HomeMy WebLinkAboutThe Huron Expositor, 1948-04-02, Page 7•e'
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---From Scotla,nd to
(Ely 'WILFRED B.RTQN KERR)
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n
Chapter I
DUNIPACE
The Parish of Dunipace is in the
east o. tirft g,bise, Scotland. It lies
outside the tovvnl of . tlen>ly, which is
about 18 miles frim :(Ilaagow,' forty
minutes' ride on Ike bus; and Denny
and Dunipace are, both fin the valley
of tire Caron ;giver, separated by the
stream, '7'il:e Qarron flats shallow in
its limestone bed on its way east to
the Forth, and is often discolored by
the product$ of the mills on its banks.
The land of 'the valley is good for
farming and at the time of our visit,
August, 1932, the crops seemed excel-
lent. Thee ale coat and iron 'mines
on the other side of Denny which
employ some of the men, but most of
the inhabitants of Dunipace are still
country folk. They do a little busi-
ness with Stirling, seven miles to the
north, and more with Falkirk, a town
of size, six miles to ' the east; but
they look on Glasgow as their metro-
politan centre.
In Dunipaoe there are three points
of interest to the Kerr family -- the
site of Saltpans, the parish church,
and the mill on the tributary of the
Carron. All three lie in order close
to the upper and smaller of the two
roads that lead from Denny to Lar-
bert. 'This road is on the north side
of the stream and is joined by an -
LEGAL
McCONNELL & HAYS
Barristers, Solicitors, Etc.
Patrick D. McConnell - H. Glenn Hays
SEAFORTH, ONT.
Telephone 1.74
A. W. SILLERY
Barrister, Solicitor, Etc.
SFAFORTH - ONTARIO
Phone 173, Seaforth
MEDICAL
SEAFORTH CLINIC
DR. E. A. McMASTER, M.B.
Physician
DR. P. L. BRADY, M.D.
Surgeon
Office hours daily, except Wednes-
day: 1:30-5 p.m., 7 - 9 p.m.
Appointments for consultation may
be made in advance.
JOHN GORWILL, B.A., M.D.
Physician and Surgeon
IN DR. H. H. ROSS' OFFICE
Phones: Office 6-W; Res. 5-J
Seaforth
MARTIN W. STAPLETON, B.A., M.D.
Physician, and Surgeon
Successor to Dr. W. C. Sproat
Phone 90-W - Seaforth
DR. F. J. R. FORSTER
Eye, Ear, Nose and Throat
Graduate in Medicine, University of
Toronto.
Late assistant New York Opthal-
mei and Aural Institute, Moorefield's
Eye and Golden Square Throat Hos-
pital, London, Eng. At COMMERCIAL
HOTEL, SEAFORTH.
53 Waterloo Street South, Stratford.
JOHN C. GODDARD, M.D.
Physician and Surgeon
Phone 110
Hensall
4018x52
DR. J. A. MacLEAN
Physician and Surgeon
Phone 134 - Hensall
VETERINARY
J. O. TURNBULL, D.V.M., V.S.
L. C. HALL, D.V.M., V.S.
Main Street - Seaforth
PHONE 105
Personal attention by either
Veterinarian when requested
\ (if possible).
AUCTIONEERS
HAROLD JACKSON
Specialist in Farm and Household
Sales.
Licensed in Huron and Perth Coun-
ties. Prices reasonable; satisfaction
guaranteed.
For information, etc., write or phone
HAROLD JACKSON, 14 on 661, Sea -
forth; R.R. 4, Seaforth.
EDWARD W. ELLIOTT
Licensed Auctioneer
Correspondence promptly answered.
Immediate arrangements can be made
for sale dates by phoning 203, Clin-
ton. Charges moderate and satisfac-
tion guaranteed. 4142x52
•
C.N.R. TIME TABLE
GOING EAST
(Morning)
+G4oderieh (leave) •
illeatorth
Stratford (arrive)
(Afternoon)
41oderich (leave)
Efeatoi th
Stratford (arrive)
GOING WEST
(MornIi )
Stratford (leave)
Seaforth
4IOderleh (arrive)
(Afternoon)
Stratford (leave)
Aeaforth
1oderieh (arrive)
Y
a.m.
5.40
6.20
7.10
p.tn.
3.00
3.46
4.40
a.m.
10.46
11.36
12.20
p.m.
9.35
10.21
11.09,
ether on the south side about three
miles from Penny. Saltpans, once the
family home, is three-quarters of a
Mile from the limits' of Dearly,' :
parish churolx a voile and a ba1P,,,;and
the mill two miles. The
'
chartnaturally of Most interest to vietees
at the present time. It is on the.1 w-
er side of the road oa' a terrace *lila
It spares. with a small grove of trees.
On one side of the terrace was a Vege-
table garden iii 1932, and below it a
fine fiow•er garden, both. the property
of the local laird, Forbes of Callen
dar who in spite of his name lives' in
a house on the hill above the church.
The present church building was er-
ected in 1934, and it was redecorated
in 1928. Dunipace and Larbert were
served by the same minister, :the
Reverend D. D. Thomson, in 1932: At
that date he was the only man in the
parish who had a motor car, having
inherited it from a deceased brother.
His salary, £700, came from three
sources: £300 from the laird, '£300
from the Established Church, and
£100 from the two parishes which ex-
ercise control in spite, of the small
proportion of their joint contribution.
With the help of the parish clerk,
Mr. Alexander Bulloch, and his daugh-
ter, Miss Mary, Weewere able to at-
tend a service at 6 p.m., August 21,
1932. The seats, the cushions, the
pulpit and its cloth, still looked fresh
and new, from excellent care. About
fifty or sixty people came and occu-
pied chiefly the rear pews. The choir
in the left corner, was full of fine-
looking young people, and the organ-
ist had a good foot -organ. The ser -
Vice started with a hymn and the
congregation joined heartily in the
singing. Then came in order a ten-
minute prayer, an Old Testament les-
son, another hymn, a New Testament
lesson, a twenty -minute prayer and
the sermon. The text was that of
the still small voice ,after the earth-
quake and the fire. The principle
drawn from it was the superiority of
the ordinary things of life to the
sensational; and practical applica-
tions followed in respect of news-
papers, crimes, ornateness in church-
es and the satisfaction of emotions.
The sermon had been well planned.
and delivered, and the minister often
leaned over the side of the pulpit in
his earnestness. With another hymn,
the service was over. We missed the
collection and shortly learned from
Mary Bulloch that none was now tak-
en in the evenings. The envelope
system had been introduced recently
and the people were making their con-
tributions in the mornings. Having
done so. they did not like to see the
plate come around again in the eve-
nings, They simply abolished the
practise and placed a box at the back
of the church for the sake of the
few who missed the morning service,
or felt doubly- generous.
The road on which the church is
situated runs along the side of the
valley half way up. On the other side
of the Carron near the bottom of
the valley, lies the othet' and l5roader
road to Larbert; and the two unite
about three miles from Denny, as we
have said. Near the junction is the
old cemetery of Dunipace, surround-
ed by a wall. The gate is usually
locked and access is had by a stile in
a corner. Most of the graves are
marked by flat stones which have
gradually acquired a coating of moss,
sometimes two or three inches thick.
It requires a deal of effort to decipher
the inscriptions, and the difficulty is
increased when one finds not names
but mere initials as on some stones
of the 17th century.. In front of the
cemetery are two large mounds cov-
ered with trees, said to mark a battle-
field. On the same side of the road,
a little further toward Larbert and
about a quarter of a mile from the
road, was a fine residence, Dunipace
House. It belonged to the Brown
family in the nineteenth century, but
in 1932 it was vacant and the owner
was threatening to take off the roof
in order to save taxes. Perhaps by
this time Dunipace House is no more.
The third chief point of family in-
terest is the mill. This is about half
a mile beyond the church from Denny
and is easily seen and reached from
the road. It is on a stream which
flows into the Carron and has a dam
and a sluice. It is at present a pulp
factory, which has taken the place ,of
two or more structures on or near
the same spot. According to tradi-
tion, at one period in the first halt' of
the 19th century, it was the property
or in the management of the family.
The Kerrs probably lived for many
generations in Dunipace, but cannot
be traced farther than 1708, in which
year the parish register begins. This
register is not ''in Dunipace, but in
the Scottish Registrar's Office in Ed-
inburgh, on Princess Street, to which
the parish books were conveyed for
safekeeping from all parts of the
country in the 1850's, According to it,
'• I #, two }a v da 0t
nd` 04,e,; lee . 1i'4'�i7 1<i PunAipgo
yogi •fan ihe,s :o thea 0a110.e Contin
'aka through the eighteenth century,
using .tkie Heine .Christian leenies fog`
their children: John, James, Alexan,
der, Thomas, William, David, for the
bpys; Janet, Agx es Heleu, lyLaa.•y, Iso-
bel, Elisabeth, for the girls. The tx e-
quent oGeurxenee of these names to
the different fain:Sipe makes it im-
possible, to trace, pa'rtieular lines with
eertaintY:,;,.,The first ancestor of whom
no, doubt exist • is Alexazl:der Kerr,
who 4ie(i' in 1892. In the register for
1788 funder date June 1,4, is recorded
the •baptism of an Alexander, son of
John Kerr and Jean Stupart. The
other recorded children of this met,-
liege
arriege were Isabella, 1791; William,
1794; Jean, 1797. These familiar
names and the. Choice by Alexander
of the name. John for Ms eldest son,
makes it fairly certain that the entry
for 1788 gives the baptism and par-
entage of the known Alexander.. Noth-
ing is known of 'his father, John Kerr;
and Jean Stupart was probably not of
Dunipace, since their marriage was
not recorded in the register.
There are still Kerrs in Dunipace.
In the pew with us. sat Mr. and Mrs.
Andrew 'Kerr, who have a relative,
James.. If any of the name are rela-
tives of ours, they would be descend-
ed from William Kerr, born 1794, or
some brother of Alexander .not in the
register. All of Alexander's sons
came to Canada; but nothing is known
of any brother or sister of his who
did likewise, and we may assume
that they remained in Scotland. The
family had no political traditions
whatever.. They knew of no share in
the Covenanter disturbances of the
17th century, or the Jacobite rising
of 1715, in which presumably they
were for thegovernment. Falkirk
was the scene of a battle in the last
Jacobite revolt, 1746, between the
forces of the pretender Prince Char-
lie and those of the government, but
the Kerrs of that time passed no
stories of it to their descendants.
Not a man of the family had any
share in the wars against Napoleon,
although this would not be surprising
in the days of small professional
armies.. Other families with whom
we have to do, the Reids, Campbells,
Madill's, claimed a slight connection
with great affairs, but the Kerrs of
Dunipace let politics and war pass
over their heads,
Chapter 1I
ALEXANDER KERR, 1788-1852, AND
HIS FAMILY
Nothing is known of 'the childhood
ar education of Alexander Kerr, save
that his conduct for a time caused a
reticence about him in family tradi-
tion. On June 7, 1819, he was mar-
ried to Janet Reid, of St. Ninians,
born 1794. The ceremony took place
in Glasgow, where Janet may have
been working, and was performed by
the Reverend William Ribeen. She
was not the first of her name and
parish to marry a Kerr; for on May
14, 1791, John Kerr had married a
Janet Reid, of St..Ninians, perhaps an
aunt of the younger Janet. The Reids
lived in the hamlet Milton, in the
Parish of St. Ninians, north of Denny
on the road to Stirling, and they were
hand-nailers, i.e.., making nails by
hand to Qrder. My informant (George
Kerr, son of William, son' of Alexan-
der) saw Mr. Reid once when •he was
about 75, tall but bent with age, and
said that Mrs. Reid had been Jean
Gillespie before marriage. Janet had
one brother whose son went into the
Scots Greys regiment. In the next
cottage to the Reids lived Charlie
Wright, who later came to Seaforth,
Ont. No more is known about the
Reids.
In the 1840's and 1850's at any rate,
Alexander and Janet Kerr lived in
the cottage called Saltpans, but they
merely rented it. It was on the Lar-
bert road, between Denny and Duni-
pace church, and on the upper side
of the road.. When we visited it un-
der the guidance of Mr. Bulloch, only
the_ foundation was left and was
crubling, and a shrub was growing
in the middle. The area of the foun-
dation
oundation was small, about fifty by twen-
ty feet, and was divided by relics of
a wall which indicated two rooms. A
frame kitchen may have been attach-
ed which would leave no trace, and
there was probably an upper storey;
but in any case, Saltpans was far
from commodious. Mr. Bulloch could'
remember when it had been inhabited,
but it had fallen vacant, the roof had
been removed to save taxes, and soon
there was an end of it. When George
had visited it in his teens, there was
a byre for cows and a stable for
horses and ponies, and behind it, as
he .remembered, a large fruit garden.
Nothing of these is now to be seen,
but on the Carron side there is a gully
leading down to the stream and in
the gully is a group of trees about the
site of Pundler's well from vehich the
family drew water, as George knew
well.
Alexander was something of a far-
mer and rented land for pasture for
his beasts, but .whether in the vicinity
of ' Saltpans or \elsewhere in the val-
ley, does not appear. He engaged ac-
tively in business enterprises. He was,
on occasion, a drover, bought cattle,
We Will Pay . .
1
— LIVE POULTRY —
30 CENTS PER POUND FOR HEAVY FOWL
5 lbs. and over
AND FOR' LEGHORN FOWL WE WILL PAY
23 CENTS PER POUND
Also we will purchase
OLD BATTERIES AT $1.50 EACH
$1.50 FOR OLD CAR RADIATORS
Parkdale 'Poultry
MIPCHELL, ONT. PITONt 245
oro t13'4 $144104 .b-l;Io bead �4 ,
ono alto a worked fn then ,la?ill on • tx'e
4r''arr a ' 1
u .nd e e tuh "ori
v � X ca e .�t
400' it, 13'e Ufleti, xt a a; lt$' or. iinext,
hill anti genteel lana .ti^n- +,,tai'xnera of
which to, gr w the7i&xt;ibe `fie92aired. .
Q'i(ce he im'ael?!t a bmi14'„ Of •hentiocit
Itrees, lie ands soxt i t the 'trees,
stripped off tiler bark, al so44 11 to
the Pharmacist Beilnett;;xlb Pimay for
the making•of'vitrtol. Tag made pal,
ing-etavee .of .the . Wood and7,40.1ti th'euai
to peePleo who wanted ;1►1eiet fences
`around !Melt' houses i e•:,Fatne to„ '
seas a block of proper4 in pelUlY4
consisting meetly of tW+9`storey rest-
dentes which was known as the Derr
block, and he had simil'air, property .in
Falkirk, part of which he sold to the
Caledonia Railway when `jit came into
town in 1842. He put Money into a
number of speculations like the Great
Western Bank of .Australia, which
failed.
This 'record of Alexander's business
operations rests spieler en Georges
reminiscences and doubtless needs
modifications. The could: be sought
among the deeds and other legal pa-
pers of Denny, Dunipace and Falkirk;
but we had not the time to devote
to the necessary researches. It is
certain that at his death in 1852 ;(May
or June), Alexander had.^ a house in
Denny rented by two tenants; an-
other in Falkirk, a share in a ware-
house in Denny and £ 150 in the Fal-
kirk branch of the National Bank of
Scotland. He had reduced the live-
stock at Saltpans to one cow, which
with the furniture, was valued. at
16, and he was trying to collect a
debt in Falkirk. In addition, he had
made good donations to his emigrant
sons, £200 or more. A rhyme was
current in Dunipace about Sandy.
Kerr, the lint miller, Who was always
a "de'il for sitter." It seems odd that
such a successful business man should
have continued to live in diminutive
Saltpans, and that none of his sons
should continue the father's way of
life.
In politics he was a Whig, and
when the party changed its name in
the 1830's and 1840's, a Liberal, and
a well-known one, as the elections
were by open ballot. He attended
Dunipace Church, whose minister •. in
the 1840's and early 1850's, was a Dr.
Robertson. When disruption occur-
red in 1843, he went out to the Free
Church established in Denny, but so
far as its....known, he held no church
office. He died in 1852 and was bur-
ied in the old cemetery of Dunipace,
near the stile. Our best efforts in
1932 failed to find his stone, but
doubtless with time one could dis-
cover it.
(Continued Next Week)
cx8e ed , Oro+heay
e #ieedtdi .:
artt9004161
1 tela iita6e pf thein
t i'aAb•oF table plC
'o»ore. ua .cpxo Xi
tlxe f1At1 '
'iatx, &tr `4l
In tints of!ai'e �$
0,t ofiei 1?l1h M
4 rjeetiY + to (ii aSY Iii
„ ea •f ho, lyoaal#IiR
a nate t . list,is t,.•
.... ktf
b, 01404. eu e
;:li ititorgot 14 eopmiiiaxi
and in' 0jlu#04410 Ce tl r `Stiintl.
OW et recreational, art3stcow,*:
Daysieal a,Ctiv tie8 9r;or 1i>?(?pl'at` iii;
calculated' to promotehealth and to;
give everyone a sense Of realpartieli
pation in a. richer community life,.
•
Cieor a i3lile,'mt Rrtx.GHiielcln',:.v$ter^:
' as zuwither of t71i'nto . Branek NO, 449.4.
Clanadian Legion, wag howrgc1 at the,
Kareh Meetieg alp. the X400.4
MAnday w�ventug when ;he Ives ps-
ex ed .witli. 0. pa$ 1p widen 'a 04[ e,
President H. 4:'' Mointyre, itge e 'th#
presentatioy to Mg, Wilson who ;heads
ed the branch in 1.947, congratulating
him en his. Manly 'services to the
bran.eh., 'Treclplent replied to ht
ting t)ianueher and` prokgtsed. to• continuo.
to be active in the future, Two mow'
members were initiated, J. William
Counter, who served with the. Navy
during the war, and Stephen Well -
banks, a Canadian army veteran. The
president was in charge of this cere-.
mony. Membership now approaches
the '200 mark. George H. Jefferson en-
tertained the gathering by reciting
several ref Rudyard Kipling's poems,
closing with '"rhe Recessional." Re-
frealtments were served at the close
of the meeting. — Clinton News -Re-
cord.
Life's Harmony
Co-ordination is a word to conjure
with these .deys. Even modern na-
tions are co-ordinating their econom-
ies, as well as their measures for de-
fence. Co-ordination is a key -word in
health, too. All parts of the body
must function in unison and in per-
fect harmony for the well-being of a
whole. So, say medical authorities,
don't neglect small aches and slight
ailments. They can throw the whole
scheme of living off balance. Profes-
sional attention is as necessary for
minor physical troubles as for major
diseases if one would keep well.
Damaged Dishes
Damaged„dishes can spread disease,
One Province recently advised res -
WANTED
LIVE
POULTRY
WE WILL PAY TOP MARKET
PRICES
Armstrong & Smith
Arthur -- Ontario
For Quotations
CALL 279-J, SEAFORTH
1.400
e ti
PREMI'E
pisC uss
"ONTARIO PLANS FOR
THE FUTURE"
IN
QUEEN'S PAS REPORT No. 11
FRIDAY, APRIL 2nd
CKNX 920 - 8.00-8.15 p.m.
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for your living room - , - These are just a few of the intriguing
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111
It's GREATEST
Y ALLY i"
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Aside from its great work in water puri8ta-
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the medical man in countless other ways.
Chemistry produces light -conducting
41
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cals for developing it; skin -grafting cement;
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anaesthetics and many other medical and sur-
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INr7T-a
AN 1,