HomeMy WebLinkAboutThe Goderich Signal-Star, 1971-08-05, Page 13oung Voyageurs arrive;
.enjoy week with hosts
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BY I V.E. ELLIOTT
When- -Sohn-'-Walker; -Nelson--
Street, died at his home in 1907,"
at what was termed "the good
old age of 88 years and five
months," the "`editor of the-
Goderich Signal wrote an •
obituary article which 64 years
later has supplied the answer to
a number of questions from a
descendant in Quebec province.
One of ` these inquiries,
concerned Mr. Walker's
birthplace.
Will Robertson, Signal editor,
a competent and ' painstaking
writer, supplied even that
information. Mr. Walker was
born at Troon, near Ayr,, and
learned the carpenter trade in
Glasgow. He came to Canada in
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seven weeks.
Donald S. Walker, a
great-grandson, now writes from
Brossard, Quebec, "Without
'your kind • assistance in the,
matter of the family tree in
Canada, and particularly
Goderich, I would still be
stumbling ' around • trying to
obtain a birthdate of somebody,
which could be used as a
stepping stone to cross the
Atlantic to
Scotland. As a resu t
of your assistance, I was notified
by the Scots 'Ancestry Research
Society in Edinburgh,. on
Monday, that a complete search
of the Walker family tree has
been completed, and will be
made available to me in a few
weeks: "----r
Robert Francis, 1859; John
Andfew, 18621, Eleanor`;WT 64; ti
Iiugh, 1867; Janet; Mrs. Hall,
Toronto.
Eleanor married G.F. Blair, a
Goderich lawyer 'who removed
to Regina. Janet, ,unmarried,
continued to reside in the
Nelson Street houseafter the
death of her father, until about
1913, when . she' Went to live
with the Blairs in Regina." The
Signal -Star of ,1943 reported her
death at the age of 89, in a
Regina, hospital. "She' was loved
by all who" knew her," the
newspaper said.
Among the many activities the visiting Manitoba students took
part in during tty first part of their stay in Goderich `earlier this
week was a tour of the Huron county Museum. In addition,the
group toured local industries, travelled to Toronto and
.For the past week, the town
of Goderich, and more directly a
group of local students, have
been playing host to a group of
21 young people who are visiting
this part of Ontario as part -of an
exchange program operated'
under - 'the name "Young
Voyageurs".
The visitors arrived in •
Goderich last Thursday evening
on
,a bus from Clinton where
they hadarrived earlier that day
by train 'from ,Ottawa. A, tour of
this portion of Canada, all started
for the .students when they
assembled in Winnipeg last week
and flew charter by Air 'Canada
to Ottawa. They spent a day
seeing the nation's capital and
then proceeded on their visit to
Huron County.
The activities of the Young
Voyageurs"got off to an official
start locally ' when they were
o
hosted at_ a, luncheon by the
Town of Goderich 'on Friday at
the Bedford Hotel.
The 21 students and two
escorts were. extended a
welconie at this reception by
Mayor 'Harry • Worsell, local
member o f the Federal
Legislature Bob McKinley, and
Recreation Chairman for
Goderich Paul Carroll.
On Friday afternoon the
group toured the Huron .County
Pioneer Museum and then
wound up ,their first day's•
activities 'in Goderich with a
Bar -B -Q , at St. Christo'pher's
Beach.. •
The visitors. and their hosts
had an early start on Saturday as
they boarded buses at 6:30 a.m.
and travelled to Midland where
they toured Ste. Marie Among
'The Hurons during the morning
Stratford ,to take in events there as well as sailing and harness
'racing in Goderich. The Young Voyageurs' visiting Goderich are
all from Manitoba and a number of Goderich young people will
return the visit at a later date.—Staff photo
p.
and in the afternoon , ,the.
Huronia Village atLittle Lake
Park. '
Sunday was spent with their
host• family., free of. any'formal
program, but by. early' Monday
morning the guests again took
up their busy schedule and left
for Toronto where they toured
Ontario Place and the Ontario
Science Centre.
rf''uesday was a day spent at
the 6 Youth Environment
Workshop with..'-•aetivitiesw
sponsored by the Recreation',
Board of Goderich. The events
at the' Y.E.W. were voluntary
'arid theafternoon period was
open for use ,as free time if the
students wished. At 6:00 p.m.
the group left by bus for
Stratford where they took in
part of the Festival Theatre
series and saw "Macbeth".
Wednesdayrepresented
another free morning, but •at
1:00 p.m. the group arrived at
the Goderich- Harbour and
enjoyed an afternoon of sailing
as the guests of the ,Bluewater
Sailing Club.
In the evening, the Young
Voyageurs had a choice between
taking .part •as crew members in
sailboat races or attending an
evening of Harness Racing at
Agriculture Park: •
Localindustrial tours are to
be'thee order,;:of,the 'day today,
with tohurs arranged for
Dashwood Industries, Dominion
Road Machinery Co., • Domtar
Salt Evaporator Plant, and
Domtar Salt Mine Complex (the
surface portions. This evening
the students will be hosted at a
dinner by the Huron Board of
Education 'followed- by a dan.ce.
Tomorrow is to'be the young
people's final day in Goderich
with only a semi -formal program
of ' events laid out. They. will
leave Goderich. at 5:45 for
Clinton and will leave by rail
:from Clinton at 6:30 p.m.
The visiting students come
from all points in Manitoba,
-although many are residents of •
Winnipeg and Brandon.
Goderich students will return
the visit to Manitoba later this
month to complete the exchange
program. -•
The Young Voyageurs
program is operated under an
arrangement between the
„ Provin'cial and Federal
Governments. of Canada who
,provide , some of the funds
necessary to pay travelling costs.
It is organized'' and co-ordinated
by local groups, in this case by
,the Recreation Board , of
Goderich and the Huron County
Board of Education.
•
2• Among the many activities the 21 "Young Voyageurs" from Manitoba enjoyed during the first
• few days of their visit in Goderich was a Barbecue On St. Christof'her s Beach I riday evening.
While the rest of ,the group t tib know their hosts a little better; these volunteers helped'prepare
•
x. Y ienli. f tionerOf,the.lo 'l Y.ERIN-dtrecttirs, auLCarrollr
7.....„x�is�ilIelwitK'it��tdllti�`J7�a ul 1
chairman of the Recreation Board, -who-Was involved -in s tting 'urthe' °exchange; Jim Buga of
Brandon, Manitoba, Greg" Hanischuk of Winnipeg, Lucien Girillas of Winnipeg, Keith LaRue of
,,Winnipeg, Susan Markin of. Winnipeg, Dori Webb of Winnipeg and Cath i Gfellner of Winnipeg.
Staffphoto
Harbor
Notes
(by Ron &ORM)
SALT BOATS
•
July 28, Martha Hindlnan,
Three-•Rivers,light; August 1, Sir
Dennis gowsont Cleveland, light.
So far this year; there have been
47 boats in for salt.
GRArN'BOATS
, JuiY �,SarniadQc August„
1
"E#indale. •
,
OTHER -BOATS
July 30, the Porte 'Dauphine
government boat was in harbor.
Mr. Walker •and his wife 'are
members of eScottish Dancing
Society, and research into family
history in Scotland was
necessary to indicate which was
the proper kilt to wear.
The original enquiry, eight
months ago, came to the, town
clerk, who passed it on. Further
correspondence provided
"Nelson Street" as a valuable
clue,. the registry- office
pinpointed the house -houses, as
it turned out -and Mrs. •Gooier,
Kings ehu-rehmsecretary-` was able
to -find the names of four of the
six Walker 'children in the
baptismal book.tea-
Upon• arrival in Canada, John
Walker lived for, a''time at Bay-
Chaleur and then Nfontreal,
where he married Elizabeth, ,
.Angus. In Goderich, he bought
from the Canada Company in
1853 Lot 621 at the northeast
corner of Nelson and Albert .
streets. The family lived at that
location for many years.
Mr. Walker sold the east half
of the lot to Rebecca McCabe in
1905, and gavt the other half to
'his son, John A., in 1907. The
second Walker house was on the
northwest corner of the same
intersection.
The Walker children were
A brother of John Walker,
Ro6'ert; imay still The
remembered by sorb Goderich
residents'as librarian of the'old
Mechanics' Institute on East
street.
John Walker worked as a
cabinetmaker throughout his life
in„ Goderich.
Will Ro b ertsci 's article
suitably closes the chapter.
"Mr. Walker came from
Montreal in 1853 by. water, then
by stage to London, by boat to
.Chatham, and from Chatham to
gna
Goderich by boat. Those were
Stall -days, that developed sgtird -=
men, physically . and mentall
and of such men Mr. Walker
a fine., example. He had good
health all his life and died of old
age, and his mental constitution
was of the r same wholesome
variety. In religion he' Was a
Presbyterian, • and had the
$distinction . at the time IM his
death of having the longest term
of membership in Knox church.
Politically, he- was a staunch
Liberal. He was a good citizen,
and Goderich is poorer by his
death.
The "Walker'. Houses .- John Walker, from Ayrshire, bought in '1853 the northeast corner of
Nelson and Albert streets. The house now standing there (above) is occupied by Mrs. Barbara
Streeter. Walker's second house was at the -northwest 'corner, now the residence of Ross Sutcliffe.
ew'Clinton plant contract
awarded to Stratford firm
The contract for construction
of a Wildex factory, recently
announced as a new industry for
Clinton, has been awarded to a
Stratford firm, according to an
announcement made last week
by R. H. Strickland,
vice-president of the Ex -Cell -0
Corporation of Canada, ' the
paXent company of the Wildex
firm,
Construction of the plant was
announced last week at the same
time as' the Onta,rio
Development Corporation
announced'\ that a forgivable
performance' 'loan would be
forthcoming to Wil-Dex in the
sum of $100,060 to help offset
the costs of construction.
Logan Construction of
Stratford have been awarded the
contract for the new plant.
Target date, at the moment, for
completion of the 16.000 square
foot plant'is November 1, 1971.
Clinton will join London,
Brantfoird and Windsor as the
- ex plants .an WILD
Canada, the enterprise will
manufacture cutting tools.
Inexable rutting toils and
precision ground carbide inserts
will. be the actual products
• turned out at the new industry. the company produces neither
Carbide is a man-made metal , air or water pollution, because of
which contains a ° 'hardness the type ,of operations it
sithilar to diamonds and' is made involves.
up ' of tungsten, cobalt and Mr: Strickland went on to
carNon . The . metal is exp) n that since•the plant will
manufactured by mixing the require skills which are not
three components and available irnClinton, aprogram is
compressing, their.) into shapes , , being set up . with Manpower
required. The purpose of the services of the federal and
Clinton plant will be to provincial .governments • to
manufacture these shapes or •
•
inserts, as they are termed, to F oresa rs• represe n to t r V es
the sizes and tolerances•required ' -
~�
After production, the carbide ' •92nd a
artt nd
inserts are positioned to holders,
machine tool lathes, boring mills The 92nd Anniversary of the Society for research. ,
and other types of cutting Canadian Foresters Fraternal There was. ,also -a , special
machines. • Wil-Dex will also Insuirance "Society was held in . presentation honouring ,, High
manufacture tool holders. Quebec City in July.- Chief Ranger—Albany Richard on
Wil-Uex is a subsiduary of the Twelve members of the his retirement.
E x =?Ce 11= O ' C o r potation, a • Benmiltier Lodge attended. They As well as enjoying the
company with manufacturing were' Mr. , and Mrs. Russell Anniversary celebration the
facilities in the united States, 1Zernighan, 'Mr. • and Mrs. Benmiller group were able to
Italy and* India. They produce John Westbrook, Mr. and Mrs.
Canada, England', Germany, Leonard Fisher, Mr. and Mrs. tour much of the eastern coast,
_viewing some beautiful ,scenery
machine tools, cutting tools; Chester Sturdy, Mr. and Mrs. ' along the way. b
f , The fi�ni x ;,. nVentl,9t»„ ,41
pA /^�y�nnlr ,. r.' :Y_.,.x 1� �`hctmes:,M . � .,
rry Li �rVrQ� � � 4.7 aV pp'�Yl�t� ,rw.. � Mr,..w-.. C Ad4f
" r r
e q it: l pY w e -n t , ' e 1 e et r n'tti t Ge ry Glt'in. , ... w '= tt4t c:lt't iitithil ty� '' ,
components and weapon Among the highlights of the The H of mesviile . Seo
systems. visit was the presentation of a 12 proficiency swat&s presetitcd. by
According to the compny R• by 4 ft. cheque in the amount the Ladies Lodge rent to Shelly'
, , vice-president, Mr. Strickland, of 2,000 to• the Caner Burgess and Jane Thonfl sort i.
f
institute training' for both male
and female employees.
Initially, the company"
expects about' 10 persons to be
employed and trained, followed
by additional training programs • •
as employrrient .requirements
increase The local Manpower
offices will : ebe accepting
applications for positions at the
plant after September 3Q.
for mounting on metal cutting