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HomeMy WebLinkAbout463"A Visit to My Boyhood Farm of 50 Years Ago, Lot 33, Con. # Pickering By Geo. Cober Gormley, Ont. I recently visited and had discover with James McGrisken, who bought the farm from Jesse Cober in 1910. My father, John Cober reared a large family of 13 children, the writer being the youngest. I spent a pleasant day around the buildings and walking out the lane. This brought many pleasant memories back to my mind of all who attended Cherrywood school. I will name those who are left: Wm. Judd. Wm. Sinclar. Russell Davidson, Joseph Burkholder, John Petty, Sandy Gourlie, Joseph Garland, Walter Hollinger and Edward Lintner. My first teachers were Thomas Henderson, F. A. Dales (who later became our family doctor in Stouffville also a director of the Bethesda Telephone Company), Archie Smith and James Drummond. Their story was approximately $300 a year. Miss Ferguson of Sunderland and Alexander Macintosh were among the first school teachers. During my school days farmers let their children go to school until they were 18 or 19 years of age (in the winter). They walked barefooted in the summer. The first trustees were James McCreight Fred Roach and George Davidson Sr. Later, in my years at school, John Henderson. George Davidson and Noah Burkholder were the trustees. Everyone had to walk to school. The first bell used to ring at a quarter to nine and then at nine, which made sure we would not be late. We boys used to have the privilege of ringing the bell. At that time the dinner bells were all the go. We would hear them from twenty after eleven until a quarter to twelve. The boys knew everyone even the horses knew our bell from the rest. At present, this is a thing of the past. The winters were very cold and stormy. A few farmers — namely. John B. Reesor and Noah Burkholder, used to hitch their horses to a bobsled and give rides to the children. Often the box would be filled and all would have a jolly time. The big school would be heated by a big box stove at the rear end of the school. The front seats where the little children sat were very cold. The boys that I sat with were Joseph Allison, Edward Cober, Walter Henderson Willie Green and Joseph Garland. At that time we used to play a game called shinny. We had no hockey sticks. We used to get a branch off a tree with a crook in it. We had no skating rink. I learned to skate with wooden skates. We also played football, baseball and horseshoes. Every year Pickering Town-ship had a Union School picnic at Rosebank at Lake Ontario. The children would ride on wagons drawn by fine horses with shining harness, covered with ribbons. The best entry received a prize. Mr. and Mrs. James Chap-man were the school caretakers. He cut some of the best hardwood with a bucksaw and piled it in the woodshed. At that time Cherrywood was a busy place. Mr. Charles Petty owned a brick and tile yard. As a boy, I saw Mr. Petty's first tile machine. They turned it by hand. Some of the men he hired were George Gates, Charles Lintner. William Merris and George Osland. Mr. Petty also owed a farm, store, and several houses. He was a real businessman. Murray Summerfelt was the first storekeeper, that I recall. Others were Alfred McPherson, John Green and Tom Robins. The store was handy to the school and many a cent's worth of candy was purchased over the counter. Cherry-wood also had some first class blacksmiths. Some were William [?], James Clayton. Herb [?], and Robt. Davidson Nearby was a carpenter shop, operated by Nathaniel Burk-holder. We all looked forward to threshing days. One man would tend the engine, two men would feed the machine, one would cut bands four would work in the mow, one or two would carry boxes; one would work behind the rackers and five or six in the straw mow. It brought a lot of the neighbors together. The women folk provided an excellent meal. The farmer would hitch his team to the engine and take it to the next place. The thresher would draw the machine with his team. The young boys would get a real thrill when the engine driver would let them blow the whistle. Everyone enjoyed hearing it blow at 12 and 6 o'clock. The first threshers I can re-member were Nathaniel Burk-holder, Peter Cober, Daniel Hoover, and later Walter Hoover and William Reesor. They always threshed 10 hours a day and did a good job. Jesse Reesor and his father Samuel Reesor were also among the early threshers. Another big day for us children was the big butchering day when every farmer used to kill from four to eight pigs, finished off with pea chop. They would dress about 300 pounds. This took a lot of extra help as the meat was cut up into hams and shoulders. It all was salted and smoked with maple green chips and the fat went into lard and the rest into sausage and liver-worst. This took all day. The best of it was we, had sausage for supper and all who had helped got a taste of it, also some liverworst. This was the best food a man could eat, as it gave him the strength he needed for hard work in the bush. We also looked forward to the day when we extracted honey, This was a busy day as we used to have about fifty swarms of bees. All the combs had to be uncapped before they were put in the extractor. We children liked to turn it and see the honey fly out of the tomb. Of course at that time, honey was plentiful and everyone ate to their heart's content. We used to sell the honey for eight or ten cents a pound. In the spring of the year we used to tap around 150 trees and make maple syrup. We would gather it together in pails with a yoke over our shoulder and then pour it into a big tub and boil it down in a big pan over a fireplace. We usually started at daylight and would keep working until night. Then we would carry the syrup nearly a half mile to the cook house where we had an old-fashioned fireplace, and here father would boil it down into molasses and sell a lot of it in Whitevale for $1.25 per gallon. The children always enjoyed the taffy and maple sugar when it was made. These are some of the memories we don't forget when we get old. Very little money was received for the hard work involved, but everyone was happy and enjoyed life better than today where everything is modern. Now coming back to my father's place. He came from Vaughan Township around 1856 and had a large stone house built, as he had a very Stony farm. A mason by the name of John Pearse Sr. built the house, as he did a number of others. This house is just as good as ever. The first jointing mortar is still there. Father built the house in 1858. His brother Jacob did the carpenter work. My father told me they took a ladder up and put a plank on the ladder and then put the stone in the wheel barrow. Mr. Pearse tied a plow line on the wheelbarrow and pulled, and my father shoved on the handle. This was the Way they got the stones onto the scaffold, which was very hard work, Mr. Pearse worked long hours for very little money, as money was scarce in those days. My father and mother belonged to the Tunker Church. My grandfather was elder for over 40 years and my father held meetings every sixteen weeks in his home for over 40 years. This was discontinued in 1904 when he left and moved to Gormley. He died in 1918 in his 88th year and mother in 1921 in her 83rd year. The ministers that used top reach there were John Byers of North Markham, Elder Samuel Baker of Gormley, Elder Henry R. Heise of Victoria Square. Peter Baker of Gormley. Fred Elliott of Richmond Hill. Abraham Winger. Maple, and Peter Stickley of Bethesda. The deacons were: Christopher Heise, Daniel Steckley Sr., David Lehman, John Donir, Reuben Heise and John W. Heise. This Official staff were all first class farmers and each took his turn every 16 weeks and preached the Gospel of Jesus Christ free of charge. "