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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,