Mining Ackles & Tragedy

Last week I wrote about Amanda Ackles who died in Blairmore, Alberta, today I write about her siblings. Amanda was the oldest of 10 children.  The other girl, Mary Isobel or Bell, married a carpenter by the name of Robert Blair.  

Of her 8 brothers, all were miners.  

To understand the draw, we need to look at where the family was born and raised - Londonderry, Nova Scotia.

Nova Scotia Archives  Photo Collection: O/S: Places: Londonderry no. 11   /  negative no. N-0578

The quiet farming community of Londonderry, or the Acadia Mines as it was once known, was made prosperous by the discovery of iron ore and the mining that began around 1849 - everyone believed that there was an enormous load of ore.  But luck was not with this little community.

Dwindling ore, poor management, expensive mining processes and dropping iron prices slowly brought the mining industry to a halt.  The town's fate was sealed with the fire of 1920 which destroyed most of it. 

A community that was once a bustling town enjoying economic growth is little more than a ghost town today.  With a population of about 200 from the 5000 during its peak (reportedly as low as 300 as early as 1956) it is better known for summer cottages and nearby ski resort.

So we have work, lots of it initially, hence, a clan of miners.  And it probably didn't hurt that their cousin Charles L Jobb (the son of Hamilton Jobb & Rachel Whidden) was the Superintendent of the Pipe Foundry, turned General Manager to President of the Canada Iron Foundaries.

With so many of one family in the mines, it was inevitable that the family would lose a couple to the depths of the ground leaving widows and children behind.

NS Archives

Charles Murray Ackles was 29 when he was crushed in the mine in February, leaving behind his wife Bella Arsenault and the son he never met, Charles Jr who was born in May.

James Robert Ackles was 23 when he died in 1894, married a mere 2 years to Minnie Meisner and left a 7mth old James Earl fatherless.

James' tombstone has the following inscription: Erected by the members of L.O. Lodge No. 1624 to the memory of Bro. James Eckles of the above lodge who was accidentally killed in Torbrook Iron Mines on the 7 April 1894 aged 23 years. He was a man loyal and true. 

courtesy of Ric Noble