Fonds
William Lunn was a businessman, politician and educator. He was born on July 18, 1796, in Devonport, England. He was the eldest son of William Lunn (Sr.) and Elizabeth Heard. He was sent by the British Admiralty to work in Kingston as a storekeeper in 1819. He moved to Montreal a year later. In 1821 he married Margaret Fisher, daughter of Duncan Fisher and Catherine Embury. Although he was involved in business and politics, he chiefly made his mark in Montreal as an educator. He was involved in numerous committees and even helped to open a school for Protestant children in 1822 (the British and Canadian School). William Lunn died in Montreal in 1886.
Julia Mary Lunn was one of William Lunn's children. In 1848 she married the Honourable Alexander Cross, who was born in 1821 in Scotland and moved to Canada as a young boy. He became a judge and a distinguished figure in his field. He died in 1895. His wife survived him by seven years and passed away in 1902. The couple lived on Côte des Neiges Road and had five sons and a daughter who survived to adulthood: Alexander Selkirk, George Harry, William Heber, Alfred Ernest, Edmund Lawrence, and Margaret Fisher.
Margaret Fisher Cross married businessman William Robinson MacInnes. They lived on Pine Avenue in Montreal and had four children: Julia Mary, Evelyn Margaret Robinson, Donald Alexander, and Emma Strachan.
Scope and Content
The Lunn, Cross and MacInnes fonds provides information on activities and properties of the members of these families.
The fonds consists of textual, cartographic and graphic material, including a gardening book that in all likelihood belonged to the Lunn family (containing lists of plants and flowers, a year-by-year journal of gardening activities, etc.), an 1830 copy of The Gazette in which William Lunn is mentioned (as an administrator of the Bank of Montreal) and prescriptions for Mrs. Julia Mary Cross (née Lunn). There are also numerous documents concerning William Robinson MacInnes, his wife Margaret Fisher MacInnes (née Cross) and their daughter Emma. They include menus from the St. James Club, a passport for William R. MacInnes and others, a copy of the booklet Some 'Iron Gates' of Local Interest, a Montreal Hunt Club map of Montreal, Ile Jésus and Ile Bizard, a series of documents and maps pertaining to the estate of Alexander Cross (more specifically dealing with "Monteith Farm"), school report cards for Margaret F. Cross and letters written about the wedding of Emma MacInnes in 1936. The fonds also contains a few miscellaneous documents, such as a list of doctor-prohibited activities, club house coupons for the Montreal Amateur Athletic Association, a prayer and a print about the "Port Hope Proposals."
The fonds also includes six photographic albums of various sizes and formats. They contain carte-de-visite or cabinet format photographs, and some tintypes. Most of the photographs are portraits dating from the end of the 19th century. Although many sitters are not identified, some local photographs, including several Notmans, can be documented. Many of the portraits are of members of the Lunn and Cross families: William and Julia Mary Lunn, Alexander Cross, Margaret Fisher Cross, Robert A. Cross, amongst others. One album contains numerous photographs taken in Dresden by Scherer & Engler. These are portraits of young schoolgirls, most likely classmates of Margaret F. Cross.
The fonds is divided into the following series:
P042/A
William Lunn
P042/B Julia Mary Lunn
P042/C William Robinson MacInnes
P042/D Margaret Fisher Cross
P042/E Miscellaneous Documents
P042/F Photographs
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This project is made possible thanks to the generous support of the Azrieli Foundation and Canadian Heritage.