Sunday, April 20, 2008

Another Cousin

William Arthur Deacon is a third cousin to my mother, Elma, (and you can figure your connection from there). His father, William Henry Deacon, and Thomas Rufus Deacon (Winnipeg Mayor) were brothers.

William Arthur Deacon, literary critic and editor (b at Pembroke, Ont 6 Apr 1890; d at Toronto 5 Aug 1977). Trained as a lawyer in Winnipeg, Deacon was book review editor of, in turn, the Manitoba Free Press (1921), Saturday Night (1922-28), the Toronto Mail and Empire (1928-36) and the Mail and Empire's successor, the Globe and Mail (1936-61). A pioneer literary nationalist, he was both a provoker of and a participant in the cultural ferment of the 1920s, when he did his own best work: this includes Pens and Pirates (1923), Poteen and Other Essays (1926) and especially The Four Jameses (1927), a satirical study of Canadian poetasters. But in the 1930s his reputation withered in the shade of modernist writing and radical politics. At length he came to appear as a retrograde force to a literary culture that did not give him the credit he deserved for his long years of tireless activity.

Wednesday, April 16, 2008

Family History

This Alfred E. Deacon (see below) is a third cousin to my mother, Elma, and therefore also third cousin to Virginia, Elwood, Inez, Ruth, Beth, Melvin and Lloyd. I sent something some months ago about his father who was Mayor of Winnipeg, Canada.

ALFRED DEACON
February 24, 2004
ALFRED E. DEACON, M.D. (FRCS) Passed away peacefully at Victoria Hospital on Thursday, February 19, 2004, in his 102nd year, with Janet, his devoted wife of 72 years, holding his hand, and with the comfort and support of Chris and Shelagh Deacon. Alf was a leading orthopaedic surgeon in Winnipeg, graduating in medicine from the University of Manitoba in 1929; after studying post-graduate surgery in Winnipeg, he took orthopaedic training in practice with the Mayo brothers at the Mayo Clinic, Rochester, MN in the 1930s, and also received a Master of Science degree from the University of Minnesota. He was on the orthopaedic staff at Winnipeg Children's Hospital, Grace Hospital and Winnipeg General, was a surgeon at the Winnipeg Shriner's Hospital until 1968, and an assistant professor of orthopaedics at the University of Manitoba. He was a founding member of the Winnipeg Orthopaedic Society, and a member of many medical associations and societies. Alf, who was known far and wide as "Uncle Alf" not only to his nieces and nephews, but to the children of his many friends, was an extraordinary man. He had a renowned sense of humour, coupled with an enquiring mind, a prodigious memory, always a strong focus on the task at hand, and a love of boats and gadgets, large and small. He was a wonderfully generous man, who always remembered the birthdays of his nieces and nephews and their children, and often quietly helped young people to achieve their dreams. He will be greatly missed, and is survived by his loving wife Janet; and his nieces, Elaine Yates of Tottenham, ON, Louise Adams of Edmonton, Nancy Pridham of Toronto; his nephew Thomas Jamieson of Toronto; and his cousin John Deacon of Winnipeg and their spouses and children. For service time and location, please call Thomson Chapels. THOMSON Funeral Chapels - 669 Broadway - 783-7211