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Dictionary of Miramichi Biography

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STREET, EDMUND LEE (1850-1900)

STREET, EDMUND LEE, pharmacist and insurance agent; b. Woodstock, N.B., 21 Aug 1850, s/o the Rev. Samuel Denny Lee Street and Joanna Pote Wyer; m. 1878, Jennie H. Whitlock, of St Andrews, N.B.; d. Newcastle, 25 Aug 1900.

E. Lee Street was a nephew of John Ambrose Street and a descendant of one of New Brunswick's most remarkable families. Educated at the grammar school in Woodstock, he became a clerk in a drug store that his brother Inglis Street conducted in St Andrews, and he later worked in the same capacity in a store which his brother had in St Stephen. Around 1872 he opened his own pharmacy in St Andrews, but he gave this up in 1876 and moved to Newcastle, where he bought the drug business of Dr William P. Bishop. From that date he was the proprietor of what was known simply as the Newcastle Drug Store. In the 1890s he was also an agent for a number of fire, life, and accident insurance companies.

Street had an involvement in many community activities and was known to all as "a good organizer and a willing and disinterested worker." He was particularly adept at finances and bookkeeping and was elected secretary-treasurer of the Miramichi Yacht Club, the Newcastle Driving Park Association, the Independent Order of Foresters, and other organizations. He was the treasurer of St Andrew's Anglican Church, as well as a warden from 1887 onward.

Street was a prominent member of the Masonic order, being worshipful master of Northumberland Lodge in 1879 and 1885/86 and deputy grand master of the Grand Lodge of New Brunswick. He was president of the Newcastle Lawn-Tennis Association and a member of the Newcastle Curling Club and other recreational bodies.

In 1899 Street failed by one vote to place among the eight winners of the election for the first Newcastle Town Council, but he challenged the result and was successful in a run-off election. The next year, when none of the original councillors were returned by the voters, he placed last among the sixteen contenders. In 1900 he was appointed chairman of the local board of health for Newcastle.

Street was one of Newcastle's "noblest citizens," stated the Union Advocate, but "not many realized his true worth." People found him to be remote and solitary, and socializing initiatives taken by him and his wife, such as a party for more than 100 guests which they staged at the Waverley Hotel in 1889, did not appear to have the desired effect.

When he died in 1900, at age fifty, Street left his wife, Jennie H. Whitlock, and an ailing daughter, both of whom moved back to St Andrews. A few years later his widow had his remains disinterred and taken to St Andrews as well. The drug store was sold to Frank R. Dalton, a son of John Dalton, a Newcastle grocer.

Sources

[b/d] Advocate 29 Aug 1900 [m] Courier 11 Dec 1878 / Advance 19 May 1876, 24 Aug 1899, 31 Aug 1899, 14 Sep 1899,1 Feb 1900, 19 Apr 1900, 30 Aug 1900; Advocate 6 Jun 1883 (ad), 6 Feb 1889, 23 Jun 1895 (ad), 26 Sep 1900; City Gazette 9 Feb 1831 (parents' marriage); Leader 27 Aug 1909, 6 Jul 1956; Manny Collection (F182); World 13 Apr 1887


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