Roaring Dan’s Dad

(edited 2026-09-14)

Politics were the game, Hanington was the name!

Daniel Hanington (1804–1889) was a man who seemed destined for politics. In 1834, at the age of 30, he was elected to the Legislative Assembly as the Member for Westmorland County, in southeastern New Brunswick. From that point on, he served almost continuously in either the Lower or Upper House until his death 55 years later—a remarkable political career that spanned the terms of twelve Lieutenant Governors. [2]

The Saint John Daily Sun summed up his career rather beautifully after his death, describing him as:

“a courteous, genial gentleman of the old school, respected by all who knew him…”

The newspaper went on to say that his election as President of the Legislative Council in February 1883 was “a fitting crown to a long and successful political career,” adding that he brought to the position an experience in politics and public affairs for which he was “absolutely without a rival among provincial public men.” [3]

But Daniel Hanington was much more than a politician.

He was born in 1804 to William Hanington and Mary Darby, who were among the first English settlers in Shediac, New Brunswick. Daniel was educated at the Sackville Grammar School and went on to become both a farmer and the Comptroller of Customs at the port of Shediac—a position he held for more than forty years. He finally retired in 1880, at the age of 76.

A Loyalist connection

Daniel’s wife, Margaret Ann Peters (1811–1887), came from a very different but equally interesting New Brunswick family. Her parents, William Peters and Charlotte Haines, had both arrived in Saint John as young children in 1783, along with their families and many other United Empire Loyalists fleeing the American Revolution.

Charlotte’s story is particularly poignant.

She came to New Brunswick with an aunt and uncle and, sadly, never saw her parents again. Family tradition tells us that when she stepped ashore at Saint John, she lost one of her little handmade slippers in the mud. The surviving slipper has been preserved and is now in the Museum in Saint John.

It is hard to imagine what that tiny object must have represented to Charlotte—and to the generations that followed her.

A father before a politician

Daniel and Margaret Ann had twelve children, although one son died as an infant. And Daniel seems to have taken his responsibilities as a father very seriously.

While his political career was flourishing, he was offered two departmental positions that would have required him to spend considerable time away from home. He turned them both down. He preferred country life and, more importantly, wanted to be there to oversee the education and training of his children.

It seems that Daniel made the right choice.

They raised an extraordinary family.

All nine of their surviving sons went on to become successful professionals or businessmen. Among them was another politician, Daniel “Roaring Dan” Hanington (1835–1909), who followed his father into public life. Their other sons included a lumber merchant, a broker, a rector, a barrister, a chemist and druggist—my great-great-grandfather, James Peters Hanington—a civil engineer, a chief surgeon and a Comptroller of Customs.

And apparently the three daughters had “done well” too. I suspect that, in the language of the nineteenth century, this probably meant that they had married men with money, good careers, or both!

Fifty years together

In 1881, Daniel and Margaret Ann celebrated their golden wedding anniversary after fifty years of marriage.

Nine of their twelve children were still living, and by then their children and immediate families had grown into an impressive clan of 73 people.

More than half of them came to the anniversary celebration.

I can only imagine what that family gathering must have been like—dozens of Haningtons and their spouses and children, all gathered to celebrate the couple at the centre of this remarkable family.

Daniel died in 1889 at the age of 85, having spent more than half a century in New Brunswick politics. His son, “Roaring Dan,” would go on to make his own considerable mark on the province.

But before there was Roaring Dan, there was Daniel Hanington—the politician, farmer, customs official and, perhaps most importantly, devoted father who chose to stay close to home and raise an extraordinary family.

Politics may have been the game, and Hanington may have been the name—but family was clearly at the heart of it all.

 

[1] As told by Mary Thorpe Lindsay Kerr, his great-granddaughter.

[2] The Canadian Biographical Dictionary, 1881. “Lieut.-Col. Hon. Daniel Hanington, M.L.C., Shediac, N.B.”

[3] Daily Sun, Saint John, New Brunswick.