Charles Fenerty

Charles Fenerty was a Canadian poet and papermaker who is credited with inventing the process of making paper from wood pulp. He was born in Upper Sackville, Nova Scotia, on January 1, 1821, to Peter and Mary Fenerty, who were farmers and lumberjacks. He had a limited formal education, but he developed a love for reading and writing poetry. He published his first poem, The Prince's Lodgein 1838, when he was 17 years old. He wrote over 30 poems in his lifetime, mostly on themes of nature, patriotism, and religion. He also won a poetry contest at the Nova Scotia Industrial Exhibition in 1854. Fenerty's most important contribution was his discovery of how to make paper from wood pulp, which revolutionized the paper industry and solved the problem of paper shortage caused by the scarcity of rags. He was inspired by his observation of how wasps made their nests from chewed wood, and he experimented with various methods of grinding and bleaching wood fibres. He succeeded in producing a sample of white paper from spruce wood in 1844, and he wrote a letter to the Acadian Recorder, a local newspaper, announcing his invention. He also sent a sample of his paper to the paper mill owner, Charles Annand, who was impressed by the quality and cheapness of the paper, but did not pursue the idea further. Fenerty did not patent his invention, nor did he publicize it widely, as he was more interested in poetry than in business. He continued to work as a farmer and a lumberjack, and occasionally made paper for his own use. ¹ Fenerty's invention was independently made by the German chemist Friedrich Gottlob Keller in 1845, who patented his process and sold it to several paper mills in Europe. Keller is often credited as the sole inventor of wood pulp paper, but Fenerty's priority has been recognized by historians and scholars. Fenerty's original letter and paper sample are preserved at the Public Archives of Nova Scotia. ¹ Fenerty died of pneumonia in Lower Sackville, Nova Scotia, on June 10, 1892, at the age of 71. He was buried in the Old Sackville Cemetery. He is widely regarded as a pioneer and a benefactor of humanity, and his name is commemorated in several places, such as the Fenerty Paper Mill, the Fenerty Lake, the Fenerty Road, and the Charles Fenerty Award. ¹