The Lucknow Sentinel, 1979-08-15, Page 19vd4
Lacknow Sentinel, WedaecdaY, Aggint 159 19,79,7440 19
•
Former .Ashfield man writes book .•
. BY JOANNE
• BUCHANAN
"I felt right from the
start that ft, was
something that needed to
be done and I'rn glad I did
it," says Elmer Farrish,
79, of Gorrie referring to
his book, Then and Now.
After two years of
writing, Mr. Farrish had
his book published in
Mildmay in 1978. It is
about the changing times
in rural Ontario, more
specifically Huron
County and Ashfield and
Howick Townships.
"With each generation
memories fade and
things are forgotten if
• they are not recorded,"
he states as his main
reason for writting the
book.
Mr. Farrish has been
writing his memoirs ft:*a
number Of years. He has -
kept a diary since 1952 in
which he includes items
from all over Western
Ontario. He has written
numerous letters to
newspapers and has kept
travelogues on all of his
trips. He is 'his familY's
historian and has • a
complete family tree on
all of the Armstrong -
Dickson descendants who
came to Canada from
Scotland in the 1800s.
Although it would seem
that he had a natural
writing .ability, he didn't
attempt to write his book
until: the Tweedstnuir
History Book committee
of the local . Women's
•Institute suggested he
give it a try. The
Tweedsmuir History
Book committees are
dedicated to preserving.
the local history of their
various communities,
• Mr, Farrish 'wrote a lot
of his 153 -page book from
memory but also
received enthusiastic co-
operation from everyone
in the area whom he
•,sought information from.
He ,also' took all • of the
.pictures which appear in
the book except for three
•or four. He bought his.
first camera when he was
18 and has been taking
pictures ever since. He
has between 5,000 and
64)00 slides and snapshots
in his collection. Many of
the glides were taken on
his various trips. He has
been on all the continents
and has visited 52 dif-
ferent countries.
"Geography was my
pet subject in school. I
Eimer Parrish', 79, of Gorrie, Ontario has written a book about the changing
times in rural Ontario. It specifically deals:with Ashfield Township where he
was born in 1899 and with Howick Township where he later lived and
operated a hatchery. He wrote most of the 153 page book from memory and
took all of the pictures In it except for three or Our. (Photo by Joanne
Buchanan)
learned about a lot of
places but never thought
I'd be lucky enough to see
so many of them," he
says.
Perhaps one of his
favorite ' visits was to.
Scotlandwhere •he Saw
the tiombhfones of some of
his r'anc'estors on the
border' between Scotland
and England. He has in
his possession, a picture
of the house where his
grandmother, Anne
Dickson was born. The
house was built in
Scotland in 1792. A family
member, is now
renovating the house for
a summer home.
Family history is very
important to Mr. Farrish.
Every • year at the
Armstrong -Dickson
family reunion h&Ltip-
dates the family tree and
adds things to the
family's history. book.
The late George B.
Armstrong. of Teeswater
stalled the family history
records and later turned
them over to him.
"Why he turned them
over to me, never
know. But t've :done the
best I can to keep them up
to date;" he says. .
He even has a copy of
the boat ticket purchased.
by sorneof the Farrrishes
When they came to
Canada from SOlit, land in
1851.
•
Air. Famish took on a
• bigger, form Of history
book when he wrote Then
and Now.. He went from
one family to. Whole
communities of families..
His book represents
• conditions all over the
county as he remembers
them. The first half of the
hOok deals mainly with
farm life in Ashfield
Township as it was when
he was a boy'.
Mr. Farrish was born
in Ashfield Township in
1899 and lived there until
1930. The farm on which'
• he was born at R.R. 7
Lucknow is still in the
FatAISh
1922 Mr. Famish
became an associate
graduate of the Ontario
Agricultural College. at
Guelph. His family had
already • started a hat-
ching operation on their,
farm in Ashfield. In 1936
hemoved to Howick
Township ,where he
operated a hatchery in
Gorrie. He moved' this
hatchery OPeration to a
farm outside Gorrie in
1941. In 1948 he became a
Record of Performance
(R.O.P.) dairy inspector,
a job which he held until
1965. For the first few
years he travelled all
over Ontario inspecting
milk records and yearly
production rates and
doing sample testing for
butterfat. During the last
few years of this job, he
travelled in a smaller
zone. ,
Mr. Farrish also served
on the Howick Township
Council for six years;
three of these. years he
served as deputy -reeve
and one he served as
reeve. He found his
council terms very in-
teresting, he says.
In 1965 he returned to
his farm full-time. He had
a heart-attack in 4.969 and
sold the farm. He and his
wife Hilda then bought a,
house in Corrie where
they have, lived ever
since. They celebrated
their 55th wedding an-
niversary last year.
CHANGES
In his book Mr. Farrish
writes about everything
from his memories ' of
rural school concerts and "
fairs to his mother's
baking of bread. The
biggest change he has
seen in his lifetime 'has
been the- mechanization
of eyerything.
"Everything that can
be mechanized has
been," he says recalling
his days of, manual labor
on the farm.
In his 'book he also
recalls the changing
methods of tran-
.sportation. The book
contains a picture of his
family's first car --a 1914
Model "T" Ford.
Prices have changed a
lot too. Mr. Farrish
•bought his farm outside
Gorrie for $2,500 and
fixed up the run " d0w,n
buildings on it. He sold it
for $45,000. in 1969 and a
few years, ago it sold
again for $125,000. , -
"I wonder how some of
these farms today. .will
ever be paid for," he
says.
sRe feels that a lot of.the
community spirit which
used to belong to rural
communities is 'disap-
pearing. •
• "Farms are getting
bigger and the people on
them are getting fewer. It
brea-ks up the coxn-
rnunity," he says. •
• He feels that urban
sprawl has taken up a lot
•
•
of the good farm land too.
Mr. Farrish has had a
very good response to his
• book. It came out about
the same time as the
ploughing match held in
Wingham last year. 'Out
of the 500 copies he had
printed, he has 100 lefkIt,.
cost him. $2,0700 •for
printing costs, etc. This
was offset with a $1,000
government grant. The
books s'Old for $6.95 and
Mr. Farrish gave $5 of
every book sold to the
U.C.W. of Gorrie United
Church which helped him
sell, the books. They
received a total of $900 to
renovate their Sunday
school room as proceeds
from the sales. •
"It wasn't a money-
making venture for me. It
was just for The
satisfaction of doing the
job," explains Mr,
Farrish.
Perhaps the preface of
his book sums up'his
reasons best for writing
it:
"Having been born in
Ashfield Township,
September 28, 1899 and
having lived in Huron
,Gourity most of my life, I
havO seen many changes
-durifig • that period of
time. ,
•
•"It is mydesire iri these 1
pages to record some of
these changes so that
those who read them.may,
enjoy fond memories to '
those in later years and
also give the younger
generation some idea of
the life-style of people of
the earlier history of this
century..
"While we had hard-
ships to overcome, I feel
that these years were
pos-sibly the, best years \
that there ever were ot
ever will .be in this world
in which we live."
•
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