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Home My WebLink AboutThe Goderich Signal-Star, 1977-06-30, Page 63centrover,ot*# over the apoltlt postmaster , following th Archibald DO hold the off*, signal iearned. from Sir John:r.,A. Macd�naj , in his own James DicktiOAk:registrE iiitormed him7tiiat ,':4•10st out bt470at..;amen would be The letter, I 0),4newspaper niderstood, "was: (niched in itge-b," It .we dQ not (32tih. 'Ram ke over as kindly, tae!•regrettLe, ".'Ve the text.: • • .;;;.4.. stance was nybel I won! imaster: 'Registrar .riteksOn ,,ob mu sty he& ecie .a ., nination. -He'had a Claim ;'pon the Prirne' 'Minister, ring joinedsorrie other . dormers in assisting 1, acdonald to bring ab'Out (*federation. However, ;,ere had been artoraover in • est Huron, in the Dominion ofection of 1887: -Wort bit M.c . irneron in 1882;tbe riding on next occasion , elected obert Porter, Conservative, - ugh by only 27 majority. Ccordingly, Porter had the ronage for -West Huron d presumably had urinated Campbell for the ;bst office. •-• 4Surprisingty little is on g'cord about Robert Porter, horn so often -against M.C. ,ameron and once defeated iro. His sketch in he 'arliamentary Guide; lir- , lied by himself, states only t he was •a native—of yrshire, Scotland (1833) a , -rmer, and a Liberal- iserva tive. The sketch :iicludes: "El ni vale P.O." 'Elinvale is in Simcoe .i'unty, on Highway 92 east of asaga Beach, and not to be nfused with Elmville in sborne township, • Huron :4inty, although there was a bert Porter who farmed in on. XII, Usborne. The inservative candidate in ccessive DOminion elec- ons appears to have been an tsider at all tithes. • in its ,port of the official 'initiations on January 28, i7, the Huron Signal listed C. Cameron,Goderich, rrister, and Robert Porter, aunty of Simcoe, ex- ixolmaster. Tater, according to his etch in the Guide, was also pi ex -farmer, but seemingly II no occupation in 1887 ter than running for arliament. Evidently no iron Tory wanted to tackle :meron. tWas in this -Conservative adrennium of 1887-91, .,ore Sir John Macdonald's t contest, that Goderich eived its first post office ilding, Mr. Porter `dently lost no time in senting the matter at awa, for on April 12, 1888, Tomas N. Dancey, mariner, veyed to H.M. the Queen, ,epresented by • the arable the Post Master neral of Canada," Lot 22 on est street for $1,000. (It had ged hands in 1869 for 600.) Captain Dancey--his stone use still stands on East eet-may have been at iia, outfitting a ship, n the transaction was litpleted, for one of the Inesses to his signature Thomas itiancey, gen- ,40:114/13Osigited rj112f e414.,..t4e4ontract was once and Postmaster stepped into a new ling.. Next ,door east was ''':0)ficititted from -1881 by David cantelon. 22, On which. the post erected, was purchased from the Canada • . 'WOO" bi'Robert AnclerSOn, whoever he was, and7,:in°41835- sold by him to Benjamin Miller—and everyone knows who he was. John Dancy -(spelled thus) acquired the lot 111,1857. In the general election, West Huron returned to the Liberal column, giving Cameron a Majority of 378, • but the Conservatives held officeat Ottawa until 1896. In the following year Mr. Cameron obtained the ap- pointment of John Galt. He was only the sixth Goderich • postmasterin a century, and there •have been but four Since. The Signal in its 1927 Centennial issue listed the •first six as Edwin Griffin, Thomas Rydd, James Watson, Archibald Dickson, William Campbell and John Galt. There had.been, first of all, an unofficial postmaster, :William Reed, an English- man who came to Goderich in 1828 With -Major Strickland and later conducted a hotel on the lake bank at Elgin avenue and. Hibernia street (now gone.) A bag was hung on a •wall of the hotel for receipt of letters, and once in a while Reed would carry the mail bititielf; to and from Hamilton. Six years after the start of the settlement, the first of- ficial post office was set up in ,the store of F.C. Taylor, "near the Octagon. Taylor was factor for the Baron van- Tuyll, but that evidently left him enough time to run a store, with the post office part in charge of Edward Griffin. His tenure appears to have been seven years, for Thomas Kydd succeeded him about 1840. Kydd's term is not definitely known, but when he died in 1891 the Signal of July 10. chronicle dramatic wk the hour:o last, the sp Kydd, oldest. Goderich, left hI.s body,.resident. of Deceased was entqrjng his 08th year, and .bad livecl In Goderich for; over He WaS,artiptiVa:0? Arbr�ath, Scotland, and. Goderich in 1833 in :Cciniaily4' with the late Colin Ross, entering business under the firm name of Ross & Kydd. About 1840 Mr. KiddWkS appointed postniaster;,*a position he held for some years. "For a number of years• ,. after the incorporation of the., town he was town clerk. "10V' the Rebellion of 1837 he was paymaster of the provisional4: battalion raised in the Huron Tract for service on the„.4. frontier opposite Detroit. He,,!:, took a leading part in agitation for construction, ofif the Buffalo, Brantford. and. Goderich Railroad.” The next postmaster was James Watson, presumably the merchant who operated a- ' generat store in the 1850s. His sales included "tobacco, shot and guncaps," and he ac- cepted wheat in payment. His daughter Ann was married to Dr. Morgan Hamilton, and after his death, in romantic circumstances, to Dr. George Carol-Shannon—but that story has been many times told. James Watson died in August, 1881. "He came nearly 40 years ago •:from Rokboroshire, Scotland, and occupied many Positions of trust and esteem at the hands of his fellow citizens," the Huron Signal said. "He was on of the eldest, if not the oldest of the merchants in town." He built the Hon. M.C. Cameron house, later core of Alexandra Hospital. - Archie Dickson's term as p.stmaster here began two years before Confederation, when he relinquished the Seaforth office to his brother Samuel. His first place of residence is not known, but about 1873 he built the many - gabled brick house at the tybe YO` • eThinlscen�es. Ho - recalled ir In favor 31, being at the 3844 nomination ihOet4tt 0.Roos hotel when Dr.DunIopi ,Of‘Yulkorti John Galt, Canada grandson Company° of the •:•commissioner and son of Registrar Galt, was ap- pointed postmaster in 1899 and held the office for the rest 9f his life, though' inactive the • last two years on account of -:, failing health. His residence from 1899 was the former St. J: Andrew's manse on Nelson street, now Mrs. Keith • Hopkinson's. Mr. Galt married . Lena, eldest daughter of Hon. M.C. Cameron. He died in 1938. Two daughters reside in Gode ich, Mrs. Ivan D. Wilson and Mrs. G.F. Clingan. Mr. Galt's staff was small, in the early years of his • tenure. One recalls seeing im alone in the office, sor- ing the mail from the evening train and placing it in the boxes. Mrs. F.H. Lee, whose family had charge of Southampton post office for many years, came to Goderich as relief post- mistress before the ap- pointment of William Bisset. Mr. Bisset was the first postmaster here to write a civil service examination. Upon his retirement, A.M. Homuth of Stratford was appointed. He retired in 1979 and was succeeded by Mel Farnsworth, assistant postmaster at Stratford and previously at Paris. The federal building on East street was opened in June, Robert Porter, 'originally from Ayrshire, Scotland made his home in Simcoe County but wast elected to parliament in Huron. He is credited with bringing the first post office building t Goderich. southwest corner of Wellington and West streets. His wife, - Elizabeth Scott, died in 1886, and Archie two years later at 49, leaving seven young children. William Campbell was a son of James Campbell; from Sligo, Ireland, who settled in Goderich in 1839, when William was two years old. The father conducted a shoe -business and was one of the first councillors. He had four sons and three duaghters.. h • Happy Birthday Town of GODERICH on your 150th Birthday T. Pryde & Son Limited Monuments, Markers, Bronze Plaques and Cemetery Lettering Serving Huron and Surrounding Area Since 1920 DISTRICT OFFICE PHONE1 75 Hamilton St. 524-2373