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The Huron Expositor, 1996-07-10, Page 44—THIS HURON IXPO$ITOR, July 10, 1 Your Community Newspaper Since 1860 TERRI-LYNN DALE - General Manager & Advertising Monger MARY MfU.OR - Sales PAT ARMES - Office Manager DIANNE McGRATH • Subscriptions' & Classifieds DAVE SCOTT - Editor GREGOR CAMPBELL - Reporter BARB STOREY - distribution A Bowes Publishers Community Newspaper SUBSCRIPTION RATES LOCAL • 32.50 a year, in advance, plus 2.28 G.S.T. SENIORS: • 30.00 a year, in advance, plus 2.10 G.S.T. USA & Foreign: 32.50 a year in advance, plus $78.00 postage, G.S.T exempt SUBSCRIPTION RATES: Published weekly by Signal -Star Publishing at 100 Main St., Seoforth. Publication mail registration No. 0696 held of Seaforth, Ontario. Advertising is accepted on condition that in the event of o typographical error, the advertising space occupied by the erroneous item, together with o reasonable allowance for signature, will not be charged, but the balance of the advertisement will be paid. for at the applicable rote. In the event of a typographical error, advertising goods or services at wrong price, goods or services may not be sold. Advertising is merely an offer to sell and may be withdrawn at any time. The Huron Expositor is not responsible for the loss or damage of unsolicited manuscripts, photos orother materials used far reproduction purposes. Changes of address; orders For subscriptions and undeliv- enable copies are to be sent to The Huron Expositor. - Wednesday, July 10, 1996 Editorial and Business Offices - 100 Main Street.,Seaforth Telephone (519) 527-0240 Fax (519) 527-2858 Mailing Address - P.O. Box 69, Seaforth, Ontario, NOK 1 WO Member of the Canadian Community Newspaper Association, Ontario Community Newspapers Association and the Ontario Press Council Letters to the Editor Store owner saddened and sickened by loss in recent fire Dear Residents of Seaforth Regardless of my decision and Area: to re -open I implore the citi- I am saddened and sickened zens of Seaforth and area to by the recent loss of my support the stores and busi- store. I'm -further saddened nesses in our community. I by the destruction caused to think that you would be sur - the downtown and to the prised as to what is actually -othep-sioasaivbusimpasss -end:-. available -in Seaforth and the homes. - hard work and dedication that I cannot commend the it takes to keep a business running. At times, I feel that I have lost everything but my "assis- tant manager" reminds me what life is all about and that I haven't lost anything that can't be replaced. Thanks again for your sup- port. Count your blessings and live for today, who knows what tomorrow may bring. Sincerely Karen Campbell -Taylor Something for Everyone General Store Seaforth, Clinton and Goderich Firefighters enough for their efforts. The selfless dedication and sacrifices that they made were remarkable. Thank you to all of those who have helped me and encouraged me over the past few months. and especially over the last few days. Your kind words of concern and support have meant a great deal to me. Thank you to my vendors for standing behind me. Congratulations to fire departments Dear Editor: that the owners of the build - Congratulations to the ing intend to rebuild and thus Seaforth, Clinton and retain our historic Goderich Fire Departments streetscape. for their careful handling of the fire on Main Street on June 30. We sincerely hope Paul Copeland Anne Copeland Seaforth Doctor researching local pioneer of cancer treatment Dear Editor: I am currently doing some resear'ch into the life and career of Dr. Alexander Moir, a native and longtime resi- dent of Hensall, Ontario and I would like the help of your readers in finding more infor- mation about him. Dr. Moir was horn in 1874 in Hensall. Following gradu- ation from the University of Manitoba, he practised briefly in that province before returning to Hensall. He established his practice in Hensall some time before 1920. Around 1929, in association with a local lawyer by the name of Stanbury, he pur- chased a supply of radium, and opened the Huron Springs Sanatorium, where he treated patients with can- cer. The building which housed the sanatorium is still visible approximately one and a half kilometres south of Hensall on the east side of highway #4. I would be very pleased to hear from any of your readers who have either. personal reminiscences or other infor- mation about Dr. Moir and his sanatorium. I would be particularly interested to hear from anyone who can lead me to further information about the arrangement that was made between Mr. Stanbury and Dr. Moir for the purchase of radium. Correspondence can be directed to me at: Kingston Regional Cancer Centre, 25 King Street West, Kingston, On. K7L 5P9. Yours sincerely, Charles R.R. Hayter, MD, FRCPC Radiation Oncologist Stark built business from scratch (First to a two-part special summer Scuttlebutt exclusive series, the so-called "Seaforth sagas for a sunny day", which concludes next week with en amazing but itbsolutejy true tate of the fire wall that saved Main Street twice - 120 years apart!) A poor but plucky Irish cobbler found new life in the New World and had risen to prominence as a businessman here in Seaforthby 1877, when he built the old yellow . brick building now barricad- ed on Main Street that burnt down 11 days ago. His name was Sam Stark and his story goes way back, right to the town's beginnings when it was little more than a swamp at a crossroads. The Stark family spent their first night in Huron County in the first (and at that time the only) building in Seaforth, the log cabin owned by our first settler Andrew Steen which had been built in 1842, just off Main on what is now Goderich Street near the intersection, along the Huron Tract, which itself had only been completed 14 years previous. Stark came to Canada in 1848 in his early 30s. He was born in Killakeen, County Limerick, Ireland, and we may surmise without taking much risk his leaving had more than a little to do with "the Great Hunger", a mas- sive potato famine from which that country has still. not fully recovered and which dramatically decimat- ed the population by about 3 1/2 -million people in the six years between 1845 and worldly possessions packed in a large red bandanna, Sam set out to visit homes with. daughters of marriageable age. Those he wanted refused him flat, but in one home, where there was a large fami- ly, one older and not so beau- tiful, eautiful, consented willingly to share his fate - good or bad - and he accepted her. It was an adventure, she used to tell, that she never regretted:" Stark first settled at Richmond Hill; near Toronto. About five years later the family spent. its first night in Huron in the log cabin of the Steens, on their way to their new home a hop, skip and a jump to the north-west, in Roxboro which was then thriving. Our Seaforth enters history 1851. All told about because of the ambitions of 1,500,000 Irish men, women such pioneers, emanating and children starved to death, from this log cabin at the and by 1848 the exodus of crossroads, under a wooden emigration across the sign that pointed to greener Atlantic to escape tight land- pastures in Egniondville, lords and this disastrous epi- Goderich and Ainlayville demic on the romantic (now Brussels) and read "Emerald Isle" was at its ' "Guide Board Swamp." fevered peak. As Mrs. Campbell phrased A NOVEL APPROACH it: He may not have had a lot "For years the swamp, flat of coin, but this Sam who and soggy, remained a deso- 'surfaced in the swamp that late area, except for the became Seaforth was certain- sound of wild life, such as ly no slouch, and apparently the croaking of the frogs, the quite a character, as an anec- song of the birds and the rus- dote in Belle Campbell's The tle of wild animals frisking Story of Seaforth clearly through the almost impene- reveals: trable virgin forests" "When he was about to ROXBORO COBBLER leave Ireland he only had Sam was a shoemaker and enough of this world's good this is the trade he again to pay the ocean passage for took up at Roxboro, two. To attain success in the His obituary, written little new land, someone told him less than a half -century; later it was impo ant that he take' in The Huron Expositor a wife' with him. So, with his under the headline "Another, Trends, figures in Canada have changed Some dramatic figures and trends in our country jump out at you from an anaylsis of Canadian social trends in the last three decades, since Expo 67, recently researched by The Globe and Mail, using various official ministry sources and Stats Canada. Between then and now, for instance: • Our net public debt rose from $17.2 billion to $578.4 billion, which works out to a Link Broken", notes: "After a time he removed to Seaforth and was one of the earliest residents of the town. He engaged in business here and was quite successful, being at one time a large property holder." Belle Campbell's research further indicates the Steens and Starks remained close when the latter built a home and set up a shoe shop in Seaforth: "Steen's log cabin (which burnt out in 1878) was quite near the Stark home and shop... but by 1878 James Sparling & Co. were using it (the Starks) as a gro- cery store." By this time Seaforth was a boom town, in every sense of the description, and apparent- ly Mr. Stark was no longer a man of little means, being one of many local business- men with big bucks who rebuilt Main Street in the wink of an eye within two years, after 12 acrcs in town were left a smoldering ruin in the "great fire of September 1876", which we will take a closer look at in next week's chronicle. But in 1877 Sam. built the brick building that burnt this past Canada Day weekend, and is now a shell on Main. A TYPICAL CELT Stark was born in 1821, and 27 -years -old when he left Limerick. He was a typical Celt of Irish strain in that he -loved to both talk and argue, as the Expositor remembered in the summing up of his life: , "He did a great deal of con- veyancing and work of -that kind in the early days. He retired from business, howev- CONTINUED on page 5 since Expo 67 per capita increase of U.S., Germany, Greece) $843.62 to $19,308.55. whearas in 1996 they were all • Life expectancy rose 6.3 Asian (Hong Kong/ 31,740, years for men and 5.9 years India, Philippines, China Sri for women, while infant mor- Lanka). ' tality per 1000 live births fell • Population rose from 20.4 from 22 to 6.28, million to 30.0 million and the gross domestic product per capita (in 1986. prices) increased to $20,437.60 from' $11,674.80. • Single parent families have increased 180 per cent and thc divorce rate has • Our top five sources of immigration in 1967 were all from the United States or European ( Britain with the largest single total of 62,420, followed in order by Italy, increased 393 per cent. • The homicide rate per 100,000 increased from 1.66 to 2.04. • Out -of -wedlock births soared to 35 per cent of total live births. In 1967 the corre- sponding figure was 8.3 per cent. Last week Statistics Canada announced it plans to stop tabulating figures for mar- riage and divorce. Mitchell papertarnishes town reputation FROM THE PAGES OF THE HURON EXPOSITOR JULY 17, 1896 UNJUST` AND MISLEAD- ING - In its repdrt of the lacrosse match between Mitchell and Seaforth on Tuesday of last week, the Mitchell Recorder gives a very unjust and misleading account, and one that will tend to put not only our team, but the town as well, in an unfavorable and unsavory light before all lovers of jus- tice and fair play. We can hardly think that the Recorder would knowingly so grossly compromise the truth, and we are willing to put the more generous con- struction on the article in question and consider that the editor of the Recorder has been misinformed. This paper states that the Mitchell players were "pounded until they were all cuts and scars," and that they had to contend against not only the lacrosse team but the whole town as well. These statements, as every person who was at the match is aware, lack even a semblance of truth. The Mitchell players were treated in a most gentle- manly way by our players, and were never once inter- fered with by the crowd. We are well aware that after the game was over and the crowd was leaving the grounds that the referee was attacked by a young fellow who, unfortu- nately, allowed his anger and enthusiasm to get the better of him, but his conduct was not countenanced by either the players or by those in attendance at the match, and we are sure that none were more sorry that thc affair took place than the players and members of the Beaver lacrosse club, who always In the Years Agone desire, and have a reputation for treating their opponents in a gentlemanly and sports- manlike manner, whether they are victorious or not. The Recorder owes an apolo- gy to the members of our lacrosse team and to the citi- zens of the town for its untruthful account, and when it has been rightly informed we arc sure that it will have the good judgement and fair- ness,to rectify its mistake. JULY 15,1921 DUBLIN - On Friday evening last lightning struck the residence of Mr. Joseph Nagle, Hibbert, and demol- ished one of the chimneys. The bolt followed the pipe down to the furnace and then into two air registers and upset the chairs in the large double parlor and passed out over the telephone wire. Mr. Nagle was in the house at the time, but did not know that the house had been struck until Mrs. Nagle called his attention to the smoke and smell of sulphur. A large hole was torn in the roof and the gable moved about four inches. The dam- age is covered by insurance. On Saturday the barn of Mr. Patrick O'Rourke, McKillop, was struck by lightning but no damage was done. * * * OCCUPYING THEIR NEW BLOCK - G.A. Sills & Sons have moved their hard- ware stock into the new block opposite the town hall on Main Street which they pur- chased last spring from the Kidd Estate, and which has been entirely remodelled and fitted for their own use. The block, which has a front, side and rear entrance, with elevator, consists of basement and three stories, which gives them ample room for display, workroom and storage, while the main store on the corner is one of the largest, best equipped and finest appearing hardware stores in Western Ontario. JULY 19, 1945 His Excellency Field Marshall Lord Alexander, Governor-General of Canada, will officiate at the opening ceremonies in connection with the International Plowing Match, to be held at Port Albert, near Goderich, from October 15 to 18, it is announced by 1.A. Carroll, Secretary -Manager of thc Ontario Plowmen's Association. Gordon McGavin, Walton, is President of thc Ontario Association. October 15, the first day, is given over entirely to plow- ing events confined to Huron County farmers, so thc offi- cial ceremonies in which Lord Alexander will take part will be held on Wednesday, Oct. 16, the first day of open events. A three-man gang early Monday cracked open the safe in the general storc of Restmeyer & Miller at the main intersection of Dashwood and escaped with over $1,000 in cash, bonds and cheques. Duncan Snider, who lives next door to the store, said he heard the men smashing the safe but at first believed it coming from the operators working in the building he dressed and reached the street just as the thieves drove off in their car. Mr. W.O. Goodwin, well- known businessman of Mensal!, left Montreal by' plane at 11:30 a.m. Monday morning for England, where he expect's to spend a month visiting•with his mother, who is over 84 years of age, and whom he has not seen since .1918. He was, expected to make the trip in 12 hours. A cable received by his wife confirmed that he had arrived safely. JULY 22, 1971 While the secondary school teachers' salary dispute with the Huron County Board of Education is still unsettled and the hoard is unable to offer any indication of whether or not secondary schools in the county of Huron will open on schedule in September, members of thc board Monday evening ratified an agreement with the Huron County elementary school teachers for the upcoming school year. According to the schedule, the starting salary for teach- ers in Category 1 will be $5,400 with the maximum of $7,30( reached in six years; Category 2, $5,800 starting to $8,800 maximum in ninc years; and Category 3, $6,300 starting salary and $10,500 maximum after 12 years of experience. Elementary school princi- pals' salaries range from a maximum of $14,000 to a maximum of $18,000 per annum depending on the number of teachers on staff in a school and the maximum for a vice-principal in any elementary school in the county is $14,500.