Loading...
HomeMy WebLinkAboutThe Seaforth News, 1932-08-11, Page 2AGE TWO. THE SEAFORTH NEWS. THURSDAY, AUGUST 11, 1932 HURON NEWS. .eath of R W. Delgaty.-On 'lues- tday morning, August 211c1; Robert 'William Delgaty, o'i l ayslie1d, passed away. Although not in the best of health int years, Mr. Dclga'ty wes only cen`fhi d to bed for a couple of days and his death 'came as a shock to many. He was born an a farm on the Broni_on lint, Stanley township, in 1857, being a son'uf the late Rob- e Delgaty and Iso'bel Sparks, In 1883 ,3e was married to Miss Janet Delgaty. slaughter of the late Mr. and Mrs. 'Wm. Delgaty of Seotland, the sere - stony being performed by the' Rsv Mr_ Danby, then minister of the Prebhyteria-n Church there. _hiss Del- gaty and her tdster had conte out to ,erisit their relatives in Canada. Her aiSter returned to Scotland and Mrs. 3'i.0gety settled with cher husband, on She farm on the 'Brunson. To this argon w'as born one daughter, Belle, :Mrs. Thomas Westlake, of Stanley, Mr. and Mrs. Delgaty resided on the Bronson line until they scold the farm to Mr. Lloyd Scoltchmer and on, May 24th, 191d, they moved 'to the house on the square which they had since occupied. \Ir, Delgaty served as a school' trustee for years in Stanley township. He was a memiber, of the Presbyterian 'Church and in politics Was a Liberal. Besides his widow and. daughter he is survived by a sister, Mrs_ James Sparks of Hensall, and a brother, James Delgaty of Gilbert Plains, Man. The funeral took place an Thursday, the pallbearers being: 3. Fla -hard, S. Hoiner, W.'Tough, A. Sparks, S. Cleave and J. Carrie, Harney Re -union. — On .Monday, .August 1, the fourth Homey re -union sae held at Grand Bend when over seventy- were present. Everyone Siad a good' titre. The oldest member present was William Harney, from Owen Sound and the youngest, Earl Hunter, little son of Mr, and Mrs. Hubert Hunter. 'The following offi- etrs were elected for the next year: Wm. Statham, press: Miss Lula Mc- Donald, secretary treasurer; Sports cow„ Wm. Motz, Walter : Spencer, Gordon Davis and Hubert Hunter. Members were present from ;Owen Sound, Toronto, 'Hamilton. Sarnia, Chatham. .Landon, Kipper, Crediton and Exeter. The re -union will be held nett year in Goderich. Holidays in West. —Rev. J. B. Rhodes of Exeter Presbyterian church Is helidaying •rt ,Brandon, 'Man., and Sllirg the pulpit there the first three Steolaya Auguet. :Rev. Mr. Ro- ger- of Cromarty is in charge of the Exeter services. Killed at Belgrave,—;i yin '�IcCavn- rteetre,' 3S, ei 1:0 Adelaide street, T.•r et , %yes ... tart:i' killed in an au,. m.'h::e m.:hap north of Belgrave earl 'dater:rev ruing. Seven other psssener, in .h; car, driven by Al-. at: \1tC,,..ue:.. \\•oodctack, son of tie v:eats:. 'd': re injured, the nt.sst etreets being z y..,,..g een of the dri- rer. uhd ree...vela tiered leg and other injn rte,. The fatality happened Bina et ..:tel . clack in the morning when the car plunged into the ditch ret the ba -r ca le where a culvert is. artier rntt,oruction. \Ir, McConnell" death is be eyed to have been caused by a fractured neck. Goderich Lady Dies.—After a pain - fa,„ ilnes. the death occurred. in Go- derich on Thursday of Sarah Jane A t te, wife of Neil McLean. The fu- neral k -race from the horn; of J,: hr. NIoDon,,ld Yn Saturday. is delicious (Wriie Salado, Toronto, for excellent recipe) 268 Rrcails 'Sackiog' of Seaforth Memoirs of Late Dr. Hugh Ross, Clifford, Covers a Hundred;Years in Huron Coun- ty—Native of Brucefield (Frotn the Goderich . S geal), The Signal is indebted to Miss Mar- garet Ross of Exeter for the oppor- tunity of •pertestn•g the memoirs off her father, the late Hugh Ross, M.D.,'of Clifford, win died in 1928 after a long and eventful life. ' iFoilotring are extracts from the memoirs • The writer of the Following sketches was born on November 1:1, 1343, on November 11, 11843, on the London road, township of Tuckersmibh. coun- ty of Huron, three-quarters of a mile ninth of where the village of Bruce - field now stands. His parents were iron the Highlands of Scotland„'his father trent, Sutherlandshire, and, his mother front Invernesahire..It 11816, at nine years of age, his father with his parents, emigrated from Scotland and settled in Piotou cohnty, Nova Scotia, where he remained until 1'530. In that year he came to London, Upper Can- ada. iHe . remained in London long en- ough to cut down half an acre of bush for a merchant named Lawrason, ex- actly where the Tecumseh Hawse now stands, opposite the C.NJR. station. He did not tarry tong in London, ibut started northward' on a •blaze for t the Huron Tract: and bought two hundred acres of land from the Can- ada Company at two dollars an. acre. He 'settled there, carrying all his sup- plies: on his back front Goderich, a distance of eighteen miles. After a year or two, when he became the owner of a yoke of oxen and a jump- er. he bought his provisions in Lon- don, forty-two miles away, On .august 6, 1833, he married Mar- garet Ross. who had conte from Scotland with her parentsa few years 'before and lived near Hyde Park. In- to his home in the vast wilderness he took his bride. On this farm they lived happily together for sixty-five years, when at the age of ninety-two. my father died, in 1893. Aly mother died in 1903, at ninety-one. There was a family of eleven from this marriage; and. as far as the writer knows. his eldest brother. Donald, born, July' 8, 1834. was the first white child born in the county of Huron, unless. in- deed: there may have been a birth prior to this in Goderich, then a sistail tillage. Exeter, C:izten, or any of the snail village: now scattered along the Lon - dor. toad, a distance of sixty miles. had ne existence when Neil Ross set- tled in Huron county i., 1630. Born in:o the surroundings outlined above, in 1843, the writer received his early education is the village of Brucefield, graduating as a teacher with a fir_tetiass certificate 'during measure.' at the age of eighteen, be- fore the old county board was estab- lished in Goderich for the examina- tion of teachers. In 136.5 and 1566 I was eettageti in teaching.,the firet year in the toWn- hip of Hallett fot• miles from Blyth. at an annual salary of X600; and the second, on the twelfth concession oi Hibbert. county of Perth. at a sal- ary of S360. I have taught as many as one hundred and fifteen pupils on a very het summer day is that old- fashioned hiored 1 tg school -house. In 1367 I went to .Grammar School in Clinton. I ma:rice:ated that iaii, , tudies the remainder of that year and the first nine months' of the next with Drs. Hyn-dman, of Exeter: and Mena . of Brucefietd, . entering Vic- taria in October, 1368. while Dean R.. , t1: '.. living, and graduating Aeril 12, 1672. frim Trinity Cel- lege, Toronto. f 'ante d practice roc Apr _26. 1872. .Shakespeare, Ont., and' remained there entil June, 1073 when I re -, rt tlte village of Beigdee, n reef -eon tatoity. and was married ^. O etab'sr' 29. 1873, ta Mary Bailey. Toren. I remained ,far eig.n scars un Brio,—ie:. -emoting; in 1511 C :bard, An.; "afterw:ord” at the end of the memoirs' states that. Hugh Ross died Wins Tobacco Prize.—While lal- ent:tte Fisher. et 'concession. Goder- ich township wap engaged in haying recently, a representative of a tobac- co company approached him in the field with important news. Mr. Fish- er wa> to:d that he had won second prize in the conapanr . fifth title con- Extraordinary Fire.—"f must con- fess that it isthe most extraordinary. rase that has ever c?rat under my- ,:b - servation ani I thin: you also share this opinion." tech was the comment of E. P. Heaton. Fire Marshal for the Province of Ouzario in submitting to the Beard of Directirs of the 1\ -est bvawanosh Memel Fire Insur- ance Co..'the finding of C. H. Cowan of Toronto who investigated the fire which destroyed the barn on the Farm of W. Wilbur Stewart. conces- sion 9. Colbtrne township. or the morning at 'Monday, fitly 4. The re- port indicates that on Jena 27 a lan- tern iva_ -upset in ttraw but the fire was extittg ti tired. As a precaution the owner watered the ep_•t for a day or two. Spoi:taneous combustion as a result of the wet atraav teas .the con- :Ins:on arrived at ray Mr. Cowan. Ths Man With .\ct ansa, almost longs;r dteth t , end 4uffering. He see, a < ,nit t emiless torment with intervals ,f rt t t are t!te:nte.ves fraught with .te er leafing, fe tr of renewed attacks. Let hint turn te, .Dr. J. D KeCo As- thma Remedy and knonw what atan- pie e reilei it :an .. ve.' Let hint but ase it faithfully and he will tied his asthma a thir..^g' of tale past.' on November 3, 1928. eight days be- fore his eighty-third birthday. The First Bridge The first bridge over die. Sable Ri- ver was constructed by. my father and a neighbor named \'Idlntosh, assisted by some Of the Balkwills r and Bis - sets, dvelio arrived albout that time from Exeter, England. All `the plank for the bridge had to be sawed by hand in the old=fasihioned saw -pit. The log from which the plank was to be sawn way elevated on a framework stir or seven feet above the ground. The whip -saw was used, one of the salnyers standing above, on the scaf- fold, the other on the ground, with a veil over his eyes, to prevent injury from the falling sawdust. When building the bridge. in 13312, they also made a shanty which protected them from inclement weather. and in which they slept and ate. For a .short time after their mar- riage my parents lived in the original little log shanty_ Later they dwelt in the log' house in vwhieh I and the six' older menibers of the family were born. The four youngest were born in the later frame house—the _first frame house, I think, built between London and Goderich. Incidents of Pioneer Days About the year 1836 a family mi- grated front Scotland and three of its members settled in Titckerttith. The youngest made his home a mile from the : Huron road, and four miles from my..father. We had notvet seen any of them. For sixty or serenty miles to the north and east ivais a terra incognita• where the foot of white maw had ne- ver trod. In the same year, 1836, that my father canis to the London read, Vatagmond, from whom Egmond- rille 'derived its name, slated fire miles to the east. a mile ard a quar- ter south of where Seaforth now stands. Later he built the first mill in all that district. Later still he took part in the rebellion of 1837. w -as ta- ken prisoner. and died in prison in Toronto. He was, it is said, a s:p11 of the luckless Count \-anuEgnhond who figured in the history oi the Dutch Republic. 'W'ith the exception. then, of my father on the London road and Van Egnoad near the `Mill •road.", all that country- w -as an unbroken wilderness until the Scots family settled four miles northeast of us. ' One evening. father being away in Goderich, mother heard a stentorian shout lar away to the north-east. The sound was repeated, several tines, more lordly, with an added note of 1 distress and terror. Site brought front the hpute a very large sea shell, brought from Scot- 1 land, ,and converted into a horn. Mo- ther had a powerful pair of lungs and after inhaling all the air eosibte she directed ' it with tn:l force into the sea ;hell. The result was a blast stat-: lcient v.frighten the, wolves for a good nary utiles it all directions. Scarcely had the sound died away before there was a distant answering shout ' from the direction in which the new Scots neighbors had settled. This gave added .energy . to the next blast, followed by another roar. uttered this time with a note of hape.:As Wast succeeded shout, there was a ring n cheer and succor it. the one and of hope inthe ttth,r as the powerful• voice drew nearer.`\tither. Watcher' the edge of the forest. and at :earth the 'f big Scot. wise. had 'been ar3'.k'ng all the noise. appeared in the cigar - :ng. As mother met him be shcauted in joe-ans excitement. "Never in ny c' was I al glad to tee the faee a a heman being!" ' He was brew .e the heat: and supplied. with ,ca homely fare as h,aae b5 •'J days afferde3. A little late:- when lather gat 'hcaae 'rs ire Gee derich, he :found a 'grateful, happy man ir:30was never dune thanking mother and her sea -shall for his res - cue from Indians, -wolves, and all the terrors of the Canadian wild. (),Iy father was a very successful trapper of wolves and foxes. ''S'ome years after the incident above related he again had occasion to go to Gode- rich, leaving very early in the mprn- ing. He arranged wsith a Scottish neighbor to visit the trap's ttshich were set near a stream. 'Aly father, while opting an ofd Isdian gull, very long in the barrel always killed with the axe the wolves he trapped; and as the neighbor had had no experience with the gunhe advised him to use the axe if he found an animal in the trap. '!Father had not long departed when the Highllander, axe on shoulder, started for the traps. As he approach- ed he saw'a wolf in one of thein. Itt was his first adventure with a wild animal. He gazed long at the wolf, which returned a sneaky regard he by no means 1i14. The wolf and the Highlander seemed to have no desire for closer csnvpanianship; so, as the house was: not Ear away, he shouted for mother to bring the gun, which n'as generally kept loaded'. • She brought it and the Highlander let blaze. Before the sntioke had cleared array be rushed in and killed the wolf with the axe. When father skinned the wolf the netit' morning there Was no rbulleit hole in the skin; the smoke off battle had given the Soot courage to do the deed with the axe. Chased by a Wolf. On another occasion when father was passing near the traps wibh'out either aye nr gun, he saw in one of them a very large lean wolf. He had 1 become so accustomed to trapping wild animals, particularly wolves, when the scalp of each 'brought him six dollars, that he had forgotten the respect due the animal. This big hun- gry one was disposed to teach it hint. My father looked around for a stick with which to despatch the big brute, and found one he considered to his purpose. Thus armed, he closed in on the animal, but the stick broke at the first blow, and he was left defence- less. The wolf sprang at him savage- ly and he escaped its fangs by a very close margin. - In order to prevent a trapped ani- mal from twisting its leg off and thus escaping on three it was com- mon not to chain the trap to any sta- tionary object. In this case my father had fastened it to a heavy old sap n trough, by means of a chain and tog- gle, gle, Fortunately for him .he had a nim- ble pair of heels. and he had need of Mem, f.tr the waif took after him with its foot in the trap. Pain made it desperate, ,and to catch father was now its main object in life: Father, too. had a definite objective, for he knew that unless he could reach a certain brush fence a short: distance ahead before his wolf:.hip caught him there was very little likelihood of his reaching it afterward. He coeld hear not only the clatter of the chains and trap, but the hard, panting, breath of his reteatiess Pur- suer very close behind him, The race could not Mast long. But itow the fence teas near. So twat the wolf! The ager pantingand the snapping were e Ontario's Record for 1951 77 Deaths and 1025 Persons Injured In Motor Vehicle Accidents in the Month of August, Alone! Ontario's record for August, 1931, is being written daily by the men and women who drive motor vehicles—and by pedestrians. Are YOU doing YOUR share to elim• inate this needless human sacrifice — are you helping to make SAFE the Streets and Highways of our Province? MOTOR VEHICLES BRANCH ONTARIO DEPARTMENT OF HIGHWAYS LEOPOLD, MACAULAY Minister 32-3A at his heels; but he reached the fence, leaped with all his energy, and was free. The wolf, attempting to follow with his trailing encumbrance, got stuck in the fence composedof fallen trees and 'brush. Under these the ani- mal took shelter when Father tried. a little later, to kill hint with the axe, so that it could not be used effective- lyagainst the savage brute. Fdr lack of ammunition the gun couid not: at that time, be used; but ,,necessity, mother of invention, came .to my father's aid. 1f he had a long sharp weapon he might pin the ani- mal to the ground. None such was to be had; ifut he found a dry ironwood pole which he sharpened to a very acute• point by means of the axe anal his pocket knife. With this improv- ised spear the pinned the wolf to the ground. He then cut away the brush and small timber, and with a well h put the f the axe e 1'v a c 1 directed bot animal out of his pain. The Fenian Raid I was te'..ching echooi in 1866, the year of Fenian raid, when all Canada wa's on the "alert for a landing, at any time and at almost any point along the extensive coast -line of our boun- dary rivers and the Great Lakes. The whole country was in a state of sus- pense and terror for many months, and guards were . potted here and alK there on the .chore of Lake Huron to give the first intimation of a Fenian landing. On a hot July day in 1866 tate alarm (Continued on Next Page. Books are Well Made, Carbon is Clean and Copies Readily. Alt styles, Carbon Leaf and Black Back. Prices as Low as You Can Get Anywhere. Get our Quotation on Your Next Order. The Seaforth SEAFORTH, ONTARIO.