Memorable Manitobans: Frederick Nation (1861-1955)

Merchant.

Born at Morpeth, Ontario on 29 January 1861, son of James Cushing Nation (1828-1911) and Eliza Waring (1827-1906), brother of Jasper Nation, he came to Manitoba in 1882 and spent three months in Winnipeg before heading western Manitoba and going into partnership with T. T. Atkinson in the department store of Atkinson & Nation. In 1886, he bought out his partner and continued the firm as F. Nation & Company. In 1892, in failing health, he sold the business and went on a trip around the world. He returned to Brandon two years later and resumed business under the name of Nation & Shawan which, in 1902, was incorporated with himself as President.

On 5 August 1886, he married Abigail Geach Bawden (1866-1920, daughter of George Bawden) of Brandon. They had three children: Arthur Frederick “Carrie” Nation (1887-1969), Helen Maud Nation (1891-1971), and George Walter Nation (1894-1916). He was a member of the Brandon Board of Trade, and for three years was its President. He served as a Brandon city alderman (1899-1902), three years of which he chaired the finance committee. He was a life governor and director of the Brandon General Hospital and a Director of the Northern Crown Bank and Great West Life Assurance Company. He was a charter member of the Brandon Club and served two terms as its President.

He moved to British Columbia around the time of the First World War where he died at Victoria on 9 September 1955. He was buried with his wife in the Ross Bay Cemetery.

Sources:

1901 Canada census, Automated Genealogy.

A History of Manitoba: Its Resources and People by Prof. George Bryce, Toronto: The Canadian History Company, 1906.

Birth and marriage registrations, Manitoba Vital Statistics.

“Former Brandon store owner dies in Victoria,” Winnipeg Free Press, 10 September 1955, page 8.

George Walter Nation, FindAGrave.

Arthur Frederick Nation, FindAGrave.

Helen Maud Nation Ker, FindAGrave.

This page was prepared by Gordon Goldsborough.

Page revised: 1 June 2023

Memorable Manitobans

Memorable Manitobans

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