John Babbitt

John Babbitt was a jeweller and watchmaker by profession. He was also fascinated by the scientific advances of his time such as the telephone and other inventions by people like Alexander [Graham Bell] and Thomas [Alva Edison].
In 1879, Dr Loring Bailey and Babbitt produced the first electric light in Fredericton. Babbitt also made a phonograph believed to have been the first in New Brunswick. Babbitt sometimes participated in experimental work at the University of New Brunswick and other locations and co-exhibited to a Saint John audience, for the first time, a number of scientific products.