MILTON IRVEN BEESHY

He was born at Glen Huron, Ont., on January 16^th 1891. He is the son of the late Jared Beeshy and Hannah Hembling Beeshy. His parental ancestry is French and his maternal ancestry Suffolk, England.

At the age of eight years he was adopted by his uncle, Jacob Albert Beeshy of Ridgeway. In this village he completed his public and continuation school education, being the first student to matriculate from Ridgeway Continuation School. His undergraduate work included attendance at University College, Toronto, and at Queen’s University, Kingston. He received his master’s degree from Queen’s in 1915, majoring in history and political science.

During the summer vacation he assisted his uncle in the management of a retail china and grocery business at Ridgeway. During his high school terms he acted as a special correspondent for several newspapers in the district, and, in college he selected such subjects as might be of special value in journalism as a profession.

Graduating from college in the early years of the World War, and denied an opportunity of serving at the front, he sought to compensate for absence from the firing-line by other forms of service. At his own expense he took himself to England, and during the winter months of 1915-1916 made a first-hand intensive study of the famous Derby Recruiting Campaign, that greatest of modern experiments in the raising of a volunteer army.

Some of the methods successfully employed in that campaign in England appeared to him to be adaptable to conditions peculiar to Canada, and with this thought in mind, he prepared considerable data which appeared to him of value, and which he transmitted to the proper Canadian authorities on returning home. By them he was warmly commended for the service he had rendered.

The serious illness and untimely death of his uncle in December 1916, raised the alternatives of putting a long established business on the auction block, or of surrendering his hopes of entering journalism as a life work. For reasons which were partially beyond his control, he accepted the second alternative. He had a definite ideal of the kind of business he wished to develop. He foresaw that only in a specialized development of his little shop could his hope for material success. He believed there was a future for an institution, concentrating on the importation and sale of the less common and more distinctive varieties of English china and pottery.

He contrived as soon as possible to relegate the grocery department of his store to the limbo of forgotten things. He gradually enlarged and improved his showrooms, extended his connections with a group of notable Staffordshire potters, and was soon in a position to offer to his trade a really remarkable collection of uncommon and highly interesting patterns in china and pottery, such as was seldom to be met with, even in well-known city shops.

He is a firm believer in the power of advertising, and considers that he derives the most satisfactory results from a carefully planned scheme of direct-mail advertising plus a consistent distribution of advertising material over the counter of his shop.

By concentrating on the productions of a small group of outstanding English potters he has built up a highly specialized business, which in many respects has few, if any, counterparts in Canada. The strategic position of Ridgeway, near one of the main arteries of International tourist traffic brings tens of thousands of visitors each year from every part of the United States and Canada, a circumstance which has contributed largely to the widespread distribution which Mr. Beeshy’s shop enjoys. It is perhaps not too much to say that there is scarcely a State in the American Union, nor a province in Canada where china purchased at this little village shop cannot be found.

Several years ago, inspired by one of the old-time shops in the ancient city of Chester, he rebuilt his own store front after the style of modified Elizabethan architecture, with the result that it is easily discernible by the passer-by, and readily to be remembered once it has been seen.

The whole institution is an interesting example of what may be accomplished in even a small community by anyone possessed of a keen imagination combined with a fair measure of business ability.

By making personal journeys to the potteries in England, Mr. Beeshy has built up a valuable connection, and one that has made it possible for him to select his stocks in person in a much more satisfactory manner than would otherwise be possible.

By heritage and training he is a Liberal in doctrine, while declining to commit himself unreservedly to the shibboleth of any particular party.

Events of historical and economic importance claim his special interest, while swimming and tennis are his favorite sports.

Mr. Beeshy is a member of the United Church of Canada, and has served his local church from time to time as treasurer, trustee and steward. He is also a member of Dominion Lodge, A.F. and A.M., Ridgeway, and has served as secretary and trustee of that body. He is a member of Moore Consistory A. and A.S.R., 32^nd degree.

On Good Friday, 1919, he was married to Ora Winnifred, younger daughter of Mr. and Mrs. Ward B. Disher of Ridgeway. They have two children-Winnifred Lucille and Kennard Milton.

A.E. Coombs
History of The Niagara Peninsula and the New Welland Canal
1930