Born in Fredericton in 1845, John Babbitt was a skilled jeweller, watchmaker, and passionate scientist. The son of Samuel Wellington Babbitt and Frances Maria Nealon, he began his career in 1865 by partnering with silversmith and jeweller Alexander MacPherson. Just three years later, he struck out on his own, opening a successful business as a jeweller and watchmaker in Fredericton.
While dedicated to his craft, Babbitt was equally fascinated by the rapid scientific advancements of his time. He kept a close eye on emerging technologies and was especially intrigued by Alexander Graham Bell’s invention of the telephone. He likely saw a model of Bell’s telephone at the 1876 Centennial Exhibition in Philadelphia and read about it in Scientific American. Additionally, he received detailed descriptions of the device from William Whitman Bailey, a professor of botany at Brown University, through letters sent to Babbitt’s friend, Professor Loring Woart Bailey of the University of New Brunswick. These letters described a telephone built at the Bailey family estate, using improvements developed by Bell’s associate, John Pierce.
Armed with this information, Babbitt and Professor Loring Bailey created Fredericton’s first telephone—possibly the first in all of New Brunswick—between late 1877 and early 1878. This magnetic telephone used wooden cylinders with vibrating metal plates and wire-wound iron bar magnets. It initially connected Babbitt’s home to his brother George Nealon’s, and later to Professor Bailey’s, spanning a distance of about 200 yards. Babbitt went on to establish more telephone connections throughout the city.
In 1879, when Fredericton’s streets were still lit by gas and homes by kerosene and candles, Babbitt and Dr. Bailey made another remarkable leap. Using a 30- or 40-cell battery imported from London, England, they produced what is believed to be the first electric light in Fredericton—and possibly in the Maritimes. When the electric light was placed in the university’s portico and focused with a parabolic reflector, it illuminated the spire of Christ Church Cathedral and even reached the Methodist church in Marysville, three miles away, astonishing locals in both communities.
Babbitt’s inventive spirit didn’t stop there. Drawing from descriptions of Thomas Edison’s latest invention, he also constructed what is considered the first phonograph in New Brunswick.
A man of curiosity and intellect, John Babbitt had a deep appreciation for the mechanical sciences. He frequently assisted with experimental work at the University of New Brunswick and the Provincial Normal School. Around 1880, he and Professor Bailey gave Saint John audiences their first look at groundbreaking devices such as a heliostat, a large induction coil, and a phonograph.
John Babbitt’s legacy lives on as a true pioneer of science and technology in New Brunswick, blending craftsmanship with an unrelenting drive to explore the frontiers of innovation.
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