The Goderich Signal-Star, 1979-02-08, Page 19•
Arthur Smith house, 88 Arthur Street, left
to his daughter, Dr. Florence Smith
Shoes for barefooted was his boast
'
GODERICH SIGNAL -STAR, THURSDAY, FEBRUARY 8, 1979—PAGE 3A
Tanner produced leather and vigorous thought
BY
W. E. ELLIOTT
PROCLAMAT1dN! in
bold type on Page 1
caught the attention of
Huron Signal readers
during part of 1854.
The notice continued:
"Whereas all persons
born barefooted must
have leather, either for
boots or shoes, W. GThrid'n
A. Smith are now in full
operation in their new
brick tannery two doors
north of Mr. Jacob
Seegmiller's residence on
Waterloo street."
That tannery stood for
more than a century, to
be replaced on the "'ap-
proximate site by
Crescent View apartment
block. It had ceased
operation as a tannery for
some time before Arthur
and Frank Smith, sons of
Williamaold _ to
Melvin Howell.
In 1949, W. H. Rober-
tson paid $4,100 for the
building as a place to
store old , files of the
''rti,41:142/7g
Arthur Smith's tannery building in the winter of 1963-4
ir •
1.4444.4.
W.1
4.4
140,
- • "..
• 1,-4004.44 ,• • .
• ;
4sor otirrMs 4a.430
Tannery under demolition; at left is sign announcing new
apartment block
Say it with a gift from
6111666
VISA
EMEMMIN
Goderich weeklies - a
history of the town bet-
ween their covers. Rain
entered through broken
windows, the floor in time
gave way, and many files
turned into .a soggy,
useless mass.
Among these were files
containing the obituary of
Arthur Smith hirrlself,
- accoidingly not available
for this article. The same
blackout hides his wife,
Mary.
William Gamble Smith
was born in Rochester,
N.Y. His parents were
from Ireland; what part
is not known. They
moved to a farm near
London, Ont., where
William became an
apprentice in the leather
trade. He was in business
in Chatham and later
Sarnia, coming to
Goderkh_ in 1844„ at the
ageofit2h1.
,w
a brother, the
late Alexander Smith,”
the Signal recalled at the
time of William's death in
1911, "he became in-
terested in the salt
business, and abqut 1864
the brothers built the
tannery on Waterloo
street."
Salt was discovered
here in 1866. Earlier than
that, any "salt business
must have • been that of
importer. It is recorded
that Jacob Seegmiller of
Waterloo traded pork and
whiskey here for hides,
salt, fish and money."
That salt would be from
Detroit. Then again,
there may have been no
comma, in the Signal
account, between salt and
fish!
With the tannery in
operation, Alexander
Smith disappears.. No
record of him has been
found, nor of a brother
with whom William ...
was in btisiness in
Chatham. The tannery
site, purchased in 1851,
was William's n,ame
only.
. CLEVER TALKER
From the Signal, it is
learned tha.,t he_ was "a
man of vigorous and
independent thought, and
had a reputation as a
clever controversialist."
Smith married, in 1864,
Sarah Carney, of
Lexington, Michigan, and
to them were boron six
sons and a daughter, but
only three sons survived
their mother, who died in
1905. The daughter, Alice,
(Mrs. Watson) died in
1887.
Mrs. Smith was a faithP•
ful member of Knox
Presbyterian church, and
at her request the elders
attended the funeral in a
body.
. The Sinal stated (in
1905) that she "came to
Goderich with her
husband 50 years ago,
when life in these parts
lacked most of the
Comfort and convenience
now enjoyed."
"Fifty years ago" was
not a good guess; that
would be 1855, and the
tannery ,site had been
bought in 1851.
Presumably Smith was
employed in Michigan,
where he met his future
wife, and they carne to,.
Goderich - a second time
for Smith - before 1851.
The comfort and •
SHOPPE
LIMITED
O SHOPPERS SQUARE
GODERICH
OPEN ALL DAY WEDNESDAYS
PEN FRIDAY NIGHtS TILL 9 P.M.
convenience in 1905, from
which the Signal. editor
looked back to the early
years in Goderich, in-
cluded (as I recall) street
lighting of a kind, two
newspapers, and some
residents were installing
indoor plumbing. There
were three trains in daily,
two out, and there. was
regular passenger ser-
vice on the Lakes. '
The town was acquiring
a Carnegie. Library to
replace the Mechanics'
Institute, and Whitney's
Conservative govern-
ment had taken over at
Toronto. But the
motorcar had not
arrived, and fire
equipment was horse-
drawn. Gravel roads
remained. Radio,
television and air travel
were still in the future.
Of -living conditions and
events here in the 1850s
we get an idea from the
Signal files.
Hotels: Colborne Inn by
Robert Ellis; Huron, by
James Gentles, and
Victoria, WesCgtreet, by
John and RobertDonagh.
Wheat was two
shillings 'threepence a
bushel, Indian corn also
two and six; ham five
pence a pound, butter five
pence. • .
Van Every & Gold
-
SAVE ENERGY
and
$
Insulate U.F. Foam
8. Fiber Insulation
Serving Huron County
15 years
COMPARE...CONTALI
STEWART'S
ALUMINWM &
INSULATION
207 Huron Rd, Goderich
524-8821
W. J. Denomme
FLOWER
SHOP
Phone
524-8132
DAY
OR
NIGHT
Agent for 24 -hr.
FILM DEVELOPING
41
thorpe, West st., ad-
vertised that "the nimble
sixpence beats the slow
shilling."
Henry Horton inserted
a notice stating that
accounts due Thomas
McQueen, "late of Huron
Signal," must be paid by
March 1. (Perhaps that
was the time McQueen
went to Hamilton
Spectatoetemporarily.)
FIREBUG SOUGHT
A reward of $1,000 was
offered for information
leading to the ap-
prehension and con-
viction of the party who
on the night of the 25th
attempted an incendiary
fire on the block of
Turn to page 4A •
Thank you!!
The Christmas Bureau of the Family & Children Services
wish tothank - Kinsmen, Kinettes,, Volunteer Knitters
and everyone who donated In any way, to make our
bureau such a success.
MARCH 1st
• I
1979 •
•
to register for
RRSOP
1
DAILY INTEREST
COMPOUNDED ANNUALLY
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* REGISTERED RETIREMENT SAVINGS PLANS •
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, • Trusteed by Co-operative Trust Company of Canada
39
ST, DAVID ST.
GODERICH
524-7931
7': 56 '53
ft.tt 6.336
9 .e 6 523
10 6116
614 784
t5 645
16360
1153'
Goderich Community
CREDI
20 y tttt• 381,1. .. .
41 865 5101 073 5213,610
49,423 t 22.146 279 781
55765 148.575 368.292
63.002 '00943 486 852
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•
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A