The Goderich Signal-Star, 1972-06-22, Page 8+Ar It $ 'G ERICH SIGR:AT.0•$TAR; 'MURRAY, JUNE 2t, 19'12 °
(BY W. E. ELLIOTT)
�•Thonaas Walker taught me to.
catch the a very fine fish, in
the river below the house." .
Theoman who recorded this
pleasant recollection was Henry
• Ransford; the river was the
Maitland at the site now known as
Piper's Dam, and the year was
1844. The ho sd,i hereinafter
described as ansford's third,
and which he atl,"41 Clifton, is
'long gone. N a ' identifiable
trace of it has discovered..
Henry Rans ' was a, young,
Englishman, m r ber of a noted
Sussex family;;who had been an
officer in.the arrny, is said to have
studied mediciie in. London and
Paris., and lived in Jamaica
before comin� j; o Canada. His
talents includd,surprisingly,
ability as a carp' tr,, but all his
lltravels had not•,, ought him the
.delectable exper' nee of catching
bass. Thomas- alker, his
instructor. wasl rpenter who
helped build Ra; ' d's house on
Lot 2, Maitland " ncession. He is
not otherwise ':identified by °
Ransford, but _ nils ; name Iiyeth
after .128 years''',''
The first ofl the Ransford
houses described in this
narrative wjs,the family
residence, Ndt,r;411 Buckingham
Place in Bri ii on, which; was
Henry's home ost of his life.
The second was; '!Olt in 1833-34 in,
Concession 1, iickersmith, just
east of Clinton. It was built mainly
by Ransford, aided by a ,•
handyman, Jacl Hamilton, and a
carpenter e,afned Freeman. It is
still there, `ith some later
construc/on the east end, and
is occu'pted• .b.
Willis. a dealer. in antiques. Of the
three Ransford houses, only, this
one remains!' . rector of Goderich, in his glebe
No. 1 Buckingham Place in land three miles east of the town.
Brighton tna ttay.e-been very oldi ,__ ._ The site of Ransford's new •
Ilit was nearOhe centre of that
famous s!;easide resort.
Unsuccessful' search for a
picture, togdj;with this story. led
11 finally to the,;'London office of the he caped Clifton. He -built' also•a
"Archives .of"Canada. ' From 27 v st=loll barn, a "drying house" and
Chancery;,,IJ�ane came the cattle shed.
IIinformation 'Igthat the ' " c Although very incomplete"
librarian a Brighton had no house was left unfinished for
picture of the, house. the
Mr. J. M. White, chief of the_
11 Archives' London office, writes:
Unfortunately, the house no
longer- exists. Miss Ransford
lived there' until 1916; and later
11 Lloyds Bank occupied part of the
premises. Therthen redeveloped
the site. -
'
In his account of "dates and
11 events connected with my family,°• -
1667 -1881;" Henry Ransford
gives, full particular's of the
constru'ctien of the house east of .
Clinton, •on•the estate which _he ._,.... _ -
called Stapleton. Of his first
journey home. in 1.8.33. he gives no
description whatever.
Considering.* the nature of
travel in the 1830s. his. terse "I
EIreturned to England" must stand
as one of the massive• under- ..
statements , of the time. In
contrasthe hiad plenty to say
about the journey to Canada a;nd
j�.
,1ei•t7Tr"�2ir 1.8.34— 1e-:a'n'tl�^,h`is--4e ,.,.: -
were passengers on the steamer
iiCanada. reached Buffalo and Part
Stanley by ship, London by wagon.
Somewhere north they hired a
rs°: Ide4e M ..-
On his return from England in
f834 he found that the carpenter
had donelittle .toward coinpletuig
the house, but the" Vanderburgh-
tavern was uncomfortable, so the•
Ransfgrds moved into their new
house, •
Henry relates; "I and my wife
slept on the half upper. floor,
reached by a ladder, which I had to
make before we could go to bed.
'Our kitchen, and fireplace was `a
large hemlock stump outside, our
dinner table a broad cherry board,
on top of the flour barrel. For
'chairs _ we used our trunk an
boxes, and the piano made a
capital cupboard."
Bearing in mind Ransford's
description of ,transport at the
time, ,-one. wonders .,about That
,piano, but it .may have reached'
Goderich by_• water'. `Stafford
Johnston, in a Stratford Beacon -
Herald article, some years ago,
stated that "Ransford's building
supplies, other than what could be
prepared on the spot. had to be
brought by ship to Goderich ,and
packed inland. Nails, doorknobs,
• window glass were brought in on
pack -saddle's: That still does not
a quite account for the piano, which -
five years later was moved to ,
Ransford's third house` '`in ' a
large sleigh.".
With this "Pleasant spat" and
the big house the Ransfords were
content for only five Years—or
should we say five winters. In
1839, Ransford,, found another,
pretty spot, close to Goderich and
society. He exchanged lots in
Hullett for 64 acres in, the
Maitland Concession, Lot 2, and
"began to think we should like to
move ep•tlrere. ';1-n• 1.841The bought.
Lot 1. Meantime, he "engaged a
house" of Rev. R. F. Campbell.
house was reached by" the Mill
Road, • some 13 miles from
'Stapleton. He worked hard with
Walker raising the house, which. ,•,••-
horse for Mrs. Ransford, "as the
[. wagon jolted her too much." They
found a meal and a bed at a log
house in Usborne, kept by, a
Devonshire man named'Balkwill.
Ransford had acquired from .the
Canada Company :3,400 acres in
Tuckersmith and'Hullett. In June,
1833, he "fixed on a pretty spot
overlooking. the river (B'ayfield)" a
and proceeded to getthree or four
acres cleared.
families Henry has listedas the
Hyndmans, Lizars, Gaits,
Aclands, Webbs, ° Browns ,
Hamiltons, Campbells,
McKen_zies, Kinnears, Morgans,
° leedyards and Mercer Jones.
Henry hvmnman was first
sheriff of the district. • Daniel
Lizarstwas first clerk,ofthe court
in'Huron John .Galt, son pf the
first ranada Company
Cpnatfassioner,' was registrar ,of
deeds 'and collector of customs.
Arthur Acland, an Englishman,
was county judge: George Brown
was the, first treasurer pf the
county and first treasurer of the
town at its incorporation. Thomas
Mercer Jones .„was second
to
ouses;
Henry must have returned to No. 1
B,uekingham Place His sons,
Richard and Johri, continued to
reside at Stapleton it was not
„until 1866 that drillers
encountered 'rock salt at 1172
feet. •
Richard went to England to
consult his"father He was given
permission --and tuncis—to start
a salt works; which »'as in
operationby August. 1868. Henry
carne over tor the turmai opening,
and before` ° he went , back he
erected h second salt block 'and,
other buildings. In 1870 a trestle
bridge over the rivet. connected
withthe'Grand Trunk, and soon a
commissioner of the . Canada
Company. " Hamilton" would be
Dr. Morgan ,Hamilfon, an early
physician, and ' iLedyard"
probably should read Luard. (of
Colborne). -
Lot_'1,' Maitland Concession,
now within •th'e town limits, is
sliced across by the CN railway
track, along which_ are - a few
trees,' remnant of '•Ransford's
Grove", 'or ''Woods". as an old
map has it. Many years ago it was
a popular spot for picnics.
Victoria Street Methodist Sunday
School had'its annual outing there
at tiines.In July, 1902. -according
to the Signal,. St. Peter's Church
held' a big- picnic at Ransford's
sawmill and cooperage , wei
added. According to one account,
'100 men were' employed,
- Phe Indus y- carried on for --
about 50 years, hilt in 1915• only
one well was working, and in 1918
-it was closed. Richard and John•
were partners in this enterprise
until 1907. In 19{11 • the Signal
reported that "the old plant of the
North America Chemical
Company, now controlled by John
•Ransford of Clinton. was put .in
operation after several years of
_.i.dleness." This was the
laredecebssor of l7omtarrS modern
evaporator "plant,
Basswood roof -beams at Stapleton show plainly the marks of broad -ax and•adz used by Ransford and his
carpenter in 1833-34. .•
sections. In the "English will" he
left the Buckingham Place
residence to his . daughter
Caroline, along with 300 -pounds;
to -Eugenie Marion Ransford-1,000
pounds, and the residue in trust
for Fran_ ces Bolton Confrarriail,
Robert Bolton Ransford, Marie -
Gifford Bigelow ,and Gifford
Rnsford: Trustees were Rev. R.
1*. Ransford, Clifford Ransford„
and Caroline, the unmarrie
daughter. a
In the "Canadian will" there"
was left to Richard and John -"all
Mae my lands with the salt works
and farm comprising Lots 38 and
39, Con. 1, Tuckersmith; house„
salt blocks, • sawmill, barns,
workshop, steam engine and
derrick:' -Lots 41 and 42 were
bequeathed to William Henry
- Ransford, a son in England. a
Henry Ransford died on March
28;1893. In his will—there is a
copy in Huron Historical
Society's archives—no mention
is made of Clifton. Nonetheress,
the wording of a subsequent deed
by John Ransford indicates that
his father disposed of Clifton in a
.
" will. "(Just one of those little
problems,that crop up when this
writer is 300 miles' from home - '
and the surrogate office.)'
In the year Of Henry's death
there were several' transactions,
the end result being to give
Richard and John the title to
Clifton. John sold his share to
'' Richard. In this deed, dated •Dec.
24, 1894, John ,Ransford of
Clinton',tentleman,.and his wife,
Kate,,Pugh Ransford, transferred .,
to Richard Ransford, of the. same
place, gentleman,, for $1,250,,.
"those land's and •premises
situated in -the town of Goderich,
being composed, firstly, of one-
half --share of the. farm called
-Clifton, as mentioned in and by the
registered will of the late Henry
Ransford, Lot, 1, . Maitland
Concession, 3 acres and 114
perches; also Lot '2, ' 64 acres,
except strip on east containing. 3
acres and 80 perches which was
"conveyed by the Canada Company -
for a roadway and except 2 acres
69-100 of an acre conveyed by
Henry Ran4ford to the Buffalo &
.Lake Hurorii Railway; also Lot 19 .,
in Ha-rbeur 'Fiats, ''now running —,11
number 1053, one-fifth of, an
-- acre."
There is a note in my Ransford
material to the effect that the
Stapleton house was "a,
replica of Henry' Ransford's
father's.lrouse in England." Thus,
though No, 1 Buckingham Place is
gone; it may be seen in • some
degree today in Henry's house at
Stapleton. The main room and
fireplaces are believed to, be as
Henry left them. Elaborate
woodwork over, interior doors is
original. There are coats of arms,
in the.front wall, and the massive
beams bear the marks of broad-aic
and adz. '
The Ransfords are not found at
Clifton much later than 1898, and
there is no traeeof the house.- In •
his detailed account of its
construction, Henry Ransford
made no mention of, a cellar,
which he surely would have done if
.he and Walker had 'excavated one
and hauled stone for a foundation.
Building stone lay all about him in
• the bed of the :Maitland and was
much used in later years. An.
excellent example is t=he- tariley
Whiitemap house at the foofof Mill
tRosl4l ,i14.A.t
3. •
77711,77T 7777-‘11.-T7 7-,PF77�
Stapleton, Henry Ransford's house eastof"Clinton, was built in 1833-34, partly bV"Ransford himself,
and is said 'to "be a replica of No. `1 -Buckingham Place, the family home in Brighton; Sussex. •
two years "so that the 4 -inch
planking on all the floors might -
thoroughly season" they moved in
in March, 1841. • •
Ransford sold one horse to
"Gosman, who has taken the farm
at Stapleton", but the regis.tered
owner from 1846 was Rupert
Munro. '
`At Clifton the Ransfords were
better' able to associate with
Grove, with visiting.priests, and
music by the Marine Band. r,; •
'The Ransfords' sojourn at
',Clifton was little longer than 'at
Stapleton,
"In 1846,'•', Henry wrote,
"having sold, everything for cash
or credit, 1 let my house to"Jolltn
Haldane." • -
A ,man does not "sell
everything" if moving to another
house in the area so at this time
-Richard Ransford married
Florence Hale, of Clinton, and•
they lived in the: original house at'
Stapleton, John in one of, the
cottages built for workmen. When
Richard moved to Goderich, John
Occupied the old home, Melville
G.son of John was last of the
family to own the property.
When Nenry°Ransford made his .
will in 1892, it was in two
' The carpenters will be iipkon to begin°r•enovations to our store. We
„ MUST clear out as many ' jor, items as possible to make room for' -
" them to work. Take advantage of our disadvantage and save as never
before on furniture toimprove your home.
••„
ON
MATTRESSESS» BEDROOM SUITES
• CHESTERFIELD SUITES
just about at the s rt;this
s�
�'Walk�ir tiught to aatCh�ass`in-.the wiv'er bef0w�'the linusa,'• tasted thisipartonthe Maitland, of shown j p
Henry It.OnsfOr'd whole in his memoirs. The young,„engiishrnan pioture, near Piper's Dam. p
til tt I$
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