Arthur Charles Neish, 1916 - 1973

Abstract

Arthur Charles Neish was born in Granville Ferry, Nova Scotia, on 4 July 1916, the first son and third child of a family of two daughters and two sons. His father, Charles Wiswell Neish, was an Anglican priest in the Diocese of Nova Scotia. His mother, Florence Mabel ( née Canavan), was a graduate in geology of Kings College which was situated in Windsor, Nova Scotia, at that time. Arthur Neish’s paternal grandfather, David Neish, was a native of Dundee, Scotland, and was educated at the Universities of Glasgow, Aberdeen and Edinburgh. He was an Anglican priest in the Diocese of Nova Scotia at the time of his death. He married Sarah Sanford Wiswell of Halifax, Nova Scotia, a descendant of a Massachusetts family (originally Puritans) who remained loyal to the Crown during the American Revolution and emigrated to Canada. His maternal grandfather, Robert Canavan, was of Irish ancestry and was a building contractor in Nova Scotia. He married Annie Morrison of Whycocomagh, Cape Breton, Nova Scotia. She was a descendant of a Scottish Highland family. On 10 June 1944 Arthur Neish married Dorothy Ann Ray in Montreal, Quebec. She was the only child of Arthur Gordon Ray and Dorothy Ray (née Slack). Her maternal grandfather (George Slack) was Treasurer of the Bell Telephone Company in Montreal. Arthur Neish lived in several small towns and villages in Nova Scotia and Prince Edward Island during his childhood. Some were agricultural communities, others were fishing villages.