George McKay Robinson (1871 - 1968)

Born Jul 1871 in Halifax, Halifax, Nova Scotia, Canada

Ancestors

Died 23 Aug 1968 at age 97 in Halifax, Halifax, Nova Scotia, Canada

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Biography

George was born in 1871. He was the son of Thomas Robinson and Barbara McKay.

He married 30 Sep 1903, Louise Tozer, daughter of Aaron and Fanny Tozer of Halifax. She was born 12 Dec 1875 and died 23 Dec 1962.

George was less than three when, in 1873, the family nurse took him to see the funeral cortege of Joseph Howe wind slowly through the streets of Halifax. He was a young man in 1894 when the body of Halifax-born Sir John S. D. Thompson, prime minister of Canada, who had died at Windsor Castle, was brought back in the warship HMS Blenheim from England for interment in Holy Cross cemetery.

The 1901 census lists George as a blacksmith, age 20, whereas his older brother William was listed as a livery stable keeper. George remained behind to help run Robinsons Livery Stables when his brothers William, Thomas and Arthur went to fight in the Boer War. George took over the operation of Robinson's Livery Stables after the death of his father in 1925. As a young man, he brought one of the first motor cars to Halifax in 1900. When the horses in Mr. Robinson's livery stables were replaced by the internal combustion engine, he set up the first motorized taxi service in Nova Scotia. As well as a car salesman, George was a representative of as many as six different companies and sold everything from dry goods to gravestones.

On his eldest daughter's birth certificate, he listed his occupation as tourist agent.

In 1911, George, manager of stables, 38, Louisa, 36, Dorothy, 7, Arthur, 4, Frances, 4 and Cyril, 1, were residing in Halifax.^[1]

In 1921, George, livery business, 48, Louisa, 46, Dorothy, 16, Arthur, 14, Frances, 13, and Cyril, 11, were residing in Halifax.^[2]

Around the turn of the century, a friend returned from a trip to New York and told him about tours being run in that city. George took the initiative to undertake the first tourist business of its kind in Nova Scotia when he purchased a five-seater buckboard in which to conduct his tours. His organized trips went as far as the Toronto Exhibition and south to Florida. Around this time, he became an active member of the Halifax Board of Trade. As an early promoter of tourism in Nova Scotia, several of his articles appeared in the editorial pages of the Halifax papers. At the time of his death he was listed as the oldest active mason in the British Overseas Empire and the oldest travelling salesman.

He passed away in 1968 at the age of 97 and is buried in the St. John's Cemetery, Halifax.

Children (All born in Halifax):

1. Dorothy Edna McKay, b. 15 Nov 1904, d. 1991, unm.
2. George Arthur Wallis, b. 31 Aug 1906; m. 21 Nov 1964 in All Saints Cathedral, Halifax, Phyllis Evelyn Wilson Coote, d. in Halifax.
3. Frances Louise Florence, b. Sep 1907; m. 21 Apr 1939 in Halifax, Harold Vaughn, d. 1956, bur. St. John's Cemetery, Halifax. They had issue (surname Vaughn): Nancy Louise, b. 1941 and Dorothy Janet, b. 1943.
4. Cyril Gordon, b. 6 Jul 1909, d. 1971, bur. St. John's Cemetery, Halifax. 2 ch

Sources

1. ↑ 1911 census, Halifax, Nova Scotia page 1, page 2
2. ↑ 1921 census, Halifax, Nova Scotia

• 1901 census, Halifax Co., Nova Scotia, Canada