HomeMy WebLinkAboutThe Brussels Post, 1977-03-30, Page 2ORLOSSELS
ONTARIO
WEDNESDAY, MARCH 30, 1977
Serving Brussels and the surrounding community,
Published each Wednesday afternoon at Brussels, Ontario
by McLean Bros. Publishers, Limited.
Evelyn Kennedy Editor Dave. Robb - Advertising
Member Canadian Community Newspaper Association and
Ontario Weekly Newspaper Association
CNA
Subscriptions (in advance) Canada $8.00 a year. Others
$14.00 a year, Single Copies 20 cents each.
Brussels. Post
To the editor
Lady has luck
in search for
Brussels ancestors
Last summer we traveled from Milwaukee, Wisconsin to
Brussels in a successful attempt to locate information about my
great grand parents, James and Sarah Elliott. Until then I had no.
proof of where they lived. Would you be at all interested in our
little adventure?
My father had said that my grandparents had been brought up
someplace "North of Lake Erie in Canada", a vast area one;
would have to admit. We had no exact place to search until we",
slipped the pictures out of an old family albtim dating back to the
1876's. Here we found the names of 2 photography' studios; one
in Seaforth and the other the studio of Frank Uren of Brussels,
Ontario.
This last summer we were able to drive up to Seaforth and
Brussels to search farther. We visited Seaforth first trying old
cemeteries, contacting people with the Elliott family name,
checking old records. No clues.
The next stop was Brussels. As we approached town, the first
thing that struck my eye was the beautifully kept cemetery on a
slope. I was impressed by its beauty but sighed a little, too. It is
so large that it would take many hours to search it unless we
could find someone with the cemetery records. How do you find
the person with the cemetery records on a late Saturday
afternoon when most businesses And offices are closed?
We headed for the nearest large steeple hoping to find a
church, a Manse, and a minister. It turned out to be the United
Church, a church my ancestors might have attended, but we
could rouse no one. We started down the street looking for
people. Voices came from the yard of'a home real estate office.
Hope rose. Real estate people know about a town. The young
woman in the yard listened to our question and invited us in to
talk to her father who had just dropped in for a cup of coffee, He
was Mr. Roy Cousins and was not surprised at all to have
someone asking about the cemetery. But I was amazed. Without
any clues we had the incredible good fortune on our first stop to
find the one man in town with the Brussels Cemetery records!
Mr. Cousins took us into his office and opened his card file.
The first card he pulled out was that for my great grandparents;
James Elliott who died• in 1862 at the age of 47 and Sarah J.._
Elliott who died in 1908 at the age of 87. Mr. Cousins also found
what may be the records for my great great grandparents and
other relatives. He told us "Just drive in the main Cemetery
entrance and go up to the place where there are 4 trees left on
the left. The headstone will be right there" - and there it was.
With information from the headstone I have been able to find
the family on the 1861 Canadian Ag. Census for Morris
Township. They lived on con. 4 Lot 26. Near by we discrovered
my other great grandparents, David and. Elinor Evans on Con. 5
Lot 26. Now it seems likely that the David Evans I is.ted as the
first justice of the peace for Brussels may have been my other
great grandfather. The Evans family went west to B.C. and none
are buried in Brussels. In time I hope to trace down other Elliott
relatives but finding that headstone in Brussels was the first big
break through in tracing down my grandmother's family.
Yvonne Holland
Mrs. Joseph Holland
7500 N.Crossway Rd.,
Milwaukee, Wisconsin,
U.S.A.53217
Syrup time
Amen
by Karl Schuessler
My mother and manners
My mother raised me up on a lot of
Victorian nonsense. And what really sticks
in me still are all those table manners she
hammered away at every time I sat down to
eat.
I figure if I had to listen to all those rules
for years, you can, too--at least for one
column's worth.
But all those rules aren't news to you.
You've probably heard them all yourself.
That's what mother's are for; to bring a
little civility to her wild breed of brood.
Sit up straight. Close your mouth when
you chew. Don't gulp. Keep your spoon out
of the cup. Don't reach for the potatoes.
Ask for them to be passed. Keep Y our
elbows off the table.
Now, what's wrong with putting your
elbows on the table? I can't think of a
better place to rest my arms. And besides,
those hands at the ends of those
elbows-on-the-table make a perfeCt resting
place for my chin.
Even a lady .likeAtny Vanderbilt, that
' reliable etiquette book maker, has seen the
light.She writes it's okay to put your elboWs
on the table between courses. Mind yott,
not during, but between the courses.
Hear this, mother? Amy's got more
give than you ever had. To you, rules were
rules. Manners were manners. Don't ask
why. Just do.
Just do chew your food. Chew it
s-l-o-w-l-y. Chew each bite the number of
times you have teeth in your mouth. Good
heavens, mother! With my full set of teeth
yet, need a two hour lunch break.
Don't you realize counting takes all the joy
out of eating? I want to taste my food, not
count it,
But if I thought my mum was bad, I had
another thing coming when I heard about
this other fellow's mum. Well, it really
wasn't his mum. No mum could ever call
erself a mom and do that to a little fellow.
This poor chap was a home boy sent over to
Canada at age 10 with a name tag around
his neck, lie went into the home of his
aimt.. And he not only had to count the
number of times he chewed his food, but
he had to take his bites of food in a certain
order.
First vegetable, then meat, then bread,
then Milk. Vegetable, Meat, Bread. Milk,
Vegetable; meat, Bread, Milk. Iii that
order, In that rhythm. Perfect time. Ferfeet
count.
It's no wonder that fellow grew up to be
a Watch repair man, setting everyone in
perfect tune.- And it's no wonder, tither,
that he grew up so mad and ugly —with a
mum like that .
That homeboy made you look pretty
tame,:-mother. I can hear you yet. Don't
wiggle in my chair. Don't tilt the chair
back:Use my serviette, not the table cloth.
Pretty tricky of me, eh, mother?
Why settle for a small piece of cloth
when I can have a big one, hanging down
the whole edge of the table. Those were the
clays of white linens and much washing,
only because my dad couldn't stand oil
cloth. He always wanted to sit' at a first
class dining table.
But not just my. dad. Even the kids at
camp this summer wanted a touch of class
in their mess hall. They watched and
waited until they could say,
"Sarah, Sarah, if you're able
Get your elbows off the table.
This is not a horses' stable,
But a- first class, dining table."
My mother's favorite lunch time horror
story was the one about the man who
couldn't make lip his mind which chap he
wanted to employ. So he solved his
problem. by taking each prospect out, to
dinner and watched the way he ate.
And on the table manners hung the new
job.
Ahhhh! I'm glad I'm over forty now and
know better. I can live and eat with all
kinds of broken rules. Amy and mother are
only faint echoes that come to haunt me
every now and then.
Like the time I was eating out a couple of
weeks ago. Trying to mind my manners as
best I could. So what if I didn't notice my
serviette until dessert time? So what if I did
help myself to two servings of fruit during
the main course? How was I to know that
was dessert? Was it my fault I didn't see
the fruit nappies sitting right beside?
Can I help it I like to talk so much? And
While everyone is doing in his plateful, I'm
dishing out with all kinds of Words. Is it any
wonder that everyone was ready for
despert, while I was .Still tackling the. main
course? ,
But that's okay, mom. I may be slow,
true.. But this was a second . helping.
Honest. And not everyone in that house
goes • for second helpings. And not
everyone in that house. gets two desserts,
either, The good lady gave me ice cream
for my second dessert.
Now, now, Mother, Don't worry, I don't
need your refresher course on Manners.
I'm doing alright, I think they liked me
anyway. And besides, I wast!t out trying
for a job,