Correspondence : unidentified.

Title and statement of responsibility area

Title proper

Level of description

File

Repository

University of Waterloo. Special Collections & Archives

Reference code

SCA94-GA64-1-37

Dates of creation area

Date(s)

[19--?] (Creation)

Creator

Maines Pincock Family

Archival description area

Name of creator

Maines Pincock Family

Biographical history

Jenny O'Hara Pincock, Canadian spiritualist, author and musician, was born in Madoc, Hastings County, Ontario in 1890, where her great-grandfather had been a settler. She studied music at the Ontario Ladies' College in Whitby, Ont. (ca. 1908) and at the Royal Conservatory of Music in Toronto (ca. 1912). On June 15, 1915 she married osteopath Robert Newton Pincock and moved with him to St. Catharines. Ont. where he maintained a practice. Newton Pincock died in 1928.

Jenny Pincock's sister Minnie O'Hara Maines, married Fred Maines in 1922. Fred Maines was educated at Victoria University, Toronto and was ordained to the ministry while serving with the YMCA overseas during the WWI. After the war he served as Boys' Work secretary for the Hamilton YMCA and as general secretary of the YMCA in Hamilton and Galt. He served during for five years with the YMCA War Services during WWII. He was minister of the Church of Divine Revelation in St. Catharine's, Ont. from 1930 to 1935. In 1935 he and Minnie moved to Kitchener, Ont. to pursue business interests. He died April 13, 1959.

In 1927, together with her sister Minnie and brother-in-law Rev. Fred J.T. Maines, Jenny Pincock began to organize seances with Mr. William Cartheuser, an American medium, in St. Catharines, Ontario. Notes were kept of these seances and much of that material appeared in published form in Pincock's Trails of Truth (Los Angeles: Austin Publishing Co., 1930). In 1930 they founded the Church of Divine Revelation in St. Catharines, Ont., with Fred Maines as ordained minister. In 1932 the Radiant Healing Centre was established. In 1935 Jenny Pincock ceased connection with William Cartheuser and with the Church of Divine Revelation. In 1937 she moved to Kitchener, Ont and in 1942 she purchased and moved to property formerly owned by her grandfather near Madoc. She died in 1948 or 1949.

A book of verse by Jenny Pincock entitled Hidden Springs was published posthumously (Privately printed, 1950) with an introduction by E.J. Pratt.

The Pincock/O'Hara/Maines circle of friends was wide, and included E.J. Pratt and his wife, Viola Whitney Pratt; B.F. Austin, the noted Canadian spiritualist; the widow of Sir Charles G.D. Roberts; Phoebe Watson; William Arthur Deacon; W.W.E. Ross; Mildred Ghent, wife of Toronto Telegram writer, Percy Ghent, and many others interested in spiritualism in Canada and elsewhere.

Scope and content

Date and Place from 1932 January 2 St. Catharines To Unidentified From [Jenny Pincock]. Notes ALs. A quotation from a letter to Vi Pratt from Jenny Pincock re-- the miscellaneous sitting of the Ross' during Wm's last session.
Date and Place from 1930 June 24 [?] To Pincock, Jenny From unidentified. Notes ALs. Signature on page is illegible, possibly "Gretta N."
Date and Place from [19--?] Paris, France To Unidentified From Epstein, Mr. and Mrs. I.. Notes ALs. A christmas theme note card.
Date and Place from [19--?] New York, N.Y. To American Society for Psychical Research, Inc. From unidentified. Notes An envelope addressed to "The New York Section of the American Society for Psychical Research, Inc", with American postage.
Date and Place from 1932 October 22 Hamilton, Ont. To Pincock, Jenny From Commercial Engravers Ltd.. Notes An envelope, with stamp.
Date and Place from [19--?] [?] To Unidentified From [Pincock, Jenny?]. Notes A copy of a letter to Celestine RE Messages
Date and Place from [19--?] Holcomb, N.Y. To Pincock, Jenny From Wright, Rev. Harry M. Attachments Envelope, with stamp and covered in additional quotations. Includes a one page poem by William H. Carruth. Includes 3 pages of quotations by unknown authors and Ada Fitts of Buffalo, N.Y. Notes A copy of a speech delivered by Dr. Peebles on his 90th birthday.
Date and Place from [19--?] Caoticook, Que. To Pincock, Jenny From Baldwin, Eugene O.. Notes No Salutation and no signature. Correspondence is a poem by Eugene O. Baldwin to Jenny Pincock. The note at the bottom of the poem refers to a previous letter in which Jenny requested the poem.
Date and Place from [19--?] [?] To Unidentified From "Hope". Notes Letter is numbered. It appears as though it is missing pages 1, 2 and 3.
Date and Place from [19--?] [?] To Unidentified From Jenkins, C. C.. Notes It is possible that the first half of the letter is missing.
Date and Place from 1931 December 13 Ottawa, Ont. To Maines, Minnie From Undefined Attachments Envelope, with stamp. Notes Pamphlet with information on different church "Plays for Women" and "Canadian Plays". There is no letter attached to this pamphlet.
Date and Place from 1933 July 28 Toronto, Ont. To F. E. H. From Macnaughton, A. C. Notes A scrap note regarding the "last number of Progression".
Date and Place from [19--?] [?] To Pincock, Jenny From Unidentified. Notes Letter includes "Sunshine Sonnets" by Muriel Breneter.

Notes area

Immediate source of acquisition

Donated by Mrs. Colleen Gildner to the Library in 1985 through the efforts of Dr. Stan McMullin (St. Paul's College) and Stuart MacKinnon (Dana Porter Library).

Access points

Genre access points

Correspondence

Archives Database

University of Waterloo. Special Collections & Archives

Thematic areas

File 37 - Correspondence : unidentified.