HomeMy WebLinkAboutThe Goderich Signal-Star, 1971-07-22, Page 9M.,,"ryMxnMM..wMMH/rn.y+nM. OOP, V ,
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SEEGMttL'ER.' HOUSE = 'This firte old` brick house at 87 St.
Patrick, was built for Jacob Seegmiller in 1858 and remained ins,
the family until 1882. The. •12 -pane windows are original but
the door frame hasbeen remodelle l..'LornePotterer bought it
eight years ago.
SEEGMILLER'S HOTEL -'Jacob Seegmiller erected the'
building at South St. and The Square which a few years later "
.4..-:...lecame'.:ttie. R.ratzsh. Eecha+nxl J. hretsfi . nAursetalEdu9t3.
days, with .the former Albion . Hotel on the next corner.
Evidently the photograph was taken from the upper floor" of
R. I. Sallows' studio at the.,corner of, Montreal St. Seegmiller r
owned the hotel until .he died in 1875. It' burned in 1956.,,
tr.
el
SEEGMILLER MEMORIAL - This tall shaft in the
oldest part of Maitland Cemetery bears the names of
Jacob, his wife and two daughters. Wilhel'mennia, his.
wife, died in 1866, the year the cemetery was opened.
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Hauled flour, pork and whiskey.
Seegmillers stayed in Goderich'
- BY W.E. ELLIOTT Cemetery. He died • February
' One hundred years after .the 19th, 18.75, of asthma. In the
Seegmiller tannery on Caledonia . ' same plot °are his wife,
terrace burned, an excavating Wilhelmennia, and two
machine turned up a lot of daughters. The burial record
red-tinged earth'showing tracels shows Jacob as 'an ,:Evangelical,
of tanbark buried for the bettc but the funeral service was
'part . of a century. At about the conducted by Rev. E.L.Elwood-,
same time, in the first days of of St. George's .(Anglican)'
July this year, a branch of, Jacob • church.:
Seegmillers descendants held a "- Jacob's will; made in 1872,
family reunion in the State of shows that he ' was able tb"'"
Utah. provide generously . for his
These reminders of a family children. Six individual bequests,
long prominent in Goderich " .• additional' t'(, the recipients'
invited a speed-up in research, share of the residue, ranged from '
and a file of miscellaneous notes $500 to $4,000. Trustees named -
began to expand. , were a son, Frederick, Seaforth,
-',Jacob $eegrrtiller,(1$03-187b)---_•--and John • Hunter, Goderich .
was a native of Germany. township• 'Hunter's' wife, Jane
(Correct,spelling'is •Siegmueller.)Salkeld, was a daughter of John
-. .He `settled here in' 1841, but the 'Salkeld 1 and Martha Wilson,
story begins earlier. • whose- father, Joseph, Wilson,
"Previous to coming here, owned a great .deal of - town and
the Huron Signal recalled, 9oulit r'c property.' '
.The HWron Signal in itS .
"
Jacob aril his brother ere in
theatlabi.t of -coming to Goderich
fro" --Waterloo With a four -;,horse
team. loaded with flour,pork
and whiskey, which - they
exchanged here for hides, salt
,,fish and money."
,,No' contemporary artist .has
deft us a picture of that covered.
wagon. and four -horse team
strugglingalong the bush trail , Here are the' names of Jacob's
and corduroy of the ..,1830s children, as named in his will:
which became the Huron road Caroline (Mrs. W.M. Robertson),
and eventually Highway .8. It is. klik.abeth, Louisa (Mrs. Charles
._-,...lefx;,-.to imagination to'envision Cammeron), , Jacob, ' George,
' the young Seegmiller brothers as. Adam, John, Frederick, Samuel
they watched for their stops at and Henry.
• the Fryfogel, Seebach -and Van Sam was not connected with
• ••Fgmond- taverns -and perhaps the -- tanning business; he,
calculated how to get a little . manufactured the "Seegmiller
higher price from Christopher truss beam 'plow" at his
Crabb in Goderich. (Wonder if "agricultural; foundry" on
there was a language problem?) "Hamilton street east." There is
"As•they'were solely engaget '•a' specimen of 'this plow iti
in this business in this section, Huron Pioneer Museum, with a
they did a thriving business," the copy of a Farmer's Advocate
Signal 'editor observed. "As the advertisement' of 'April, 1882,
place grew, they removed • their announcing that the Seegmiller
- btxs'lnss----here, and by active plows were"shipped to all parts
industry acquired much of this of Ontario." This plant was not
world's goods'." • operated after 'Samuel's death.
Thirty-four ylears after Frederick, listed as "miller,"
making his. home in Goderich, is found in Seaforth from 1869,
Jacob was carried 'a little way and ,owned •various properties
back on the road he knevv so. there. Miss Isabelle- Campbell,
well and laid away in Maitland Seaforth historian, finds that
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obituary of , Jacob Seegmiller
`failed to name any of his
children, and to give the first
name of the brother. Goderich {
telephone directory lists -
no Seegmillers, 'but there are a
dozen or more ' in the
Kitchener -Waterloo list.
THE.FAMILY
Frederick went to a fruit farm
near Goderich, . but later got
back his Seaforth lots, as his
home was -there. In 1879, he and
Janies I, ' Carter , manufactured
the ,"rad'beam plow" in great
number, but in' 1880 the plant
was removed to Toronto for
better ,shipping facilities. Fred's
daughter Janet married John A.
Wilson, 'son of D.D. Wilson,
onetime. "egg king" of Huron. A
great-granddaughter of ;Jacob
'Seegmiller died, in Seaforth only
a few years ago. ,
'Adam Seegmiller Was first
treasurer of the village' of
Stratford,. in 1855. Whether, or
not this was Jaeobjs son has not
been determined. •
'Henry Seegrnill's name
appears in 'the 1866 gazetteer as
r'side►1t.tn Goderich township.
Joseph Salkeld, son of John
Salkeld, one of. the earliest
settlers in Goderich township,
married Eliza Seegmiller, of
•Stratford. They had six sons and
six daughters, who subsequently
lived in Seaforth, Stratford, St.
Helen's, Spy Hill, Sask., and
New York.
In the year he arrived in
Goderich, Jacob Seegmiller
• bought from James Stewart the
lot: at the northwest corner of
Waterloo and St. Patrick.
Probably he built there a house
of • some kind. He left the
property to his unmarried
daughter Elizabeth, who
presumably lived there until
1900, when the place was
acquired by Marion Proudfoot,
and -in- -19-13--by Mary --A._
Dunlop, widow of Hugh Dunlop,
West St. tailor. It is 'riow the
residence of D. J. Cochrane.
BUILT THE "BRITISH"
Also in the year of his arrival,
Jacob lent 75 pounds sterling to
John William Jones, owner , of
the corner of the Square and
South street (now occupied by
the Woolworth store.) Two years
later, Jacob became owner of
that corner.
Here he operated, as the
Signal stated 'in 1874, "a very
extensive business in tanning,
saddlery, harnessmaking and
*.r.w,.;i:Ju-•'vb4+wa...:rµ�:o-».-«,,. ..w,...,. �...»......„... �. yi,. `�d��' .iN:Sw:..H �' t.el.'�_".
nITIH" IN tHE MOTbiR''AIGE — This phbftb shows the hotel not too king' before it -burned in
1956, or about 110 years after Jacob Seegmiller built his tannery on the site.
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The discovery Qof salt
relived at the museum
BY LIZA WILLIAMS reconstructed the works, using
The Huron County Pioneer all the original -iron -except that
Museum not only has examples of the pump, which had been
of early inventions and corto.ded by the salt.
4, mechanical developments -it has The huge wheel, castings and
several of the actual firsts in walking beam are original, and
Goderich, in Huron County, in practically fill the room which is
Canada, and even in North set aside` as a special exhibit on
America. salt, one Of Goderich's most
' In 1866 'salt was; disCO eTe"d '"' "" � ----- -
rhe c' lntraption looks
on the banks of the Maitland •somewhat like a huge crane, and
River near Goderich. The actually' it operates on,,the same
Ransfords were drilling ' for oil,
principle. The pump part on one
and, in 1867 they put down a.,. side is=balanced.on the other side
t i 4. allo4tf eke-tior€"i dp."d. ,-:',s, tiv t,' ' ,`flee-, G-eorsi dt-artitegg hYdli
shoemaking in tire,.. building now
occupied by ° , the British
Exchange."It was not used for
hotel purposes for some; years
after Seegmiller acquired it, but
he owned., the property until he
died, and it was, not -until 1817
that his son Frederick 'sold it to
Williarri Cox, first, of a family
which made the "British" a
leading provincial, hotel. Isaac
4Rattenbury, said to have- been"
first operator of the .hotel, must
have dorte so, as holder of a
lease. In .the .early, years of
settlement here, 'when judges
rejected the primitive courtroom
accommodation provided on tlie.'
upper floor of the jail, courts .9'
were held in the.hoteP acious.,
dining -room: - The' roll �of
'distinguished trial judges
includes three chief justices,
among them Sir Thomas (=alt,
no stranger to the town. In that
same room were held concerts
and plays and public rneetings,
before Christopher Crabb built
Victoria Opera House.
A 'special joint issue of the
Signal and Star in 1889 assured
the public' that the British
Exchange was "fully equipped
with the latest improved fire .
eseapes; guests may rest with a
feeling of perfect security from
fire." The hotel burned 'on Dec.
4, 1956,,with loss of three lives.
The corner lot lay vacant until
Woolworth's built on. it in 1959. •
In 1849, Jacob picked up
what was then a farm lot (Con.
1, Lot 3) on the Bayfield road.
He bought it from Thomas •
Mercer Joris--Of-4nagh•.- Back.
in his own neighborhood, in St.
George's ward, he bought from
the Canada Company in 1851
parts of lots 925-894, and held
this land until 1874, when he
sold to Francis Jordan,.. the
druggist, for $1,750. The house
there n'ow belongs to "W.' Bell.,
The.. Signal stated .- that
Seegmiller first ran a tannery •
"below the lighthouse" -on
harbor flats -until (in 1857) he
bought "Spring Lots 3 and 4"
on the north side of Caledonia
terrace, and there for perhaps 17
• years a tannery was operated by
the Seegmillers.
In t'he July 2, 1867 issue of
the Signal, - reproduced in
centennial year, there is a page 1
advertisement by 4"J. & J.
Seegmiller, Tanners, dealers in.
leather findings, etc., etc.
Goderich, C.W." The Canadian
Directory for 1859-61 lists
"Jacob Seegmiller, tanner and
shoemaker."
Why "Spring' lots'? Well,
there were at the time several
springs along that bank. One
caused trouble when, the new
highway bridge was built. There
is a spring still, Frank Saunders
recalls, doWr lie,,bank from the
GiOticesiert" rla'c'e4house which
uh'til»recently was his residence,
I,titttcvrr' :fhat,;to( = .-yi Justice
tiorinelly. •
Some Goderich residents not
Please'.tiirn to 'Page 2A.
salt bed 1172 feet below the powers the jointed beam .which
surface of' the earth. This was• forces the pump up and down in
the first salt well. in North the well.
America. ,, Also shown in the same roomThe Hu• ron County Museum . is a trap Which was used in
possesses the wheel from this old drilling' ;the first salt wells -to
well, donated by Mr. Peter Mac bring up any article which had
Ewan of Goderich. The founder fallen in by, mistake! '
of 'the museum, J.H. Neill, has 1 mpleill made two models,
THE FIRST LIGHT
of the first and second methods
of 'boiling and evaporating the
brine which was brought up
from the well.
The first method used a series
of large vats or kettles, and the
museum is lucky enough to own
a-- little piece of the first kettle,
donated by Harry McCreath, of
Goderich. The second method,
using an evaporating•pan-.twenty
by one hundred feet, and other
methods are illustrated in the
room also.
SSA4i°
n 1 U Jona Watson nuIIL
the first Canadian binder. He
manufactured it at Ayr, Ontaripo,
and called ,it • the Hubbard
Gleanei
The achi neer.
ne, made entirely
of wood and iron, rode on four
flat -edged wheels: one large one
on each side, and a set of little
pipes and valves, pulleys and
handles. Directly attached to it
is a system made of belts and .
Ix gears which. could berigged to
provide power for a variety of
machine's.
Mr. Neill used it for seven
.years to powera buzz saw,' of
which there is a miniature model ,
• near the tractor. ' The tractor
- ;itself, made of iron and wood
painted silver and red, is a sturdy
but•trim machine complete with
four huge ' wheels, driver's seat
which . serves double duty as a
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'5;:, - wr�art1`�RLi�Tita'a WA +••�
front, bearing the proud label:
guaranteed wind -proof,
' Mr. Neill built the machine all
himself, and where 'his born gift,
for mechanics and engineering..
failed him, hisborn gift of
ingenuity came through. •
For example, when he had to
loin two ends of the belt, he
"training wheels" on behind. used leather thongs,'lacedin and
The machine was equipped with - out for extra strength. Mr. Neill
a tool bozf and an oil can, for if got the parts for the• machine
it broke down there ' was no from old binders,trucks, and
spare parts dealer, to repair it. other farm , equipment, and it
As . the', horse drew the had a "road speed ,of a grand
machine along', the turning three miles per hour. •
wheels would cause ' an
attachment, like a giant comb on
the axle to move also, catching
up- the pieces of 'hay and
sweeping. them into a `bundle.
'The bundle was shaped into a
cylinder by.semi-circular arms,of
iron, and then tied by a piece of
wire which was fed over "ii" from
a -spool, like a huge sewing
machine thread. - •
There was a pair of clippers
attached to a chain, and these
cut,the wire band when the bale
was tied; The finished bale' •was • ` amount of carbon which was
then dropped behind , the allowed to burn off during the
-machine, 'and the next bale, -night. The bulb is not frosted, so
already gathered, was ready to the light fell directly onto the
ELECTRICITY •
The town of Goderich was
not without its firsts, and the
museum, in its display of the
development + of : methods of -
providing light,, presents one of
' the first electric lights used at .`
night, on the Goderich streets. °
They were called Carbon :
Electric Street Lights, and had a
large bulb -hanging . roc,;'
•cylindrical piece of .niaehi:hery.
' The, .machinery' controlled the
be tied.
,The binder, with the wood.
painted red and the iron shiny
black, 'was the newest,
smartest,most efficient thing in
1880. We mathink it quaint,
but it certainly beat
hand -binding.
FIRST TRACTOR
The first gasoline tractor
operated in Huron Coupty''was
built by Mr. -Neill in 1913.
Starting out + with ,'a frame of
wood and iron, he added a
Stickney 7 horse power
'stationary gas engine which he
had bought in 1906..
The ' entiiie itself, painted
grey, is a conglomeration of
•
street. •
In the same display case is
one of the first electric meters
used in (3 ear, Shp donated
by the, Service Electric Company
of Goderich, and looks more or.
less like a meter of today. People
who had electricity installed -fp,
their homes were the most
fashionable and far-sighted
people of their time. They put
their trust in . a new -(angled
invention which really must have
seemed like 'magic. .
So it went with most of the,
firsts in + the Industrial
Revolution. Mr. Neill,"descended
from pioneers, was a pioneer
himself in a mechanical way, and
his museum is evidence.
THE FIRST TRACTOR
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