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.