HomeMy WebLinkAbout2004-00017"PICKERING TOWNSHIP HISTORICAL SOCIETY
PATHMASTER
• SPRING EDITION • VOLUME 1 NUMBER 3 •
What's Inside
Catholic immigrants and their descendants have made a great contribution to the history of
Pickering Township. One of their enduring legacies is St. Francis de Sales Church in Pickering
Village.
Tom Thomson is one of Canada's best known painters, because of his memorable paintings of
Algonquin Park, the inspiration he provided the Group of Seven, and the mysterious nature of his
death. Less well known is the fact that Tom was born in Pickering and that he had a brother
George who was also an accomplished artist.
Personal reminiscences are an important source of our history. Going to the cottage was
different 70 years ago from what it is today. One man remembers cottage life in Pickering in the
1930s, when he was a young boy. A different kind of reminiscence involves the thrill and glamour
of the film industry. One family's opportunities for movie immortality ended twice with a brusque,
""Cut!""
How do hobbies begin? An interest lying dormant can come to life as unexpectedly as finding a
jar beside a hiking trail. Collecting can become an obsession, but it has many rewards.
Of the Catholic Persuasion
By Pat McCauley
Religion was for many early settlers in Pickering a focusing force which gave meaning and
direction to their arduous lives. The earliest religious group of settlers was Quakers, who, led by
Timothy Rogers, immigrated from Pennsylvania in 1810. Other Protestant settlers arrived
sporadically. Some were United Empire Loyalists, a few were soldiers and retired officers,
and some came from earlier settlements in Upper Canada. Until the 1820s there were no known
Roman Catholics in Pickering Township.
In the 1820s and 1830s immigration from the British Isles began, driven by the promise of free
land and the chance for a better future. In the British Isles, large landholders and the class system
gave the ordinary tenant farmer little hope of rising above a life of struggle and subsistence.
In southern Ireland the outlook was especially bleak. The trickle of Irish Catholic immigrants in
the 1820s became a stream in the 1830s when repeated blights of the potato crop began.
By 1825, names of Irish origin appeared in the list of offices in Pickering and Whitby, such as
Carling, McKay, O'Brien, Gormley, and Tracey. By 1836, officials of the townships included
O'Connor, Heaney, Sullivan, and Brennan. Some of the early
pioneers were young bachelors like Denis O'Connor who came with George O'Leary from
County Cork, Ireland, in 1831. Denis located at what is now Rossland and Lakeridge Roads
(Con3, Lot l), while George settled on Lot 6 Concession 4.
Other members of their families followed from Ireland, including Timothy O'Leary in 1832, and
Denis' brothers Daniel and Jeremiah O'Connor, with their families, in 1837 and 1854
respectively. Some of their female relatives came to Canada as well. George married Denis'
sister Mary O'Connor, and Denis returned the favour by marrying George's sister Mary O'Leary.
Their son Denis O'Connor, after whom the Ajax school is named, became Archbishop of Toronto.
The O'Connor family and many other Irish pioneer families contributed numerous nuns and
priests to the Roman Catholic church.
James and Harriet Hardgrove Morrissey from Kilkenny were among the early settlers in
Pickering Village. They built a frame house on Church Street which stood until about 1966,
when it was replaced by a rectory for St. Francis de Sales church.
Another Irish family, the Lennons, settled on a farm near Greenwood where Highway 7
now swings north as a Greenwood by-pass. The Lennon house was one of the stations
where the mission priest said Sunday Mass for Catholics in the surrounding area.
Patrick Teefy, born in Tipperary in 1839, came to Canada with his parents as a boy.
His family also settled in Greenwood. Patrick was a labourer on the Grand Trunk Railway
which was completed from Montreal to Toronto in 1856. About 1866 he was awarded a medal
for loyalty during the Fenian Raids. Patrick and Alice Curtis Teefy had nine children, and farmed
at Greenwood until 1896, when the family moved to Cherrywood. Among other Irish settlers at
Greenwood were Charles and William McGuire from County Wexford. Charles never married,
but William married Margaret Parrell and they had ten children.
Greenwood became a lively hamlet with two flour mills, three hotels, and several general stores.
It also boasted of shoemakers, blacksmiths, and a harness shop. There was also a cooper's
shop which made the barrels used to ship the local flour to Frenchman's Bay.
Many Irish found their first jobs in the cooperage industry.
The area west of Greenwood became known as Cooperstown,
and the residents were for the most part Catholics.
Audley was another, smaller centre of activity. Though it had no mills,
it had a blacksmith's shop, a general store, and other small shops.
A number of the Irish settled in this area. Timothy O'Leary, a cousin of George,
acquired Lot 4, Concession 4 near Audley in 1832. Thomas McCann from County
Cavan also settled in Audley about 1832. One of his daughters, Margaret, married Emmanuel
Maddaford, one of the postmasters for Audley after the post office was opened in 1853."
"Catholic families settled in many parts of the township. Some Irish men began as labourers,
saving money to establish farms or businesses. Jobs were available at the mills which sprang
up on the waterways of the area, or as farm labour. Other families, such as Jeremiah and Ellen
O'Leary, from County Cork, were relatively affluent immigrants and were part of an Irish group
settlement in Pickering Township in the 1830s. Irish Catholic family names are found in the
records in Greenwood, Audley, Whitevale, Cherrywood, Dunbarton, Brock Road, the Baseline
Road, and along Kingston Road east of Pickering Village.
Before 1843, the Catholic settlers in Pickering were visited only occasionally by missionary
priests. The nearest parish was in the east end of Toronto at Power and Queen Streets.
Sometimes parties of Catholics would gather in Pickering on a Saturday morning for the
day-long trek to Toronto. They would stay overnight, attend Sunday Mass, and then begin the
long journey home. Many small children accompanied their parents to be christened.
Margaret Maddaford was said to have been one of these.
In 1843, Pickering became a mission district of the parish of Oshawa. Father J.B.Proulx,
appointed in 1848, built the first Catholic mission church in Pickering, St. Wilfred's.
It was a wooden structure which by 1870 was in a dilapidated state and required propping up.
The old building which was situated on the east side of Notion Road is long gone now,
but its cemetery remains. The gravestones were reassembled in the centre of the graveyard
around 1940. Most of the names still legible are Irish.
The parish of St. Francis de Sales was established in 1860. Many of the early Irish settlers
were founders according to the parish records. In 1863, Father A.T. Finan reported 812
Catholics in the parish, which included a mission church at Highland Creek, as well as
St. Wilfred's. The building of a new church was commenced in 1869 by Father Francis Hayden,
and it was completed in 1871. Parishioners contributed their time and labour to its construction.
All the bricks were hauled by horse team from Whitby, and the names of volunteers are
recorded in the parish history. Stained glass windows were donated by several families.
Later, a one-acre lot was acquired across from the new church and furnished along three sides
with hitching rails to facilitate the worshippers who came by horse and buggy or wagon.
The ebb and flow of the St. Francis parish mirrored that of Pickering Township.
The township population which was about 4500 in 1840 climbed to more than 6000 in 1860,
only to fall again by 1911 to 4500. By 1915 there were just 3 5 Catholic families left in the
St. Francis parish district. Bishop McEvoy decided to set up a new parish in Whitby to serve
both communities and for the next 2 9 years St. Francis' parish was administered from Whitby.
However, the defence industry of World War II brought a new surge of Catholics from many
backgrounds into the township and the parish of St. Francis was re-established in 1942,
with its own mission in Ajax.
In 1950,anew parish named St. Bernadette was established in Ajax. St. Francis, suddenly
losing the new Catholic industrial workers, seemed in danger of slipping back into rural langour.
Father Vincent L.McGivney, the pastor at the time, cast about for remedies for his depleted
congregation. He organized an emigration of Catholic families from the Netherlands in
co-operation with the Bishop of Holland. Dutch war brides had sent home good reports of life in
Canada, and families left behind found the prospect of a new start very attractive. Homes and
jobs were arranged for the new arrivals. Some eventually left Pickering but many settled down to
stay, so that in the post-war years Dutch immigrants and their families made up a significant
proportion of the St. Francis congregation. The priests of St. Francis de Sales were also in
charge of a mission at Rosebank starting in 1860, and a mission church was established in a
vacant building there. In 1965 the Rosebank mission was transferred to Bay Ridges,
and is now the parish of Holy Redeemer.
Since that time the population of Pickering/Ajax has soared as people sought more affordable
homes and space. A new Catholic church, St. Isaac Jogues, has been established on
Finch Avenue in Pickering, and there are now 15 Catholic elementary schools and 2 high
schools in the former Pickering Township. The Catholics of Pickering are now welcoming a
new wave of immigrants from all parts of Canada and all over the world.
Sources:
Illustrated Historical Atlas of the County of Ontario. Toronto: J.H. Beers and Co., 1877.
Phelan, E. C. The Parish of St. Francis de Sales: A Centennial History. 1966.
Interviews with Marguerite O'Connor of Ajax, great-granddaughter of Denis O'Connor.
Odeon Bay Ridges Drive-In Theatre
Submitted by Judith Goulin
From Pickering News (3 January 1963), p. 8.
The new Odeon Bay Ridges Drive-in theatre opened on the first day of winter, and while it
began to snow during the showing of the movie, the people were warm in their cars,
because of the flexibility and advantages of electric heat. This is Canada's first Outdoor
All-electric Theatre and is located between Highways No. 2 and 401, just east of the
Liverpool Road.
There is no need to run car engines, wasting gasoline, nor is there any risk of dangerous fumes.
Safe, dean, portable 750 watt electric heaters are brought into the car interior with the sound
amplifier. The electric heater circulate [s] warm air evenly by means of a tiny built-in fan which
provides plenty of heat and proper air circulation for all occupants of the car....
There are many features of this outdoor theatre that are outstanding. It has the largest motion
picture screen in Canada, measuring 120 feet by 58 1/2 feet [36 x 17.5 m] and, the screen
tower is equal in height to a nine storey building. The Ode[o]n Bay Ridges outdoor theatre
screen is approximately five times larger than the Odeon Carlton theatre screen in Toronto....
[The] screen picture can be seen clearly for more than a half mile-even beyond No. 2 Highway....
Al Hewitt, Odeon's Bay Ridges outdoor movie manager, stated that the large paved theatre lot
can handle a total of 1,000 cars in summer, and in winter there is provision for 5 50 cars with this
number of post-mounted 750 watt electric heaters available to keep patrons warm and car
windshields free of ice. He also said that the concession building was large enough to cater to
the refreshment needs of 2,000 persons each half hour.
The Odeon Theatre chain is confident, Mr. Hewitt pointed out, that outdoor movies will become
as popular in winter months as in summer with movie patrons because of the heating
advantages of electricity. He said that the whole family is able to go as a group,
which enables them to dress as they like, and eliminates the need for baby sitters.
The popularity of summer outdoor theatre-going simply is being widened to include winter
months, thanks to the flexibility and many benefits of electric heating, he said.
22"
"NAMES IN THE NEWS
THE THOMSON FAMILY
by John W. Sabean
.....An Artistic Note with a fish tale.....
Most Canadians know the name Torn Thomson. They know him as the artist who first began to
paint the north country, and as the artist who inspired the Group of Seven.
They also know that he died under mysterious circumstances in the one of the lakes of
Algonquin Park. After his death in 1917, some of his friends erected a memorial cairn on a
bluff overlooking Canoe Lake.
The plaque on the cairn was designed by J.E.H. MacDonald, who was one of the leaders of the
Group, which was formed three years after Thomson's death. At the bottom of the plaque
it reads: ""His body is buried at Owen Sound, Ontario, near where he was born, August 1877.""
MacDonald later acknowledged his error and apologized to the Thomson family.
For although Thomson grew up in Leith, near Owen Sound, he was born in a
little stone cottage just east of Claremont, in Pickering Township.
Tom Thomson was named for his grandfather, Thomas—known locally as ""Tam""— Thomson
(1806-1875), who emigrated from Scotland to Upper Canada in the mid-1830s. After marrying
Elizabeth Brodie (1812-1879) in 1839 (she was from the same parish in Scotland), they settled
on the NE 1 /4 Lot 14, Concession 8, in Pickering Township.
Rev. William Wood, writing in 1911, told about the difficulties the Thomsons faced in their early
years, when neighbours were few and supplies were obtained only at great distances and with
great effort.1 Eventually, like other early pioneers, they cleared the land, built a home,
gained a small but adequate living, and were in time able to enjoy some leisure time.
Tam Thomson had a great passion, one which he shared with fellow countryman Peter McNab,
who owned the general store in Claremont. Each in their youth in Scotland had learned the
""gentle art"" of fishing in the streams that flowed through the glens. Whenever one reads
anything about either Thomson or McNab one invariably
finds some allusion to their readiness at any time to leave work behind and head off
together with fishing tackle and basket in hand to angle in the waters of Glen Major for trout or
in Frenchman's Bay for pike.
Tam and Elizabeth Thomson had only one child, John, who apparently inherited a love for the
""gentle art."" Was it for the fishing that John, after the death of his parents, moved to Leith?
Blodwen Davies told of John's search for land: heading northward from Claremont in horse and
buggy he stopped occasionally to turn over a spadeful of soil, but unsatisfied, continued on.
""Finally,"" she wrote, ""he came to a spot at Leith, on Owen Sound, which satisfied him.
It was a beautifully wooded country reaching down to a sheet of water that promised good
fishing.""2
Thomson returned to the stone cottage in Pickering to gather his family, including his youngest
child, two-month old Thomas John Thomson, the sixth of ten children. Davies continued:
""So Tom Thomson made his first journey, in his mother's arms, toward the north country
of which he was to become priest and prophet.""
Commercial art became Tom Thomson's livelihood, landscape painting was his road to fame,
but it was the ""gentle art"" of fishing that was always his passion as it had been for his father
and grandfather before him. Many are the stories that have been told of his abilities with rod and
reel, and many photographs have survived from his Algonquin years that show him displaying his
day's catch.
As a commercial artist, Thomson began to work for Grip Limited about 1907.
There he was to meet most of the artists who would later form the Group of Seven.
In company with some of them, and with other artists, he began to travel into the countryside to
paint. In the country around Toronto and in places like Lake Scugog, Thomson
""first began painting the themes which would constitute the major part of his oeuvre...."". 3
In the spring of 1912, he went to Algonquin Park; he was to return to this setting each of his
remaining years. The names of Tom Thomson and Algonquin Park have since become
inextricably linked.
Tom had an older brother, George, who was also a landscape painter, and, but for the
overwhelming fame of his brother, George might be better known today. George Thomson
(1868-1965) was older than Tom by nine years (and thus has a better claim on Pickering as he
lived his first nine years in the stone cottage set back from the 9th
Concession Road). He ran a business school in Seattle, Washington, for a while,
before studying law. But art was to claim him in the end. He studied art at the Art Students'
League in New York City, then moved to New Haven, Connecticut, where he lived and
painted from 1910 to 1926. He exhibited his paintings locally, but also by 1915, began to
send some of his work to Canada for exhibition.
In 1926, he returned to Canada for good. He became a member of the Ontario Society of
Artists and painted landscapes especially in the neighbourhood of the old homestead near
Georgian Bay. Albert Robson wrote about him as early as 1932: ""George Thomson is a
landscape painter of sincerity and his paintings have a fine sense of light. Since his return to
Canada, his work has been improving in power and interpretative quality.""4
Illustrations:
- ""Tam"" Thomson and Peter McNab prepare for a day's fishing excursion
- Design for Tom Thompson memorial on Canoe Lake, Algonquin Park.
Notes:
1 Past Years in Pickering (Toronto: William Briggs, 1911), p. 300.
2 Paddle and Palette: The Story of Tom Thomson (Toronto: Ryerson Press, 1930), pp. 6-7.
3 Joan Murray, The Art of Tom Thomson (Toronto: Art Gallery of Ontario, 1971). p.21.
4 Canadian Landscape Painters (Toronto:Ryerson Press, 1932), p. 164.
23"
"BOTTLES
Connecting With the Past
By Alyson Hazlett
My fascination with the past is a fairly recent development, historically speaking. About
five years ago I became interested in old bottles. My husband and I and our three daughters
were hiking along one of the many rugged and beautiful sections of the Bruce Trail when we
noticed several shards of broken glass in the dirt. We bent down to have a closer look and
found pieces of old milk bottles and fruit jars — relics from a farm long gone.
We found one jar intact, a common Crown sealer in clear glass with the date 1936 and a
D in a diamond embossed on the base (Diamond Glass Co. Montreal).
It is not uncommon to come across old pieces of glass or metal in areas where there were
farms, but to find a piece with a date on it was fortunate. We continued our hike,
with the fruit jar riding safely in my backpack. I couldn't stop thinking about that dump and how
the fruit jar might once have held someone's peach preserves during the long cold winter season.
I also tried to imagine how long that jar had rested in the dirt on top of the limestone cliff.
I didn't realize it at the moment, but something wonderful had happened: I had just made a
connection with people and times from before I was born! The jar had seized my imagination.
Perhaps the chance to discover and actually hold something from the past was what made
the link real for me.
When we returned home that afternoon, I had a budding new interest. I pulled out a box of old
medicine bottles I had found over the years, but had kept with only a limited interest.
Something about them must have touched me, as I hadn't thrown them away.
I went to the local library hoping to find even one book about old bottles.
I was pleasantly surprised to discover that several books on bottles, both Canadian and
American, had been published, many in the 1970s when the most recent surge of collecting
interest had taken place. I went home with the books like so much treasure.
Most of my bottles had no markings at all. One had the letters B.F.T. on the base.
Leafing through Bottles in Canada, by Doris and Peter Unitt, I found a reference to the
Beaver Flint Glass Company of Toronto; hence the B.F.T. on the bottle (page 185).
This glass company was in business as early as the 1890s. Now I had stepped back into
another century! I read all the bottle books I could find and began to realize that there were
more sizes, colours, and shapes of bottles than I could have imagined. I also acquired a
general understanding of glass blowing and the history of bottles in Canada.
Bottle collecting has become my hobby. Medicine bottles are my favourites,
especially ones that pre-date Confederation (1867). Researching the people and places
connected with the bottles is just as important to me as collecting. In this way,
I can share my enthusiasm for local history and meet other people who also have a
fascination for the past.
If you like old bottles and want to chat or just want more information, I may be reached at
(416)745-8930 or by e-mail at hazlett@aims.on.ca
***********
Sources:
Unitt, Peter and Doris,
Bottles in Canada, Peterborough,
Ontario, 1972.
The Bentley House
[Commentary on the Bentley House, Brougham, from Kim Ondaatje and Lois Mackenzie,
Old Ontario Houses (Scarborough: Gage Publishing, 1977), p. B12.]
[William Bentley established a patent medicine factory in the farming community of Brougham
sometime in the late 1840s and then built his house directly opposite it in the early 1850s.]
Like his elixirs, Mr. Bentley's house is a florid melange but capped by a particularly grand
belvedere. The porch, which is a late addition, almost obscures the fluted and free-standing
columns of the Greek Revival entrance door. It also detracts from the ""fifth window""
in the upper storey, the three-part window which became one of the basic features of
Georgian architecture and was supposedly the most emphatic element in the facade.
The three-part Palladian window traditionally found above the front door of Georgian houses
has a central round-headed window flanked by two smaller flat-headed ones.
This Bentley window is a regional style and can be seen in wood, stone and brick houses in the
Brougham-Markham area. Its windows are pointed Gothic Revival style and very attractively set
in an ellipse, emblematic of Neo-classical forms.
The house works (with the exception of the front porch) because each component is of high
quality. One historian has called the house ""a simultaneity of styles."" Like their clothes,
the people in Ontario never, or rarely, discarded an architectural style they liked.
Belvederes became part of the architectural scene in the 1850s and were a feature of the
Italianate style. They were often placed on the roof of large bracketed houses for interest
rather than to illuminate the attic or a central hall. This one, is particularly grand with its
multi-paned windows scaled to the six-over-six Georgian windows in the rest of the house.
LAST ISSUE'S
What's it?
by Dave Marlowe
ANSWER :
The artifact shown is a maple sugar mould which was typical of those used in the early to
mid-1800s in southern Ontario. Later in the century, imported cane sugar began to take
the place of maple sugar in everyday use, and tin replaced wood as a material for moulds.
(Continued on page 28)
? ? ?
THIS ISSUE'S
What's it?
This item was common in most rural homes from the late 1800s on into the first quarter of the
20th century. It would most often be found in the home workshop, or possibly in the drive shed.
It stands approximately 30 cm (12 in) high, and the base is the same length.
The two upright ""jaws"" are separated at the base by a piece of wood approximately 2.5 cm
(1 in) thick. Higher up on the wooden jaws, they are held together with a bolt and adjustable
thumbscrew. It is a mass-produced item, rather than being homemade.
This particular artifact shows signs of wear from use, as well as stains from an oily
substance around the upper edges of the jaws.
Dave Marlowe is Educational Officer of the Pickering Museum Village.
24"
"PTHS
MAKING OUR OWN HISTORY
Our December meeting was Members Night. Since this was our first experiment in this type of
programming, we didn't know quite what to expect, and could only hope that someone would
bring in something to display. We should have had more faith. Members responded well to our
requests. Sylvia Spencer and Alyson Hazlett both have hobbies that involve quite a bit of local
history. Sylvia collects postal items and has a good number of items from Pickering's past.
She covered a large table with her postal history.
Alyson's hobby is collecting bottles, especially medicine bottles. Among the items that she has
acquired are two that relate to Pickering. Bentley's Patent Medicine Company in Brougham is
well known in the community, but few now can boast of owning a bottle from that establishment.
Even more unique—and new to most of us—was a bottle marked A. Knowles.
Knowles was a farmer in south Pickering who apparently sold what he advertised as a
''"celebrated German oil.""
Other displays covered a great variety of topics. Among them were family items, including
letters and examples of fraktur, brought in by Lys Laurence; some archaeological items that
Tom Mohr has been collecting; family photograhs of Doug Willson's; photographs of local sites,
especially cemeteries, taken by Henry Gawman; and an unusual painted drawer displayed by
Andrea Graham.
We thank all contributors for taking part. It was a learning experience for us all, as well as being
an enjoyable evening.
""The Mennonite Settlement of Pickering"" was the subject of our January meeting.
Local historian, and Mennonite, Paul Burkholder told us of the origins of the Mennonites in
16th century Europe, and then traced the migration of some of their members to North America.
From the United States after the Revolutionary War some Mennonite families came to Canada,
a good number settling in the Markham area, spilling over into the western side of Pickering
Township. It was these Pickering families whose stories Mr. Burkholder related.
Pickering Township has had a significant artistic history. PTHS vice-president John Sabean
spoke about a number of the artists who have been connected in one way or another with this
area.
Among the artists, critics, and historians under discussion were Charles Fothergill, Ebenezer
Birrell, Florence McGillivray, Tom and George Thomson, Doris Mills Speirs, and Bess and
Fred Housser.
Cottage Holidays in Pickering
Andy Rodgers and Lys Cambridge Laurence
Fairport Road back in the 1920s was just a narrow dirt road bordered by farms and a
sprinkling of new summer cottages. To little Andy Rodgers and his brother,
from the Main and Gerrard neighbourhood in Toronto, it was an exciting destination.
A whole new world of experiences awaited them at Uncle George's cottage in Pickering.
Uncle George Fisher and Aunt Molly picked up the boys at home. The Rodgers family did not
own an automobile, so riding in Uncle George's car was a treat in itself. But no talking was
allowed! If an excited little boy spoke up, Aunt Molly would sternly tell him,
""You don't talk to your Uncle George while he's driving!"" Uncle George wore leather
gauntlets to drive, and he was known to barrel along Kingston Road at 40 miles per hour.
The Fisher cottage was on the west side of Fairport Road, south of Finch Avenue.
The farm across the road was operated by Dan Anderson. The cottage lots were cleared in front,
probably former pasture, with bush at the back. A creek ran behind the cottages,
and can still be seen today, coming south behind the houses, and crossing under Fairport Road
between Finch Avenue and Stroud's Lane. Uncle Harry Pimbley and Aunt Jenny also had a
cottage on Fairport Road, and Uncle Jim Fisher often stayed with his brother George.
The cottages were built in stages. In Andy's memory, it was as if a hammer was a natural
extension of the uncles' arms. One year the foundation and floor would be built, the following year
the shell would go up, and the walls would be finished the next year. The well was dug by hand.
But the cottages were never ""completed"", for there were always new projects and
improvements. The summer kitchen was a separate building, about the size of a small garage.
It featured a wood cookstove, a table, and a stool. The walls were ingeniously designed to let out
the heat of the stove. They were framed in only part-way up, and the rest was screening.
Uncle George expected a good Sunday dinner, even at the cottage, so here Aunt Molly
prepared the beef roast or chicken. She appreciated the ventilation of the summer kitchen
while she was working, and at bedtime everyone else would appreciate that the frame cottage
with its open ceiling had not been heated up by the cookstove.
The cottage did have a wood stove too, for use in cooler weather. Of course there was no
electricity: light was supplied by oil lamps. The ""biffy"" was outside, not too close to the cottage.
Refrigeration had been planned for in a most inventive way. Uncle George had installed a
""flow"" in the creek. This consisted of a wooden frame with shelves.
The frame stood right in the stream, with its lower shelves right in the water.
Bottles and jars were chilled here. The shelves that were higher were used for butter, cheese,
and meat. The sides were enclosed, and a heavy stone on top of the wooden lid kept raccoons
out.
At the cottage, a small boy could always find something fascinating to watch or do.
Andy could watch one of the uncles carrying out a carpentry project.
He could explore along the creek, and wade in the cold water. Occasionally a group
walked all the way to the general store in Dunbarton, with its attraction of penny candy.
Across the road at the farm, Andy helped Dan Anderson bring in the cows for milking It was
interesting to watch the farmer working his fields with the team of horses.
Riding on the wagon was some thing special, but only if there was no load.
A high load of hay was considered too dangerous a spot for a city boy.
Andy enjoyed holidays at the cottage on Fairport Road in the late 1920s and early 1930s.
When Andy and Marina moved to Pickering in 1976, Andy drove along Fairport Road to look
for the old cottage. Some of the old places still stood, transformed over the years into regular
homes. He could not identify the cottage, but the old Anderson farmhouse was still standing at
that time. Now it is gone, and many new homes have replaced the old houses along Fairport.
No indication remains that this was once cottage country, but the happy memory of holidays at
the Fairport Road cottage has stayed with Andy Rodgers all his life.
Subscriptions to Pathmaster
Subscription is by membership in the PTHS. Individual membership is $ 15 per year;
family membership is $20. Single copies of Pathmaster may be purchased for $4.
Contributions to Pathmaster
If you have an article, book review, or other suitable item you would like to submit for publication
in our newsletter, please phone John Sabean at (905) 831-3811. E-mail: athand@inforamp.net
25"
"I REMEMBER
By Andrea Graham, President, PineRidge Arts Council
I remember sitting in a pew in the old Whitevale Church with my husband AI, and our infant
daughter Courtney. I wore a long homespun skirt, primitive blouse, shawl, and bonnet.
The minister stood high behind the carved pulpit. At the back of the church, the old black
stove barely heated the room. Outside in the snow the wagons were parked, the horses
snorting with the cold. The date was circa 1880. A dream? A previous life? No.
Hollywood Hits North Pickering!
The year: 1970 The town: Brougham
The location: Pickering Township Museum
The movie: The Megantic Outlaw
The star: Lloyd Bochner
Along with several other Brougham and Claremont residents, our family of three was hired to
be ""extras"" in the film. I believe we were paid about fifteen dollars each for the day. That was
good pay for 19 70! To my knowledge, The Megantic Outlaw was the first feature to be filmed
partly in Pickering.
Outside the church, baby Courtney was needed for close-ups with the two principal actors.
At that point she decided that she had had enough of film making and began crying and
screaming so loudly she drowned out the dialogue. After several ""takes"", she was ""cut""
and was replaced with a blanketed doll. The irony is that 28 years later, Courtney now has a
career in the film business — behind the camera. She is second camera assistant on the TV
series Nikita. She also worked on the TV series The Rez and on the recent Hollywood feature
film, Mimic, with Mira Sorvino.
I remember watching the making of two other Hollywood films in and around Claremont in the
80s: Strange Invaders with Louise Fletcher, filmed in 1983, and Pink Chiqutias, a 1987 film
starring Frank Stallone (Sylvester's brother). Neither movie could be described as a blockbuster.
During the filming of Strange Invaders, our dog, a Lhasa Apso, was spotted by the director while
out for his walk. The director was obviously impressed with our little dog. I got a phone call
asking if they could use the dog in the movie. They would be filming out at the Dunlap
Obervatory and would pay $20 and send a car just for him! My response was yes,
but Courtney would have to accompany him for another $20.
The walkways and steps around the inside of the observatory were all metal grillwork.
The dog was to walk along this grillwork with one of the very grotesque ""creatures""
featured in the movie. But alas, his small paws went right through the grille spaces.
He balked and refused to move. They even put clear plastic over the grille, but,
""once burned twice shy! It was another Graham failure to make it to the Big Screen.
Courtney and the dog were sent home. She was embarrassed;
he was on the cutting room floor.
The Black Stallion made in 1979 was commercially successful. Parts of it were shot west of
Claremont at Sideline 24, using century barns that had been expropriated for the
""Pickering International Airport"". This movie starred Mickey Rooney. Carroll Ballard
was the director and Caleb Deschanel was the cinematographer. Both are internationally
famous for their beautiful and sensitive imagery. Interestingly, they both returned to the area in
1996 to work on Fly Away Home, a film starring Jeff Daniels and Anna Paquin. Deschanel was
nominated for an Academy Award for cinematography for this film. Fly Away Home was loosely
based on the life story of former Pickering resident and local hero, Bill Lishman, whose dream
was to fly with the birds. A beautiful century barn east of Claremont on Sideline 12 was used in
filming the scenes involving the newly-hatched goslings.
In the late 70s, the Pickering Museum was moved to Greenwood as the Brougham location had
been expropriated for the airport. In the mid-80s, scenes for Anne of Green Gables were filmed
there, and the Museum has kept records of the numerous films since shot there.
Today the Town of Pickering's Culture and Recreation Department is actively promoting
Pickering and its urban and rural environs as a great location for film making.
The Role of the Pathmaster in the 1880s: Two Views
Compiled by John W. Sabean
Charles Luther Burton, a president of the Simpson's department store, lived his first 12 years
(1876-1888) in the village of Green River where his father ran the general store.
Late in his life he looked back on these years in his Memoirs.
""One of my earliest memories is of my farmer grandfather as ‘Pathmaster’.
It could hardly be described as a public office and yet working without pay he was
responsible for the maintenance of a certain section of the roadway.
Good and faithful Pathmasters were much respected among their neighbours,
and were given ready co-operation. The Brock road running north via Brougham was
always a good well-gravelled road, as was the sixth concession of Pickering,
both the result of faithful Pathmasters, good Reformers who did their duty but were always
influential to keep local matters in local hands.""
C.L. Burton, A Sense of Urgency: Memoirs of a Canadian Merchant (Toronto: Clarke, Irwin &
Company Limited, 1952), p. 349.
During the years 1883-1884, Ross Johnston, a Whitby resident, wrote for the Whitby Chronicle,
under the pen name of ""Traveller"", a series of articles about the County of Ontario.
""While in the neighborhood a little north east of Dunbarton, I fell in with a former Whitby
acquaintance, Mr. Henry Chappie.... Harry thinks the present system of doing road-work in this
country is all wrong. There is in it a sad want of adaptation of means to ends. The work,
through want of proper supervision is often worse than labor thrown away.
The appointment of a Path Master is often, if not generally a hap hazard appointment,
and through frequent change of that functionary the little good that may have been done one
year is often undone the next. A radical change is needed. The making or improving of the
roads should be under the supervision of a duly qualified Road Inspector,
appointed and payed by the township or other council and responsible thereto.
The present plan may have answered a good purpose in the past, and may do so still in
some localities, but on the whole 'its usefulness is gone.' It is rotten and should be buried....
Take note of this ye Solons of the County and Township councils and consider the subject well.""
Traveller, ""Our County"", Whitby Chronicle 28 (Friday, 16 November 1883),p.2.
26"
"Membership Has Its Rewards
by Tom Mohr
Welcome to the third issue of Pathmaster, the newsletter of the Pickering Township Historical
Society. As copies of the first two issues circulate in the community, I continue to hear many
compliments directed at both their design and content. It is appropriate to acknowledge those
responsible for a job well done. The reader's attention is directed to the masthead located on
the last page of each issue, and to the individual bylines. I'd like to thank the designer,
editorial staff, authors, and those who have loaned their photographs, for their time and effort in
making this publication one of which to be proud.
Some readers may have received this issue free and wonder at their good fortune.
This is not an oversight; it is an effort to familiarize folks with the PTHS, and what we are up to.
We think you will be so impressed that you will fill out a membership form and join the Society.
Memberships are critical to our success. They define who we are and lend credence to our
efforts. They allow us to speak with the voice of many, and the low annual fee provides
funds for us to work.
Why do we need funds? Each newsletter represents an investment of about $350,
including fixed costs such as production and postage. Our monthly meetings,
which we believe represent a high standard of programming, also require a cash outlay for the
room and speaker's honorarium. We are dependent upon our membership fees for our
operating capital. At the moment, membership stands at about 40, and that is gratifying for a
young organization such as ours.
If you support our goals, and if you have enjoyed our newsletter and programming,
the best gesture of appreciation is to take out membership.
To those who have already done so, to those who have made individual donations, thank you.
Other benefits of membership will become apparent as we progress.
Members will receive a reduction in the price of publications, in field trips, and in special
programming such as our upcoming co-sponsored workshop on writing history,
and an opportunity to work on a real archaeological excavation.
We are now incorporated through affiliation with the Ontario Historical Society and are awaiting
charitable status with Revenue Canada which will allow us to issue tax receipts for donations
received.
Some of the other activities in which we have been involved include: establishing ourselves as a
commenting agency on local heritage matters, and taking part in Scarborough's Heritage
Showcase with about 50 other heritage groups in the GTA. Watch for us at the Frenchman's Bay
Festival and other community events.
Our members are engaged in individual research and collection of materials relevant to our past.
We are eagerly anticipating the results of a core sampling survey of Frenchman's Bay which will
tell us much about the changing face of this area. All of this information, which might languish
unknown or unpublished, will be brought into the public record and made available for
educational purposes or general interest.
The Pickering Township Historical Society welcomes all to share in its pursuit of preserving our
very rich heritage.
Book Review
Reviewed by John VI. Sabean
Looking for Old Ontario: Two Centuries of Landscape Change.
By Thomas F. McIlwraith. Toronto: University of Toronto Press, 1997. 400 pages. Illustrated.
Bibliography. Index. $19.95 pb
When I first moved to Ontario (near Guelph) about 30 years ago, I was immediately struck by the
number of brick houses in the province. It seemed to me that there was a much higher
percentage of brick dwellings here than in any other place I had been across eastern
North America. Over the years I have continued to suspect that my first impressions were correct,
but I had no way of demonstrating the truth of my surmise. I found the proof recently in
Looking for Old Ontario.
I was right. McIlwraith says that by 1931 Ontario was 27 per cent brick as -opposed to 6 per cent
in Quebec and only 1 or 2 per cent elsewhere in Canada. There are no exact records for states
bordering the Great Lakes, but the figures appear to be correspondingly small. And the bricking
of Ontario continues to this day. McIlwraith even claims that the ""widespread use of brick is
Ontario's most distinctive landscape characteristic."" (p. 88)
McIlwraith also answers the question why Ontario is brick. There are several factors,
but part of the answer has to do with the abundance of lumber available for export in
nineteenth-century Ontario, combined with a free trade policy between Canada and the
United States between 1854 and 1866. Ontarians built their homes of unexportable brick and
shipped their wood to the south.
Not all wood from Ontario's forests was exported, however. Early settlers used wood for all sorts
of purposes, and they had to learn by experience the special properties of each species in
order to make the best use of the resource. Thus, for example, as McIlwraith states:
""Every Ontario barn is a gallery of the Great Lakes mixed forest."" (p. 32) Framing was done in
oak or red pine, while the frame was held together by pegs whittled from ash or birch.
Floor joists were made from tamarack, white cedar, or elm, while cedar provided the material for
roof shingles. Elsewhere on the farm a variety of tree species provided for the special needs of
the farmer.
The next time you drive out into the countryside, stop for a while alongside a farm and consider
what development and change has occurred over the years. Need help to formulate the right
questions? Look no further than Looking for Old Ontario. This is a book which will help you to
understand the land scape of southern Ontario.
Mcllwraith shows you how to ""read"" a landscape, to look in a new way at houses, barns, fences,
cemeteries,
27"
"Membership Has Its Rewards
by Tom Mohr
Welcome to the third issue of Pathmaster, the newsletter of the Pickering Township Historical
Society. As copies of the first two issues circulate in the community, I continue to hear many
compliments directed at both their design and content. It is appropriate to acknowledge those
responsible for a job well done. The reader's attention is directed to the masthead located on
the last page of each issue, and to the individual bylines. I'd like to thank the designer,
editorial staff, authors, and those who have loaned their photographs, for their time and
effort in making this publication one of which to be proud.
Some readers may have received this issue free and wonder at their good fortune.
This is not an oversight; it is an effort to familiarize folks with the PTHS, and what we are up to.
We think you will be so impressed that you will fill out a membership form and join the Society.
Memberships are critical to our success. They define who we are and lend credence to our
efforts. They allow us to speak with the voice of many, and the low annual fee provides funds for
us to work.
Why do we need funds? Each newsletter represents an investment of about $350, including
fixed costs such as production and postage. Our monthly meetings, which we believe represent
a high standard of programming, also require a cash outlay for the room and speaker's
honorarium. We are dependent upon our membership fees for our operating capital.
At the moment, membership stands at about 40, and that is gratifying for a young organization
such as ours.
If you support our goals, and if you have enjoyed our newsletter and programming,
the best gesture of appreciation is to take out membership. To those who have already done so,
to those who have made individual donations, thank you. Other benefits of membership
will become apparent as we progress.
Members will receive a reduction in the price of publications, in field trips, and in special
programming such as our upcoming co-sponsored workshop on writing history, and an
opportunity to work on a real archaeological excavation.
We are now incorporated through affiliation with the Ontario Historical Society and are awaiting
charitable status with Revenue Canada which will allow us to issue tax receipts for donations
received.
Some of the other activities in which we have been involved include: establishing ourselves as a
commenting agency on local heritage matters, and taking part in Scarborough's Heritage
Showcase with about 50 other heritage groups in the GTA. Watch for us at the Frenchman's Bay
Festival and other community events.
Our members are engaged in individual research and collection of materials relevant to our past.
We are eagerly anticipating the results of a core sampling survey of Frenchman's Bay which will
tell us much about the changing face of this area. All of this information, which might languish
unknown or unpublished, will be brought into the public record and made available for
educational purposes or general interest.
The Pickering Township Historical Society welcomes all to share in its pursuit of preserving our
very rich heritage.
Book Review
Reviewed by John VI. Sabean
Looking for Old Ontario: Two Centuries of Landscape Change.
By Thomas F. McIlwraith. Toronto: University of Toronto Press, 1997. 400 pages. Illustrated.
Bibliography. Index. $19.95 pb
When I first moved to Ontario (near Guelph) about 30 years ago, I was immediately struck by the
number of brick houses in the province. It seemed to me that there was a much higher
percentage of brick dwellings here than in any other place I had been across eastern
North America. Over the years I have continued to suspect that my first impressions were correct,
but I had no way of demonstrating the truth of my surmise. I found the proof recently in Looking
for Old Ontario.
I was right. McIlwraith says that by 1931 Ontario was 27 per cent brick as -opposed to 6 per cent
in Quebec and only 1 or 2 per cent elsewhere in Canada. There are no exact records for states
bordering the Great Lakes, but the figures appear to be correspondingly small.
And the bricking of Ontario continues to this day. McIlwraith even claims that the
""widespread use of brick is Ontario's most distinctive landscape characteristic."" (p. 88)
McIlwraith also answers the question why Ontario is brick. There are several factors,
but part of the answer has to do with the abundance of lumber available for export in
nineteenth-century Ontario, combined with a free trade policy between Canada and the
United States between 1854 and 1866. Ontarians built their homes of unexportable brick and
shipped their wood to the south.
Not all wood from Ontario's forests was exported, however. Early settlers used wood for all sorts
of purposes, and they had to learn by experience the special properties of each species in order
to make the best use of the resource. Thus, for example, as McIlwraith states:
""Every Ontario barn is a gallery of the Great Lakes mixed forest."" (p. 32) Framing was done in
oak or red pine, while the frame was held together by pegs whittled from ash or birch.
Floor joists were made from tamarack, white cedar, or elm, while cedar provided the
material for roof shingles. Elsewhere on the farm a variety of tree species provided for the
special needs of the farmer.
The next time you drive out into the countryside, stop for a while alongside a farm and consider
what development and change has occurred over the years. Need help to formulate the right
questions? Look no further than Looking for Old Ontario. This is a book which will help you to
understand the land scape of southern Ontario.
Mcllwraith shows you how to ""read"" a landscape, to look in a new way at houses, barns,
fences, cemeteries,
27"