HomeMy WebLinkAboutClinton News-Record, 1978-10-05, Page 3People i ProfiIe:
CLINTON NEWS -RECORD, THURSDAY, OCT£18.EI i., 1$78-0—P,A 3` .
Ethel Poth, right and Vina Parker, left, both ofBayfleld,
have pages and pages of notes about the history of Bayfield
and its families. Mrs. Poth, an acrid historian has been
researching old Clinton News -Records and Clinton New
Eras since 1966. (News -Record photo)
by Shelley McPhee
Obsessions strike many people. Some
eat too much, others are besieged with
cleanlinesss. Some people are
preoccupied with themselves, others
with money. The quality and type of
obsessions found are limitless.
Ethel Poth of Bayfield too has an
obsession, to collect history. For years
the Bayfield lady has been milling
through old newspapers, collecting
musty document's and clipping
newspaper articles to add to her
limitless array of papers and- in-
formation on the history of Bayfield
and her family.
"I' have a very bad habit of cutting
out clippings from the newspapers,"
Mrs. Poth admitted.
Once clipped, the articles are placed
under headings, from world affairs to
happenings of local significance.
"I'm ashamed to tell you how many
packets of clippings there are around
Vanastra industrialist wants highway entrance
By Wilma Oke
Russ Archer of Clinton informed
Tuckersmith Township council
Tuesday night in a letter that it is
"obvious another entrance is essential
to the Industrial Park of Vanastra".
He said he "felt compelled to request
an entrance way to be granted •directly
,north of the Ontario Hydro building
which could also be used for the Hydro
entrance off Highway 4.'4 He said the
main entrance (off the perimeter road
around Vanastra) is "a bottleneck for
transports using the Industrial Park,
Along with this it is truly unsightly with
an auto wrecker at the entrance."
Mr. Archer concluded his letter by
saying he feels "it is time that part of
the .taxes going out of the area start
coming back to this area. I intend to
follow this matter as long and as hard
as will be required to see this project
put through."
All but three
of board to run
All but three' of 15 Huron County
Board of Education trustees at Mon-
day's board meeting announced plans
to seek re-election to the board in
November's municipal elections.
Board chairman John Elliott asked
trustees at the end of the meeting if
they would be interested in stating
their intentions for theupcoming
election. Both Goderich trustees,
Cayley Hill and Dorothy Wallace, and
Clinton trustee Dorothy Williams, said
they were undecided. Hill said he would
like to run for re-election but would
have to wait until closer to the October
16 nomination date before deciding.
Wingham trustee Murray Mulvey was
absent from the meeting.,
Those seeking another term on the
board are Jack Alexander of Wingham,
John Elliott of Blyth, separate school
supporter trustees Eugene Frayne and
Charles Rau, Exeter trustees Harry
Hayter and Clarence McDonald,
Colborne and Goderich township
trustee Shirley Hazlitt, Brussels
trustee Don McDonald, Bayfield
trustee R, K. Peck, Zurich trustee Herb
Turkheirn, Ashfield township trustee
Marion Zinn and Seaforth trustee John
Henderson.
Mr. Archer's letter was in answer to
a recent notification sent him by
council that the ministry of tran-
sportation and communications had
refused a request from council this past
summer for this same additional en-
tranceway because it was considered a
dangerous entrance on the slope of a
hill. At that time the ministry said an
entranceway farther north might be
possible but all costs for this would
have to be paid for by the residents of
Tuckersmith township.
Council members decided then that
they were satisfied thatthe five en-
tranceways off the perimeter road
were a sufficient number for Vanastra
in veiw of the refusal by the ministry to
pay for the sixth.
Mr. Archer is president of Archer's
Farm Sales and Service Limited
located in Vanastra.
"It's not warranted for us to put that
kind of money into it," stated Coun-
cillor Frank Falconer and all members
of council agreed with him. They felt it
was a fairly simple thing for a truck to
get into Vanastra and locate the Archer
plant compared to locating an address
in a city where often a driver had to
manipulate a big transport through
narrow alleyways.
Council members agreed that if
Archer wanted to go ahead and try to
convince the ministry to put in the
additional entrance they would not
stand irn.his way.
The ministry of transportation and
communications has approved the
following snowplowing arrangments
for this coming winter as follows :
Engaging McGregor Farms to use one
truck with snowplow at $25 per hour
and to pay standby time at $15 per hour
when not plowing; to rent a 1976
Champion grader, 190 horse power,
from December 11 to April 7; and to use
the township's own two graders.
Eldon O'Brien of R.R. 5, Clinton, will
use his snowblower to clear the snow
from around the Vanastra Recreation
Centre and the township office.
Road superintendent Allan Nicholson
in his report to council said that over 55
signs on township roads had been
recently stolen or damaged by vandals.
Requests for building permits were
approved for : Edith Baker, part lot 27,
concession 1, Huron Road survey, a
barn; McGregor Farms, lot 5, con-
cession II, HRS, addition to repair
shop; and Robert Core, Egmondville,
lot 1, 2 and 3, a tool shed.
Passed for payment were the
following accounts : Vanastra • Day
Care, $3,678.44; Vanastra Recreation
Centre, $7,849.03; general accounts,
$18,552,57 and roads, $60,342.32 for a
total of $90,422.36.
Dogs continue to be a problem in the
township, especially in the Brucefield
area where complaints are numerous.
The Vanastra Day Care Centre was
given a good report by the .consultant
and inspector out -of London but in-
structions were issued that fire drill
must be carried out at least once a
month.
Letters ate to be written to the
Seaforth and Goderich detachments of
Ontario Provincial Police asking them
for a patrol of the Hensall road on
Saturday mornings to help cut down on
i
stuck in
the middle
from page 1
That those who follow may some way,
Have some guidance from above.
Refrain:
With a steadfast faith the peopl
prayed,
Through all the long past years.
In this little church, we've come t
love,
And hold so very dear.
Through times of trouble toil and pain,
A comfort here remained,
Where people could look out beyond,
The state on earth that reigned.
A place to share in joyful deeds,
Of worship in God's sight,
Where people can serve as they wish,
With a face thats glowing bright.
(refrain)
Now we must try to do our part,
Through the on coming years,
So that our children may find strength,
To overcome their fears.
With doors and windows opened wide,
To tell the story clear.
Our little church may well proclaim
That our Lord is always near.
(refrain)
littering from the truck carrying,
garbage from Hensall to the dump in
Usborne Township.
Council was pleased to receive a
letter from Jack Riddell, MPP for
Huron Middlesex reporting that a
request from the clerk for a capital
assistance Wintario grant for $23,158.87
had been approved. Clerk McLachlan
had noticed that no grant from Win-
tario had been sought for the enclosing
of the swimming pool at Vanastra when
it was constructed over two years ago,
and he had applied for it recently.
This will help cut down on the j,arge
debt owed by the citizens of Vanastra
since the construction of the swimming
pool and the recreation centre. The
clerk did not reveal the amount of the
debt still owing.
Council took no action on a request
from the Seaforth Fire Area Board to
pay rent on the fire hydrants in
Seaforth.
here," she laughed.
The former teacher's obsession with
history does not en,d:.there. For the past
12 years, Mrs. Toth and some faithful
helpers have been` searching through
old copies of the Clinton New -Era and
the Clinton News -Record for any
history of Bayfield, and particularly
any items on Mrs. Poth's relatives
which include the Middletons, the
Jowetts, the McKidds, the Browns and
others.
It seems that the deeper Mrs. Poth
researches, the more family ties and
involvements she discovers:
"I'm all mixed up with Goderich
too," she said.
She has completed a history on a
portion of the Middleton family,and the
history of the McKidd family on her
mother's side will be coming out in the
Huron County Historical Society's 14th
volume this fall.
Mrs. Poth is the archivist for the
county historical society and is a
member of the Bayfield Historical
Society as well.
She's a modest woman though.
"Keep this story low key," she
emphasized. "This is just 'a follow up
on what Lucy Woods Diehl wrote."
"The reason I want Lucy'emphasized
is that for years and years she was the
Bayfield historian. She has a mar-
vellous mind and I want her to be given
a great deal of credit."
Mrs. Poth has also received ex-
tensive help from the late Rose Parker
and the late Norma Wallace, Elva
Metcalf and Vina Parker, to name a
few, have helped her copy articles from
newspapers.
"I wish I had a machine that could
take all these things down," she
wished.
During the winter months, when the
cottages that she and her husband rent
are closed, Mrs. Poth attempts to
organize all the information gathered
from the old papers into headings and,
into books. Churches, people, bits and
pieces, homes and lots and municipal
affaiiis are a few examples of the titles
she has used.
When and if a portion of History is
completed, it is stored in a red metal
box. The invaluable box sits at the
bedroom door of the Poth home. A
smoke detector is situated above it.
"I hope I have the presence of mind
to grab it if anything happens," she
said, knocking her fist on the wooden
arm of the chair. "1 know what should
be done with all this, but I don't have
the time or the ambition to write a
book."
She went on, "It's very spasmodic
work. I often get tied up with many
other things.
"But this grows with you," she ex-
plained.
Mrs. Path really became interested
in local history after her father William
Jowett died. Among his personal ef-
fects were many articles from days
past including old glass plates
with photographs of descendents and
places in Bayfield. Articles belonging
to her great grandfather, who also
lived in Bayfield and an old diary,
dating from 1840-1844 were found. The
diary belonged to Aitcheson Brown,
another relative and a pioneer to the
area.
"The greatedst regret of most people
is that they weren't interested at the
right time, when their parents and
grandparents were there. My grand-
mother lived in the bush beside the
Middleton Church but I never thought
to ask her anything," Mrs. Poth said.
"Our generation wasn't that far
removed from the pioneer age. The
younger generation seems more in-
terested and since the television show
"Roots" there's a great resurgence in
family histories," she went on.
"Collecting history is like a jigsaw
puzzle, you get bits and pieces here and
there."
Mrs. Poth also thinks of the future
and future generations when she
collects her historical items. Most of
the work she has done has been photo-
copied several times over and she re-
takes any old photographs she
discovers to have a morel recent print.
As well, she has kept a diary since
1919. It may help future local historians
in their endeavours to learn a little
about the past.
Undoubtedly any future. historians
will find Mrs. Poth's findings much
similar to a jigsaw puzzle. Her reams
of information could make any head
spin.
However, through the obsession of
Mrs. Poth and herhelpers, part of
Bayfield's past will be more than
adequately recalled.
I may be in the business, but
sometimes I get darned sick of the
news.
-
It's "not that -I'n, bored with my
job,or that working conditions are
lousy, but I refuse to watch the
television news anymore and I
barely look at the daily newspapers,
other than the comic section.
I don't have to watch or read the
news. I can almost predict it day to
day. Photographs from Vatican City
fill the pages as mourners file past
the body of Pope John -Paul I. The
Toronto Maple Leafs continue their
losing streak and the Canadian
dollar does likewise. The only thing
that is rising is inflation and
unemployment, The fighting blasts
on in Beirut and meanwhile Egypt
and Israel can't agree to a peace
treaty.
The earth is slowly falling apart as
hurricanes hit, the Monsoons' fall,
the land sinks and the volcanoes
erupt. Canada still struggles to
remain unified while companies,
keep on striking. Politicians con-
tinue td verbally flog each other in
their election campaign attempts.
a weather is absolutely rotten,
another car company has to recall
some of its models. Murders, arson
attempts, suicides, rapes and gory
t ac"bidents fill the news each'`day.
' The -list is- endless, it could go on
and on; the same topics, the same
People lap up the occasional
'good news", the human interest
story, the happy event, the peaceful
end with insatiable hunger, but it's
not enough.
While many other countries aren't
much better off either, Canada is no
longer the place that was once full of
freedom, great opportunities, a
bright future and wealth.
Canada now can boast of internal •
struggles between provinces, its
worldwide known useless dollar, and
the nation with the most ,striking
workers.
What's with us anyway? Are we
being brainwashed by this flood of
depressing, bad news and merely
following in its footsteps? Have we
given up trying? Can't we see what
is happening in front of our eyes and
what the future results will be?
Can't we do something about it?
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