Wingham Advance-Times, 1981-07-29, Page 2aZ-aaa la
Vence -Times, July 29, 1981.
THE PIP-ROUSINS Ladies' Softball Team played in Wa!fon. The players shown
in this photo unfortunately are not identified.
Those were 9 fitnes 100
orris Township: Past to
•
This is a seeond excerpt logist to have his head read
from the hook, Norris and' started a trend that
Township: Past to Preaent found it* way into Morris
by Jeanne Kirkby. Township. In 1887 a meeting
0-0-0 was held at Button's School
It seems as though there by Mr. Archibald Galbraith,
was no lack of recreation in a visiting lecturer on the
the Morris Township of the subject of head reading. The
past. Besides the dances and meeting was well attended.
performances that were Schools were also the
customary after the frequent meeting place for the many
bees, there was a whole slate Spelling Matches popular in
of social events that the the 1870s. A multitude of
communities enjoyed togeth- Literary and Debating
er. Societies sprang up on every
The school houses were line and met regularly to
used often, not only for debate items of momentous
religious meetings and importance.
Sabbath Schools, but as con- 1879—(July 24): The
venient meeting places Walton Debating Society.
whenever there was an Topic --"Which is happier,
occasion or a special speaker married or single life?"
in the area. In the late 1800s Captains, George Sage (for
Queen Victoria, worried Tnarried), S. McKibbin
about the lack of conformity (single).Decision in favour
in her son, the Prince of of single:
Wales, consulted a phreno- 1879—Hingston's " Corners
Literary and Debating
Team.
1899—Belgrave Chosen
Friends, a social group.
1920—The 5th Line
Literary and Musical
evening held at the home of
Charles Rintoul. Over 100 5th
Liners attended to enjoy the
program. Opening chorus of
Hip, Trip, a�N, 1-Iu.-b=ay ac-
companied by Mrs. L. E.
Cardiff. Other participants
were Elsie Connon, L. E.
Cardiff, T. Bryans, Chester
Rintoul, Mrs. N. McCauley,
M. Rintoul and N. Speir.
Next meeting in 2 weeks at
the home of Wm. Smith.
Shooti9g. matches in the
fall were always popular
events, especially as they
were usually followed by
supper and a party at the
hotne of the sponsors.
Morrisbank --always had a
squirrel hunt and often
challenged the communities
of Walton or Bluevale. The
prize for the best team would
often be the Christmas
turkey or goose.
."On October 18, 1882 the
third and fourth concession
Lena Higgins reminisces
about her life in Morris
Mrs. Nelson Higgins has
spent almost 88 years in
Morris and is a direct
descendent of the township's
first settlers.
The former Lena Wheeler
was born in 1894 on the fourth
concession to Charles and
Mary Ann Wheeler. Her
mother was a Wilkinson,
from one of the earliest
families to settle in the
township. In fact, Mrs.
Higgins' mother was born
onboard ship coming from
England to Canada.
She came from a family of
eight children. Her father
was a farmer who died when
she was 15 years old. Mrs.
Higgins said the first time
she saw an automobile close
up was when a cousin from
Guelph attended her father's
funeral:
Mrs. Higgins said that as
children she and her
brothers and sisters played
together at home and helped
their parents. Many of their
social activities centred
around the church. She
remembers catching the
train at Belgrave to go to
Kincardine to a church
picnic.
She 'also remembers
picking wild strawberries
and raspberries in the back
fields of her father's farm
and shelling peason the
porch on summer evenings.
Mrs. Higgins vaguely
remembers Queen Victoria's
Jubilee in 1897 and said there
was a picture of the queen
LENA HIGGINS
hanging in her home.
Another early memory is
of sitting on a cupboard at
home watching friends and
neighbors dancing at a party
held by her parents. She said
she can hear the music yet.
Mrs. Higgins reminisced
about Christmases at home.
She said the children would
receive practical gifts, such
as shoes, rather than toys.
She and her ,brothers and
sisters walked more than
two miles across county to
school, summer and winter.
They would be joined by"
other children on the way,
she added, and they all
"went one behind another
just like sheep".
Mrs. Higgins went to the
fourth book or Grade 8
before she quit school. She
stayed at home to help her
mother, . since very few
young people went on to high
schoolanyway, except those
who, happened to live in or
'close to town.
She- apprenticed as a
seamstress in Brussels for
six months.
In 1914 she married Nelson
Higgins, a school teacher,
and in 1916 they moved to the
farm on the third line where
she still lives today.
"Like her mother, Mrs.
Higgins had a family of eight
children and today she has a
large number of grand-
children and great-
grandchildren as well.
The greatest change she
has witnessed in the town-
ship is the tremendous
technological advances
made in the farm industry.
She said when she was
young, the'inen might thresh
for a month, now big
machines arrive and do a
field"inone afternoon, their
drivers never even stopping
to eat.
Mrs. Higgins enjoys good
health for her 88 years. She is
looking forward to taking in
some of the celebrations in
honor of Morris Township's
125th miniver ary this
weekend. She iso looked
forward to watt "ng Prince
Charles' and dy Diana
Spencer's. we ding .today,
adding tOat she' watched the
present queen's wedding.
Mrs. Higgins attributes
her long life to good luck and
said that some people think
the old days were great, but
she enjoys being modern.
Morris coun. holds
court of revision
Morris council held a court
of revisiiiiT for two drains last
Wednesday evening, but no
appeals were filed.
The two drains in question
are the McCachie "A" Dram
and the Dockett Drain.
It is estimated that con-
struction on the McCachie
Drain will cost over $6,000.
The contract was awarded to
Kirkby, McCallum ' and
McClure of Walton.
Construction on the
Duckett Drain will cost over
$12,000 and the contract was
awarded to Robert Nicholson
of Sebringville.
These figures do not in-
clude'the engineer's fees.
Council was informed that
the historical book com-
memorating the 125th an-
niversary of Morris
Township is completed and
available at: The Wingham
Advance -Times office, Har-
ris 'Stationery in Wingham,
1toss Anderson Hardware in
\Belgrave, the Bluevale gen-
eral store, the Blyth printing
shop, the souvenir shop in
Brussels and at Jeanne
Kirkby's home in Walton.
of Morris held their annual they a
shooting match. The Cap- patrons
tains were J. Sheddon and J. Farrow
Garniss and the event took Farrow
place at Mr. James SeOtt's
farm. The Garniss team won
by 100 points."
As early as 1877 there were
brass bands in the villages of
Brussels and Blyth, with
Bluevale soon following.
There was no lack of op-
portunity for musical' pea,
ticipation and enjoyment
with the many singing
classes, such as Mr.. Salter's
at Sunshine, Carrie Moore
teaching violin and guitar in
Walton in 1899, and the many
organ and piano classes that
were being conducted in the
area.
Bicycles became very
popular between 1895 and
1900. In Bluevale, Messrs.
Bailey and Duff sond "The
Crescent Wheel" or the "Red
Bird".
There were house warm-
ings, checkers, lawn so-
cials, maple sugar taffy
parties, weddings and oyster
suppers in the 1880-1915
period. People seemed to
seize onto any excuse to form
a group and have a social
s. V craieag.
In the winter, the evening
social whirl accelerated,
with the snow being no ob-
stacle to the amooth runners
of the sleighs. Outside,
skating parties took their
turn and, in some villages,
more intricate sports were
becoming established.
January 23, 1874 — The
Huron Expositor: "We have
lately had a curling club
organized in Bluevale, and
on Saturday last, they played
a match between two rinks of
our own club. The ice was in
capital order, and the game
was keenly contested, F.
Patterson's rink being the
successful one. After the
game on Saturday, the
members held their first real
organization meeting, when
ointed the following
officers: Mr. T.
, Patron, Mrs. T.
Patroness; Mr. F.
Patterson, President; Mr. R.
Sibbald, Vice President; W.
G. Duff, Sec. and.Treas.; Mr.
G. T. Brown and, W. G. Duff,
Representative members. F.
Potter, Dr. J. C. Scott and
Wm. Messer were appointed
as managing committee."
Spirts were not neglected
in the developing com- °
Inunities. For individual
effort there were the athletic
feats of the Caledonian
Games, once held as close as
Brussels.. On the Dominion
Day celebration of 1874,
contests were held in quoit
pitching, running jump,
standing jump and putting
the stone.
Team sports ' developed
early in Morris Township. -
Baseball teams were
organized in the Bluevale of
1884 and a ladies' team
existed in Belgrave by 1910,
but . football was more
popular in the earlier times.
1888—Football tour-
naments between school
sections held at Walton.
1889—Football and
debates.
1899—Football, sawing
contest and picnic sponsored
by the Ancient Order of
United Workmen.
1902—Football match,
Morris against Grey.
1907—Football, the
Bluevale Invincibles played
against the boys of the 1st
Line. A. McEwan was 'the
referee and escaped with
many of his clothes.
1909—Football game,
Cranbrook against Walton.
1914 -4th Line football
team: goal, Crooks; backs,
Kearney, Little; half -backs,
Little, Speir, Turvey; for-
wards, Wheeler, Wheeler,
Workman, Duncan, Currie.
1921—Football teams, the
5th Liners against
Jamestown and the
Browntown team
•
CAN YOU IDENTIFY thecar and driver?. This photo was taken about 1912-1915.
The man in the bowler hat is George. Kirkby and the lady on the left is his wife.
•
Horse racing was 4w,
vreil attended, with trackh At
• i russets' and Wingham- in
1898. ,
Billiard tables were
almost popular when, they
Blywereth arintrodeaucedin, 1877ituto; The flats
response of ,. the township
clergymen, 1?robably ens
couraged,• by' the • Yeti*
ladies, who " wanted the.
young men of the area:free
from thisall-male hAiiien.,
was: "The introductigll of.
billiards may be injurigus. to:
the moral fibre of the young
Ween."
A petition was •circulated'
asking that these rooms not
be licensed. It is significant
that the petition was carried
around by the young ladies.
Consequently the council
refused billiard room
licenses. In, 1911 again a
petition on this matter was
circulated' by the municipal
ratepayers and a letter was
sent to the Ontario
Legislature asking per-
mission for the municipal
government to withhold as
well as grant pool room
licenses.
Concerts and plays were
nnruil,,r in each community,
with local -actors and
dramatic groups forming to
. present frequent entertain-
ments. The Foresters' Hall
in Bluevale was a popular
place for such endeavours,
as was the Workmen's Hall
,Ifi Walla a,r -^ the Brown
,19 drool. n the 1.890s,
Mrama nes "being quite a
noveLt t it was' not un-
Compton to find:an evening's
entertainment just listening.
to one peri; sharing his
new . machine. In 1913
pr'esentattona'th slides and
generator were frequent,
agar often . from touring
spe kers. .
Box socials were quite a
noveltlyy,wimp they were first
introduced. Tile trick was to
have an equal number of
men and Wen* at the event.
I unches wouldbe
elaborately packed and
decorated, then an auc-
tioneer would sing his spiel
over them until everyone
had a lunch.
You were expected to sit
- with the lady who had
packed the lunch you pur-
chased. Pity the poor young
man who paid an exorbitant
price for a spe:,ial packet,
only to find himself sharing
the meal with a nervous
young housewife and her
glowering husband.
In 1902 a box social was
held at the Foresters' Hall
for Valentine's Day and also
flt the a.........F.......
s�av�aaLUW4a a7.AIUUl.
Inside the box - were the
inevitable salmon sand-
wiches and pie.
In 1915' there was a picture
show to attend in Brussels.
The age of mechanization
was upon us.
..C.. 1)ME
Residents,
Former Residents
'And Visitors
to Morris Township,,
��f;ist•i:•i:•ii�?a...,�•y;•':,�>:ti::%ti;%c.:i}y.• :;v::'• ::��::�::�Srr.'+:�:'.�:t�:�Sr ':Y6a:;4t•
On the Occasion of our
125th Anniversary
Celebrations.
.N�:.+f"�n.fi�'+ivy':::%�'';•::3ti�``•�<•Clofi:.•.'.•';i;•:. �'::�:��>:a:.i+''�Ry??f
Council: Reeve
BILL ELSTON
Deputy Reeve:
TOM MILLER
Councillors:
ROBERT GRASBY
CLARE VAN CAMP
DOUG FRASER
Clerk -Treasurer:
NANCY MICHIE
We hope your stay is a pleasant one.
It's a pleasure to have you back!
KOOK S ON1ARIO
FOR FRI SHNESSAND QUALITY.
When you• shop, look for the Foodland Ontario sym-
bol. It's your guide to all the good things that grow, _--c
right here in our own province. Not
only is our produce the freshest
you can buy, our pro-
cessed products are . -.
recognized
`
•A
intemationally for their
excellent quality.
Besides giving your family
the best food in the world,
there's another reason for
buying Ontario. Our food
industry employs a lot
of people in this pro-
vince. Shopping where you see
the Foodland symbol is one more
-thing you can do to help keep
Ontario strong.
1
J
•.-va .'.r'//F4A7,i9 / '.,./;.;rd,
BUTTON'S SCHOOL—These were the pupils at
Button's School in Morris Township in 1915-16. In the
back row are Bert kelly, Glen Kelly, Earl Watson;
Ross Button; the teacher, Florence Young; Lily Jack-
son, Cora Skelton and Edna McCall. In the front row
are George Kirkby, Lew Kirkby, Mary Kelly, May
Watson and Katie Laidlaw.
Ontario
Ministry of Agriculture and Food
Lorne Henderson, Minister
William Davis, Premier 1
The Ontario Government —
working to help people