Alonzo Kempton was born in Nova Scotia and came west
with his parents in 1881. He did various jobs in the area, such as
cutting and selling wood, selling washing machines and selling fire
insur¬ance.
Wagon seats, a hemorrhoid cure, and honing paste for straight razors
were several of the products once manufactured in Wawanesa by Alonzo
Fowler Kempton. But the enterprising native of Nova Scotia is best
known as the founder of one of Canada's largest and most innovative
fire and casualty insurance companies.
Alonzo believed that farmers in this area were being overcharged for
their fire insurance, and that a local group of farmers could do a
better job, on a co-operative basis. Plans were discussed with a
friend, Charlie Kerr, while the two were camped on the prairie during a
selling trip. These plans led to the formation in of The Wawanesa
Mutual Insurance Company.
In 1896, when twenty district farmers met in Wawanesa, and put up $20
each to launch the new company which was prepared to offer low-premium
fire insurance on wooden threshing machines. Kempton, whose experience
as an insurance salesman had led him to propose the scheme, was elected
secretary-treasurer. The farmer directors provided the financial
stability that saw the firm through the initial lean years — a link
with the past that has been retained. The sleepy village of Wawanesa
still boasts the head office, and "The Mutual" continues to recruit
officers and directors from the Wawanesa district.
The Wawanesa Mutual's imaginative methods — for instance, an astute
decision in 1952 to give old pensioners policy writing positions in the
Montreal branch office — may be traced to the flair of its founder.
Kempton was fond of whiskey, Turkish cigarettes, oysters, salt cod,
automobiles and business sidelines. It is said that he became irascible
as time went on, however, his many acts of generosity have not been
forgotten.
Adapted from Sipiweski, page 346
|
