Item

David William MacKay, Photographer

Beacon
May 30/1889
Mr. Wm. MacKay has supplied St. Andrews with a photographic saloon.

Beacon
Nov 13/1890
Fires Last Week
Two Mysterious Fires occur within a few hours of each other.
“It never rains but it pours” is an adage that has once again been verified. On Friday night about five o’clock, consternation was caused in town by the sudden appearance of flame in the outskirts. At first it was thought that it has the Alms House that had caught fire, but in a few minutes all doubts on this point were set at rest, as the fire was found to be in John Doherty’s barn on the Bar Road. The building contained about three tons of hay, a mowing machine and some other articles. Everything was burned. it is not known how the fire occurred. The barn and contents were insured in the Lancashire office for $400.
            Between 12 and 1 o’clock the next morning the townspeople were alarmed by the wild clanging of the fire bell. As no blaze could be seen many thought it was a false alarm, but as it continued to peal they turned out to find the firemen industriously at work trying to smother a fire in the one-storey wooden building on King St., owned by Capt. Green, and occupied by W. D. McKay as a photograph saloon. As the ire had made little headway, and was easily reached, it was soon subdued. Mr. McKay got out the most of his furniture and effects before they were destroyed. There was no insurance on the building. There is a belief that the fire was of an incendiary origin.

Beacon
July 23/1891
W. D. MacKay, photographer, may be found at his old rooms, King Street, every day except Sunday and Monday.

Beacon
July 12/1894
Photographer McKay is on deck for the season. IN rooms adjoining County building on King St.

Beacon
Aug 8/1895
The secret of the popularity of Mr. McKay’s photographs is to be found in the fact that they are true to Nature, as well as being artistically finished. He has some splendid views of St. Andrews. His individual portraits will be found very pleasing. His studio adjoins the County building.

Beacon
Oct 10/1895
William MacKay has taken splendid group photo of St. Andrews band.

Beacon
Sept 30, 1897
D. Will McKay, photographer, will be in St. Andrews for ten days from October 1st.

Beacon
Oct 3/1912
D. Will MacKay, “the up-to-date photographer of SA,” will erect a 2-story hall on his property at upper end of Water Street, 30 x 60 feet. Upper floor for moving pictures, lower floor as auto garage. “During the summer season the building will be supplied with electric lights and the Chamcook water.”

Some Fine Photos—Mr. D. Will MacKay, photographer, has been rushed with order for photos of the Duke of Connaught’s visit. On the day of the public celebration, Mr. MacKay secured a number of good views, one shows the vice-regal party and reception committee moving up the wharf; another the public square, with many motors an carriages; a third, King street with the procession moving towards the school; a fourth, the ceremony at the school, besides a number of Water street and other part of the town. (

St. Croix Courier
April 23/1914
D. Will MacKay has taken photographs of the ruins of the “Algonquin hotel for Peter Lyall and sons, contractors, Montreal. (CPR Archives series?)

St. Croix Courier
Aug 16/1923
Mrs. D. W. MacKay entertained a number of little girls on Thursday for the pleasure of her daughter Rose, whose birthday it was.

St. Croix Courier
Aug 14/1924
Little Rose Mackay celebrated her 10th birthday last Saturday by giving a delightful picnic to her friends. Devonish still in town. W. C. O’Neill and Earl Caughey in university--O’Neill at Mt. Allison or St. F. X. or Acadia, Caughey at UNB. David Caughey Grade 5.

St. Croix Courier?
Oct 6, 1937
Death of D. Will MacKay (get details)

St. Croix Courier
October 1/1942
Shiretown Items
Gladys Forster has shown us a collection of photographs taken around town about 1890 [this would be the souvenir collection by W. D. MacKay of 1889], which illustrate very clearly the many changes that have taken place in the last 50 years. Pictures taken along Water Street perhaps were the most interesting: no pavement, no sidewalks, no cars, no plate glass windows, only two or three pedestrians and a few idle truck teams. A picture of the Market Wharf showed the last of several buildings, most of them bar rooms, which at one time lined this wharf. This last was a bar room and was torn down shortly after a supposed murder took place there.
            A picture of Wren’s Drug Store with two small windows was of interest. It showed T. R. Wren and George Sharp his clerk standing in the doorway, and the first Algonquin Orchestra, which boarded with the lady upstairs, seated at leisure in front of the store.
            A picture of wharves with schooners tied up, Fort Tipperary, and the modest looking original Algonquin, which we then thought such a fine building, and of groups of people about their modest homes or places of business, all proved of much interest to the many older folks who saw the album. Gladys Forster is now Mrs. Gladys Foster, is a grandmother and has a son-in-law with the Canadian Armed Forces overseas.

St. Croix Courier
March 4/1943
A piece by J. F. W., author of Shiretown Items.
The above photograph of a bit of waterfront in St. Andrews was taken by the late W. D. MacKay about 1890, of which a copy was made by Archie Shirley to serve the present purpose.  Many the happy hour I have spent playing around those two old schooners.  Having come from inland I was of necessity always obliged to serve before the mast as a greenhorn.  More experienced boys my own age or younger composed the officers.  Frank Guerney always wanted to be captain.  A tough captain he was, ordering us aloft in all kinds of weather.  Leo Armstrong was usually the cook, and his unvaried menu of raw clams at times becoming monotonous, we were forced to forced to supplement it with soda crackers filched from our mothers’ pantries.  In our imaginations we sailed the distant seas to far-off unknown lands. 
            The two schooners in the picture, which no doubt had been built many years before, in the shipyards of St. Andrews and given long and faithful service, in the time of which I write all lay high and dry on the beach in their last days in peace and repose.  The one on the right is the Crandall, H. P. Crandall I think; and the other is the Mary Ellen.  On the extreme left is the home of Mr. Starkey, ship carpenter, . . . schooner yacht Crusoe which he was then building.  The square partly finished house on the left in the background was being built by Theodore Holmes.  The small house in the center foreground was occupied by James Ross and family.  Behind it to the left is the stove foundry, then operated by Michael McMonagle, called Mike Mulligan.
            Behind Ross’s to the right is the home of Bat Donaghue, then conductor on the railway.  And the large house further back was the home of Patsy Sheehan.  I have forgotten who lived in the house showing just over the stern of the Crandall, unless it was Thomas Pendlebury, the present occupant, who has been there for a long time.
            Also I notice the railway running up the waterfront, which was “the extension.”  The wharf in the center was later extended by B. F. DeWolfe and is now known as the upper CPR wharf, and has rails running out to its end. Where the Crandall rests is now occupied by a thriving industry.

St. Croix Courier
Aug 28/1947
Masquerade Ball at Andraeleo Hall. Rose MacKay as Nelson Eddy wins award for prettiest. Judges Mr. and Mrs. Howard Pillow, Miss Cairine Wilson, Mrs. Roger Merriman. 500 entries. Many categories.

St. Croix Courier
Dec 13/1951
Mrs. D. W. McKay succumbs to long illness.
The death of Mrs. Adeline (Storr) MacKay, widow of D. Will MacKay, formerly active in musical circles and community affairs here and in SS, occurred in hospital Sunday morning, Dec.2, in her 77th year. She had been ill for several months. Mrs. MacKay, born at St. Andrews July 13, 1895, was the eldest of seven children of the late Thomas and Annie Isabella (Holt) Storr and lived in St. Stephen and the United States for some time before returning to St. Andrews to reside 44 years ago.
            The family took up residence in St. Stephen when she was child, her father having been transferred to that town as a railway engineer, and she was educated in the St. Stephen school. Taking up music, she studied piano and pipe organ with Miss Annie Porter and for seven years was organist of Christ Church Sunday School, also applying as organist at Christ Church. She studied voice in St. Stephen and Saint John. In addition to singing in Christ Church choir, her pleasing soprano voice was often heard in solo work with the choir and in community activities.
            Mrs. MacKay was employed for a time by Ganong Bros, but at the age of 20 moved to Lynn, Mass. to reside with an aunt, Mrs. Marie Hold Brackett, where she was employed in a catering house making up table favors, helping plan receptions (dinners, etc.). After two years there she went to California, where she lived in San Francisco, Santo Barbara and Lower Caledonia. She also toured the western states, and was for a time piano accompanist for a woman violinist. In 1905 she returned to Lynn to remain for another two years.
            She was married at McAdam June 19, 1907, to David William McKay of St. Stephen and the couple came to St. Andrews to reside. Here she was associated with her husband in the photography business. At the same time she continued her musical activities by studying violin under Prof. Suck of the Algonquin orchestra for seven years. Of late years she had taught a class of piano pupils.