The Lucknow Sentinel, 1977-04-27, Page 12ONIY WM CAN
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PAGE TWELVE THE LUCKNOW SENTINEL, LUCKNOW, ONTARIO WEDNESDAY, APRIL p, 1977
The Legend Of The Grey Ox
By P. S. MacDougall
It was on a visit to the Grey Ox
Community, some years ago, that I
recovered the name-stone of the
old Grey Ox School 5. S. No. 6
1874 - Township of Kinloss. For
me, it was just about the last bit of
authentic evidence of what consti-
tuted a populous little community,
some 100 year ago. it seemed
almost incredible, that in 1877, (the
year that my father started school
there), there were 104 pupils
enrolled on this very spot.
the school house had been closed
in the early 1940's, when school
attendance had •dwindled to a
handful of children. The school ,
' had fallen into disrepair, and the
last elected schobl board, tendered
for its demolition. Everything but
the stone had been previously
salvaged. It was a heavy thing, and
it lay partly submerged in a pile of
weather beaten- bricks. It yeas die
last remains of the skeleton, and it
prompted me to assume some
responsibility toward preserving
this. record of a rapidly depopulated
community.
•
A group of former pupils of the
school are now planning to
incorporate the name-stone into a
permanent land mark. They are
also researching early history of the
community. .
' The' disappearance of the school
is not unique. Its birth, its life, and
its demise, could be augmented by
hundreds of parallel situations
throughout rural Ontario. But its
name: colloquially designated as
the ''Grey Ox" school, was
different. This . was not the
original pioneer school, that served
the school section. ' The earliest
School was 1 1/4 miles to the west,
but it was vacated in 1874. The
Grey OZ school was situated on the
south-east cornet of the crossroads,
. and it bore its nomenclature by
associates to a structure, diagonal-
ly located on the north-westerly
corner of the cross-roads. That
historic spot, was no less than the
infamously renowned "Grey Ox"
hotel. We shall leave the school to
its own stories. We will shift
location to the hotel, and its
environs, and it is in this contex
that the legend rests.
It must be recognized , however,
that what stories are recorded
hereafter, can only be regarded as
hearsay. There are no living
members of the community, or
formerly of it, who can be regarded
as "accessories to the fact". It
happened before their time. Such
being the case, we can only bear
record of what was told us, and
take license to relate the stories of
others as told, without assuming
any responsibility as to accuracy,
exaggeration or the like. If the
stories have been distorted, we can
at least take consolation in the
verity that there is rarely a rumour
that does not hear some fragment
of truth.
Grey Ox corner is situated at the
crossroads of the 4th concession of
Kinloss Township and the county
highway connecting Highway 9 on
the north, to Highway 86 on the
south. The corner is 2 1/2 miles due
north of Lucknow. The north-west-
erly corner bore the site of an
establishment that was held in fear
and contempt by most of the
women folk of the community, for it
e. as here they had to rescue their
men from pillage, violence and
degradation. it marked the settling
ground for many a feud, started in
an% one of nine flourishing bar
rooms in Luck now , Wh6"E'r moon-
shine' ‘k* hickey was at a'prcmium al
leo ,elitS a glass. The building was
a large. frame. two-storeyed struct-
ure. %%oh an open shed for teams or
dm tug horses, and a medium sized
hare. It %%as built to the early
IN50's
//rhe proprietrees was the stocky,
masculine-framed widow Morri-
son, who had respectfully earned a
physical reputation and ability for
being able to man-handle drunken
men. Little is known of her family
connections other than that she had
an adopted daughter e.g. Aggie
Atkins. As a youngster, I was told
many stories of episodes, in and
around the hotel. My best source
was an elderly bachelor, Colin
MacKinnon, who lived near the
corner. He, was a naturally born
story teller, but like many older
people, including myself, was
prone to repeat the same story
many times. But I marvelled at the•
accuracy with which the details
were unfolded. Tales of the Grey
Ox Hotel would constitute a story in
itself.
But whence came the name -
"Grey Ox"?
The widow Morrison appeared to
have been' a resourceful person,
and like most pioneers, had a
good sized garden and kept a few
livestock. I was told that her dining
room was a favoured eating place.
In the barn she kept a horse, a
couple of cows, a pig or two, and
some hens. Calves were reared to
two years old and butchered for
beef. Like many other households,
her food requirements were to a
large extent, self sustaining.
It was from one of the cows, that
the legendary "grey ox", was
born. The year was probably 1860.
Whether this huge, grey steer
possessed phenomenal growth
genes, alike to Charlie Stewart's
Big Steer at Amberley in the '
1920's, or Paul Bunyan's Blue Ox
in Wisconsin, in the 1870's, is not
known'. But seemingly widow
. •
•
Morrison spared the animal from
the butcher's block, as it continued
to grow to an enormous size.
Evidently the freekish animal
became a popular curiosity, and
was kepNn the stable and the
barnyard. Many of the bar patrons
would visit the ox before they went
home. No doubt, in many cases the
structural image of the beast was
grossly magnified and halucinated,
after guzzling a few shots of 'widow
Morrison's moonshine whiskey. I
can recall asking how old the
animal was when it died, and I was
told that it was probably ten to
twelve years.
At an informal meeting last fall,
of old pupils of Grey Ox school, we
had a little discussion concerning
the legend.
George Lockhart, one of the
older members, who recalled the
hotel before it was burned at about
the turn of the century, told a
significantly different story. His
explanation was brief and to the
point. As he recalled it having
been told him, the incident from
which the hotel derived its name
was a simple one. Oxen were
common as beasts of burden at the
middle of the past century. An ox
and his owner encountered a huge
snow bank and the ox suffocated
and died. They were enroute from
Lucknow and the fatal accident
• happened in the lea of the hotel, at
the cross-roads. Evidently it was
a large grey animal, and, the
incident provided the occasion for
designating the spot as Grey Ox, in
memory of the, tragedy. The story
sounds very plausible.
The late Jack Beaton who had a
somewhat different version, as
recounted by his uncle e.g. Johnny
MacLeod. This story concerned
two patrons of widow Morrison's
bar, who were exiting through a
back hall, and were met by a huge
grey ox, which hart gained entrance
through an open door. The story
seems reasonable, but again, the
spectrum of the beholders may
have been well stimulated before
they encountered the animal.
While the foregoing stories
might appear to -be somewhat in
conflict, there appears to be plenty
of room for prognostication, and
would indicate that only time and
place were at variance. It was the
same "Grey Ox".
Maybe it could better be
expressed by limerick -
There once was a steer name "grey
ox",
'Twits two feet from his hoofs to his
hocks,.
He' would eat and • he'd drink,
'Til on his knees he would sink.
When he- bawled, you could hear
him for blocks.
•
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Minister of
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Province of Ontario
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