The Goderich Signal-Star, 1973-01-18, Page 24PAGE 10A—GOD :f 1CH SIGNAL=STAR, THURSDAY, JANUARY 18, 197,3
"John Wilson. with Lamb•"""
Caomer, Michael and Valen-
tine Fisher, were sent up from
York in a schooner at the
Canada Company's expense.';
Thus the Belden,,,ittlas in its
chapter on the early history of
Goderich. Like the little
Mayflower, which 200 years
earlier -had brought the Pilgrim
t~ athers to Ametica; - the,
schooner which arrivedwhere in
1829, via the first Welland
That schooner docked at, a
makeshift wharf in the mouth
'•'f the Menesetung, and doub-
tless sped back to York while
the party from Vaughan town-
ship settled in to help get the
Canada Com panv's
colonization project off the
ground. \It was in this year that
John Galt, friend of the set-
tlers, was replaced as com-
missioner by Thomas Mercer
Jones._.
III (correct
name) and Jacob Cummer
,: four, not far from the foot of
harbor hill. Today they belong
mostly to the Canadian Pacific
Railway, some perhaps to Im-
perial Oil, or even Upper Lakes
Shipping. In the beginning they
were numbered from 1, but now
are in the 1,,000 series in Plan
7.
Willson built on the flats the
first tannery in the Huron
Tract; lminchir%g__whatfor years _
thereafter was the industrial
centre of -the settlement. He
built his house there also, as
of the fancily returned about
1834 to ,York. The Fishers
stayed here, as attested _ .by
rural mail .boxes in Colborne;
the 26 names in Goderich
telephone directory, and the at-
tendance at FAMILY
REUNIONS. Their connections
include Snyders, G•irms, Teb-
buts, • Sowerbys, McMichaels
and .many other families.
Michael Fisher's story is to
well known to call :To•r
elaboration here. A well -to --do
millwright. 44 at this time, he
Commencing in 1830 with John Willson's tannery, the first
Goderich -induilltries developed on the"' harbor. flats. In
foreground of the picture is the trestle of a sawmill. Many
residences were built in the area, everything centering about
Canal, carried some of our
"first families- The York linen
brought their women. (A
Willson baby was born he_ renin
1830.)
(correct spelling) bought lots on
the flats at the lake front, four-
fifths of an acre each. (Town
lots in general were two-fifths
of an acre. Willson had at least
the port. The picture, date uncertain, • would• hardly be
recognizable now but for the lighthouse, built on the present
site in 1853. The print is from a glass negative made
available by George Jenner, Quebec St.
did other men in business at
the waterfront. The pioneer
tannery was afterwards
operated by Jacob Seegmiller.
Wiljon and other members
IC was rather al gloomy end to left_ among our -fellows, until
1972, with 'the deaths of Captain Bilge rushed at .him
scrappy HarryTruman and and struck him flat across the
that fine Canadian, Mike Pear;, mouth with a banana skin."
son, and the eternal shootings ' That's the humour of in -
among . the mad Irish, and the cong'r,uity. Here's an example of
earthquake in Nicaragua. - the humour of -heartlessness, of
°So let's get off on the right' which a master was Harry
foot for the next twelve months Graham. Try writing some of
'With -something a little lighter. :your own.
Some columnists are smart The ice upon, our pond's so thin
enough to keep a..file 'of funny
or unusual things that hap-
pened during' the previous year,
so that they have a ready-made
column just after New ,Year
The_ only funny or unusual.
thinrg'around our, place is my
filing -system. I just took a look
at it, eighteen inches high all
over -my desk, picked up Amy
typewriter and moved to the
dining -room table. There's
nobody here but us crumbs.
Whereby I decided to pass
along some things that I con-
sider amusing, with the hope
that`' you will too. They're not
original, and are culled from.
the centuries.
Here's. Stephen Leacock
describing an encounter with a
pirate ship: "The two ships
were brought side by side. They
were then lashed tightly
together with' bag 'string and
binder twine, and a gangplank
laid between them. In a
moment the , pirat8s_ swarmed
upon our deek,-Ivolling their
eyes, gnashing their teeth and
filing their nails."
And as he relates the ensuing
carnage: "I noticed one gigantic
feilbw brandishing a knotted ,
towel,_ and striking right and
That poor Mamma has fallen
in
We cannot reach her from the
shore `
Until the surface freezes more.
'Ah 'rne,.m..yhear
-heart :grgws weary
waiting—
„Besides, I want to have some
skating.
Another of his was`
In the drinking -well
Which the plumber built her
Aunt Eliza fell:.
We must buy a filter.
Here's a touch of -the ironic:
And I'd like to ask my friend
Dr. Hackstetter to please note.
-The denunciation of the
young is a necessary partof the
hygiene—of- older :people, and
greatly assists the circulation of
their blood." •
How about a, couple from
Ogden Nash, that great
humorist in verse. This one's
° entitled Song Of The Open,
'Road:
I think that I shall never.. see
A' billboard lovely as a tree.
Indeed, unless the billboards
fall, • -
I' 1 I never see 'a tree at all.
That's typically American in
theme and content, but here's a
little couplet of his that is sym-
bolic and universal.
If you hear the scream of a pan-
ther •
Don't anther.
I can't resist one .more Ogden
Nash, and if you haven't read
him, buy a copy. This is called
Reflections On Ice -Breaking
Candy
Is dandy
But liquor
Is' quicker. „
Then, of course,- there's the
epigram, a very bribf witty ob-
.servation--Its_ master •was.. Oscar.
Wilde, who came to a bad end,
in more ways than one. But our
sample will be from Hillaire
Belloc, Entitled On His Books.
- When I am dead, 1 hope it may
be said:
His sins were scarlet, but his
books were read.
The appointment of
Lyle' R. Zurbrigg to
the post of manager
of the Goderich office
of Victoria -and- Grey
' Trust is announced by
the`company.,Mr. Zur-
brigg, who succeeds
Mr. Leaianj Hill, was
most recently
Assistant Internal
Auditor, working out '
of the Stratford office.
where he -took as\keen
interest in focal, af-
fairs.
-was. to. oiNtr
tibia. quitclaimed med to Willson, transfer to the party of • the suasion. . He was unab
who willedrityto his family and sixth part. The vendors were tell me how - m
the. cliff. it went to Cummer. Jacob Willsons, Jeffreys, Lobbs and Presbyterians them were in
'These "Mayflower'' peopI le prudent man, had• made, his Hales. - town.")•
were all related by ,marriag `will in 18:34. It was probated 37 (When Rev. William' Proud,; -._-_,Richard Hawley was the
John Willson 111 married Mary years •later, and bequeathed foot, Presbyterian missionary, who built in 1860 the big h
Cummer, eldest daughter of four lots to: his family. Cum- _.visited Goderich in.1832, he on the Huron road. --op
Jacob and secondly a daughter mer's executors transferred breakfasted at Reid's hotel CIayton Laithwaite's which
of the eldest sister of Michael these four lots" to the executors with "Mr. - Hale, storekeeper, been generally known as
Fisher: Daniel Cummer was a of John Willson IV, and they who favors the Methodist per- Curzon house.
brother-in-law of Willson. sold the land to'Richard
__. Willsort's eldest daughter was, Hawley, "off Detroit, mer- p
c &At-" i'he Hawley family nyauu ptiul Lighting his I .
'' a, .-married to William Jeffrey, his h. y yin
ar
third daughter to Wm. C. 'Electric
n 1909 sold two of the lots to the Heating
Crawford, and another Guelph & Goderich Railway for9
oft the hill where, Hibernia
street was before it slid down
evidently daughter to Charles Lobb.. A $35 000 and made
list of' marriages in 18:32 shows out all right. The next-door lot, "INDUSTRIAL - COMMERCIAL"
104Art1171,9.1d. , tt th , : IDENTiAL* WIRING
Methodist r LI Y•1]Jt Capt-. Wm. Babb _.
Episcopal Church, married When the Willson ,lots were
Thomas B. Hate • and Jane sold to Hawley in 1871, the _ — •
Willson, both of Goderich, and deed required the signatures of
Jane probably was one of the 10 persons, • parties of the first,.
same Willsons. • second, third, fourth and fifth CAMBRIA RD. N.
John- Willson IV' was the Parts; in order to make' the 62
only child of his father's' first `)
marriage, and consequently a
half-brother of the other
. children. Jacob, John " III's
eldest son• by his second
marriage, was a friend of
William Dillon Otter,- later
commander of the Canadians
in South Africa, and he named
his son Otter Willson. Miss
d Pinfold, of London,
Ont.Mild,reis a granddaughter of Ot-
ter Willson.
Though John Willson III and
other members of the. family
returned to York about.. 1834,
they held property on the flats
here 9r many years,- and the
record of inter -family transac-
tions is fantastic. In thecase of
Lot 1046 (as now numbered)`
Will,s_o__,n„-s old to Jacob Cummer.
John" ilNon IV got it by deed
poll .from the sheriff. Charles
bought 5,465 acres in Colborne
in 1830, much of, this land in
the Maitland Concession. In
the following year he built a
shack on what is now Albert
Durst's farm, -andfive years
later the stone- house standing
today. He had seven sons and
three daughters. -
Valentine Fisher „bought
Reid's hotel on the flats, and
",Judge" Reid built atrer up
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Isn't . that a nice ,example of
the pun, as well -as saying in
two lines something about the
monsti=ous pride of the writer? \
Here's another by Belloc. It's
called, simply, Epitaph On My
Wire:
Here lies= my wife.
Here lies she. .
Hallelujah!
Hallelujee! ,
Then there• is the limerick.
Some of the funniest (and
foulest) verses in the language
are found in this form. But this
is simply ele:•. er, or cleverly
The
e -
The bottle of perfume that
Willie sent -
Was highly: displeasing, to
Millicent;
Her thanks were so cold
They quarreled, I'm told
Through that silly scent Willie
sent Millicent.
The fine art of satite has
fallen into lethargy these.days,-
except perhaps among political
cartoonists, where it is- often
merely cruel, rather than witty.
But the -Roman. satirist, Mar-
tial, wrote a verse that is just
as modern,as it was 2,000 years
ago.
The golden hair Fabulla wears
Is hers. Who can deny it?
She swears- 'tis hers, and true
she swears
For 1 did see her buy it.
-Many Canadians tend to
take life very seriously. I hope
these sarnples, ninety per cent
of which were taken from
school- texts, will help dispel)
that preoccupation.' . So.
Whether your troubles are kids,
or parents, or old people, or
unrequited love, remember, you
have'only one life.' And this is
it. Enjoy.
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