History of 1^st Merrickville Scout Group

The 1^st Merrickville Scout group was founded in 1908, making it the oldest Scout group in North America. An article from 75 Years of Scouting in Canada details the early years.

A plaque was unveiled on July 1, 2011 by the Village of Merrickville-Wolford , commerating the founding of the Merrickville Scout group

On February 24, 2007, the Ottawa Citizen wrote an article on the centenary of Scouting featuring our Scout troop.

• Article	Word	PDF
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Notes from Dr. L. H. Newman in 1974 about Merrickville United Church (courtesy of Carol Williams):

• "Rev. Ernest Thomas was the minister in Merrickville from 1908-1911. Mr. Thomas is especially remembered as being the founder of the "first" Boy Scout troop in Canada. He had long been interested in the efforts of the late Baden-Powell in England to get some sort of a boy's organization under way and actually went to England in order to gain some first-hand knowledge of what was developing. On his return he immediately set to work to set up an organization along similar lines and as a result Merrickville became the birthplace of the first Boy Scout troop in Canada. Three members of that historic group are still living (1974) Carman Knapp, Harold Hutton and Joseph Hutton."

The following is based on the information available in the archives of Scouts Canada. Copies of the documents are stored with the group and can be made available for research and genealogical purposes. We know that three of the first Scouts in 1908 were Harold Hutton, Carman Knapp, and Joe Hutton.

Courtesy of Lee Horning and Bruce Holmes, we have a selection of photographs dating back to the 1950's. These include photos of three of the original Scouts from 1908.

The year referenced is the start of the Scouting year. For example, 1997 refers to the Scouting year September 1997 to August 1998.

The kids whose names are listed on the subsequant pages are all now adults. Those still kids are still included all the statistics and trends, just not identified in any reports by name.

For further information on the history of Merrickville and the surrounding areas, contact the Merrickville and District Historical Society. Through a Rememberance booklet produced by the historical society, we have been able to identify the following Scouts from Merrickville who gave their life during World War II.

• Name	Died	Age
  Armstrong, Wilmer	1945	25
  Davis, James	1942	21
  Watt, Alistair	1945	21
  Watt, Norman	1943	21
  Wilson, Stanley	1942	19

The June/July 2007 issue of The Beaver magazine has an interesting article on the starting of Scouting and whether it was the brain child of Baden-Powell or Ernest Seton.

The Royal Canadian Legion wrote an article on the centenary of Scouting, featuring our group.

Statistics

• Group Enrolment and Retention
• Scouts Canada Registration Fee
• Scouts Canada National Enrolment

Cross Reference

• Positions and Years by Adult Name
• Positions and Adults by Year/Name
• Positions and Adults by Year/Position
• Sponsor by Year