Born at Port Hope, Ontario on 3 July 1877, son of Nicholas Wyatt (1852-1934) and Ellen Phillips (1855-1931), he was educated at Port Hope and moved with his family to Millbrook where his father operated a grist mill. In 1906, the family came to Manitoba and settled at Melita.
He worked as a carpenter building bridges, schools, barns, and banks before becoming the Melita agent for Ford (1910-1914) and Chevrolet (1914-1918) automobiles. He moved to Winnipeg in 1918, residing at 275 Harvard Avenue, and was the proprietor of the Wyatt Construction Company until retirement in 1953, punctuated by a couple of years in the 1930s when he lived at Melita. In retirement, he returned to Melita permanently.
On 18 February 1903, he married Bessie Wood (1875-1964) at Durham, Ontario. They subsequently had six children: Bessie Marie Wyatt (1906-?, wife of William Charles Brabant), David Melvin Wyatt (1907-1989), Robert Fred Wyatt (1909-1988), Orland Nicholas “Lefty” Wyatt (1911-1982), John Henry “Harry” Wyatt (1914-1977), and James Ronald Wyatt (1919-?). He was a member of Christ Anglican Church, Odd Fellows, Masons (Master, Oriental Lodge No. 54, 1909), and Rotary Club. He served on the Melita town council (1907-1908).
He died at Deloraine on 5 August 1954 and was buried in the Melita Cemetery.
Some of his construction work in Manitoba included:
Building
Location
Year
Status
Municipality of Two Borders
1901
Demolished (?)
River Park Bridge and Pavilion
Melita
?
Municipality of Two Borders
1913-1914
Municipality of Two Borders
1914
Wyatt's Garage
Melita
1914
Demolished (?)
Coulter, Municipality of Two Borders
1915
Municipality of Two Borders
1915
After 1918
See also:
Manitoba Business: Manitoba Engineering Company / Wyatt Construction Company
Ontario birth registration [Robert Nicholas Wyatt], Ancestry.
Birth registrations [Bessie Marie Wyatt, David Melvin Wyatt, Robert Fred Wyatt, Nicholas Orland Wyatt, John Henry Wyatt], Manitoba Vital Statistics.
“R. N. Wyatt gets contract for hospital wing,” Winnipeg Tribune, 5 July 1929, page 3.
Marriage registration [Bessie Marie Wyatt, William Charles Brabant], Manitoba Vital Statistics.
“Ex-Winnipeg contractor dies,” Winnipeg Free Press, 6 August 1954, page 6.
Obituary [John Henry Wyatt], Winnipeg Free Press, 2 December 1977, page 108.
Our First Century: Town of Melita and Municipality of Arthur by Melita-Arthur History Committee, 1983, pages 127, 187, 235, 289, 291, 363, 474, 796-798.
Biographical Dictionary of Architects in Canada, 1800-1950 by Robert G. Hill, Toronto.
Obituaries and burial transcriptions, Manitoba Genealogical Society.
This page was prepared by Gordon Goldsborough.
Page revised: 19 May 2025
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