Wharfinger W. A. Geddes

Mr. W. A. Geddes has been a prominent figure in marine circles around Toronto since the year 1869 and is a man well worthy of notice. He was born April 3, 1847, in Easter, his native place being South Waterloo, near Galt, Ontario. Mr. Geddes education was received at the Galt schools of the old ward system, ultimately, in 1857, superseded by the Central School, which Mr. Geddes attended. Leaving school in 1860, he entered mercantile life and served for several years in general stores in Galt,Barrie,Guelph and Doon, having full charge of the business of the latter town. From Doon,Mr. Geddes moved to Hamilton and went into business in partnership with Mr. Alexander Alexander. Trade prospered there for some years, but the confinement told on Mr. Geddes' health, so in 1869 he took to sailing on the waters of the great lakes. First of all he went as purser on the big, side-wheeler Osprey, the largest steamer on the lakes in those days. For two years he stayed in the Osprey, being subsequently succeeded in the steamers Bristol,St. Lawrence, and City of Chatham, and was on the latter vessel when she burnt in June, 1873, at her dock in Hamilton.

Coming to Toronto,Mr. Geddes was offered and accepted the position of western representative of the firm of George E. Jaques & Company, prominent forwarders of Montreal.Mr. Geddes succeeded Mr. Henry Jacques in this post, who was a capable man, but whom Mr. Geddes worthily followed, for he acted as the firm's representative for five succeeding years, in 1874 at the request of friends of the late William Higinbotham,Mr. Geddes took charge of the dock at the foot of Yonge Street, known then as the Custom House wharf, and situated where now the numerous railway tracks are on the Esplanade. With this property Mr. Geddes has been continuously connected until the present day, with the exception of the year 1894, when he had leased the Milloy wharf, because the city refused to renew his lease of the city wharf for the rental which he offered.

With his usual enterprise, Mr. Geddes became interested in the steamer Cuba in 1877, in the steamer California in 1880, and in the Merchants' Montreal & Chicago Shipping Company in 1882. In the year 1890 he purchased the steamer Ocean in company with Messrs. G. E. Jaques & Co., of Montreal. In passing, it is worthy to mention that during all the years since 1873. Mr. Geddes connection with the Messrs. Jaques has been of the closest character.

Among his other achievements Mr. Geddes was instrumental in 1885 in forming, with several other steamboat owners and vesselmen, what has subsequently been known as the Canadian Marine Association, and which comprised in its inception all the principle vessel owners and marine men then to the front. Mr. Geddes was appointed Secretary and Treasurer, which posts he held for nine years, being then elected President for two years, after which he requested to have a minor office, and made way for some other aspirants to the chair. He still is an officer of the association.

There is required no great stretch of the imagination to say that the volume of business done at the Geddes wharf is probably the largest for any single dock in Canada. All the buildings and enclosures and the facilities for handling freight and passengers were constructed by the city authorities from plans drafted from the ideas of Mr. Geddes. This wharf is used by the fine steel steamboats of the Hamilton Steamboat Company, the Macassa and the Modjeska, the steamers Empress of India,Garden City,Queen City,A. J. Tymon,Ocean,Persia,Cuba,Arabian,Melbourne, as regular vessels, and by numerous other transient large lake craft. Geddes wharf is known among vesselmen from Fort William to the seaboard.

One of the important incidents in Mr. Geddes career was the arrival in Toronto of the big steel propeller, Rosedale, in July of the year 1888, that vessel having come from Sunderland, on the Tyne, in the north of England, where she was built for Messrs. Geddes, Crangle & Hagarty of Toronto port. These gentlemen had each a third interest in the vessel. Her original cost was £15,000, and subsequently in this country she was lengthened to the full Welland Canal size at an additional expenditure of about $30,000. The Rosedale was notable as being the first steel steamboat to carry a cargo of freight all the way from Britain to Chicago without breaking bulk, she making that trip as her maiden run, with 5,000 barrels of cement. There was much regret in marine circles when the Rosedale grounded upon the rocks of East Charity shoals, within a few miles of her destination, at midday on Sunday, December 5, 1897, whilst bound from Fort William to Prescott with wheat. She was subsequently released by the insurance men.

Along with his other responsibilities Mr. Geddes fills the position of Harbor Commissioner at Toronto port, and has acted on that board for three years. His energy in seeking the betterment of Toronto Harbour is proverbial, and many improvements on the waterfront can be pointed to as being results of his advice.

Mr. Geddes was married on December 22, 1870, in Hamilton, to Miss Trowell, daughter of the late Capt. John Trowell, of Kingston. For two years after his marriage he continued to dwell in Hamilton. Six children were born to Mr. and Mrs. Geddes, the two eldest of whom died, the family now consisting of three daughters and a son. The latter, William Alfred Geddes, jun., who is the third eldest of the family, assists his father in the wharf business.

Ever since Mr. Geddes came to Toronto in September 1873, he has been connected with St. Peter's [Anglican] Church, at the corner of Carlton and Bleeker streets. For two years he was warden.

Before closing this sketch it is pertinent to point out that no true history of the Great Lakes could be written which did not include the name of Wharfinger W. A. Geddes, the man who has been delegate to Ottawa on several occasions to successfully beard the Government lions in their den for the advantage of the Canadian marine, who, as well as his other affiliations, has a seat on the Toronto Board of Trade, who is a sturdy combatant in the marine section of the Board of Trade, a true citizen of Toronto, and a patriotic Canadian.

Globe, Tuesday, March 8, 1898: The Persia has been acquired by Messrs. W. A. Geddes, of Toronto, and Jaques, of Montreal,Capt. Crangle and Mr. J. H. G. Hagarty having sold these gentlemen their interest. The Persia, under command of Capt. Scott, will run on the Montreal - Toronto route as a sister to the Ocean.

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