JS, The Business Man
In Montreal, JS worked under his father's direction in the grain exporting business. On
April 7, 1881, JS wed Louise
Ruggles Bradley of Evanston, Illinois. The Bradleys and the McLennans had been friends
from the time Hugh’s family had settled in Chicago years earlier. One interesting point about the marriage was how generous and liberal the
marriage contract was between JS and Louise. The contract maintained that Louise would
receive JS's entire estate after his death. Any and all possessions she brought into the
marriage, including money, were hers and remained hers in a divorce or JS's death. JS
could not, without his wife's permission, invest any of her money in any of his business
ventures, and if he did, he had to repay her money. All of the wedding gifts received
became her property, though her family did not have to offer a dowry. JS's father, as part
of the contract, was responsible for furnishing the young couple's home.
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JS McLennan wed Louise Ruggles Bradley of Evanston,
Illinois. The Bradleys and the McLennans had been friends from the time Hugh's family had
settled in Chicago years earlier.
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exceedingly advantageous to Louise. In any case, JS was happy to be married to such an
accomplished woman. Louise had studied art and painting at the Chicago Academy of Design.2 Her
paintings, mostly watercolours, show a thoughtful and graceful touch to her depiction of
the images around her. Her paintings of scenes around the Sydney area show an appreciation
for the simple beauty of, for example, a garden lane, or, on a larger scale, a fire at the
Sydney steel plant. However, her painting was often put aside to concentrate on
maintaining her household, tending her growing family, and keeping up with JS's love of
travel. After JS and his family were settled in Sydney, the family was continuously making
plans for their next extended trip, usually to France, Italy, and England. Before settling in Sydney, JS's work kept him very busy and moving between
Sydney and Boston. In 1884, Hugh was experiencing some trouble with mining interests he
was involved with in Cape Breton. He sent JS to investigate the problem with his recently
purchased International Coal Company in Bridgeport. This was not JS's first visit to Cape
Breton. In 1882, JS had visited some historic sites, including the ruins of the fortress
at Louisbourg.
This trip inspired JS's first known literary effort, a description of the area in an
article in Picturesque Canada, co-authored by Reverend Robert Murray.
While working as managing director of the Bridgeport mine, JS,
Louise and their four children lived in two homes in the area Ridgefield and Brookdale.
Things seemed settled for the family until 1893, when eight Cape Breton coal mines,
including the International Coal Company, were amalgamated into the Dominion Coal Company
Ltd., under the leadership of Boston financier, Henry Melville Whitney. This
reorganization found Hugh being named a director of the company and JS being transferred
to Boston as an executive assistant, responsible for the New England market. In Boston,
the family settled, prophetically enough, in an area called Louisbourg Square. Summer
vacations would find the McLennans in Louisbourg in a rented house called Havenside, which
overlooked the ruins that fascinated JS and which told the story of a once powerful
stronghold now reduced to a tourist’s curiosity and a scavenger's paradise.
In 1898, HM Whitney acquired a lease on a bed of iron ore at Wabana,
Bell Island, NF. He decided to organize the Dominion Iron and Steel Company Ltd. at Sydney
and construction soon began, with the first sod being turned in 1899.3 JS returned to
Sydney and in the early stages, was named Treasurer, Resident Director, and virtual
General Manager of the new plant. Once the plant was up and running, AJ Moxham, of Ohio,
became the first official General Manager.
Freed from his duties with both the coal and steel industries, JS
prepared to retire from industrial life and to settle in Sydney permanently. This next
phase of the McLennan story was a very happy one for the family.
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A photo of Charlotte Street, Sydney, taken at the height of Cape
Breton's industrial era, in 1907.
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A water color, painted by Louise B. McLennan, depicts
a scenic roadway near Ridgefield. Both Louise and her daughter were recognized for their
contributions to art in Cape Breton. |
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