HomeMy WebLinkAbout343"Article copied from the Pickering News, April 8, 1960, page 6.
With the protesting creaks of nails being drawn and groans of old timbers being loosened,
one of the old landmarks on the 7th concession of Pickering Township is being removed.
The old barns, over one hundred years old, that belonged to the late Andrew Pegg and his family,
for forty-nine years, are being taken down by the Metro Toronto and Region Conservation
Authority, the new owners.
The pine boards on the, sides which were originally one-inch in thickness, have been worn by
wind and weather, until they are less than half an inch thick. The nails holding them are the old
square-cut type. The timbers were hand-hewn, as was common in those days.
What stories these old barns could tell of the many crops they had held. Of threshing with the flail,
then with horsepower, then with steam engines and separators. Of the din and rumbling and noise,
and of the air filled with dust as the straw was blown into an empty mow. Of grain being carried
into the granary in bushel boxes until the arms grew weary. Of the welcome sound when the
whistle on the steam engine blew at 12.00 noon and again at 6.00.
The old barn could tell stories about the fine Shorthorn cattle, many imported from Scotland,
by Arthur Johnston, that it sheltered. It could tell about the many hired men who worked there,
such as Thos. Wilson, whose name is inscribed in fine writing on the inside walls to this day,
of Sandy Moore, and Fred Nutt and William Maw.
Con't on p.2
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"Of how William Maw used to stand on the manure pile and auction off the cattle as the other men
led them out to water. It is said that is how he got his training to become a very successful
auctioneer, and that he became such a fast talker that he frequently had bidders bidding against
themselves.
The old barn could tell of romances that were started there; of at least two that resulted in
marriage between the men and maids who worked for Arthur Johnston.
It could tell of the tragedy too when in the earliest days, before there were any chuches or
cemeteries two little children were buried by their sorrowing parents on a knoll nearby.
Companion to the old barn through all the years, the old white house stands nearby,
quiet and serene with its memories. It remembers the many families who have sheltered under
its roof. There was William Coultis, who in 1846 bought the firm from the Canada Land Company.
Then it passed to Richard Coultis. Then in 1864 to William Smith, a stone mason by trade,
from Northern Ireland, with his family of nine children. Then in 1875 the farm was sold to
Arthur Johnston, who owned the property for thirty-five years, during which time he added other
tracts to it until it contained 206 acres. Then in 1910, Andrew Pegg from Manitoba, with his young
and growing family, bought the farm which remained in his family's possession until purchashed
by Metro and Region Conservation Authority in 1959 as a part of a 400 acre block.
And so, the old farm with it's fields so labouriously cleared of trees stumps and stones,
is to become a place of rest and recreation for those tired of the noise and hurry of the city.
Trees will be planted roads, parking places and picnic grounds made: nature trails through the
woods and along the winding banks of the clear sparkling waters of the creek will delight both the
young and old. Truly, the old order changeth giving place to the new.
"