T.B. Lafferty. 2 Canadian small Pocket diaries
Date Published: 1891-92
Binding: Self-cover
T.B. Lafferty. 2 Canadian Pocket diaries, 1891-2 each 2-3/4 x 4 inches. In his 1891 diary, Lafferty has signed his name and his place of residence, Calgary N.W.T. (North West Territories). In the 1892 diary his place of residence is Perth Canada, the town in eastern Ontario southwest of Ottawa. Born in 1863 in Perth, Lafferty was the son of James Lafferty (1824-1881) and Elizabeth Brown Lafferty (1829-1901). He had seven brothers and four sisters. Four of his brothers became physicians, including James Delamere Lafferty, a founder of the College of Physicians and Surgeons of Alberta and Calgary’s fifth mayor (1890-1). He married Nina Elizabeth Sutherland (1865-1922) on 8 December 1887. They had at least two children. In the 1890s Lafferty was a lawyer in Orillia, Ontario, with the firm McCosh & Lafferty. John McCosh was satirized in Stephen Leacock`s Sunshine Sketches as Judge Pepperleigh. Lafferty died in 1925. T.B. Lafferty information researched from a dozen sources including newspapers in Orillia and Toronto, cemeteries, etc.
The entries in Lafferty`s diaries, written in pencil, are often pithy, indicating where he was living, his extensive travels mainly by train, money paid or received, goods purchased, letters written to various correspondents, his interactions with family (wife and mother), acquaintances, legal clients, and companies. Names and addresses are at the end of the diaries, including that of Sir Charles Tupper (later Prime Minister of Canada in 1896), the Canadian High Commissioner to the United Kingdom). Many of the entries between April and July 1891 are blank. At the beginning of 1891, he was engaged in a lawsuit in the Supreme Court of the Northwest Territories, between Le Jeune, Smith & Co. (plaintiffs), appellants, and T.B. Lafferty and A.C. Sparrow, defendants, and H.A. Sparrow (defendant). On 26-7 January 1891, he was in High River. His second son was born on 13 April 1891. On 27 July 1891, he left Winnipeg for Toronto and was back in Perth on 1 July. On 3 September 1891, he left for Toronto on the way to Winnipeg. From mid-September to mid-December 1891, he was camping and travelling on foot and by horse in Manitoba (Lake Dauphin, Meadow Portage), sometimes staying on Indian reserves and posts of the Hudson Bay Company (his entries for this time period are more detailed). He was back in Perth just before Christmas 1891. He stayed in Perth and Toronto until 12 April 1892, leaving for Chicago, Winnipeg, and Calgary. On 31 May 1892, he departed for Minot, North Dakota, was in St. Paul and Minneapolis, returned briefly to Calgary, went to Winnipeg, and returned once again to Calgary. On the way to Winnipeg on 13 July 1892, he met Rudyard Kipling. He was in Perth on 19 July 1892. He stayed there but travelled frequently to cities and towns in southern Ontario for the rest of the year. On 1 December 1892, he began his partnership with John McCosh in Orillia.
Diaries on consignment with LDRB
Item #8700
$600.00 USD
$803.45 CAD