BAMFORD, WILLIAM ALBERT (1876-1952)

BAMFORD, WILLIAM ALBERT, merchant and lumberman; b. Blissfield, 29 Nov 1876, s/o David Bamford and Catherine Wilson; m. 1911, Annie Jane Mary Mitchell, RN, d/o Charles William Mitchell and Charlotte Betts, of Doaktown; d. there, 22 Jul 1952.

William A. Bamford taught school for a short time after graduating from the Provincial Normal School in 1896 but soon sought other employment. He spent the years 1904 to 1908 in Minnesota, and after his return he opened a general store in Doaktown. He became involved in the pulpwood business as well, and in the 1920s he and his twin brother, Wilson Stillman Bamford, created the firm of Bamford Bros, which had a spoolwood mill at Blissfield and long lumber mills at Blissfield and Blackville.

In 1918 Bamford erected a landmark residence at Doaktown which was owned by the family until the 1980s. In 1935 he ran unsuccessfully under the Conservative banner for a seat in the Legislative Assembly. He retired from business in 1950. One of the pallbearers at his funeral in July 1952 was Hugh John Flemming, who was elected premier of New Brunswick later that year. He was survived by his wife, Annie J. Mitchell, and two daughters, both of whom were schoolteachers. In 1989 his daughter Louise M. Bamford published a 409-page family history entitled The Bamford Saga.