With the arrival of the GTR shops in the early 1870’s, many from the surrounding area flocked to Stratford with the promise of new employment opportunities. One of these was 13 year old Maurice Hushin.

Maurice was born in Berlin, now Kitchener Ontario on March 14, 1857 to an Irish Catholic family.  His father Maurice was born in Dublin, Ireland on December 19, 1817 and had married Margaret Burke. The first of their 8 children, Patrick, was born in Ireland in 1836 when Margaret was only 13 years old. Like many of their countrymen, the Hushins left Ireland in the mid 1840’s and by 1847 were in England where their daughter Mary was born in 1847.  By 1851 the Hushins had emigrated to Canada and had settled in Berlin. Their remaining children were all born in Berlin, Michael in 1851, Anne in 1855, Maurice in 1857, John David in 1859, Thomas in 1860 and Catherine in 1863. Maurice’s mother died on December 19, 1874 at the age of 51 in Berlin and  at the age of 84, his father died on February 11, 1902 in York, now Toronto,  Ontario.

Maurice moved rapidly up the ranks at the GTR and by 1884 was a conductor when he married Bridget Dolan on February 17 in St. Joseph’s church in Stratford.
She was born in Stratford on January 12, 1859 to parents Thomas and Mary (Duffy) both from County Roscommon, Ireland. Bridget was the last surviving member of this family of pioneer citizens. Mary would die on May 9, 1875 and Thomas was tragically killed in a dynamite explosion in the Grand Trunk yards on May 5, 1879. Both are buried in Avondale cemetary.

In 1901 137 Nile Street was a vacant lot. The following year there was a brand new house constructed with Maurice Hushin as the owner paying building taxes of $600.

Both Maurice and his wife were highly regarded members of the community. He held memberships in the Brotherhood of Railway Trainmen and the Knights of Columbus.
She was an indefatigable church worker giving many years of faithful service to the church by being  a member of the Altar Society and Catholic Women’s League of Immaculate Conception Church.

When he died of heart failure on September 4, 1919, Maurice was a conductor on the Stratford to Sarnia passenger train.  As a railroad man he was most popular amongst his fellow employees and as his obituary says ” his death has removed one of the best railway men on the system” and “one of the oldest active employees of the Grand Trunk Railway “ having seen over 50 years of continuous service”. Without children, Bridget would continue to live in the house until her death January 7, 1935. Both Maurice and Bridget are buried in Avondale cemetary.