Robert Nicholas Wyatt, son of Nicholas and Ellen Wyatt,
was born at
Port Hope, Ontario on July 3, 1877. He was educated at Port Hope and
moved to Millbrook, Ontario (Cavan County) about 1884, where his dad
ran the flour mill.
He came to Melita on a harvest train in the fall of 1902. He remained
for the winter and the following summer returned to Ontario where he
married Bessie Wood, bringing her to Melita as a bride in 1903.
He worked at carpentry and contracting, building bridges, schools,
barns and banks. He went into Winnipeg in 1910 to buy his first car and
was talked into taking the Ford Agency. He sold Fords until 1914. He
then acquired the Chevrolet agency and sold eight or ten Chevrolets
that year. He retained this agency until 1918 when he moved to
Winnipeg. That fall he was presented with a Waltham watch before
leaving with the following inscription inside the back "Presented to R.
N. Wyatt by his Melita friends October 25, 1918".
While in Melita he was a member of the Odd Fellows and Masonic lodges.
In Winnipeg he continued contracting till 1930 when he returned to
Melita for a couple of years. After the depression he returned to
Winnipeg where he joined the Rotary club. He continued contracting till
his retirement in
1952 when he returned to Melita. He died at Deloraine August 5, 1954.
Mrs. Wyatt died one day after her 90th birthday, September 24, 1964.
Some of the highlights of Mr. Wyatt's years in the car business were; a
motoring trip to Estevan in 1912 in a Model T (an all day trip
returning the following day) and a trip to Hamiota for New Year's Day,
1915 in a Baby Grand Chevrolet (unheard of in those days). Many people
will remember the cars coming
in, in box cars, standing on end or one on top of the other, four
together in a car.
Adapted from Our First Century, page 796
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