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1746-1980 (Creation)
- Creator
- Vidal Family
Physical description area
Physical description
1.7 m of textual records; 71 photographs : b&w; 10 objects; 2 albums; 4 photographs : portrait prints, b&w; 2 silhouettes ; 22 paintings : b&w and col.; 12 photographs : 1 ambrotype, 7 daguerreotype and 4 tintype; 12 architectural drawings; 4 photographs : ambrotype; 1 photograph: tintype; 2 scrapbooks
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Biographical history
The Vidal family descends from Spanish and French origins. The family settled in London England in 1685. Emeric Vidal, a British Royal Navy Captain, lived from 1751-1811 and resided in Bracknell, Berkshire England for the entirety of his life. He married in 1783 to Jane Essex and they had 4 children together named Emma Vidal (1783-1844), Captain Richard Emeric Vidal (1789-1854), Emeric Essex Vidal (1791-1861) and Vice-Admiral Alexander Thomas Emeric Vidal (1792-1863). Like their father, all three brothers entered the Royal Navy and became officers in active service.
Captain Richard Emeric Vidal was a Naval Officer who voyaged around the world and kept detailed and thorough diaries throughout his years at sea. After retiring from the navy in the 1830’s, he emigrated from Bracknell, England to Sarnia, Ontario (then called ‘Les Chutes’ or ‘The Rapids’) in 1834. With him he brought his wife, Charlotte Penrose Mitton (1789-1873) and four children, including son Alexander Vidal (1819-1906). However, there was a fifth child who died before the family immigrated. They had one more child after moving to Canada. Captain Richard Emeric Vidal was among the first pioneers of Sarnia and was active in changing the name of the town from The Rapids to Port Sarnia.
Alexander Vidal was 15 when he moved to Sarnia with his father Richard Emeric Vidal and family. He went on to be an important figurehead in the Sarnia community, having experience being a surveyor, a banker, and a politician. Alexander Vidal eventually became a conservative member of the Senate of Canada for the Sarnia division from 1873-1906. He married Catherine Wright (daughter of Captain William Wright) and they had seven children together.
One of those was Charlotte Vidal Nisbet (1855-1948), or ‘Chattie’ as her friends and relatives often called her, who would become a local Sarnia historian and author. Her husband, Thomas Nisbet was the originator of the Boy’s Brigade in Sarnia. Charlotte Nisbet provided weekly contributions to "The Sarnia Canadian Observer" starting in 1935. Her columns were based on daily happenings for the corresponding days one hundred years before which she extracted from her grandfather’s and other family member’s diaries and letters.
Custodial history
The contents of this collection were donated by multiple individuals in multiple accessions. Charlotte Vidal Nisbet (1855-1948), granddaughter of Richard Emeric Vidal, was the primary collector and keeper of family documents. Her father, Alexander Vidal, designated to her the rights to all of his belongings in his last will and testament, which included diaries, letters, and other family records. One of the earliest items donated to the Western University Regional Collection for this fonds was a photostat copy of an Alexander Vidal Diary (1835) given by Charlotte Vidal Nisbet in 1935. Charlotte Vidal Nisbet was also the original creator of a large portion of the collection, including biographical histories on family members, newspaper columns, and other writings, which all remained in her possession until her death.
Some of the material was acquired by George L. Smith, Sarnia historian, who collected material on the Vidal Family. He donated letters and journals from Richard Emeric and Alexander Vidal on multiple occasions between the years 1969-1983. Another primary donor to the Vidal Family fonds was Edward Phelps, Special Collections Librarian at Western University. In 1973, Phelps donated a personal collection of materials on the Vidal family including material contained in the Charlotte Vidal Nisbet series, and other diaries, letters, and personal records of the Vidals.
Scope and content
This collection contains archival material related to the Vidal and Nisbet families of Sarnia. Graphic material (photographs, photographic plates, silhouettes, albums, artwork), newspaper materials, correspondence (letters, letter books, postcards), personal records (military, legal, marriage, wills, financial), diaries and biographical histories are included. Family members with a prominent presence in the collection include Charlotte Vidal Nisbet, Alexander Vidal, and Richard Emeric Vidal.
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This collection also includes three volumes that were owned by various Vidal family members and are catalogued as part of Special Collections. Titles include: "Parish Sermons" 1852, "Jesus God and Man; and Exposition of Psalms CXI and CXII" 1863, and "The Illustrated Self-Instructor of Phrenology and Physiology" 1849 (Call No. BF870.F6.). Also included are two microfilm reels: Letters and diary of Alexander Vidal, 1835-1863, reel M583; Voyages of Captain Richard Emeric Vidal, 18012-1813, reel M371.