The Wingham Advance-Times, 1967-06-29, Page 5Wingham Advanco,Titnes. T. WI, June 29. 2907 age,„ .
BARN RAISING in 1894 on the farm now
owned by Harold Walker, Lot 37, Con. 12,
when it belonged to Elisha Walker. Trees
were in bud by April 17 that year. Bundles
of shingles were used to support planks for
the tables and there was plenty of food—a
busy day for the women as well as the
men. George Walker was a small boy at
that time and his father Elisha is seen hold-
ing his daughter Ella, Mrs. Edmund Irwin
of Goderich. The three boys centre front
were Wilfred and Roy Reid and Harry
Chamberlain.
Extensive improvements
at Western Foundry Co. Ltd.
Patching tire along
the
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5 October
TtHt 8Viw8LatiTT,ott:E7R.hisw‘A,jaatltewr, r:,wi,t:"aetivtlti:1:2dsd:COol;t:MwochoOrwo wahnaa,d:
grandfather and Gregor was Mrs, George Hethetingttes
grandfather. No envelope was used. The letter was fold:
ed and addressed on the outside to Mr. Gregor McGowan,
Wonosh, Clinton Post Office. There was no ttarrip-•
"Paid" was stamped on the iolded letter.
A
George Agnew Reid was noted painter
(The following article was
compiled by the gaSt Wawanosh
Historical Committee for use in
this Centennial edition of The
Advance-Times,)
George Agnew Reid was .born:
July 25, 1860, son of Adam
Reid and Bliza Agnew of Mar.,
Hoch. The Reid family lived
DO DO YOU
REMEMBER ?
where James H. Currie lived on
WA 33, Con, 23,
Soon after George Reid .starr,.
cci to school it was plain to see
he had a flair for drawing. His
first teacher, Slon Snell, as
well as those who follewed, en-.
couraged him, as well as his
grandfather John. Reid, but not
All cars were equipped
with Armstrong starters
and the stronger the
arms the better?
his father, However, his father
encouraged, his family to read
and was instrumental in getting
13 travelling library to tour this
rural distriet. It was kept at
different farm homes and
schools for months at a time,
the books being lent out for
reading.
All cars were conver-
tibles?
Whether you liked it
or not!
George was very fond of
reading. Jamie Young, an itin•
erant bookseller, made the Reid
home his Stopping place while
in this area, and, knowing that
George was interested in draw-
ing, would secretly take special
art books to him, which he
studied carefully.
By the age of ten George had
made the momentous decision
of his life and one night when
his family was seated about the
kitchen table at family prayer,
George burst out earnestly,
"I'm going to be a painter of
pictures!"
His mother was surprised and
sympathetic but his father look-
ed at him sharply with stern
disapproval and said, "Making
pictures is girls' work, not any
kind of occupation for a robust
Man. The men who came to
Canada were pioneers. They
worked hard to make farms,
and it is up to the boys of this
generation who don't have such
hardships to bear, to cultivate
that land, not just sit at home
doing drawing and colouring."
Adam Reid made it clearly
understood that his sons George.
John and Thomas., had a pio-
neering tradition to live up to,
that they were expected to be
tillers of the soil, to build
homesteads and make a name
for themselves in this new land.
His father asked him to give up
his dream of painting, but
George just decided to keep
quiet about his ambition until
he was old enough to leave
home, then, if his father would
not give his consent he would
run away from home so he
could study art.
For a short time George went
to live with the Agnews at Mar-
noch where he was to help with
the chores while attending
school. About this time a man
named John Orr started a juven-
ile singing class. George loved
to sing and joined this class,
and later learned to play sev-
eral musical instruments --
organ, piano, flute, guitar and
concertina.
When he was 15, he read
that an art school was being
opened in Toronto and he was
determined to go, but his moth-
er fell suddenly ill so he wait-
ed until she would be better.
His father tried to persuade him
to become an architect instead
of a painter and did all in his
power to prevent him from go-
ing to art school. Finally,
having failed in his last at-
tempt to turn his son away from
painting, Adam Reid offered his
son the proceeds from a load of
wheat to raise money for his
trip to Toronto and to keep him
in money until he could find
work, as he had to earn his own
way while in Toronto. So at
last in 1878 George Reid arriv-
ed in Toronto, at art school.
He attended school at night
and found work during the day.
The next summer he came
home to help his father on the
farm and his father paid him
wages to help him through his
second year in art school which
would be more expensive than
the first.
During his second year he
painted • his famous picture
"Newsboy" and won a prize for
his sketching of the mythical
figure "Jason and the Golden
Fleece''. He did portraits of his
father and mother, sister and
cousin, and with this group as
samples of his work, George
Reid returned to Wingham to
open a studio. Business poured
in and several students came for
lessons. After a winter's work
here and making local repu-
tation for good work and the
rush of such work in Wingham
exhausted, he moved to Kin-
cardine and opened a studio
Grease jobs were done
at home, long before
grease pits and service
stations?
rye Johnston
homestead in
Turnberry Twp.
Four generations of Jelinstons
have lived on the Johnston
homestead, Lot 24, Concession
10 in Turnberry Township.
In 1874 William Johnston
bought 100 acres of land from
Joseph Kerr, whose deed from
the Crown dated back to Nov.
1862. Robert Johnston, aged
94 and now retired in Wingham,
with his wife, the former Marg-
aret Robinson, became the own-
ers of this farm in 1899. In
1952, Elgin Johnston received
the deed. His sons Graeme and
Robert represent the fourth gen-
eration.
William Johnston's parents,
John and Elizabeth Johnston, be-
ing impoverished by the Irish
potato famine emigrated from
Enniskillen Co, Fermanagh,
Northern Ireland to New York.
Two sons Andrew and James
had already made their way to
Turnberry Twp., Huron Tract.
John and Elizabeth's ocean
crossing with the other four
grown sons and two daughters
must have been very eventful
and rather tragic because one
daughter was lost and no trace
of her is known.
William married Augusta
Homuth, who with her family
had emigrated from Germany
and settled on Concession 10 of
Turnberry. To this union was
born five daughters and two
sons.
The first house made of logs
was in the orchard east of the
present one, which replaced it
in 1895.
William, with the help of
his sons, Robert and Adam (fa-
ther of Mrs. Jos. Kerr and Mrs.
R. H. Lloyd) planted two rows
of beautiful maples on either
side of the lane leading to the
back of the farm. A similar
lane of maples was planted on
Adam's farm just east of the
Johnston homeplace. This farm
is now owned by Thomas Met-
calfe.
there and was very successful.
Since living expenses were
low in rural Ontario, he accum-
ulated a sizeable bank account
by the end of 1881, so went
back to Toronto to study further.
He took courses in the States
and several times travelled to
Europe for advanced training.
He was twice married, both
wives being interested in paint-
ing and in teaching art, both
encouraging George Reid in his
work which helped him a great
deal.
On trips home to East Wa-
wanosh he painted many rural
and farm scenes which became
very popular, some of them be-
ing In the Gloaming, Call to
Dinner, Apple-paring Bee,
Threshing with a Flail, Carry-
ing Hod, ,Sowing, Milking,
Churning, Spinning, Making
Straw Hats, Shingle-Making.
He was interested in history
and made paintings of The
Coming of the White Man, The
Arrival of Champlain at Que-
bec, Jacques Cartier Erects a
Cross, Return of the Indians
from the Massacre at Long Sault,
Armistice Day 1918 and many
more.
Some of his famous paint-
ings are: The Foreclosure of the
Mortgage, Breaking Home Ties,
Family Prayer, Mortgaging the
Homestead, The Last Load (of
wheat), The Arrival of the Pio-
neers.
George Reid was elected
president of the Ontario Society
of Artists 1897-1902 during
which time much progress was
made. From 1006-1909 he was
president of Royal Canadian
Academy of Art.
In 1912 the Ontario School
of Art was reorganized as a pro-
Every driver was his
own mechanic and
some would have been
better off with a
horse and buggy?
Western Foundry located in
Wingham in 1902 when. J. J.
Cunningham was manager, Mr.
Taylor as business manager and
Mr. Macklin as foreman took
over the three buildings which
had been built by Mr. Bullock
the previous year for the Na-
tional Iron Works, a firm which
went out of business a few
months after it was started: Lat-
er Mr. Varney joined Mr. Cun-
ningham. The Western Found-
vincial art school called The
Ontario College of Arts and
George Reid was appointed its
first principal, continuing until
1929. It was found necessary to
build a new and larger college.
He was asked to design the new
building and was made chief
architect,. and oversaw all .
building operations. Hon. E. C.
Drury, Premier of Ontario open-
ed this college in 1921.
In 1929 George Reid was re-
tired on pension after 39 years
of teaching in Ontario Art
School with the title Principal
Emerities. During his retire-
ment he made an unusual scrap-
book, --500 pages of press
clippings and reproductions of
work saved over 60 years of his
career and arranged chrono-
logically. Approximately 1500
pictures are mounted in this
"Book of Reid".
"In 1942 lie disposed of
many of his best paintings by
giving them directly to the De-
partment of Education, to form
a nucleus of a government-
owned educational collection
for public buildings and insti-
tutions, and turned over the
bulk of his privately-owned col-
lection to elementary and sec-
ondary schools.
George Reid died in Toronto
in 1947. The Historic Sites and
Monuments Board of Canada au-
thorized the placing of a bronze
plaque, honoring this great East
Wawanosh artist, at the ent-
rance to the town hall in Wing-
ham, which was unveiled with
a public ceremony.
Gordon Buchanan of Wing-
ham is the only male relative
in this area and it is his duty to
clean and polish this plaque
regularly.
THINGS SURE HAVE
CHANGED
McCILURE
MOTORS
ry firm had 20 employees at
that time,
Over 18,000 stoves and
ranges were produced and 150
men employed in 1918.
Mr. Cunningham died in
1921 and H. C. MacLean was
appointed general manager. He
was succeeded in 1937 by F. W.
Spry who held the position un-
til 1947, followed by C. A.
Roberts until 1952. G. W. Tif-
fin, who joined the office staff
in 1928 was made secretary-
treasurer in 1946 and still holds
that position.
W. E. LeVan of Arnprior was
named president in 1952 with
T. A. Currie as general man-
ager. Mr. Currie retired in
1960 and since that time R. W.
LeVan has been president and
general manager with Donald P.
Kennedy as vice-president.
Western Foundry Company
Limited was chartered in 1901
to make coal and wood stoves
and heaters for the homes of
Canada. After 65 years that
particular line continues to be
an important but now a minor
item in the Company's produc-
tion schedule.
Along the way other major
products have been commercial
size ranges for hotel and restaur-
ant use, and through most of the
years furnaces for coal and wood i
and later for gas and oil burn-
ing have had their place in the
manufacturing line.
During the past ten years the
trend has been increasingly to-
ward jobbing work for other
manufacturers in the gray iron
castings business and to a varie-
ty of sheet metal products and
product parts.
There are two main areas to
the Western Foundry plant set-
up, First, the moulding and
machinery shop where a wide
variety of cast iron products are
made and further processed. The
second major production area is
the sheet metal shop where steel
products are fabricated in a
well-equipped plant which in-
. eludes modern assembly line
spray painting and drying oven
equipment.
The Foundry is located on a
six-acre site inside the town
limits, on the west bank of the
Maitland River and on the CNR
which has sidings to both the
foundry products and the ware-
house buildings.
Extensive additions and im-
provements to equipment and
facilities have recently been
carried out and others are
scheduled for completion in the
near future.
More than 100 persons are
employed at " Western" and they,
along with the management,
are looking forward to a busy
and progressive future as Canada
moves into her second century,
Many hotels
There were a number of ho-
tels in Wingham in early times
and at one stage there were at
least seven.
The Exchange was on the
southwest corner of Josephine
and Victoria Streets; the Royal,
a three-storey frame building
on the site of the present Can-
adian Imperial Bank of Com-
merce; Brunswick House, where
the IGA stands today; the
Queens, the only remaining ho-
tel, on the corner of Josephine
and John Streets; National,
southeast corner of Josephine
and Patrick Streets; British Ho-
tel, northeast corner of Jose-
phine and Alfred and Dinsley
Hotel, on the Beaver Lumber
property on Josephine Street.
OFFICIAL POLISHER — Cord. Buchanan
shines up the plaque on the town hall
which was placed by the federal historic
sites and monuments board in honor of
George Agnew Reid, famous naturalist and
painter, who was born near Wingham in
1860 and died in 1947. Mr. Buchanan
was appointed by Department of Northern
Affairs as official custodian of the plaque
which is to the right of the main entrance
to the hall.
—Advance-Times Photo.
HELPING CANADA GROW
TRANSPORTATION — A vital service today — has helped
make CANADA THE GREAT NATION OF 1967
Our part in providing Quick, Efficient Commercial Transport-
ation to the Nation, makes us proud.
CANADA :9866;
WALDEN BROS.
TRANSPORT LIMITED
PHONE 357-2050
WINGHAM, ONTARIO
HAPPY CENTENNIAL 1867 1967