HomeMy WebLinkAboutThe Lucknow Sentinel, 1983-06-29, Page 48Lucknow Sentinel, Wednesday, June 29, 1983—Page 24
Johnstone family in furniture business since 1895
Johnstone Furniture of
Lucknow represents the
fourth generation of the
Johnstone family to be in
business in the village.
William C. Johnstone was
1 funeral director and oper-
tted a furniture retail busi-
tess from the Murdie build -
ng where Greer TV and
Electric is located today.
Funerals were conducted
from the home of the deceas-
ed and William and his wife,
the former Helen MacLean
first lived in a house on
Stauffer Street, then moving
to a house on Ross Street,
now owned by Ezra Stanley.
Records William kept in
1896 show a casket cost S35,
the shroud $2.50 and his
charge for attending the
funeral and the horses used
to draw the hearse was
$6.00. Each funeral was
catalogued and the prices
varied from funeral to funer-
al.
The hearse used by Wil-
liam Johnstone is now on
display at the Bruce County
Museum in Southampton.
William and Helen had a
family of two sons, J. Russell
Johnstone and D. MacLean
Johnstone.
MacLean worked with his
father in the family business
for a time, but moved from
Lucknow about 1929. He
continued as a funeral dir-
ector in London for 30 years,
active in his profession until
after he was 80 years old.
MacLean married Pearl
Todd and they had a family
of two daughters. He died in
1982.
Russell worked in the
family business with his
father. Married to the former
Mae Caird, they had a family
of three, Donald MacLean,
William Caird and Jane.
The family resided in the
house next to Russell's fath-
er on Ross Street, now owned
by Bill and Edna Ross. At
one time the Johnstone fam-
ily owned all three lots
between the main street and
Willoughby Street, on either
side of thehome where Wil-
liam and Helen lived.
William's two sons held
the property on either side.
Russell lived in the house to
the south and MacLean sold
his property to his wife's
parents who built the house,
now owned by the Orland
Richards family, when they
retired to Lucknow. Allan
and Linda Andrew and their
family are currently living in
this house.
The Anderson Block where
Johnstone Furniture is locat-
ed to day was purchased by
William Johnstone following
the Second World War. It
was rented out as retail space
both upstairs and down.
Johnstone Furniture was
moved from the Murdie
building to the Anderson
Block at this time.
For several years the Luck -
now Village offices were
located in this building until
1961 when the Town Hall
council chamber was con-
verted for this purpose. The
Furniture dealer and undertaker
W. C. JOHNSTON
Mr. William C. Johnston, Furniture
Dealer and Undertaker, has been in
business in Lucknow for fifteen years.
For a time he was in partnership with
George Lawrence, under the firm name
of Lawrence and Johnston; but in 1906
the former withdrew, and Mr. Johnston
has since conducted the business under
his own name.
Mr. Johnston's earlier home was in
Ashfield, where he had a farm. After-
wards he removed to Calumet, in
Michigan; and from thence to Lucknow.
Mr. Johnston carries a large and
complete stock of Furniture, and his
trade in this line has grown to large
proportions. —1910 Reunion Edition
The Lucknow Sentinel
Johnstone Funeral Home
was moved from the house
on Ross Street to the Ander-
son Block at the same time.
The Christian Reformed
congregation purchased the
Ross Street house for a
church and it was later sold
to Ezra Stanley who convert-
ed it to apartments.
During the Second World
War there was practically no
stock in the furniture store
and Jane Johnstone Treleav-
en can remember the space
being used for a movie
theatre by Rex Ostrander.
Jane recalls the family went
away for the weekend and
while they were gone, their
dog, Tiny ran through the
theatre while the movies
were showing. The dog ran
the theatre once too often
that weekend and Rex moved
the theatre to the Mont -
Happy Birthday
Lucknow
on ,our
125th
Anniversary
Greer
Lucknow
T.V. 8c Electric
528-3112
gomery Building.
Donald Johnstone married
Bernice McBride and trained
as a funeral director after
leaving the air force. Follow-
ing a short time as a funeral
director he went into the
furniture business in Chat-
ham, then St. Catharines and
later Kitchener. He and
Bernice hada family of three
boys. Donald died in 1962.
William married Beth
Brydges and worked in the
family business until his
death in 1975. Bill and Beth
lived in the apartment above
the funeral home on Ross
Street, before moving to the
apartment above the furni-
ture store in the Anderson
Block when Bill's mother
died in 1956.
Bill's father continued to
live in the Anderson Block in
an apartment at the back,
until his death in 1962.
Bill could remember as a
boy, it was his job to paint
the nose of one of the horses
his grandfather used to draw
the hearse. At that time the
horses drawing a hearse had
to be completely black. The
one horse had a white nose
and before each funeral it
was Bill's job to paint the
horse's nose black with shoe
polish.
Bill and Beth have four
children. Ken works in the
family furniture business
with his mother today. The
Johnstone funeral business.
was sold to Bob MacKenzie
of MacKenzie Funeral Home
at the time of Bill's death.
Ken is married to the for-
mer Karen _ Rae and they
have two daughters, Meghan
and Erin. Allan is married to
Carol Carter and they live in
Wingham. Eleanor is mar-
ried to Stephan MacDonald
and they have two children,
Jacob and Bethany. Tom
lives at home with his mother
and helps out in the furn-
iture business.
Jane married John Ed-
mund Treleaven of the Tre-
leaven Milling Company
family. They have a family of
four, Kathryn, a physio-
therapist at Wingham hos,
pital, Craig who is employed
with Clarkson and Gordon of
Kitchener, Douglas who is
employed by Simplex of
Hamilton and Russell, a high
school student at home.
Jane fondly remembers
her "Gran", Helen John-
stone, who lived in the
apartment in the Johnstone
Block where Jane was raised.
She remembers her as a
spirited woman who wasn't
afraid to speak her mind.
At the time there were two
funeral directors in town,
Johnstones and Bill David-
son. A man died and the
body was sent to Davidson's
for burial. According to
family ties and friendships,
there were Johnstone funer-
als and there were Davidson
funerals. Jane remembers
her grandmother saying this
was a Johnstone funeral and
she went down to Davidson
and demanded the body be
brought to Johnstone's for
burial. It was.
With All Good Wishes
Congratulations
to the
Village
of
Lucknow
on ti'our
125th
Anniversary
Corer's
LADIES'
CAMPBELL ST LUCKNOW
WEAR
528-3533