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Provincial Archives of New Brunswick

Dictionary of Miramichi Biography

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WATHEN, GEORGE ARTHUR (1862-1941)

WATHEN, GEORGE ARTHUR, school principal; b. Richibucto, N.B., 1862, s/o John Moss Wathen and Sarah Jackson; m. 1887, Harriet Maria Brown, of Wilson's Beach, N.B.; d. Doaktown, 7 Jan 1941.

The son of a butcher, George A. Wathen grew up in Richibucto, where he was a student of the Kent County Grammar School. He had an older half-brother, James Neales Wathen, who was principal of the superior school at Derby in the 1870s and 80s, and he entered the same field, receiving a 1st class teacher's license at the Normal School in Fredericton in 1888. He taught on Campobello Island and at Middle Sackville before coming to the Miramichi in 1895 as the first principal of the Doaktown Superior School.

Wathen was popular in Doaktown, and his work was favorably reported upon by the school inspectors. He also enjoyed the respect of his colleagues and was elected president of the Teachers' Institute in 1901. By occupying the Doaktown principalship for twenty-four years he gave a stability and continuity to the school which was unique in the county in that era.

Wathen retired in 1919 and continued to reside at Doaktown, where he was a justice of the peace. He and his wife, Harriet M. Brown, who died in 1931, were survived by five sons and three daughters.

Sources

[b] tombstone [m] Telegraph 27 Jul 1887 [d] Leader 10 Jan 1941 / Advance 18 Apr 1895, 17 Oct 1901; Advocate 3 Dec 1918, 9 Sep 1931; Educ. reports; Generations 46, p.16; Leader 12 Feb 1909


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