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Home My WebLink AboutThe Exeter Times-Advocate, 1973-06-28, Page 81Section 3, Page 29 THE EXETER TIMES-ADVOCATE JUNE 28, 1973 r w 5 0 g 04) 4,71,t r 0, +4 lot tf From the left, George Hawkins who started the business in 1900, Glenn and Mary Fisher, Jean Allen and Ann Pinder. ORIGINAL VERITY FOUNDRY - In 1857 William Verity started the Francistown Foundry on the corner of Alexander and William streets. As the business thrived, he bought out his partner, Mr. brabson and moved the plant to the corner of Main and Wellington where the liquor store is now. In the 1890's it became the ma- jor industry employing over 70 full-time men. 'Tally one, tally two' , early call at Verity's Serving Exeter for the past 21 years. EXETER This is an excerpt from "Harvest Triumphant" sent in by Massey Ferguson Ltd. who bought out the Verity company in 1892. More colorful in romantic detail than any other story of the implement pioneers is that of William H. Verity, Canada's great plow maker. An English- man by birth and a mechanical engineer by training, he was appointed, in his early twenties, as an inspection engineer on one of the steam-driven ships making a maiden crossing from London to New York in 1857. On the voyage he met Mary Jane Fountain. Upon landing in New York the young couple married, journeyed by train to Buffalo, where they stayed for a few months, and then moved on to Upper Canada where the Fountain family had preceded them. They settled in the village of Francestown, still largely surrounded by forest. There Verity entered into partnership with a Mr. Braddison for the manufacture of plows, sugar kettles, "horsepowers", straw cutters, saw outfits, and box and cook stoves. During the first few years, Verity made all his patterns and machinery himself with rudimentary equipment which included a drill, lathe, boring- Exeter Reeves 1873-4 - Isaac Carling 1875 - George Willis 1876 - Wharton Hodgson 1877-89 - Lancelot Hardy 1890-1 - Dr. J.A. Rollins 1892 - William Bawden 1893-4 - Dr. J.A. Rollins 1895-6 - William Bawden 1897 - A.Q. Bobier 1898 - T.B. Carling 1899 - Hugh Sparkman 1900-1 - W.G. Bissett 1902 - W.H. Levitt 1903 - T.B. Carling 1904-5 - W.G. Bissett 1906-8 - A.Q. Bobier 1909 - T.H. McCallum 1910 - William Bawden 1911 - John D. Taylor 1912-3 - W.J. Heaman, 1914-6 - John Taylor 1917-23 - B.W.F. Beavers 1924-7 - W.D. Sanders 1928-9 - C.B. Snell 1930-3 - B.M. Francis 1934 - W.D. Sanders mill, vise, and a "horse-power" with a gear fifteen feet in diameter, which he also made. Power for the huge contraption was furnished by farmers' teams which used to come in twice a week when heats were taken off. The blast for the cupola was made of sheepskin bellows, consisting of two boxes, two and a half feet square, with plungers of sheepskin. Operated first by the horse- power and later by a steam engine, the bellows continued in use for fifteen years and "made such a great noise and were so powerful that the blast could blow the iron right out of the top of the cupola" — surely a startling,and impressive sight. W. H. Verity had four sons, Robert H., William J., Percy E., and Charles F., all of whom entered the father's business in due course. Robert and William operated the big handpress which formed the moldboards of the plows. It hada twenty-foot lever to screw it down, and when the plate was put in the form the boys would give the lever a whirl and duck quickly to avoid being hit. The furnace and press were outside in the open beside a creek in which a twenty-foot hole had been dug. When ready, the hot moldboards were taken directly 1935-6 - Thomas Pryde 1937.9 - W.D. Sanders 1940-8 - B.W. Tuckey 1949-50 -A. J. Sweitzer 1951 - Larry Snider 1952-4 - R.E, Pooley 1955-9 - W. MacKenzie 1960 - C. Mawhinney 1961-2 - W. MacKenzie 1963-4 - G. Fisher 1965-74 - C.E. Boyle Mayors 1951 - B.W. Tuckey 1952-4 - W.G. Cochrane 1955-61 - R.E. Pooley 1962-4 - E. Simmons 1965-74 - J.H.W. Delbridge Exeter Times Advocate, January 31, 1953 Mayor W.G. Cochrane snipped the red ribbon across the ar- tificial ice surface in Exeter Memorial Arena to officially re- open the community centre after its extensive renovations. from the press and dipped in the pool for tempering. The boys' Grandfather Fountain, who was blind, used to sit on a log and listen for the sharp hiss of the hot boards as they hit the water. Each time he would cut a notch in a shingle and call out, "Tally One," "Tally Two", and so on, "both to keep track of the number of the boards and as a check to insure that the boards remained in the pool for exactly the right length of time, a sort of rhythm being developed". Under such primitive con- ditions were produced the early products of one of the world's great plow makers, Verity of Canada. • Ca Nos ,,,,,, 1011:0 ' - CARRYING ON THE TRADITION OF SERVICE AND FINE PRODUCTS ESTABLISHED BY GEORGE HAWKINS Heads of council through the ages -E.-- 92 Main St. Fisher's Hardware . , 10 ... ... „ . ,,,,,,, ,,,,,,ale ,,,,,, ,,, llllllllllllllllllllllll l lllll ll ....... ,,,, ,,,,, ,,,,,,, ,,,,,,, ,,,,,,,, v 0000‘ • tttttt We provide complete satisfaction with SERVICE after the sale . . BECAUSE YOU WOULDN'T WANT IT ANY OTHER WAY Jerry Mathers Typewriters 235-1840 llllll lllll iii11111111111111g: