David Starr & Sons
- pshorner6
- Mar 29
- 5 min read
G.B. 1s green on January 3rd, 1867 folded letter from Greenock, Scotland to Halifax, Nova Scotia. Addressed to Messrs. David Starr & Sons, Halifax, Nova Scotia. Cancellation Greenock JA 3 67. Backstamp H(alifax) JA 18 1867. Manuscript "for Cunard Str via Liverpool". Notation inside back flap "David Johnston, Gourock Ropework Co, Greenock & . There is an 1860 Inland Revenue 1d Rose Lilac Imprimatur SG F112 affixed inside and manuscript cancelled with the deposit amount "L46 4s, 3 Jany 1867, p GRCo, RY."
Starr Family of Nova Scotia
David Starr, son of Samuel Starr of New London and Norwich, Connecticut, and Ann Bushnell. David was born Oct. 16, 1742, in Norwich. He and his older brother, Samuel, immigrated to Nova Scotia in the pre-revolutionary Planter migration. He married on August 5th, 1770, Susannah, daughter of Henry and Martha Potter, and settled as a farmer at Cornwallis. He left, at his death on October 29th, 1831, eight children, 46 grandchildren, and 26 great-grandchildren. (See the previous post for George H, Starr, West Indies Merchant.)
His son, David, born April 15th, 1787, in Cornwallis, moved to Halifax and, in 1810, established the firm J. & D. Starr, hardware merchants, which later became David Starr & Sons. For many years he was a director in the Bank of Nova Scotia. He was a Wesleyan Methodist, known as upright and successful in business, humane and benevolent. He married on February 20th, 1811, Lavinia, daughter of Joseph and Joanna (Leffingwell) Starr. Lavinia, "and several of her family, were noted for their deep religious life, and works of mercy in the homes of squalor and want, and in visiting the sick, of which a full account is given in a work of 45 pages, entitled In Memoriam. Biographical Sketches of Mrs. David Starr, her daughter, Sarah Elizabeth Starr, and daughter-in-law, Mrs. D. Henry Starr; printed in Halifax, 1861." David Starr died Nov. 20. 1857.
David and Lavinia's son, David Henry Starr, was born August 19th, 1825, at Halifax. He is described as "a prominent citizen, a man of large benevolence, earnest in all good works...engaged in the active work of the Young Men Chris. Association, Director in the British American Book and Tract Society, and chairman of one of its important committees ever since its foundation in 1866, Director in the Halifax Dispensary, and connected, in one way or another, with nearly all the philanthropic and charitable institutions of the city. Campbell's History of Nova Scotia says, "That to him and another gentleman the province is mainly indebted for its celebrity as a fruit-growing country, as well as the origin of the Fruit Growers' Association, founded in 1862." He was an honored, devoted member and steward of the Brunswick St. Methodist church. The Methodist Conference of Eastern British America, in 1874, presented him their thanks, by a unanimous vote, "...for the hospitality and unremitting kindness and care shown by him to the young men, candidates for our ministry, on their arrival in Halifax from England, receiving them to his house, and, at great sacrifice of time and means, forwarding them to their circuits." David Henry Starr married on May 25th, 1853, Mary, daughter of Joseph and Ann (Morton) Chase, who had been born November 14th, 1832, at Cornwallis. She died October 4th, 1860, "as she had lived - a devoted Christian." David then married Eiza Jane Chase, the sister of his first wife.
David and Lavinia's second son, John, born December 9th, 1827, in Halifax, was also a prominent member and officer of the Wesleyan Methodist Church. He married, on June 13th, 1853, Mary Ann, the daughter of Rev. William and Ann (Perkins) Crosscombe. In 1861, he established the Starr Manufacturing Company. The steel manufacturing company was located on the west side of Prince Albert Road just north of Pleasant Street and was powered by a turbine turned by water flowing downwards through the Shubenacadie
Canal. Initially, the company produced nuts, bolts, and nails. This would change in 1863 when Starr hired John Forbes, a clerk for David Starr and Sons, who had been working on a new style of ice skate. Together with co-worker, Thomas Bateman, the two developed the Acme Spring Skate. Patented in 1866, their invention would revolutionize how skates were designed in Canada and abroad. Compared to older skates, which were attached to the skater’s boot through straps and would easily break or fall off, these new skates would spring-lock into place onto one’s boot. David Starr and Sons had previously been importing skates for sale, but by the winter of 1867, Starr Manufacturing Company was making and selling Forbes much more efficient model skate. Combined with the ever-increasing popularity of hockey and its evolving rules, Starr became Canadas number one supplier of ice skates. The Acme Spring Skate quickly became the most sought-after skate on the market. The company developed several styles of skates, which were sold nationally and internationally. Even the King of Spain owned a pair, although his plated in gold. At its peak, Starr employed as many as 250 people and manufactured more than 100 pair of skates a day. Starr’s employees profited too: in the 1870s, Forbes built himself a house called Lakeside on Crichton Avenue in Dartmouth, and the company’s Production Manager, Gavin Holliday, built the Octagon House, commonly known as The Ink Bottle House. Shannon Baxter and Dartmouth Heritage Museum, “Starr Manufacturing Company,” Historic Nova Scotia, accessed March 29, 2025, https://historicnovascotia.ca/items/show/38.
The David Starr House
The David Starr House is a two-and-a-half-story wooden, Georgian-style dwelling designed in a side-hall plan. This simple building is designed in a classically derived style with a symmetrical arrangement of windows, door, and dormers. The house is located on the outskirts of Downtown Halifax, NS, on Brunswick Street, which was a fashionable residential area for the mercantile class in the nineteenth century. The David Starr House is valued for its association with David Starr, the first resident of the house and a descendant of the prominent loyalist family from Starr's Point, King's County, NS. David Starr was the co-founder of the famous Starr Manufacturing Company of Dartmouth that manufactured ice skates and nails. The company became one of the largest of its kind in Canada, and the first to manufacture iron and steel. There were many industrial achievements attributed to Starr Manufacturing such as the first expansion bridge at Elmsdale, N.S, and national awards for ice skate design which was crucial to the development of the sport of hockey in Canada.
Gourock Ropework Company
The Port Glasgow Rope & Duck Co. was founded in 1736 in Port Glasgow, Inverclyde, Scotland. In 1797 it merged with the Gourock Ropework Co (founded 1777) to form the Gourock Ropework Co. The company enjoyed a world-wide reputation in the manufacture of ropes, canvas and sailcloth. By the late nineteenth century, the company was under the control of Henry Birkmyre (1832-1900) and his brother, John, who had become partners in the firm in 1853. Their father, William Birkmyre, had also been a manager of the company until he retired in 1860.
Henry Birkmyre's first contribution to the company was the consolidation and expansion of the productive capacity at Port Glasgow. In 1856, the spinning of yarns for sailcloth was transferred from Greenock, Inverclyde, to Port Glasgow, where the cloth was already produced. Additional steam power was introduced at Port Glasgow while the Greenock mill was converted to jute spinning before being sold in 1860 to the Greenock Sacking Co leaving only a ropework and warehouse at Greenock. Seven years later the Greenock ropeworks was disposed of and a former sugar refinery purchased at Port Glasgow, in order to allow for increased capacity in the production of ropes, cordage and cloth. The firms prosperity was heavily influenced by the growth of the Clyde shipbuilding industry, with nearby yards at Greenock, Port Glasgow, Dumbarton. Demand for canvas was also stimulated by military activity around the world.
Comments