Rundle and McLeod, Merchants

Nova Scotia # 10 on October 6, 1862, inter-provincial cover from Halifax to Newcastle, N.B. Addressed to Mr. John Rundle, Merchant, Newcastle, Miramachi. Backstamps Halifax, Nova Scotia OC 8 1862, Sackville N.B. OC 10 1862, Chatham, N.B. OC 11 1862, Newcastle, N.B., OC 11 1862. Manuscript "Alex McLeod & Co, Oct 6 / 62" inside back flap.

The recipient of this business letter was 45-year-old John Rundle, a general merchant in Newcastle, New Brunswick. John was born in England in 1817 and immigrated to New Brunswick in 1834. He had established a mercantile business in Newcastle by the 1840s.

The 1851 census of Newcastle lists John Rundle, 33, entering the colony 1834, occupation merchant. On January 8th, 1857 he married Mary Walter. The January 10th, 1857, edition of the Chatham, Northumberland, newspaper The Gleaner and Northumberland Schediasma, reported, "m. Thursday 8th Jan., by Rev. W. Henderson, John RUNDLE, merchant, Newcastle (North. Co.) / Miss Mary WALTER, same place."

1861 census for Newcastle, Northumberland has John Rundle, 42, Episcopal(ian), merchant, with his wife Mary Rundle, 30, their son, John L Rundle, 3, daughter Emma I Rundle, 2, and an unnamed 15-day old son.

Hutchinson’s New Brunswick Directory, 1865-1866, lists Rundle, John, general dealer, Water n Castle. In the late 1860s John Rundle acquired the former Harding sawmill, and in 1871 his mill and the store connected with it were reportedly among the most valuable properties in the county.

The 1871 census for Newcastle, Northumberland lists John Rundle, 54, birthplace England, Church of England, Merchant, with his wife, Mary Rundle, 41, son, John Thomas Rundle, 13, son, James Alexr Rundle, 9, and daughter Emma Anne Rundle, 3. From this we can deduce the first daughter Emma Rundle had died and a subsequent daughter had been named Emma.

Lovell’s New Brunswick Directory, 1871, lists Rundle, John, mill owner general store, Castle St, h Water St., but later that year he was dead, (aged 54) and the sawmill was in ashes, leaving his widow with three young children. W.D. Hamilton, in his Dictionary of Miramachi Biography does not say if Rundle died in the fire. We do know both of his sons grew up to be merchants themselves. John Rundle is buried in St. James and St. John United Church Cemetery, Newcastle.

Alexander McLeod & Co.

The letter's sender was Alexander McLeod & Co., Halifax, Nova Scotia.

The Halifax Business Directory, 1863, lists McLeod, Alexander & Co., gro and wine merchant 172 Hollis. And McAlpine’s Halifax City Directory, 1871-1872, McLeod, Alexander & Co, com. merchants, grocers and liquors, 172 to 182 Hollis

Alexander McLeod was a grocer, who owned three buildings on adjacent lots in Halifax. The first was a three-and-a-half-story building on Hollis Street, which he called Leith House. In 1862 he built a second building on Granville Street, back-to-back with Leith House. The basement of the Granville Street building had vaults that were used for storage by McLeod, and the upstairs was rented to merchants. McLeod purchased a third property in 1869. In 1869 or 1870, he built an elegant brick and granite, four-and-a-half-story building on Hollis Street, just north of Leith House. In Leith House and this building, he carried on his grocery business, specializing in beverages. He sold tea both retail and wholesale, but may have made more money with wine, spirits and beer. He imported London Brown Stout, Bass’ Bitter Ale, and Guiness Dublin Porter, kept cool in the vaults under the Granville building. From the arched back windows and dormer of this building, McLeod could keep an eye on his busy properties. From the front dormer, he could watch for ships arriving with more of those special beers.

Now called the Flinn building (R. J. Flinn Engineering occupied one floor of the building at

the time that it was designated as a municipal heritage property in 1981), 1820 Hollis Street is a four and a half story Italianate building constructed in brick and stone and designed in a two-bay arrangement with a truncated pitched roof having a central wooden dormer on each elevation. The roof has a modest roof overhang and granite cornice supported by solid stone brackets. Contrasting red brick laid in a modified American bond with granite detailing and quoins, granite and brick string courses at the 3rd and 4th storys. Pairs of one-over-one, arched windows featuring brick voussoirs, and the 2nd story windows have granite springer stones. A traditionally designed storefront with a side hall plan has three fixed display windows with transoms separated by three cylindrical wooden columns on an octagonal base and Corinthian capitals. The building has a largely unaltered appearance.

Built in 1863 on the footprint of an earlier building, the Flinn building is valued for its architecture and historical association with its occupants. Given its construction date, it is likely that the previous building was lost in the Great Fire of 1859. Documentation suggests that Alex McLeod commissioned the design to local architect Henry Elliot.