The First 150 Years The year was 1846. In the United States, Texas joined the union as the 28th state, the Mexican-American War started, and baseball began to be played regularly. In Europe, the Irish potato famine led to starvation and mass emigration. In British North America, Upper Canada and Lower Canada had recently joined together as a British colony, but Canada would only be formed 21 years later. And John C. Tingley started the business that was to become Tingley Monuments. John C. Tingley was trained in the family trade, stone carving, a skill the family brought with them when they emigrated to New England in the 1600s and later to New Brunswick with the United Empire Loyalists. Since then, the company passed down from father to son for five generations. In 1917, Tingley Monuments’ location was moved from Hopewell Cape, N.B. to Amherst, N.S. following a disastrous fire. The material of choice evolved from marble to granite with the development of harder tools at the t... [Detail]