London's Bicentennial (Snippet 38)

Known Londoners - Frank Colman -1983 

From Colman's Wikipedia entry:
 "The son of Frederick and Harriet Colman, who operated a shoe store on Hamilton Road in London, Ontario, Colman joined the London Majors of the senior Intercounty Baseball League in the mid-1930s. There, he won the batting title as a pitcher, Most Valuable Player award, and a championship in 1936.....

Before Colman died of cancer in 1983 at the age of 64, he had been working at the University of Western Ontario in the maintenance department. He was cremated, and his ashes were inurned in London at Woodland Cemetery...."
He is in the Canadian Baseball Hall of Fame and in 2005 was inducted into the London Sports Hall of Fame.

London's Bicentennial (Snippet 37)

 Known Londoners - Kate Nelligan -1979

Source:
The Globe and Mail, Feb. 1, 1979. 
(A dozen years later she was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress for her performance in The Prince of Tides.)
  This is from the most recent article relating to Nelligan found in The London Free Press:
"KATE NELLIGAN An Oscar and four-time Tony Award nominee, Nelligan, 74, began her career on the stage in London, England in the 1970s. Her theatre career flourished and she moved to Broadway in the early 1980s. Her film resume includes Eye of the Needle, Frankie and Johnny and the Prince of Tides, for which she was nominated for an Academy Award. One of six children, Nelligan born in London in 1950 and raised here by a mother she once told People Magazine suffered from alcoholism and related mental-health issues. Nelligan, an elite amateur tennis player in her teens, attended South secondary school. Her most recent film role was 2007's Premonition, alongside Sandra Bullock."
From "Forest City Film Festival to Honour Mystery Star," Jane Sims, July 25, 2024.

London 's Bicentennial (Snippet 36)

 Cigars and London - 1912

Source:
  That short article is found in The Macon Daily Telegraph on Nov. 24, 1912 (GA).
Much more recently the following image is from CBC News: "Why London, Ont., Was Once Canada's Second City of Cigar Making," Mar. 24, 2024.

   "Canada was once home to a booming cigar industry – and southwestern Ontario was known as this country's 'tobacco belt.'

In the late 19th century, London had dozens of cigar factories whose buildings still stand in the city's downtown and whose owners' names still adorn public places."
(There is more and the answer to the question in the title is provided by Professor Tom Peace, Huron University College.)

Mark Twain's Books

 Alan Gribben (R.I.P. 1941-2026)
  In "Mark Twain and Libraries" I wrote about Twain's collections of books. In it, I also  wrote about Dr. Gribben and his quest to locate all of the books that Twain possessed. His was not an easy task and the result was a 2000 page dissertation based on his findings.
  Dr. Gribben passed away and this obituary is found in the New York Times:
  "Alan Gribben, Twain Scholar Who Excised Slur From ‘Huck Finn,’ Dies at 84," Michael S. Rosewald, June 10, 2026. Here is a portion related to Twain's books and Gribben's mission to document them:

  "For his doctorate studies, he moved to the University of California, Berkeley, home to the Mark Twain Papers and Project. The project’s editor hired him as a graduate assistant and tasked him with preparing explanatory notes for Mr. Twain’s handwritten notebooks...."

   He was fascinated by Mr. Twain, especially the mystery surrounding the author’s literary influences. Before Mr. Twain died in 1910, he gave away most of his books, scattering evidence that would have undoubtedly upended his carefully cultivated image as an uneducated “littery man,” as he once joked.

 

For his dissertation, Mr. Gribben set off on what would become a lifelong quest to find and document every book that Mr. Twain had owned. Driving cross-country in his blue Volkswagen Beetle, he visited libraries, rare book collectors and Mr. Twain’s distant relatives....

 

   
The culmination of Professor Gribben’s lifelong project — “Mark Twain’s Literary Resources” — was published in two volumes, in 2019 and 2022, totaling 1,379 pages. In them, he documented nearly 6,000 books, magazines and other materials that Mr. Twain had read. The subjects included sea voyages, French history, hymns, botany, slavery, detective fiction, insects, India, astronomy, birds, bees and the afterlife."

The End

London's Bicentennial (Snippet 35)

 London's Veterinary Science School (?)
  Searching for news about London from long ago, one sometimes comes across advertisements related to the city. This one is from The Sisseton Weekly Standard, Nov. 26, 1909. 

   One thinks of Guelph in relation to vet. schools. Apparently the one located in London was of the mail order type. 

   "In 1896 the Veterinary Science Company of London, Ont. was established and through the London Veterinary Correspondence School ran a course in veterinary medicine and surgery. Besides a home-study course, the school provided a textbook and diploma which it led recipients to believe was qualification to practise anywhere in Canada. Provincial legislation closed the school in 1921, but before then 77 editions of the text were published and diplomas were issued worldwide. For many years the provincial associations had to cope with the demands of London school "graduates" who unsuccessfully sought membership and practice privileges.

Source - "History of Veterinary Medicine," The Canadian Encyclopedia.
 (Searching for Sisseton, I learned that the town still exists and an ad. on the "city's" website indicates that they are looking for a part-time "Municipal Liquor Store Clerk", starting at $18.55 an hour.)

London's Bicentennial (Snippet 34)

 Hurricane - 1909

    Fatality at Aberdeen Public School 

Source: Charlotte Daily Observer, (NC), April 8, 1909.
   Given the date (in April), it is likely this was a tornado and it is listed as such on Wikipedia. ("List of Canadian Tornadoes and Tornado Outbreaks (pre-2000)".)
  For the first snippet in this series which provides the rationale see, London's Bicentennial (1826-2026).

London's Bicentennial (Snippet 33)

 Financially Embarrassed in London in 1886

But, Perhaps Only Temporarily Deranged
Source: The Philadelphia Inquirer, July 8, 1886