A business trip to Toronto and back could take as long as five days
By Robert J. Foley
[Welland Tribune, 7 April 1992]
Getting from one place to another in the Niagara Peninsula is fairly simple for us today. A 30-minute ride from Welland puts us just about anywhere we would wish to go. We can leave home at 9 a.m., drive to Queenston, transact our business and be home for lunch. Even business in Toronto can be wrapped up and we can be home for dinner.
Travel in the 1820s was not as easy. Road conditions were subject to the whims of Mother Nature. Two days of driving rain turned hard-packed roads into quagmires of impassible mud. A trip to York (Toronto) was a major undertaking.
The sun had not yet made its appearance when young Abraham Stoner said good-bye to his father, Christian. Abraham was going to York on family business and he was meeting a friend at Cook’s Mills who was going to Chippawa with his boat for supplies. The first leg of his journey was to catch the four o’clock stage to Queenston. The stage ran on Monday, Wednesday and Friday. Fortunately, the weather was good and the Portage Road would be reasonably good for travelling.
Abraham had never been to Chippawa and after the isolation of the farm he was awed by the hustle and bustle at this southern terminus of the Portage Road. Schooners and barge-like, flat-bottomed boats were transferring goods to and from wagons that seemed to be strewn haphazardly along the docks or lined up along the road.
He searched out the stage office and purchased his ticket on the Chippawa-Newark coach. The clerk informed him that he was the fourth passenger so the coach would leave as scheduled. If four passengers did not buy tickets by four o’clock the stage was held over until seven the next morning.
The coach rolled out of Chippawa on time and even though the stage seemed to find every pot hole, rattling Abraham’s teeth, he felt growing sense of excitement. They passed rumbling wagons and carried goods around the Falls of Niagara for shipment on to York, Kingston and Montreal. An occasional caliche, a two-wheeled gig that seated two people, would flash by at incredible speeds, or so it seemed to Abraham.
The stage arrived after dark and he found himself a room at the inn and attempted to get some sleep.
The next morning, the sight that greeted his eyes left him speechless. If Abraham was in awe of Chppawa he was flabbergasted by Queenston. He counted 60 wagons lined up at the docks to unload merchandise onto the ships moored there.
Having found the “Annie Jane”, the vessel that was to take him to York, and ascertaining her sailing time, he headed off to get some breakfast. The crossing would take eight or nine hours depending on the wind and he wasn’t sure if he could eat aboard. Friends teased him about sea sickness and he hoped that it was only teasing.
The crossing was fairly smooth and Abraham found that as long as he stayed on deck his stomach remained relatively calm.
After docking he went off to find accommodations for a least two nights and prepared to go to the government buildings the next day to settle his family’s business.
Abraham Stoner finished his business and spent one more night in York’s boarding schooner for the return trip. By the time he reached home he has been gone for five days. There is a good chance that he walked most of the way from Chippawa to Humberstone unless he was lucky enough to hitch a ride with a farmer on the Chippawa Creek Road.
Freight moved through the peninsula to and from the Northwest. Many fur traders moved along the Portage Road between Queenston and Chippawa patronizing the taverns that dotted the landscape. The trip from Queentson was slow and tedious. Although two oxen could easily pull a ton of cargo from the top of the escarpment to Chippawa, it took four or five to pull the load up from the Queenston docks to level ground. The wagons used on the road were supplied by local farmers who supplemented their income by hauling freight.
Growth along the Portage Road in Stamford Township became inevitable. The intersection of Lundy’s lane and Portage Road saw a fledgling community emerge right after the war that eventually became Drummondville. Stamford Village was laid out near the Stamford Green and St. John’s Church.
Freight destined for points in the interior was moved most often by water. The Chippawa was a busy waterway that was navigable up past *Browns Bridge. Lyon’s Creek was also of major importance. The creeks along the Niagara such as *Street’s, Frenchmen’s and Black all had small ribbons of settlement along their banks and were used extensively to move the goods of the farmers to their homesteads.
William Hamilton Merritt was beginning to flex his muscles again about this time and the Welland Canal was to change the transportation system in the peninsula and in Canada forever.
*Brown’s Bridge was s small settlement built around the bridge that once crossed the Chippawa at the foot of Pelham Road in Welland.
*Street’s creek is now known as Usshers creek. Its name was changed to honor Edgeworth Ussher, a militia officer, murdered during the rebellion of 1837-38.
A business trip to Toronto and back could take as long as five days
By Robert J. Foley
[Welland Tribune, 7 April 1992]
Getting from one place to another in the Niagara Peninsula is fairly simple for us today. A 30-minute ride from Welland puts us just about anywhere we would wish to go. We can leave home at 9 a.m., drive to Queenston, transact our business and be home for lunch. Even business in Toronto can be wrapped up and we can be home for dinner.
Travel in the 1820s was not as easy. Road conditions were subject to the whims of Mother Nature. Two days of driving rain turned hard-packed roads into quagmires of impassible mud. A trip to York (Toronto) was a major undertaking.
The sun had not yet made its appearance when young Abraham Stoner said good-bye to his father, Christian. Abraham was going to York on family business and he was meeting a friend at Cook’s Mills who was going to Chippawa with his boat for supplies. The first leg of his journey was to catch the four o’clock stage to Queenston. The stage ran on Monday, Wednesday and Friday. Fortunately, the weather was good and the Portage Road would be reasonably good for travelling.
Abraham had never been to Chippawa and after the isolation of the farm he was awed by the hustle and bustle at this southern terminus of the Portage Road. Schooners and barge-like, flat-bottomed boats were transferring goods to and from wagons that seemed to be strewn haphazardly along the docks or lined up along the road.
He searched out the stage office and purchased his ticket on the Chippawa-Newark coach. The clerk informed him that he was the fourth passenger so the coach would leave as scheduled. If four passengers did not buy tickets by four o’clock the stage was held over until seven the next morning.
The coach rolled out of Chippawa on time and even though the stage seemed to find every pot hole, rattling Abraham’s teeth, he felt growing sense of excitement. They passed rumbling wagons and carried goods around the Falls of Niagara for shipment on to York, Kingston and Montreal. An occasional caliche, a two-wheeled gig that seated two people, would flash by at incredible speeds, or so it seemed to Abraham.
The stage arrived after dark and he found himself a room at the inn and attempted to get some sleep.
The next morning, the sight that greeted his eyes left him speechless. If Abraham was in awe of Chppawa he was flabbergasted by Queenston. He counted 60 wagons lined up at the docks to unload merchandise onto the ships moored there.
Having found the “Annie Jane”, the vessel that was to take him to York, and ascertaining her sailing time, he headed off to get some breakfast. The crossing would take eight or nine hours depending on the wind and he wasn’t sure if he could eat aboard. Friends teased him about sea sickness and he hoped that it was only teasing.
The crossing was fairly smooth and Abraham found that as long as he stayed on deck his stomach remained relatively calm.
After docking he went off to find accommodations for a least two nights and prepared to go to the government buildings the next day to settle his family’s business.
Abraham Stoner finished his business and spent one more night in York’s boarding schooner for the return trip. By the time he reached home he has been gone for five days. There is a good chance that he walked most of the way from Chippawa to Humberstone unless he was lucky enough to hitch a ride with a farmer on the Chippawa Creek Road.
Freight moved through the peninsula to and from the Northwest. Many fur traders moved along the Portage Road between Queenston and Chippawa patronizing the taverns that dotted the landscape. The trip from Queentson was slow and tedious. Although two oxen could easily pull a ton of cargo from the top of the escarpment to Chippawa, it took four or five to pull the load up from the Queenston docks to level ground. The wagons used on the road were supplied by local farmers who supplemented their income by hauling freight.
Growth along the Portage Road in Stamford Township became inevitable. The intersection of Lundy’s lane and Portage Road saw a fledgling community emerge right after the war that eventually became Drummondville. Stamford Village was laid out near the Stamford Green and St. John’s Church.
Freight destined for points in the interior was moved most often by water. The Chippawa was a busy waterway that was navigable up past *Browns Bridge. Lyon’s Creek was also of major importance. The creeks along the Niagara such as *Street’s, Frenchmen’s and Black all had small ribbons of settlement along their banks and were used extensively to move the goods of the farmers to their homesteads.
William Hamilton Merritt was beginning to flex his muscles again about this time and the Welland Canal was to change the transportation system in the peninsula and in Canada forever.
*Brown’s Bridge was s small settlement built around the bridge that once crossed the Chippawa at the foot of Pelham Road in Welland.
*Street’s creek is now known as Usshers creek. Its name was changed to honor Edgeworth Ussher, a militia officer, murdered during the rebellion of 1837-38.
By Robert J. Foley
[Welland Tribune, 29 February 1992]
As the crops ripened in the fields in the fall of 1820 and harvest time drew near preparations began for the coming winter. Chores essential for the survival of the family in the harsh days to come filled their days. Some of the older children inspected the mud and moss mortar that sealed up the cracks in the log wall of the house. Any weaknesses that the cold winds of winter might explore were repaired.
There were winter clothes to make as well as preserves of wild berries and garden vegetables to be put up. At this time of the year the women headed for the nearest marsh to pick the elderberries and blueberries that were abundant there. In the Welland area the Wainfleet Marsh was a popular spot for berry picking.
The butchering bee was a social occasion as well as a working day. Several neighbors gathered in turn at each other’s farms to slaughter and dress the meat for the smoke house. Beef was by far the favourite, however, more often than not it was hogs that provided the larder with most of its stock.
Before the killing of the hogs began a large kettle was set in the yard and a fire built under it. Usually one of the older boys was given the task of keeping the fire going to insure that the water was kept boiling. After being killed the carcass was scalded in the kettle to facilitate skinning. The fat was then gathered, cleaned, melted down and set in containers to cool. This became lard and would show up in the cakes and pie crusts that winter.
Smoking was the way that meat was preserved. Shoulders and sides of beef and pork were hung in the small building usually situated near the house. Sticks of birch, hickory or maple smouldered filling the place with smoke thus curing the meat. Sometimes corn cobs were used instead of wood. After being smoked the meat was covered with cotton cloth and given a coat of whitewash to discourage spoilage. The smoke house often doubled as a storage area for the cured meat.
Cuts of meat unsuitable for smoking were ground up and made into sausages. Preparing the intestines of the slaughtered pigs the women spent the day talking and stuffing the gut with pork and beef flavoured with salt and any other herbs that could be obtained either from the surrounding land or purchased in town. The head and feet were soaked and scraped, then boiled, the former to make head cheese, the latter souse. As you can see little of the animal was wasted by the early pioneers.
After completing the butchering the tallow from the slaughter was used to make candles and soap. This shortage of hard currency made the purchase of these two commodities out of the reach of most farmers. However, they often had to buy extra tallow to ensure a supply of candles to last the season.
Candle making was quite an art in itself. The large kettle in the yard that was used in the butchering was half filled with water that was kept hot with a small fire. The tallow was placed in the kettle and allowed to melt. Six cotton wicks, each ten to twelve inches long were tied to sticks two feet long. Holding two sticks in her right hand the woman of the house began dipping the wicks through the floating tallow allowing them to pick up a little with each pass until they reached the desired thickness. The sticks were then hung between two forked sticks to allow the candles to harden and the process began all over again.
It took expertise to make a smooth candle that burned evenly. There was nothing worse than trying to read or sew by the light of a sputtering, smoking candle. A good candle maker got a yield of a dozen candles to the pound and could process ten pounds of tallow at a sitting.
One of the sources of ready cash to the farmers of the peninsula was potash. This product was in ready demand and led to the deforestation of much of the province. Potash was made by cutting down trees and allowing the leaves and twigs to dry. They were then stacked and burned until the whole was reduced to ashes. Carefully raking the ashes off the top of the pile, the farmer poured them into a container called a “leach”, with lime and water. The lye produced by this mixture was drained through the bottom of the “leach” into an iron pot. The lye was then boiled until it thickened and was poured into a kettle-shaped half cooler. The final product was a very hard, brown material that was packed two to a standard oak barrel. Each barrel weighed about seven hundred pounds and would fetch the farmer $40.
The hard working people of the peninsula had little time for relaxation and fun. Much of the time they would combine leisure activities with the necessities of survival. An hour or two of fishing rested the farmer and added variety to the family diet. A morning beside a known deer trail was both relaxing and added to the larder for the winter.
After the chores were done the family gathered and played checkers while mother sat in her rocking chair and sewed. Books were scarce especially after the war, however, reading was popular and whenever the opportunity arose it was worth the expenditure of a candle. Books were often passed from one family to the other in the district. The first library in the peninsula was set up in 1824 at Brown’s Bridge located at the foot of Pelham Road in present day Welland.
With all this activity the farmer kept one eye on the weather and the other on his crop. The harvest was the most critical time for him and his family. Their survival depended on it.
[Mute Words, Living Voices-The Letters of Henry Giles
Pelham Historical Society September 1992]
The migration of Henry Giles and family to Canada took place at a very significant time in Canada history. The Rebellions of Upper and Lower Canada had taken place only a few years earlier, and an effective form of government was still being sought. The year 1841 marked the first legislative assembly of the newly united areas of Upper and Lower Canada. However, as mentioned earlier, while many immigrants at this time became intensely involved in seeking political position or petitioning the government, the Quaker communities tended to form their own compact colonies and to devote their efforts to farming or the development of small businesses.
In 1840, Henry Giles knew that he was immigrating to an area that had already undergone fairly extensive settlement. As early as 1786, Quakers from the American colonies began clearing the lands of Pelham. By 1790, residents of Pelham included names such as John Crow, Jacob Reece, George Hansler, and Samuel Beckett, The land was well suited to the farming needs of these early Quaker settlers. It was able to be cleared without a great deal of difficulty, and the rolling landscape made elaborate drainage systems unnecessary. Peaches, apples,, and corn are just a few of the numerous crops grown on the early farms.
The availability of this quality farmland and the well-established Quaker community in Pelham continued to attract settlers throughout the 19th century. By 1817, the population had increased to 776, and when the Giles family came to Pelham, the town was home to 1,522 settlers, while Fonthill had a population of approximately 150.
At the time of the arrival of Henry Giles, Fonthill was known as “Osborne’s Corners.”
In 1842, the name of the village was changed to Temperanceville, but shortly thereafter, Fonthill was the chosen name. It is widely believed that Fonthill was named after Fonthill Abbey in England, where the landscape was very similar to that of the village in Pelham, and which was well known to many of our early settlers. Thomas Canby, an early settler who owned a great deal of land in Fonthill, and Dexter D’Everardo, a popular public servant, are often credited with the selection of this name.
However, in one of the letters that you are about to read, dated July 15, 1843, Henry Giles tells his brother in England that he has taken opposition to the name “Temperanceville” and that he has suggested the name “Fonthill”. It is unknown whether the name had been suggested to him at an earlier
date, but nevertheless, the role of Henry Giles must be considered when determining the origins of the name of Fonthill.
Although the town of Pelham was still in its early stages of development at the time of Henry Giles’ arrival, a number of services and institutions had already sprung up in the small farming community. Post offices had been established previously at St John’s(in 1832) and at Riceville(in 1836). In 1841, the Pelham post office was moved down the hill from Riceville, presumably to serve the growing community in the village that became Fonthill. A local post office greatly assisted Henry Giles and other early residents who wanted more convenient mail service in order to communicate with their friends and relatives in England.
Although Henry Giles educated his children at home, a number of schools were in operation at this time. The Ridgeville Public School, St John’s School (U.S.S.4) Law’s School on Effingham Road, Hansler School(located between Effingham and Fonthill) and the North Pelham School (S.S.7) were all established prior to 1840. A number of churches in Pelham were erected prior to 1840 as well. Aside from the Quaker meeting houses which have already been mentioned, the North Pelham Presbyterian Church was founded in 1828 by Rev. D.W. Eastman and an Episcopal Methodist Church was erected around the year 1835.
Small businesses also began to develop around this time. There were a number of blacksmith shops, grist mills, and inns in the area, and it is known that Henry Giles merchandising business was in competition with at least two general stores. By 1840 the Niagara region had developed a considerable network of roads, many of which were former Indian trails.Early settlers travelled these roads by horse-back or by foot in the summer, while horse-drawn sleighs were often used in the winter. It is also known that there was early stage coach service along the Pelham and Canboro Roads. A number of establishments in Pelham such as the Corman Inn, Ebor Rice’s Tavern, Diffin’s Inn, and the Temperance Hotel were set up in order to accommodate the passengers.
Obviously, by the time Henry Giles arrived in Pelham, the town had already established a number of key institutions, and had provided a basis for the rapid development which occurred over the latter part of the nineteenth century. The community was already expanding by 1840. However, it was expanding at a very slow rate and it certainly lacked the culture and development of England, to which Henry was accustomed.
[Mute words,Living voices-The Letters of Henry Giles
by Pelham Historical Society September 1992]
As mentioned earlier, Henry Giles was a member of the Quakers(Society of Friends) who played a very significant role in the development of Pelham. It is very likely that it was his knowledge of a well established Quaker community in Pelham that influenced his decision to settle here in 1840. When Quakers first started migrating to America from Britain during the 17th century, the form of the organization was fixed, and therefore, Quakerism experienced very little change in the New World.
Early Quaker settlers did not involve themselves in mainstream economics or politics. They preferred to live in rural areas where they could earn a living by farming or by running a small business. However, the idea of community was a very important one to most Quaker settlers. “Nearly all of them chose to settle in a compact Quaker rural neighbourhood; only a few selected lands in isolation from other Friends.” (Richard K. MacMaster, “Friends in the Niagara Peninsula”. In Canadian Quaker Newsletter. Summer, 1989.) The development of the town of Pelham and the village of Fonthill relied a great deal on this Quaker sense of community.
Most of the early Quaker settlers in Pelham were from Bucks County or Lancaster County, Pennsylvania. Many friends migrated to Canada from the American colonies after they had refused to take part n the American Revolution. These people were not loyalists. But they were, nevertheless, affected by restrictions placed on their civil rights.
By 1799, Pelham had enough Quaker settler (79) to establish its own Monthly Meeting. This was the first Monthly Meeting of the Society of Friends to be established in Canada. These meetings gave the Friends the opportunity to worship and to discuss any matters dealing with their organization. A Quaker meeting house had already been built in 1784, but it was too small and cramped to suit the needs of the growing community. Another meeting house was built in Effingham (Beckett’s Mills), which was, for a long time, the centre of Quaker influence in Pelham. Then in 1807, the original meeting house of 1784 was rebuilt. The cemetery that was situated beside this first meeting house still exists today at the corner of Welland Avenue and Effingham Road.
The year 1828 marked a separation among Quakers in both England and in North America. Differences of opinion over interpretation and practice led to the creation of the Orthodox and Hicksite branches of Quakerism. The Evangelical views of the Orthodox branch stressed the importance of the Holy Scriptures, along with the belief that the Message must be spread, while the Hicksites, who seceded from the Society of Friends, followed the Quietistic principles of Elias Hicks.
At the time of the separation, the Hicksites made up the majority of the Quaker community in Pelham. As a result, the Orthodox branch of Quakerism was forced to withdraw from the original meeting house and meet at the home of Robert Spencer.
Then in 1829, they erected a new meeting house on property secured from Samuel Taylor. In 1865, this was replaced by a brick edifice, the meeting house at Pelham Corners as it stands today. Since Henry Giles was a member of the Orthodox branch, he most likely attended Quaker Monthly Meetings at this site.
Although local Monthly Meetings were an integral part of the Quaker community, the Quarterly, Half, and Yearly Meetings were also highly regarded. The Pelham Quarterly Meeting was first established in 1814 under the authority of the New York Yearly Meeting. This meeting took in all the meetings of the Orthodox Branch in Canada West, including Norwich and Pelham.
The Quaker communities in this area experienced slow but steady growth. Throughout the 19th century, the towns of Pelham and Thorold received a substantial number of Quaker settlers from the British Isles. Quakers migrating to Pelham in the 19th century were guaranteed to find prosperous rural neighbourhood with a well established community of Friends. When news of such a community reached fellow Quakers in England, men like Henry Giles were naturally attracted to the possibilities of a new life in Canada.
Quakerism played an important role not only in the development of Pelham, but in the development of the Giles family as well. Henry Giles was a very active member of the Orthodox Branch. Most friends migrating from the British Isles during the 19th century tended to join the Orthodox Quakers because they were being recognized by the meetings in Dublin and London. Giles was an assistant to the clerk at the Pelham Monthly Meeting at Pelham Corners, and he made a number of visits to meetings of Friends in other areas. In fact, Henry Giles passed away in 1871, at the age of 68, while preparing to attend a morning meeting at the Pelham Meeting House. His wife, Hannah, died at “Brook Farm” nine years later and was buried in the Friends Cemetery at Pelham Corners.
[Niagara Farmers’ Monthly September 1992]
Dr John W. Collver was Wellandport’s resident physician from 1868, until his death in 1912. He was responsible for another of the town’s firsts, introducing lucerne to Canada. The seed , which he imported from Germany, was grown on property owned by another familiar name J.D. Fulsom, at the east end of the village.
Dr. Collver also had a drug store, on the northeast side of the Canborough Rd. and Hwy 57 junction.
Descendant and namesake John Collver and his wife, Dorothy, recently posted a sign, “The Collvers of Wellandport”, with others on display at Watson Lake, Yukon.
One of Dr Collver’s successors, Dr. John Leeds, caused quite a stir in 1933, when he administered the first vaccinations to the pupils at SSNo 1 Caistor. He had the unenviable task of persuading the children to have the dreaded needles, as well as convincing their parents that it was beneficial!
GROWTH DIMINISHED
The old businesses began to disappear, victims of time and technology, and the end of the great lumber era. Among them were the cheese box factory, Peter Swartz’ harness boot and shoe shop, Jim Sheldon’s grocery with a crank telephone, and up to eight families on one line. It was closed in 1961, when dial telephones came into service.
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[Niagara Farmers’ Monthly, August 1992]
By Margaret Comfort
Much of Wellandport’s history may be gleaned from physical evidence, dating back even to prehistoric times. Skeletal remains of two elephant-like mastodons were discovered in the area, indicating that it was once covered with evergreens, the mainstay of their vegetation diet.
The Welland River(Chippawa Creek) was a direct artery in shipping lumber and grain to the United States, narrowly separated from Beaver Creek by a former Indian path. That two-mile long strip of land was called The Narrows by United Empire Loyalists (UEL) who began settling there in the late 1700s.
The two waterways made the location an ideal one for transportation, livestock and personal use, as well as power for the saw and grist mills so vital to progress.
As the community matured, the water source took on a new significance, in combating two major fires within the village itself. Effects of those fires and more recent growth may be traced by comparing the architecture of the buildings along today’s Canborough Road and Highway 57 junction.
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