HomeMy WebLinkAboutThe Goderich Signal-Star, 1967-06-29, Page 35Plirrir7,77.77,7 ,7717
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THIS WEEK THERE:: WILI:
KINDS OF • PEOPLE • IN
THE �Lp TOWN
TWO . d
',Those That -Have Been
Here All Their Lives
Lal
And 'Those Who Wished iiey'
Had Lived Here All Their 'Lives
ak
•
us
it
BE SURE T? PAY. US A VISIT
SERVICE ELECTRIC (Goderich) LT
way
By Harry J', Hoyle
Some marriages may be made
in heaven but Willie Joe's
seemed to have been influenced
more by the Grand Trunk Rail.
way than anything else. Willie
Joe was a distant cousin, a
round man with a perpetually
x.d fate, a button nose, fright.
en,ingly pale blue eyes and a
shock of sandy Bair that looked
like wire bristle. Round he
may have been, but his arms
were long and extended from
a powerful chest.
He was a bachelor of 45
and fair game with a 20(1 -
acre farm for every spinster
in the township. He was hard
to corner at box socials or
, dances and even when invited
to Sunday supper always left
before the 'old folks went to
bed.
Grandfather gave his opin-
ion that Willie Joewas one of
those people who would -never
marry.. Without brothers and
sisters, he had been orphaned
at 25. Perfectly capable as
a bachelor, he • had his laun.
dry done in the village and pat.
ronized the bakeshop, in place
of baking hardtack for himself
as most country bachelors did.
He took his "threshing -gangs"
to the Commercial Hotel for
meals. He seemed to be self-
sufficient and most people ag.
reed he would never marry.
Mother wasn't convinced. She
woui'd shake her head and say
that Willie Joe wanted to be
married but he wasn't going to
11
a.
have any of these women who
were on the prowl, She oft
teii said, "Just you watch his
face when he sees children.
It justpositively lights up. I
think Willie Joe wants to be
married but like everything else
he'll do it when he sees at.
G,iris like that Sara Jane Mac-
Lennan, running .after him all
the time, .are making -a mis•.
take,"
I was helping father do chores
for Willie Joe when he went
to the Royal Winter Fair, in
Toronto. , We had come tip
from the barn and were going
•to. leave when we, heard a car
in the laneway. It was a mon-
strous thing with red disk
wheels which' Eddie the .dray-
man- had bought and repaired
after a Smashup on the high.
way.
It' was ,Eddie and he had
Willie, a strange womanand
a flock of youngsters. The big-
., gest shock of all -was to see
Willie 'carrying a baby in his
arms and the woman, a neat,
little body dressed in black
carried another and three
others ranged -up along side
of the car.
"Folks," said Willie, clear.
ing his throat and flushing his
face, "I want to•introduce Biddy
my wife, and these here are
her .,. I mean our kids...".
"Pleased to meet you," said
the woman with a little ISob
and hand extended, "Willie has
.told me about you ... and you
too .." she said looking at
m e.
!Me 04
•
Biddy .made .a friend of nye
for lite with her smile and the
first thing I:knew j was bolding
Dennis. Willie was holdih0
Patrick. The other, ranged
from the tallest, Molly, to.'Xieh*,
ael to Peggy. Eddie, rho dt'ay.
man grinned, "sure never
thoughtthat. Willie, Joe wound
come home with a ready-made
family." Willie' .Joe was, all
smiles and Merely said -Save$
a lot 04�troub>e,'►
Supper was waiting and mou
ther was annoyed : until she
heard about Willie Joe's bride,
Then the questions started and
she .grew more • annoyed. The
plain fact was that neither of
us had learned very much out-
side of the fact that Willie Joe
had married, a widow called
Biddy Donovan with •five child-
ren and the oldest .was -eight-
year-old Molly, and the you -
est was '11 -month-old Dennis.
Sitting in 'the back kitchen
one day, shelling peas, I heard
Biddy tell my mother, "You
know, it all seems like a stoy
to me. There I was on the
train with a poor bit of money
that was all I had after my
first husband, Eamonn, had been
killed. There wasn't a mite of
,compensation because my Eam.
onn was a bit daft, working for
himself, saying he was going
to shake me a fortune." ,
I could hear mother pouring
tea and Biddy went on after a
pause.
"Bless us. I must have been
daft myself. I was on that
blessed Grand Trunk with about
$25 to my name and hoping 1
OQU1d od a gthe ohroil,
1 tried Ito et a. iobildren� 1 '#
° µ been a seam$tre$s. ' he oh ld�
ren were hissy" and this lflpe
roan offered. tuholdl)ennis�wh1:e.
1 oba !ed'1'atxt* " .
heard hex laugh that throaty
chuckle then.' ..,
"kle waSn't a ,loeker, if Yon
know. what I mean, but henalmo".,
ed Dennis ,dawn and he bought:
lunches` and milk .for them.
1 tried tq .pay' l Jlt he. wouldn't
hear of i ' and after they all.
dozed , off yre sat and ;tasked:
clear forg +t ' Yny' ti"oub1es and
whenwe got to the city I Vas:
° completely° baffled. I didi ?t •'
knbw where .4 to go and first
thing 1 knew '.he hag me in a-.
cab with the kids and we had
lodging at a ' nice place. 1
didn't see hind the neat day
but 1 was a weary one try
ing to find work- -
"That night he took us all.
out to dinner. The youngsters
were fussing.but it didn't seem
to bother him and that was
strange 7 for a bachelor. Fin•
ally he looked 'acrgss at Molly
and said, "Do you think you
could put lip • with me for a
father?" My heart almost Stop•
ped and imp that she is, she
said, "I would like help mind-
ing these other kids,"
Biddy really laughed and
there was something almostre.
verential in her voice when
she said, "You know• he Lord•
and the Grand Trunk brought
me a fine man."
The solemn tone wasn't for
long as she exploded, "And it
brought Willie Joe a ready.
made family."
"Almost" Battle of Goderich
The eiccitement and confusion
occasioned by the threat of Fen.
ian raids a century ago.is hard
to comprehend today, when corn..
municationp media bring us im.
mediate news of what is going
on in ail parts of the world.
In 1866, as Prof. Fred Landon
. has written in his book;' Lake
Huron; there were few daily
papers; indeed, many persons
did not see aweekly newspaper.
Rumors of all kinds spread
widely and were usually cred•
ited. b
• "After Ridgeway," •this ac-
count states; "border detach-
.,
DON
T SUGGEST
UR BUSINESS
WAS BORN
JIK • D
But
We've- Been
Here Longer Than
Most
Established 1925
We have been in the Goderich area for 47 years.
In 1921 we came to Auburn and in 1925 opened the store you are now
familiar with as F: E. Hibbert and Son. n
The son was added to the business 21 years ago.
For 42 years now we have been pperating the same type of business. Staple -
dry goods are our specialty now as always, except today we carry a limited •
lune •of ladies ready-to-wear.
E. Hibbert and Son, a name synonymous with quality and. It is Goderich's
- ctdist business, still operated at least in part, by as founder.
�
DROP IN AND
RENEW ACQUAINTANCES
F.
ro
ments of militia remained on
duty, and probably nowhere out.
side the Niagara district was •
excitement more intense than
at Goderich As the .onlygood'--
"port on the Canadian shore,
it seemed a likely objective of
Fenian designs. A considerable
force of the county militia was
thereforeassembled; heavy
chains were - strung at night --
across. the mouth of the harbor,
and a -vigilant watch was kept.
Word came "of the attack at
Ridgeway (repulsed by the Can.
adians) but Major A. M. Ross,
in charge of the Goderich force,
. cautioned his men to .continue
thei tVi'gildliee, ,
"A suspicious looking ves-
sel caused an alarm 'o be rung
and a big cannon, a trophy from
the Crimea, to be fired. The
ship', turned out to be a U.S.
revenue cutter, with General
William Tecumseh Sherman '
aboard. He was entertained by
" ' officers of the garrison at a
sumptuous dinner.
The late William Sw.a.ffield,
a resident of the county from
the 1850s and of Goderich 'for •
many years, wrote in his rem.
iniscences:
"For Goderich and surround-
ing district, there was more
excitement over the.war of
1866 than that of 1914-18, many
years later.. Everything was
at a standstill in regard to
business: I well remember when
I donned the Home Guard badge
and night and day tramped up
and down to the harbor. We had
an. artillery company, a' rifle
company and • an infantry com-
pany, and likewise the fighting
Irishmen rushing in from God.
erich township'and other places
Some had guns and some had
• none, but they weresready to
light anyway.
"Hand's bakery, opposite the
Park House (now the Craven
residence) was the guardhouse,
and oh the present beautiful
walk along the bank opposite the
G. M,r Elliott (Dunning) house,
were rifle pits on which the
men worked Sundays and week.
days. On the. dock these was
a battery made of sa:ltbarrels
or- barrels of salt. We Huron
boys meant business. We had
a steamer on the lookout at"
night.•
"A ship came -in sight"and
.made for Goderich harbor. It
turned out to be the steamer
Michigan with General Sherman
on board. He knew about the
excitement and perhaps did
what he did ---to see what we
Would do, for he got under our
-guns - before he unfurled his'
flags. I thought our men should
have put a shot across his bow.
if Of course we had sentinels
along the bank watching in case
anyone came ashore. I was in
company with the farthest sen.
try, around the bank where the
present summer hotel stands.
About daybreak a groundhog or
something started away down
the bank and- the sentry shot
it. I believe that was the only
casualty in the war.
"Everybody expected to leave
town if it came to the worst,
and some prepared to, go. I°
kept my team ready to move
my family somewhere, if the
enemy came. One rumor was,
that - the enemy had left Chi.
cago, another that a certain
number of vessels had leftPort
Huron for Goderich, and as I
was acquainted with places
along the . lake shore: where
they migit make alanding, John
Campbell and I started in the
night through the woods for the
lake„shore to warn.the settlers.
They warned others on theBay.
field road. About . that time
horsemen were put on between
Goderich and Bayfield,: and our
soldiers tramped, the Bayfield
road to meet the enemy. One
man joined _up armed with a
pitchfork. -
"One man took his cow, car•
ried his bed on his back and
started for .the highlands of Col.
borne.` One man,between God.
erich and Bayfield made pan.
cakes and took them with him
into a hollow log. One family
buried their stove, afraid, it
would be broken. Some buried
their valuables. The Huron boys
are ordinarily peaceful, but
later we had to send some to
Europe to straighten things up
over there.”
.The Home Of
Tasty Pastry
HOMEMADE BREAD DONUTS — DIES
and COOKIES in
Goderkh
SINGE 1877
_4 ..1
A BIT OF HISTORY—The land on °which the bakery stands was purchased
from the Canada Company in 1832. In 1877 a bakery was' started by David
Cantelon, which he .operated until 1904 when the owneirship of the business
passed to D. J. Curry. He in turn was succeeded in the business by Arthur
Curry in 1932, who operated the bakery until it was purchased by the
present owner in 1942. Since' then the business:has been a family business with
both Mel and Lil Culbert on the job every day. Since 1956 the'r inn Barry
has followed his father's trade _ on a full time basis.
WELCOME HOME FOR OLD HOME WEEK, 1967
Mel and Lil Culbert
CULBERT'S BAKERY
WES1 STREET
GODERICH
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