The Huron Expositor, 1968-10-31, Page 24•
WAVE HURON EXPOSITOR, SEAFORTH, ONT., OCT. 31. 1963
Hundred.
(by 0,1argaret McMillan WhYte) end of our lane, meaning the
First of all, May 1 express land had been in the same
Congratulations to the Town of family for at least one hundred
Seaforth, on it's one hundredth vears. My grandfather, the late
anniversary, as well as bet—'John McMillan M. P., was the
wishes to The Expositor, upon first owner of this land. He was
hiving attained one -hundred and born in the parish of Kirk -
one years of publication. connell, Dumfriesshire, Scot -
Last year the Junior Farmers land on July 20th, 1824, a n d
er?cted a Century Sign at the came to Canada in 1843, sett -
Our
Congratulations
the
Town of Seaforth
and the
Huron Expositor
on
100 Years of ,
Growth
Progress
and Service
.rArks.
JAMES F. MacLAREk LTD.
CONSULTING ENGINEERS
321 BLOOR ST. EAST
TORONTO 5, ONTARIO
LONDON MONCTON
A Complete Service In Environmental Engineering
Ung in the Township of Hullett.
In 1855 on Sept. 28th the deed
was registered for the grant and
release of the 100 acres of land
on Lot 2, Concession 5 Hulletr,
from the Canada Company,
which was known as "H o 1 m
Farm". and upon which w e
still reside.
Whatever degree of emin-
ence John McMillan attained
was without any of the favoring
advantages with which so many
start out. He never attended
school a single year in his life,
and yet his knowledge a n d
attainments were remarkably
varied and profound, shoWing
how widely and thoroughly h e
had read. In his early youth,
and owing to his f4er's poor
health, he was rocked in t h e
lap of poverty, and before com-
ing`to Canada,, although only a
lad, he worked in the New
Maines Iron Works, Lanarkshire,
Scotland, for a period of 1 8
months, every day in the week,
from 4 o'clock in the morning
until 10 o'clock at night, in
order to provide himself with
sufficient funds to cross t h e
Atlantic. For years in t h e
'wilderness of Huron, he sung-
gled under the most straight-
ened circumstances, finally be-
coming one of the most exten-
sive and skillful farmers and
stockmen of the county, carry--)
ing on a large business as a '
feeder and exporter of beef
cattle.
He also made his mark i n
Municipal, and Provincial and
Dominion affairs. He assessed
the Townshirof Morris, w h enf.
it contained only aline settlers
and was assessor of t_h_e_Town-
ship of Flullett for nine years
and also Reeve of Hullett for
about fifteen years. He w a s
first elected as Liberal Member
to the Parliament of Canada in ,
1882, representing what w a s
then Centre Huron for one ses-
sion, when he retired. After a
redistributiOn of the constit-
uencies he was again elected
for South Huron in 1887, -and
continued to represeno t b a' t
constituency_ until 1900. Re-
cognized by both political
parties as a foremost agricult-
ural ist, he occupied t h e
position, of chairman of the
Agricultural Committee and
in 1880 was appointed chair-
man of the Ontario Agricult-
ural Commission and member
of the' Advisory Board of the
Ontario Agricultural College
at Guelph, and at -one time
•delivered a course of lectures
to the College students.
•
Years On
John McMillan's career
furnishe•astriking example
of the strenuous life, Genial
and social in disposition, he
was a most engaging conver-
sationalist. On Oct. 31st, 1901
at the age of 77, he died.
Surviving him, out of eight
children, were only one dau-
ghter Grace, and two s o n s,
Robert and Thomas.
Thomas was my ,F a t h el%
Born on Holm Farm,, March
18, 1864, the son of J o h
McMillan and Janet McMichael,
he received his education a t
Kinburn Public School, a n d
early in his career, commenced
taking an active interest,,in the
public affairs of the community.
He was councillor, and reeve
two sons, John and William,
and one daughter Margaret.
Tragedy played no little
part in the history of the Mc -
Jelin McMillan
tf •
of Hullett Township for many
years.
Thoroughly imbued with
Liberal principles he was select-
ed by the Liberals Of South Hur-
on to be their standard bearer in
the general election of 1917.
His defeat On that occasion dis-
couraged neither his friends nor
himself, and he was again a
candidate in 1921, though h e
was once more defeated. The
general elecdon-of 1925 found
him in the'field nand on tbis
occasion he was elected as a
supporter of the government of
Rt. Hon. Mackenzie King. I n
a general election which came
a year later he was again return-
ed and his work at Ottawa dur-
ing the subsequent „years was so
outstanding as to practically in-
sure his re-election in 1930,
when he was returned by a large
majority.
On Feb. 18th, 1891 he had
- been married to Mary McLean
of Tuckersmith Twp. They had
...
We extend congratulations and
'Beat Wishes to the Town of S6aforth
and The Huron Expositor on the -oc-
casion of their 100th Birthdays.
We are proud of our long associ-
ation with the people of the Seaforth
Community and look forward to con-
tinuing to serve our many friends
and customers in the years ahead.
The Flavour Is Nature'r Secret
tacey Bros. Limited
IN BUSINESS SINCE 1895
tarrenut, OgPARI9
PHONE 348-8414
Thomas McMillan
Milian family. In 1921 h i s
oldest son John died of blood
poisoning at the age of 29 leav-
ing an infant son Walter a n
his widow, the former Helen.
McDowell. His wife died in
1926, and the younger' seri
William was found deatVi
bed, Detember 1931 ,at' the
'age of 36. Then on June.7th,
1932.Thornas, himself died
after being crushed 4 a colt on
his own farm.
The, then, Lendon Morr):%.
Advertiser of Wednesday, June
8th, 1932 carried the following '
editorial, "-The.d_eath of Thom-
as McMillan M. P. -8'out1„kle.ren
is a public loss to the country,
and a private loss to all - and
they are a wide circle indeed -
who were his friends or ha d
felt, even as acquaintances,
the glow of his personality. The
_House of Commons will miss
him, deeply, and will p e
poorer for his absence. .T h e
Liberal Party has been depriv-
ed of one of its most useful,
respected, and beloved parl-
iamentarians - a pillar o f.
strength. The agrichltural
community is bereft of a n
eloquent and zealous champ-
ion, one who understood its
problems from the view point
of a practical farmer, a n d
served it in the House and on
the public platform unceasing-
ly, and unselfishly. His fed-
eral constituency bids a sad
fareWell to a representative
who honored it in the councils
of the Nation.
He wai not only a great'
Canadian and public servant,
but he had many endearing
personal qualities. Though
no man fought har der for his
opinions on the floor of the
House, he was a favorite with
'all,parties. To his daughter,
.. the only remaining member
Cricket:
One of the
krst Sports
-
olm Farm
of his family circle, will go
Sincere and abundant sym-
pathy."
Unfortunately, or fortute-
ly, I was that daughter. Un -e
fortunate in having lost such
wonderful parents and broth-
ers, when I was quite young,
but,fortunate in my 'priceless
heritage.
, Being educated in Kinburn
Public Schooli. Seaforth
Collegiate Institute; Macdon-
ald Institute, o. A. C. Guelph;
and University of Toranto,
my education was interrupt-
ed by the sudden death o f
my brother, and 1- returned
to Holm Faris, -and was sub-
sequently at home when m y
Father was killed six months
later.
After two years I was marri-
ed to W. L Whyte of Stratford,
who was educated at Suatford
Collegiate Institute and 0. A. C.
Guelph. We still live at Holm
Farm, and are very interested '
in political affafrs. My hus-
band has, been active in many
agricultural organizations and
Is a. Past President of the Huron
Liberal Association. In 1946 he
was awarded the M. B. E. in the
King's Dominion Day honors
list for his negotiations With the
British Ministry of Food.
We have six children, John,
Mary, Tom, Nick, Margie and
Bill.
Life on Holm Farm has been
most rewarding, and to me it
was wonderful indeed to have
had a grandfather and a father,
who.snade all those early sacrif-
4-ps in hewing a home out of
the wilderness of Hurop County,
on Lot 2, Con.- 5, in Hullett
Township. ,
In the present! day and age,
people from the city regard
Holm Farm as a retreat, "far
from the maddening crowd."
To -day one of the features that
give us so much joy, is to see
so many of our young people
going out and getting an ed-
ucation, and then returning to
make their homes on the farm;
and a great many of them in
the Seaforth area are doing
just that. May we wish them
success and happiness, which4'
isn't the acquisition of t h e
almighty dollar, that cannot be
taken with you; but by making
the best out of what you have
at hand to work with, and by '
helping others along the way.
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(Corner of Main and Goderich Streets.)
Seaforth
- Naturally enough, because
of the village's character, one
of the first sports started in
Seaforth was cricket. Records
are 'not clear ais- to when it
began but ,the April 30, 1869
Expositor carried an account of
the Seaford) Cricket Club's
annual meeting.
'TAt the annual meatinglof
the above Club held last even-
ing at Sharp's Hotel, the foll-
owing were appointed officers
'for the present year: President
J. H. Benson Esq,; Vice Pres.
R. Ferguson; Secretary and
treasurer. T. P. Bull! Committee "
of Maagement, Messrs. Hanter, ,
Ferguson, Mc9ougall1 Blaids-
dele, Holmestead and Benson."
But the sport never seemed
to be as well liked as foodiall
or lacrosse. The July 31, 1891
Expositor gave an account of- a
soccer game that took up nearly
five column inches while it
gave the following report on
cricket,
"A cricket match, between
the.Seaforth and Brussels Clubs,
was played on the Recreation
,Grounds here'on Tuesday last:
The boWling df the Ross broth-
ers of the Brussels CLUE,. was -
too much for the Seaforth bdys,
and they got a very bad beat-
ing„ "
short but not So sweet
(from the left) Louise Smale, Liz Cardno, Francis Storey, Irwin Trewartha,
featuring a complete line of . • •
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A
Glidden
DOMINIOqINARDINARE
(?.I2ddon
•rvIns Hardware — Phone) 5.,27.-1 160 — Stafortho Ontario
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