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Authority record
van Keulen, Gerard
Person · 1678–1726

Gerard van Keulen was the son of Johannes van Keulen, a Dutch cartographer who started a publishing and book selling business in 1681. Gerard took over control of the firm in 1714 and continued to add to the company's vast body of cartographic work.

van Keulen, Johannes
Person · 1654-1715

He was a 17th-century Dutch cartographer. He published the influential nautical atlas the Zee-Atlas and the pilot guide Zee-Fakkel

Walker, J. H.
Person · 1870-1963

John Hugh walker was the son of Donald and Catherine MacNeil of Ottawa Brook. His father had come from West Lake Ainslie an worked as a teacher, justice of the peace and warden of the parish. John Hugh married Ottawa Brook resident Mary Ann MacLean, had a large family and later moved to Sydney where he owned and operated a grocery store. He was very active with the Scottish Catholic Society of Canada.

Corporate body

In 1876, the Western Union Cable Office owned and operated a rooming house in North Sydney for single employees. It was sold by the company sometime before 1888 and eventually became the Albert Hotel. (Gillis, 12, 2005). Years later, in order to fulfill the need for affordable housing, The Western Union Housing Plan Committee was organized by employees of the Western Union Telegraph Company in North Sydney, Nova Scotia in cooperation with the company. The Plan gave employees the right to apply for loans from Western Union so they could purchase homes. The committee, which was led by a Treasurer/Secretary accepted loan applications from employees and worked with the secretary and treasurer at Western Union’s headquarters to determine if they qualified for the plan.

The committee was also responsible for holding regular meetings to discuss new housing plans and to submit monthly reports to Western Union’s General Auditor about their loan accounts and the status of employee loans and insurance, and also to advise other Western Union Housing Plan committees at company sites in St. Pierre Et Miquelon and Hearts Content, NF. They also worked with Canadian Aladdin Company, a housing design firm that sold pre-fabricated homes to employees. The properties purchased by employees would belong to Western Union until the employee paid off their loan. If employees were still taking a loan from the company and they were transferred, they could either stay in the program and would be given a property in their new location or opt out of the program and lose their housing benefits. The program was intended for employees below the manager level that worked a certain number of years. The committee began in 1919 and existed until at least 1934.

Corporate body · 1875 - 1962

The Western Union Cable Station at North Sydney began operation in August 1875 following the completion of underwater cable installation between Heart's Content, Newfoundland and Lloyd's Cove (Sydney Mines). The original station was located on Commercial Street in North Sydney and moved to Court Street in 1914 to accommodate a growing staff.

At the height of operations during the First World War, the office processed an average of 30,000 messages daily with a staff of over three hundred. Automation during the late 1920s resulted in a staff reduction and eventually the office was closed in 1962 after significant advances in satellite communications. The building was demolished August 15, 2016.

Willmot, Percy
Person · 1887-1919

Lieut. Percy Charles Willmot was born in 1887 in Birmingham, England. He came to Canada as a young man and worked at Crowell's Ltd., Sydney until his enlistment in 1914. He served Overseas with the 25th Battalion until 1919 when he was invalided home. He died 27 December 1919.