CalaisAlumni.org: William Jacks

William Brydone Jacks
Harold E. Nelson
14 Hill Avenue,
Newport, ME 04953
207-368-5012
harrydeb@roadrunner.com

At the University of New Brunswick, formerly King's College, William Brydone Jack's observatory still stands, along with a small stone pillar that he set, which forms the meridian line. You can see an image of the pillar on the website located at http://www.unb.ca/GGE/PhotoAlbum/1996/1996.html. Jack determined the longitude difference between the Calais Meridian and the Fredericton Meridian in 1857, with the assistance of the U. S. Coast Survey. A short CBC news video on Jack, "Heaven and Earth" was filmed in 1996.

Jack's mission was two fold. He was interested in meridian work to determine longitudes throughout the Maritime Provinces and Quebec. He was also in charge of establishing standards for Land Surveyors compasses and calibrating their "chains".

I have attached an image of the York County Meridian north monument, which I shared with UNB as to what was done in the town of Alfred, Maine for the first meridian established in Maine for Land Surveyors to check their compasses.