Series 54 - Theodore Goodridge Roberts

Theodore Goodridge Roberts was an author, poet, and journalist from Fredericton, New Brunswick. Born in 1877, he was the younger brother of Charles G. D. Roberts. He attended the University of New Brunswick, but did not graduate, however, later in life he was granted an honourary Doctorate of Literature from the university. His first poem was published when he was eleven-years-old, and he wrote prolifically for the rest of his life. He found work with The Independent and moved to New York City in 1897, and lived there with his brothers. In 1898, he went to Tampa, Florida to cover the Spanish-American war, but contracted malaria aboard a ship to Cuba, and was sent back to Fredericton to convalesce. Afterwards, he went to Newfoundland for three years, helping to found The Newfoundland Magazine. His time there inspired numerous written works, including writings on the Beothuk people. A five month sea journey to the Caribbean and South America inspired other poems and stories, but a relapse of malaria sent him back to New York, where he fell in love with and married his nurse, Frances Seymour Allen. He and wife lived in various places over their lives, and had four children. In 1914, Roberts enlisted in the army, and was eventually commissioned a Lieutenant in 1915, in the 12th Battalion of the Canadian Army, then was promoted to Captain in 1916. He established Acadie magazine in 1930. He passed away in Digby, Nova Scotia in 1953.

Some of his publications include: Northland Lyrics (1899, The House of Isstens (1900), Comrades of the Trails (1910), The Harbour Master (1913), The Wasp (1914), Thirty Canadian V.C.’s (1918), and many more. He published over 30 novels throughout his lifetime, as well as poetry and stories.

Journalist and poet Andrew Doane Merkel was born in New York State in the mid 1880s. He came to Nova Scotia as a boy when his father, Anglican Minister Rev. A. Deb Merkel, took over a parish in Digby. From 1904 to 1905, he attended the University of King's College in Windsor, Nova Scotia, then moved to Sydney, Nova Scotia to attend the university's School of Engineering from 1905 to 1907. He did not complete this degree due to the closure of the engineering school, and represented his classmates to the King's Board of Governors while the school was closing. Merkel married Florence (Tully) E. Sutherland from Windsor and had three children: J. Arthur, Peggy, and Mary-Elizabeth. Merkel spent most of his adult life in Halifax and is known to have lived on South Park Street. He was a journalist for both the Philadelphia North American and the Sydney Record, in the 1900s, an editor for the Saint John Standard from 1908 to 1910 and of the Halifax Echo from 1910 to 1917, the Maritime News Editor for the Canadian Press from 1917 to 1919, and finally, the Superintendent of Canadian Press Atlantic Division from 1919 to 1946. He died in 1954.

Merkel was also a poet and avid historian. His first book length poem, The Order of Good Cheer, wasn’t published until 1944 although he completed it in the early 1920s. His second book length poem, Tallahassee, was published the following year. Both works illustrate his interest in Nova Scotian history; The Order of Good Cheer is about Nova Scotia’s first French settlers while Tallahassee is about Halifax during the American civil war. He published two works of non-fiction as well, Letters from the Front (1914), and Bluenose Schooner (1948). Merkel was also a member of the Halifax literary group called The Song Fishermen and often hosted meetings of the group, which included fellow writers such as Charles G.D. Roberts, Charles Bruce, Kenneth Leslie, and Robert Norwood.