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
Home for Incurables (expansion)
3rd Street NE, Portage la Prairie
1920
26 Main Street, Emerson, Municipality of Emerson-Franklin
1928-1929
Deer Lodge Hospital (new wing)
2109 Portage Avenue, Winnipeg
1929
Melita Skating Rink
Melita
1930
Demolished (?)
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: 25 June 2023
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