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The Citizen, 1987-05-20, Page 5Westfield has come long way- down the road The village of Westfield isn’t so much a village today as a commun­ ity. The “village” itself is just a crossroads that is dominated by the high elevators of Snell Feed and Supplies. The Snell family also own a machinery dealership across the road and a restaurant that serves as a banquet facility and unofficial community hall. Also in the village is Westfield Fellowship Hour, a little inter-denominational church. There are few houses in the way ordinary villages are laid out. Yet there are many people who would say they come from Westfield because the village seems to spread out along the fifth line of East Wawanosh and up and down Sideroad 33-34. Recently Blyth reader Harvey McCallum brought in the following history of the village contained, as best we can determine, from a 1946 edition of the London Free Press. THE VILLAGE OF WESTFIELD WAS ONCE INDUSTRIAL CENTRE ALMOST SEVEN MILES IN EXTENT by Nerissa Archer Mclnnes The name Westfield to outsid­ ers means a little village that used to be situated on the boundary line between West and East Wawa­ nosh Townships in Huron County, but to the people who live in that vicinity and to those who were born near there, it means a community that stretches a block north and south of the fifth cone, of East Wawanosh and along it for a distance of from five to seven miles. ***** In the early days there was a tiny village consisting of a store, with the post office in the store, a blacksmith shop, a carriage works and several houses, but as time went on and roads became better, people went to the larger places to do their shopping. Finally the post office was taken to a store near the new church, two and one- half miles east, on the fifth cone. This store was operated by Ed Horney. The last to have the store was David J. Carter, who bought out Mrs. Horney. Mrs. Chas. Lockwood, now of Clinton, and daughter of Mr. Carter, was the last postmis­ tress. When rural mail was started the post office at Westfield was abandoned altogether. In the early days there were many industries carried on along the fifth cone, of East Wawanosh, but all have disappeared. The only centres of interest left are the school and the church. The first Westfield school was situated one and one quarter miles east of the tiny village on the fifth cone, and was built of logs in the year 1857, Wm. Campbell, now over 90 years of age and living in Auburn, was an early teacher of the school. He remembers having 130 pupils on the roll at one time and a daily attendance of 120. (Today the whole township has only 120 pupils). The present school house is in almost the same place as the original log structure. The first church was built near the school in the year 1870. Services were held by a Wesleyan Methodist minister, Alex Camp­ bell, of Clinton, in the home of Adam Hoover, as early as 1854. Adam Hoover, who married Miss Ellen Johnson, of Goderich Town­ ship, in 1852, took up lot 31, cone. 5, of East Wawanosh, and is considered the first settler in the district. When the school house was built church services were held in it until a church could be built. The frame church was erected by a Mr. Duncan, of Bluevale and was located on the corner of Mr. Hoover’sfarm, nearthe school. The seats were rough plank set on blocks of wood. An aisle ran down the centre, the men and boys Westfield nestles in the hills of East Wawanosh but the tall silos of Snell Feed and Supplies give it a higher profile than many crossroad The community is actually farther east than the original Memories sitting on the right side and the women and girls on the left side. Eventually this practice was done away with. Adam Hoover, besides hewing and cutting the logs and timber for the frame church, became the first Sunday school superintendent. From 1854 to 1870 Westfield was a missionbutin 1870itwaslinked with Donnybrook and Auburn to form the Auburn circuit. Among the earliest settlers who attended the Westfield church we have the following names: Fother­ gill, Buchanan, McCullough, Ellis, Stackhouse, McDonnell, Taylor, McGill, Edwards, Campbell, Rap- son, Johnson, McVittie, Henry and Naylor. On June 25, 1889, the corner stone for the new church was laid, one and one quarter miles east of theoldchurchonconc. 5, lot33. James Young, of Auburn, took the contract to build the church for $1,414. He sublet the mason work to McDonald and Coombs. Mr. Doherty, of Clinton, and Mr. Neelands, of Wingham laid the cornerstone. John McClinton gave the land on which the new church was built. Mrs. Robert Henry was the first organist and Joseph Jackson the choir leader. In October, 1889, the new church was opened. In 1908 a stairway to the church gallery and a new pulpit were placed in the church by James McGill. In 1939 the New Westfield church, as it was always called, held its 50th anniversary and it was celebrated as an Old Boys’ and Girls’ Reunion. There were two services in the church on the Sunday of July 2, and on Monday a social gathering on the church grounds with supper and enter­ tainment in the evening. Rev. P. S. Baynes and Rev. Mr. Millyard, former pastors, were the guest preachers atthe services. After the morning service a memorial service was held at which James cGill reviewed the early history of the church and read the namesofthe early pioners, who had worked so hard to have the Westfield church established. For­ ty-six people who had been at the opening of the church 50 years previous attended this service. The late Dave McGill, an outstanding baritone, sang a solo, “The Land Where WeNeverGrowOld,” at the anniversary service and he had the honor of singing in the choir when the church was opened. The late Mr. McGill, formerly of Wingham, and his brother, James McGill, now of Clinton, owe their interest and skill in singing to their father, Mr. James McGill, who, when he was a young man scarted a singing class in the old Union church near Blyth. About 40 young men and women assembled at the church once a week and learned to sing under his direction with a tuning fork as the only musical instrument. Such singing classes were carried on in a great many parts of Ontario and when they ceased, nothing, with the same community spirit, ever arose to take their place. James McGill, Sr., came out from Fermanough Co., Ireland, at the age of six months, with his parents, in the year 1852 and settled on the third cone, of East Wawanosh. In the early days there were many industries carried on along or near the fifth cone, of East Wawanosh. At Fothergill’s Creek, running into the Maitland River, was a saw mill run by water power with a saw that worked in an “up and down fashion.” This mill was operated for a great many years by the Shortfamily. At one time or another there were several grist and flour mills near here. Remains of lime kilns can be seen today in this section. A roughly built tank 8’ x 15’ was erected with an opening at the bottom in which wood was burned. Field stone, of a lime stone nature, The International Scene n ■ JI The 'green revolution revisited' BY RAYMOND CANON One of the greatest advances in feeding the rapidly increasing population of the world came about two decades ago when an Ameri­ can agronomist, Norman Borlaug was responsible for breeding the dwarf wheat that set off the what came to be known as the green revolution in China and India. Thanks to Mr. Borlaug, those two countries were able to make giant strides in growing grain and thus be able to feed their popula­ tion which together adds up to almost two billion people. Borlaug was given the Nobel Peace Prize in 1970 for his work and, although he is now 73, he is hard at work trying to do for Africa what he did for the two Asian nations. His program is very simple. He started by assembling all the data he could lay his hands on at two international research centres in Mexico and India that would help him to understand better the characteristics of Africa’s three main crops: maize, sorghum and communities, village of Westfield. which was plentiful in this section, was placedin the tank and a fire was kept going night and day for about two weeks. The stones were then cooled and a form of lime was the result. James McGill, father of the singing master, carried on an extensive weaving industry. Blan­ kets from the wool of sheep and a material called homespun were manufactured by a hand and foot loom. One particular type of homespun when sheared closely was a beautiful piece of material andwouldbringahigh price today. All men’s suits and women’s dresses were made of this home- spun in the early days and all the blankets used were made by this method. About the only cash that could be earned at home was for the boiling downof ashes inhuge iron pots, and the resulting potash and black salts were sold for soap making. East Wawanosh, in which West­ field is situated, has an interesting background. In the year 1852 a tract of land 12 miles square was taken from the eastern side of Westfield Township, in Huron County, and called Wawanosh. The word Wawanosh is an Indian name meaning “waving in the wind”, or “tree tops waving in the wind.” It is also the name of the Indian who was chief of the Chippawas, living along the Min- nesetung (Maitland) River when Dr. Dunlop came to the site of Goderich in 1927. John Jackman is thought to be millet. After studying this, he decided to work in two countries where the data indicates he would have the best chance of succeed­ ing, in this case Sudan and Ghana. Since he could not have done it alone, he then picked about six top-notch scientists who were prepared to spend a few years in Africa working with the indigenous population. When everything was ready, he started testing his program on a series of half-hectare plots in small villages. This program consists of what variety of crops to plant, when and how to plant them, how to fertilize, how to control the local weeds, insects and diseases as well as how touse the moisture available. After the first year’s results are in, you thenadjust the total package so that the percentages of the various inputs are closer to what is needed. The third year the revised package is then tested on hundreds offarmers’ plots. Borlaugis not satisfied with anything less than a doubling of existing yields since it the first settler in the entire Wawanosh district, settling on lot 13, concession 1. The first male child born in the township was called John Wawanosh Jackman. The Maitland River, in a winding fashion running north and south, almost divided this 12-mile square tract ofland in two, so in 1886 it was decided to divide it into East and West Wawanosh. The first coun­ cils were elected in January, 1867, the year of Confederation. In West Wawanosh, Charles Girvin was elected reeve and in East Wawanosh, Robert Currie. Clinton was for years the chief market place for these people who settled on the fifth concession of East Wawanosh. A Mr. Ross, one of the early settlers, used to tell a story about taking a load of wheat by oxen, on a jumper, to the grist mill at Clinton. The road was only a winding trail through the bush and had no resemblance, nor did it follow exactly, the No. 4 highway we know today. Night overtook Mr. Ross on the way home, and a pack of wolves surrounded him. He admitted he wasextremely scared, and, as a last resort, unloosened one of the oxen and let it stray, thinking the wolves would devour it and so be engaged until morning. He tied the other ox to a tree and sat on the load of flour until daybreak. However, the wolves did not attack the loose ox and at daybreak they slunk off into the woods without doing any damage. seems that this is the increase needed to get the farmers’ atten­ tion. If they do show the necessary enthusiasm, the next step is togo to the country’s government and induce them to get sufficient fertilizer to the farmers at least six weeks before planting, lend them money with which to buy it and set a fixed floor price so that they can afford to pay it back after the harvest. If the governments go along with this, the farmers take it from there. Thewholetestshould not last more than five years and at a cost of about $5 million per country. The American agronomist is of the opinion that it should not be tried in more than one or two countries at first since there are not enough scientists who know how to make it work. It was for this latter reason that the first tests were done only in the Sudan and Ghana. It would be too much to expect that everything has gone without a Continued on page 30