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| | LEVEL OF DESCRIPTION: | Fonds | | No.: | PR1260 | | TITLE: | Geddes Family Fonds | | CREATOR: | Geddes Family | | DATE RANGE: | 1805 - 1990 | | EXTENT: | 9 m of textual records and other material
The fonds also includes 3005 negatives, 2240 photographs, 107 slides, 10 audio cassettes, 1 map, and 17 plans. | | ADMINISTRATIVE | | HISTORY/BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCH: | Malcolm Daniel Geddes was born in Wick, Scotland in 1866. In 1877, he arrived in Canada and settled with his family on a farm beside Lake Cecebe, Ontario. He attended Ontario Agriculture College and graduated in 1898. In 1902, Malcolm moved to Winnipeg to write for the Farmer's Advocate, but returned to Ontario in the next year to marry Mary Jane (Jennie) Waters. Malcolm and Jennie moved to Calgary and the next year, Malcolm helped establish the first farm paper in Western Canada, The Farm and Ranch Review. In 1917, Malcolm joined the Alpine Club of Canada. In 1924, he became one of a party to first climb Mt. Geikie in Jasper National Park. Malcolm served as Honorary Secretary from 1924 to 1926 and National Librarian for the Alpine Club of Canada. In 1927, Malcolm died in a mountaineering accident on Mount Lefroy in the Rocky Mountains in Alberta.
Malcolm and Jennie had two children: Alvin Brookes Geddes and and Enid Jeane Geddes (Darroch). Alvin Geddes had three children: William (Bill) Geddes, Ruth Elliot, and Anne Geddes.
Enid Darroch had four children: Malcolm Darroch, Gordon Darroch, Gail Benjafield, and Karen Probert.
Olive Mary Oke (neé Spacey, 1864 - 1959) moved to Creemore, Ontario from England in 1870. In 1885, she married W.T. "Tony" Oke. Tony worked for the Grand Trunk Railway, and later, Canadian National (CN). While Tony worked for the railway lines, the family lived in the Jasper area, Edson, and Edmonton. Olive maintained regularly correspondence with her family and was involved in cultural and church activities. She became president of the Women's Auxiliary at Edmonton's All Saints' Cathedral. Malcolm and Jennie Geddes' son, Alvin, married Tony and Olive Oke's daughter, Olive, in 1931.
Alvin Geddes was born in 1902 in Calgary. He attended South Calgary High School. In 1924, he attended the University of Alberta. After the University of Alberta, he attended Iowa State College of Agriculture and Mechanic Arts. Following his graduation from Iowa State in 1927, Alvin began working for Westinghouse Electric and Manufacturing in Pittsburgh. He then transferred to the Canadian branch of Westinghouse in Ontario. Alvin moved to Calgary with Westinghouse and began working as a salesperson. In 1943, he began working for National Supply. Alvin held several positions in National Supply as an order clerk, sales engineer, store manager, field salesman, district manager, and division manager. In 1968, Alvin formed Geddes Engineering Ltd. and Oilfield Personnel Canada Ltd. Alvin died in 1990.
William Geddes was born in 1932. He worked as a lawyer in Edmonton, Alberta. William passed away in 2001.
| | SCOPE AND CONTENT: | The fonds documents the life and activities of the Geddes family and consists of photographs, publications, clippings, certificates, sound recordings, maps, plans, correspondence, and cards. In particular, the fonds documents Malcolm Geddes activities with the Alpine Club of Canada from 1917 to 1927; Tony Oke's career with CN during the early part of the 20th century; and Alvin Geddes engineering career and his business venture, Geddes Engineering Ltd, during the 1960s to the 1980s. The fonds also includes poetry and writings by Malcolm Geddes as well as family histories and genealogical information written and collected by members of the Geddes Family dating from the 1910s to the 1990s. The fonds also contains a cassette capturing an oral history interview with Alvin Geddes completed for the Petroleum Industry Oral History Project at the Glenbow Archives. | | ASSOCIATED MATERIAL: | For more material on the Geddes Family, please see the Malcolm Geddes fonds at the Whyte Museum of the Canadian Rockies, Library and Archives.
For more material on the Alpine Club of Canada, please see the Alpine Club of Canada fonds at the Whyte Museum of the Canadian Rockies, Library and Archives and the Alpine Club of Canada, Calgary Section fonds at the Glenbow Archives.
For an interview with Alvin Geddes, please see the Petroleum Industry Oral History Project at the Glenbow Archives.
| | GENERAL NOTE: | Information for the administrative history/biographical sketch sourced from the fonds.
Please also see Canadian Alpine Journal Vol. XIV, 1924 for information on Malcolm Geddes mountaineering career.
| | RELATED FILES: | Display FileList |
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