Posted on

Thomas Stone’s role in the North Atlantic Treaty

Thomas Stone’s role in the North Atlantic Treaty

Stone -> Howell

 
Thomas Archibald Stone
 

In June of 2006 I received an interesting email from Michael Manulak, a student at the University of Toronto. Mr. Manulak said he saw this web site and was developing a detailed research paper on the negotiation of the North Atlantic Treaty in 1948-1949, in which our Thomas Archibald Stone “played an integral role in Washington from July- September 1948.” Mr. Manulak asked if I would put him in contact with family members who knew Mr. Stone which I was happy to do.

In December he forwarded a copy of his completed paper titled The Gentle Nudge: The Canadian Department of External Affairs and the North Atlantic Treaty, 1948-1949, with the following note:

You will note that there are several references to Thomas Stone throughout the paper describing his role within the context of the negotiations. You will also note that there is a small section describing him personally on pgs. 11-12. For this I relied extensively on your (Mr. Spencer Howell & Ellen Devine’s interviews) as well as some additional research. Although brief, I do believe it is the most extensive research on him to date. I am very grateful for your help with this.

I encourage you to read the entire paper (download a copy here), but here are two excerpts – the first from p.9:

The most active Canadians at the NAT talks were: Lester B. Pearson, Hume Wrong, Thomas A. Stone and Escott Reid.

Then from p.11

Thomas A. Stone, the Canadian Minister in Washington, served more extensively than any Canadian during the NAT negotiations. Having grown up in Chatham, ON, Stone was a close personal friend of Pearson’s from their childhood. In terms of his personality, Henderson describes Stone as having a “great good nature” and being “particularly benign”. Stone’s opinions were essentially internationalist, however, with a greater hint of pragmatism than Reid or Pearson. In Washington, Stone was particularly well-connected having started his career there as a Third Secretary in 1927. In the embassy in Washington, Stone was seen as indispensable to the point that Wrong sought to delay Stone’s departure from Washington in the summer of 1949 (for an Ambassadorship in Sweden). Stone, a great entertainer, played musically and, according to Pearson his parties were “famous on two continents”. These parties were a known forum for high level diplomacy. Stone maintained close personal relations with Acheson, Hickerson and Theodore Achilles and “very often saw them socially”. He had an especially close personal friendship with Achilles and, as a result, one can observe that nearly all conversations with Achilles are made through Stone.

Thanks to Mr. Manulak’s paper we now have a better understanding of Thomas Stone’s significant role in developing the agreement which forms the basis for the existence of NATO today.

Posted on

The Hickman Family Reunion!

Hickman -> Davison -> Howell
(click above to see relationships)

As mentioned in the April 28th entry – the Hickman Family reunion (download invitation) was something we were looking forward to with great anticipation.

Marlene Tingley Hickman and Judy Hickman Morison make a great team and they put a huge effort into making this a great and memorable event for all. A huge thank-you is in order!

It was perfect.

The reunion was held in Dorchester, New Brunswick, Canada at the “Joseph Hickman House” – 2x-4x Great Grandparent of the Howell’s living today. The current occupants of the now two-unit house are descendants of Joseph Hickman – brother and sister Judy and Bob Hickman, and their spouses Cole Morison and Marlene Tingley. The house, located just minutes from one of the very northernmost tips of the Bay of Fundy, has remained in the Hickman family continuously – many of the beautiful furnishings are the original pieces from the 1830’s – no doubt some imported from England on Hickman-built sailing barques.

 
Judy Hickman Morison and her brother Bob Hickman welcome the crowd
 Our researcher – Marlene Tingley Hickman and local author & historian Helen M. Petchey who wrote The Hickmans in Dorchester’s Heyday!
 

There was so much ‘new’ (to me) family history information made available from Marlene’s resarch that it will take months to digest it all. Not only researched, but photocopied and placed in binders to take home! Marlene gave the group a bus tour of the area showing the locations of the various historical points which ended at the Dorchester graveyard where many of the Hickmans are buried, including our own Alma.

After dinner Judy provided a PowerPoint slide show of old photographs of the various Hickman owned businesses and properties in and around Dorchester. Brief introductory comments were made by several present. Joe Hickman noted for us all that a hallmark theme of the Hickman family has always been it’s hospitality – clearly in full-force on this occasion.

 Some of the many items on display at the Hickman House
 

aCharlie Hickman is another very active Hickman researcher with whom I correspond, and it was great to meet him and his family in person. He and his father are both avid sailors. Charlie and Marlene have gathered much on the ships that were built, owned and operated by the Hickmans.

Alma Minora Hickman Davison – is Dad’s 2x Great Grandmother, and is our first link with the Hickmans as we go back generation by generation.



Alma Minora Hickman Davison (1855-1884)
 

Among the many family artifacts and photos on display were this large framed drawing (above), and the photo (below) of Alma Hickman – very exciting to us Howells as these are the first images of Alma we have seen!

Apparently because Alma died at the age of 29 when her daughter Nellie Davison was 4 years old there is very little information about her. The discovery of who Alma was, is a relatively new thing to the Howell family – in fact I noted that we had located her gravestone in an entry here Nov 18, 2003. A few months prior to that I didn’t even know her name and had never heard it mentioned in the family. We have come a long way with the discovery of these images.


“Alma Hickman”
From a photo album in the Keillor Museum on loan for the reunion.
(image approx. 3″ x 5″)

Now we have a starting point to look through the Davison family photos in Nova Scotia, and see if we can find a match!


Trinity Anglican Church, Dorchester, NB (est. 1836)
July 31, 2005
A final highlight of the reunion for us was attending the special service at the Trinity Anglican Church in Dorchester. Only a few steps from the Joseph Hickman House, the Hickman families have attendend and suppoted this small church since the early 1800’s. Marriages, funerals, baptisms – you could almost hear the echoes.

And a most fitting end to our visit – as we went back to the very place where our family association with the Hickmans began 125 years ago when Alma Hickman and E. D. Davison, Jr. were married.

(Update: August 13, 2005 – Just learned that the Sackville Tribune-Post ran a nice article on the reunion. Complete with photo! Click here to view the archived copy.)

Posted on

A visit with the Lathrop’s at Red Top

Davison -> Howell; Davison-> Lathrop
(Click above to see the relationship)

 
View from ‘Red Top’ of the La Have River near Bridgewater, NS This schooner belonged to Budd Davison, and this photo was the centerpiece of Budd and Marj’s Christmas card (taken perhaps in 1950’s. – photo from Stuart Davison’s collection)
 

‘Red Top’ is a long-time summer gathering place for many in the Davison clan and their families in Canada. One hundred years ago, Red Top was a cook-house for one of the lumber mills belonging to E.D. Davison & Sons.

We (Dad, Claire, Susan and I), were invited to a wonderful lunch here, and an impromptu family gathering hosted by the current owners – cousin Ned Lathrop and his wife Diane. Also present were Ned’s brother & sister, John Howland Lathrop and Margot Lathrop Brebner who also have homes nearby. We were especially honored that D. Whiting Lathrop (age 91), and father/grandfather/great grandfather of the clan present, was there. Whiting’s wife, our cousin Margaret Helen Davison, was to arrive in a few days, but Dad and I did get to spend a few minutes with her on the telephone – more on that in a minute.. Also present: Ned and Diane

Posted on

Planning a visit to The Maritimes

As part of an extended tour of Nova Scotia and New Brunswick, we are most looking forward to saying hello to our cousins attending the Hickman family reunion this summer in lovely Dorchester, New Brunswick, Canada!

The reunion will take place at the original Joseph Hickman House, a home that has continuously remained in the Hickman family since Joseph built it in 1834.

Cousin Judy Hickman Morison writes:

“….an old photo of the house taken by Albert Hickman and was accessed through the archives in Fredericton. There are no barns on the property now – in it’s heyday it was said to be an experimental farm. It was build by my great great grandfather Joseph Hickman (1821-1889) and run following his death by John Howard Hickman…”

Joseph Hickman is our Ellen M. “Nellie” (Davison) Howell’s grandfather. Our Hickman cousins, some living in the home today, and with whom I am now regularly corresponding, all descend from Nellie’s mother’s (Alma Minora (Hickman) Davison’s) younger brother by 3 years, John Howard Hickman (1858 – 1921).

To visualize click here

It is particularly interesting to be re-connected with the Hickman branch of the family. The lack of contact and knowledge from our end was likely due to a series of events that started with the untimely death of Nellies mother, Alma Hickman, at age 29, when Nellie was only 4 years old and living in Bridgewater, NS – 180 miles from her relatives in New Brunswick.

Plans for our trip “up north” are now underway!

Posted on

Darcy McKeough’s Stone Charts

Last November, just before Thanksgiving, I received an express delivery package from W. Darcy McKeough – our expert on the Stone line. The package contained 6 very large handwritten charts – the largest two being about 11 ft long! All were ledger sheets taped together. These draft charts represent the result of many many years of work and collectively contain details on 515 descendants of Laurence Stone. I believe Darcy is getting ever closer to his goal of publishing much of his research in book form.

After many keyboarding sessions, I have finally completed merging the data in the charts into my database so they may be viewed online. Here is a report of the complete list of Laurence Stone (b. 1745, England) descendants in our database:

Descendant List (Register format) for Laurence Stone

Once again, we owe Darcy a great debt for sharing his research so generously!

Posted on

New Brunswick Vital Statistics

Hickman -> Davison -> Howell

The latest “SAE service” search results on “Hickman” arrived yesterday from Dan Johnson, highly regarded compiler of the “Vital Statistics from New Brunswick Newspapers” There is probably a connection to our tree; especially #2176 below, but not conclusive for now.

(Here is the latest list of all the Hickman ‘s in our database.)

“Vital Statistics From New Brunswick (Canada) Newspapers” Vol. 93

2863 Dorchester (West. Co.) Sept. 4 – There was excitement in our town when it became known that Rev. J. Roy Campbell was to perform a marriage ceremony between Fred FERGUSON of Kingston, Richibucto (Kent Co.) and Florence PECK d/o late J.B. PECK, clerk of the county court and granddaughter of John HICKMAN, ex-collector of customs. Charles S. HICKMAN acted as groomsman and Miss Peck’s sister as bridesmaid. Trinity church was crowded. 5 September 1894 D.T.

“Vital Statistics From New Brunswick (Canada) Newspapers” Vol. 94

2168 Dorchester items announce the marriage of Miss Florence PECK d/o late J.B. PECK, Q.C. to Mrs. Fred FERGUSON. The ceremony was performed in Trnity Church by Rev. J. Roy Campbell at 6 o’clock Tuesday eve. The bride entered the church leaning on the arm of her grandfather John HICKMAN, Esq. Mrs. W.H. BUCK of Truro, sister of the bride, acted as bridemaid and the groom was supported by C.S. HICKMAN, Dorchester. 6 September 1894 POST2176 Born – Dorchester (West. Co.) 25th inst., to the wife of John HICKMAN, a son. 6 September 1894 POST

Posted on

The Hickman Sea Sled

Hickman -> Davison -> Howell

In the 1800’s our Hickman’s are living in New Brunswick, Canada – they include ship builders and lawyers.

Allison CHURCH Bird wrote to sayWilliam Albert Hickman (nephew of our Alma Hickman) invented the Hickman Sea Sled — Scientific American Sept. 26, 1914 says: “A new type of vessel, which promises to revolutionize water craft and which takes the same place on the water that the automobile does on land.”