STOTHART, GEORGE SCOTT (1849-1916)

STOTHART, GEORGE SCOTT, building contractor and businessman; b. Douglastown, 9 Jul 1849, s/o John Stothart and Jane Scott; m. 1877, Amelia Holmes Gremley, d/o Robert Gremley and Elizabeth Scott, of Newcastle; d. there, 25 Jan 1916.

For many years George S. Stothart followed his father's occupation of carpenter and house joiner. He erected a new house for himself in Newcastle in 1877 and was a leading builder in the 1880s. One of his contracts was for the John D. Creaghan house (1883). In 1891 he bought the former Fish tannery building in Newcastle and fitted it out as a sash and door factory. He continued to manufacture window sashes and door frames until the year before his death.

Meanwhile, Stothart acquired the coal business that had been conducted previously by Robert R. Call. Coal was extensively used for heating at the time and much of it was imported from Britain. In 1901 he bought the former Charles P. Park store, in which he sold hardware and groceries. When his businesses were incorporated in 1906 as the Stothart Mercantile Co. Ltd, he was president.

Stothart was a failed candidate for a seat on the first Newcastle Town Council in 1899, when he ran on the "People's and Temperance" ticket. He and his wife, Amelia H. Gremley, had two sons, G. Gilmour Stothart and Charles P. Stothart, both of whom found careers with the family firm. They also had two daughters, Gertrude J. Stothart and Minnie Stothart. After attending Mount Allison Ladies' College both daughters lived unmarried in Newcastle and were also involved in the operation of the Stothart Mercantile Co.