Hay, George Upham

  • DICTIONARY OF CANADIAN BIOGRAPHY ARTICLE: Stephen R. Clayden, “HAY, GEORGE UPHAM,” in Dictionary of Canadian Biography, vol. 14, University of Toronto/Université Laval, 2003–. See full biography at: https://www.biographi.ca/en/bio/hay_george_upham_14E.html
  • DCB profile notes:
    • Educator, botanist, author, editor, and publisher; b. 18 June 1843 in Norton Parish, N.B., youngest child of William Hay and Eliza Fahy; m. 20 Dec. 1876 Frances Annetta Hartt, sister of Charles Frederick Hartt, in Saint John; they had no children; d. there 23 April 1913.
    • Hay began teaching in November 1862 in his native parish; he was master of the Norton Superior School by 1868. Later an acknowledged authority on the flora of the province, he was in his own words “past the quarter century mark before he was made acquainted with the simplest notions of plants.” 
    • When the Natural History Society of New Brunswick (NHSNB) was relaunched in 1880, following several years of inactivity, Hay emerged as a leading member. He founded a herbarium in the society’s museum in 1881 with the donation of his personal collection, begun systematically in 1876, and for the next 33 years he chaired its committee on botany. In this capacity he compiled annual additions to the catalogues of New Brunswick plants published by Fowler in 1879 and 1885. The organization, promotion, and educational work of the NHSNB owed much to Hay. President of the society from 1896 to 1899, he was for most of the period 1880–1913 co-vice-president, program organizer, press agent, and a member of the publications committee, as well as a frequent delegate to the meetings of the RSC. 
    • Hay was appointed English and science master at the Saint John Grammar School in 1881 and principal of the Victoria School, with its prestigious Girls’ High School, in 1888. He maintained and strengthened Victoria’s reputation, succeeding not as a taskmaster but through his reputedly infectious enthusiasm for learning. A founding member of the Dominion Educational Association in 1892, he sat on its board of directors for several years.
    • Hay’s record was one of solid achievement as a botanist, educator, and journalist. Referring to his varied career and exceptional personal qualities, three of New Brunswick’s prominent citizens – William Odber Raymond, William S. Carter, and James Vroom – wrote in the Educational Review (which continued with Mrs Hay as publisher), “There are few of New Brunswick’s many distinguished sons whose life touched and influenced so many other lives – and always for good.”
  • Great Grandson of United Empire Loyalist listed in Loyalist Directory: https://uelac.ca/loyalist-directory/detail/?wpda_search_column_id=434
  • Find A Grave: https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/215927997/george-upham-hay