HomeMy WebLinkAboutThe Brussels Post, 1972-01-12, Page 6ENTER . NOW
IN THE
CENTENNIAL CONTEST
for the best full.beard, best goatee and best moustache.
Anyone is elegible who has started growing a, beard or
moustache as of JANUARY 1, 1972. Registration fee is
a $1.00 per person and entrants can register at Jack
Hall's or Murray Lowe's Barber Shop.
PRIZES WILL BE AWARDED and a DEADLINE WILL
BE ANNOUNCED at a LATER DATE,
Dancing
FamilyParadise Camping Park.
SATURDAY, JANUARY 15th
MUSIC BY
Murry Greene and The
COUNTRY CAVALIERS
Refreshments Available
•
Lunch Supplied
12:
QUEEN'S HOTEL ti
BRUSSELS
I
Friday and Saturday Nights
THE MAITLAND TRIO
With SCOTTY POSSUM
4r,
Dining Lounge Will Be Open Sunday
Licensed under L.C.B.O. 31
TALENT CONTEST
BRUSSELS' PUBLIC SCHOOL
FRIDAY, JANUARY 14th
at 8 p.m.
To submit entries contact Mr. K. Scott
at school before 5:30, Thursday, Jan.
13 — Phone 887-9361 — After 5:30-8:00
contact Mr. Henry Exel, 887-6561. State-
on entry, Name—Age—Type of Performance.
it
4)
BRUSSELS LIONS CLUB
Polar Daize Snowmobile Races
CLASSIFICATION
- 1 — Up to 12 years -15 H.P. and Under
2 — 12 - 16 years 20 H.P. and Under
3 — 12 - 18 years Open
4 — 18 and up 20 H.P. and Ur 'er
5 — 18 and up Open
6 — Girls, 16 and under ..,,.Open
7 -- Powder Puff;14 and ovilw
8 — Grand Prix...{,.;,..,,+.......; 1 I,
9 — Cross Country Couple* Onfy, .... . ..... Any AO
Ehtry Fee $1.00 Grand Prix $2.00
Cross Country $2.00 Couple
Morris Itwp, Pioneer Family .Celebrates:9a Yearsirt West
BY W. E. Elliott.
Where elSe but in Canada
Would a girl of 12 drive a team
and covered wagon 300 miles
over uninhabited prairie and
nearly 70 years afterward travel
in a few hours from Vancouver
to Toronto and Peterborough to,
visit a few of her 12 grand-
children?
Where else would a Huron
farmer's descendants,75 of
them ; assemble to celerate the
98th anniversary of his arrival
in the West, with a former Prime
Minister among the guests?
William Miller was thatfarmer,
and he reached the infant settle-
Ment of Prinee Albert, in what
is now Saskatchewan, amid the
;turmoil of the first Riel
lion.
By great good fortune the
story of Ms migration in 1870
and mach of his family's history
thereafter has been recorded by
Margaret McKenzie, daughter of
William Miller and grand-
daughter of Richard Miller, who
came from Berwickshire, Scot-
land, to settle in Morris town-
ship in 1853. Mrs. McKenzie
lived in many different places,
travelled much, and lived to a,
great age. She died in a Prince
Albert nursing home about 1949.
She was the mother-in-law of
Mrs, • Norma McKenzie aid
grandmother of Mrs. Arnold
Best, 220 Wellington St. South,
Goderich. After some years in
Peterborough they have been
resident in Goderich about two
years. Mr. Best is employed with
the Beatty Farm Service Centre
in Clinton.
They have found it interest-
ing to visit the farm in Conces-
sion I, Morris (Lots 55-56) on
which the Millers settled in
1853. The Crown grant is
registered in the name of John
R., who came to Huron a year
before his parents. The property
has been in the \vheeler family
for a half-century.
Richard Miller and Margaret
Thompson, who were married in
Scotland in 1826, reached Canada
in a sailing vessel, the voyage
taking 10 weeks. A published
history of Morris township states
that they "stopped over at
Harpurhey," (then a bigger place
than Seaforth) and reached Brus-
sels over a bush trail. (Morris
had only recently been surveyed.)
Their son John R., who had
emigrated to New York State
three years earlier, reached
Morris in 1853, along with a
brother, a sister,
Margaret, and four friends. The
latter included Robert and
George Moffatt, members of a
family which took an important
part in the development of the
township and could well be the
subject by itself of a historical
narrative,
John Miller, to whom the
Crown patent on Lot 55 was
issued ; took a n active part in
comaiunity affairs, was a cap-
tain in the Huron militia for 30
years, an elder in Wroxeter
presbyterian Church for 35 years
anti was also a magistrate. He
died in 1915, aged 84.
In the Spring of 1870, WIlliam
Mil'er decided to go to' the Red
Myer 'Settlerfient, It was the
year the Province of Manitoba
was set up, taking, in the ASsini-
beta, district, On APO' 20 the
parents and five children, the
eldest 21, left Wrexeter and drove
to Seaforth, nearest railway
point. Nothing is recorded re-
garding what must have beea an
adventurous journey to the end
of the rail line at St. Cloud,
Minnesota. There the family
spent two weeks getting together
an outfit for the 300-mile trek
(here the word is used correctly)
to Fort Garry (now Winnipeg):
Teams of horses and yokes
of oxen hauled prairie schooners
in which the passengers slept
at night. Following the trail
along the Red. River, they took
four weeks to reach Pembina,
and at the border ran into the
outskirts of the Riel. RebelliOn.
Stopped by a party of horsemen,
they had to await arrival of
Col. Garnet Wolseley's soldiers.
By the time the Millers got to
Fort Garry, the rebels had de-
serted it. They found the future
Winnipeg a village of about 250,
«with a saloon on every corner
selling Hudson. Bay rum ." The
municipal waterworks system
consisted of a cart drawn by a
big red and white ox.
• After a winter here, „, the'
Millers went on to a homestead
15 miles farther west, about
where Stoney Mountain peni-
tentiary stands today. When
application was Made for a post
office, Mrs. Miller suggested
the name Rockwood, arid Rock-
wood it is today.
Two and a half years later,
Mr. Miller moved his family to
Richard Farion, 27., has been
appointed Associate Agricultural
Representative (Dairy Manage-
ment) for Huron County effective
the first of the year. He succeeds
Tom Clapp who transferred last
fall to Dundas County. .
A native of Vegreville,
Alberta where his family have a
mixed farming operation, he
graduated in 1967 from the Uni-
versity of Alberta where he maj-
ored in Animal Husbandry. He
joined the Extension Branch,
Ontario Department of Agricul-.
Prince Albert, accompanied by
Morrison McBeath and
and others. This time there were
four wagons, 30 carts and 50 head.
Of cattle, The party was six
weeks on the journey, plowing
through mud and fording streams.
in the reatilesS country.
cI was 12," Mrs. IVICKen.4te
recorded; "drove a team the
whple 300 tittles, A PartY of
Indians under chief Beardy, who
had joined the rebels, collected
a contribution for allowing us to
pass through, We crossed the
South Saskatchewan on a ferry at
Alick Fisher's, but it took us
three days to swim the cattle.
We arrived at Prince Albert in
July, 1873. Father ;squatted'
on a pieee of land east of the
Hudson Bay reserve; there was
no survey or land office there
until years later.
"In the Fall of 1874 my sister
was married to Adam McBeath,
and they were the first white
couple to be married in Prince
Albert if , not in Saskatchewan.
On January I, 1880, I was married
to John McKenzie, of Pictou,N.S.
My husband built and operated the
first steam sawmill and flour mill
in Prince Albert for Capt. Moore,
an enterprising young Irishman
who bought the machinery in the •
United States, brought it down the
river in flat boats and then hauled
it 500 miles overland with oxen,"
The McKenzies had eight
children, 12 grandchildren and 14
great-grandchildren, now scat-
tered throughout Canada and the
United States.
In 1946, Mrs. McKenzie was
Able to visit Miller's Mill at
ture & Food in North Simaoe at
Elm aale and has just completed
his Master of Science degree in
Farm Business Management
from the University of Guelph.'"
Mrs. Farion is associated
with the Home Economics
program at the CentraliaCollege
where she teaches textiles. The
couple are active in sports,
especially skiing. They have a
nine month old son, Shawn and
all are looking forward to meeting
and working with farm families
in Huron County.
Prince Albert, where 4...aister
still lived in the house built §3
years earlier.. -
The 98th, anniversary of the
arrival in 1873 of William Miller
at POOR. Albert WAS marked
when 75 descendants attended a
gathering at goos Inn there, Qnly
two of the three remaining orig-
inal 17 members .of the family
were present: Mrs. Qeprgina
Freeborn and. Mrs, Agnes Oliver,
lit , Hon, John g, piefenbaker and
wife were guests,,.
Mr. ..Piefenbaker, whose
people migrated tr-qm grey
county to Saskatchewan in 1903,
reminisced; about contribution
the. pioneer Miller had.
made to. prince. Albert and to
Canada. He expressed a hope
that the Miller's Mill heeSe
would be. preserved,
The Millers plan to hold a.
100th anniversary celebrallen on
July 18, 1973,
Ag. Rep. Assistant
Named For Huron
ENTERTAINMENT:
AT THE
NEW AMERICAN HOTEL
BRUSSELS, ONT.
friday and Saturday Night
"THE ALLEY CATS" from WINGHAM
WE FEATURE:—
Turkey -- Spareribs and Sauerkraut — Fish and Chips
BRUSSELS POST, JAN, 12, 1972
QUEEN CONTEST
Entrants must be 15 years old and over.
Each contestant will be required to:
1. Display a talent of your own choice or
2, Speak for one minute on one of the fol-
lowing topics :
(A) Winter Sport
(B) Polar Daige
' (C) Subject of own choice.
5'