Through time there have been dozens of druggists found within Bruce County. Several of these druggists had other related occupations such as being ophthalmologists. Others sold stationery and books, which seems to have given rise to the modern drug store which not only sells over the counter drugs, have pharmacists working on prescription medication but also sell a variety of things such as food staples and greeting cards.
Traditionally, the term druggist was synonymous with pharmacist, and was a person who prepared and compounded drugs based on medical prescriptions. They were also known as apothecaries, or dispensing chemists. In the more modern sense of the word, a druggist could also be a person who owns a drugstore. Within the collections and archives there are evidence of several druggists including Arthur S. Goodeve, George M. MacKendrick, Martin F. Eby, and James Paterson.
Arthur S. Goodeve
Arthur S. Goodeve came to Chesley in 1885 and set up a druggist business. Prior to his time in Chesley, he worked as a druggist in Guelph and spent some time in the United States. An advertisement from the Tara Leader from 1889 lists Goodeve as a medallist from the Ontario College of Pharmacy, a member of the New York Pharmaceutical Society, and that he carried a large stock of pure drugs and medicines, and that he gave careful attention to all prescriptions and recipes. His business expanded to books and stationery and many advertisements refer to him as “Goodeve, the Drug and Book Man”. By 1895, Goodeve was not only a druggist, but sold stationary, was a telephone agent and a CPR agent. Shortly after, Goodeve left Chesley for the Cariboo District of British Columbia, and later went on to Ottawa.
George M. MacKendrick
George was born in Toronto and was living with his parents in Kincardine by 1871, where his father Matthew was postmaster. By 1875 George was working as a druggist in Kincardine and by 1883 had opened a pharmacy in Kincardine located on 756 Queen St., which he operated until his death in 1910. This photo taken by J.H. Scougall between 1897 and 1910, shows the exterior of MacKendrick’s drug store, located between Patterson’s Jewellers and Hay the Grocer.
Martin F. Eby
Martin Fischer Eby was the son of druggist John W. Eby, one of the earliest druggists in Waterloo County. Martin came to Port Elgin and began his business in June of 1863. Beginning in 1873 he ran the telegraph office, and later the postal express office. In 1889 he served as Treasurer of the Huron, Grey and Bruce Association of Druggists. Eby worked until his death December 31, 1900, serving Port Elgin for 37 years.
During his time in Port Elgin, Eby also manufactured his own line of medicines which were sold different places throughout the County. An advertisement from 1866 highlights Martin Eby’s Superior Pain Reliever, which was advertised as a cure for “rheumatism, sore throat, croup, toothache, coughs and colds, headache, stiff joints, chilblains, chills and fevers, swellings, bruises, fainting, cramps in the stomach, colic, paralysis, strains, lumbago, heartburn, dysentery, pain in the breast, cuts, frost bites, sour stomach, cholera morbus, etc. etc.”. Eby’s lines of medicine were successful, and according to an article in the Port Elgin Times, dated September 24, 1890, he gave up the postal express “…due to the large and constantly growing business of Eby Medicine Co. was requiring all his time.”.
By 1892, Eby was touring local County towns with his medicines to promote them. The Chesley Enterprise of September 22, 1892, reported Eby was in Chelsey promoting and selling his “celebrated Eby Family Medicines” which included Eby’s German Breath Balsam (coughs, colds, all lung troubles), Eby’s Electric Salve (healing all sores), Eby’s Liver Pills (sick-headache, biliousness, liver complaint, dyspepsia), Eby’s Iron Pills (strengthening the blood, building up the system and healthy colour to the skin). These medicines could also be purchased at the local drug store of J.O Stinson.
James Paterson Sr. & James Paterson Jr.
James Paterson Sr. was born ca. 1820 in Paisley, Scotland and was employed as an apothecary and chemist at Apothecaries Hall in Glasgow before coming to Canada in 1857 and settling in Toronto. Here he worked as a chemist at the Lyman Elliot Co. In 1861 they moved to the Wiarton area settling on land in Keppel township, on the County line of Grey and Bruce where he and his family farmed. In 1869 he opened Wiarton’s first drug store on the south-west corner of George and Gould Streets and continued to work the farm. Paterson operated the drug store in Wiarton until around 1881 when his son James Jr. came into the business. James Sr. died in 1886.
Prior to entering the drug business, James Jr. was a farmer on the family farm in Keppel township. He graduated from the Ontario College of Pharmacy in 1881, the same year he took over his father’s business. Paterson continued to run the drug store until his death in 1937. At the time of his death, he had served the Wiarton area for 56 years and was considered Wiarton’s oldest businessman.
The pharmacy continued after James Jr.’s death as his son, known as Jamie, was also a pharmacist and continued until his death in 1956. At this time, the pharmacy was taken over by James Paterson Sr’s great-granddaughter Ruth Lodge, and her husband Harland. Ruth sold the pharmacy in 1968, just shy of its 100th birthday.
Like Martin F. Eby, the Paterson’s created their own medicines and extended this into the realm of animal care, as seen by this bottle of Paterson’s Black Drink for horses and cattle. Black Drink is listed on the label as curing “colics and colds in horses and cattle. Cures Scours in all young stock. Instantly relieves blown cattle and sheep”. It could also be used by “debility, chills and low condition and weakness and pain after calving and lambing”. There is no date on the bottle or label making it unclear if this was created by James Sr. or James Jr.
Sources:
https://www.dictionary.com/browse/druggist
“Goodeve, A.S.I” Biography. Bruce County Museum & Cultural Centre Online Collections. https://brucemuseum.pastperfectonline.com/byperson?keyword=Goodeve%2C%20A.%20S.%20I.
“Eby, Martin F.” Biography. Bruce County Museum & Cultural Centre Online Collections. https://brucemuseum.pastperfectonline.com/byperson?keyword=Eby,%20Martin%20F.
“MacKendrick, George” Biography. Bruce County Museum & Cultural Centre Online Collections. https://brucemuseum.pastperfectonline.com/byperson?keyword=MacKendrick,%20George%20M.
“Paterson, James, Jr.” Biography. Bruce County Museum & Cultural Centre Online Collections. https://brucemuseum.pastperfectonline.com/byperson?keyword=Paterson%2C%20James%2C%20Jr.
“Paterson, James” Biography. Bruce County Museum & Cultural Centre Online Collections. https://brucemuseum.pastperfectonline.com/byperson?keyword=Paterson%2C%20James
“Local” The Port Elgin Times, September 24, 1890, Vol. V No. 10
“The Road to Health, Beauty and Fortune”. The Paisley Advocate, August 10, 1866 Vol. II No.25
“A Visitor from Port Elgin”, The Chesley Enterprise, Sept. 22, 1892, Vol.17 No. 7
“Paterson Drug Store”. The Bruce County Historical Society Yearbook 1979. pp.23
Phillips, Glen C. “The Ontario Drug Store and Druggist List (1851-1930).” Sarnia: Iron Gate Publishing Co., 1989. Print.
Pace, Bill and Marlene Pace. “Historic Queen Street, Kincardine.” Kincardine: C&I Graphics, 2009.
Scougall, John H. Group in Front of MacKendrick’s Pharmacy [Photograph]. 1897-1922. John H. Scougall fonds. A992.022.0149. Bruce County Museum & Cultural Centre
