HomeMy WebLinkAboutThe Clinton News Record, 1925-07-30, Page 14th, Year
onie Wee
Some of Clinton's
Former Mayors
OBEFRT CA ENDER -1,
A. S. FISHER -1876
D. A'.. ORRESTER-1880-5,
T. JACKSON --1906-3
1
WIT
INCORPORATED THE CLINTON
ONTARIO, TRURSD.Yi JULY 39, i
ECIAL IINHoN•OR. o•
E LINToN!s SEMIENTENNJ.AL
etc., and some :outside advertising:
14r. ,James Turnbull' was head nsas.
ter of the Clinton Iligh' School, aL
Tlaie, 11. Coats, A `S. Fisher,; J.
Reeve, 'VI.D., Rev. I'. teQusig and
A. , Worthington, M.D.,being the
board of trustees.
Clintons Takes a Look Back«Over':
Log Trail.
Although we should not w:inte to
naueh Gime looking, backward, -shoo
keep our faces resolutely turned :Co
ward for the most part, yet it doe
no harm occasionally to turn a bac
ward glance over the • trail we hav
traversed, to see whether we'v
"tracked or not, count our blessing
along the way and to :see if we migh
not improve our walk in the future,'
The year of our Lord 1925 is a good
time for Clinton to take this' back-
ward glance, ' as" it : has reached a
milestone in its career, this being the
fiftieth anniversary of its ineorpora
tion as a town.
- • Clinton is one of the oldest; settle-
ments in Huron County, its -location,
at the junction of the London and
"Ilium} roads, the first' and. still the
chief roads which traverse what was
once the "Huron; Tract," and the very
centeei of, the district which' after-
wards 'Became' Huron County, ensur-
ing for it a local. ascendancy.
o,ta+io street church now stand
lel I'4� here Clinton now is was nearly 'a
r-.
woods at that tithe.• He remember.
s
1;_ hearing his parents talking of coin
e o o r
v are e
t market no-
s. t le
s. tations -.for Aug 511r, 18 t5. Tall
ll wheat, 81.10 to' 71.12; spring wheat,
bar -
,s $7..06 to 71.07; oats 37c to 40c; ,bar
ley, 60e to 65c; Peas; ! 70e' to 720;'
Flour78,00 bbl, Potatoes, 40c to 50e
e'qr
e "ing bo "The Corners," and wonclei
e ing in his ehildisla Ty,^nonanee wha
s by painting the words on it, "This
t ton became quite a thriving place, be
ing a busy marketing `town. When
he grew older he : came to . school, a
log building, with bark roof, con-
tenting three windows, that is, three
panes of. glass, eight .by ten inches.
Mr, 'Campbell was the teacher and
the"Gibbings, the Watts, the Meyers,
the ,Beacoms, Lookwoods, VanEg-
monds were also scholars. Mrs.
Trowse, also Mrs.` James Fair were
among the girls who attended school.
'- bag; Butter, 17e to 180;: Eggs, 12c to
t 13c; -Pork (dressed), 76.75 to 77,00;
s , beef, (dressed), 75,00 to 77.00.
Cars were unknown in 1878 and
youth sought its recreation in 'sports.:
Games' of all . sorts',seenred to be
played' by the young men, the young
women probably occupying them-
selves with needlework, and an occa-
sional game of erocluet. Cricket
seemed to be a favorite game then and
later. In that year a baseball club
Was organised with the following.of-
ficers: ` President, C. Pussielc; vice,'
E. Doherty; manager, Wm. Jackson;.
committee: W. Ranee, G. 'McTaggart
The first settlers in what is now
Clinton were Jonas Gibbings, who
came from Peel County, and Peter
and Stephen Vanderburgh, who carne
from Yonge Street. - They carne ie
1831; the Gibbings family coming by
boat to Goderich, the Vanderburghs
by land, and arriving about the,sarne
time. - Peter Vanderburgh built a .log
house on the corner where the Bank
of Montreal now Stands ,and kept the
first, tavern, which ` was afterwards
bought out by "Yankee" Read and
from hire by late William Ratten-
bury, whocatered to the travelling
public in Clinton for many years,
leaving when he died, his sen, Jloseph,
who in turn kept a:public house which,
for comfort and general excellence
has .seldom been excelled, in any town:
For a time the place, was reIied
"Vanderburgh's Corners,". later "Rat-
tonbury's :'Corners," or, for short,
"The Corners."
In 1844 William 1atten!bury, who
had been in the vicinity for ten years
or so, working for the Canada Com
pang at his tradeof blacksmith,
bought property on the four corners
and it is said that he 'and Jonas Gib-
bings,' who had been here for sone
years, agreed . alms the name of
"Clinton" for the village. This was in
honor' of Lieut -General Lord Clinton,
upon whose estate in Devonshire,
England, William 6attenbury's _fath-
er was a large tenant farmer.
In 1858 Clinton had grown to such
dimensions that it was incorporated
as a village, with Joseph Whitehead,
one of the early settlers whose name
is as familiar to most citizens yet as
their' own,- as its first reeve. He it.
was who "fired" .the engine on the
first trip ever made by Stepitenson's
ferrous engine. He lived in Clinton
until his death, but carried through
many large railway building con-
tracts elsewhere in Canada. He was
a public-spirited :citizen and did
much for the upbnilding of the town.
Aritbngst other early settlers -were
the Rance brothers, Thomas and
Samuel, Henry Ransford and Malcolm
McTaggart, sons of theoriginal set-
tlers in each case being still here.
The, Ranee Brothers built the first
still and also). ran 'a .distillery; The
first store was kept by "Yankee"
Read, The first'male'child born here
was William Gibbings, son of Jonas
Gitbbings, who died in the 'west and
whose remains were- brought home
and laid in Clinton cemetery only a
few, years ago,
Clinton was incorporated hs a town
in 1875, and Robert Callender, who
had been reeve of the: village • for two
years, was chosen as first mayor. A,
5., Fisher was.elected reeve and R. A.
Barton, O. S. Doan, Ii. Stevens, R.
Irwin, A. Johnston, J. Sheppard, J.
P. McDonald, J. Smith and W. Coop-
er, councillors.
Mr. John Gibbings, who is Clinton's
oldest native-borncitizen, recalls a th
number of interesting things' concern-
ing,the early settlement.of Clinton,
stories heard from his father, which
in a reminiscent nmoodhe related to
The News -Record representative. The
first school he recollected stood near s
Where St. Paul's church now stands.
The Rev. Mr.' Dobie, a •Methodist.
"Saddlebagger," was the first preach- t
er to visit the settlement and he carne
through ever=y few weeks holding ser-
vice at :first in the Gibbings hone. r
Mrs Gibbings was an Anglican and he e
plainly told this preacher -th4it he
"would, never' make "a: Methodist out
of him." "But he became a Methodist u
eventually," , said Mr. ,Gibbings, "We
joined the Bible Christian - church, e
which later united with the Wesley-
an,Methodists. . . r g
One of the `changes Mu. Gibbings
notes between;; 'the early days and b
now is the lack' of roadside taverns, ',
In the early days there were two or 11
three between.' Clinton and Goderich, $
Of course it was a long way in those 'B
days, when the roads were not mood g
and ,ox .teams were slow travellers. +
One would probably need to stain and
get warmed and "filled" two or three s
'times en route. 'Anyway, whether it s
was necessary or aol, many 816 it. C
Mr. Robert Fitzsimons is another b
old resident whom the' scribe inter- 11
viewed in connection with Clinton's
The stage used to run between-
Stratford and Goderich and the pass-
ing of this vehicle was •always `fin
event in the day for • the scnooi chil-
dren. He can remember when .there
was but 'one store in ,Clinton and rte,
a lad he, heeeed to load sand for the
building of the mill, But later the
village became a very.busy' centre,
people 'coming as threes from Tees -
water to market their produce. Wheat
was bought here and hauled to Lon-
don by team, before the railway was
built. It. was, also,.rather lough 'at
times. It was no . unusual using to
see a rough and. tumble fight in the
streets. That was the only way of
settling disputes and as thererwere
.about a dozen taverns and lots to
drink disputes were not uneoiinon.
One amusing happening was re-
called by Mr..l+itzsintens. It was in
the days, of the Fenian scare, in the
sixties, when a young farmer rode in
to say that.Fenians' had landed at
Goderich and were seen marching be-
tween.
e-tween, Goderich and Bayfield: In a
short time every able-bodied rnan and
not a fere boys were gathered in the
streets, armed with whatever. they
could muster, really to defend their
hearths and homes. A feW'old 'fowl-
ing pieces were seen but, for the most
Part the weapons were pitchforks,
axes, etc.' Great excitement pre-
vailed but;nothing happened said they
soon dispersed to their homes,
The:. Harlands came up from
Chingoacousy in 1854 and for a few
years, until the village -was incorpor-
ated, paid taxes to Hullett .township,
Mr, W. S. Flatland, who is the only
representative of the fancily_here.
now, remembers well when Clinton
became a town and knew. well its
first mayor, Robert Callender, who e
few years later lost his life. -when
the wall of his brother-in-law's store
fell in during a fire. He also remem-
bers when the late W. Doherty start-
ed making organs, which was in
1875, so that the Doherty Pianos are
also celebrating 'their semi-centen-
nial. Mr..Harland' and' his brother,
the late John Harland, had gene into.
the hardware business some `years;
previous to that, July lst, 1867, and.
this firm. -continued to do business
until the. death of John Harland three
years ago, when the business was
sold to ,the • Clinton Hardware -and
Furniture Co., consisting' a` Messrs..
N. Ball, J. D. Atkinson and J, Zapfe.
iVIr'.'W 5, Harland had retiredha few
years previous to that, owing to fail-
ing health.
'. Mr .Harland tellg sone amusing
tales of early life in Clinton. Be''
says people,lived very plainly in the.
early days but they were happy ;and
contented. ,
Tho town :had no walks, except a
plank walk here and there. The
postoffice stood behind the present
site, 'where Elliott's livery -now
stands, Moore and Hunter having. a
store in a large frame building which
occupied the site of the present post-.
office. Smith and Fisher had: a store
on the Morrish corner and McTag-
gart's fanning mill factorlfr occupied
e town half site. ,
In 1876 the' secret ,ballot was en -34
or the first. time in 'nnmid.ilpal e lec-
tions,' in, Clinton 'and,. acdotding to
newspaper reports, it proved every
uccessful.
A. new' town 5911 was put :up in
Clinton in 1875 and Mr,,William Fos-
er was appointed Sellringer at a sal-
ary of 780 per annum; the bell: to be
ung six hares per day three minutes
Among the business men who had
their- names in the advertising col-
nins of the town newspaper in 1875
were: T. C. Gilroy, dry goods; Searle
nd Davis, hardware; IIod5ens' and
Pay, dry goods; A. S. Fisher, dry.
oohs; -S. Palliser' ansi Co,, '850000;
N. Robson, groceries; ,It. Mclennan,-
alter and confectioner; 'Wright and
Poster dry goods; Rninball and Los
e, carriage makers; W. Cooper, gun
myth; Mrs. Beesley, milliner; C. ,G.'
Zack, baker 'and confectioner;,• Foie
uson'and Campbell, pumps; R. A.
Dhiolt, washing machines; Ge,rge.
Diehl, cabinet maker,Thos. 'Steven -
on, endertaking; Glasgow, Macpher
on and Co., agricultural works; E.
orbett, woollen mills; J. A. Neliee,
oohs and faecyware; Peter Grant,
ay forks; S. Forder, watches, clock;,.
ewellere; W. H. Cooper, jr., marble.
orks; The Royal Bank,' M.- Lough,
• JohnSteep,boots ' nd sboes;
gent, a 1 ,.
Patterson and Co:, groceries, be -
ides a host " of professional cards
early history. The Fitzsimons Tam- w
ily came to Huron in 1851, settling a
on the 2nd of TinlJett, one and a 5
the -1
quarter miles. north of where Ob
q ,rte s
ROBERT ROLMES-1894-8
S. B. HOOVER -1904-6
J4.COB TAYLOR -1910=11
iARB;ISON WILTSE-1997-9
The News -Record
On be of
behalf Minion citizens, Welcomes Old Boys and Gills
to the town. for the, first week in August. Make yourselves'
at home; the (Ad ` town is- glad you carne, aria may the ` 1925
Reunion, stand out in your memory for all the corning years.
The News -Record, Founded as Conservative
Paper, was "Liberally Supported
by 'LiberaIs..
(Edward Fioody)
It was in: the autumn of 1880, while
teaching school in Goderich township,
that.I conceived the idea of going
into the newspaper business. I was.
getting somewhat tired of "teaching,"
and as there was a defunct newspaper
plant or sale in the village Of Blytli,
I went. up there one Saturday morn-
ing in December, and purchased it.
Having aim -chased the plant, it was
then a question of 'whether I should
continue on in -Blyth, or remove the
plant to Clinton, where it was said, a
Conservative newspaper was badly
needed. Strong representations and
inducements were made by the Con-
servative leaders. of Clinton, and af-
ter two
f-tertwo or three weeks 'in Blyth, mak-
ing a careful survey of the situation,
the plant was removed to Clinton, and
the first issue of the Clinton "Record"
came out onthe first week of Jan-
uary, 1881.
The paper' had eight pages, forty
columns, "double royal," and was rein
off by a . "Washington"_, hand press,
which we worked in turns, and Ianust
say, it was grand , exercise for tine
muscles. We were pretty 'well
equipped 'with type, it being practic-
ally new, while we used a Gordon
press formost of the job work.
We started out with a good adver-
tising patronage, the chief patrons
in the first issue being Messrs. W.
Jackson, T. Jackson and Son. R. M.
Racey, Ciaib, . McWhirter and Co.,
Geo. H. Wright, Pay and Wiseman,
Harland Bros., T .Cooper, H, Cante-
ion, D, CantelOn, W."11. Rainsford,
Thompson and Boles, J. Twitchell, T,
Stevenson and Son, W. H. Simpson,
and a fel' issues later, John fiodgens,
R. dloats and Son and Peter Robb,
seven of these being column adver-
tisers.
The "Record" office was located in
the Victoria Block, over Twitchells
Harness Store, and our staff' consist-
ed of the "Boss" Editor, two printers,
and two "devils."
- The fiist 'issue being out,'and our
advertising ,. patronage :guaranteed,
our next business was to work up -our
subscription list. I think I person-
ally canvassed nearly every citizen of
Clinton, and' I certainly was more
than surprised with the liberal re-
sponse which I met on my rounds.
Although politicalfeelingwas running
high in those days, the Glinton Liber-
als showed themselves most "liberal"
in their .views, when solicited to sub-
scribe for the. Conservative Organ.
'At Blyth, the late Charles Hamilton,
auetieneer, ,grain 'buyer, and general.
"live wire' for the village, not, only
retained most of the old subscribers,
but: in two or three' mouths, had acid-
ed over 109 new subscribers to mu,
list. .in addition 18 this, the amount
'of job .,worksent„ in by him every
.month was a great help to the .paper.
.Very few people could get away from
the popular "Charlie Hantilton," when.
he went after then. He and Frank
Mectalf'worked together, for the Re-
cord and they were a great team. .
In
Clinton,W. Jackson, -the people's
"Billy," rendered yeoman :.serviee'and
much of the success of the "Record"
in its early days "inust be attributed
to. his' splendid efforts. At Bayfield,
with the:. assistance. of those two stal-
warts,' the late W. W.. Connor, and
the late sienry Howard, I roiled up, a'
list of_ 30 in an afternoons'. And I can
never forget good old Varna.. With
the .assistance of Ed. Briggs and Geo.
Parke,' two old 'l -time "hustlers" of
Stanley township, almost, every far-
mer in . the neighborhood became. n
reader of the- "Record:" , From 'God-
erich township aid .Hallett, the:.sub-
sciiptions came . in ' voluritafliy in
pounds,' and in two .months, :I had over
200 subscribers from the -former and
100 frons the atter. The late Rev. ' G.
M. ICilty, my old Model. School class-
mate, rendered 'very .valuable ;assist,:
mice in Hullett, both in subscriptions
and correspondence, At Wingham, in
one evening, with the 'assistance of
Dr. Bethune and Rob'." Gronyn, both
dead and gorie,.7 added 25 navies to
our bete, And so the good work went
on. i
Our next nnloortant neeessity was
.to' secure a staff of live correspond-
ents in parts of the County,
and in 'this step I had no difficulty.
as I 'was personally aegnainted with
most of the.- school teachers of the
county,, at that time, and the teacher,.
generally, has a good nose :for news:
At.. Wingham, the late W., E. Groves,
another of` my Model School class-
mates, then Principal of the Wing -
ham Public School,: and later Prin-
cipal of Ryerson School,"Toronto, act -
de as
ctde"as my special' correspondent foie'
that district and, sent me a column of
news every :'week. His description of
ball games and : lacrosse matches
made very spiny reading. In Clinton,
the late Major Murray and G. H.
Watson were my chief contributors,
and they were both very pungent
writers.
And now my troubles, so well
known to all newspaper men, com-
menced. My first snag was struck
about the third or fourth issue,
when our Londesboro correspondent
sent in a very spiey report of awed -
ding, which took'place "not a thou-
shnd miles from Londesboro," but
with no names mentioned. The 1paper
had notbeen issued 'morethan three
or four hours, when a big husky leek-
ing farmer, who was evidently one of
the parities interested, came into the
office, looking for the -Editor :;to give;
him a "licking." He " demanded ' the
name ofe the correspondent, and when
1 te£used to give him the name, he
told me I would have, to take the
"medicine." I could see that he was
in a fighting mood, and at that stage
I deemed "discretion the better part
of valor." So I invited the visitor to
take a chair until the "fighting ed-
itor" carne in, but he 'declinedthe in-
vitation, and took his departure in a
very ostentatious manner.
,My next adventure was about two
weeks later, ,The late Peter Robb'
had been.,elected to the position of
High Chief Ranger ,of The Canadian
Order of Foresters, an honor -which
he considered no doubt of as much
importance as being Member of Par-
liament for ' West Huron. We were
going to press as a'Forestmes,funer-
al \vas ,being held, at which 1VIr. Robb
was acting m'his official capacity_ In
the rush of gettingout the paper,
our proofreader did not do his work
very carefully, and Mr. Robb was 'de-
scribed in the obituary notice as
"High Chief Banger." The issue was
half sons Off when 141.` Robb, who had.
just returned ,from the funeral, came
into the oflee in fever Treat, and all
excitement. We immediately stopped
the press, and made the correction,.
but not before a great many papers
had been mailed, and the town circu-
lation hed
ircu-lation.hed gone out.
Our next trouble was when we were
threatened with a libel suit by the
late .M, ; C. Cameron over, an article:
which:ap;,neared in the paper, reflect
ing on him as a politician. Just inti
agine an editor in those, days, without
any money, (different now, of course)
being threatened with , a ,libel suit,
with large damages. ,Mr. Cameron
evidently considered aur financial pe.
sition and that was the last we heard
of the libel suit.
The circulation and advertising pat-
ronage continued to increase, until
May', 1882, 'when A..57. Biackeby,
then a factory" inspector nor. the Dom-
inion Government, and 51.- T. Havill,
foreman- of -=the "Galt "Reporter,":
formed a partnership, and made . me
an offer to purchase ;the paper and
goodwill, which I `accepted, and they
continued to - publish the "Record"
until November, when they sold" out
to N. H. Buchner,. of - the'Hainiltoe
"Times." Go account' of . a ' Heavy
chattel mortgage; and :other disconr-
agenenss Mr. Buchner "threw 'up
the sponge"-,ih eb'odt two 'weeks
tune,' and the print 'vas` on my hands
again. ' '
, I then disposed of it to Whitely and;
Todd, of the Goderich' "News," who
brought part of their';plant to Clin-
ton, and
lip-ton,;'and changed - the- name of the
paper to the "News -Record,"- After,
conducting the Paper for a number of
year's,; this firnn sold', out to W. J.
Mitchell, of 'Hanover. The . late , Mi .
Mitchell met his death, very suddenly
in London, a few years ago, when the
paper was per'chased by the present.
proprietor, G, E. Hall. In November;
last Mr. Hall pur'ehased the subscrip-
tion dist and good will of the New
Era from W. H. h`ei'r and Son, amal-
gamating it with -The News -Record
and it is now, as the readers know,
the only newspaper published' in
Clintoai
.i. .I. GIi3BINGS--19I2-
DR. C. W. T1-IOMPSON-191.6.18
A. T. COOPER -1919-23
DAVID CANTJCLON-1922:
FRED .1;ACKSOA-1914.9:5-2425