Loading...
HomeMy WebLinkAboutThe Huron Expositor, 1968-10-31, Page 345 since 186o, Serving the Conimanity First Published at SEAFORTH, ONTARIO, every Thur sday morning by McL,EAN BROS., Publishers Ltd. ANDREW Y. MCLEAN, Editor *ember Canadian Weekly Newspaper Association Ontario Weekly Newspaper Association /, \ Audit Bureau of Circulation and Class 'ACommunes Subscription Rates: Newspapers Canada (in advance) $5.00 a Year Outside Canada (in advance) $7,00 a Year SINGLE COPIES — 12 CENTS EACH Authorized ae, Second Class Mail, Post Office Department, Ottawa - class conimuniti, newspapers 011..r.....•••••.•••••••• SEAFORTH, ONTARIO, OCTOBER 31, 1968 tr• 100 Years is a Long Time One hundred years is a long time and is a span of history in which' there have been many good years and some tad years as anyone reading a history of Sea -forth can discover. The Huron Expositor knows how it feels to be a huodred and fully shares the pride and happiness xvhich Seaforth people have on their birthday. It was. some -months before Seaforth was born —the preceding November in fact' — thht the Expositor, as it was called then. made its first appearance; • And while it was the beginning of the, Expositord its predecessor the Express had been around since 1860:. 'It has been a good 101 years -- -yea rs in \vhich the Expositor has had the good fortune and opportunity not only to record the Nveek by week happenings 100...to contribute in -Npositive way to the development of the community. The Expositor through -these years has endeavored to give wholehearted and, vigorous support for those enter,. prises' and proposals that on ' balance would appear to advance. the :nterests of the community. The success ;df many such projects:: and the acceptance of them by the commenity, has been a sat- isfactionand an indicatim that our support has in fact been a helpful con- tribution. After all, the measures pt' .a century must be what has been accoCplished by way of contributing to a better corn- munitSr.. It was just twenty years ago in Sep- tember — just a few days before he died — that the then editor of the Ex- positor, Keith M. McLean, expressed it this way in the last editorial he wrote: 'Men have frequently told us hose they envied OM' position, because we enly had to work one day a week — publication day.. It frequently :happens that. the editor of a country weekly only gets paid for one day in the ‘veek, and no country editor ever got rich at the buSiness, but there is a fascination about the work, particularly so when one is born \vith printer's ink in his blood. "1 n'fact it's a good life, aLthough we have' wondered many times i -f it was all worth \011ie. What, possibly does make it so. is because so often it offers o chalice for service to the town. the district and the country at la rgJ.' "We live in a good town and for well ever 70 years The Expositor office has been a landmark on its •main street. Through it flows sooner or later all -that happens in, town luid ColIntry. We wouldn't lie i‘n business long if we pub- lished it 011, and some of what we do pohlish every week is often criticized, but we like to think that a good paper helps materially in making a good town. and we try to )(.' just that 0 good paper-.". During the next 100 years we will continue to think that a good paper contributes to a .good townand we vill continue to strive to bejust that 1-- a good paper. Seaforth Looks to Second Century It is doubtful if those first councillors when they sat down to the first meet- ing of the council of the Village of Sea - forth on a January night in 1868, a hundred years ago, gave much thought to what the Seaforth of today would be like. , And who could blame them. As heads of a new and vigorous municipality they had problems enough of their own, without gazing' into the distance. Even• had they cast their thoughts into the future it is doubtful if, in their wildest imaginations, they would have corn- templated the marvels of science; un- known then, but commonplace to us to. day. Nor perhaps would they have thought it possible that the well being of the individual would have advanced to such a degree as actually has occur- red or'that the skirts would be as short or that 'children and parents could at- tempt to order each other around on equal terms. 'While ,there were problems then, in the light of today's demands, -they were relatively, simple. They were of the kind that, could besolved with a • little more work than the 60 or 70 hours which the average employee al- ready. contributed each week or in the barent-child conflict, by a trip to the woodshed. While the council of 1868 may not have contemplated the Seaforth of to- day it was nevertheless alive to its res - 1 said s few weeks ago that men are given to gossip just as much as women—tile only dif- ference being that men have a nasty habit of adding a few • smutty insinuations to make the story spicer. A very good example of how 'vicious and insulting men and women can really be t was brought to the forefront recent- ly when Mrs. Jacqueline Bovier Kennedy °hassle was wed. I have always been trentend- ouely impressed with the eharm arid grace of the former first lady. Litre everyone else who lives on the outermost fringe of greatness, 1 knew her first when as the w16 of the presi- dent of the United States She Was adored and admired by men And worn alike froth almost, ponsibijity to the future and didn't hes- itate .to exercise its authority for the common good. In this sense there hasn't been so,much change after all for among its early acts was the enactment of it by-law "to define the width of side- walks and the planting of trees., posts and Pillars", which is but a forerunner to the planning and zoning .which the council of today is encouraging. Of course there are differences be- tween the councils of 100 years and to- day but underlying the differences is o common denominator and that is the ,willingness .to serve; to contribute to the community.' The members of the 1868 council met several- times .a month, sat through • long meetings just as the council of. 1968 does, worried about differences.. absorbed abuse and in the face of it all • continued, to look to the future and Make a contribution. to a better Sea - forth. As we enter our second century we must acknowledge a debt to, those hun- dreds of unsung Citizens who through the years have made,their,contribution. At th"e same time we must recognize that the same type of contribution is being -made by those Who in these years are serving us. It , has been a hundred years of which we all can be proud. The next hundred years can be even better if all Of us play our parts. From My By Shirley every country in the world. Wasn't it Jackie Kennedy who actually brought Mrs, Keuschev to the point of smiling and beaming for photographers? Since the death of handsome and wise eJFK, Jackie has had little privacy. Each time she visited her sister or took a holi- day in the country or even looked at another man, head- lines blastedacross the nation's papers. To my amazement her activ- ities were even scrutinized by motion picture magazine s. Jackie leennedy was as news- worthy as Elizabeth Taylor who ean't have a 'partial hys- terectomy without the whole world knowing. When Robert Kennedy was so senselessly shot down just this year, his owe lovely wife played in the Years Ag Fevre:Me Huron Expositor Nov. 5th, 1941 Miss Margaret McLennan, formerly of Seaforth and now in charge of a nursing home in Georgetown, has joinedev the Women's Division of the RCAF. She will train at Rockeliffe. Nice clear weather brought out a capacity crowd to attend the fourteenth annual Seaforth tions Club frolic, held in Card, no's Hall. A priegram of music included Joan and Jean McMas- ter, Pat Bechely, Jean Agee Lenore Habkirk, Helen Smith and Peggy Trapnell. , Seaforth town is now • in sight of its• quota for the 5th victory loan with three days to go,. and 'Reeve M. A. Reid. local chair- man said that the salesmen vivre confident of reaching their objective within the time limit. Wm. Mason of Hullett, has sold his 100 acre farm to W. 1. Whyte 'Nliss Helen Love of Hillsgreen was suceessful in winning first prize in the quiz contest at Varna for the Township of Stanley schools, Huron lost one of its hvor- ed pioneer residents when John Laidlaw McDowell passed away in McKillop Township in his .92nd year. He was one of the oldest members of First Pres- byterian Church. John M. Eckert was in Toron- to last week, attending the an• nual conVention of the Cana - Independent Teleplz5p Association. • * From The Huron, 'Expositor - Nov. 1sf, 1918 Milton Stesi.eeti of the Parr Line, Hay' fowalldP, pas sold his harm which he Purchased from Chas. McAllister, to Gar- net ,A. Jacobi, also of Hay. Robert Govenlock, north Main St.. met ivith a nasty acci- dent. He was picking apples when the limb on which he was standing broke, allowing him to fall to the ground, a distance of over twenty feet. The toe n fathers are making extensive improvements to the' Town Hall, The Clerk's office is being moved down stairs to. the rooms formerly occupied by the Hydro office and Hydro( will use the Firemen's rooms. The news from the seat of war during the past week has, been more of a political than a military nature. Tlic Allied con- ference held at V•eisa,illes dur- ing vhe• week is said to have completed the tirmistice terms and is now engaged with the peace terms. Since. Walton Red Cro 55 1:11- 1o11 has been made a Shipping centre, the ladies shipped the following :alleles to Hyman Hall. London: 32 flannel shirts. 56 'suits (If pyjamas, 78 towels, 144 pair socks. The and (Iva levN are vorY In's! ',hint)iffi-: onions Sugar and Spice — By Bill Smiley — OCTOBER, I LOVE YOU Last month, .1 imte of annual love • affair with Sep- tember. It seemed to hit tho spot. Fan mail doubled, from two to four letters. 1 C \TI1 IT• eel \ ed a (Ice kirat ion of lo‘ e 'from a lady who shall he name- less; But oetober is -anot her mat- ey. 1 1 hink o e Canadians love it in a different Wi most glorious month of ,Near. It's the ,month \Olen n'e wake up, come alive. feel the blood coursing throUgh our harden.. i•ng arteries. .• • It's a shattering experience for someone • from. another 'country to visit Canada in Oct- oher. They are used to a change . in the fall; Their leaves turn pallid browns and yeaws. Out when they sc. a vista of wO4.ds atid water on a golden Cana - Than October day. they are lit- erally stricken breathless.. We say, "Pretty ain't it?' An Irishman might say in awe. 'Dear God. Himself has dumped 0 rainbow, all but the blue. into. your woods. Alid the blue He has flung, entirely. into your .water.' But the vast. mad artisV,,. palette, thrown across, the country, is oniy part of the Octo- ber scene and mood. - There's a quickening of.„„the spirit that infects everyone. Fall fairs. those stubborn rel - i's of a pioneer day, add their -special flavor. Parades and pumpkin pies e hof dogs. and horse, races, and the warm, yel- low wine Of a -Canadian. Octo- ber day, are Unforgettabie. Hunters go into their special trance in this month . They crouch in duck blinds, they crawl through fences', they curse their- misses. (And some- times their neissuses, who 'can't see the paint of it all.) Golfers get goofy in October, desperately trying fo get in the last few rohnds, losing balls by the dozen among the fallen leaves and praying for one more weekend. • Sailing enthusiasts snatch every chance to get out in that perfect weather the month so often provides: nice breeze, warm sun, water so blue it, Window J. Kellar- — only a minor role on the tele- vision shows" which covered every moment of the sad event. It was the mysteriouS Jackie who was photographed arriving departing, going, coming, sitting, walking, on the verge of tears, heavely Like a beautiful goddess. this raven haired woman was ,a pub- lic example of ell that was pure and good. Set above everyone and every- thing, people' began to imagine she was less than human, a kind of patriojee combihation of mar- tyr and saint, who felt nothing but silent grief for a lost hus- band and an untiring devotion to church and state. Overnight, with her marriage to an older, shorter divorced men. non -Roman Catholic Jac- kle's fans hilte turned Into gsh- ,L1,13.1Y bling gossips who taunt and jeer ger 'first unpopular de- cision, Why did she..marry him? Sore say. it was for money. Others suggest. with a weasles like grin, it was to legalize an "affair" which began long ago tin that secluded ialand. A fee' believe Jackie was looking for power and position. Certain Catholics despire .her for her blatant disregard of church law. Americans are noticeably insulted because .she has turned her hack on a pen. sion fund and a right to he buried.- in .Arlington ' National Cemetery. Skeptics charge that she is manottevreing Onassis into a fi- nancial fleecing. A few specie late that she is using Onassis as a shield for an ingeiring makes your heart Icon And so col(1. it miikes, your hand's achy October is et stasy to -r the sport fan. World Series.. pro hockey. 011 football at its. helght. Ile (.0)1 sit. staring :At the machine until he 0 ea rti ility and has to he spoon-teci Great month for the stUdent'. He has got through that • mud dle of Senteinher;:.'and can now settle down to. serious husi• neSs of falling in lo N e. falling behind in his Nvori:, and falling into deep water, in that order. And then, there's the burn-. ing of the leaves. a ritual which should be on the Canadian coat - et arms. There'0 tremendous. satisfaction in scooping up a •bushel basket of dry leaves, pil- ing them nn the fire on, h dusky October eve, and seeing the • orange and .ye't3Qw flames•'Snear skyward, searing the telephone wires. - • Every 'year.. I feel a pang of O ity for . t he , apartment -dweller. with 'no leaves to burn. He's like a kid whoo never gets a firecracker of his own to set • Off on the 24th of May. And when does the P113" dweller ever get 'he sheer, hu- man satisfaction of seeing a tly north-west eeze pick all the leaves off his lawn and \depoSit'them accurately on the lawn of his neighbor, who hates leaves and is always try- ing to •keep his lawn raked? And the. thrill of the apple crops.. The soft little fruits. of September, the( peaches 'and pears that go roken so' quickly, are gone. And you drive through the • orchard country, trees dro- oping with red, and you pick up a bushel of spieS",- and you bite, and the juice spurts. right over your shoulder. ' Food for the gods. Providing" -their teeth pre not falsies; And.there's just enough sad- ness, as October nears its end, and days shorten. and trees bare, and gloomy November puts his elammy nose over, your shoulder, to heighten all the joys of this most remark. able month, and make it some. thing that is distinctly Cana- dian and distinctly you. at He sall. In the passing ef Dr. Mader - mid of Henson, the medical pro- fession' has lost one of its Most esteemed members and the vil- lage has lost' one of its most de - Voted friends. The villagers of leensall are continuing to lay in quantities of wood for the (*omit/6 winter owing to the shortage of coal. * From The Huron Expositor Nov. 3rd, 1893 The collector of taxes for Hulled, Thos. Neilans, has start- ed on his rounds. He is enter- ing his 23r0 year of service in this capacity. The first year he collected $6.000; oue year when there was a special assessment for railway purposes, he collect- ed over $17.000 and the average is about $12.000. The smell boy element w•aet out in full force on Hallowe'en and . did considerable damage Very few gates were in sight next morning. We had the first real snow of he. season. A thick carpet of if covered the ground. One evening while loading the carriers on his threshing ma• chine, Wm. Dunlop of Croman ty accidentally walked over the end of the separator, 'striking his head on 0 pulley. , world, a ticket to solitude. ' Only a small minority of peo- ple continue to believe in. Jackie's .ictei e hopesty. Just that little moup of true-blue boosters are convinced that Mrs. , Jeequeline Onassis is in -love with sr husband, and weep for her coura ge s individualism which sped her to romance in the face of sickening criticistie That's why I was so glad to read the following in the news paper: They sal tt gether holding hands. They ever kissed. but 'Jaqueline Onassis 'looked so rih client that one person afterwards said: 'There was adoration in her eyes . . she turned her head like a swab to look at him . anyone in America who, thinks she does not love. hith is a fool!' " Sea forth And Its. ame Yon pirtiond GcNe Name An historical ptiaque ewe- antagonizing both his associates mernorating Colonel Anthony in the Canada Company and the Van Egmonds a pioneer set- . settlers in the Huro.n leact, der of the Huron Tract and a leader of the reform movement inUpper Canada, was unveiled in Egrnondville, on J uly 7, 1963 The plaque is one of a series erected throughout the provin- ce by the Department of Trav- el and Publicity, acdng on the advicekof the Archaeological and Historic Sites Board of. Ontario. • Prominent in the history of the Settlement of that portion Of southwestern Ontario origin-, ally known as the "Huron Tract" siseSolonel Anthony Van Egmond, a Dutch army officer arid scion of an aristocratic European fam- ily, who was born` in the Neth- erlands in 1778, The Van Egmond, or as it was sometimes known, Von Eg- mont, family had played a leading part in. the political end social life of the Netherlands One of its mint illustrious mem- bers was ',amoral. Count of Mackenzie, in his long Egmont and Prince of Gaure fight for reform, had exhaust - (1522 -1568), who was a leader, e with the Prince of Orange. hi d his patience, and planned' an armed uprising as the final local .resistance to Spanish op - means of attaining his obj ect- his efforts he was beheaded pression of the Netherlands, For ives While cooler heads with- in in the Refoet» group advocated Brussels in 1568, Today he is ' regarded as a national hero, and changeby normal legislative processes, Mackenzie, support - a fine statue was erected to his tnemory in the Dutch town of • ed by Van Egmond, would set- tle for nothing less than out- Settegem, where he is buried, .Antho,ny_Van Egmond was right rebellion. He formulated a witness to the political tur- his plans for uprisings in various e moil in Europe ca -used by the parts of the province, which - advent of the French Revolution were to be triggered by a direct in 1789, The French, not cOn- ,attack along Yonge Street from tent with establishing a new ord- the north of the provincial seat er In their own land, pursued a of government, Toronto. Need - policy of exporting their' revol- less to say, a man .of Van Eg- •ution to other European count- .mond's military experience ries, During these "wars of lib - would be an invaluable asset, eration" the Netherlands manag and he was aPpointed by Mack - ed to remain neutral until 1794, enzie to be the commander of when they were overrun be' the the rebel forces. Republican Army of France, No preciee date has been establish- ' Mackenzie gathered his edat which Van Egniond enter- men al Montgomery's Taverh, ed the Duh army, hut it is a site just north of Eglinton known that his native contingent Avenue in the present city of was pressed into service by the Toronto., in ,December, 1837, French, . In the early years of but when, Van Egmond arrived the nineteenth ceptury, he serve at- the c'arrip, he found that far ed in some of the German Rhine- from the large -number of vol - land states, and there he was .unteers he had been promised, married to -Susanna Dietz. In .the rebel force was composed of .e.e..08 his first son, Constant, was a relatively small, ill -armed band ,of yeomanry, News was Varii,Egmondhettled initial- .reCeived at Mackenziete camp -in Waterloo County, Doubt- that a large contingent of' less during his sojourn in Pen- loyal militia was marching up nsylvania he had heard good re- Yonge Street headed by the, ports of the settlemer in Wat- redoubtable Colonel James erloa, which was peopled 'pre- FitzGibbon. dominantly by former citizens of that state, It appears that he Many of those who fled, remained in Waterloo for -about including Vats Egmond. were ont year, for in 1828 he secured captured by the loyal forces, and imprisofied iri the -Totonto struction of the newly -surveyed the general contract for the con - gaol, Van Egmond was an Relations between Van Eg- mond and the officers of the Canada Company, who were supported by the gpvernment of Upper Canada, raTidly eleterior- ated. By the rtsid 1830's Van Egmond was probably one of the largest private land -holders in the Huron Tract, and felt that he should make a protest again- st what he considered the iniq- uitous policies of the Company. In order to do this he pfoposed to stand for electien to the leg- islative assembly as a Re- form party. An article entit- led; "The Curse of the Canada Company", ini'hich was written by Van Egmond, appeared on October 4, 1836, in Macken- zie's newspaper "The Constit- ution". This was a detpiled indictment of that orgeetizat- ion's settleme,nt policies. While illness has made nec- essary a slowing up of the activ- ities that have been so charact- .eristiceof her years in Seaforth, Miss Mabel Turnbull's interest in the community has by no mea -'s lessened. And so it is that some time ago'slie undertook to determine where the name Seaforth origin- ated. When research es, The „ Huron Atlas and correspondenee to various centres as well as . studies by her brother, the late Arnold Turnbull in the old coun- try, failed to produce the ans- wer, Miss Turnbull wrote to Edinburgh, Scotland, The reply she received,eon- firms certain information al- ready at hand and in addition provides detail not previously available. This is the information Miss Turnbull received from , C, S. Minto, city librarian and curator, 'Central Public Library. Edinburgh. "According to the Encyc- lopedia Canadiaria (Vol. 9) pub- lishee in 1958, Seaforth the town was laid out ie a town- ship in 1855 by three men, one of whom - later John ,A, Mac - Donald's law partner - was James Patton, who named it after the Scottish Earl of Sea - forth. The family name of the Seaforths was Mackenzie and they held estates in- various parts of the Highlands includ- ing Loch Seaforth on the East coast of the Island of Lewis. The earldom was created in 1623 and became extinct in 1815, "Loch Seaforth is a beaut-, iful stretch of water 1,5 miles long. .3 1/4 miles broad ast one end and ,diminishing to I mile at the other. It has an island called Seaforth Island, This name -does not appear else- where in Scotland. It is of Gaelic and Norse origin mean- ing a sea firth, ' "James Patton (1824-1888) was the son of a Major Andrew Patton, a native of St Andrews, County of Fife (on the East coast of Scotland). Most of the Pattons lived in Aberdeen- shire and along the eastern coast of Scotland Unfortunate- ly, there is no separate history of the Patton family and none of our histories of Sr, Andrews or of the County of Fife men- tions ,this Major Andrew Patton In Burke's Landed Gentry tor 1882, under Parfait of Clayton Priory there is an entry for Co(. Henry Patton. 6th eohal Reg- iment of Clatto, County Fife, eldest surviving son of Andrew Patton esquire of Springfield, Donegal. Ireland, married in 1747 Mary, only surviving child and heiress of Henry Be- thune, of Clam o County Fife The lands of Bleho were in 1'781 left hy Henry Ile• thune of Clatto to his sister, Mrs. Patton. There might he a link here, but we can traee nettling. to substantiate this possibility " old man, and in very poor Huron Road, health._ In writing to the Com - This route was to be built across the lands of the Canada missioners of the Court of In - Company, then under the dir- quiry, he remarkethet he has: ection of thelocal superintend- "the use of but one arm, one leg and one eye 'anymore, and ent, John Galt, and was plan-, ned to run through the unbroken by a consumption of eighteen months since was reduced to a forest to the site of therfehure- town of Goderich. During this mere skeleton". By his acc- ount, conditions in the gaol periode Van Egneond, a man of impressive, background end were extremely primitive and the rigours of the Canadian ample means, became intimate - winter added to his miserable ly acquainted both, with John condition, He was kept in con - Galt and with his formidable finement during the following associate, .Dr, William "Tiger" -weeks, but early in January, Dunlop. Van Egmond formed a 1838, beetled, He was buried close ftiendship with Galt, whpm at first on the farm of his son, he greatly respected and admir- Constant, but at a later date ed, and it is believed that eitien re-interre'd in the cemetery in the latter was recalled to Eng- Egmondville, land and relieved of his position in 1829, his successors in Upper ainst the old colonel. 1- • , inglorious end to a long and While this constituted an Canada held this friendship ag- useful life, there can be no The Van Egmonds acquired doubt that he was a man of the a hundred acre tract of lea' highest moral principles and near the site of the present was acting in good 'faith when • community of Seeforth. His he joined Mackenzie. Cert - industry is recorded by a con- contempories such as temporary, Samitel Strickland, s"Tiger" Dunlop and Samuel who also worked for the, Canada Stridkland, 'both of whotei serv- Company. He relates that; ed with the loyal militia dur- "Within the short period of twen ing the Rebellion, exonerat- ty months Van Egmond had ed Van Egmond, choppetl and cleared, fit for a crop, ne.arly a hundred acres of land,- fifty of which were sown wheat. As this was the first field ripe in the tract, the old man determined to celebrate the event by asking some of the gentlemen connected with the Canada Company to dinner, and to witness the cutting of the first sheaf", After Galt's recall in 1829, settlement' of the tract proceed- ed initially along the general lines whieh he hadelaid down However, his -immediate suc- cessor; Thomas Mercer Jones-, Was a man of very different cal - fine. According to Dunlop, Vap Egmond and their contempor- aries, Jones succeeded in in- gretiating himself with thestml- inteoligaechy at York, known as the "Pattiily Compact", while • • • rr