Bernard Slattery and Sons, Butchers
Bernard
born in 1852, was the second child of William and
his first wife Honorah. When he was 16, he first
started to work in his father's By-Ward butcher
shop. In 1878, at age 26, he was a fully accredited
butcher in charge of the shop in the Wellington
Ward market. By 1885, when his father died, Bernard
was in charge of both the Wellington Ward shop and
the original Byward Market shop. He was then 33
years of age. Somewhere along the way he received
the nickname "Barney".
Under Bernard's regime the Slattery butcher business
grew and prospered until there were at least five
locations in the city. |
By-Ward buther shop
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At first Bernard's half-brothers, William
and Michael, shared ownership with him. After they died
in 1891, and 1892, Bernard was in full control. His own
sons joined the firm as they reached 18 to 20 years of
age.
Table
5 traces the growth, flourishing, and eventual
decline of the Slattery butcher business under the management
of Bernard. After Bernard's death in 1922, his sons
continued the business until changes in retailing, changes
in consumer tastes and the great depression eventually
won out. I have learned that Loeb, the food wholesaler
and a pioneer in the supermarket business, started his
career in 1928 in Ottawa. This must have had a drastic
effect on the specialty stores and the Slattery butcher
"empire" was hard hit.
Bernard, then 27, married
17 year old Annie Kennedy in 1879, at St. Patrick's
Church, where Bridget had been married six years before.
Annie's family were well known in Ottawa.
Like
his father, Bernard attracted considerable newspaper
coverage. For example, in December 1893, it was reported
that a vicious steer had escaped from Slattery &
Terrence's slaughter house in Ottawa East, and in the
course of its being captured nearly killed several men.
Finally it was run down on horseback and lassoed by
Mr. Slattery, who at once had it killed. (Just like
in a cowboy movie!) On another occasion, Bernard, the
consummate showman, purchased the prize steer from the
Toronto Winter Fair and organized a parade from the
railway station led by the Governor-general!
As recounted previously, 1879 was important
also because his father made Bernard manager of the
Wellington shop, and the Vice Regal recognition was
granted ho his father's meat business.
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Bernard's properties
Joan Denault (daughter of G. Wall & Margery Slattery;
granddaughter of Bernard Slattery) says that Bernard
and Annie moved on their wedding day into a new house
on what was then called "the new Gloucester Road"
or the Macadamized Road". (Evidently the old road
stayed unpaved). Bernard bought the house from a man
who built it for his intended bride who died before
the wedding. Bernard made many improvements to it over
the years.
The
house became a landmark in Ottawa, and is featured in
many accounts of Ottawa houses. It was originally numbered
42 Riverdale, but was changed some years later to 40
Riverdale. The included photo of the house, called Mount
Pleasant, was probably taken about 1915-1920 to judge
by the vintage cars and the number of family members
lounging on the lawn. The man and woman on the entrance
steps are most probably Bernard and Annie. The house
remained in the Slattery family into the 1940's. It
was bought first by the Chinese Embassy until sold in
1949 to Florence, the daughter of Bun, and her husband
Lloyd Dornan. They sold the house in 1955 to Dr. Butler.
After his death, Mrs. Butler sold it to St. Paul's University.
In 1996 it was partially destroyed by fire.
About 1903 or 1904, Bernard had three
houses moved from Lower Town to the land along riverdale
that had been bought by his father. The 1908 directory
listed them as numbers 64,66 and 68 Riverdale. The houses
had been located on Sussex St. opposite the Cathedral,
and were moved by sleigh in the winter.
Through the years he purchased a number
of properties in the city which he rented out. In 1910,
he bought several properties at McGregor Lake, some
of which are still owned by his descendants, and in
1912 had a large summer home built there.
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Bernard and Annie
As shown in Table
6, Bernard and Annie had 13 children born between
1880 and 1903. It seems strange that the first seven
were boys, followed by six girls! Two boys and two girls
died as infants in 1888, 1890, 1896, and 1897, no doubt
victims of the epidemics that caused the death of his
mother and half-brothers and sisters. In spite of these
deaths, there is no doubt that their spacious home was
none too large for their family.
In
addition to the extensive butcher shop business that
he built up before his death, Bernard was well known
for community activities. He was keen supporter of the
Ottawa College football team, including a period as
manager. The photo of the 1898 championship football
team included a profile view of Bernard. He was then
46. He supported lacrosse also. He was one of the Federal
District Commissioners who were responsible for laying
out the driveways in Ottawa. For ten years he was on
the Ottawa Improvement Committee, and active in many
other fraternal and charitable associations. He was
a founder of Holy Family parish in 1901.
The
photo of Bernard and Annie taken in 1921 shows Bernard
much changed from the 1898 picture. Whereas he appears
rather gaunt, Annie looks very robust and rather formidable!
One year later, on Saturday, October 7, 1922 Bernard
died at home of a heart attack. He had lived the traditional
"threescore years and ten". In his obituary
it was reported that on the previous Wednesday he had
told his bookkeeper, M. J. O'Farrell, that he had experienced
"oppression" in the heart region when he arose,
but evidently mentioned it to no one else.
Bernard died a wealthy man. His estate
in personal property and real estate was valued (in
1922) AT at over $260,000, which would be well over
a million dollars today. In real estate he owned 14
consecutive lots on Riverdale from Lot 19-32, which
included 6 houses. There were 4 lots on Main Street,
and 8 lots on Clegg. Further away, there was also a
large lot on Bronson (the Concession Rd.) with four
houses. In the Byward area he owned a very valuable
property with four houses on Church St. (now Guiges),
and also one of the lots originally purchased by his
father near Cyrville. Lastly, he had land, a house,
and mining rights at McGregor Lake. His estate was to
be divided equally among his widow Annie and his living
children, except for a deduction from the share of his
son Jack for advances paid to him.
At the time of Bernard's death, Bill,
Eddie, Marjory and Dorothy were still at home with their
mother Annie in the big house on Riverdale. Within four
years all married, bill in 1924, Marjory in 1925, Dorothy
in 1926, and Eddie in 1927.. Annie died in 1932, at
age 70, like Bernard.
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