Results for ‘Historical MUSINGS’
By Robert J. Foley
[Regional Shopping News, 9 May 1990]
When the early settlers came to Crowland, they were even more isolated than their contemporaries who took up land in the northern part of the peninsula. Things that one would consider basic necessities were scarce or non-existent to our pioneer forebearers.
The pioneer settling on his farm in Crowland before 1784, when the crown officially purchased land that included what was to become Crowland Township, was technically trespassing on Indian land. Fortunately the Indians were friendly and didn’t seem to mind the intrusion. Until the allotment of tools came through from the government the farmer was often without nails, hammer, saw, etc. The pioneer woman often had to cook without the benefits of sugar and salt among other things. Even flour was often in short supply. When grain was harvested in those first years, no mill was within reach to have it ground. The common practice of the day was to burn a hollow in a stump or the end of a good-sized block of hardwood tree which was rounded off at the end. The grain was pounded in a make-shift mortar until it was a very coarse flour or meal and suitable for cooking. Even after mills were introduced some pioneers continues to make small amounts of flour this way.
Most of us are familiar with White Pigeon but how did it get its name? Crowland had some heavy stands of pine when the first settlers arrived and in 1792 logging became a serious business in the Township. Loggers would work all winter and pile the timber along Lyon’s Creek to be floated down to Chippawa in the spring. To serve these lumberjacks a blacksmith shop and an Inn were built there. The story goes that the innkeeper had a daughter who usually dressed in white. The loggers began calling her the white pigeon and soon the inn became known as the White Pigeon Inn and the name struck throughout the years.
There is a legion connected with White Pigeon that may stir the imagination of some. During the War of 1812 the Americans had the free run of the peninsula for much of the time. Anything and everything was considered the spoils of war and subsequently the pioneers would often bury their valuables to save them from the enemy. Early one evening a man carrying a small, heavy chest took lodgings at the White Pigeon. He claimed to be a sea captain and through the entire evening he never let the little chest out of his sight. During the night he was observed entering the woods and after a considerable length of time re-emerged without his precious chest. The next morning he departed telling the innkeeper that he would return after the war. He was never seen again.
A subsequent owner, who purchased the property in the 1930s, was told by a fortune teller that a small chest was buried on his property containing gold coins. He laughed until he heard about the legend of the captain and his chest.
After two years of digging, sometimes with heavy equipment, he gave up the search for the elusive little chest. The mounds and depressions can still be seen to this day. The captain’s chest was just a fairy tale. Or was it?
One of the great success stories of the late 19th and early 20th century in Crowland was the Netherby Fair. The Welland County Agricultural Society had been formed in 1853 to promote farming in the country and to run the Welland County Fair. In 1880 one Wallace Tuft, who was a livestock breeder, organized the Netherby Union Agricultural Society. It took in much of the county and the reason for its founding is lost in history.
The Netherby Fair was the best in the peninsula and outshone the Welland County Fair and forced the Cook’s mills Fair to close.
One of the major attractions was the Crowland Band, which would delight the fair goers with stirring marches and reels. They were well regarded in the neighborhood and played regularly at Buchner’s Park and Asher’s Grove.
The main attraction at the Netherby Fair was always the harness races. Some of the participants in these sporting events were William Lynch, A.D. White, Albert Morris and Ryerson McKenny. Albert Morris went so far as to build a race track at his farm so that he and his friend Ryerson McKenny could train their horses. One of the most unusual occurrences at the races also produced the greatest upset in the history of the fair. Alex Hurst drove his horse, Rock, to one of the last Netherby Fairs. Some of his friends from around White Pigeon knew Rock for his speed and stamina. These friends persuaded Alex to let the horse be unhitched from the buggy and hitched to a gig and entered in the race. The seasoned racing veterans laughed at the idea of a buggy horse even entering such a race but entered he was. Alex’s cousin, Tom Dell, was chosen to drive Rock in his first race. Right from the start it was obvious that Rock was going to make a race of it. Rock nosed out the favourite at the wire much to the chagrin of the “Pros.” That race was talked about for years afterwards. *Alex Hurst was my great grandfather.
Many vendors and attractions were also seen at the fair. Joshua Beam, always impeccably dressed, was ready to sing and play the famous Doherty organ that he sold. Philip Koabel sold little sausages rolled in a slice of bread for 5 cents and George “Beans” Pattison hawked his chestnuts and peanuts. Silas Forsythe, a furniture maker from Black Creek offered his wares as well. On the last day of the fair, they closed the hall for the big square dance that capped the festivities. For years Pat McCourt called the dances.
The Netherby Fair was held on leased land and when the lease was up the owners returned it to agricultural use. The last fair was held on the ninth and tenth of October 1906.
[Welland Tribune]
WELLAND- The Kinsmen Club of Welland was officially chartered in April, 1942.
Among its charter members were such well-known Welland citizens as Ted Spencer, Fred Stahlschmidt and Harold Fox and the club quickly became busy “serving the community’s greatest need,” as the Kinsmen motto goes.
The club was the idea of Hal Rogers, a native of Hamilton, Ont. When he returned from service after the First World War, Rogers missed the camaraderie he shared with fellow soldiers.
In an effort to find some of that lost camaraderie, he applied for membership in another service club, but was turned down because his father was already a member of that club.
Rogers then started his own men’s club with a group of 12 young men.
Today, the all-Canadian Kinsmen organization numbers 22,000 members, including Kinettes (wives of Kinsmen}, K-40, K-ettes and even Kin Kids clubs.
Members are between 21 and 40 years old.
The Welland Kinsmen Club took on many projects and later formed a bond with the Mentally Handicapped Association of Welland, a bond which still exists today.
With the support of the people of Welland, the Kinsmen built Pauline McGibbon School.
During 1984, members of the club were involved in many community events. Bicycle rodeos, a casino tent at the NRE, helping All People’s Coop Nursery School, Community Christmas Toys ’84, buying a van for the ARC industries cleaning service and bringing a magic show and circus to Welland are only some of the projects undertaken by the club.
Robert Cooper first owner
[Welland Tribune, 30 November 1984]
Janice Walls-Tribune staff writer
WELLAND-The Cooper mansion is a fitting monument to am n who came to Welland as a penniless boy and grew to be a wealthy and powerful man.
Located at 201 Niagara St., the unique home was built in 1913-14, for Robert Cooper, an eminent Welland industrialist and politician. It is now owned by the Holy Cross Fathers who use it as their residence.
With elements of Renaissance Revival, the imposing three storey building has an appearance of strength and stability. Constructed of beige brick on a foundation of cur stone, it has an open air porch supported by eight stone Doric columns.
The front entrance is a large moulded trimmed door set within a moulded frame and capped by a shaped transom of leaded glass. It is bordered by two side lights with lower wood panels and carved, wooded Doric columns.
The mansion has a glazed tile roof with a decorative frieze.
The inside of the building is just as impressive as the outside. With the original wooden panelling, high baseboards and door frames still present. There are also five ornate fireplaces and a grand central staircase.
Cooper owned a flour mill on East Main Street near the east bank of the canal. The mill was the headquarters of a large retail trade in flour, meal, buckwheat, mill feed and all types of farm and garden seed.
A book published by this city in 1902 states his mill was classified as a 100 barrel mill and was installed with the best and most modern machinery and fixtures. Cooper’s mill later became the Maple Leaf Milling Co.
Cooper managed his own farm on Thorold Road, which was one of the best in the county, owned Brown Brother’s Aqueduct Roller Mills for a number of years, sold horses (sent to South Africa) and had other business interests.
He was also active in local and provincial politics.
A member of town council in 1886 and 1887, Cooper became deputy reeve and was county clerk in 1891. As county clerk he was said to handle the county council as though it was his own property.
He also served as a member of the Ontario legislature, and held positions in the Children’s Aid Society and the water commission.
The Cooper mansion is one of many historical buildings studied by a research group this summer. The research has been done for the Local Architectural Conservation Advisory Committee, which examines buildings for their historical and architectural merit.
[Toronto Star, 13 January 1990]
Partial Article
This year is a special one for Hal Rogers because the Association of Kinsmen Clubs, which he founded, will turn 70 on Feb. 20.
Rogers was only 21 when he started the men’s service club in 1920. It serves the community’s greatest needs. Whatever they are at the time. And today at 90 this grand old gentleman is still an active Kin supporter travelling across Canada many times each year, speaking about the fellowship and service epitomized by his 17,000-member association.
His next engagement is in Hamilton on Feb. 10 when he addresses 600 Kin members at their 70th anniversary at Carmen’s Banquet Centre. “And there will other gatherings like it across Canada during the year,” he says.
Rogers was born in London, Ont., in 1899 and started his life long career in business at age 12 by establishing a parcel delivery service with a fee of 10 cents a parcel.
“I earned enough money criss-crossing the city with parcels that I was able to buy two bicycles, one after the other,” he recalls.
After a part-time job in a hardware store, he moved to Thorndale, Ont., for his first full-time job as a ledger keeper with the Home bank of Canada.
“There were three employees including the manager,” he remembers. “I was paid $300 a year. The bank raised me to $350 and went broke shortly afterward. That was, uh, coincidental.”
Listening to Rodgers talk about is career you can’t help marvel at his ability to recall days, names and places. And his sense of humor must have helped this man with only a Grade 8 education, become president of several companies as well as heading a crown corporation.
In 1916 he moved to Hamilton to work in his father’s business, Standard Sanitary Manufacturing Co., a wholesale plumbing and heating firm. Three months later, at 17, he joined the Argyle and Sutherland Highlanders and went overseas. Serving with the 54th Kootenay Battalion, he fought in France and Belgium. He was gassed in Passchendaele and wounded in August in Amiens. …..
[Welland Tribune]
WELLAND- The Kinsmen Club of Welland was officially chartered in April, 1942.
Among its charter members were such well-known Welland citizens as Ted Spencer, Fred Stahlschmidt and Harold Fox and the club quickly became busy “serving the community’s greatest need,” as the Kinsmen motto goes.
The club was the idea of Hal Rogers, a native of Hamilton, Ont. When he returned from service after the First World War, Rogers missed the camaraderie he shared with fellow soldiers.
In an effort to find some of that lost camaraderie, he applied for membership in another service club, but was turned down because his father was already a member of that club.
Rogers then started his own men’s club with a group of 12 young men.
Today, the all-Canadian Kinsmen organization numbers 22,000 members, including Kinettes (wives of Kinsmen}, K-40, K-ettes and even Kin Kids clubs.
Members are between 21 and 40 years old.
The Welland Kinsmen Club took on many projects and later formed a bond with the Mentally Handicapped Association of Welland, a bond which still exists today.
With the support of the people of Welland, the Kinsmen built Pauline McGibbon School.
During 1984, members of the club were involved in many community events. Bicycle rodeos, a casino tent at the NRE, helping All People’s Coop Nursery School, Community Christmas Toys ’84, buying a van for the ARC industries cleaning service and bringing a magic show and circus to Welland are only some of the projects undertaken by the club.
A (Kraft) slice of history)
Supplement to The Niagara Falls Review and The Evening Tribune
Centennial Edition
5 July 1984
Less than 100 years ago a Mennonite family named Kraft from Fort Erie had no claims to fame.
Today the ancestors of this family are known world-wide.
On Dec. 11, 1874, James Lewis Kraft was born, the second of George and Minerva’s brood of 11 children. As a boy James –better known as Lew-worked at various odd jobs including Ferguson’s General Store.
Although Grandfather Kraft was the first Kraft to enter the dairy business, he supplied fresh milk to the summer residents of Fort Erie-James was the first to take the business seriously. As he cut and weighed the cheese in Ferguson’s General Store he often wondered if there was not a better way to sell cheese. These silent musings were the beginning of the Kraft empire.
After graduating from Garrison Road School James went to Buffalo to attend business college. He later worked in the dairy department of Buffalo’s Loblaw’s store where he continued his musings of better ways to market cheese.
While working in the store James met a man who worked for a Montreal cheese company. The two men pooled their efforts and started their own cheese company while experimenting with blending and cold packaging cheddar cheese.
On July 5, 1903, James left Buffalo to start his own business in Chicago. He adhered to his business philosophy, “cheese should be brought to the grocers instead of the grocers coming for the cheese.”
By the time cheese wheels left the manufacturers they were already going rancid. When they arrived at the grocers the giant wheels, wrapped in gauze, were placed on the countertop where they quickly dried out. James was determined to find a better way to market cheese.
After negotiating a deal with a cheese wholesaler to buy cheese on credit, James invested in a horse and got down to business. He spent many hours experimenting in a small room behind his shop. Into an old copper kettle above his wood stove James poured various formulas, trying to discover a way to pasteurize the cheese. In his own words James admitted, “I got some pretty weird mixtures among those experimental batches of cheese.”
By the end of the first year, James had lost $3,000. An old Kraft family story tells how on one particularly unsuccessful day James in desperation asked his horse, “What is the matter with us Paddy?” A clear and firm voice from above replied: “You have forgotten your God in your business.” From this moment James never forgot his God and the business gradually grew.
In 1909 James incorporated the business to form the Kraft Cheese Company and hired all his brothers to work for him. John Kraft was hired as president; Norman as vice-president of research; Fred as vice-president of overseas operations; C.H. as vice-president of engineering; and J.L. as founder and chairman of the board. The brother worked together to discover a new method of processing and packing cheese, which they quickly patented.
The sales staff had grown to more than 1,000 workers and a huge fleet of trucks were needed to transport the cheese to thousands of destinations all over Canada and the States.
During the First World War, James and his brothers were asked by the Canadian government to produce a cheese for the soldier’s rations. After the war, the Kraft Cheese Co. bought out many other cheese companies such as Maclaren Cheese Co., A.E. Wright Co., and several salad dressing companies.
To this day the Kraft Cheese Co. is still growing and most people don’t realize this highly successful company was started by a small town boy from the Niagara peninsula.
(Welland, Ont.)
John Emerson Cutler has spent his active life for half a century in Welland, Ont., and is one of the substantial men of that locality, a mill owner, builder and public spirited citizen.
Mr. Cutler was born on January 13th, 1850, in a little hamlet this side of Hamilton, Ont. His great-grandfather came from England; his grandfather owned a plot of 200 acres where now stands the city of Rochester, N.Y., and his father, Jeremiah Webb Cutler, who was one of eleven children, was a builder, working in both town and country; his mother died when he was seven years old.
John E. Cutler, had but a limited education covering about two years, which he received at the school at Hutton Corners. When he was nineteen, after he had been working hard on a farm, he decided to try and better his education when he reached the age of twenty, and at that time found an opportunity to attend school for another five months. His first work was employment as a carpenter for John Tisdell, building homes, at thirteen dollars a month. At the age of twenty so thoroughly had he learned his trade that he was able to lay out and build a home all of his own ability. He came to Welland about forty or forty-four years ago. In the early days he was president of the Town Association for two or three terms; was in the council for two or three terms; an alderman for two or three terms; was chairman of the street committee for two years, and was a member of the high school board for eight years. He advanced in his work by acting as a foreman for Tom Nichols, building homes and other buildings for two years. He then started in the building business in Welland with Bert Adley as a partner for a short time, when he bought out his partner and started his present mill where he employs sixteen men, and has everything in wood of all kinds, paints, roofing, glass etc., and has the oldest and biggest mill in town located at 51 N. Main Street. He has built a number of large and fine residences in Welland, and has also notably built the Presbyterian Church, Methodist Church, Morrison Street Church in Niagara Falls; the Church at Fenwick; the Dunnville Bank of Commerce building; custom house and post office at Bridgeburg; the town hall in Welland; the Industrial Home of Welland County (poor house) and a number of other big construction works. He was married twice; had five children, four living, lost one; the oldest Frank; William Nelson died in infancy; George is married , has one boy, William, married Miss Laura Heslip; Mabel married Norman Michmur, has two children, resides in Welland.
Mr. Cutler is a temperance man, and member of the Methodist Church, does not belong to any clubs. Hard work is his recreation. He is a man of positive views and settled convictions and always determined to carry out his own ideas, but is liked and respected by all for his frankness and solid citizenship.
A.E. Coombs
History of The Niagara Peninsula and the New Welland Canal
1930
(Thorold, Ont.)
Born in Thorold, November 29th, 1865, educated in Thorold Separate School and St. Catharines Collegiate Institute, finishing in Upper Canada College; entered the contracting business, and, with his brother Joseph, carried out many public improvements of great importance. Among his construction achievements are: White Horse Rapids dam in Niagara River, government dock at Sault Ste. Marie, Goderich Breakwater, Twelve Miles on C.P.R., Toronto to Sudbury line, introduced electric power into Thorold and turned first sod for erection of Ontario Paper Mill, Beaver Board Plant, Pilkington Bros. Glassworks, and Exolone Company, involving outlay of three million dollars. Married Miss Mary Conlon, Thorold, daughter of Thomas Conlon of that town. There are three sons, two of whom went overseas in the World War. Was president Thorold Branch Canadian Patriotic Fund, was tendered and refused nomination to Parliament in 1904, was member Thorold Council, 1890-1891, and was reeve in 1892. Member Separate School Board, Public Library Board, Thorold Agricultural Society and president of Board of Trade. Was chairman Mother’s Allowance Board for Welland county. He was a member of the Catholic Church. Passed away in 1930 at Thorold.
A.E. Coombs
History of The Niagara Peninsula and the New Welland Canal
1930
The history of the Glasgow family reads like a romance, yet it is founded on hard facts. Over a hundred years ago the early Glasgows settled in and around Stamford and Niagara Falls, and their lives and deeds are recorded many times in the early history of this section, as well as the brave deeds of some members of this family during the American Revolutionary War.
Dr. Glasgow, a native of Welland county, was born in Stamford on March 30th, 185, and was the son of William Glasgow, who was born on the same farm and always resided in Stamford. The elder Glasgow held a commission for many years as justice of the peace; his wife, Mary Elizabeth, was the daughter of James and a grand-daughter of William Lundy, from whom Lundy’s Lane derived its name, and was one of the earliest county settlers.
The grandfather, Reverend Samuel Glasgow of Scotland, at an early age removed to the County of Tyrone, Ireland, and was educated for the ministry of Belfast. He was ordained by the presbytery of that city, and came to Canada previous to the war of 1812, settling in Stamford. It is claimed on good authority that the City of Glasgow, Scotland, took its name from the ancestors of this branch of the family. Another portion of the family history says: About four generations ago, Lady Douglas, a daughter of the Earl of Douglas, returned the affection of a lover whose suit the haughty Earl forbade.
Although no pains were spared to prevent the union of this heiress of the ancient Douglas’ rank and wealth, with a young man of inferior birth, the young couple proved the truth of the old adage that “Love laughs at locksmiths, “by embarking for America, where their marriage would not be forbidden by tyrannical parents. They sailed in separate ships, and Lady Douglas arrived safely in New York, but never heard of her lover, whose ship is supposed to have floundered at sea, or to have been captured by pirates. Thus Lady Douglas found herself in the strange city of New York, destitute of means, except her jewels, and these she decided not to sell in case she might at some time require them as proof of her identity. Realizing that she must do something to obtain for herself a livelihood, she sought employment and was eventually engaged as a servant in a household of wealthy New York merchant named Fortner. The Fortners discovered from her ladylike manner that she was occupying a position subordinate to her birth, and they made her an equal. She was finally persuaded to marry the merchant’s son, a youth in every way exemplary. Among the descendants by this marriage are to be found some of the leading citizens of the U.S.A. One of Mr. Fortner’s daughters married for her first husband, a Mr. Field. Her second husband was a Mr. Garrison. The ancestor of our subject, Mr. Anderson, her third husband, held the position of Colonel in the British Army during the American Revolutionary War, and for his services was given a grant of land, on part of which now stands the City of St. John, New Brunswick. Dr. Glasgow first attended school in the old school house on Lundy’s Lane, and afterwards went to the Drummondville grammar School for five years, whose principal at that time was the Rev. James Yeo Cameron, A.M. He graduated with a teacher’s certificate and for the next two years taught school. In 1874 he matriculated in the Toronto School of Medicine. He graduated with the degree of M.B. from Toronto University in 1878. In the same year he obtained an M.D. degree at the Victoria University, and a license to practice from the College of Physicians and Surgeons of Ontario. He began his practice in Welland in 1878, and in 1882 was appointed assistant surgeon in the 44th battalion. In 1885 he received the appointment of gaol surgeon for the county of Welland and division surgeon on the Grand Trunk Railroad. He died on March 13th, 1909, at which time he was president of the Ontario Medical Association and was Colonel of the 22nd Dragoons, of which he was in command for several years. He was a Mason and ad adherent of the Presbyterian church, his funeral was said to have been the largest military funeral ever seen in the county. He was married in Ridgeway in 1888 to Mrs. Theodore Fortner, daughter of James Smith Graham of Bertie township. He was very fond of horses, and took a great interest in looking after the grounds about his residence.
Mrs. Glasgow’s great grandfather on her mother’s side was a U.E. Loyalist of the well-known Riselay family and they have some of the original land near Fort Erie, Welland county, still in their possession that came into this family through a crown grant of land given to Mrs. Glasgow’s great grandfather in the seventeenth century, and the fourth generation still owns a portion of the property yet.
A.E. Coombs
History of The Niagara Peninsula and the New Welland Canal
1930
[Welland Tribune November 11, 1943]
(By George H. Smith)
The first school in the vicinity of Port Colborne was erected in the 1830’s about the time of the completion of the first Welland Canal and was situated near where the Mennonite church stands. There seems to be no record as to how long it was in existence but one outstanding man received his early education there. He was Rev, Levi Martin Carter.
Mr Carter graduated later from Rochester University and was ordained at Portsmouth, Virginia, and later became minister of the Second Baptist church at Augusta, Ga. When the Civil War broke out he was a chaplain in the Confederate Army where he contracted tuberculosis. Writing to his brother L.G. Carter, he asked if there was any way he might return to Port Colborne to improve his health.
L.G. Carter and a man by name of Tinlan journeyed to Washington, had an interview with President Lincoln and explained the situation. He immediately gave them a pass to go through the Northern army to Port Colborne. They proceeded south and brought back the Rev Levi Carter, but his health failed and he died in 1864. Carter and Tinlan were among the few Canadians that had the opportunity to see and talk with the great Lincoln.
Stone School House
The Stone School House as it was called, followed the old log school. This school was situated about where Geo. Craig’s house stands on Sugar Loaf street. This was followed by the building of the brick building that now houses the Municipal offices. This school was opened in 1865 and continued as a school until 1921.
The Roman Catholic church was opened in 1880 and the old church on the east side of the Canal on Erie street was occupied as a separate school. This school continued in operation until 1898.
After an enlargement of the brick building to its present size in 1900 it was found to be inadequate and the old Methodist church that stood where the Hydro building now stands was purchased and turned into a school. Later, after the Presbyterian church was partially burned it was also purchased to increase the school accommodation.
The town continued to grow and the Steele Street school was built in 1915 and in 1924 the McKay school was built and named after D.W. McKay, who for many years was principal of the Clarence Street school.
In 1912, the present East Side school was built to relieve congestion on the East side. An addition was built in 1919 and used as a continuation school until 1920, when the present high school was finished. Two more additions have been made to the East Side school, one in 1924, one in 1928. The name was also changed and it is now known as the DeWitt Carter school, named after DeWitt Carter, the first mayor of Port Colborne, who was always prominent in the educational work of the town.
High School Completed
The high school was completed in 1920, the first addition completed in 1927 and the vocational addition completed in 1938.
There was also a frame school on the East side of the canal in the early days where the Canada Furnaces Co. Office is situated and also two private schools, one operated by Mrs Kelly and the other by W.B. Pringle.
It is a long jump from the old log school house where the Rev, Levi Carter attended to our present educational system.
We have an enrolment of 1300 public school pupils with a staff of 33 teachers. Our enrolment at the high school is 405 with 16 teachers.
The members of the board of education are-Mrs. A.A. Thompson, chairman, H. Towne, vice-chairman, M.D. Steele, H.W. Cowan, R. Rogers, Mrs. J. McKellar, Fred Wood, Geo. H. Smith.
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