Results for ‘General News’
Several Heard From
[Welland Tribune, 30 November 1911]
The enquiry for heirs of Thomas O. Page, recently published, has stirred up information of several of that name.
The grandfather of our well-known townsman, Mr. C.J. Page, was Thomas Page, who lived on the Quaker Road, Thorold township. Clayt’ don’t know whether he had an O. in his name or not. He was killed by falling off a load of wood, about the year 1850. The family came from the States, so he might have been the missing link, and if so, his descendents are the heirs.
Another representative of the Page family tells us the fortune has been known of for a long time, and enquiries have been on foot. He thinks the Thos. O. Page, who is wanted, is a generation further back than Clayt’s grandpa.
Mr. Stephen Beatty of St. Catharines, a well-known local historian, thinks that the Thomas Page, as referred to in the Evening Journal of Monday, came to Bertie township in the county of Welland about 1797. He secured a large tract of territory in Bertie. William Page died about the year 1827 or 8, leaving at least one son, Otway, who for a long time resided in Fort Erie. Mr. Otway Page may have left descendents but the children or grandchildren may be of a different name.
Otway Page was a general and commission merchant and was a prominent and influential man in Fort Erie in 1846.
Descendents of this family, we understand, still live near Point Abino, in the township of Bertie.
The Tribune advises the heirs or supposed heirs of Thos. O. Page, not to lose any sleep of hypothecate any good coin in looking after other people’s millions. There are more fortunes made by sharp lawyers getting contributions from enquirers, than ever secured by the heirs themselves.
[Related TALE: May Soon Be Millionaire]
[The Welland Tribune and Telegraph, 13 October 1921]
“I called around to see Chief Stapf the other day-and maybe I wasn’t surprised. Course seein’ them new shinin’ motor buses of theirs flying around Welland every once in a while, I kinda expected to see things spick and span around the station. But when the Chief showed me all these new-fangled businesses down in his cellar and up around the building, I was dumbfounded so to speak.
I kinda thought that when a feller pulls the hook in one of them there red boxes in the corner, it burn’t a light or somethin’ in the hall, and the chief or maybe the driver, or somebody pulled a rope that blew the whistle, so that folks would know there was a fire, and everybody could come out.
But say, for intercate machinery and high fallutin’ ideas, that firehall beats the cards. It takes more room to accommodate all the paraphernalia used to blow that fire horn than a man would need to pile up a hundred cases of good old Johnny Walker.
As near as I could figure it out, course I couldn’t keep up to the Chief when it comes to explainin’ electric things, they have to have about twenty black boxes, where they make electricity so that they can keep shooting it along them wires that goes to the red boxes on the corners. Then they have three great big round tanks about ten feet high, which they keep pressed air in, to say nothin’ of lots of delicate instruments in the Chief’s office, which he says regulate the whole business.
It seems an awful lot to set one whistle goin’, doesn’t it?
The Chief’s not a bad scout, you know, but he’s gettin’ awful stuck up about his outfit. But you can’t blame him much, seein’ as how he has a real up-to-date equipment. The men’s bedrooms look as if old maids slept in them, they’re so neat and tidy. I bet they do a lot of sweepin’ mornings.
I’ve only got one thing against the chief. He got me sliding down the pole from the second floor and I hung so tight the muscles of my arms was made sore. But then I ain’t so young as I used to be.”
HOUSE FAMILY AND THE TELEGRAPH
Paper Sent to the Name of Peter House For 43 Years-Eight Members of the Family Now Subscribers-A Telegraph of The Early Days
[Welland Telegraph, 24 September 1907]
A copy of The Welland Telegraph, bearing the far-off date of July 4, 1867, has been given to us by Mrs. Peter House. It was sent from this office to Mr. House over forty years ago and he had been at that time, three years a subscriber, so for forty-three years until this very date The Telegraph has been a regular visitor at the House home, and though he, some few years ago, passed from the scene, the name on the label still remains unchanged and is still read by the life-long partner of his joys and sorrows.
The Telegraph is proud to relate another important fact in connection with this interesting matter. Eight members of Mr. House’s family are today subscribers on The Telegraph list. That is a record surely that has never been equalled.
The paper dated July 4, 1867 which now lies before the editor on his desk, was published, so the advertisements says, in Evans’ new brick block near the Court House. The subscription price was $1.50 if called for at the office or delivered through the mails, and $1.75 if delivered by carriers. “Subscriptions” says the advertisement “are payable invariably in advance,” and yet, strangely enough there is provisions for an extra charge of 50 cents a year if the subscription is not paid in advance. The publisher of The Telegraph way back in 1867 was Edward Rosenorn Dewhurst.
Advertisers
Among the business cards we find these:
George Baxter, barrister, Thorold and Welland
L.D. Raymond, barrister, Welland
T. Craig, barrister, Welland
J.C. Rykert, barrister, St. Catharines
McClive & Hamilton, barristers, St. Catharines
B.H. Lemon, M.D., Thorold
J.W. Schooley, M.D., Welland
Q. Johnstone, surveyor, Welland
Daniel Brooke, barrister, Welland
J. McGarry, M.D., Drummondville
F.C. Longnecker, dentist, Welland
Other advertisers are:
D’Everardo, Fonthill, money to loan
Geo. Gordon, British American Hotel, Chippawa
Joseph Vanderslip, hotel, Welland
S.N. Pattinson, Welland, auctioneer
John McWhinney, Ontario Hotel, Welland
Henry Fitch, Royal Exchange Hotel, Fort Erie
D. Fitch, Thorold, Livery stables
George Lampman, Welland, jeweler
Stamford Brewery, St. Davids
Willson Brooks, Bailiff
James McGlashen, assignee
Robert Hobson, sheriff
Hamilton Times
Bryant, Stratton & Co., Commerial College, Toronto
Samuel Hopkins, Port Colborne, dry goods
Lock’s Tailoring and Clothing House, Welland
Charles Treble, insurance agent, Fort Erie
Robert Harper, farm for sale
S.D. Woodruff, Superintendent of Welland Canal
Samuel Berriman, Stamford, grape wine for sale
Brydges & Co., Welland, liquors
Marshall’s Photograph Gallery, Welland
John England, Fonthill, photographer and jewelery
I.G. Carter, Port Colborne, dry goods
The New Ministry
A despatch from Ottawa gives the following personnel of the Confederate Ministry and the offices held by the several ministers:
Sir John A. Macdonald, Premier and Minister of Justice
Hon. A.T. Galt, Chancellor of the Exchequer
Hon. G.F. Cartier, Minister of Militia
Hon. A.J. Ferguson-Blair, President of the Council
Hon. Peter Mitchell, Minister of Marine and Fisheries
Hon. Alex. Campbell, Postmaster General
Hon. H.L. Langevin, Home Secretary
Hon. A.G. Archibald, Foreign Secretary
Hon. William McDougall, Minister of Public Works
Hon. J.C. Chapais, Minister of Agriculture
Hon. W.P. Howland, Minister of Internal Revenue
Hon. Mr. Tilley, Minister of Customs
Hon. Edward Kenney, Receiver General
It is said that Messrs. Galt, Howland and Tilley, Kenny and Campbell are to be constituted a treasury board.
An Estimate of George Brown
The most interesting thing in the paper is an estimate of George Brown by Thomas D’Arcy McGee. The letter was written by Mr. McGee to a gentleman in Peterboro and The Telegraph publishes it in full:
I see George Brown is making devoted love to you once despised Dogans, so that at long last, I suppose I may congratulate myself on what I had so often the last eight years despaired of -George’s conversation to common Christian civility and decency in his dealings with us. If a doubt lingers in my mind as to his sincerity now, it is not a doubt of old date, it arises from his conduct, speeches and swagger last session, on the one question you ever had before parliament, as a class, namely, the school question.
It was bad and foolish enough for Master George to oppose minority rights and guarantees at the Quebec conference as he did, and was beaten, but to make a boast in the debut of ‘66 that he had done so-to tear the motion paper out of Robert Bell’s hands, placed there by that minority in order to raise an unusual and unparliamentary ‘point of order’ objection against the motion-and still go to the same minority in ‘67, and ask them to tag on to his fall, or stump, is eminently characteristic of that modest speculator in petroleum and politics.
The truth is Brown is nothing if not an agitator, and there never was a mere agitator in history that grew up into a statesman.
He has no constitutional reading of any kind out of ordinary newspaper topics. Take him off one or two back topics and he is an extremely ill-informed man.
He cannot receive or balance more than one idea at a time, and that idea masters and goads him, like the single object in the eye of a shy horse; it gives him a certain access of animal force, but it utterly deprives him for the time being of all powers of self-control, of reflection and almost of reason itself.
I know his mental peculiarities well, and except as a bell-weather he is good for nothing.
I see he is still at his antedeluvian idea, an Upper Canada party, on his principles. No interest-no man east of the Coteau, is to be recognized as worthy of consideration, till Ontario is organized in sectional array, and Ontario can dictate terms, within, if not without.
Admirable unionist. True model of confederate statesman! It is this you inaugurate the new era, with the old tactics, the old war-cries, and the old madness.
Yet this is Brown patriotism and Brown Statesmanship. Ugh! It is sickening to think how such a bladder can find followers.”
Niagara Falls Extortions
Under the heading “Barnett Triumphant,” the following despatch from Ottawa is given:
The extortions formerly practiced on visitors at Niagara Falls, must now cease, as the Government has by exclusive lease to Thomas Barnett, given him exclusive control of the passage by the permanent stone railway and pathway to the Falls. The prices have been regulated as follows: One visitor may descend without a guide by paying 25 cents, with a guide and without a waterproof dress, 50 cents, with guide and waterproof dress under the Falls, $1. No guide permitted to descend the staircase unless furnished by Barnett, and he only shall furnish waterproof dresses. The guide must be of good character and be on hand at all times. The staircase erected by Saul Davis may be closed up or removed by Barnett without cost.
Author Declares Many Newlyweds are Insane at the Time
[The Welland Tribune and Telegraph, 20 January 1927]
Hartford, Conn., Jan. 20-”Happy marriages should be regarded as a work of art and not as a work of nature,” Dr. Joseph Collins, author of “The Doctor Looks at Love and Life,” said at the monthly luncheon of the Women’s City club in a talk on “Marriage.”
“The chief reason why marriage is not a success is because it is contracted while the parties are insane,” continued Dr. Collins. “The vast majority of brides and grooms are in no more favorable situation to make a contract than are raving maniacs. And like all insanities not founded on organic ailments, the love mania ends in recovery. The average duration of the mania of love is six years.”
Causes of Unhappiness
“When conjugality loses its zest, the partners should become aware of companionship, the essential thing in happy matrimony. Failures in matrimony are due to hasty and ill-advised marriages and to ignorance of the art of love.”
“Being in love is not a reason for marriage, and unless it is followed by mutual respect, confidence and admiration it is the poorest reason for marriage. A man and woman should not marry while they are in love, and yet there is one fatal observation to trial marriages-they are necessarily childless, and a childless marriage is at best a makeshift. Childless marriages are five times more apt to end in divorce courts than ordinary marriages.”
“The essential solution of the marriage problem is that love shall be treated as an art. Unless we pay some attention to it as an art, the divorce courts are going to be even more crowded than they are now. When two individuals are seized with the desire for blending their lives into one, there is a spiritual beauty which arises, and unless this wonderful quality is tenderly nurtured, it will not be lasting.”
..and Throwd him in a Hole,” says Old Southern Slave in his Reminiscences.
The Laughter and Tears of an Afternoon’s visit to Welland Industrial Home-Stories of Slavery Days.
[Welland Telegraph, 24 October 1911]
Picture to yourself an immense brick building standing back some distance from the road, a large, well-kept lawn fronting it, farm buildings in the rear and a properly cultivated farm adjoining the main building on three sides; old men and women who gaze at you curiously as you walk or drive up the gravel approach-picture this in your mind, and you have the Welland Industrial Home.
SPIRIT OF SADNESS
One cannot help but feel that a spirit of sadness prevails among these old people who have gathered here from the four corners of the county, penniless, and one might say friendless, to spend the remainder of their days in silent meditation and to wait patiently for the end.
Some of them have been wealthy in their day, but by some misfortune, unfair dealing or other trial or tribulation, their worldly possessions has left them and they find themselves face to face with poverty and the poor house.
PITIFUL STORIES
If each man and woman housed there and given shelter through the mercy of the county were to unfold their life story to you as you sat and listened, it would indeed be a tearful scene. It seems hard that these aged people when they near the end of life’s journey should have to depend upon charity to feed, clothe and shelter their aged bodies until life slips gently away.
Perhaps some day they enjoyed the comforts of life, were respected and had many friends. But when money slipped away, the friends went too. Simultaneously the two disappeared. Had they been wealthy the story would have been different. Still there would be no Industrial Home then and no need for one, either.
A VISIT
A representative of The Telegraph was shown over the building and the grounds by the genial keeper, Mr. Kottmeier, on Thursday afternoon. To describe the faces seen there would be almost impossible. On the countenance of nearly all those who are nearing the three score and ten years there was little expression, save one, and that that from their heart all hope had fled. Some sat around, pitiful excuses of human beings, their heads bowed down as if in thought. Others moved around engaged in some occupation or other while still others sat in the sun smoking and talking. One old man in chatting to The Telegraph reporter said that he was ending his days in the Home because he was foolish enough to give away his property which he had worked hard for, to his relatives, and when he became old and feeble they thought a nice place for him would be the poor house. There are many other cases of this kind, but not all are attributable to this cause.
One old man who is in the home has travelled over nearly the whole world and is well educated. But he can do no work, has no relatives, and as a consequence he is where he is-in the home.
RECALL OLD TIMES
When there is no work to be done the old men gather in their sitting room and smoke while the woman also congregate in their sitting room and converse with one another over their knitting. Deserted and thrown among strange acquaintances they seem forlorn but make the best of their new friends. The men recall their past lives and tell one another stories of their past, what it was and what it might have been.
MANY CHARACTERS
Among both the men and women there are some peculiar characters. Some are weak-minded, others are childish, some are quiet, others talkative. Some huddle up on their chairs, their bent frames and withered bodies remaining almost motionless.
Almost all occupations are represented. An aged Arabian woman is one of the occupants and a colored man who does not know his age, is another. One lunatic, not of a dangerous character, is kept in the Home. She has little to say, walking up and down with her head bowed on her chest, her hair in vile disorder.
WHAT THEY DO
In the summer time the sixty-acre farm must be tilled and crops raised and harvested. This is done mostly by the inmates who not only raise enough for their own use, but also have a surplus, which is sold. This work occupies much of their time. A large number of pigs are kept and also a number of cattle and horses. Food for this stock must also be grown. The inmates attend to most of the chores about the farm during the winter. There is also a carpenter shop and work shop where some engage themselves. A barber’s chair, where the inmates shave themselves, adorns one corner. Of course, some of the inmates are unable to work, and they bide their time by sitting around talking with one another.
THE BUILDINGS
In connection with the main building there is a small hospital where a number of men are incarcerated at all times, being attended by the Home physician.
In the main building there are the sleeping and eating quarters, the sitting rooms, kitchen, laundry, etc. The men and women have separate eating compartments.
One thing noticeable about the whole building is its absolute cleanliness and the neat and orderly appearance of everything. The Telegraph man called unexpectedly on a day which was not visiting day and he found everything as it should be. The bedrooms and the beds, and in fact, everything was perfectly clean.
FIRE ESCAPES
“How about fire escapes?” asked the reporter, having in mind the recent report of the grand jury.
Mr. Kottmeier pointed out the different avenues of escape in the building. There are four or five exits and two fire escapes, making it quite easy to get out of the building in case of fire. “I was not home at the time the grand jury called and consequently they were not shown over the entire building, and they did not see all the exits,” he stated.
GOOD MANAGEMENT
With such a diversified and forsaken class of people a good deal of patience and kind treatment is necessary. Mr. Kottmeier combines these two qualities and looks after the inmates with the greatest of consideration.
ONCE A SLAVE
Probably the most interesting character at the Home is an old man named Henderson. The old fellow is one of the happiest old inmates in the Home and is enjoying life very well. He doesn’t know just exactly how old he is, but thinks he has been on this sphere somewhere between ninety and a hundred years. He is a typical southern fellow and still has a noticable accent. His laugh is as hearty as that of a young man and he delights to tell of “dem agonizing, cruel, slavery days.”
Mr. Kottmeier and a reporter were walking over the farm on Thursday afternoon when coming down the field with a cane in each hand, was the old man.
“Come here, Henderson,” called Mr. Kottmeier, and the old man came over to where the two were standing. In one hand the cane consisted of a short bent piece of stout wood, while in the other was a piece of a broomstick, with many wires around one end.
“How old are you?” asked Mr. Kottmeier by way of opening the conversation.
“Lor’ master, I dunno, Ah guess ah is about ninety, Whah wa ah bohn? Ah was born in Florida near No’th Ca’olina, and ah was bohn in slavery, too.”
SLAVERY DAYS
Here the old man went into a violent fit of laughter.
Recovering himself again he recited about the time when Lincoln tuk his seat and he was freed. After that he came to Canada. He said many Canadians fought in the armies of the North to try and free the Southern slaves. He said Lincoln saw how the black people were being killed like dogs and he objected to their being used in that manner. The people in the North agreed and helped the President to free them.
FOUGHT IN WAR
“Did you fight in the war?” he was asked.
“Did ah? Why suttingly ah did, of course, ah did. Looka at dat thumb,” he declared, holding up the stub of what was once the thumb of his right hand.
MULTIPLIED LIKE CATTLE
The old fellow laughed again when he told of his early life. He said that during slavery days his race lived like cattle and multiplied in much the same way. When a child was born it was tabulated and kept track of. As a rule a child was not put to work until it was ten years old.
HAD SEVEN WIVES
“Ah had seben wives in mah time,” he said by way of explanation and laughed heartily over it as if it were a good joke. “I raised many black ones,” he declared.
According to the old fellow many black people were killed off when they did not obey their master. Often they were thrown in the rivers or old wells to “get them out of the way.”
DID THE WASHING
To the lot of this particular man fell the dishwashing and cooking of a Southern plantation. He related that he was led to believe that his master was lord of all he surveyed. Nearly all of the Southern slave drivers were very wealthy, he stated.
One incident, when he was watchman of a slave driver’s farm, he related with great satisfaction. A colored man had stolen two thousand dollars and skipped. He (Henderson) was appointed to the leadership of a band to search for the man. With a big mob at his back and over one hundred bloodhounds on the trail he set out, and after hunting about a day found the runaway and “fotched him back.”
KNEW JESSE JAMES
Henderson says that the original Jesse James was not the man known to most of the people in America today. Jesse James, the first, led a far more desperate life than the latter one is credited with, but his career, was far shorter for he was shot down by a Southern plantation owner.
During his conversation with the reporter the old man would frequently say, “Why, suttingly, of cose,” as if what he was saying could not be otherwise.
When he referred to Abraham Lincoln he spoke in quiet tones and spoke of him as a great savior of the colored race.
LITTLE REGARD OF HUMAN LIFE
He told of many incidents of the shooting of colored people, showing clearly how little human life was regarded in the South in the early periods.
Amid laughter he told of how he himself had once killed a fellow workman in the field. He had warned the man that he must cease his immoral relations with his daughter, he said. The man had refused and had beaten him with his whip. Finally becoming desperate one day, he (Henderson) had killed him. His story of the killing is best told in his own words:
“Ah jus’ naturally picked up a rock and knocked him down, vessah. Den ah mashed his haid all to pieces. When ah had his head all mashed ah throwed him in a hole. Da mastah huh about it and come aftah me but ah told him ah mash his head too. Ah was so mad.”
The old fellow said they finally tied chains around him and landed him in jail. His wife saved him from being hung. At that time a woman’s command was law, the women frequently taking the law in their own hands. His wife read about the affair in the papers. She came to the jail and demanded that the doors be opened. When the jailor refused she brandished a pistol and in this way gained entrance. Then she brought her husband out and drove away with him, and that was the last he heard of the affair. He said his wife had threatened to blow up “da jailah and da hull____jail.” unless her husband was released. “Cuss words” were commonly used by women in those days.
Henderson said he received but one beating from a slave driver, nevertheless, he was glad when slavery was outlawed. Children in those days, he said, were raised to be sold like cattle. There was no moral law.
The old Southerner pulled an immense pipe from his pocket and asked for some tobacco. The bowl on the pipe was fully four inches high, two inches around and the stem was about an inch around. The pipe consisted of a piece of gas pipe covered with a big piece of wood, the stem being a long piece of wood through which a hole had been pierced.
He continued to talk of his early life in Florida and of the country and its ways in early times. He has now grown old and his form is bent with years. His face is well preserved, and his beard is unusally long for a black man.
[Welland Telegraph, 7 October 1892]
A runaway accident occurred on the canal bank last Sunday afternoon at the culvert about half way between Welland and Humberstone. Mrs. T.F. Brown with her niece, Miss Flynn, of Niagara Falls, N.Y., and Mattie Tobin were driving towards Port Colborne, when the horse took fright at a billy goat tethered at the culvert and shied, upsetting the buggy over the bank and throwing the occupants over the stones at the waters edge. The horse ran a short distance and stopped, after breaking the buggy to some extent. The ladies, though not seriously injured, were severely bruised and badly frightened. Assistance was on hand almost immediately from people who were driving along the road. One of the sons of the late Jas. Haun drove Mrs. Brown and Miss Flynn to Welland, and a gentleman who was driving to Merritton gave a seat to Miss Tobin. The ladies are thankful that the result is not worse, but they will feel the effects of the shaking up for some days. The goat which caused the mishap belongs to a Mr. Sonures, who lives in the vicinity, and who is deserving of censure for placing the vicious animal where it had an opportunity to cause such an accident.
How Their Money Went
The Dynasty that has Overtaken Well-Known and Once Wealthy Families
(Toronto World)
[Welland Tribune, 22 February 1889]
Over in the burying ground at Niagara Falls, South, (Drummondville), there is a large stone vault containing the remains of Thomas Clark Street, the richest man that ever lived in the Peninsula. He died a bachelor some years ago leaving a fortune of two million dollars. Some of this money he inherited from his father, whose firm, Street & Clark of Chippawa, were successfully engaged in milling. Thomas C. Street succeeded to the business. But, besides his mills, he was known as the largest purchaser of lands sold for taxes in Upper Canada, and in this way came to own property all over what is now Ontario. Tom Streets’s fortune was divided among his four sisters, each getting about half a million dollars. Of this money over one million dollars has already disappeared as well as another half a million which had been accumulated by Bishop Fuller, husband of one of the Misses Street. The wreck in so short a time of one of the finest fortunes ever piled up in Canada is unequalled in the history of our people. Valancy E. Fuller, the well-known dairyman and cattle breeder, is blamed for the wreck of the Fuller fortune, though to what extent this is well-founded is only known to the family themselves and the lawyers and accountants who have been busy for some weeks in examining the books of the Fuller estates. The children of the old Bishop, who were looked upon as the best provided for of any family in Canada, are today the envy of none.
Of the four sisters who inherited Tom Street’s money, one was Mrs. Plumb of Niagara, another Mrs. Fuller, a third Mrs. Macklem and a fourth, Mrs. Becher. The money that went to the Plumb family has partially disappeared, less of the Macklem fortune has been lost, the Fuller money is now all gone, and the Becher portion is understood to have remained intact. Bishop Fuller, or as he was known in Toronto, Archdeacon Fuller of St. George’s church, John street, by a long course of saving, is supposed to have accumulated nearly half a million, which he left to his wife who already possessed the half million left by her brother, the couple having agreed the survivor should be possessed of the whole of their united fortunes.It would have better if the old bishop not only divided his own fortune among his grown up children, but induced his wife to do the same, retaining only a competence for herself. The course pursued has resulted in the wreck of a magnificent heritage, and never before in the history of Canada has any such disastrous calamity overtaken a family, of which the members are scattered over the whole Dominion.
Of Bishop Fuller’s sons, one, William, a teller in the Bank of Commerce, predeceased the family disaster. Another, Shelton, is the well-known manager at Woodstock. Next are the twin brothers, who have been engaged in a variety of mercantile pursuits in which their credit depended upon their expectations of the estate. The youngest son is H.H., who was until lately in the dairy business in the Arcade in partnership with Valancy E. Fuller, now insolvent. Of the daughters, the eldest is married to Rev. Mr. McLeod, now in England, son of the late Col McLeod of Oakridges, and brother of the late Chief Commissioner of the Northwest Mounted Police. Mr. McLeod’s daughter is married to a son of Hon. John Ross, of Toronto. Another daughter of the late Bishop Fuller is married to Judge Benson, of Port Hope; a third is Mrs. James S. McMurray of Toronto.
Just how the Fuller fortune of nearly or quite a million dollars has disappeared has not fully come out, but it is understood that Valancy, who was solicitor for the estate of his father and for his mother, invested it in enterprises that were not successful. Perhaps two hundred thousand dollars went into that ill-fated Globe Cattle Company, whose office is still in Church street, Toronto, and whose managing spirit was Mr. Duncan Plumb, Valancy Fuller’s first cousin. Mrs. Fuller’s name was not only endorsed on Valancy’s subscription, but also on that of Duncan Plumbs. Many wealthy Torontonians lost heavily in that company. The company had an immense herd of highbred cattle on a ranch in one of the Northwestern States, and one bad winter swept most of them away. Then there was a cooperage business up near Chatham, into which nearly another hundred thousand went. Another company that will cost the Fuller family dear was organized to erect roller flour mill machinery. The bank made large advances on the strength of Mrs. Fuller’s name. The Commerce, it is understood, is secured by the stock in that bank held by the estate. Valancy claims that his Jersey stock f arm did not swallow up any of his father and mother’s estate.
The Fuller fortune, had it been distributed at the bishop’s death, would have left his widow and family independent all their days, and their children after them; by mismanagement it has entirely disappeared. There is a lesson for rich men in this affair, and some we know have already taken it to heart. Why should grown-up children have to become greyheaded before they enjoy their parents’ wealth, and run the risk of never getting it, through mismanagement or worse? In these days when Trust Companies exist such as we have in Toronto, a rich man, if he cannot see his way to dividing his estate before his death, ought by means of these concerns to at least protect his heirs from the errors of those who have the handling after death of his estate.
It is understood that the clergy of the Anglican diocese of Niagara each lose some $14 a year by the wreck of the Bishop’s fortune.
In the History of Welland County Recalled by the Death of
MRS. BARUCH TUCKER/MRS. CHARLES RITCHIE
[Welland Tribune, 10 February 1899]
The death of the late Mrs. Baruch Tucker, sr., at Allanburg, on Tuesday this week, recalls a tragic and sensational event in the history of the county of Welland. Before her marriage to the late Mr. Tucker, deceased was the widow of Constable Charles Ritchie, who was murdered by Townsend at Port Robinson in November, 1854.
Townsend and two of his companions had robbed Jacob Gainer on the highway, then gone on to Port Robinson, where they had supper at Mrs. Jordan’s hotel. Franklin Hagar went to Port Robinson and told Constable Ritchie and others and they all went to Jordan’s hotel where the robbers were known to be at supper. It was in the dusk of the evening. Townsend had finished his supper and stood on the verandah. The constable went up and arrested him, but he was not prepared for dealing with such a desperate character and Townsend quickly drew and shot him in the head and affected his escape through the church yard, although pursued by many. Townsend’s bullet had entered Ritchie’s head about 3/4 of an inch above the left ear and he died about an hour later.
The murderer was never brought to justice. The Townsend or so called Townsend trial at Welland, it will be remembered, resulting in an acquittal of the prisoner on the ground that the crown failed to prove the identity of the prisoner as Townsend.
Mrs. Ritchie afterward Mrs. Baruch Tucker, lived nearly 45 years after the tragic occurrence, being in the 80th year at the time of her death this week.
C.J. Page Claims Fortune Which Goes Begging
Money Was Left by His Grandfather who Died at Leominister, Mass.
[Welland Telegraph, 1 December 1911]
The Telegraph is in receipt of the following letter from Chas. N. Page, president of the Iowa Seed Co., of Des Moines, Iowa.
“Can you give me any information regarding the descendents of Thomas Page, who formerly lived at Leominister, Mass., but moved to Ontario or Upper Canada, as it was then called, about 1795? It is supposed that some of the descendents now live in your locality, though possibly those now there are not named Page, but some other name from marriage into the Page family at an early date.
It appears that owing to the death of other heirs, a large property amounting to several million dollars reverts to this branch of the family, and has been lying dormant in the hands of the trustees and executors for many years past.
It is supposed that Thomas Page lived until about 1860, but it now becomes important to trace the time and place of his death and names of his descendents.”
Thomas Page was grandfather of Clayton J. Page of Welland. Mr. Page says he has heard of this fortune before.
Other Heirs
Stephen Beatty of St. Catharines states that Thomas Page came to Bertie township in the county of Welland about 1797. He secured a large tract of territory in Bertie. Wm. Page died about the year 1827 or 1828 leaving at least one son, Otway, who for a long time resided in Fort Erie. Otway Page may have left descendents, but the children and grandchildren may be of a different name. Otway Page was a general and commission merchant, and was a prominent and influential man in Fort Erie in 1846.
[People’s Press, 28 May 1912]
The case of Fred H. Ingram and W.J. Best, executors for the estate of the late Willson Leitch vs. Jane Leitch. Mary Jane Leitch, Andrew Leitch and the Trust & Guarantee Co., Ltd., arose out of an apparent error made by deceased in his will, and the sum in question was $2500. This amount he bequeathed to Andrew Leitch, a nephew. Now, the deceased had two nephews named Andrew. It is thought he really intended to leave the money to his nephew, Alexander, but this couldn’t be proved. One of the Andrews, living in Australia, made no claim to the money and the court gave to the heirs of the other Andrew, who has since died, the amount in question. A court decision was necessary on his point to release the executors. L.D. Raymond appeared for plaintiffs and J.E. Jones, Toronto, for the defendants.
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