[Welland Tribune March 15, 1947]
Succumbs at 81, after suffering stroke; was prominent in municipal business circles.
Charles Eugene Steele, prominent Port Colborne business man and a former mayor of Port Colborne and warden of Welland county, died at his home at 296 Fielden avenue this morning at the age of 81. In failing health for several months, his death followed a stroke a few days ago.
Born of one of the oldest pioneer families in the district in Humberstone township, Mr. Steele was prominently connected with a wide variety of activities in a business way, in municipal life and in the field of public service.
A man of recognized integrity, he had the reputation of fighting to the last for a principle. He recognized a responsibility for public service, and showed an active interest in the welfare of his church. He had many friends among the business community, and in a wider sphere in other parts of Ontario.
Was Warden Twice
He had a long record of municipal service, culminating in his election to the wardenship of the county of Welland in 1938 with the distinction of being the only man in recent years to hold the office twice.
He entered municipal life as a councillor for the township of Humberstone in 1896, following this up by being elected a commissioner for Welland County District No. 3 in the county council in 1897 and 1898. This was when the County Councils Act was passed, dividing the county into districts. District 3 composed Port Colborne, Humberstone and Crowland township; He was again elected in 1903 and 1904 and also 1905 and 1906, being honored by his colleagues in 1906 by election to the wardenship.
There followed a period of inactivity as far as municipal life was concerned until 1914, when he again entered the county council, this time as reeve of Port Colborne. He served until the end of 1917, came back for one year in 1922, and then remained out until 1933 when he re-entered the county council after an absence of 16 years. He was returned every year until 1938, when he became county warden for the second time. Mr. Steele was mayor of Port Colborne in 1927-28.
Active in Politics
Warden Steele had also been active in Provincial and Federal politics. He was a member of the commission appointed by the Hon. Howard G. Ferguson as the Ontario Minister of Mines, to survey and report on the natural gas situation in Ontario, and also served two years on the board of reference appointed by the provincial government to fix rates at which natural gas should be sold.
His business career started in 1907 when he organized the Sterling Gas Company, of which he was president and general manager, until he sold his interest in the firm to Dominion Natural Gas in 1928. While he was connected with the gas industry he was honored with the presidency of the Natural Gas and Petroleum Association of Canada, and even after severing his connection with the gas industry, he remained the honorary president of that organization and was active as a member of its executive board.
Born in Humberstone, Mr. Steele was first engaged in farming. He moved to his beautiful residence on Fielden avenue in 1902.
On Sanitorium Board
For many years, Mr. Steele was on the board of the Niagara Peninsula Sanatorium, and was named chairman in 1939-1940. He was a member of the Empire club, Toronto, and a former member of the Port Colborne Lawn Bowling club and the Port Colborne Lion Club, and also a life member of the Port Colborne Golf and County Club. The late Mr. Steele also held membership in Beacon lodge, I.O.O.F. and Macnab lodge, A.F. and A.M. He was a lifelong member of the Port Colborne Baptist church, which he served as a deacon for many years.
Mr. Steele was married on December 14,1887, to Alice Emeretta Zavitz, who survives him. Also surviving are two sons, M.D. Steele and Lewis C Steele of Port Colborne; three daughters, Mrs. Herman Ott of Humberstone Village, Mrs. H.J. Shore of Port Colborne and Miss Dora Steele at home; and one sister, Mrs. Clara Minor of Port Colborne.
A private funeral service will be held on Tuesday, March 18, from the family residence at 2p.m. Interment will be in Overholt’s cemetery.
[Welland Tribune March 17, 1947]
The funeral of the late Mrs. Florence Wokcieszak, who died on Tuesday, March 11, at the Welland County General hospital, was held on Saturday morning from the late residence, 804 Ontario Road to the Church of St. Peter and St. Paul, Crowland. Rev. Father S, Cassin solemnized Requiem Mass, and also officiated at the last rites at the graveside. The pall bearers were Ignac Mimek, Stanley Wilga, Florian Obirek, John Smagata, Peter Cimek and John Imiolo.
[Welland Tribune March 14, 1947]
The funeral of the late Miss Elsie Jackman, who died in her 24th year at her home, 90 Garner avenue on Monday, March 10, was held on Thursday morning from the H.L Cudney funeral chapel, 241 West Main street to Holy Cross cemetery, and was largely attended. The pall bearers, all members of Welland Cricket Club, were Harry Neal, George H. Riley, city clerk J.D. Watt, Joseph Mole Jr., George Hatton and David Jamie.
There were many lovely floral tributes,bearing mute but eloquent testimony to the love and esteem in which deceased had been held, and among them were floral tokens from Ross Stores Limited, the cloth room of the Empire Cotton Mill, Clemens and Miller company, employes of the Empire Cotton Mill, the Ontario Roofing Company, the R. Timms Construction Company, the nurses and staff of Welland County General hospital, Welland Cricket Club, and deceased’s uncles and aunts in Britain. Also many mass cards were noted at the funeral chapel.
“The Rosary” was recited, this being led by Rev. Father J. Culman at the funeral chapel. Requiem Mass was chanted by Father Culman at St Mary’s church.
The late Miss Jackman came to Welland 18 years ago. She has been ill for four years.
[Welland Tribune March 14, 1947]
The funeral of Gladys Jean Anderson, daughter of Mr. and Mrs. William J. Anderson, 162 Steele street, Port Colborne, whose death occurred at Welland County General hospital on Monday in her 15th year, was held yesterday afternoon from the Dell and Merton funeral chapel to Oakwood cemetery. Rev. R.T. Rutherdale conducted the services which were largely attended by friends and relatives of the popular young girl.
The pallbearers were Howard Brown, Douglas Mackey, George Moore, Donald Kettle, Jack Ellison and Zolay Barnai.
Among the many beautiful floral tributes expressing sympathy of friends were those of the employes of Century Coal Co.; pupils of the 1946 Grade Eight class at Steele Street school; the cellar crew of No. 5 building, Inco; Rosalind Goforth Auxiliary; bridgemen and stripping floor No. 5 building, Inco; the double trio; and the Port Colborne Ladies’ Auxiliary, No. 136.
Friends and relatives attended from Detroit and Flint, Mich.; Buffalo, N.Y.; Hamilton, Toronto and Welland.
[Welland Tribune March 15, 1947]
The death occurred on Friday evening, March 14 at the Welland County General Hospital of Osias Seguain, son of Mr. and Mrs. Adelard Seguain of 310 Simpson avenue, Crowland in his 24th year. He had been ill several years. Born in Ontario he had spent five years in the Welland district, and was a member of Sacred Heart church. He is survived by his parents Mr. and Mrs Adelard Seguain, by a brother, Real, and by two sisters, Leurenza and Bertha, all living at home. A brother Claude predeceased Osias almost four years. The funeral will be held on Tuesday, March 18 at 8a.m. from the family residence to Sacred Heart church for Requiem Mass at 8.30 a.m. with interment in Holy Cross cemetery.
[Welland Tribune March 17, 1947]
The death occurred on Saturday, March 15, at the Devonia Convalescent Home, Fonthill, in his 72nd year of Robert Logan, who was born in the United States but came to Canada 50 years ago, and had engaged in farming in Willoughby township for 40 years. Deceased was a member of Trinity church, Chippawa. His wife predeceased him some years ago. Surviving relatives include a daughter, Mrs. D. Clary of Niagara Falls, Ont. The funeral will be held on Tuesday, March 18 at 2 p.m., from the H.L. Cudney funeral chapel, 241 West Main street, to the church of England cemetery, Chippawa.
By Robert J. Foley
[Welland Tribune, 9 March 1992]
In the early 1820s the peninsula was still struggling to re-establish the industries decimated during the war. A deep recession that followed the conflict slowed the process greatly as we have seen in the problems encountered by Merritt.
On the site of the Battle of Lundy’s Lane a small community began to grow. Austin Morse was a furniture maker and undertaker whose chapel still operated on Main Street today. Andrew Moss made cabinets, James Skinner was a harness maker, John Misener ran a wagon building operation and William Gurnan was the indispensable blacksmith.
One of the more prolific endeavors of those days was the distillery. One such operation was located at the foot of Murray Street in Queen Victoria Park. It was a stone structure and was there to take advantage of the spring that ran down the ravine. It was abandoned in 1826 and eventually housed Barnett’s Museum.
St John’s, near Fonthill, was one community that had escaped damage during the war and prospered. It boasted many mills and a number of distilleries. An iron foundry, tannery, saddle maker, a woolen factory and many others rounded out this thriving town. The Welland Canal put St. John’s into decline as industry moved closer to the canal banks and today little remains of its former glory.
In the southern part of the peninsula the Sugar Loaf sported a community that included saw mills and grist mills. It also had a blacksmith, harness maker, furniture maker and the inevitable distillery.
One of the most important workmen in the community was the blacksmith. The first thing pioneers demanded upon arriving in the peninsula in 1781 was the services of a good smithy. We always associate the blacksmith with shoeing horses, but his business went far beyond that. He made everything from door hinges to wagon wheels.
The blacksmith shop was a miniature factory. The heart of the shop was the forge that was made of brick. It was set on a stone foundation with a square brick chimney that went up through the roof to a height of four feet above the ridge pole. The hearth was a square box 12 inches deep set next to the chimney. The bottom of the hearth was a slab of iron with a hole in the centre to take the air nozzle or tuyere as it was called. The tuyere was a hollow, slotted iron bulb attached to a pipe leading to the bellows. Air could be directed to one side of the hearth or the other by the use of an iron rod that rotated it. The brick work was extended to form a table on which the smithy could organize his work or leave finished pieces to cool.
The bellows was a huge leather lung eight feet long and four feet across that was mounted behind the chimney. A large stone was placed on the top so as to create a constant pressure allowing a gentle stream of air to keep the coals hot. If the smithy needed a little extra heat he pulled vigorously on the wooden handle that was attached to a chain and extended to the front of the forge.
If the forge was the heart of the shop then the anvil was the soul. It was a 250-pound block of iron that measured 5 inches across, 20 inches long and had a 16-inch horn curving out from one end. Its top was a slab of steel wielded to the wrought-iron base. Two holes were cut in the rear part or heel of the anvil. The hardy hole was square to fit the many forging tools used by the smithy. The pritchel hole was three-eighths of an inch and round. It was used for punching jobs such as knocking nails out of old horseshoes.
The placement of the anvil was very important. Because the iron had to be heated at least once, if not more, the anvil had to be close to the fire. It was usually placed with the horn facing the fire. The height of the anvil was also critical. The black-smith custom-fitted his anvil to match his needs. If it was too high he would wear himself out swinging his hammer; if too low his hammer would not strike the iron squarely ideally, the bottom of the smithy’s natural hammer swing matched the height of the anvil.
The setting of the anvil was an exact science, for once in place it could not be moved. It was mounted on top of a post that was sunk four or five feet in the ground. With his anvil in place and coals glowing red in the hearth, the blacksmith was ready to do his work.
The iron that the smithy worked came from a bloomer furnace and showed a crystal structure. After forging, the crystals formed a grain that allowed the iron to bend without breaking.
The blacksmith often had to draw the iron to make it thinner and wider. Heating the iron until it was red hot, he then swung it to the anvil and struck it with his set hammer until it was no longer pliable enough to work. He would repeat the heating operation until he was satisfied that he had a workable piece of material.
The peninsula was coming of age, The Welland Canal was about to come a reality to change the loves of all who dealt in its shadow.
By Robert J. Foley
[Regional Shopping News, 11 April 1990]
From Map in “Travels in Canada and the United States in 1816and 1817” by Lieut. Francis Hall 14th Light Dragoons.
MAP
At the foot of South Pelham Street the different worlds that make up our peninsula meet in quiet harmony. On the north east corner of Pelham Street and Colbeck Drive is a row of well-kept houses that one might see in any suburban setting in the county. West along River Road a short distance, an old silo stands as a monument to what was once a thriving homestead. Its walls are cracked and broken by vandals and the elements, yet it seems indestructible as it keeps its solitary watch. Further down a farmer unloads a hay wagon, while cattle crowd the fence on the other side of the road in anticipation. To the north on Pelham Street the road becomes gravel and passes more farms and fields, while to the south the Welland River flows by as it has done since prehistory.
Standing on the bank of the river and looking across Riverside Drive a sense of history seems to rise up to meet you. When the water levels are down a little and one looks very carefully one can see, what seem to be, dark spectres rising from the river. There appears to be five of them and with heads just above the water they whisper secrets of a by-gone era. Ghosts? In a way they are ghosts for they are the pilings for Brown’s Bridge for which a small community that thrived before the City of Welland existed was named.
The bridge was built by Lieutenant John Brown who was a veteran of the Battle of the Plains of Abraham and who settled in New Jersey in 1770 with his Scottish wife. During the American Revolution he moved north and lived first at Niagara-on-the-Lake and later settled on a grant of land on the Welland River. He immediately set about building a bridge across the Welland River which bore his name. It was constructed of wood with eight pilings and a deck of planking.
John Brown died of smallpox in 1797 and was buried in the family burying ground on his farm.
During the war of 1812 orders were given to burn the bridges over the Welland to slow the enemy. Misener’s Bridge to the east was torched but for some reason Brown’s Bridge was spared.
A bustling community grew up around the bridge on the north side. There was the Union Section Number Two School which doubled as a meeting house on the Thorold side of the town line.
Brown’s Bridge almost figured in the plans for the first Welland Canal. In 1823 Mr. Hirman Tibbet surveyed several routes one of which he reported: “Commenced at Chippawa on the 6th Inst. 10 miles from its mouth as stated by me, on Mr. John Brown’s farm, Township of Thorold, explored two routes from thence to the headwaters of the 12 Mile Creek.”
In 1824 the first library in the area, called the Welland Library Company, was set up at the school at Brown’s Bridge. Some of the books available were Adam Smith’s Wealth of Nations, Paley’s Philosophy and Washington’s Official Letters.
The first anniversary meeting of the board was held at the school house on November 26th 1825. Among the shareholders present was Mr. Alexander Brown, son of John Brown. At that meeting the constitution was discussed and it might be of some interest to see how libraries of the day operated. The bylaws concerning the borrowing of books were as follows: Books were borrowed for one month except in the case of someone living five miles from the library or greater. They could keep the book an extra week. The fine for overdue books was 7 ½ pence. Other fines were levied as follows:
1) For folding down a leaf-3.3/4 pence
2) For every spot of grease-3 ¾ pence
3) For every torn leaf -3 ¾ pence
4) Any person allowing a library book to be taken out of his house paid a fine of five shillings.
In 1858 this library was amalgamated with the Mechanics Institute in Merrittsville.
Brown’s Bridge continued to serve the Village of Welland until 1868 when, badly in need of extensive repairs, it was dismantled leaving the pilings to wait for another bridge that never came.
Go down to the foot of Pelham Street some late summer evening when it’s quiet. Sit on the bank of the river and listen to the whisper of the pilings as they tell their tales of by-gone days.
Oh, and don’t be surprised if you hear the clomp of horses hooves and the clatter of wagon wheels on the plank decking of the Brown’s Bridge.
[Welland Tribune January 2, 1945]
Funeral services for the late Rene Corneillier were held this morning, with the funeral proceeding from the J.J. Patterson and Sons funeral residence, 19 Young street, to Sacred Heart church, where requiem mass was celebrated. The late Mr. Cornellier, who resided at 35 Nelles road, died Thursday, December 28, at the Welland County General hospital in his 44th year.
Interment was in Holy Cross cemetery. The casket bearers were Roland Lamarshe, Paul Lamarshe, Cleo Lamarshe, Adrian Tanguay, Roger Turenne and Adelbert Bachon.
[Welland Tribune October 23, 1943]
The funeral of Alex M. Young, who collapsed and died while at work at the Maple Leaf Milling Co., Ltd. On Wednesday, was held from the Dell and Merton funeral chapel, 50 Clarence street, Port Colborne, yesterday afternoon to Overholt’s cemetery. Rev. R.T. Rutherdale conducted the service.
The pallbearers were William Clark, Alex Fraser, Arthur Augustine and William Shepherd, all fellow employes of the deceased.
Among a number of floral tributes expressing the esteem in which deceased was held was one from the Maple Leaf Milling Co.
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