Huron Expositor, 2009-07-15, Page 18Pegs 18 The Huron Expositor • July 15, 2009
News
Antique collector finds and restores
important pieces of local history
DanSchwab
When Randy McClure was 13, he
spent his spare time on his parents'
farm in Walton digging up bottles
and blasting them to shards with his
pellet gun.
But one day, McClure found some-
thing that would turn his hobby from
destruction to preservation.
What he found was an antique
jug, with the engraved words "Made
l.(We from Mom,
VsNette, Toni 8 Tamil.
expressly for A. Young, grocer, Sea -
forth."
With that, McClure's days as a col-
lector of century -old local artifacts
had begun.
Over the past 20 years, the 43 -year-
old has turned his modest collection
into a veritable basement museum,
with dozens of antique wine jugs,
beer bottles, pill jars, postcards and
much more.
"I just started gathering things up.
There's quite a lot of . history here,"
he says. "These are important bits of
history."
While he buys some of the items
from antique shows, McClure has
found much of his collection the same
way he found that first jug when he
was 13 - by digging in old dumping
grounds behind farmers' barns.
"There was always a dumpsite at
each farm and when people were
done. with these, they would just
toss them out," he. says. "It's amaz-
ing how many people just throw this
stuff out."
Usually it doesn't take more than
a little soap and water to restore the
antique bottles to an impressive con-
dition.
His collection includes the first-
ever kind of beer bottle sold from
the Egmondville Brewing Co., which
was made of clay and dates back 'to
the 1880s.
The Huron
Pottery Company,
which was also lo-
cated in Egmond-
ville, supplied
the brewery with
clay jugs from
about the 1850s
until the beer -
maker fizzled out
during the prohi-
bition years.
A receipt
from the Huron
Pottery Company
from 1905 shows
the company also
made flowerpots,
fruit jars and mo-
lasses jugs for 25
cents, along with
,spittoons for $4.20
each.
McClure also has
a bottle marked
with the name
"F.A. Meyer," who
made ginger beer
in the 1870s, as
well one from "J.
Dodds" who in-
cluded the "C4th"
logo onto his soda
pop bottles.
McClure also has
a "Dodds Water-
works" siphon bot-
tle, which features,
a metal spout and
valve, and prob-
ably contained
syrup for mixing
drinks ata bar.
Along with the
liquid bottles, Mc-
Clure has an ex-
. tensive collection
of pill bottles, from
Lumsden & Wilson
and J.S. Roberts,
both druggists on
the Maiii Street in
Seaforth.
The oldest item in his collection is
a rare wine jug from 1864, reading
"Seaforth Canada West," which is
what the area was known as before
Confederation in 1867, he says.
. Another large, •carefully hand -
painted clay wine jug shows five, blue
flowers on the side.
"Five flowers meant there were five
Antique collector Randy McClure, poses with a few pieces
of his collection with his wife Cheri, son Jake and daughter
Jenna.
FQrt/rcopnin
Ma rria e
Mr. and Mrs. JCerrjC
and Nancy °Wet
announce the f ortkcomin8
marriage of tkeir clauc�hter,
Memaltm Mandou O'Rdl, to
Kenneth avant McCallum,
son of Mr. and Mrs. Paul anti
Dianne McCallum, at
St. James Church Seaforth
Saturda8, July 18, 2009
gallons in the jug," McClure says.
McClure's collection consists of
items specifically from the Seaforth-
Egmondville-Harpurhey area, in-
cluding a Seaforth Fall Fair trophy
from 1911.
McClure says he and his wife Cheri
will pass on their collection of an-
tiques to their young children Jake,
8, and Jenna, 5, in an attempt to con-
tinue the preservation of pieces of lo-
cal history.
•
Friends and Family are invited to a
• • A11iK A Aar•:
N
N
•— w www W W— N
• for N
•
Kyle Murray &
•Anna Nicholson
• Saturday july 25, 2009 N
•Mitchel Arena ace Pad) N
• 9pm-1 am N
•
• `Tickets 800 N
• Age of Maim*N
• for tickets and info call •
•
519-301-2667
or 519-301-2628
t Anniversary ist
Vansteelandt - Buckley
4
..t.-- 1,.,-4*,.3.,
?`:
, .,
K 4_ ,,
.:,!-.,,,. 4,
•
married
ON
at
Gilbert
Mike is
ON.
Photo by Nancy French Photography
Karen Vansteelandt and Michael Buckley were
at Immaculate Conception R.G. Church, Stratford,
on Saturday, July .19, 2008 followed by a reception.
the Arden Park Hotel. Karen is the daughter of
& Ricki Vansteelandt, St. Columban, ON and
the• son of Guus &.Jane DeMan, St. Catharines,
They are residing in. Fonthill, Ontario.
Congratulations
Mike & Karen on your First Anniversary!
Love Your Family
from the Huron
Pottery Company
from 1905 shows
the company also
made flowerpots,
fruit jars and mo-
lasses jugs for 25
cents, along with
,spittoons for $4.20
each.
McClure also has
a bottle marked
with the name
"F.A. Meyer," who
made ginger beer
in the 1870s, as
well one from "J.
Dodds" who in-
cluded the "C4th"
logo onto his soda
pop bottles.
McClure also has
a "Dodds Water-
works" siphon bot-
tle, which features,
a metal spout and
valve, and prob-
ably contained
syrup for mixing
drinks ata bar.
Along with the
liquid bottles, Mc-
Clure has an ex-
. tensive collection
of pill bottles, from
Lumsden & Wilson
and J.S. Roberts,
both druggists on
the Maiii Street in
Seaforth.
The oldest item in his collection is
a rare wine jug from 1864, reading
"Seaforth Canada West," which is
what the area was known as before
Confederation in 1867, he says.
. Another large, •carefully hand -
painted clay wine jug shows five, blue
flowers on the side.
"Five flowers meant there were five
Antique collector Randy McClure, poses with a few pieces
of his collection with his wife Cheri, son Jake and daughter
Jenna.
FQrt/rcopnin
Ma rria e
Mr. and Mrs. JCerrjC
and Nancy °Wet
announce the f ortkcomin8
marriage of tkeir clauc�hter,
Memaltm Mandou O'Rdl, to
Kenneth avant McCallum,
son of Mr. and Mrs. Paul anti
Dianne McCallum, at
St. James Church Seaforth
Saturda8, July 18, 2009
gallons in the jug," McClure says.
McClure's collection consists of
items specifically from the Seaforth-
Egmondville-Harpurhey area, in-
cluding a Seaforth Fall Fair trophy
from 1911.
McClure says he and his wife Cheri
will pass on their collection of an-
tiques to their young children Jake,
8, and Jenna, 5, in an attempt to con-
tinue the preservation of pieces of lo-
cal history.
•
Friends and Family are invited to a
• • A11iK A Aar•:
N
N
•— w www W W— N
• for N
•
Kyle Murray &
•Anna Nicholson
• Saturday july 25, 2009 N
•Mitchel Arena ace Pad) N
• 9pm-1 am N
•
• `Tickets 800 N
• Age of Maim*N
• for tickets and info call •
•
519-301-2667
or 519-301-2628