The Wingham Advance-Times, 1967-06-29, Page 7/-e // 47/z
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Mrs. William Connell has in her possession a couple of
letters which were written to her uncle, John Chisholm
of Owen Sound, by Sir John A. Macdonald, one in 1872,
the other in 1882. The letter reproduced in part above
goes on to say that "everything should be done quietly
so that the enemy may not be put on the alert" and that
once the evidence of bribery, intimidation or irregularities
of any kind was collected it should be kept quiet until
Parliament was about to assemble. The letter written later
requested Mr. Chisholm to put his shoulder to the wheel
on behalf of the local member as John A. was very anxious
that he be re-elected.
100 YEARS
IN 1967 CANADIANS should pause and be thankful
for the opportunities our country has provided for
us in the past century.
24 YEARS
FOR THE PAST 24 YEARS STAINTON HARDWARE
has been striving to bring Wingham and district
residents the best in Hardware and Farm Supply.
I
The purchaser, John Mac -
'ravish, was born June 13, 1812
in Qlenquaich, Parish of Ken-
more in Perthshire, Scotland,
He emigrated to Canada with
his father, Peter, and family in
1820 and they settled in Beck-
with Township, Lanark County.
He married Isabelle Stewart in
1840 and in 1857 they moved
to Turnberry Township, resid-
ing on Lot 2, Concessions 4 and
5 for six years before making
the purchase. He retired to
Wroxeter about 1890 where he
died. January 23, 1897 and his
wife died February 28 of the
same year.
Their son John, born in 1843,
was 14 years of age when the
family came to Turnberry. He
married Margaret Bone en De,.
cember 17, 1869, who was a
native of Scotland, He took
Over the homestead from his fa-
ther and farmed the two origin-
al lots until his retirement to
Wroxeter several years before
his death in 1910,
His son Allan was the next
owner but only operated it for
a short time. He sold the lot on
Concession S which has since
remained in the Sharpe family.
The lot on Concession 4 he sold
to his brother, James MacTav-
ish.
James was married to Myrtle
King of Turnberry. He owned
the farm until 1945 when it was
taken over by his son, James
Alex. James MacTavish died
in 1952. His wife is still liv-
ing.
This photo of Mr. and Mrs. John S. MacTavish was taken
in 1869. They were the second owners of the MacTavish
farm, then 200 acres.
EVEN IN THE OLD DAYS....
Young men sometimes had trouble keeping their wheels pointed In the right
direction. Today they have no excuse—KEN'S ALIGNMENT keeps everything
straight.
HAPPY BIRTHDAY CANADA 1867 1967
KEN'S ALIGNMENT SERVICE
DIAGONAL. ROAD
WINCHAM
WHEN WILLIAM MacKERSIE built this brick home he in-
cluded a room in the plan to be used as the Glenfarrow
Post Office. The farm on the 6th of Turnberry is now
occupied by Norman Ross. Mrs. Jim Halliday of Wing-
ham, and her brother Russell, who lives in the West, are
the only members of the MacKersie family of seven child-
ren still living. This photo was taken in 1910.
Poem recalls many family
names around St. Helens
The following poem was
written by Rev. W. J. Taylor of
Dorchester when he was teach-
ing in Cameron's School, a
short distance from St. Helens
in 1904 or 1905. It was read at
a Literary Society meeting in
the village hall.
ST. HELENS
There's Sherriffs and Clarks
And Rutherfords too;
Their names I believe
Are Dan, John and Hugh.
There's Decker the tailor
And McDonald the barber;
There's Lewis the sailor
And Tom Joynt the farmer.
There's a Baker for bread,
And a Todd for the toddy,
There's Aliens for thread
And everything nobby.
There's Phillips the Bricker,
And Jack Wilson the "lawyer";
There's Ross Reid to dicker
And Tom Todd the sawyer.
There's McPherson and Toms,
And of Durnins a crew,
Hugh McDonald and Sons,
And of Hydes a wee few.
There's McRobert and Millers
And Woodses galore,
And Highland man Archie
In kirk by the door.
There's Stewart the drover
Tom Taylor and Forhan,
And cheerful Don Murray
With whiskers all shorn.
There's Buchanan and Humph-
reys
And Black Bob McGuire,
And bald headed Gaunt
To sit by the fire,
There's McQuillans and Camp-
bells
And Bill Cameron our reeve;
And a family called Home
That dwells at the glebe.
And McVittie and Asquith
And "Slippery" McLean,
There's another big family
I've forgotten their name.
There's Lockhart and Webster
And also Jim Barber
And another Sam Phillips
But this one's a farmer.
And there are Taylors again
A long living clan:
They nearly can boast
Of a "century" man.
There's big Robert Smith
With a husky old voice,
And Angus McDonald
A bachelor by choice.
There's m Big" Billy Webb
And Aechesons too,
And Will Gordon the Elder;
But now I'm just through.
There's Martins and Lyons
But no Hunter to chase
Since old Johnnie Goode
Has moved from the place.
And McCrosties I tell you
I nearly forgot
The greatest wee laddies
Of all the great lot.
And there's old Mr. Tooke
And Hugh Anderson yet;
And a blind'woman near,
Whose name I forget.
And doubtless there's some
Whose names are not shown,
But may they live right
For their deeds will be known.
And now I must finish,
This piece is a shame
For one who's a teacher
But a Taylor by name.
Edward Farley
first settler
The government surveyed
the Wingham Town Plot 1852-
54 but the land was not open for
sale until 1860, Upper Wing-
ham began to attract settlers in
1863 and later became the most
important of the two centres.
Edward Farley was the first
settler in Lower Wingham, He
set out from Owen Sound in the
early spring of 1858 and landed
in Wingham on March 17, He
travelled by boat from Owen
Sound to Collingwood, North-
ern Railway to Toronto, Grand
Trunk from Toronto to Strat-
ford and by wagon from thereto
Blyth where his "freighters" left
him because of the dreadful
road conditions. He managed
to get a wagon and two yokes
of oxen to take his belongings
to Bodmin, 2 miles east of Bel-
grave in Morris Township. There
he built a raft and floated down-
stream. Ile landed at the fork
in the two branches of the Mait-
land.
Mr. Farley built a log house
just west of the river on the
road to Lucknow, well above
the flood area which was more
foresight that many of the oth-
er pioneers had when settling in
Lower Wingham. He lived in
the log house for 40 years,
which was torn down about 60
years after it was built.
Mr. Farley died at the age
of 80, on February 14, 1897.
His second wife, Katie, died
the following year. His first
wife had predeceased him in
18'77. They were all buried in
Wingham.
.••••••••NoNA,...........ps.,,,,VW•e1•0•OK ,N,••••••••
Ladies' apparel, like Canada, has changed a
lot since 1876. High button shoes,
bustles, pinched waists have all
gone the way of history.
1867-1967
Happy Centennia
ILLER'S LADIES WEAR
WING H AM
0 NTARIO
S
The MacTavish family on
farm for past 110 years
door and blind factory, carriage
and wagon shop, grist and flour
mill, saw mill, shingle and
lath mill, three blacksmith
shops, three churches, a two-
roomed school, a tannery, cas-
ket factory, cheese factory,
American Express Company's
office, pump factory and the
station. It was on the Welling-
ton, Grey and Bruce Railway,
on the southern extension and
was 33 miles from Palmerston
and 33 miles from Kincardine.
--(Advance-Times 1957, writ-
ten by Miss R. Duff).
W Advance,TIMes,Thursday, June 9, 1967 .Pite
Lot 2, Con, 4, Turnberry
Township has been in the Mae-
`ravish name over 10Q years, It
is now owned and occupied by
James Alex MacTavish who
took it over from his father,
James, in 1945. Mr. MacTav-
ish married the former Edna
Walker of Turnberry in 1947
and they have one son, Robert,
10, who is the fifth generation
to live on the farm.
The original barn is still is
use, The house is also the one
built by the first owner of the
farm, although it is changed in
appearance as the clapboard
structure has been bricked over.
Mr. MacTavish has in his pos-
session the broadaxe brought to
Turnberry by his great-grand-
father and the school sale grant.
The school sale grant from
the Province of Canada was
signed in Quebec, September
3, 1863, in the 27th year of
the reign of Queen Victoria.
Sale price of $400.00 was for
200 acres of land, Lot 2, Con.
4 and Lot 2, Con. 5. The farm
still in the family name is the
100-acre lot on the fourth con-
cession. The other half of the
original property was sold some
time ago and is now owned by
Morrison Sharpe.
Edighoffer store
was built in 1911
George E. King was in busi-
ness with T. A. Mills for sever-
al years when they operated a
general store where the Ad-
vance-Times stands today. The
partnership was dissolved in
1891 and Mr. King opened a
general store on the present site
of Vance's Drug Store.
In 1895 he moved into the
centre store in the Beaver Block
and remained in business there
until his death. His sons,
Thomas and Robert then took
over and on February 12, 1912
fire destroyed the building. This
was the second time the Beaver
Block had been wiped out by
fire. King Bros. erected one
large store on the site the same
year.
In 1924 Robert took a posi-
tion with the Simpson Company.
He became general managefin
Montreal in 1933 and five years
later was appointed vice-presi-
dent and director.
Thomas continued in the
store here until his death. His
daughter Mary, Mrs. Borden
Speers managed the business un-
til it was sold to Mr. Wineburg
of Chatham and in 1952 it was
purchased by Edighoffers Limit-
ed, with Mr. and Mrs. Ed Edi-
ghoffer coming to town from
Paisley.
A new modern permastone
front was added in 1953. Fol-
lowing smoke damage during
the fire which wiped out other
businesses in 1961, the Edighof-
fer store received a face-lifting
to the interior with new fixtures,
new lighting and a new floor
giving a bright and spacious ap-
pearance.
Glenfarrow
bib of Turnberry
Glenfarrow was named for
Thomas Farrow, one-time
Member of parliament for the
local constituency, Thiscoun-
try post office was instituted in
1893 and from its inception
William MacKersie was appoint..
ed postmaster and mail carrier,
He continued as such until 1913
when rural mail delivery was
introduced,
Mr. MacKersie's mail -route
followed the sixth line of Turn-
berry to Pocock's corner and
from there it followed the 13
line into Wingham. He was a
stickler for punctuality and it
was a common rumour that
many housewives would set their
clocks by the time he usually
appeared at a given point on his
mail route. He made this route
on Tuesdays and Fridays. Dur-
ing springtime when the roads
were bad he would make the
trip on horseback, carrying the
mail bags. Sometimes when a
bridge or bridges were washed
out he would go miles off the
route, but the mail went through.
During the early days Mr.
MacKersie experienced several
occasions of anxiety when he
would receive a notice of warn-
ing from the Postmaster General
at Ottawa. He was warned that
several small country post of-
fices in his area had been rob-
bed. With loaded muzzle-load-
ing shot gun he and his two old-
er sons, Jim and Arthur, would
take turns at night watching
from a man-hole in the ceiling
of the post office in his log
house.
Occasionally strangers would
come to his door late at night.
He had a chain fastener on the
inside of the door which would
allow the door to be partially
opened for questioning, and yet
not allow entrance from the
outside. When Mr. MacKersie
built the above brick house he
had a room for the post office
included in the plan. The
meeting of neighbors at the
post office awaiting the arrival
of the mail from Wingham was
the news media of the neigh-
borhood.
And so as the great Eliza-
bethan poet and dramatist,
Shakespeare has said, "The old
order changeth yielding place
to new." Never-the-less, the
little country post office and
pioneer postmasters and mail
carriers have served their com-
munity and country well. Each
one of these individuals de-
serves an honored place in the
hearts of all Canadians during
this, our centennial year.
Mr. and Mrs. Michael Walk-
er were the first residents of
East Wawanosh to celebrate
a 50th wedding anniversary.
They celebrated in July 1904
on their farm which was
later owned by Gershom
Johnston until a year ago.
Mr. and Mrs. Walker had
eight sons and a daughter.
The first store in Bluevale
and in the township of Turnber-
ry was kept by a Mr. Bennett
and the first post master was
John Messer, who bought out
Mr. Bennett and carried on a
mercantile business for many
years. The post office was es-
tablished on September 22nd,
1859.
The first school of the town-
ship was built in Bluevale, a
small frame building. Later it
was used as a dwelling.
The first school teacher was
Thomas Farrow, a former resi-
dent of Clarke Township. lie
was one of the first settlers in
that part of Morris, close to
Bluevale. Mr. Farrow was lat-
er the North Huron representa-
tive in the Dominion Parlia-
ment.
The school mentioned above
was designed as a Presbyterian
meeting house as well as a
school and as such it was used,
being the first church anywhere
in the vicinity of the village
and it is claimed the first in
Turnberry, although some say
the first was a New Connexion
Methodist meeting house erect-
ed on lot ii, concession 0, as
early as the spring of 1857.
This was a log building and us-
ed by all denominations. The
first sermon was preached by
Rev. Mr. Dowler, a Wesleyan.
The place was always known as
Morris meeting house.
The village in 18'79 contain
ed two general stores, a grocery
store, three shoe shops, two
tailor shops, two hotels, sash,
Mr. and Mrs. John MacTavish in a picture which was
probably taken before 1857. The original is 16"x18", and
on linen cloth paper. The photo is touched up with
charcoal.
Bluevale's appearance
11 years after Confederation