times and the Bystander for a period of almost twenty years. In addition, he was a printer and book collector. He died on 5 June 1950.

Strathy, George Henry Kirkpatrick (Pat)

  • RC0718
  • Person
  • 1918-1940

Pat Strathy was born on 13 February 1918 in Orpington, Kent, England, the third son of Gerard and Theodora Strathy. His father was serving with the Canadian military holding the rank of captain. The family remained in England until the summer of 1919 before leaving for Toronto where Pat’s father joined them in September, resuming his career as a financier.

Pat was educated at Crescent School in Toronto; Trinity College School, Port Hope, Ont; and Charterhouse School in England. He returned to Canada to attend Trinity College at the University of Toronto where he studied mathematics and physics, winning the Putnam Mathematical contest, and graduating with a B.A. (Hon.) in early 1940. He was commissioned as a sub-lieutenant in the Royal Canadian Naval Volunteer Reserve that same year. He left for England in May 1940 where he was attached to the Royal Navy. He joined the H.M.S. Ajax in July 1940 and was killed in action on 12 October 1940 in the Mediterranean Sea. He operated the radiolocator on the ship. He and other brilliant young Canadians had been specially recruited to work on new means of detecting enemy aircraft and submarines.

Stoyan, Carl

  • RC0783
  • Person
  • [19--?]-

No information could be found about Carl Stoyan. In addition to being an artist, he may have hosted a programme on Toronto Radio, Q107, called “Scruff”.

Stopes, Charlotte Carmichael

  • RC0704
  • Person
  • 1841-1929

Charlotte Stopes, Shakespearean scholar and supporter of women’s education, was born in Edinburgh and was educated informally at Edinburgh University before women were officially allowed to attend. She married Henry Stopes, an architect, civil engineer and anthropologist in 1879. The Stopes were the parents of Marie Stopes, birth-control advocate.

Stevens, Peter

  • RC0171
  • Person
  • 1927-2009

Peter Stevens was born in Manchester, England and graduated in English and Education from the University of Nottingham with a B.A. in 1951. He came to Canada in 1957 and taught at a private school and at McMaster University while working on his M.A. From 1964 to 1968 he taught at the University of Saskatchewan and received a doctorate in Canadian literature in 1968. His thesis led eventually to the publication of The McGill Movement (1968), and to the editing of Raymond Knister's The First Day of Spring and Other Stories (1976). He has served as contributing editor to The Ontario Review (1973-8) and poetry editor of The Canadian Forum (1968-73). He was founding director of Sesame Press in Windsor. His first collection of poems, Nothing but Spoons, was published in 1969. Stevens was a regular contributor to the CBC's Jazz Radio Canada series in the 1970s. He has also been a jazz columnist for the Windsor Star. His poems have appeared in numerous anthologies and in magazines. He is also the author of several plays, three of which received performances in Detroit, Windsor and Vancouver in 1980. His most recent collection of poetry is States of Mind (2001). He died in May 2009.

Stephenson, Roy

  • RC0636
  • Person
  • 1890-1959

Norman Roy Stephenson, son of William Howard and Caroline Emily Stephenson (née Farrow), was born in Toronto on 1 February 1890. He was one of eleven children. Four Stephenson brothers (Edwin Howard, John Carleton, Henry Arthur, and Roy) served in World War I. Roy Stephenson served with the 4th Battalion, the Royal Canadian Regiment, in northern France. He was wounded twice in battle: a gunshot in the shoulder at Ypres on 26 March 1915 and shrapnel in the leg at Canal du Nord near Arras on 10 September 1918.

After the war on 26 November 1920, he married Elfrida Bourne. They had four children. Although Stephenson was an electrician by trade, in the 1920s he worked at odd jobs, selling family produce. He also went out to western Canada during harvest time. In 1930 he applied and passed the Post Office exams and was a postman in Hamilton until his retirement. He died on 2 February 1959.

Stephenson, Edwin Howard

  • RC0635
  • Person
  • 1886-1919

Edwin Howard Stephenson, the second son of William Howard and Caroline Emily Stephenson (née Farrow), was born in Tillsonburg, Ontario, on 20 April 1886. In 1902 in Hamilton, he worked as a watchmaker, and, then in 1906, he opened a small jewelry store in the Manitoulin Islands. In 1910 he entered Huron College and the University of Western Ontario. Ordained as a Deacon in 1916, he obtained a B.A. in 1917, and was ordained as an Anglican priest on 26 May 1918. He resigned his charge at the parish of Desboro Williamsford and Holland Centre on 11 June 1918.

On 2 July 1918, he went into training with the Canadian Army Medical Corps at London, Ont. On 11 October 1918, as part of the Canadian Siberian Expeditionary Force (No. 11 Stationary Hospital), he set sail from Vancouver to Vladivostok. With an advance party of soldiers on the Trans-Siberian Railway, he travelled into the interior of Russia to Omsk and back. Although he was scheduled to return to Canada with the C.S.E.F on 18 May 1919, he contracted smallpox and died on 23 May 1919. He is buried in the Churkin Russian Naval Cemetery.

Stephens, William A.

  • RC0914
  • Person
  • 1809-1891

William Alexander Stephens was born in Belfast, Ireland, on 9 April 1809. While still a child, he emigrated with his family to New York and then, in 1816, to Upper Canada (now Ontario), first to Toronto and Markham, then to Esquesing Township (now part of Halton Region) where his parents, Thomas and Eleanor (Newburn) Stephens, established a farm. Stephens was one of twelve children.

In 1839 Stephens was summoned to Hamilton for jury duty. While there, he commented on the view from the top of the mountain (escarpment) and was encouraged to compose a poem about it. Stephens took up the challenge and composed “Hamilton,” a lengthy poem in a style reminiscent of the 18th century, including long passages based on Biblical stories and references to Greek myths; it also contains descriptions of early Hamilton, particularly in the first half of Book IV.

The poem, along with others by Stephens, was published in 1840 in Toronto by Rogers and Thompson as Hamilton and other poems. The book was one of the first volumes of poetry by an Ontarian ever published and helped earn Stephens the title “the pioneer poet of Ontario,” as assigned by T. J. Rexaledan in an 1891 article in Saturday Night. An expanded edition of Hamilton and other poems was published in 1871. (Both editions are available in the Archives’ book collection).

Stephens married Marian (Mary) Crispin in Toronto Township (present day Mississauga) on 13 October 1845. They lived initially in Norval and then later in Ballinafad (both in Esquesing). They moved to Owen Sound in 1850 where Stephens had been appointed customs officer, and would live there for the rest of their lives. In the 1871 census, Stephens is 62 years of age, his wife Mary is 45, and their children are listed as James C. (24), Newburn (22), Eliza A. (20), Henry R. (18), William S. (16), Haldane H. (14), Mary E. (12), and Edward W. (7).

Several of Stephens’ siblings also lived in Owen Sound, including brothers Thomas C. Stephens, Robert E. Stephens, A. M. Stephens, and Henry N. Stephens, and sisters Mary Doyle, Eliza Miller, Ellen Layton, and Rachel Layton.

Over the years, Stephens held a variety of other positions in Owen Sound in addition to customs officer, including notary public, lumber merchant, newspaper editor, insurance agent, and mayor (1869). He was a member of the Disciples church and frequently spoke at church worship services.

Stephens was a prolific writer of essays and poems, with pieces appearing in a broad range of journals and newspapers, including the Gleaner (Niagara), the Canadian Casket and Canadian Gleaner (both of Hamilton), the Advocate, Palladium, Examiner, and Leader (all of Toronto), the Albion (New York), the Saturday Courier (Philadelphia), the Review (Streetsville), the Baptist Magazine (Montreal), and more.

He also authored separately published booklets and essays—A poetical geography and rhyming rules for spelling (Toronto, 1848), Papal infallibility … as seen in the light of revelation (Owen Sound, 1871), and The centennial: an international poem (Toronto, 1878).

Stephens died in Owen Sound in 1891.

Stead, William Force

  • RC0524
  • Person
  • 1884-1967

William Force Stead, poet and clergyman, was born 29 August 1884 in Washington, D.C. and educated at the University of Virginia. He went to England with the U.S. consular service, serving as Vice-Consul in Liverpool and Nottingham. He left the service to study at Queen's College, Oxford. He was ordained into the Church of England and appointed assistant chaplain of the Anglican church in Florence, Italy. He returned to England around 1926 and was elected a Fellow of Worcester College, Oxford. From 1927 to 1933 he served as college chaplain. In 1939 he returned to the United States where he became professor of English at Trinity College in Washington, D.C. He died on 8 March 1967 in Baltimore, Maryland. His best work of poetry is Uriel, A Hymn in Praise of Divine Immanence (1933). He was also a reviewer for The Times Literary Supplement. His academic scholarship involved the poet Christopher Smart (1722-1771). In 1939 Stead edited Rejoice in the Lamb: A Song from Bedlam by Christopher Smart.

Stark Family

  • RC0532
  • Person
  • 1815-

William Duncan Stark (1815-) and Robert Mackenzie Stark (1815-1873) were twin brothers, the sons of Scottish clergyman William Stark and his wife Elizabeth. The twins were born on 17 June 1815. Robert wrote A Popular History of British Mosses (London: Lovell Reeve, 1854).

St. Peter's Anglican Church (Hamilton, Ont.)

  • ARCHIVES216
  • Corporate body

A brief history of St. Peter's, Barton, Ont. can be found in the finding aid. St. Peter's closed in 1908. It was succeded by Holy Trinity Church, Barton, Ont. Barton, Ont. is now part of Hamilton, Ont.

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