Theron Potter Healy was born in Round Hill, Nova Scotia, Canada, on May 14th, 1844.  In 1866 he married Mary Anne Jefferson, also of Round Hill.  From what we can piece together, Healy started his career as a shipbuilder.  He moved to Halifax, where he continued in the shipbuilding trade. However, disaster struck in 1883, when one of the vessels he owned was lost in a storm. Because of this loss, and probably also because wooden ships were at the end of their commercial use, Healy picked up his growing family and moved to Minneapolis. Three years later his first house went up at 3137 Second Avenue South.

Theron and Mary Ann with their children. l-r back row: Alice, Charles, Dora, Lena; middle row: Reginald, T.P.,Mary Anne, Erena; front row: Birdie, Chester, Bessie.

(Thanks to the Halifax (NS) Public Library, info on the shipwreck that spurred T.P.’s move to the US–Vessel: Mary E. Banks, Type: Schooner (wood, 2 masts, 1 deck), Tonnage: 50.2, Length: 62.4′, Breadth: 17.6, Draft: 8′, Built at Barrington, NS, 1863, Date lost: August 30, 1883, Cause: Stranded during gale on shoals off L’Ardoise, Cape Breton, Value: vessel $1,500+ cargo $2,000, Owner: Theron Healy.)


Much research remains to be done on Healy’s work in Canada.  Round Hill is a small community on the Annapolis River, off the Bay of Fundy on Nova Scotia’s west coast.  Here are images from Round Hill currently on the Web:

This vernacular Gothic Revival house in rural Round Hill is listed for sale at $198,.000.  No building date is given, but its style suggests it was built mid-19th century.  Shown at right is its barn with the gambrel roof Healy used so frequently in his later designs.

The Annapolis Valley from Round Hill in autumn.

–T.B.