A Letter from Halifax to Clifton, N.B.

Wetmores, Hannington, and an Intercolonial Connection in 1866

This February 1866 cover addressed to Rev. David I. Wetmore at Clifton, Kings County, New Brunswick, was mailed from Halifax and bears a five-cent Nova Scotia Queen Victoria stamp. On the back are the names Atkinson & Hannington, Dorchester, N.B., along with an embossed Halifax stationer's imprint: Z. S. Hall, 155 Hollis Street, Halifax, N.S.The letter itself has disappeared, but the cover survives, minus its back flap. Its markings, names and addresses provide enough evidence to reconstruct a fascinating network of family, business and community connections extending from Halifax through Westmorland and Saint John to Clifton.And the date makes the cover particularly interesting. In February 1866, Nova Scotia and New Brunswick were still separate colonies. Confederation was less than eighteen months away.

The Cover

The letter was posted at Halifax on February 6, 1866, franked with a five-cent blue Queen Victoria stamp, Nova Scotia # 10. It was addressed to:

Rev. David I. Wetmore

Clifton, K(ings) C(ounty)

New Brunswick

The K. C. to distinguish Clifton, Kings County, N.B. from Clifton, Gloucester County, N.B. The reverse carries the originating Halifax February 6 postmark and several New Brunswick postal markings, including Petitcodiac, February 8, St. John, February 10, and Clifton Kings, with the date February 12 1866 in manuscript within the circle – apparently the Clifton post office stamp didn’t include an adjustable date portion. There is another faint New Brunswick strike that I have not been able to identify with certainty, possibly Salisbury.

The cover therefore records a journey from Halifax into New Brunswick, through the province's postal network, to the small community of Clifton on the Kennebecasis River. Nova Scotia and New Brunswick were still operating their own individual colonial postal systems. Yet the people and businesses connected with the letter demonstrate how easily those colonial boundaries were crossed in everyday life.

Who Supplied the Envelope?

There is an easily overlooked detail beneath the back flap.Embossed into the paper is:

Z. S. HALL155 HOLLIS STREET HALIFAX, N.S.

The 1864–65 Halifax directory identifies Z. S. Hall as a bookseller and stationer at 155 Hollis Street. His business included books, stationery and other printed materials. This tells us something important about the cover. Although it bears the stamped name of a Dorchester, New Brunswick firm, the envelope itself was supplied by a Halifax stationer. And it raises a question that cannot presently be answered: Why was an envelope bearing the name of a Dorchester firm being used to mail a letter from Halifax? Perhaps someone connected with the firm was in Halifax. Perhaps the stationery had been carried there for business purposes. Perhaps the envelope had simply been reused.

Atkinson & Hannington

The back of the envelope bears another important clue:

ATKINSON & HANNINGTONDORCHESTER, N.B.

The Hannington can be identified with considerable confidence.

Daniel Lionel Hannington was born at Shediac on June 27, 1835, the son of Daniel Hannington and Margaret Ann Peters. He grew up in the Shediac area and married Emily Myers Wetmore on October 23, 1861. By 1861 he was living in Dorchester, where he established his professional career. His son Henry Carleton Hannington was born at Dorchester on October 2, 1865, just four months before this cover was mailed. The 1871 Lovell Directory provides an especially useful snapshot of his position: Hannington, D.L. — Dorchester — M.P.P./Barrister/Attorney. The same directory separately lists his father, Daniel Hannington (Hon.), at Shediac, where he was a Justice of the Peace and Comptroller of Customs. The distinction is important. The D. L. Hannington of Dorchester was the younger Daniel Lionel Hannington, the man who became a barrister, politician and eventually a judge of the Supreme Court of New Brunswick. By 1867, contemporary directories and almanacs identify D. L. Hannington as a notary public at Dorchester. A newspaper report of his death in 1909 described him as Judge Daniel L. Hannington of the Supreme Court of New Brunswick, who died at his home in Dorchester. Thus, behind the rather ordinary name on the envelope is a man who would go on to become one of New Brunswick's prominent legal and political figures.

Who Was Atkinson?

The other half of the partnership is less certain.The 1865–66 New Brunswick Directory contains a substantial number of Atkinsons in Westmorland County. Among them is: Robert Atkinson — Shediac — Auctioneer. There were also Atkinsons listed at Shediac, Baie Verte, Little Shemogue, Westcock and Wood Point, with occupations including surveyor, clerk, farmer and captain. Robert Atkinson is particularly interesting because contemporary sources also identify him as an auctioneer in Westmorland County. It is tempting to identify him as the Atkinson in Atkinson & Hannington. A partnership between an auctioneer and a lawyer would certainly have made sense in a nineteenth-century community where property sales, estates and commercial transactions generated legal work. But the evidence stops short of proving the connection. I have not found a contemporary document that explicitly states that Robert Atkinson of Shediac was Daniel L. Hannington's partner. So for now the safest conclusion is that Daniel Lionel Hannington is the Hannington in the imprint, while the identity of the Atkinson remains uncertain.

A Family Connection to the Recipient

The identification of Daniel Hannington becomes considerably more interesting when we turn to the man to whom the letter was addressed. Rev. David I. Wetmore (1824–1905) was a member of one of the prominent Wetmore families of Kings County. He married Harriet Margaret Wetmore in 1853. Harriet's sister was Emily Myers Wetmore. And Emily was the wife of Daniel Lionel Hannington. The relationship can therefore be expressed simply: Daniel Lionel Hannington married Emily Myers Wetmore. Emily's sister, Harriet Margaret Wetmore, married Rev. David I. Wetmore.

Daniel Hannington and Rev. David I. Wetmore were brothers-in-law. This gives the cover a very personal dimension. If the envelope was being used by Daniel Hannington or his firm, the letter was being sent to his wife's brother-in-law. We cannot prove that Daniel himself wrote the letter. The sender's name is not known. But the family relationship provides a very plausible reason why correspondence might have passed between Dorchester and Clifton. There is one other intriguing clue on the cover: the name “LAVINIA” is written in a childish hand several times in blue pencil on the envelope. Its significance remains unknown. It may eventually prove useful in identifying the circumstances in which the envelope was used, but at present there is not enough evidence to say what it means.

The Wetmores of Clifton

The recipient belonged to a remarkably large Wetmore community. The 1865–66 New Brunswick Directory gives us a wonderful snapshot of Clifton at almost exactly the time this letter arrived. Among the Wetmores listed there were:

Justus S. Wetmore — J.P., Shipbuilder

Rev. D. J. Wetmore — Episcopal Minister

David P. Wetmore — Merchant and Way Office Keeper

John V. C. Wetmore — Ship Carpenter

William W. Wetmore — Ship Carpenter

George H. Wetmore — Millman

Elias S. Wetmore — Blacksmith

Richard W. Wetmore — Carpenter

and numerous Wetmores engaged in farming. This is much more than a genealogical curiosity. The directory shows a community in which one extended family participated in many different aspects of local economic and social life. The Wetmores were farmers, craftsmen, merchants, shipbuilders, mill workers and public officials. Their presence provides a window into the economy of nineteenth-century Clifton.

Justus S. Wetmore

One of the most prominent members of the Clifton family was Justus Sherwood Wetmore (1788–1873), the father of Rev. David I. Wetmore. The Historical Memoirs of Clifton, published in 1912, describes Justus as a leading shipbuilder and businessman. He built vessels, participated in shipbuilding partnerships, operated a sawmill and worked a granite quarry at Spoon Island. He was also a farmer, militia officer, Justice of the Peace and prominent temperance worker. His activities extended well beyond business. He was closely involved with the Church of England and was associated with the building of the church at Gondola Point, directly across the Kennebecasis River from Clifton. The Wetmore family was therefore deeply embedded in the physical and institutional development of the community.

Rev. David I. Wetmore

The recipient of the letter followed a different path. David I. Wetmore was ordained by Bishop Medley in 1848. He served the mission at Welsford, taught at the grammar school at Kingston from 1859 to 1861, and subsequently served the Kingston parish. The Clifton memoir gives us a particularly appealing glimpse of the man. In addition to his work as an Anglican clergyman, it describes him as a skilful engraver who operated a small printing press and did job printing. This is an interesting reminder that nineteenth-century occupations did not always fit neatly into the categories we use today. Here was a country clergyman who was also an engraver and printer. His relatives included shipbuilders, farmers, merchants, carpenters and blacksmiths. The directory and memoir together transform Rev. David I. Wetmore from merely a name on an envelope into a recognizable member of a small but economically active community.

Clifton and Gondola Point

Clifton itself occupied an interesting geographical position. It lay on the north side of the Kennebecasis River, opposite Gondola Point. The two communities were closely connected by the river. A church was established at Gondola Point in the 1830s, and for years residents of Clifton crossed the river to attend services there. Later, church services were held in Clifton, including for a time at Mr. Wetmore's house. The river was therefore not simply an obstacle. It was part of the transportation system that bound the community together. The same is true of the postal markings on this cover. The letter moved through the larger transportation and postal network of New Brunswick before reaching Clifton. Roads, stages, river crossings and ferries were all part of the system by which information moved.

The Wetmores Across the Bay of Fundy

The story does not end in Clifton.The Wetmore family had connections extending into Nova Scotia as well as New Brunswick. Rev. David I. Wetmore and Nathaniel Saunders Wetmore were second cousins, their relationship extending back to James Wetmore (1727–1798). One branch descended through James's son John Wetmore (1755–1848). John came to New Brunswick with the Loyalists in 1783 and later settled in Yarmouth County, Nova Scotia. His son David B. Wetmore (1793–1883) married Deborah Saunders of Yarmouth in 1818. Their son Nathaniel Saunders Wetmore (1822–1909) was born at Yarmouth. Nathaniel eventually became a Halifax merchant. By the 1860s he was associated with Wetmore & McCulloch, operating Liverpool House at 127 Granville Street, where the firm imported British, French and American dry goods.Thus, while Rev. David I. Wetmore was living in Clifton, another branch of his extended family was firmly established in Halifax's commercial district. The Wetmores had become an intercolonial family.

A Halifax–New Brunswick Network

The more one examines the cover, the more connections appear. There is Halifax, the place where the letter entered the postal system. There is Z. S. Hall, the Halifax bookseller and stationer whose name is embossed beneath the flap. There is Wetmore & McCulloch, the Halifax dry-goods firm with its Granville Street premises. There is Shediac, birthplace of Daniel Lionel Hannington and home to numerous Atkinsons and Hanningtons. There is Dorchester, the home of Daniel L. Hannington and the place named on the envelope. There is Saint John, through which the letter passed. And finally there is Clifton, where Rev. David I. Wetmore received it. The connections were not simply geographic. They were familial, commercial, professional and social. The Hanningtons and Wetmores were connected by marriage. Wetmores in Halifax were engaged in commerce. Wetmores in Clifton were involved in shipbuilding, farming, trades and the church. Hannington was becoming a lawyer and public figure. Atkinson was an auctioneer. The postal system connected these people just as surely as the family relationships did.

A Letter on the Eve of Confederation

There is a fitting historical significance to the date of this otherwise ordinary letter. It was mailed on February 6, 1866. At that moment Nova Scotia and New Brunswick were still separate British colonies. Each had its own institutions and postal administration.Yet the cover demonstrates how closely connected the two colonies already were. A letter could be prepared in Halifax, posted there, carried into New Brunswick, pass through places such as Petticodiac and Saint John, and eventually reach a small community on the Kennebecasis River. People did the same thing in other ways.They married across colonial boundaries. They moved from one colony to another. They established businesses in different communities. They travelled for work and politics. They maintained family relationships by correspondence. Confederation did not create these connections. It inherited them. That may be the most interesting thing about this cover. It is easy to see the five-cent Nova Scotia stamp simply as evidence of postage. But the stamp, the postmarks, the stationer's imprint and the names on the envelope together reveal a Maritime world already connected by commerce, family, transportation and communication. The letter itself is gone. We do not know what message it contained for Rev. David I. Wetmore in February 1866. We do not know who put the letter into this particular envelope, why an Atkinson & Hannington envelope was in Halifax, or which Lavinia used the envelope to practice writing her name. But the cover has preserved something else. It has preserved the outline of a network. And through that network, a small postal artifact allows us to see Nova Scotia and New Brunswick in the final years before Confederation—not as isolated colonies, but as neighbouring communities already bound together by the movement of people, business, families and letters.

Sources and Research Notes

Hutchinson's New Brunswick Directory, 1865–66.

Lovell Directory, 1871.

R. W. Wetmore, Historical Memoirs of Clifton, Kings Co., N.B. (1912).

Contemporary New Brunswick almanacs and directories for Daniel L. Hannington and Robert Atkinson.

Hutchinson's Halifax Directory, 1864–65, for Z. S. Hall and Wetmore & McCulloch.

Contemporary newspaper report of the death of Judge Daniel L. Hannington, 1909.