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The Wingham Advance-Times, 1967-06-29, Page 14Winsham AtJvance-Times„ Thursday, June 29, 1967 BELMORE AROUND 1900, The shed to the left of the store is said to be the one in which Stephen Neubecker was found in his sleigh after being attacked and robbed by Jack Haag. The horses continued until they reached Chambers Hotel and were found the following morning. The Queen's Bush By Walter Woods Opened for colonization in 1848 HAPPY BIRTHDAY CANADA HAFERMEIlL'S FINE JEWELLERY PHONE 357-2670 WINGHAM 1867-1967 CANADA AND WINGHAM HAVE BEEN GROWING FOR 100 YEARS. WE'RE PROUD TO HAVE HELPED CANADA GROW SINCE 1961 WHEN WE OPENED OUR OFFICE IN WINGHAM. HODGINS-McD m NAL "THE NAME TO BUILD ON" PHONE 357-3650 WINGHAM FILLING THE SILO in the early days. The corn cutter was owned and operated by James Martin of East Wawanosh, Du ring the past century. man has made incredible discov- cries in medicine. Up to the 1850's. sickneSs was treated with prayers, herbs or other primitive methods, hOspitals were overcrowded arid unsanitary, nothing wps, knowri of hygiene, Typhoid, diphtheria, bubonic plague were just a few of the terrible diseases that swept across countries, decimating populations. Now, we have Serums, vaccines, chemotherapy, sulphonamides and antibiotics combatinng. these scourges of the past. While the battle against sickness is being waged behind the research laboratory walls, your local pharmacist is' proud to be a metnber of the health team that is makin , 'possible a longer and healthier life for everyone. BEST WISHES ON CANADA'S. CENTENNIAL DRUG STORE PRESCRIPTION SPECIALISTS PHONE 3574170 WINGHAM Ancestors came to. Canada in the 1800s I will try to give a brief his- tory of the lands on which our forefathers settled after coming to Upper Canada and from the countries across the sea. In the early 1800s very little was known of the lands of Up- per Canada, west of Lake Sim- coe and north and west of the town of York (now Toronto). The Indians of the Six Nations Confederacy had fought with the British during the American Revolution and for their faith- ful allegiance, they were grant- ed a tract of land in Upper Can- ada. The deed which Gover- nor Haldimand gave to the Mo- hawks or Six Nations Confeder- acy on October 25, 1784 was the first grant of Crown lands in the history of the provinces. By this deed or gift, the Mohawks came into possession of land extending six miles deep on each side of the Grand River be- ginning at the river north of Lake Erie and continuing at the same width to its problemati- cal source. A change was made later, fixing the northern limit of their territory at the intersection of the Grand River with the base line a short dis- tance above the present town of Fergus. The Six Nations would still have 1200 square miles of land or 768,000 acres, There were parts of 4 counties included in the first grant of Crown lands to the Six Nations in 1784, Haldi- mand, Brant, Waterloo and Wel- lington. Acting as agent for the Six Nations and with consent of the Government, Joseph Brant sold to white speculators, on Febru- ary 5th, 1798, six blocks of In- dian lands. Of these, block 2 comprising of 94, 012 acres, considerable distance upstream from Brantford, was the first area opened for colonization. It became the first white settle- ment in the interior of Upper Canada. It was called the Beas- ley Tract. Beasley agreed to purchase block 2 for $887 pounds sterling on which he made a de- posit of 600 pounds. He had the block surveyed and subdivided into farm lots. Soon he sold some lots to Mennonites from Pennsylvania. The Mennonites paid for their land and received their deeds. Some time later they were to discover that the deeds had never been registered and were absolutely worthless. Beasley was having financial troubles and when confronted with his dishonesty, he confess- ed his guilt and offered to make amends. If the Mennonites would buy the block or most of it, he would pay the mortgage with the purchase money and give them a clear title to the land. He offered them 60,000 acres for $20, 000, Two Mennonites travelled back to Pennsylvania on horse- back and tried to raise $20,000. After several disappointments, they finally did succeed and a company was formed which was called "The Germanland Com- pany". It had 25 stock holders. On June 29, 1805, they present- ed the 20,000 silver dollars which they had brought from Pennsylvania in 200 canvas sacks of one hundred silver dollars each, and received a clear deed to 60,000 acres. Waterloo was the name the government of- ficials gave to the township of the Mennonites in 1817. It was intended to commemorate the glorious victory of the British armies against Napoleon. The township included Block 2 in its entirety; that is, all the lands which Beasley purchased from the Indians. BY WALTER WQODS This is a brief hisim of the ancestors of Mary and Walter Woods The Woods, 114St• ings, Evans and MacDougal families; the Inglis, Findlater, Smith and Pipe families. In going through the scant information 1 have been able to obtain and from memory, I find we have no outstanding famous or wealthy relations but also I did not find any horse thieves, or any unsavory characters, which after all should leave us with a feeling of deep respect. The people in the genera- tions I have known in my life- time were a humble, friendly, kindly people and although they were not endowed with large amounts of worldly goods, they were happy and content, and always had a hearty welcome for anyone who visited their homes. They had sympathy and understanding for someone less fortunate and commanded respect in their own particular comm unity. They left a heritage and a tradition that we of future gen- erations are going to have a struggle to keep intact. Our forefathers were predominantly of Scottish extraction but there is also English, Welsh and Irish blood. They came to Canada in the early 1800's and almost all set- tled on farms in the rural areas. They chopped their homesteads out of the forests and hewed and built their cabins. They raised their families in a frugal but wholesome home-life that is fast disappearing. They were very proud and respectful of Hupfer family was raised in a log house The farm now owned by Ver- non Hupfer, R.R. 2 Wroxeter, on the Turnberry side of the Turnberry-Howick Boundary was homesteaded by his grand- father, the late Sebastian Hup- fer, later being turned over to a son, Robert, who was the fa- ther of Vernon. Mr. and Mrs. Sebastian Hup- fer cleared this farm out of the bush and raised a family of seven sons and two daughters in first a shanty until the log house was built. The latter was used until some time after Ro- bert Hupfer and his wife had raised their family of eleven children, three of whom are now deceased, and in the early 1900's they built the large red brick home which is now occu- pied by Mr. and Mrs. Vernon Hupfer. Vernon is the second young- est of this family and also bought his brother John's farm, the second farm north, several years ago but John still lives in the house and although 80 years old last fall he feeds cattle in winter for Vernon. He retired from the mail route on March 31 which he had for 40 years. Robert Hupfer took an active part in farming until his sud- den passing in 1940 at the age of 78. becker was left unconscious in his sleigh but the horses continu- ed until they reached the Cham- bers Hotel, Belmore. They were found in an open shed on the following morning. Neu- becker lived only a few days but long enough to name his at- tacker who was found, arrested and condemned to death. Dr. Kay who once resided in Belmore. was the attending physician to Stephen Neubecker at his time of death. Dr. Kay and his family are buried in McIntosh cemetery and their tombstone is the first one be- hind the church. This much is fact. The rest enters the delightful area of legend of which there are many versions persisting. The most common is that some of Haag's friends got to him while he awaited his fate' in the death eel' in Walkerton and provided him with an iron collar resemb- ling a coat hanger, which fas- tened under his armpits with the hook protruding up the back of the neck. This he ,,vote under his clothing when he was taken' to the gallows. The story goes that he feigned death and was taken away fot burial. Friends who waited nearby quickly ex., humed him and he fled from the country unharriied, The supposed burial took place In the church yard at Formosa, The Story of the 'Queen's Bush" and the Murder, can be found in a book written by the late Wm i Brown, lvt.b. their own particular church and strove to give their children a very rigorous religious training. Their aim in life was to edu- cate their children, give them a religious training and estab' lish a community, in which everyone was a neighbour and friend. No one ever thought of letting a stranger, or friend leave the premises at meal- time, and the common saying was, "Tie up that horse and feed him, then come on in and we will have a bite to eat." The doors were never locked and the welcome mat was al- ways out. They got enjoyment out of giving and a selfish neighbour was not very well respected. Theirs was a hard but satisfying life and very few were ever heard to complain. I only hope that we can leave as much dig- nity and respect and happy memories as those who have gone on before. The Button and Fessant chair factory stood on the present site of the Liquor' Control Board store. It was built in 1888 by Kincaid Bros. In 1918 it became a fertilizer plant, later used for the manufacture of toys by Chas. Cook and in 1951 was purch- ased by Wingham Manufac- turing Co. Ltd., which made toilet seats. Mr. W. H. Willis of this town, who holds the position of organist in Trinity Church, Mit- chell, has been appointed or- ganist and choir leader of King Street Methodist Church, Inger- soll at a salary of $275. -- Wingham Times 1893. For first-class tailoring and cheap gents' furnishings try Webster & Co. Remember the place, only two doors north of the old stand and between Ross bookstore and Patterson!s jewel- lery shop. -- Wingham Times 1893. When Elizabeth Woods and her family came to Waterloo in 1837, they purchased their homesteads from the German- land Company, formerly known as the Beasley Tract. The Inglis and Findlater families settled in the vicinity of Galt and Glen Morris and their lands were purchased from Colonel Dickison who also had bought from Joseph Brant a block of Indian lands to be known as the Dickison Block. In 1825, the principal settlements in the interior of Upper Canada were the townships of Waterloo, Woolich and Wilmot. John Galt, acting as secre- tary for the directors of a com- pany of Englishmen, who nam- ed their organization The Can- ada Company, purchased a par- cel of land comprising of 1, - 100, 000 acres lying along Lake Huron and extending as far east as Guelph for $145, 000 to be known as the Huron Tract. In this area, John Galt, Dr. Tiger Dunlop and Colonel Van Eg- mond were the men who ac- complished the gigantic task of settling the area that comprises most of Huron County today. The Queen's Bush is a fertile and pleasant land covered with forests of hardwood and pine and drained by the Maitland and Saugeen rivers, comprising what is now the northern town- ships of Huron County, Bruce and Grey and Wellington coun- ties. This was one of the last large areas in south western On- tario still owned by the Crown to be opened up for coloniza- tion. In the year 1848, the in- creasing human tide from across the seas demanded new lands for its sustenance and caused the opening up of "The Queen's Bush". In that distant time, things were not as now; there were no telephones, no wireless tele- graphy nor autos. The world was far apart. News travelled slowly. Money was counted in sterling or Halifax currency. Dollars and cents were unknown until 1858. The newcomer to that new land had to depend upon his own strong back and broad shoulders in his fight to conquer the forest and wrestle a home from the bush. He faced the latter with a stout heart and a keen axe. Turnberry township, Huron County, was surveyed in 1852, The first land sale for Turnber- ry was in 1854. The township is named after Turnberry Castle in Scotland where Robert the Bruce, king of Scotland spent his early years. It is popularly supposed that since Tiger Dun- lop was descended from the Bruce line, he was probably re- sponsible for naming the town- ship. There is no concrete evi- dence to support this supposi- tion. There is, however, no doubt about the fact that the great preponderance of early settlers in this township were of Scottish origin. Behind the facts, behind the names, are a thousand storiesof courage in the face of hardship, of faith, of passion and even, it must be admitted, violence. Huroti County has been remark- ably free of this last character- istic and there are few real vitt flans who figure in the histoty of the settlement but one story which has persisted through the years is the tale of the murder of Stephen Neubecker. This young man had taken a load of wheat on the sleigh from near Walkerton to sell at sea forth and was returning home one winter evening along the Wroki etet,Behhore road when lie Met an aCcluaintance whose name was jack Haag. liaag attacked hirri and stole his inOney; Neu..