Identity area
Type of entity
Person
Authorized form of name
Aykroyd, Samuel Augustus
Parallel form(s) of name
- Dr. Aykroyd
- S.A. Aykroyd
Standardized form(s) of name according to other rules
Other form(s) of name
Identifiers for corporate bodies
Description area
Dates of existence
1855-1933
History
Dr. Samuel Augustus Aykroyd was born in 1855 near Kingston, Ontario. In 1884 he married Ellen Jane Wemp, and had two children, Lillian and Maurice. Initially a schoolteacher, he became a dentist in 1892 and remained so until his death in 1933. He came to Spiritualism in the early 1900s, and around 1908 made his first visit to Lily Dale, New York, where one of the largest fixed Spiritualist camps existed. From 1920 onwards, Dr. Aykroyd and his wife hosted numerous séances at their cottage near Lake Loughborough (and occasionally in Kingston and Toronto), often using a medium named Walter Ashurst (1890-?). These séances were also variously attended by his son and daughter-in-law (Marjorie), and later their children (Peter and Maurice Jr.). The séances often resulted in a variety of psychic phenomena such as table tipping and voices, including many regular spirit communicators such as Irishman “Mike Whelan”, Ming dynasty-era “Lee Long”, Egyptian prince “Blue Light”, and Native American “Broken Arrow”. Although they attempted to achieve materialization of spirits, the Aykroyd group was never successful in that regard.
Places
Sydenham, ON
Kingston, ON
Lake Loughborough, ON
Toronto, ON
Kingston, ON
Lake Loughborough, ON
Toronto, ON
Legal status
Functions, occupations and activities
Mandates/sources of authority
Internal structures/genealogy
General context
Relationships area
Access points area
Occupations
Control area
Authority record identifier
aykroyd_s
Institution identifier
UMASC
Rules and/or conventions used
Rules for Archival Description (RAD)
Status
Final
Level of detail
Full
Dates of creation, revision and deletion
Created by Samantha Booth, December 2015
Language(s)
- English