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HomeMy WebLinkAboutThe Clinton News Record, 1925-07-30, Page 16l:s ST PAUL'S ANGLICAN CHURCH Chis isnot the oricinal church, one, was pulled down and the one im- mediately preceding this was burned down. . A list, however, with the names of the subscribers to a• building fund, with the .amount promised in eachcase set forth, dated 1854, now hangs in the vestry. The first church was built bytheCanada Company:' • WILLIS CHURCH • was Willis Presbyterian chinch. until it entered the United Church :of Ganada on June 10th. This congregation was founded in 1859 and during -that time has only had six ministers. Iihtois New-RecCar toe. manioc.. Come ' on Home i'he following was written by 'a 'former Tuckersnutlr,`boy for use ata reunion in the town which is now his home and has boon sent us by the author :Cor use"here: Perhaps you'vegrown rich ,on the prairies, Your farm in town lots you have sold`` Or. with products of wheat ;fields and dairies, have lined all your pockets with gold, OC it may be your harp strings are rusted, Scour measures all halting and lame, Perhaps you're discouraged and busted, Ancl tired of playing, the game. If so, come to Clinton this summer, Forget the world's trouble and strife, Our program will sure be a hummer, We'll give yon the time of your life.. We'll make no untimely suggestions, Concerning the length of your stay, Nor ask you, impertinent questions About what you've done while away. "I Have Never Preached Farewell Sermon to Willis Church People --- Do Not Wish to Bid' Them Farewell. (Rex. Alexander Stewart, A.D.) Although Willis' Church, Clinton, is li the only settled charge I have ever had, I was for a two year term, mis- sionary in the Swan River District, North West Territory, ; and was or- dained :on my way to the field by the Presbytery of Winnipeg, September 22nd, 1875 - When: I returned to Ontario, the pulpit .of Willis Church was vacant, and I was sent as supply for a short time. The' result was an unanimous call, which I neither expected nor de- sired • This feeling was due, not to any -unpleasant experience either in the congregation or'in the town, but solely to a strong preference for work ih the country, and the fact that already -I had the offer of a good country charge. When the Presbytery of Huron met to consider the case, Willis Church representatives were present with their call, but nobody appeared to speak for theother congregation. This gave the impression that they had changed their minds about nue, and I yielded to the pressure of the Presbytery to accept Willis church. During the, afternoon of the,same'day representatives of the other congreN gation + carne with their 'pall, but, of course,' it was set aside. In my dis• appointment I had the satisfaction of feeling that I was going to ,a field which I had not 'sought, and that Providence had chosen it for me. Subsequent experience confirmed this view, for the result was a happy pastorate of 34 years duration in Clinton. 11U12.SDA.Y, JULY a0, 1925.. '•; oes Back Seventy .Yeats to the Days of Clinton's' Youth. Editor The News -Record: To go back --in memory seventy years or more is not so easy for me but f will be glad if I can write,something of interest for you and your readers about the dear old town of Clinton. Iii :. wleft Csvllle, is eighteen1854meiiles from ookToronto..1± was very rainy and muddy Roads were impassable at times- and it was ne- cessary at times to take a' rail off the fence to pry the wheels, out of the mud. This was just after the Crimean war and there was only one sunny day until winter set in. That summer had been the driest for years and after the 'drought there was a terrific windstorm, uprooting a great number : of trees. My ' father rand uncle were near 1lohnesville' attend - W:' N. MANNING is a Clinton Old Boy who, when here, a ways took an active interest in of 1'tirs. The Sabbath School was a' flour- ishing institution in those times un- der the superintendency .of Archibald, or as he was more familiarly known, "Archie" Matheson.' There. `seemed. to be more children in those days than now, and there was a much bet- ter. attendance - of young men and women. There was little difficulty hi securing good teachers, both .men. and women. These used to meet' af- ter prayer meeting . every week to, study the lesson'. appointed for the following Sabbath. ' Archie Matheson, to whom refer- ence has already been made, was in some ways a remarkable man. A blacksmith by trade, he spent his leisure hours in reading good liter- ature, and in studying the Bible. He thus became uinusuall well -informs y d My predecessors in Willis church were 'only two, the Rev. Dr. A. D. MacDonald and the Rev. Finlay Me- Quaig. Both were good hien and ex- cellent preachers. The former was pastor in Clinton for about ten years, and hada good deal to do with the organization of the congregation. itis subsequent charges were in Elora' and Seaforth. Mr. McQuaig had served in Clinton about seven years, when he was called to Kingston, and after- " wards- to Wellnad. The remains of me cry. the hands of the Roman Catholics, It is difficult to give a strictly ac- curate account of'the congregation AS I found it, when T must trust to memory alone, but I think I shall' not go very far astray. The boundaries of the Presbytery Of the session as it then was, I of Huron were slightly changed dor-. think that only .one member : is still ing the first year of my stay in twin He left •Clitnon shortly after Clinton. Of the ministerial members COL. 11, T, RANCE 'is a son of one of Clinton's early set- tlers and has spent most of his.life in Clinton. Ile spent nineteen months ing a camp -meeting and during the.. storm and trees fell all around. This was followed oy a heavy rain. My first recolleclion of Clinton. was that it Was ,called Rattenbury's. Corners. The woods were pretty. close to the village TomEast had a brick yard aver near Mary street,: I was in my teens when we came to Clinton and the first winter my father worked for Mr. Shipley mak - 'ing furniture and l went part of the Winter to a little- school house on the southeast corner of the, 'English.. church ground. ' The teacher was a lame man named Riley and he used . to send the pupils to me to show them: how to work their sums. Mr. Nairn: was the inspector and he told me I should be a professional man. Per- haps I should havebut missed niy calling. •' Then a Union Sunday school used to meet there and religious - services were held there. Mr. Rowell was Superintendent. • The condition, of the roads at this time made the congregation very small, as you can. understand. My father started the Methodist Sunday shcool in our' shop; in Huron street. We. bought the house and lot where the County - Treasurer lived. It was a log house: However, we built another house of rock 'elfin logs which are bard to' cut - Well do I remember that hquse. ST. JOSEPH'S (CATHOLIC) CHURCH This edifice was built: in 1908. For years prior to the erection of the present building the Catholics worshipped in a church, which had , and was frequently appointed to re- training recruits during the war, been made over from the first' Pres - present the Presbytery of Duron in several Clinton boys receiving theirbyterian church built in Clinton, the, General Assembly, where he was first military training under him. which was on the same site. always heard with respect and atten- tion when he spoke. A few years af- ter my inductiotn he left for the North-West with his family... Having nettled them there he engaged in evangelistic work, with such success.. that he was ordained as one of our Ilpme. Missionaries. Willis church was favoured with a band of good, earnest women, who. were ready for, any duty that might be assigned to them. The WF.M.S. was mutneridally weak forty-five years ago, but en excellent spirit pre - veiled. With some improvement in their organization and methods it soon became strong. and efficient. In other departments of Church' work, the part which the women took was all that eould be reasonably desired. The congregation when I first knew it worshipped in a frame build- ing which stood on the site now occu- pied by the Roman'Catholic church. It had been felt for some time that better accommodation • was needed and steps were at length taken to secure it.. . The new building was erected on:: Rattenbury street, where it still stands, and the old one wits' sold to a mechanic was used it as a workshop. Eventually, it fell' into r++"" ONTARIO STR BET CHURCH 'hvas until its entry into The UM ted Church of Canada, a Methodist' •a Bible .0 hristian -church ' uniting with'y the oath. This was formerly , Methodist churches in1 88 1 5. The exact date of the founding of the con- !gregation could, not .be ascertained but the date was an early one. both lie in Clinton cemetery. ' who repaired and used it as a place of worship for a few years, and then replaced it by the brick building which now occupies the site. Early History of New Era Interestingly Told by Former Editor. (R. Holmes) Now that the Clinton New Era is a thing of the past, some of the inci- dents that marked its career may be of interest to the newer, generation, In 1864 Clinton had two papers, The Courier, owned by George Lay - dock, and the True 'Briton, by a Mr. Kelly. As Clinton was then only a village, and not very large., at that, both papers had hand work to exist, and during the fall of that year both died for lack of support. g before the change only one besides my induction, and we had little con- neetion with him afterward, although myself, an old fellow -strident, is still I believe he is still an elder in one Hying. 01 those who remained of oThe ,ether ter the change,. all but myself have f the London churches. members -were Arch. Matheson, James passed away. On the whole they Aikenhead, Arch. McAllister, James were excellent men.. Some of them Broadfoet, James Turnbull, Richard have left a deep impression for good Irwin. Most of them were good men on the fields in which they labored• and true, viith whom it was a pleas- being dead ,they yet `speak. ure;to be associated. My Clinton astdrate closed in TheaBoard duties e.ofetrustees, torli Feb., 1912, through sickness frown chane the r.of trustees, o Which it soon became evident,I would charge of the 'financial affairs Of the' Its composition not recover sufficiently to resume niy congregation. changed or might he changed 'every old luosition. ' I'have never preached ch year, ar so that it is hard to remember a' farewell 'sermon to Willis le -reason. Ye who belonged to it forty-five years congregation for�wieh theto bid them fare- calm are- o. I know, however, that Mal- that I do slot i1i •se re e> cola' McTaggau't, Sr., John McGarva, well. Although now, legally p Alex. McSVIurchie ated from them,.and can ;take 110 were Turnbull and members, °ace ande`tr t presence. orderly ,part inb their affairs, a am span of servative. As it would be impossible werefor the' orderly with thein, and have. as deep, l one leiently accounted o for- thein as 1 ever had. for two papers to .live where one sufficiently tion way in which- business was, done. ,, At thattime Mr. E. Holmes, who had been employed on the Hamilton Times, bought out the plant of the True Briton; Mr. Laycock put his plant in and formed the partnership of Holmes & Laycoolc. This occurred in 1,865. Previous newspaper exper- ience being so disastrous,; it was looped to establish a "new era" in this connection—hence the name. Mr. Taycoek had a book store about was run under the firm name of E, where the McTaggart bank stands, and the printing office was at the rear of this. The first issue of the New Era came out on July 6, 1865. The staff consisted Of my father; Mr, Edwin Grigg, myself and a sister, since deceased. :At the end of six e I well remember --the earlysettlers,.. too-4Toncs Gibbings and family; the Jacksons; Mr. Harland; Wm. Davis; the Murrays and the Fair• family; ' Mr. Fisher; Mr. Smart and Mr. Hale.. ,I was clerk' in Smith and Fisher's storewhen one of them was away., The first Presbyterian Church was+. where the ' Catholic Church now stands. Stewart Plummer put up the frame, andthe wind storm blew it down. The Methodists < worshpiped and had their: Sunday school in Fos-. ter's Woollen Mill opposite 'the Grist: Mill. Later on they built on Batten- bury street until they moved to their present church. I believe the Bible Christians had a church opposite Runball and Leslie's shop. Mr. Gib- bings gave' me $2.00 to cut the sap off the shingles, the first money I - ever got for working for other peo- ple. The Methodists had services in this building. Sometimes we had special services by a man and his wife from New York, Holiness peo- ple.- We used tallow candles and Wm. Robinson, before the sermon, snuffed the candles and generally snuffed them out. In the, Rattenbm'y church first we sat on boards sup- portea by blocks and no aksieso it was wise to g early to gett next to the wall, so you could lean against it. I joined this Sunday school.. and went to Bible Class. I remember when Rev. Campbell came, and Rev. Graham, both very fine men. It was in the Rev. McDonough's time when the union of the Methodist churches was on. They had great times. Dempsey, Peter Cantelon's and my names were published in the Clinton paper. You will remember,. ott when the town of Clin- ton , ton was constituted and named by Lord John Doddsworth, a peculiar character. My father was the first Town Clerlcl at a salary of Five Pounds per annum and I' made out the first Collector's Rolls. After- wards I served as councillor for St. George's Ward for three or four years and was School Trustee for twenty :years. I remember an amusing incident when I was called on to give an ad- dress at the Convention held by the Huron County Sunday School Assoc- iation, without being prepared. I told the story : of the poor orphan boys' home in London, England, and quoted John 3:16. After I was fin- ished the late Rev. Irwin was called to the platform and not knowing what I had said told the people the same story. After hearing it a couple of times the people were no doubt impressed. I think the Rev, Jas. Carmichael, afterwards Bishop, was one of the finest men we ever had in Clinton. He was preacher in the Episcopal, church. Rev. D. McDonald' was preacher»in the Presbyterian church and D. McTavish was Precent- or and leader of our Philharmonic Society that met it niy father's house for a long while. I still have a picture of the company. Most of them have passed on to the next world, but well do I remember some ry noble spirits among them. When the, first constructiou train aboard. I Clinton, I was into came 0 C remember when the Town 'hall was •1 burned down. W. J. Paisley went up on the roof, but we ran short of'.'' water, which caused the destruction of the building. Then we bad 'a fire in the Foundry,. and.the Doherty fac- otry. was burned. And when the :I Searle and Davis store burned the fire wall fell out, and was the death of Robert Callender, ray brother-in- law, and one of the finest citizens of",' Clinton. John Bean and myself just. escaped the failing wall. Anothername that conies .back to me is Jas. Fair, who also was a very honorable man, also John Reagens and Bobt. Irwin. H. Hale was a great man in ethnology. Smith and Fisher and the Jackson family were all early settlers in Clinton. The Bev.,; W. McDonough who was referred to' in your letter: of last week, •recalls'- to my mind how at a party the young tneople were playing "Drop the IIand-`" kerchief" in the .garden. He came out and stopped thein and I remern- hen asking thein to come down to' the end of the walk and told them that if they came there they could senile all they wish to. This gives you an. 'idea of the amount of latitude we were allowed in the so-called "good old days." Trusting this letter is not too long' and wishing you all a joyous time at the reunion,, which I am unable to attend owing to the illness of my'• found bare existence difficult, it was decided to sell the New Era to Mr. Grigg. Ile changed the nanie to The Monitor, ran it, for six months or thereabouts, but not receiving the support he expected turned it over to its former, owner. Later it was once more sold, this time to Mr. Robert Mathison, who had been a school teacher at Milton, but he did not make a financial success' of it, al- though he improved it considerably, and 1t once more became the prop- erty of the Holmes family. ' As if all these vicissitudes were. not enough it had a' somewhat not- able experience over one issue which contained a report of apolitical meet- ing in South Huron. I do not remem- ber the nature of the report, but it evidently offended the local Conserva- tives, for onserva-tives,for the night the paper was published they raided the office and destroyed the entire issue. For several years the New Era Holmes and Son, subsequently pass- ing into niy .possession' and so re- maining until sold to W. H. Kerr and Son. For years the New Era was print - abouton a Washington hand press at about 250 an hour, which later gave months, my father bought out Mr• place to a` cylinder or ' power press that hada history. This was the press used Iby William' Lyon McKenzie in Toronto, and afterwards dumped Laycock's interest. What helped to keep the New Era going was the fact that for some time Mr, Grigg was the only paid employee,different into Toronto lily. After it had been members of our family taking a share fished out and repaired it became the of the mechanical work. Mr. Grigg property of the New . Pia and for afterwards became comrected with several'years setved'its jpurpose, af- the Guelph Herald, and died,in that terwards being broken up and sold to GCitrfygg• Ide;was an uncle, of'Mr. A. The New Era had on one occasion the Clinton foundry as' .old iron. My father was a pronounced 'Liber an experieiiee that only a printer can Liber- al, and a free trader from conviction, appreciate. It was situated in a long,bef ore the N. P. Inate a polity same building on Isaac street, of 'cal issue. It was onlyly natural that terwends replaced by ,e brick one. Conservatives did not uccm-t his The::. Smith Block .(now the Sloan views, more particularly as lie never Block) was en fire, and the New Era pretended to hide his sentiments. As. was in danger of being' burned out• a result of this they proposed to' The, paper had been printed that day, start a Conservative paper, with Mr. he 'Dein a. Con - Were different pages (or forms) Grigg as manager, g'Were lying on the make -alp stone, un- loclied, when a zealous friend scooped. the whole thing into a box, mixing fifty: different kinds of type together. As if "this was not bad enough from a printer's stand point, some one else, eager to save, folded the upper and lower cases of type, together. Oh, boy,; it was; some pi, It .took a month to get it sorted but the paper came out as usual. • The New Era had two libel suits during its career -both` were really fought ,over its shoulder. One was between a Clinton doctor and a Sea - forth one, the former being the de- endant, and a "verdict was given in his favor, :The, other occurred over a scrap that had taken place at Varna, a ueport:of which appeared in the New Era. ' In this ease the plain- tiff, who was a brother of the rde- fendent, was awarded one cent, dam- ages. The jury decided that each party should pay his own costs,' but, the "judge stated that deCendant should do so. As this article deals exclusively with the history of the. New Era, no mention has been made of any other Clinton,paper, but because of subse- quent circumstances it may not be out of place to say, that Mr, E. Floody was for a time. the able edi- tor of an opposition ,diaper. ` At the present time' ho and the writer' are `offs (but L will be with you m spur" employed by --the same government, It) I remarry, Respectfully yours, work: in the same building, are'relat- -J C. STEVENSON.` ed by:marriage and swap yarns daily. TILE CLINTON BAPTIST CHURCH. This church was erected in 1889. These is atpresent no regular pas- tor, but a McMaster student, Mr. Poynter, is in hcarge'during the sum- mer months. The Clinton and Aub len churches are joined,in one :charge. WESLEY CHURCH Methodist, as its name would imply, now in the United Church formerly M was 01 -of Cada. This cmireh was built lir 1902iiut the congregation '•mer edifice the will be remembered tablished in 1854: The for , one which by many home corners, was: on litattenbury street and was called "batten - , street Methodist Chu}"chi,'!