The Goderich Signal-Star, 1973-04-26, Page 15e DjCkSOS In Goderich
the r.
'et c,,
est
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81.44
.Huron MP, reformers backed John A's
coalition and ensured Confederation
Ir. and
:e and
of N
and Mn
1Y fora,
ickson of
he heti,
nd Mn• .
e w'eeke ,:
;iris are,
it on the
de Scholl
be serve
$1.00
tht tenor
lasemet.
RED CROS;
'LE 1101,
'INC
'ELK!,
hibald Dickson settled in
scion Ili, Tuckersmith
hip. In 1833 and called
omestead Gladswood for
'place in Roxburg
:nd. When Lot 31 and the
ouse passed out of the
y 74 years later, the Trine`
dian-born Dicksons who
"parties of the, first part"
deed to John McMillan
tattered to three provin-
nd three states.
REV
P.M.
was a timber dealer in
sippi one a nurse w
arca, two were postal
in Winnipeg and Vic_
was a nurse to
it, and another 0 student
higan. Only one; the wife
farmer, resided in
lop.
inning in the offue of R.
ays, Seaforth, the
ent travelled to law of -
n seven towns and cities
nada and the United
. It is a perfect example
extent to which Ontario
people dispersed --and
do -in order, to e,i rn a
ood.
-haps some day an
teers sent to Sarnia to guard
the frpntier against Fenian
raiders. His commanding of-
ficer was "Tiger" Dunlop.
Thereafter, Dickson served for
many years in the militia, and
retired with rank of lieut.-
colonel.
He left his father's farm,
"Gladswood,". in McKillop.
township, for the 200 -acre
"Castrarnont Farm" his father
had taken up for him in the
second concession of Tucker -
smith, a few miles to the south.
Well educated in Scotland, he
became the first clerk (1845) of
Tuckersmith, and later reeve
serving five years in the council
of the United Counties of
Huron and Bruce. A successful
farmer and merchant, he was
elected to the pre -
Confederation Parliament, in
1861. No Huron' member of the
Commons since Confederation
has ever won a seat unopposed,
in a general election, but James
Dickson had no opponent in
1863. At that time, he represen-
ted more constituents than any
other member. Population of
Huron and Bruce exceeded that
of York.
1 26 YEAR - 1 7
u�oberitij ,
SIGNAL -STAR
THURSDAY, APRIL 26, 1973 SECOND SECTION
nonresident speculators who
did no work on ,the land.
James Dickson was appoin-
ted Registrar of Deeds for
Huron in 1866, and in that
capacity added 29 years of
public service. His eldest son,
Archibald, had been post-
master of Goderich since 1865,
having relinquished the
Seaforth office to his brother
Samuel. James' -youngest son,
John Turnbull, was to serve as
deputy registrar in later years.
have voted for him even had he
run as a Conservative; but they
were mainly settlers on Crown
lands, not Canada Company,
and therefore in.townships out-
side the new South Huron --
Grey, Turnberry, Howick and
Wawanosh. Had Dickson
remained in the House, he
might well have made a better
agriculture minister than Jean
Charles Chapais, a Quebec
merchant, not even in the Com-
mons but in the Senate.
L.
73
89
/i5i
ori
69
1,89
to89
511
381
.8'
21,31
swood, once the home of Archibald Dickson, who
rated from Scotland In 1833, stands on Lot 31, Con. III,
KIIIop, near the Roxboro corner. Strongly built,of field
ne, the house had been unoccupied four years when
chased last year by Mr. and Mrs. H. Enzensberger,
son St., Goderich. When they have completed
Welling they will live there. In this picture is Roxboro,
KIIIop Township, with memorial to the first settlers in
round, and Gladswood, the Dickson house, across
bridge.
ate history of the Dickson
in Huron will be written
researcher with a
nable life expectancy,
patience and, rrore than a
money. ''•Stch a history
, at least" in part, a
of the Scott family, not
because it migrated to
lop at the same time as
icksons, but because
and Robert Scott, sons
1833 pioneer Robert, in
sion 1I, married Isabelle
and -Agnes, daughters of
bald Dickson in Con-
n 1II, across the road,
merged the families.
present narrative
is to be principally -the
ori 'of James Dickson,
son of Archibald. He
d in Huron with his
in 1833, at the start of
unty's development, and
ny ways left his mark in
urse of the next 62 years.
VED WITH "TIGER"
21, he joined the volun-
"He was a fluent, forceful
speak&," the ' Huron Signal
stated,"a good reasoner and a
tireless worker. A genial, jovial
disposition made him popular
with' his fellow members."
Dickson came to the rescue of
settlers in a number of Crown
Land townships •who through
frauds perpetrated by
speculators lost their farms.
This scandal developed while
William Caley, of Toronto; was
member. Dickson defeated him
in 1861, and sought a remedy
for the settlers' grievances. The
result was a royal commission,
and the restoration of settlers'
land. Somewhat coincidental
was a' recognition by county
council that the settlers could
not meet a government demand
for payment by Jan. 1, 1860, of
arrears on Crown lands. There
had been a bad "crop year in
1858, most farmers were in
debt to 'merchants, and council
called for modification of the
order. Council requested also
that settlement conditions he
thereafter enforced against
REFORMERS AIDED
In politics a Reformer, Jaynes
Dickson and some other mem-
bers of his party supported the
Great Coalition which brought
about Confederation. The
Belleau -Macdonald govern-
ment needed such support to
accomplish the union of the
Provinces, and it came from
Hon. George Brown, head of
the Clear Grits; Hon. William
'M-Dnu-gaitr•former-member-fsw
the Scotch -and -Reform riding
of North Oxford; H"on..
W.P.Howland, of Toronto, and
other Reformers.
In that part of Huron in
which Dickson lived, it is said
of him, after more than a cen-
tury, that he "turned;" that is,
he supported the coalition
headed by Hon. John A. Mac-
donald. The Huron Signal
(W.T.Cox, editor) alluded to
Dickson's "unparalleled con-
duct" -which was unparalled
nonsense -but the same
newspaper at a later date of-
fered belated justice. Dan
McGillicuddy, as belligerent a
Liberal as any in Huron, wrote
in 1895 of Dickson:
"He was in favor of represen-
tation by population. He
believed the Upper Canada
'majority was being 'governed by
a Lower Canada minority. This
principle of representation by
population having been
recognized in the scheme
providing for Confederation of
the Provinces, Mr. Dickson
gave the coalition government
his unflinching support until
Confederation was an accom-
plished fact."
Hon. Mr. Howland, - a
wealthy mill owner in the
Humber valle, became
lieutenant -governor of Ontario;
McDougall was Minister of
Public Works in the first
Dominion government, and
George Brown continued to
exercise great influence
through the columns of the
Globe. James Dickson did not
seek re-electiotr in_ 1.867. It has
been said that the Settlers
whose lands were restored to
them through his help would
If Macdonald had anything
fo with Dickson's appoint-
ment as Registrar, it is not in -
•to ated in the Gazette; the
notice therein was from "the of-
fice of th€s,, Provincial
secretary," not that of the At-
torney -General, who in any
CH -C was in England at the
time The Provincial Secretary
ll,
one Hon. William
Reformers n rD i)g
tof the
oalttron.
John (;alt, son of the first
Canada Company coni -
Dickson parted company rnrssioner, was registrar of
with such distinguished men as deeds for many years before
Macdonald, Alexander c'o,,cfederation. The post
Mackenzie (a future prime became vacant upon his sudden
minister), Oliver Mowat, R.J. death, May 21, 1866, in Ot-
Cartwright, Hon. John Carling, tawa. He was there to discuss
Hon. George E. Cartier and procedure set up by a new
Hon. A.T. Galt.. He quit Registry Act. The Huron Signal
C.astramont, his model farm in , n May 24 published a rrotic•e of
Tuckersmith, for a cottage in halt's death, promising that an
Goderich, his home for the rest uhruary would follow later.
of his life. Diligent search of subsequent
issues failed to turn up any
In 1861, Dickson had - . h ;irtic•le. In the .June 21
d e f e ii t e . i j liaxm . I � ;-..ao. ....l y.. ,e- I-� .,;: a;;;Tic; Nm rv.•... �,, r; - -iii"reel.-1.1•r' wer....,.,a.� ._ tfaIrg ht er ,._
t �a rated th�t�htckson
Toronto, for the Huron -Bruce
seat. Cayley had won it twice
previously, but in- this, his fifth
contest in Huron, he lost to the New legislation,' along with
resident candidate, as on a the registrar's death, evidently
previous occasion (.1857) he , a lled for emergency work at
had lost to John Holmes of ;he registry office. In June, a
lawyer named Duncan Shade
Gooding applied to county
council for the balance of
$3,000 allowed for this work.
The payment was authorized,
and the deputy registrar,
probably D. Fraser, was
requested to complete_ the in-
dexing "as economically and
quickly as possible."
The Huron Signal in the
closing weeks of 1866 pic-
tured what was going on inthe
busy marts of trade in
Goderich. J. C. Detlor, of the
Emporium, announced the
arrival of a lot of buffalo robes
The Goderich Axe Factory,
operated by John McPherson at
Waterloo and Lighthouse
streets, offered "warranted
homemade" axes. Just opened
. at the Signal office was a case
of meerschaum pipes, to be sold
cheap for cash. Equipment for
the manufacture of salt had
been completed at the Saltford
well. At 'Roxburgh, there was
born, Oct. 26, to the wife of
h,rd been "thought of for the
position.
"Phis would be the Brewer who -
hought the Roxburgh grist mill
from James Scott in 1860.
BLASTED BY SIGNAL
Into . this placid scene in-
truded W. T. Cox, editor and
Castramont, brick residence built some time In the 1850s for James Dickson, Is on Lot 15,,
Con. 11, Tuckersmith, near Seaforth. It has 14 rooms, three fireplaces, original pine floors
upstairs and Interior walls of two bricks thickness. The front door, with side windows Is a
fine specimen of Its period. -
James Dickson, who came from Roxburghshlre, Scotland,
in 1833, was farmer, merchant, county councillor, member
of the Legislative Assembly, and for 29 years Registrar for
Huron.
proprietor, with a frosty recep-
tion: for a new citizen of the
town:
- "And so . 'Honest James
Dickson' of Huron is at last
shelved as County Registrar.
We felt_ confident of his being
capable of such an act :after
having once 'crossed the
Rubicon' and are not therefore
surprised at his appointment.
Many of his old friends.
however, declared to the last
that the thing was utterly im-
possible, but they will now he
completely .undeceived. Well,
we have expressed our opinion
of Mr. Dickson's unparalleled
conduct, and all we wish to add
is that wfien `he removes to
Story and Photos
by
W.E. Elliott
Goderich he will have no dif,
ficulty in finding kindred
,spirits amongst the few who
think,he did right, inasmuch as
they would have done the same
if they had had the chance."
At the end of 1866, whether
Dickson by this time knew or
cared, a •young Goderich
lawyer, for some years on the
town council, had decided to
contest South Huron as Reform
candidate for the House of
Commons. Editor
McGillicuddy has left on record
that Malcolm Colin Cameron
had applied to Attorney -
General Macdonald for appoin-
tment as a judge, and that he
had -been turned down.
Cameron, according to this ac-
count, harbored a grudge
against . Macdonald and
decided to run against the Con-
servative candidate. He was
nominated by a Reform con-
vention at Clinton and went on
to defeat D. H. Ritchie of
Bayfield, former county clerk.
He won by i 71, and thereafter -
was in Parliament almpst con-
tinuously until 1898. '
to be continued
39,
BAG
423'
1.29' .*p :*
Holmesville. In the 1863 elec-
tion, Dickson was unopposed
On Noy. 16, 1866, the date or
his appointment as Registrar,
he was only 50,.and in ordinary
circumstances should have felt
no apprehension about another
campaign. He was in business
in Seaforth, and also operating
the 200 -acre Castram .. :,rm
In 'his 1863 campaign ad' 'r
tising he had stood square
upon the Reform platform, ad-
vocating: "Representation by
population, no increase in the
public debt, sale of Crown
lands in tht''tnterests of speedy
settlement, improvement and
amendment of municipal law."
69(
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Pkture of
silty
fak Dsstramont, with the full verandah which originally belonged to i1, was
Mr a^d Mrs. nwhen wan about 1915, owned by W. L. Forrest, of Goderich. It fs now the home
According to reliable sources,
Dickson had become an in-
timate friend of Macdonald. If
so, he was not the only Refor-
mer who had succumbed to
r,John A's personal charm. Mac-
donald's power to inspire
devotion extended beyond his
party. Sir .John Willison in his
Reminiscences wrote: "I have
known, grey-haired i.iberals
who had persuaded themselves
that. the Conservative leader
was the favorite offspring of the
father of all evil disarmed by n
few quick, happy, spontaneous
sentences, spoken carelessly
enough but which penetrated to
the very marrow of their self-
esteem." ,
This building, on the west side of Main street, Seaforth, was postmaster until he became postmaster of Qoderich
was erected by James Dickson in 11363, and here he had d " ,In 1865, then Samuel Dickson was appointed. The
store after removing from Egmondvllle. The post office building"'has been greatly altered.
was In this building from 1863 to 1869. Archie Dickson -