George Henry Jackson M.D.

Dr. George H. Jackson, born in Omemee, Ontario, in 1870, was the son of Rev. George and Susan Jackson.   Rev. Jackson was the one time minister of the Methodist church at Sparta.

Dr. Jackson attended public school in Sparta and highschool in Aylmer.   He attained his medical degree at Toronto University and graduated at the age of twenty-six, in the year 1897.   In that same year, he came to Union and boarded with Mrs. Gonzello Hannan, before he was married.

He was married in 1898 to Miss Carrie J. Brown, daughter of   Enoch B. Brown  of Brownsville.   He asked his bride "where she would like to settle down", and she said "she did not care".    As the doctor did not like the thought of living in the city, they settled in the village of Union.   Their first home was the first house south of the pond on the east side of the highway.    They moved from there to the house on the corner opposite the old hotel, and then to a house owned by Rev. F. Burgess.   After some years, they built a beautiful brick house, with the doctor's office adjoining, on the west side of the highway, halfway up the hill.

The South Yarmouth community was most fortunate in being served by as clever and astute a physician as was Dr. Jackson.   His brusk and sometimes severe manner covered a kind and tender heart.   One had only to be critically ill to know how true this was.   His revered memory lives on in many a home in this community.   He was at the service of everyone, unfortunate enough to be ill or hurt, rich or poor, any hour of the night or day.   No night was too stormy for the good doctor to respond to any demand made of him.   On his night calls, during the terrible flu epidemic of 1918, some of the Union men, close friends of the doctor, took turns driving his horses (he had four of them, using each in turn), as the doctor kept going almost constantly, twenty-four hours a day, at this dreadful time.   Only a man of iron determination and dedicated to the service of his fellow citizens could have attempted such an effort as he achieved at that time.

All through their life together, Mrs. Jackson was a fitting helpmate to such a man.   With her cheery disposition, quick wit and always ready with a merry quip, she made lighter many a weary task during her time of leadership of 'The Patriotic Society of World War II.   She was a member of the choir in the Union church and was always ready to do her part in any worthy community project.

During their 22 years at Union, the doctor and his wife made a wide circle of friends, and in 1920, when they moved to Port Stanley, it left a big gap in the community life of the village.

Dr. Jackson later became Reeve at Port Stanley and was also the Coroner of this district.   His death occurred at his home on December 28th, 1946.