HomeMy WebLinkAboutThe Clinton News Record, 1925-07-30, Page 2A Few of Clinton's
Oldest and Most
Esteemed Citizens
JOHN GIB NGS
JOHN C'UNINGiIA&IE"
JAMESSTEVENS
JAMES WALKINSHAW
MAGISTRATE S. J. ANDREWS
-will look after peoiple who do not be-
have but he expects to have a week
off during .Old Horne Week.
"Little England" Votes Turned the Scales
in 1877 Election,
(Eat{ Mrd Moody)
It was art January 1877, that 1
came to, Clinton to .attend the High
School; now thzecUo11egiate Institute,
whore Lor six months I pursued my
studies, preparing. for the Teachers';
Examinations ht July;
:rho new High School building had
just been completed, and ,being cone.--
,5idered a -:very pretentious :gtructtitiie'
in thud days, we Were proud to `be
1ts',!rst occupants.
The rate James' Turnbull, IIA.
vas tlee pi:incip t, "With Mr., Georg
"Sheppard, now of Toronto; and }Tis
Ok' til as his assistants. Some o
the boys attending at- that time wer
Gen Cotdioeti, who later became Min
ister of Ediicacion for the Province o
Manitoba, "1T, M. Jackson, who late
Went to the North West i Territorie
and 'became Private -Secretary ,t
Louis Riel. G. A. Smith; now Prin-
cipal of Parlcdale Collegiate Institute,
W; T. Chili, , now en Anglican cnergy;
man (It K)lty; who afterwards be -
Came an Anglican clorgiiiman, but
died a :few years ago; A. d. Scott,
who later became an M.D. and flied
in Toronto a few years ago; John R.
Steep, who afterwardsbecame an
M.D. an& practised in Winnipeg until
his death, °a few years ago; Andrew
Sloane, who later became an M.D.,
practised in Listowel, and died the]:
some years ago, and Sandy' Davidson
who went West, and made his "pile
the halt, and the blind. A splendid
breakfast"was ;provided, and several
loyal, and patriotic toasts¢;Were pro;
posed and duly/responded to. In the
meantime the time had arrived for
the polls(, to open, and our.Liberal
friends 'prbceeded',to Little,' England,
to bring their supposed supporters to
roto, but to and behold, they were
all unavoidably absent. About five
minutes after nine, however, two ±big
sleigh loads of Little England voters
were driven to the various 'polls, and
e it is said they all voted .for Porter.
s Clinton gave the surprising major -
f ity oi' 52 for Porter, and he \vas elect;
a ed.
In my nest I shall be glad to give
f you some of .the early history of The
r News -Record, as you have requested.
s Sincerely` yours,
Clinton Newl7iiteeprd
Reminiscences from Holrnesville Boy of
'87 to '90 in :Clinton High School°
c
in the Winnheg "boom."
It was about this time that the pol-
itical pot commenced to boil, and the
great National Policy, which .swept
Sir; John A. Macdonald into power in
1878, was the sole. topic of discussion
with the general public, and moreor
less with the pupils of the Clinton
HighSchool, who on politieal.`lines,
were pretty evenly divided.` Political
picnics were being held by both par-
ties all over the country, and it was
with much' fear and trepidation that
1 approached our Principal to ask for
leave„of absence for a couple of, days,
I -was anxious to attyrnd the great
'Conservative pienic for the three
counties, at Corrie, at which Sir John
A. Macdonald and Sir. Leonard Tilley
were to be the ehief speakers. With-
out being required to give any reason.
I was granted the leave of ab-
sence, went to the picnic at Gerrie,
saw .and heard the great chieftain;
and through the courtesy of the late
Patrick Kelly, of Blyth, received an
introduction : to him and the late
Thos. Farrow, then the M.P. for the
constituency. Well, you may rest
assured that 1 went home from Gerrie
feeling as big as if I were the Gov-
ernor-General.
Later in the season, • a monster
Liberalpicnic for the surrounding
counties was held at Clinton, at which
Hon, A.' McKenzie, the Premier of
the Dominion, and Bon. L. S. Hunt.
ington, postmaster -General, were the
leading speakers. Thomas Greenway
was the M.P. f,for : the constituencyat
that time, and the, Tories of the eon-
stitueney were up in rebellion against
him. At the previous general elec-
tions, Mr. Greenway bad been. elect-
ed as a Conservative candidate, but
after being in attendance at the See-
sion at Ottawa for a few days, went
over body and bones, it was said, to
support the Liberal Government.:` It.
was a heart breaker, and a body blow.
for the Conservatives, and they were
certainly' very much up in arms. It
was whispered around the town that.
if Mr. Greenway carneto the picnic
and attempted ,'to speak, that he
would meet with a battle of ripe
eggs trein Goderich township' and
Stanley. We all turned out to see
the fun, but we were very much dis-
appointed, as Mr. Greenway did not
show up, nor did he contest the rid-
ing -at the next election. Instead, Mr.
Greenway devoted his attention to
Manitoba, where he afterwards be-
came Premier of the Province, -I
never, heard what became of the
eggs.
It was in this year that County
Model Schools were established' by
the Provincial Governrnent, under the
supervision of Iron. Geo. W. Ross,.
then Minister • of Education,; • The
Model •Schools for Huron . County
were located. at Clinton and'Goderich,',
and the teachers who passed the July
.Examinations, were given a two
months' training at either one of
these. Schools. The teachers obtain-
ing the highest number of marks
were given the preforenco -in the sel-
ection of the - first class at Clinton,
and I was lucky:.enough to be in -this
class of 25. The school was olrened
during the latter part of August
With the late D. M. Malloch, as the
principal. The class was divided tip
into eight sections, and I had the
good luck to be placed in section: "A”
with W. E. Groves and Geo. M. Kilty.
as my associates. T' referred' to the
late My. Kllty in a former section of
this letter. Mr. Groves later (became
Principal of the Ryerson School,
Toronto, a -position he held until his
death about three•years ago.In this
year 98 pupils attended the classes
of these two Huron Model Schools.
The majority' of them: were retained
in schools in,the county, and the bal-
ance wore scattered over the Prov-
ince. I met one of them; a member
of our senior 'Clinton class, in Milton
a few days ago, Mr. W. II. Stewart,
who is superintendent.of the Child-
ren's Homo for Halton County.
I cannot close this letter without a
short reference to the general oleo.
tions of 1887, when Clinton gave its
first majority for the Conservative
Party. The constituency had , then
been changed into• West Huron, and a
bitter fight,. raged ,between Robert
Porter, Conservative, and M. d. Cann-
erenLiberal. Both parties were ex-
eeptionally well organized, Little
England, being in •St. John' Ward,,
was looked upon as the battle ground.
Billy. Coats, W. J. Paisley and Dave
'ors•eeter had the New England
crowd pretty well lined for Cameron,
but a big hearted . Conservative eon.,
ceived the idea of giving a six o'clock
breakfast, and went ,out into the
hig=nways and invited the nnaimed,
- E. FLOODY.
Toronto, July 14, 1225.
FORMER.' RESIDENT SAYS NICE
THINGS.Ai3OUT CLINTON
A. P. GUNDRY
The News -Record: I was delighted
to hear of a reunion at Clinton and
Mrs. Gundry and I expect' to have a
few very enjoyable days among our
Clinton friends: I know of no, town
in Canada which extends: a more cor-
dial welcome, to visiting friends than
Clinton. A community of warmer-
hearted and snore hospitable people
does not exist, It is a certainty that
thousands of original old boys and
former residents' will flock back to
the Old Town on August lst and a
real time will be "had" by all. yours
very truly,
-A. P. GUNDRY.
MRS. HOWARD HUMPHRIES
sings in Ontario street church and
the town hall on Sundayand at the
conoert Monday evening.
SUPT. H.. B. CHANT
Iooks after Clinton's light and water.
A Daik Deed.—Some time since
our very worthy corporation caused
to be erected on the Market Square
a large square'i box, which they in-
tended for the accommodation of our
two exceedingly fine bands, and
therefore it was known by themselves
and a few acquaintances, (by being
told) that it was a band stand; but
there appears to have been a wide-
spread ignorance as to what it was,
and to what use it was devoted, which
caused much curiosity and many ques-
tions to be asked ,very annoying to.
some parties., Now,' as this is an age
when the schoolmaster is abroad, (no
insinuations intended) the desire of
some people is to enlighten, and
therefore some ,one with this principle
dominant in his breast, sallied, forth
on Thursday night, paint pot and
brush in hand; and generously and,
gratuitously put the finishing touch
to this splendid piece of architecture,'
by painting the wetds on it, 4:This is,
a' band stand, $40,00; these are the..
artists,' with the profile of. two .fig-
uses, and nowevery one can learn,,
'without asking questions, 'what it is.
and what it cost.—Clinton New Eva,
Aug, 5th, 1875:
(Fred 0, Elfoi d)
I have very pleasant recollections but as I. have already intimated What,
of the bine put in in Clinton High Year, 11 was 1 would be getting 00 to
School; altnou„ h some of tray et;col- ppetptoysedasnomee,oous tgheonnaarbeutcvl:uousne 11
".
]cations are not so iple?sant. 'Living knew thee'e bob their' hairand teen
at Holnnosville -f was nocessary` for yet look so much :life their grand -
,
me e to come zn each morning, the fast children ithav you hardly tell`
Year I walked it, along With ;fire which was which-
, '
Docking, , who is at present farming
at Vandorhoof;' 12.-C, sometimes the.
four trifles did not seem very tang, at
other times 'ther'e were at least',' ten
good ' miles, 'between Clinton ' and
Ilohnessi11e. The ,second year I went
in on the train; the third 'year I drove,
and I aur not so sure but that the first
year was the most enjoyable, as 'far
as nnalcinig the trip w`as eoncei e2..
The principalof the High School was
Sas. Turnbull, but the man wlioin I 2;10 trotters, and why shouldn't hit? ria COLI,a CIA
remember most, was the classical'mas- -Clinton New Era'Jan. 28 1875. I ; .e.
Or, Mr: Samuel Perry, a nnan whom ' 005' t was baz.t, nn 1876 and poo ile sec n
--- -- -- .
I nviil':aIways remember because of.
his high, idetls, and influence.
with �
the boys. As; to the Latin, 9 have
forgotten that long ago, but I will
never forget the good lie did me in
other ways. I meet him occasionally
Sonnething'Unusual-Father'an tui-
eommdri scene was witnessed in town
the other day, it being a yoke of
oxen hitched to a double cutter, The
animals were, of coarse, slow o:f foot,
but their owner appeared to enjoy it
'just as }mels as if he had a :span of
Among the .boys whom I met in
school, were some of whorn have
passed over, others whom I meet
occasionally, even yet," one belonging
to those whose memory alone remains
and with whom;I sat and had consid-
erable to db the'first,year :or so, was
J. P. Doherty,' sen of the late "W. D."
I often think of J. P. yet. Then there
was John.Ross,'who was a power as
one, of the backs` in football. I
played goal, and always depended on
hint; I see him occasionally in Edmon-
ton; where he is the Deputy Minister
of Education. s, The other backs were
Tom Agnew (now Dr. in Vancouver)
and Bob Agnew who is 'practising
dentistry in B.C. Their Frank Pat-
terson, who carne down- from Luck -
now, along with Jack Ross and. oth-
ers." For. years Frank has been mak-
ing"a millionaire of himself in Van-
couver in the .lumber: business, I' see
him occasionally and always Iook for, ,
ward to having a pleasant 'that with
him. In this bunch that came down
from Lucknow was also Kenneth Mc-
Kenzie, I have lost 'track of him just
now, but t, have met him several
times in Edmonton. T think at one
time he 'occupied' the position . of
Mayor of that city. Then there' was
Bowerman, who smiled all the way
down his back, and has made things
pleasanter for rare ever since because
T never could forget that senile. Then
there was Bowering (now Bev.) who
for years has been preaching on the.
Prairies, I have met him only once
since. I must not forget a rich bank-
er in your own town, a man whom I
go in to visit every time I go to
Clinton and feel that my can at CIin-
ton is not a success if I . miss him,
Russell Manning. There are tots of
others, including .a number still in
Clinton, but if I were to mention their
names you would know just how . old
they -are, and a few of them I know
would' object because they willnever
grow old, such as Cap. Morrish, Ern.
Hovey and a whole lot. of others.
Nothing in reason will keep me
,frons the Old Boys' Reunion, ,for there
is nothing, I like better than to shake
hands with the old friends, both boys
anti girls. i could mention a Iot about '
the girls that I went to school with,
1r bTU'1'n
to think Clinton needs a new ane.
W. S. HARLAND
THE LATE .JOHN HLAND
The Harland Brothers carried on a hardware business in Clinton for
over fifty.:years. Few men were better known throughout the community
than William and John Harland.
THE CLINTON KNITTING MILL
cohere Wearwoli Hosiery is. made. This ie one of Clinton's' mostimpose
errt industries,
Clinlon Flo
Manufacturing flour for over f i j ty years
and still going strong.
Do you Know the Brands?
North star
All No'. 1 Manitoba Wheat, and as good a Flour
as the, best in the world.
Maple of
A strong Flour made from a blend of
No. 1 Manitoba and Ontario Winter Wheat,
Snow Flak
A High Crack Pastry Flour, made from
all local .,wheat.
Ask your Dealer for these Brands
You take no chance --;we guarantee :every bag o
Flour we made.
We cordially invite ever, one.:who.wishes .to ;respect
our plant during Old Horne Week; either
Wednesday ue,sd a or
's..
e a�ay mornings, when at "�lll he in 'oPorat$on.
� tori