Loading...
The Huron Expositor, 1981-07-29, Page 23Celebrating 4. Morris Township's First 125 Years May Growth and Prosperity Continue! To all Who think of Morris Township as home, • Best Wishes for a wonderful reunion and celebration. MURRAY CARDIFF, M.P. Main Street, Brussels, 887-6852 o and Mr. Farley Was ingeni- ous enough to imagine its possibilities. He built a huge raft on which he placed everything he owned, as well as his family, and proceeded to float down the river until he reached the point where he had taken up land. "According to legend. and S.S. NO. 7 MORRIS—Students from the S.S. No. 7 school in Morris posed with their-teacher-Mias Edna Procterin-t935. E-Velyn Scott, Margaret Haines, Jack Higgins, Miss Edna Procter, Harvey Edgar, George Higgins, June Burke. 2nd row - Norman Higgins, Maxine Thompson, Bernice Thompson, JIM Elston, Wilfred Haines, Jim Coulter, Charlie Campbell, Calvin Burke, Stan Hopper, Jim Galley, Bill Elston, John Haines, Charlie Procter, Hugh Campbell. lst row - Spence Scott, Mann, Edith Mann, Carrie Higgins, Grace Coulter, Verna Thompson, Muriel Hopper, Malt Edgar, Ross Procter, Edwi nElston, Glen Golley, George Edgar, Chester Higgins, Frank Burke. Kneeling - Grace Golley, Mildred Higgins, Priscilla Mann. ' Photo from Bill Elston Happy Birthday . MORRIS TOWNSH1 on your 125th From Grey Township residents, council and staff 4 40 imptifits 120kt funTtirtAY MOMS 125TH BIIITHDAY4114 e villages of Morris :TOWtiship'' Many of the early settle- ments of Morris Township. now occupy only a place in the history books, but traces of their past can still be found in the countryside. Ross Procter has gone to a great deal of trouble in researching the hamlet of Bodmin since in 1955 he and his brothers_George and Charles purchased the land where Bodmin used to be and took out a charter calling their farming operation Bed- min Ltd. Some of Mr. Proc- ter's research is presented here. The centre was founded when William Harris came out from England in 1853 and settled on the north half of Lot P. Concession 4 where Concession 4 crosses the Middle . Maitland River. When searching for a name for the hamlet he thought of his birthplace Bodmin in the County Seat of Cornwall in England and it was so named. There were three ' streets marked out and soon there was William Mitchell's grist mill. James McGill's saw mill, a general store owned by Dr. Hawkes and managed by 'Walter Smith, a post office and Methodist parson- age. A darn built in the river furnished power for these mills. The post office was run by William Harris who also became the first police magi- strate. Just a toile down the Continued from page 3 else that has changed - the population. In the 1890 s and 1900 s it used to be in the 3500 s. Now there are only 1 700 and one reason there are that many is that Morris bs been fortunate with the su divisions which have bee added to the commun-' Mop ing away from politics the rem c spoke on other ays that Morris had chang- ed and one of the most noticeable was agriculture. Twemy-five, years ago, most tarms had cows and hens and pigs - generally very mixed farms with very iew cash crop operations. Today .agri- culture is more concentrated. Some are nothing but cash crop. some are in nothing but pigs. some have nothing but cattle. "We had no white beans road from Bodmin was a church called Bethel and a couple of roads over was the hamlet of Sunshine. Also in the settlement's early days, Archie Nicholson, an uncle of Garner Nicholson of R.R. 5 Brussels operated a lime kiln and it's still possi- ble to go down by the river and pick out the exact spot where it stood and see some of the stones that must have gone through it, According to a Brussels Post from March 25, 188?, "As other villages sprang up. this one went down till at last about 18 years ago. Alfred Haslam purchased the 50 acre lot upon which this deserted hamlet stood. The mill timbers were used for building a barn, the machin- ery being sold: The store fell prey to the devouring ele- ments." A walk along the Bodmin acreage and into the bush area allows one to envision where some for the streets used to be, to took at the remains of what must once have been the buildings of Bodmin. Two trees now mark the approximate location of Charlotte Street in Bodmin. And it's still possible to look at the Maitland River and imagine the grist and saw- mills of the past. Bodmin also has a connee• tion with the settlement of Wingham . As described in James Scott's book. the set- or soybeans 25years ago and very little corn • only for silage. Today we have soy- beans, white beans and a lot of corn for grain corn. Gen- erally the farms: have become larger." he said. Card parties along the concession 'Were a popular thing in the early days. 'but the community is not as -closely knit -ash was 25 years ago. "A lot of that is because of the curling rinks, the arenas and cars. Twenty-five years ago, cars weren't as well heated- and- you didn't -go as- far in the wintertime. "There's much more re- creation in the communities surrounding the township than there was in, the early 1950's and 1960 s." he said. As Reeve Bill Elston siad. there will always be change. some of it for the better. some of it for the worse, Clement of Huron County, the story goes that in 1858. Edward Farley.. a native of Ireland who had been living near Owen Sound, decided to, pioneer the Wingham area and began his journey by boat to ,Collingwood. Here he, together with his family and all his possessions, boarded the first railway line in Ontario, connecting Geor- gian Bay to Toronto. From Toronto, he took the just _completed railway to Strat- ford--.,which was, for the settlers intending to come to Huron County. "the end of the steel" at that time. At Stratford. Mr. Farley hired "freighters" that is wagons drawn by teams to take him - as far as the road into the northern townships at that time. His destination was the village of Bodmin, This jour- ney was carried out• dattng the month of March and because of the spring thaws. the roads, not comfortable at the best of times were ex- ceedingly difficult and al- most impassable. - This -at- least was the conclusion which Mr. Farley's freighters reached, when they got as far as Blyth. At this point they -deserted him on the grounds that the roads were impossi; ble and left him stranded. "Although.itwaS SWi 0. the dogged Edward Farley managed to hire two teams of oxen to continue the journey with his family • and his possessions and finally they reached Bodmin and once more this intrepid pioneer had reached the end of the• line, this time the end of the road, but he was still some distance from his destina- tion. The river was a in spring freshet at the time Button's School hi July of 1926. the Button School S.S. #9 held an Old Boys' Reunion for their 50th anniversary. The grounds were decorated with stream- ers. In the afternoon a big parade was held with floats from the area. The •main event was a variety concert performed in front of 1200 people. There was the music playing of the bagpipes. banjos and even the former teachers gathered together to sing. 150 old • boys 'and girls signed the register. one wonders how much of Mr. Farley had in telling this story, Wingham's first , set- , , der—an Irishman—arrived on the 17th of March." Sunshine Sunshine—an optimistic name for a place in Morris Tonwship which 'lever lived up to its prom*. Now, the only reallangible proof of its existence is the cemetery on top of the hill on the sideroad off the fifth concession. Mrs. Russel Bone of Wingham was born in Sun- shine and said they had told . her at one time there was a chair factory there, but it wasn't there any longer in . her time. She said there was a chairin her parent's home,, though, that was made in the chair factory in Sunshine. When Mrs. Bone was in Sunshine, the post office was there with' Milton Watson as the postmaster until he mov- ed away in 1910. Mr. Watson later returned to Sunshine and was postmaster until the mail from there was switched to Belgrave. Stiuthine 'at one time also' apparently had a sawmill erected by Paddy Brown who later sold to Isaac Rogerson who in turn operated it in conjunction with the chair factory. The lumber was teamed to the railroads at -Brussels and Belgrave by Tom Hawthorn. Mossie Clark and Morris McCasey. Sunshine also had a black- smith shop, a combined general store and post office. 'there were two churches - • Bethel which was built around 1855-56 and Sunshine Methodist which was first erected as a loghouse church and then in 1875 a frame church was built and later bricked. Bethel ,,closed in I 188S and its members were transferred to the churches at Sunshine 'and. Belgrave. At one time. there Was also a Johnston's church--on- the fust concession of , Morris . _ and when that closed, people went to the church in Blue- vale. And then there was Browntown. with the church on one corner and the school on the other. While they were building a new school, the children studied in the church. That first winter they had to keep the school heated so the pipes wouldn't freeze, so they held church in the new school. That's also where Mrs. Bone's son Keith was baptized on Christmas Sunday in 1947. At Sunshine church, they used, to have officials from the church go to the people's homes every three months to get a collection. There was also a collection of loose change held in the church. At Browntown church, they used to have a garden party every summer in the horseshed. Sometimes the young people from Belgrave would put on- a play. Morrisdale Although Morrisdale was one of the early crossroads post offices established in Morris Township, it never became a settlement of 'any proportion. According to James Scott's book, the' - Settlement of Huron County, its first Post- master Donald Scott took over in 1854. Bushfield Only a cemetery now re- mains to remind people that there used to, be a place called'Bushfield in Morris on Lot. 11, Concession 7 of the, township. However, it once con- tained- Thomas Holtatin hotel and James New- combe's combined general store and post office. Robert Newcombe carried the maik on foot from Belgrave to Sunshine. then to Bushfield, a distance of six miles. Jamestown JamestoWn. which is part of Morris and part of Grey got its name from James Aitcheson, a news correspon- dent for the Huron Expositor around 1855-1860. There were also a number of other men named James who probably helped to con- tribute-to that name, such as James Holland and James Lynn who ,..were both. post- asters as well as James Strachan. James Simpson. James Forrest and James Moses. A general store with Dun- can McDonald as owner was built around 1905. Other places in Jamestown were a shoe shop. an apiary, wagon shop and a hotel. ' Victoria Hall was •built in . Jamestown in 1906 to acco- modate a large Sunday School and concerts and pub- lic meetings were also, held there. Brussels According to the plaque on the lawn beside the Brussels library, it was in 1854 that William Ainley purchased 200 acres of land on the Middle Branch• of the Mait- land River. The following year he laid out a village plot which he named Ainleyville. A post office named. Dingle was -opened—in--1856:- The•-com , munity flourished and by 1863 contained a sawmill, a grist-mill, blacksmith shops, a wollen mill and several other small industries. In anticipation of the rapid growth that the expected construction of a branch of the Wellington, Grey and Bruce Railway would bring Ainleyville, with a population of 780, was incorporated as a village and renamed Brus- sels on December 24. 1872. The village of Brussels straddles the boundary be- tween the townships of Mor- ris and Grey. which were surveyed in 1848 and 1852. Lands in Morris were -first offered for sale on." July 30, 1852 and those in Grey on August 27, 1854. Walton ing. In 1876. Belgrave also had a railway station on the fourth line of 'Morris with the line running from London to Wingham. Lately, a couple of subdi- visions haye sprung up in Belgrave and a new ball diamond has been started. Bluevale On the northern boundary at the junctions of Highway 86 and 87 is Bluevale, which in the 1956 History of Morris Township book was noted for its chopping mill, supplied with power from the' Mait- land River mill dam, three stores, a butter tactory. a public school and two churches. Some of these buildings are no longer in existence. The• first settlers in Blyth were Lucius A.C. McConnell from the County of York, originally from County Down. Ireland and Kenneth Mclean, a Scotsman who had previously settled in the Township of North Easthope. McConnell settled on lots 1 and, 2 on Concession 10 of Morris Township and Mclean settled on lots 1 and 2 on Concession 9 of Morris -Township. These settlements took place -in May of 1851. The sawmill in Suns:bine closed for want of logs and gradually people left the community taking the con- gregatiort of the church also. In 1927 the church and shed were sold. The chinch Sold for $160 and shed for $250. The Sunshine Church last- ed from 1875-1927. ntown porch on the front, heated with a wood stove inside and there were oil lamps on the wall. There was a pump organ in 'the little church and some of the first people to play it were, Mrs. Henry, Mathers and Mrs. Elmer Hastings. *Material in the church other than the brick was donated free and built with free labor. Across the road- from the church was a cemetery with • land donated- by William Jewitt. Moms has changed Belgrave Belgrave was once a. bee- hive of industry with a saw- mill, two busy blacksmith shops, a general store and a Browntown Church was built in 1866 and closed 'in 1949, according - to informat- ion obtained from Mr. and Mrs. Charles Bosnian. BrowntoWn Church used to be located on their property. One of the first thoughts of Mrs. Bosman's grand- parents Mr. and Mrs. Ed- ward Bosman when they moved -onto that farm was that the building a church. hardwarestere-as Bosman deicribed former Queen's Hotel which the building as a one-storey is now an apartment build. brick building with a little According to an excerpt from the Brussels Post 1885, the village of Walton con- tained 'post and telegraph The -Sunshine Methodist offices, two hotels. two Church was first erected as a stores, a steam sawmill and loghouse church. In 1815 a frame church was built and it all kinds of minor manufact- uring. It also had a daily mail was later bricked. route, both ways. from Brus- The opening of the church sels and Seaforth by stage. '• ,was attended by the Brussels In 1885 Jamestown and Methodist Choir. Later the church had its own Sunshine Morrisbank were simply post offices although Jamestown, Choir which was situated at 'the crossing of the middle of the Maitland. looked as if it had chances of springing up as a village in the way of a store. hotel and blacksmith shop. Brow The churches that once were Sunshine Methodist CongrcituDcAcms Mont l'ownshOp on your 125th Birthday WELCOME FRIENDS, OLD AND NEW. Howaid and Joan -Bernard BERNARD FUELS 8874377 Brussels ^