Jan/Feb/Mar 2020 Newsletter
Lost Villages Historical
Society & Museum
HAPPY NEW YEAR
Welcome to a new year and a new decade with the Lost Villages Historical Society. As in the past, we cherish your membership and friendship, and we look forward to your interest and participation in the activities of the historical society in this new decade.
As president of the historical society, I wish to thank the executive members for their dedication and special work for the historical society. The executive members are: President – Jim Brownell; Vice-President – Gardner Sage; Treasurer – Gloria Waldroff; Recording Secretary – Cindy Bickerstaffe; Email Secretary – Ginette Guy; Corresponding Secretary – Tim Gault; Director – Alan Daye; Township of South Stormont Representative – Andrew Guindon.
Our first activity for 2020 will be the annual Heritage Dinner Meeting on Monday, February 17 th . More information on this may be found in this newsletter, and it is necessary to have at least 40 members and friends to sign up, or the dinner will be canceled. Let’s not make that happen. The sign-up date is Friday, February 7 th , so why not reserve NOW!
Please note that there are no meetings in January or March, as per our constitution.
UPCOMING EVENTS
HERITAGE DINNER MEETING
The annual Heritage Dinner Meeting will be held at Jimmy’s Restaurant, Dickinson Drive, Ingleside , ON, on Monday, February 17, 2020 , beginning with a half-hour social time at 5:30 pm. A roast beef dinner with all the trimmings will be served at 6:00 pm sharp. The cost is $20.00, and this includes the meal, taxes, and gratuity. To reserve your spot, please contact Vale Brownell by Friday, February 7, 2020 , at 613-537-2531 or email the Lost Villages Historical Society at [email protected] . Please make your reservation now. In order to have the dinner, we must have at least 40 reservations, so your attention to this matter is urgent. Please leave a message on Vale’s phone, should you not reach her. Should we not have enough members
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and friends sign up for the dinner, then the meeting will be held at Sunset Cove Retirement Living, Long Sault, at 7:30 pm. But, let’s make our annual Heritage dinner happen!
GUEST SPEAKER: The guest speaker will be Kevin Lajoie, Co-ordinator with Cornwall Tourism . This organization is making great strides to reach out to the attractions in the United Counties, so we welcome Kevin to our meeting. His presentation should be enlightening.
BITS AND PIECES
-Nancy and Don Hallberg did a fantastic job at cleaning up the gardens and tucking them away for the winter. They have done incredible work to keep the gardens at the museum site attractive and colourful, and we thank them for their work.
-In recent weeks, the water in Lake St. Lawrence has been at historic lows, and even old Highway #2 has reappeared in Aultsville. As well, most of the same highway is visible at Farran’s Point. Many sections of the old Grand Trunk/Canadian National Railroad are clearly visible. Many folks have shared their photos and comments on Facebook, as they had never seen many of these sights before. Apparently, the water above the Iroquois Dam, in the Great Lakes basin, is at historic highs, and it is necessary to lower some of that water before spring. The water of the Great Lakes/St. Lawrence River is controlled through the International Joint Commission.
-We look forward to a continuation of the Gospel Music in the Park in 2020. These events, sponsored by Long Sault Pentecostal Church, will be held on Sunday, July 5, July 12, July 19, July 26, 2020, at 6:30 pm. Admission is free, but a lawn chair is required. Many old-time favourites and new contemporary songs and hymns are presented.
-The summer bus tours, “Through the Lands of the Lot Villages” , will be back for 2020, and we encourage you to spread the news about them. Are you looking for a special gift for a relative or friend? Why not consider a gift certificate for a bus tour!! The tours will be held on Sunday, July 19, August 16, September 20, and October 18, 2020. The air-conditioned bus leaves from the Lost Villages Museum at 1:00 pm and returns to the museum at 5:00 pm for a Barbecue (No Barbecue in October). The cost is $30.00/person (includes barbecue) and $20.00 in October (no barbecue). To reserve a tour contact: [email protected] or [email protected] or 613-534-2197.
-We thank Dave Smith of Know-It-All News for including Lost Villages Reports in his publications. President Jim Brownell has completed eight reports to date, and this has been a great vehicle for our organization to spread the news about the Lost Villages Historical Society’s activities.
-In 2019, Jim Brownell worked closely with Marie Lesoway, daughter-in-law of Lillian (Winters) MacLeod of Ingleside, to secure photos and other historical documentation from the historical society’s collection for Lillian's book Looking Back on Life – Stories to tell my grandchildren. The book was published in the fall of 2019, and Marie sent two copies to the historical society, one for the historical society’s archives and the other for Jim Brownell’s personal library. We thank Marie and Lillian for their generosity, and it didn’t take
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long for the historical society’s copy to get into the hands of Art Buckland. While at the December pot-luck luncheon, Art borrowed the book, as Jim Brownell showed it as part of the “Show and Tell”.
-Thank you to all those who came out to the December pot-luck luncheon. We thank Gloria Waldroff and Cindy Bickerstaffe for convening the event, and we thank all others who participated. One thing is known from an event like this. We have some excellent cooks and bakers in our midst. Thank you to all!
-A large collection of unidentified photographs from the former Ingleside/Osnabruck Rotary Club were donated to the Lost Villages Historical Society’s archives. We thank a past-president of this organization, Pat English, for stopping at the archives on October 29, 2019, and helping to identify most of the people associated with the images.
-Thank you to those who provided desserts for our annual Advent Service/Concert, held in the Sandtown Advent Christian Church on Sunday, December 8, 2019. A special thanks to Vale Brownell and Paulette Brownell for stepping to the plate to convene the reception, following the service/concert. Thank you to Ginette Guy for her excellent photos/news story, published in the Chesterville Record.
PLAQUES UNVEILED TO THE LOST HAMLETS & 60TH ANNIVERSARY OF THE SEAWAY TREE DEDICATION
On Wednesday, October 23, 2019, an impressive ceremony was held at the site of the Lost Villages Museum, when five historical plaques were unveiled and a Royal Red Maple Tree was planted to commemorate the 60th Anniversary of the official opening of the St. Lawrence Seaway on June 26, 1959. Historical Society member Tom Brownell presided at the tree dedication.
George Gowsell of Long Sault had the honour of unveiling the plaque to the “Quarries of Mille Roches”. His grandfather, also George Gowsell, worked at the quarry and his picture is displayed in one of the photographs on the plaque. The “Long Sault Rapids/Rapids Prince” plaque was unveiled by Curtis and Gail Stephenson, as Curtis’s grandfather, Captain James Peter Stephenson, was the last captain on the Rapids Prince.
Arthur Buckland, a former resident of Sheek Island, unveiled the plaque dedicated to “Sheek Island/Ault Park”. He referred to Sheek Island and Ault Park as being like a “Shangri La”, with kids and beachgoers having a great time at the head of the island. He also referred to the micro-climate that existed on the island, and how that region, if still existing, would make an ideal vineyard, today. This micro-climate was due to the influence created by the close proximity to the Long Sault Rapids. Irma (Runions) Cook unveiled the plaque to the hamlet of “Maple Grove”, and commented about her family’s connection to that lost hamlet and Ernie’s (Runions) Hotel. She paid particular attention to Maple Grove’s close connection to hydro in the past, as this was the distribution centre for the power created by the Mille Roches Power House. Rosemary Rutley, a dedicated member of the Lost Villages Historical Society, unveiled the “Woodlands/Santa Cruz” plaque, and recalled her connection to St. Matthew’s Presbyterian Church, depicted on the plaque by artist Pierre Giroux. She mentioned that she had an association with this church from the time she was an infant and that she (Rosemary Empey) and Willie Rutley were the second last couple to be married in that church, before its destruction for the Hydro and Seaway projects.
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The plaque project was sponsored by Cornwall’s “Heart of the City” historical plaque program, with assistance from community partners such as the City of Cornwall, Township of South Stormont, and Ontario Power Generation. Todd Lihou, Centretown Coordinator for Heart of the City was in attendance, as was Brian McGillis, Mayor of the Township of South Stormont. Christopher Clark and Matt Mulvihill represented Ontario Power Generation.
REMEMBRANCE 2019 AND DEDICATION OF VIMY OAK This is the presentation given by President Jim Brownell at the November 10, 2019 Remembrance Ceremony at the Mille Roches-Moulinette Cenotaph, Lost Villages Museum. In 2017, the year of the 100th Anniversary of the Battle of Vimy Ridge, two Vimy Oaks were planted here at this cenotaph site at the Lost Villages Museum. While one tree did not survive the first winter, the second Vimy Oak survived two winters, and we felt it time to have an official dedication here at Ault Park. Now, what are Vimy Oaks? After the Battle of Vimy Ridge was won, many soldiers realized that they had been part of something truly historic. Lieutenant Leslie Howard Miller (1889-1979) of Milliken, Ontario, desiring to have a souvenir from the Ridge, saw a landscape that was completely devoid of structures or vegetation, due to shell fire. He did find a half-buried oak tree with acorns scattered about the site. He gathered up a handful of acorns and sent them back home, where they were subsequently planted by him on farmland in Scarborough, Ontario, which is now home the Scarborough Chinese Baptist Church. He called his farm the ‘Vimy Oaks Farm’ and, today, several of the original, majestic oaks survive. However, there were no original oaks on the Vimy Ridge site. Having unsuccessfully attempted to gather acorns from the trees at the site of Vimy Oaks Farm, as the squirrels always seemed to win, it was the hope that a way could be found to return oak trees to Vimy Ridge in France. It was decided to attempt to grow saplings through grafting, and, in January 2015, the process began with professional arborists taking cuttings or scions from the crowns of the oaks which were then grafted onto base root stock at a nursery in Dundas, Ontario. Citing concerns of importing diseases to Europe, those saplings, more than 1,000 of them, were not allowed into France. The saplings were subsequently made available to communities across Canada in order to memorialize the 100th Anniversary of the battle. Later efforts to gather acorns from the original Vimy Oaks were successful and those were
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shipped to France where they were grown in a nursery prior to being planted at Vimy Ridge. To all assembled here today, you are looking at a Vimy Oak. On November 9, 2018, one year ago yesterday, the Vimy Foundation Memorial Park was opened on 4 acres of land purchased by the foundation adjacent to the Vimy Memorial land. This Memorial Park helps preserve Canada’s First World War legacy through the creation of a living memorial, with over 100 Vimy Oaks. We do the same here at Ault Park with our single Vimy Oak.
Lest We Forget, may this Vimy Oak be a memorial to all whose names are inscribed on this cenotaph, here at Ault Park. We especially remember the five privates who are memorialized on the memorial at Vimy Ridge, France, -Private Lawrence Edgar Abbott, Private Frederick Lama, Private George Lunn, Private Archibald Eugene McLellan, and Private Arthur Runions.
MUSEUM VISITORS IN 2019
Thank you to Tim Gault, Corresponding Secretary, for compiling the visitor statistics for 2019. It was an impressive year, visitor wise, as we almost doubled last year’s count. Tim estimates that we had approximately 14,825 visitors to the site in 2019.
While the bulk of our visitors came from Ontario, we had the following provinces and territories listed in our guest book. The numbers in brackets indicate the “signed in” visitors: Alberta (20), New Brunswick (5), British Columbia (41), Saskatchewan (3), Newfoundland (2), Nova Scotia (12), Quebec (477), PEI (2), Manitoba (5), and Yukon (2).
The following states in the United States were represented in our guest book: Pennsylvania (7), Connecticut (3), Ohio (6), Maryland (6), New York (61), Missouri (1), Illinois (3), Maine (6), Georgia (1), California (8), Florida (6), Vermont (45), Kentucky (4), Texas (1), Tennessee (2), Washington (2), Minnesota (5), Wisconsin (2), South Carolina (1), North Carolina (5), New Jersey (3), Utah (1), Massachusetts (4), Michigan (4), Arizona (2), Colorado (3), Delaware (1), and Oregon (1).
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We did welcome many international travelers to our site in 2019. They arrived from: Germany (20), France (15), Belgium (2), Italy (1), Russia (3), Netherlands (9), Austria (3), UK (15), Iceland (2), Bulgaria (1), Australia (7), New Zealand (6), Brazil (2), Panama (2), Japan (1), Philippines (1), Morocco (1), Thailand (1), China (2), and Singapore (1).
We have been keeping visitor statistics since 2010 when we had approximately 3,770 people to the museum site. Since then, 2017 was the best year with approximately 11,640. But this year was a fantastic year, and some of us who attend at the site, regularly, knew it was going to be a great year! With SOLD OUT bus tours in 2019, this was a strong indicator.
HONOURun MAKES A STOP AT THE LOST VILLAGES MUSEUM
On Saturday, October 26, 2019, at approximately 4:00 pm, a short, but impressive ceremony was held at the Mille Roches/Moulinette Cenotaph, when Ian Callan, a teacher at Longue Sault Public School, made a stop at the site. Ian and a few other runners were part of the SDG HONOURun, a run that covered 58 kilometres, from Lancaster, Williamstown, Cornwall, Long Sault, and Ingleside.
An invitation was extended to runners or others interested in taking part in this honour/tribute team run for veterans, military servicemen/women, and first responders. It was a fundraiser for a charitable organization of choice that supports veterans, military service people, first responders and their families. Ian was requesting donations for “To The Stan and Back”, an organization that supports the mental health of veterans and first responders.
At the stop at the “Mille Roches/Moulinette Cenotaph”, letters of appreciation were extended to members of Branch 569 of the Royal Canadian Legion, prepared by students from the local schools. As well, Jim Brownell, president of the Lost Villages Historical Society, presented Ian with a framed photo of the cenotaph as it stood in front of Mille Roches Pubic School. Teachers Margaret McDonald, Grace Edwards and William (Bill) McLeod were photographed sitting at the foot of the cenotaph. Tim Gault, Corresponding Secretary of the historical society represented the historical society and The Glens, as well.
PASTOR’S REMINISCENCES AT MILLE ROCHES/MOULINETTE
This is the ninth in a series of reminiscences by the late Rev. A.E. Hagar, a United Church minister in the Mille Roches/Moulinette area in the early 1950s.
One day in early fall, 1906, we drove to the old schoolhouse in Mille Roches where I was to spend a few hours in visitation, and afterward make calls on my parishioners, while my wife brought back the horse and stabled it. I took down a new register to be signed by visitors who might come in at any time for a call, and this acted as a record through the years. This was the custom in some parts where we lived and it is interesting to look over the pages of an old register and see the names of those of a past generation who called in the date and year, and any remarks any may have cared to make. The same is true of church records, baptism and dates of marriages and funerals, of Trustee Meetings and other Boards. I have had more than one minister in our home, former pastors, one particularly, who pored over his records literally by the hour and relived again the
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scenes of his ministry. I have sometimes wondered what has become of these old record books and if they were ever used, filled or destroyed. I cannot visualize the old schoolhouse which I visited that day, I think the old one is gone and the present school is built in two sections, 1914 and 1938. A monument stands in front of the building, bearing the names of eleven soldiers of the war of 1914-1918.
“In undying memory of those who gave their all.”
Most of the names are new to me, but I did know a Runions family and Arthur may have been a member of that. But, I knew Willie Roys and his family well. Member of my church at Mille Roches, he enlisted with the others and went overseas. Sitting in my tent one day in France and reading over the casualty list, I was shocked to find his name and made a long trip on my wheel to the battlefield where he had fallen. The road, most of them, were of cobblestone, and they stretched in an endless, straight line, mile after mile, through a desolate, dreary and war-riven country. I had trouble in finding Willie’s grave. The day was darksome, alternate with sunshine and cloud, and I stumbled along for an hour or more, fruitlessly, grieved that my mission was in vain. Then I saw it, gleaming in the symbol of a white cross, with his name and regimental number. The sun had broken through the cloud in the full effulgence of dazzling splendor and I was able to get a perfect picture of his grave to send to his mother. There were the names of the youth of a tiny and inconspicuous village, not far from the swirling, foaming rapids of the Long Sault.
PATENT MEDICINE We had a few amusing incidents, we young ministers of that generation, and I look back upon some of them and laugh to myself, even laugh at myself. Our drives were sometimes long and hard, and we got home tired, but there was much, as I have said already, to compensate. And human nature hasn’t changed any. On arriving at a new charge there were always two things primarily to look to – the water supply and the cellar. The water supply – a well – had been already carefully cared for and cleaned. So I got at the cellar and found a great array of empty bottles that some former minister had left stored away, the one immediately preceding quite possibly. He was a fine old gentleman, a little taciturn, not too much of a visitor, but held in high esteem by the congregation whom he kept together by his good preaching. His health seemed to be none too good, not overly strong, but always on deck for his Sunday work and preaching well.
As for his sermons, one said she had enjoyed them very much and so did the other young people. Another said his sermons were Rich. I took the bottles out and put them in a pile back of the barn. There really must have been twenty of them and I wondered. One day, George came up and I took him out to show him what I had found. “Where did you get all these?” he said. So I told him. He laughed till he cried. Finally, “Have you tasted any of it?” he asked. I assured him I hadn’t. I wasn’t given to tasting other people’s medicine and besides, there wasn’t any left to taste. “It’s just as well,” said George. It’s a patent medicine and contains – percent alcohol. I nearly dropped.
“What?” I said. “Is it allowed? What kind of a country is this?”
“It’s a proprietary medicine,” said George, “and doesn’t come under the Scott Act. You can buy it in all the stores at a dollar a bottle. A lot of people use it. You may have it served in some of your calls. Good for what ails you!”
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So what, and why not? What would you have done? Especially if you knew, and had been told a dozen times by as many doctors, some of them specialists, that there was nothing on earth the matter with you, but you were gloriously convinced there ought to be. And moreover, you had at last found, after many travels and peregrinations the very cure-all, elixir and cordial that had the potency to cure at least ten fatal diseases at once, from all of which you were painlessly suffering. What would you do about it, now that you had found the remedy, especially if it had a good-sized “kick” in it?
Then we had the Christmas Trees; at both appointments great occasions for which we began to prepare early. I remember calling a meeting of the Sunday School staff and committee at the parsonage on a certain evening. And they all came. We sat around the table and talked. They all agreed that a tree was just the thing, but it soon appeared that no person had brought a single constructive idea that would help to get it underway. Which reminds me of a remark made later on by a man familiar with committee work in both lodge and church. He said, appoint always only three members, and be sure two are either sick or dead! In a long ministry, I have often thought of it.
Well, eventually we got underway, everybody helped, parts were given out, choruses sent for and copies out, and practices got underway. The children were brought in and drilled. All through my ministry we have done this, and believe me, it has paid off. It is grueling work, takes a lot of time if you are going to have anything worth going to. I have found that the public will cheerfully stand for many slight errors and unexpected episodes that are amusing and half the fun, but they will not endure a slipshod, ill-prepared performance of something inconsequential and apathetic. You will have to neglect many other things in order to make a success of it, practices go awry, you cannot get a blunderer to understand that is not the way, but when the night comes and the audience is there, the lights are on and the curtain up, inspiration falls from heaven like a mantle and the applause that greets the small performers is an emotional experience. People will sit under that until the night is far spent. You won’t have any trouble in getting the children out to practice. They will come from a distance or did in my young life. And it was the horse age, too. When the story of the Babe of Bethlehem is read out of Luke’s Gospel and prayer is offered, the stillness that falls on children and congregation is out of this world. Stillness and reverence. It is Christmas and you know it.
“THE DISMAL SWAMP” At Mille Roches, a similar Christmas entertainment was also held. I have tried to remember, or guess, the name of the lady at whose house at the end of the village and past the cemetery our first practice was held. I don’t suppose it matters now, but I owe a lot to her for the auspicious beginning of our practices on this first of our attempts to get the children together and commence training. On this first of our evenings, carefully announced, I walked down on a lovely night in November, armed with choruses, recitations, and all necessary documents for a beginning, inwardly meditating on the utter futility of my mission. I had not the least idea that any more than two or three, perhaps half a dozen, would turn out. But, I reckoned without the children. When I reached the house and came up to the kitchen door, a number of chairs had to be moved to let me in. The youngsters were ranged all along the walls and I cannot tell where all those chairs came from. There they were, waiting not too silently or demurely, a real happy bunch from every home in the neighbourhood. They must have noted a look of surprise, amazement, even consternation on my face, for I was greeted with such merry laughter that I could not be downcast if I tried. I have lived long enough to learn this anyway, that the things we foolishly worry about never happen.
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In church, for practice, it was the same. Grown boys and girls now, fathers and mothers of families of their own, perhaps and indeed most probably grandfathers and grandmothers, I wanted them to know that I loved them all so dearly as on that first evening they met me with such merry laughter. There was a Scotch boy, a lad about ten or twelve, who had been teasing Mrs. Roys to let him give the recitation he had selected for himself, an almost terrible, ghastly shambles of Highland Scotch which he had brought with him from his homeland, a grand dialect no doubt for anyone who can understand it, broad and rather devastating when you can’t. He was on the platform reciting it when I came in late on this particular evening, and I stood rather bewildered, and dejected, as he went through the remaining ten verses of this amazing and terrifying exhibition.
Mrs. Roys must have told him to refer the selection to me to pass final judgment. Indeed, as I sat there, she turned her head, and the merriest gleam shot from her eyes and spread over her face as she looked at me, though she did not laugh. When the boy handed me the piece, with “Please Sir,” I looked at the title: “The Dismal Swamp.” I tried to explain it was Christmas time, not summertime. Again that: “Please Sir.” So I said we would consult after the practice, which we did, all of us, with Mrs. Roys suggesting he was a newcomer and would be heartbroken. The boy stood waiting for the decision almost like a prisoner at bar, and my heart went out to him. Mrs. Roys whispered: “It won’t kill us. We will likely live through it.” I have ever been thankful for that word of wisdom.
“All right,” I said. “Let him give it.” When the evening of the Tree came and he finished giving the recitation of The Dismal Swamp before a crowded audience, he was met with such a burst of applause, clapping of hands, stamping of feet, that I felt the Scotch boy had won a resounding victory.
MESSAGE DELIVERED BY CARLTON (MIKE) McINNIS AT THE UNVELING OF HISTORIC PLAQUES IN MORRISBURG ON SATURDAY, SEPTEMBER 14, 2019
John: (Ed. - John Gleed) Thank you for this display of Morrisburg, the old and the new. It is an excellent contribution to the community. I know it took a great deal of time, energy and resources. You deserve the community’s gratitude for your interest in local history, and for sharing that interest with us. Your website displaying the George Smith photographs and your aerial pictures taken from a drone are captivating. I never tire from looking at them. George Smith’s work as a photographer is recognized as a great pictorial history of the seaway project.
When you asked me to say a few words this day I immediately cast my mind back to the old Main Street and Canal Street, as well as part of Ottawa Street, in the old Village, I realized that that was the only part of the Village I knew as a child. My parental home was in Matilda Township, about halfway between Iroquois and Morrisburg and very near the present route of 401.
My family divided its loyalty equally between the two villages, but Morrisburg on Saturday night was the place to be. In the 1930s, my childhood years, in rural Dundas County, there was no electricity, hence no radio, no lights except coal oil lamps or Aladdin lanterns fuelled by white gas, and no refrigeration. Our home, like most farm homes, had no running water. A visit to any village was an adventure.
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Morrisburg on Saturday night was a lively social gathering place. The country ladies came to buy groceries, the teenagers to the dance in Casselman’s Hall, the men to visit, and for some to go to one of the three beverage rooms in local hotels; the preteens enjoyed the bright lights and the Cameo Theatre. After my father purchased an old automobile in 1935, a trip to Morrisburg on Saturday night was to me the like a trip to Disneyland today.
As I stand here I can visualize Art Edgerton’s Texaco service station just over there by the present parking lot for the municipal dock immediately east of Dr. Schnurr’s residence, then known as the George Fredrick Tourist Home. Directly across from there on the north side of Main St. was Harry Duvall’s Supertest and going east on Main Street there was Morley Beckstead’s grocery store, Burlings Restaurant, Johnny Thompsons radio repair shop, Keck’s Funeral Home and Colquhoun’s Grocery, and so on. I well recall Beckstead’s Store (that was the other Beckstead store) where my mother did most of her shopping. It was different because they let the shopper take a basket and self-serve - what a novel idea! Of course there was much more of the commercial area to the east, ending approximately on the eastern boundary of the present golf course.
The Village was well policed by Clare Biccum, a strong burley gentleman- if Morrisburg was Dodge City then Clare was Matt Dillon. Most people who misbehaved never went to court- Clare settled things firmly and fairly in the alley by the Coffee Cup restaurant; there were few repeat offenders.
Jim Jordan’s two books accurately portray the business section and the waterfront; they are an excellent source and very helpful to present a view the old Village. They are far better than my description of old Main Street.
Two other characteristics of the old village come to mind. Firstly, because of the canal and the locks, Morrisburg was more influenced by river traffic. It was not uncommon for young men to work as deckhands on the riverboats. Many young men would seek employment by calling out to passing boats, enquiring about employment prospects from captains of the riverboats, and sometimes they were offered a job immediately. In the 1960s there were three ship captains residing in Morrisburg, John Rice, Doug Watt, and Captain Jones. Also, in the early 1930s a small riverboat the “Britannic” still delivered freight from Montreal to Morrisburg and Iroquois. In both villages, there were storage sheds along the waterfront which accepted freight shipped on the Britannic.
The second characteristic was the number of tourist homes in Morrisburg and the neighbouring shoreline. I have already made reference to the George Frederick. Mrs. Ben Carr operated two, The Sign of the Ship and the Ship’s Mate on Lakeshore Drive. There was also the Falcon on that same street. It is the large white house opposite the United Church. West of Morrisburg, by the Flagg Road, there was the Ship’s Anchor. In the east end of Morrisburg, Mrs. Pearl Fetterly owned Rosedale, south of the present golf course; in fact, she owned the golf course as well, part of which remains after the flooding. I have seen a history of the golf course prepared by Jim Jordan. East of Morrisburg there was Edgehill and Allison’s Farms and a number of other privately owned cottages for rent.
Just a bit of trivia, Allison Farms, prior to purchase by Percy Allison and his son Trevor was owned by a Seymour family, originally from the Ogdensburg area, in New York State. Their daughter, Frances, apparently
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a very beautiful young lady, moved to New York City, where she met and married the actor Henry Fonda. She was the mother of Jane and Peter Fonda.
I have always wondered about the existence of so many tourist homes. Part of the reason was the fast running St, Lawrence River with its many rapids and the spectacular view. But also I believe the tourism business benefitted from the many visitors year round to Dr. Mahlon Locke’s clinic in Williamsburg. There was a world-wide depression in the 1930’s but not so in Williamsburg. The business spin off from the many patients of Dr. Locke from all over the world created in Williamsburg a thriving economic miracle. Many of the patients and families accompanying them sought accommodation in Morrisburg,
While I was considering my chance to say a few words today I was struck by the irony of history. Sometimes taking a broad view there are connections between the past and the present that are at first not obvious, we all know that the Seaway and Hydro Project involved two nations , two provinces and one state. There were five governments involved in the project. One wonders if it could be done today.
The Seaway and Power project was not a plan that popped out of nowhere in the mid-1950s, rather it evolved out of efforts by the early settlers to tame the rapids. In the mid-1800s, the first canals were built. Later in that century the canals around the rapids were improved and the locks enlarged. It was the growing need for hydro-electric power combined with the need for improved navigation that made the project practical, one hundred year after the first canals were built.
So let’s go back to the 1850s for a moment here in Morrisburg to look at the life of a man born about that time. Sir James Pliny Whitney was born in Williamsburg Township in 1843, the son of a blacksmith. He was educated in local schools and in Cornwall and read law as a young man in Cornwall, where he articled with a Cornwall law firm. Eventually after further studies in Toronto he was called to the bar and established a practice in Morrisburg. He became active in politics and eventually was elected to the Provincial Legislature. I have read somewhere that his political affiliation was with the Liberal Conservative party - seems to me he was a Red Tory. He eventually became leader of what was then the Conservative party, and after several election defeats he was elected as Premier of Ontario in 1904, a position he held until his death in 1914. I suggest that in the nine years of his leadership his record of significant legislative achievements compares well with any other Ontario Premier. Three of his achievements relate to the Seaway project.
FIRSTLY, he introduced Workman’s Compensation; that was a daring innovation and a benefit to the blue collar worker. One Toronto paper, The Evening Telegram, branded the Premier a socialist. Prior to that time a worker who was injured on the job had little recourse against his employer or fellow worker for job site injuries. There was no comparable legislation at that time in North America. Almost every labourer who worked on the Seaway project was protected by that legislation.
SECONDLY, he saw that democratic municipal government, which had been created by the Baldwin Act of Upper Canada in 1849 now needed some changes. It was necessary to create an agency with supervisory power over some decision of councils and also to create a framework for appeal from Council’s decisions- primarily at that time as it related to street railways, so he established the Ontario Street Railway and Municipal Board later changed to the Ontario Municipal Board- an organization that exists to this day, under I think a slightly different name.
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Prior to the Seaway the Province of Ontario passed the St. Lawrence Development Act which authorized Ontario Hydro to carry out the Provincial phase of the project, which was the building of dams, generating stations, roads, town sites, transmission lines, etc. If one’s property was expropriated and compensation could not be settled amicably, the owner could appeal to the Ontario Municipal Board and some people made use of that right. The right of appeal was a check on the bargaining technique of Hydro land agents. Landowners at the time of the seaway had a right of appeal to an agency originally created by Mr. Whitney, fifty years before the Seaway.
THIRDLY, the Province of Ontario instructed and empowered Ontario Hydro to take all steps necessary to build the power phase of the seaway project, and this meant acquiring the land necessary for the development. Now who do you suppose created Ontario Hydro? Sir James Pliny Whitney, the lawyer from Morrisburg, that’s who! Sir James could see the growing importance of power generation and transmission, particularly at Niagara Falls. He looked at the New York State experience of franchising generation and sale of power to private agencies. Sir James wanted the Province to own its public utility. He studied the matter with aid from a Cabinet member, Adam Beck and by legislation he created the body which became the Hydro Electric Power Commission of Ontario and that agency remained essentially the same in principle until the Harris government in the 1990’s. The Commission was to be controlled and supervised by three commissioners, one a qualified electrical engineer, one a member of the legislature, and one member at large. At the time the seaway project commenced, the political commissioner was Mr. George Challies, a resident of Morrisburg and a member of Premier Frost’s cabinet. Isn’t it ironic that a lawyer from a small town over one hundred years ago created the agency that carried out the remarkable project, depicted by these pictures we see here, today.
Premier Whitney died in office and was buried in the Anglican Cemetery along the banks of the St. Lawrence several miles east of Morrisburg, an area then called East Williamsburg, or more commonly “The Churches” because of the historic Lutheran and Anglican churches located there. Now sometimes history comes full circle; the agency that Premier Whitney created flooded that cemetery as part of the seaway project, so his remains and the stone honouring his memory were moved to the new Anglican Cemetery along with Holy Trinity Church on the north side Highway Number 2 (now County Road number 2).
Once again, thank you John for this wonderful presentation of plaques displaying Morrisburg’s past with particular reference to the area flooded by the St. Lawrence Seaway.
IN MEMORIAM
PRIDE, DOROTHY - We were saddened to learn of the passing of Dorothy Pride, a long-time member of the Lost Villages Historical Society. Dorothy passed away on Thursday, November 21, 2019. Our sympathy and prayers are extended to her family members and friends. Dorothy was a contributor to the Lost Villages bake sales, and you could be sure that a pineapple upside-down cake would be part of her contributions. Dorothy was the 2019 “Senior of the Year” in South Stormont, and was an active member of the Friendly Circle Seniors. As well, she was an active member of the Royal Canadian Legion. For many years, she was a flag-bearer at many Legion functions, and she always attended the
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Remembrance Ceremony at the Mille Roches/Moulinette cenotaph. On November 11 th , a number of participants commented about Dorothy absence at the cenotaph, as she was in the hospital. A Celebration of Life was held at Branch 569, Royal Canadian Legion, Long Sault, on Wednesday, December 4, 2019, from 1-3 pm.
COPELAND, James Robert (Bob) – The sympathy of the Lost Villages Historical Society is extended to member Linda Halliday on the passing of her beloved husband, Bob, on Friday, December 20, 2019, at the age of 76 years. Both Bob and Linda were actively involved with the historical society and took great interest in its activities. Bob was the loving father of Paula Copeland (Arnaud), and Kimberly Copeland. He is sadly missed by his grandchildren: Aimy, and Noa. Bob was the brother of Greg (Jane), Judy, and Maureen. He is also greatly missed by his nieces and nephews, and his devoted companion Layla. Bob was always out in the vicinity of his home, across from the Lost Villages Museum site, playing with Layla. Bob will be remembered for his love of life, and dedication to the community. Bob had many friends, loved the outdoors, and had a great zest for life. In his life, he gave time to a number of youth and community based organizations, such as the historical society. Bob was a kind person who saw the good in people. A celebration of life will be held at a later date. Funeral arrangements were entrusted to Wilson Funeral Home, Cornwall.
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