HomeMy WebLinkAboutThe Huron Expositor, 1968-10-31, Page 31.L,
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• Dixon's Hotel in Brucefield for years was a favorite stop- vertisement of the period, rooms were available at $1 a day. In •
ping place for travellers along the ,40ndon Road and those using the picture taken as the Seaforth-Bayfieki stage arrived in Brice -
the Mill Road between Seaforth and Bayfield. The hotel which was,:jield are Wm. Dixon, Tom Snell;° his wife Nellie, daughter Thelma •
destroyed by fire and later replaced by the presentbrickstructure and his raother. Others a e Mary Hiderman and a Mr- Grainger
on the site, was operated by Thomas Snell and according to.an ad- with the stage.
44
an4ikev.4.
There were few Items which a community reciulied' 'that
could not be readily obtained in a general stokof seventy-five years
ago. Scotes Store' at Brucefield was no,,exception as the,large stock
available in t e store indicatesth eAetior of the store is shown
in he lower p• icture. Per many years the brick store — the second
to be occupied by the Scotts — stood on the north -mist corner of
the intersection of the London and Mill Roads.
71.06•1041topi Egposrroa, sEAF9RTH, ON; t4cT, 3), 1$1,0011
Early Merchant Plaked''Itale
In iliueelield-Developeirient
(By Susan White)
The village of Brucefield
was first settled in 1832, Will-
iam, Scott came there from. Scot-
land in 184 and the Scott fa-
mily has been iTra business in the
village ever sinice„
William Scott established
a gederal store in Brucefield in
18841144th his partner. David
Campbell. In 1857, he bought
out 'Mr. Campbell and founded
ScottandCompany. His gener-
al and hardware stcsre was later
run by his son Andrew. After
Williani's death in 1017, An-
drew's son Ross worked with his
grandfather and father 4.41h the -
store and later operated thehusi
iness as part of his fath er's es-
tate,
Ross Scott now represents
the Sun Oil Company in ,Bruce -
field and has a valuable collec-
tion of momentoes and inform-
ation about his family and vil—
lage.
„ •
lage.
According to Mr. Scott„
William Seek left hisfamily's
tenant farm near the Scottish
town of Green Wells (which is
within the sight of the English
• ..
.border on a.acar clay)•W104, tilct
brothers .en d 4.•SiSter« They say -
ed en the fatm,of.., Aackcisr Ba -
tie in WestrniniStet TOW*10,
just behind to -present site. of
West/ninister Vorerons" Hop/PI,
M. Scott s'aid... Wililam later
married Alice Beattie; Andrew's.
daughter, .
.' The old Scott and Company
store was a frame buncling,iu§t
ncrth of the present location of
Dalrymple's Garage. . The.early
storb sold almost everything,
Ross Scott says - "whiskey, boots
and shoes"as well as groceries,
dry goods. etc.
Isijaddition, after the
-London, Huron and Bruce Rail-
way went through Brucefield in
1870, William Scott operated
a grain elevator beside the
tracks. His general store bought
glass, seed and hiclesfrom area
farmers and shipped them to
Ontario centres via the London,
Huron and. Bruce. •
William 3cott• also had a
contract to buy wood which was
used by the L. H. & B. Company
engines in huge quantities.
Mr. Scott has two of the
Early Settlers
, Many of the first immigran-
ts to the Huron tract --- the
early settlers ---were impoverw.
• ished European aristocrats and
arariotd members of the upper
classes. One such pioneer, a
French gentlewoman, describes
her impressions of rural life in
the 1850's in three articles re-
printed in the Expositor of 1874.
"It seemed so strange to
.-ne at first to be shaking hands
and sitting at a tabliwith one
of a class so different from my
own (a settler from a neighbour-
ing farm) but this was my first
initiation into the free and easy
intercourse of all classes in
this country where the standing
proverb is "Jack is as good as
.his master!"
The lady in a later article,
•describes the difficulties she
• encounters, in trying to obtain
household servants in an era
when no one wanted to be ser-
vile.
"Later residents in the area
had 'no such problem. A news
item in a 1873 issue or The .
Expositor tells of -a load of 55
women who are sailing from
England 'having procured work
in Canada."
- This sort of immigration
continued. The Oct. 9, 18'74
paper says:
"On friday night last an-
other cargo of immigrants went
, west on the Grand Trunk, under
'the care of Mr. D. D. Hays.
Four families were left at Sea -
forth. The male portion of the
Seaforth party have all obtained
steady employment at the salt
works.
They are; a:s yet, flomicil-
ed at the Town Hall, as house
accommodation in the town is
so Scarce that it is impossible
to obtain homes for 'them. These
Orly *lay tiaOki awl in
father'sfitrt4c1li lot r yool say
it
tA
co. Zcs.11 pc r, 4a otiuo4. 11.S. 4 n:e• coo:: ir
s• ur:madtiopertliT4s c4:14.45ufP:•%144*C40Wi
:1'
men° "We fear 'Paz fee•"«.1'444"• .'
ed atmrtii.e r.pScott w ta s
del
an ea1ypie
ture of the interiOr of his f4rnr4d-
father's store whieh slieWS
variety of boxes, Counters and
barrels. • ,
The population of Bruce, -
field Was somewhat larger in
William Scott's time than lt.ls •
now, according to Ross Scott. ,
A County of Huron Directory of
1876, '77 in Mr. Scott's,pos-
session describes the village as
having three general stores, two
blacksmith shops, one carpent-
er, two doctors and three hotels.
Mr. Scott has a picture of one
of these .hotels - Dixons, •which
shows an assortment of strollers .
on the street and the open stage
which in the last century, ran
from Bayfield to Seaforth..
Mrs, Ross Scott, the former'
Alice Ratteribury also has deep
family roots in Brucefield. For
• one hundred'continuous years, a
member of her fafitly or of her
husband's family has been Bruce -
field postmaster.
Mr. Stott has a Govetriment
-of Canada proclaination; dated
in 1868, which appoints Mrs.
Scott's grandfather, Robert
Marks, as village postmaster.
Mrs. Scott's uncle was the, next
postmaster, followed by her
father-in-law, and her husband,
ken Scott, son of Mr. and Mrs.
Rims Scott, is theesent and.
third generation of Itott'S to
hold the office.
Donald McMillan was the
first postmaster in the village,
, according to Mr, Scott, He lived
on the Brucefield-Kippen road,
where Robert Allan's farm is
how,
Mr, Stott has an old book
used by early -postmasters to
record the amounts due for
letters received from °tiler
settlements, There were no
stamps in use in the 1850's- and
postage was collected from the
person to whom the letter was
addressed. The large book,
which has entries of 1859, re-
cords the receipt of mail from
Elginfield, Clinton arid Bay-
field,
The Scotts also have a
small book, owned by Robert
Marks, which lists all the
postmasters in Upper Canada
in 1861.
• Ivlr, Scott says a very old
Brucefield house, the frame
building witheront veranda
directly 'across the road from
Dutton's store was originally
inhabited by I?, L. Sills' great-
grandfather of Frank and D'Or-
lean Sills of Seaforth,
D, L. Sills had a thriving
grain business in Brucefield
and Mr. Scott says that he
purchased grain in the village,
then hauled it to Bayfield; load-
ed the grain on small boats and
took the boats ordthrough the
Bayfield harbour to a larger
grain carrying ship.
it -migrants are English farm ,
la borers and, like the last, come
froth the lock -out districts.
Thoy are a fine, industrious and
inte.11igent looking lot of people,
and 14.ti1l make good citizens."
.thout the same time, a
series of ads appeared in The,
Dcpositcr encouraging emigrat-
ion fror,n the area, E. Hickson
advertis ul that "any parties
wishing to emigrate to the South
can obtain full information.from
the unders,igned who have been
'appointed tgents for the sale of
lands in SoLtthern Virginia." •
Letters .appeared regul ily
in The Expositor from forrn r
residents of the Seaforth cl* trict
who had. ak dv of the
land left ratan t the L). S.
civil war, and %%rho described
the fine farms..aild gracious way
of life in the Am erican South.
By 1882, th ?. attention of
Seaforth and of kW. of Eastern
Canada had shift,'.xl to the
"North-west." The': March 17,
1882 issue of The Drpositor de-
scribes the exodus.
'There was a ge nuine boom
at Seaforth station Wodnesday
morning -last, on the occasion of
the special excursion n7ain on
the Grand Trunk startin,g out for
the Northwest. At an early
hour of the morning, vehicles
of every description, lad en with
people and trunkscame p outing
into town from all directions,
and it is safe to say that diere
wastiever before, since the,
ereCticin of the old station house,
-so large a crowd surrounding it
at one time, '
It must not be judged from
this however, that the whole of
this vast multitude left for the
Northwest. The greater part
of the crowd was composed of
friends and well-wishens of
those who were going away.
NOCO
Joins in Congratullating
S E A F'0 R ir H
on its 100th Birtlhclay.
and recalls that for 37 years Sunoco Products have been
, available in the community.
As the town begins its second century more and more
motorists are realizing that proper car -tare begins with
using the bet available gasoline and oil.
.„Junoco provides a choice of six blended fuels and this '
ensures that one of these blendis just right for yoto
car. This means long carefree motoring pleasure.
'C. COOMBS SUNOCO SERVICE
Phone 527-9016 •Seaforth
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