Rev. James Waddell was born on May 24, 1805, in Truro, Nova Scotia.

He was a Presbyterian clergyman. As an employee of the Home Mission, he was inducted to New Mills and Bathurst, New Brunswick missionaries (1832-1834). He also served the ministries at Bay Chaleur in New Brunswick and River John (1844-1858) and Sheet Harbour in Nova Scotia. As an accomplished scholar, he took a deep interest in education, especially in common and Sabbath schools. He served as the first Secretary of the Foreign Mission Board in Canada.

In 1837, he married Elizabeth Blanchard (1819–1897). He died on March 21, 1870, in Halifax, Nova Scotia.

Wabasso Cotton Company Limited was incorporated in Canada in 1907. The company changed its name to Wabasso Limited in 1967. The company changed its name to Wabasso Inc. in 1979 and continued under the Canada Business Corporations Act in that same year. The company changed its name to Tratex Textile Inc. in 1985, following the sale of its major assets to Dominion Textile Inc. Dominion Textile continued the bedding and towel product lines under the Wabasso name, and made Wabasso Canada Inc. a wholly-owned subsidiary.

W. McNally & Co. was Montreal-based hardware and metal merchandise company dealing with builders', contractors', and gas works' supplies. It was founded by William McNally (1855-1912) in 1876. It was the largest business of its kind in the Dominium in the late 1800s and the early 1900s.