Dates of Creation
1938 - 1970s

Physical Description
18 metres of textual records.

Administrative History
The Gloucester Lumber and Trading Company was organized by William G. White and George Rogers in 1901, with head office in Bathurst, NB. In 1929, William G. White, Annie F. Rogers, Ernest R. Rogers, Helen McKnight and Gladys Crofoot were listed as co-partners of the Company. On July 20, 1939, the business was incorporated by Letters Patent as the Gloucester Lumber and Trading Company, Limited with William G. White, lumberman, Ernest R. Rogers, lumberman and John R. Wood, accountant as the provisional directors. Capital stock was valued at $198,000. The chief place of business was Bathurst.

The Company was incorporated to:(1) carry on and prosecute a general lumbering, milling and wood work manufacturing business, in all its branches, including logging, driving, sawing, milling and shipping of lumber and lumber products, and wood of all kinds and description, the manufacturing and sale of goods and articles wholly or partially manufactured of wood; (2) to carry on a general mercantile business, both wholesale and retail; (3) to do all things as are expedient to such objects, with power to build, erect, equip, and maintain and operate mills; (4) to conduct and carry on farming, dairying and milk pasteurizing business; (5) to buy, own, operate and sell tug boats, barges and other vessels for carrying out the objects of the proposed company.

In 1942, the Company was purchased by Chesley Eddy, (son of George Eddy and the owner of the George Eddy Co. since 1920), who operated it as one of the subsidiary businesses of the George Eddy Co. Ltd. (incorporated in 1909.) By the end of World War II, the George Eddy Co. had a presence throughout the Maritimes.

The first Eddy to settle in the Bathurst area was Robert Eddy. Following the Napoleonic Wars, he and his family came from Bandon, Ireland in 1823 with many other Irish families, settling in New Bandon. They later moved up the Bay Chaleur coast first to Janeville and later to East Bathurst, buying the Clearwater Farm property in 1837, a farm which the family retained for at least 100 years. It was Robert Eddy's grandson, George Eddy, who in 1895, built the first Eddy sawmill, situated on land which was later the site of Eddy Building Supplies on Bathurst's Main Street. Beginning with the sawmill, George Eddy enterprises when incorporated in 1909 included mills, a general lumbering business, foundry and machine shop, generating and selling electric current and establishing booms, wharves etc. as necessary.

The charter of the Gloucester Lumber and Trading Company was surrendered on June 6, 1974.

Sources: Letters Patent, 1909, 1939; Crown Causes, 1918, 1929;
and Bathurst: Convention Centre of the North Shore (1961)

Scope And Content
This large fonds includes records of the Gloucester Lumber and Trading Co. Ltd., the George Eddy Co. Ltd., LaPerrelle Lumber Co. and Clearwater Farm -- all operated by the Eddy company by the 1940s. Most of the extant records relate to the Eddy era. Included are: stumpage and scale reports; contracts, company accounts and credit notes with individuals for cutting lumber, pulp, pitprops etc.; annual financial statements for the Lumber Company; sales ledgers; wood specification sheets; files relating to the individual ships which carried the lumber from Bathurst or Caraquet; production summaries; tax bills; store sales; files relating to employees : pay rolls, workmen's compensation reports, time sheets., letters and reports of hiring and separation etc. For Clearwater Farm, there are milk reports, farm accounts, financial statements, receipts and disbursements and model farm rents.