Sidney Osborne Huestis (1853 - after 1892) m. Lila Lewis (1859 - 1933)

• Richard B. Huestis [H12321] (1879 - ) m. Mary Hope Sutcliffe
• Ada Beatrice Huestis [H12322] (1881 - 1935) m. James Waddel Smith
• Grace Morton Huestis [H12323] (1883 - ) m. John Poole
• Vera C. Huestis [H12324] (1885 - ) m. Herbert Vickery
• Edgar Roy T. Huestis [H12325] (1887 - 1962) m. Lila Lewis (my grandparents)

(This essay written by Alan)

I am having trouble finding much about my great-grandfather. My father (Robert) never knew his grandfather (Sidney) and it is very likely that my grandfather (Roy) did not know his father for long. Sidney was born in Cumberland County, probably in Wallace, although I think that he grew up in both Wallace and Amherst as his father was a merchant in both communities at some point.

Sidney's father was one of the founding partners in the Huestis Wallace Greystone Quarry, which has operated from the early 1870's until present day. You can find their website at http://www.wallacequarries.com, including a brief history. According to family legend as recounted by Martin Huestis in his essays (on our main page) the rock deposit was discovered at the top of a field that had been part of the farm of Joshua Huestis.

Richard Huestis was the manager of the quarry until his death in 1877, and then his son Sidney took over. The quarry was sold to other interests in 1885, but it may have been idle by that time. Quarrying has always been a cyclical business, rising and falling with the state of the economy and the need for large public buildings. It would be interesting to know if the partners of the Wallace Huestis Greystone Quarry sold at the top or the bottom of one of those cycles.

It seems that Sidney and his family moved to Halifax in 1883, as he is listed in the Halifax Directory as a mail clerk. His name re-appears in consecutive directories until 1892, with his occupation listed as bookkeeper. In the 1892-93 directory he is listed as being a sea captain, but this must be a misprint as I can find no record of Sidney ever having been at sea, and I doubt that one goes from landlubber to captain in one year. In fact, this may well be the widow's revenge - a practical joke on the compiler of the directory - because about that time Sidney Huestis abandoned his family and "moved to the west", did not maintain contact with his wife and five children, and simply disappeared. I have been unable to find him in any subsequent censuses. He just disappeared.

In the 1893-94 directory we see Mrs Sidney Huestis listed as head of household, so I expect that Sidney left in 1892. Lila Huestis continued on, raising her family, and we find her in subsequent directories and censuses until her death in 1933. At that time she had been living with her daughter for a few years.

Here's a few pictures of Sidney Huestis.

Sidney and Lila Huestis, with sons Richard and Roy (with his father) and daughters Ada and Vera, and Grace (in front). Roy looks to be about 3 years old so I would guess that this photo was taken about 1889.

This lovely image was given to me by David Dewar, curator of the Wallace Area Museum. The man in the front with the open shotgun is Mr Davison, who once owned the home that now houses the Wallace Museum. The only other person identified on the back of the photo is Sidney Huestis, and I think that he is the man on the left in the front row.

This is a delightful photo, an 1880's equivalent of friends crowding into the 25-cent photo booths at the malls. David said that he thinks that itinerant photographers came by train to the railroad towns and set up shop for a few days, taking family portraits (like the first image above) and what ever other photos came their way.

These guys are all goose hunters, but in this photo I think that they dressed-up in whatever get-up they could find. The dead fowl are chickens! It amuses me to think that Sidney would enjoy his joke even more if he knew that it would live down through the generations.

Some details of Sidney's children:

• Richard Huestis married Mary Hope Sutcliffe in Halifax in 1906. His occupation then was commercial traveller. Born in Wallace. He was married by his Uncle Rev. Stephen Huestis. Richard moved to Toronto and raised his family there. Family lore says that he was the business manager for MacLean's Magazine.
• Ada Huestis married James Smith in 1902. He was listed as a merchant on his marriage license, but he was a master mariner on his certificate of death in 1941. Ada was also born in Wallace. Married by Rev. Stephen Huestis. They had at least one child, Dr Carl Smith who was living with his family in Bridgewater in 1941.
• Grace M Huestis married (1921) John Poole, who was an engineer for the City of Halifax. Grace was born in Amherst, so the family must have been living there at that time.
• Vera Huestis was born in Halifax. She listed Sidney's occupation as "agent" when Vera married Herbert Vickery in 1916. On his marriage certificate he was a schoolteacher. Family lore says that they moved to the USA where he worked as a scientist, and that they never had a family.
• Roy Huestis was born in Halifax, and on his marriage certificate he listed his father's occupation as mining engineer. Roy has his own page here.

Sidney was long gone when all of his children were married, so the information that they provided about their father's occupation perhaps shows the spin they chose to put on their circumsstances.