Dr. Bovington was born in Gonbridge Wells, Kent County, England on December 2, 1869 to Richard and Emma Bovington (nee Deuch). He came to Canada in 1890. After training for the ministry at Woodstock College and McMaster University, where he graduated in 1899, he attended Rochester Theological Seminary before being ordained in Victoria BC. In addition to Victoria, Bovington held pastorages in Windsor and St. Thomas, ON.
Bovington married his wife Martha Lockhart (1870-1957) in Oxford, ON on January 3, 1900. The couple had at least four children: Richard Dadson (1901-1972), Marguerite Agnes (1902-1975), David L (1904-1953) and Archibald T (1906-1983).
In 1906, Bovington went to Rochester to take his Doctor of Divinity; while there he was an instructor in Systematic Theology and Homiletics. In 1915, he took his Master's in Systematic Theology at the University of Chicago. From 1916 - 1925, Bovington served as the pastor of First Baptist Church, Cleveland, OH.
In 1925, Bovington was asked to become the fourth president of Brandon College. Although he accepted the position his wife and family did not accompany him to Brandon when he arrived in the summer of 1925. Bovington resigned from the Presidency on May 24, 1926, claiming that the pressure of trying to secure funds for the financial support of the school was beyond his strength.
David Bovington died in Cleveland, OH on August 21, 1955.
Scope and Content
Dr. Bovington was President for only nine months. His collection includes correspondence regarding the Baptist Union of Western Canada, Modernists, and Dr. MacNeill. As well, religious field work is documented. There is quite a bit of correspondence from the Registrar and Bursar regarding student accounts. Fundraising for Brandon College is documented, especially the Davies’ Fund campaign and the Endowment Fund campaign. There is quite a bit of correspondence to and from Dr. MacNeill, who was Acting President, from before Dr. Bovington arrived in Brandon and after he resigned.
David Andrew Brown was born on October 30, 1894 near Dumfries, Scotland. His family arrived in Canada in 1908 and settled on a farm east of Deloraine, MB in the Hazeldean district. David attended Manitoba Agriculture College, graduating in 1920. Following graduation he was appointed assistant to the professor of horticulture and was given responsibility for directing all the experimental work with vegetables, fruits and flowers, as well as upkeep of the College campus. He briefly accepted a teaching position in botany in the Teulon, Gunton and Balmoral high schools, before becoming the assistant superintendent of the Federal Government Station in Mordon, MB in 1922. David married Edith Merle McKenzie (1900-1995) on July 22, 1922 and together they had three children: Ian, Dorothy and Shirley.
In 1928, David moved from the Morden Experimental Farm to take the position of supervisor of illustration stations at the Brandon Experimental Farm. In this role he travelled the province planting experimental cereal crops and working to reclaim soil lost to erosion during the draught of the 1930s. In 1947, he became the assistant superintendent, a position he held until his retirement in 1959. Following his retirement, David was instrumental in establisting the Agricultural Hall of Fame. He was very active in this organization until he was involved in an accident in March 1988. David was a life member of the Agricultural Institute of Canada and served terms as the president of the Manitoba Institute of Agrologists and the Manitoba Horticultural Society. He was also a well-known landscape planner for many Brandon residents and rural homesteads, a judge at local summer horticultural fairs and a member of Knox United Church, where he served as a choir member, an elder on the church board and as clerk of session. In 1977, the University of Manitoba conferred the honorary degree of L.L.D. upon him to acknowledge his oustanding contribution to agriculture in Manitoba. David Brown died on July 4, 1990 in Brandon, MB. He is buried at Rosewood Memorial Gardens.
Custodial History
As part of the Westman Oral History Collection, this collection was accessioned by the McKee Archives in 1998. The original tapes from the Westman Oral History project were deposited in the Brandon Public Library. Copies of these originals were made by Margaret Pollex of the Brandon University Language Lab at the request of Eileen McFadden, University Archivist in the early 1990s. These copies compose the collection held in the McKee Archives.
Scope and Content
Item is an audiocassette tape containing an interview with David A. Brown, about his life and career, as well as the early history of Manitoba agriculture. The interviewer is Frank Anderson.
Notes
History/bio information from the records and Brown's obituary. Description by Christy Henry.
Language Note
English
Conservation
Preservation copy made 2021 (R. Hess)
Audio Tracks
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2 mm (1 two-page letter -- 1 letter with envelope)
History / Biographical
David Sommerville Charleson was born January 14th, 1884, in Brandon, Manitoba. The Charleson's settled in the GlenSouris area south of Brandon, Manitoba in 1882. David Charleson enlisted on 24 September 1914. He served as a lieutenant in the 6th Infantry Battalion of the Canadian Expeditionary Force. Later, he transferred to the 8th Battalion. In Belgium, Charleson was a victim of an enemy gas attack early in the war, following which he returned to Canada incapacitated. Miss Estella Cullen, a trained nurse, cared for him following his return to Canada. David Sommerville Charleson died on May 12, 1925 a victim of war-time injuries. He is buried in the GlenSouris Cemetery just south of Brandon.
Custodial History
This fonds was accessioned by the McKee Archives in 1997. Prior custodial history is unknown.
Scope and Content
Fonds consists of one letter written by Charleson from Belgium in early 1915 to Miss Estella Cullen in Rounthwaite, Manitoba. In the letter, Charleson describes the circumstances facing the Canadian troops in the trenches during the Great War and provides an account of the German trenches facing him. This is an evocative and reflective letter. Philatelists may find the condition of the stamps on the letter envelope of interest.
