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HomeMy WebLinkAboutThe Exeter Times-Advocate, 1973-06-28, Page 39Store manager Marg Cook invites you to drop in and say hello when you're in Exeter for the Centennial. Section 2, Page 19 THE EXETER TIMES-ADVOCATE JUNE 28, 1973 Mystery of teacher still unsolved Mysterious Legend Of Early Exeter Life London Free Press Sat. Dec. 14, 1957 BY ALTA.LIND RODGES A long, narrow and prosperous looking Main street, stretching for a mile or more along Number 4 Highway which crosses the Aux Sable River while planes from the nearby RCAF station of Centralia drone overhead — that is the Exeter we know today but one hundred and twenty-five years ago only a single log cabin stood on the site of the present village which with its com- fortable homes and fine stores looks more like a bustling small town. One has only to drive through it today to realize that Exeter has come a long long way since James Willis of Ireland arrived in Canada early in 1832. Almost every settlement in Western Ontario has its ghost or its mystery and Exeter is no exception. For a number of years, a hamlet just north of Exeter was known as Francistown — just why, no one seems to know, but Francistown had one of the first public schools in the district and it was fortunate in securing a teacher, a very learned but somewhat eccentric school master. He is believed to have come originally from Scotland but of this no one seems to be absolutely certain, now, more than one hundred years later. Unlike most teachers in those days, he did not board around the section but lived in a small ad- dition at the back of the school. He was extremely neat with a place for everything and everything in its place at all times. He was a stern but fair disciplinarian and discharged all his duties to the best of his ability and he is said to have had more than his share of the latter. He was very punctual and every morning found him at the door of his school to welcome his pupils and when school closed he stood at the door to bid them farewell. Day after day, for several years, he followed the same practice and then one morning the children arrived at school to find the door locked and no master waiting to welcome them. It was late in the year and they waited for the teacher's appearance until the cold drove them homeward. Parents hurried to the school and finally forced the door. Everything was in perfect order in the school and in the teacher's living quarters at the back but no teacher was to be seen or indeed ever heard of again. No unusual footprints led to or from the From Lovell's Gazeteer of British North America, Montreal, Lovell, 1881 EXETER, or FRANCISTOWN, a thriving post village in Huron co., Ont., on the River Aux Sables and on the London, Huron and Bruce Ry., 30 miles from Goderich. It contains 5 churches, a telegraph office, 2 bank agencies, woollen factory, 1 saw mill, 2 grist mills, 2 printing offices issuring weekly newspapers, 5 hOtels, and a number of stores, and has a large trade in grain, flour and -^ntry produce. Pop. 2000. Exeter Times, May 29, 18811 Mr, P. Drew brow ht into the Times office a daridun n which measures over three fec' It must have taken Peter a lung time to piece it. Exeter Times Sept. 20, 1883 _ A gentleman living in Stephen came into Exeter the other day complaining that a man walking along in the air had frightened his horse into the ditch and broken a buggy spring. On further enquiry the man walking in the air proved to be one of our professionals on his bicycle. school. His clothing and books had not been touched, Unlike Ichabod Crane, the vanishing school teacher in the Legend of Sleepy Hollow, the master had not been interested in any of the girls in the neigh- borhood. A studious, methodical, law abiding person with great respect for law and order, he vanished as if the earth had swallowed him. Travelers along the London Road were rare in those days and rarer still at that particular time of the year, and although the inns along the road and at London and Goderich were checked, no one had ever seen a traveler who bore any resemblance whatever to the missing school roaster. Fearing foul play, although the teacher was never known to have any enemies nor was a man of his nature likely to make any, the settlers scoured the surrounding bushland for signs of a freshly dug grave but found none. Had he committed suicide, he could not possibly have disposed of his own remains but suicide was very unlikely as he seemed happy enough and was intensely interested in his work and pupils and was highly regarded by all' who knew him. No attempt was ever made to obtain his clothing or personal belongings which were of a quality much better than the homespun which was the usual attire of those days, Had he disappeared of his own accord, it seems peculiar that he did not take his clothing with him as a protection from the cold as he had no means of transportation except by foot. Over a hundred years have elapsed since the master held the school door open and watched his charges file through it for the last time but the years have brought no solution to the mystery of the vanished school teacher, nor are they likely to do so now.