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WAS THE MARMORATON MINE A FAMILY AFFAIR?

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We recently received an email from Rob Borland, who sent us photos of not just his dad, Robert Borland, but also his grandfather, Mel Borland, both of whom worked at the Marmoraton Mine. Mel Borland was one of the earliest hired in June of 1953 as a metallurgical Mining Engineer, remaining there until he retired in July of 1971. Before joining Bethlehem Steel Corp. we worked for the Deloro Smelting and Refining Co.

Mel Borland

Working beside Mel was his son, Robert, who joined the company on April 25, 1955 as the safety engineer. He was highly regarded by the firm as, during his term, they set a record of over 1,000,000 man-hours without a lost time accident. His stay in Marmora ended when Bethlehem arranged for him to be transferred to a new mine in northern Minnesota in 1974.

So that got us thinking…….

robert (bob) borland

Were workers at the mine keeping it a family affair? While we can’t confirm father-son teams, or uncle-nephew teams, we did notice groups of the same family name - Cousins, for sure.

There are 24 examples of groups of three, like BROOKS, Stan, Thomas & William; McFARLANE, Gordon, James & Elmer, and BRADY, Paul, Leona (Husband and wife) and Thomas, or TERRION, STEENBURG and CAVERLY

The list mentions 10 examples of groups of 4: BOWENS, Don, Fred, Glenn and Lawrence, WARREN, Bob, Buck Garry and Randy, or GRANT, Frank, Gordon, Jack & Wayne, to name a few

Groups of 5 are represented by eight families - BERTRANDS, DERRYS, GRAY, McINROYS, NOBES, REID, REYNOLDS & BOOTH Alex, Dean, Ralph, Bert & Bob,;

and the names BEDORE and ELLIS each have 6 family members working at the mine.

AND WHO ARE THE BIG SCORERS?

7 FAMILY MEMBERS -THE BARRONS, Don on shovel, Everett in trucks, Harry on drill, Joseph on Bulldozer, Norman busy welding, Robert manning a shovel and Steward. pit foreman;

THE SHANNONS - Clarence (plant foreman) Dennis hard at work, Donald (a foreman), John (a millwirght), Mark (labourer), Stafford (a guard) and Thomas (store keeper)

But the prize goes to the biggest family group of 9 THE BELLS

  • ALLEN and CECIL J. who started in 1952, driving trucks

  • BARTON, TERRENCE and CECIL F. were listed as labourers

  • BORDEN, also started in 1952, welder

  • GRAHAM, 1952, foreman

  • LESLIE, 1952, Boiler

  • JOHN was a mining engineer

COMMENT FROM GRAHAM BELL -

I wanted to thank All who contributed to the Photo’s and to the staff at the Historical Foundation, I thoroughly enjoyed this article!  I haven’t been to the operating Mine in over 60 years, when my Dad worked there years back.  I still recall so many of the staff, both inside and out, the faces pulled memories out, dusted them off and made me smile.  Thank You for bringing back those great memories!

 

Back row:  Gordon Donaldson,  Francis Bosley    Middle Row:  Ron Smith,  Charles Campion, Frank Young, Earl Clemenger, James McClary    Front row:  Douglas Coleman, Robert Booth, Wellington (Pete) McInroy, Donald Bowen

YOU CAN SEE THE COMPLETE LIST OF EMPLOYEES AND MORE ON OUR “MEN OF STEEL” PAGE

CLICK HERE

SEND US YOUR PHOTOS OF MARMORATON MINE WORKERS TO info@marmorahistory.ca

Celebrating St. Matilda’s Church

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A Story of St. Matilda’s, Marmora’s Pioneer Church

Much about the first few years of St. Matilda’s Church in Marmora is lost to the fogs of time, but somethings more are known. It was started around 1825. That makes it 200 years old—and that it something to celebrate! True, not much of the building remains but anyone who has been there knows it is a blessed place.

St Matilda’s was a real outpost in the wilderness. The location was wonderful, right by the west bank of the Crowe River, very near the long-gone wooden bridge that wobbled across the wild river. It was the pride and joy of Anthony Manahan, Marmora’s second mine manager. As an Irish Catholic, in a Church of England colony, he knew how to fight for what he wanted. He wanted and got the first Catholic church so far back where none had stood before.

St. Matilda’s was already abandoned and in graceful decline by 1900.

The first priest to serve widely in the Bay of Quinte, (then styled as the Bay of Kenty), was Father Michael Brennan. His ordination was on August 28th, 1829 when he was 33. That date is the founding date for the Parish of St. Michael the Archangel.

As St. Matilda’s was by then completed, or very nearly so, it was a cornerstone of the parish and was specifically mentioned in Father Brennan’s grants of office. One can easily imagine Father Brennan arriving by horse across the shaky Crowe River bridge to lead worship in the beautiful glen beside the river. The little church charmed all who worshipped there by its location and with its simple style with plastered walls and with its plain pine benches.

The extraordinary grace and kindness of Father Brennan has kept his memory alive for two hundred years. In December 1840 Susannah Moodie, the  famous settler author, her husband Sheriff Dunbar Moodie, and their children were suddenly burnt out.  They lost their home, clothing, winter stores, and the greater part of their furnishings.

During the blaze, the Moodies endured their longest half hour. A servant in charge of their youngest, still two, left him behind in her flight from the doomed dwelling. He could not be located until a neighbour ran inside and found him hiding in a kitchen cupboard. He was saved unharmed. The roof is said to have then promptly collapsed.  A bleak winter was setting in and their prospects looked equally bleak. The ever-entertaining Mrs. Moodie knew what Upper Canadians thought of winter.  The house was surrounded by simple souls. She quoted one of them;

“Speaking of the coldness one particular day, a genuine bother, Johnathan remarked, with charming simplicity, that it had been thirty degrees below zero that morning, and it would have been much colder if the thermometer had been longer.”                                                                  

Returning to her own troubles after the fire in ‘Life in the Clearings’, Susanna praises a visit by Father Brennan soon after the disaster. She was Protestant but credits the Catholic Priest’s benevolent smile, ‘courteous manner, and his racy Irish wit,’ with restoring her equilibrium.

‘You know’, she quoted him, ‘I have no family to be disturbed by the noise of the children; and if you will accept the temporary home, I offer you, it is entirely at your service.’ He continued by offering whatever funds would be needed for the family during their distress.

Not all the Moodie’s neighbours were as magnanimous,  for ‘here a system of pillage was carried out by the heartless, who regard fires and wreck as their special harvest, …I saw one man pitch a handsome chamber-glass out of an upper window into the street, in order to ‘save’ it; while another, at the risk of his life carried a bottomless china jug, which had long been useless, down the burning staircase, and seemed quite elated at this success’.                                  

 

HAVE YOU NOTICED?

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TWO SIGNS GET REFURBISHED THANKS TO JOHANNES PRONK

THE DELORO HISTORICAL PLAQUE GETS A FACELIFT!

 

Thanks to Johannes Pronk of Queensborough, the Deloro historical plaque has been refurbished and replaced…..and it looks great! Shining in a navy blue, it once again tells the Deloro story in dazzling aluminum letters, outside the Deloro Community Hall.

Mr. Pronk, of Pronk Canada Inc., works out of his fully equipped machine shop in the Village of Queensborough, designing and creating unique metal items, signs and parts.

Click on his Facebook page

 
 

PEARCE MILL SIGN REFURBISHED AFTER 31 YEARS

Thanks to the artistry of Jos Pronk of Queensborough, Ontario, our Mill Street historical sign, originally carved out by Clarence Logan of Havelock, has been beautifully restored, reinforced and preserved. Quoting the artist: “Quite a journey to make the missing pieces, and match the colors, replacing and making the worn and rotten parts of this sign, struggling with an ant nest during this conquest. then finding a way to preserve it better for the future.” THANK YOU, JOS!

CLICK HERE FOR THE INSTALLATION VIDEO

For all the information of the Pearce Company, CLICK HERE

OPERATION SUGAR RETRIEVAL

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Arthur Scott Bouchard, returns to malone with the sugar

A story submitted by Sandra Townsend. This is part of her story, “The Eldorado Sailor” (CLICK HERE)

Rationing in Canada occurred from 1942 – 1947. Canadians embraced this process as their patriotic duty. The war ended in 1945 but the rationing continued until 1947. Even if your family had a source of a rationed commodity outside of the merchants using your Ration Book Coupon, it was illegal to hold in your possession more than your allotted ration amount.

Finally rationing ended. It may have been just as difficult to find a pre-rationing amount of things like sugar. The Sailor from Eldorado,  Arthur Scott Bouchard, whose story we have written about , was returning  on the USS Phillipines Sea from Operation High Jump at the South Pole (1947) when it stopped on route in Cuba, a noted sugar-producing country. He obtained a 50lb. bag of sugar and had it sent to Watertown NY., ready to send on to his family members in Malone and Eldorado.

Scott returned to the McCann families in Malone and Eldorado. They all packed a picnic, climbed in their cars and struck out for Operation Sugar Retrieval. My mother commemorated the event by bleaching the sugar sack, cutting and hemming a circular shape, crocheting a scalloped edging and embroidering each of their names in bright colours on the doily. That doily stayed as a constant decoration atop her refrigerator for her entire life, and was how I learned of Scott’s gift.

Bill Haight , Verna McCann, Reg Peate, Howard Hennessy (peeking from in back), Reta (McCann) Peate, Alice McCann, Mildred McCann, Scott Bouchard, Dorothy McCann, George Reeves, Della McCann perched on Jack Lowery's lap and my mother Bessie McCann kneeling in front..

All the Malone and Eldorado cousins share in the booty. “Operation Sugar Retrieval” accomplished.

ANSWERING THE THREAT OF WAR - 1826

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In preparation for any military confrontations, General Militia Orders were handed down setting up battalions of local men throughout Upper Canada. In Marmora, in 1826, the manager of the Iron Works, Major Anthony Manahan, was in command of the 2nd Regiment of Hastings County.

From the library and archives of canada  Maj. A Manahan -Recommendations, 2nd Hastings  RG 9 MG R- SERIES/SERI E I-B-1 ACCESSION VOL 13 PAGE(S) 3 FILE / 1826 HAStings

In a lucky find in the Library and Archives of Canada, we came across the attached letter from Major Manahan, making recommendations for commissioned officers, many of whom have descendants in Marmora today!

“Marmora Iron Works, U.C. 1st December, 1826 To Col. Coffen

Sir, In obedience of the General Militia Order dated the 20th October last, with an Extract from which I have been favoured, I have the honour to submit the following list of names of Gentlemen, who, in my opinion, are best deserving of Commissions in the Second Battalion of Hastings Militia, under my command.

Of these Gentlemen some are non resident within the Townships from which the Battalion is formed, yet, I respectfully submit them for your recommendation under precedent to His Excellency’s consideration, as persons who doubtless will be found to attend as strictly to discipline and duty as if they were of the Township.

When the appointments shall have taken place, little delay shall occur before reporting to you the formation and strength of the Battalion. I have the Honour to be, Sir, Your Obedient Servant, A. Manahan, Major Commanding, 2nd Regiment Hastings Militia “

To be Captains:

  1. James Hunter Samson (Click here for more)

  2. Charles Willard

  3. Thomas Parker

  4. William Driscoll (possibly the great grandfather of Marg Shannon)

  5. Joseph Hagerman

To be Lieutenants

  1. Robert Parker (his father was an iron master in Scotland. He married Eliz Huffman and Marjorie Fidlar, and was grandfather of Judge Parker of Crowe Lake)

  2. William Robertson

  3. Thomas Fleming

  4. Daniel Johns (possibly uncle of Sarah Johns who married George Bleecker)

  5. Edward Fidler (Fidlar) (connected to Inksters and Parkers

To be Ensigns

  1. Solomon Johns (Possibly uncle of Sarah Johns who married George Bleecker)

  2. John Keaty

  3. James Crawford (Possible uncle of Margaret Crawford who married Daniel Shannon)

  4. William Campion (Possibly married Mary Potts, father-in-law of Thomas Pearce)

  5. Robert Moscrif

To be Adjutant - Michael Moran To be Surgeon - John Morin

BUT IT WASN’T ALL WORK AND NO PLAY!

The tendency by the military to drink away their fears was quite naturally a major impediment to their success. In Upper Canada, eligible men were required to train for the militia which could be called up for service in emergencies. The men would gather half-heartedly once or twice a year under local supervision. In February 1838, a Captain Matthews had begun to wonder what the point was. He addressed the House of Assembly describing a typical training session;

“…the people assembled from various parts of the country, and on reaching the ground, a spectator would find kegs of beer and whiskey kegs, and people drinking and stimulating themselves with ardent spirits; the officers and men often made fools of themselves going through a few manoeuvres they know very little about. Then comes the whiskey again. The officers go off to some tavern and fall to drinking, and the men profit by their example.…. again, these officers have such odd ways; one of them put a gun under (my) horse’s legs at a training, and fired it off, at the risk of breaking (my) neck. It was customary to fire off a gun near a person’s ear to see if he would start.”

The assembled legislators are reported to have chuckled knowingly.

Finding the Reid Settlement Cemetery

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Volunteers at Reid Cemetery: Patrick Houle, Donna Marie Soule, Jim Rose, Wayne VanVolkenburg, Albert Reid, Elton Reid, Dale Kahler, Teresa Allen, Morris VanVolkenburg. ( Joan Van Meer, Robert Brady, and Mark Soule are not in the photo)

The last couple of weeks have been exciting for descendants of those in the almost-lost overgrown Reid settlement cemetery.  Carefully skirting around  Mr. Twiddy’s crops west of Ivanhoe, a small group of Reid relatives made it their business to clear the bush and bring the old stones back to sunlight, under the guidance of Wayne VanVolkenburg.

The Reid/Read/Reed family were early settlers in Upper Canada, William Reid (1723-1817) and his wife, Nancy Nesbitt having emigrated from North Carolina to Thurlow Township. Their large family included John Reid, whose son, Daniel also populated Hastings County with a large family, including Robert Reid who received a Crown Patent for Lot 2, Con.7, Huntingdon Township in 1850. As was common in those days, the family established its own cemetery on the farm property which is pictured here.

List of graves at Reid Cemetery

                                     Date of death George Reid                       1907          #1 Jane Reid (Mrs.)                                      #1 Jane Gawley (Cauley)       1923           #1 Bryson  Lee Reid            1931           #2 John Wesley Dafoe           1891           #6  Marmaduke Reid               1901           #7 Mary Haggerty                                       #7 Adonzo B.Reid                                       #7 Mary Reid (Mrs.) #7 Lucy H. Reid                        1894           #8 George Reid                        1892           #8 Lucy Ellen Reid                   1881           #10 Warren Reid                       1938           #10 Martha E. Reid                   1910           #10 Martha E.  Knox                                      #10 Ella or Ellis Reid                  1863           #11 Nelson Reid                         1898           #13 Mary Ann Reid                    1921           #13 James Reid                           1876          #14 James Reid Jr                       1883           #14 Alex Reid                                                  #14 Eliza Reid                               1905 (6)  #15 Eliza Seeley (Mrs.)                                   #15 Orey Seeley                                            #15 Miles W. Reid                       1920           #19 Emily Ann Reid                    1911           #20 Clancy Reid                                             #20 John Baker                            1917           #25 Sarah Baker                          1912          #25 Robinson, Sarah E.                                  #25 Prienzo Reid (Fernando)     1932           #

THE CLEAN UP


With some help from the local municipality, work is now continuing to establish a pathway to cemetery site, finish the clean up and set up the signage to, once again, pay respects to these early settlers who are the ancestors of so many around the world. The cost of the signs was covered by private donations.

FOR THE FULL 15 PAGE WORD DOCUMENT ON THE REID SETTLERS PREPARED BY MATTHEW VANVOLKENBURG, CLICK HERE

JULY UPDATE: After our initial partial cleanup, last July, by our volunteers, things came to a standstill. After many emails and phone calls, I was eventually directed to Gordon Dubeau, Parks, Recreation, and Facilities Supervisor, for Centre Hastings. Gordon recently had a crew begin the cleanup of the remainder of the cemetery. Some work will be done each year, and continue until the entire cemetery is cleared. His help with this matter is greatly appreciated. Some photos from my visit today shows the progress of the brush removal. David Twiddy has cleared out the trees on his fence lines, making it easier to locate the cemetery. He has also installed a Canadian flag, on a tall pole, at the East end of the cemetery. A beacon to help you find your way. (Wayne VanVolkenburg)

October 2025 - The Municipality of Mr. Twiddy finished up the work for this year. Well done everyone.

REID PROPERTIES IN HUNTINGDON TOWNSHIP 1823-1878

REID PROPERTIES IN THURLOW TOWNSHIP

All maps prepared by Matthew Vanvolkenburg

SOME COMMENTS!

Lew Barker I follow my heritage back to William Reed (1723-1817)and Nancy Nesbit (1732-1810), their son John Reed born 1762, married Esther Etherley b 1765,their son Isaac Newton Reid b 1787, married Jane Rose b 1786 and so on. Apparently William’s family was from Connecticut was a (U.E.L.) joined a militia in New York was a Sargent in South Carolina Loyalist Militia under Lieutenant Colonel Patrick Ferguson 1780 at the battle of King’s Mountain S.C. Died 1817 Hastings Ontario. Nancy Agnes M. Nesbit born in Spartanburg North Carolina died 1810 buried in Hastings , Ontario. Seems some ties way back (my grandmother was a Reid her father was Theodore 1866-1948.

Kathryn Rader: What a beautiful story! Great work everyone who helped to resurrect the family history and place on our earth!

Peter Jeffs: I visited the Reid Settlement Cemetery last Saturday (Nov. 2025) and everyone has done a great job cleaning it up. My great grandfather (Albert Reid) and great great grandfather Blackie / Alonzo Reid are resting at this site.

Christine Kelsh Fantastic work and remembering our roots. Almost symbolic of how time erases our presence on earth without the memories of our descendants.

.Rose Robbins My great great grandfather was William H Reid and my great great grandmother was Clarissa May Haggerty. My great grandmother was Clara Reid. I think relatives???

Janice Chrysler I too am a Reid and helped my aunt many years ago in her attempts to sort them all out. Sure is a task! I swear all the men are William, John, James, or Daniel and spell their names Reid, Read, Reed, depending I think on who took the census!

Kymm Krueger My great great grandparents are buried there.

Grant Hagerman My name is Grant Hagerman. My Mother was Margaret Reid Hagerman. Her Father and Mother were Albert and Emma Reid. Albert and Emma raised their family on the farm where the cemetery is. Many of the family members visited the cemetery a few years ago and are interested in their ancestors. We are pleased that such an interest has occurred to keep up the cemetery.

Dorothy Jack Daniel Reid and Barbara Ellen Keene. Caroline was wife of Isaac Briggs.

Sharon Ann Prevost My name is Sharon Reid Prevost my father was Reg Reid who was a son of Albert Reid

Debbie Reid Maunder: I just found this site online! Thank you so much to all the volunteers who have cleaned up this cemetery! I haven't visited it since 1986 and it was in bad repair then! I hope to visit it this summer. I live in Toronto but my family is from Belleville and Ivanhoe. The picture of the diamond shaped stone with the name Lee Bryson Reid is my uncle's stone. He died when he was only a few months old from pneumonia. I am sure I have other relatives there but I need to do a search. My great-grandfather was Harford Reid and his son was my grandfather Bryson Reid.
I am so glad the Twiddy family has continued to allow access to the cemetery.

Deborah Cronkwright Hello, my name is Deborah Cronkwright. My mom was a Reid, (Fern Liola) from Hastings county, her father was Allen Reid (my grandfather)1897-1938. Allen was the son of Enoch Reid (my great-grandfather)1847-1916. Enoch was the son of Robert Reid 1814-1910 (my 2nd great-grandfather). Mom passed in March of 2021 and since then my sister and I have been up to Coe Hill and Bancroft area many times. We have been able to find graves and living family. We are coming up for Thanksgiving weekend for the fall colors and were planning a stop at Reid family settlement and cemetery, if we could find it. The recent work on the cemetery will make it easier to find, thank you. Since joining Ancestry I have been able to go back right to the 15 and 1600's, so interesting.

Rickey Andrew Reid It is great to see this and thank you all!!! All buried here are my relatives. I am Rickey Andrew Reid, son of Frederick Andrew Reid, son of Andrew Delbert “Del” Reid, son Andrew Reid, son of Andrew Reid, son of Andrew Reid, son of Daniel Donald Reid, son of John Reid

Richard Reid born in Belleville 1959 my dad's name was Burton Reid his dad was John Reid.

Charlene Hannah I too and related to the Reid's. My great grandma was Rosa Reid. She married into the Hannah's. Very interested in more information about the family. Unfortunately the older generation has basically passed and now I left wondering about a few things I heard in passing. My grandparents are Gladys and Floyd Hannah. My father is Carl Hannah.

Diane Williams I am so happy this has been done, I am a Reid descendent, from John Reed and Esther Etherley, my great grandfather was Elijah Reed/Reid who married Isabella McInroy in about 1823. I can trace her. But unable to trace Elijah, ancestry trees has him as a son of John Reed 1787-1835 and Sarah Rose,I cannot find and verification. If anyone can help me I would appreciate it.
williamsdiane@hotmail.com

For information on Marmora cemeteries click here

OLD MARMORA FIRE TRUCK RESURFACES

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Just as the memory of Marmora’s old 1937 Bickle -Seagrave ladder truck was fading into oblivion, it has miraculously resurfaced in British Columbia!

Captain Trevor Burkitt  of 108 Mile Ranch Volunteer Fire Department  in British Columba, who is considering obtaining the vehicle, was looking to find out more about the vehicle. With a little research, fire equipment aficionado, Ken Buchanen advises this truck has changed hands a number of times.

Originally bought by Owen Sound Fire Department for $5, 050.00 it was but found to be underpowered and sold it to the Hamilton Fire Department in 1952 for $5,000.00, which in turn traded it when purchasing a 1964 Snorkel from an unkown seller.

Marmora wanted the Bangor ladder, (Bangor ladders are the largest ground extension ladders used in the fire service) but the seller  at the time, would only sell the vehicle complete. In 1964 Marmora purchased the vehicle and eventually (year unknown) sold it back to Hamilton without the ladders. Hamilton replaced ladders with ones from an old Guelph truck and in 1990 sold it a fire service auxiliary group known as “Box 43 Society” of Hamilton.

How it got to British Columbia is still a mystery.

circa 1974

For more about our Fire Department, click here

And a Little Canadian History……

Bickle Fire Engine Company / Bickle-Seagrave was a Canadian fire apparatus manufacturer located in Woodstock, Ontario.

Bickle was formed in 1915 and built their first fire truck the same year. In 1936, the company entered into a partnership with W.E. Seagrave Fire Apparatus Company, becoming Seagrave's sole distributor in Canada. Bickle changed its name to Bickle-Seagrave and built trucks on custom and commercial chassis until it went out of business in 1956. That same year, the founder's nephew, Vernon King, resurrected the company as King-Seagrave, which continued to build fire apparatus until 1985.

Sources - Dubbert, Bob, Shane MacKichan and Joel L. Gebet. Encyclopedia of Canadian Fire Apparatus. Hudson, WI: Iconografix, 2004.

NEWLY FOUND RARE CROWE RIVER PHOTO

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We recently came into possession of this rare photo, probably dating back to 1890, of part of the original dam in Marmora. BUT DID YOU KNOW, the original dam, first built by Charles Hayes before 1826 to power his iron works, developed into a double dam that was set almost perpendicular to the modern dam.

But it looks long, you’re thinking.

And it was long! Looking at the Hayes 1826 map, we can see the placement of the more northerly dam, the original (one and only) Marmora bridge further north, and St. Matilda’s Church. The scale on his map shows the dam to be over 2 chains or about 150 feet. The Village Compiled Plan 307 (1901) indicates the placement of the second, more southerly, dam and also confirms the northerly dam to be over 2 chains, if you compare a lot size with the dam length.

1826 map of the charles hayes ironworks, the original bridge and first dam

 

Compiled plan 307 for the village of marmora, dated 1901

  • The yellow lines on this Doug Prindle aerial view of today’s dam, indicate the approximate placement of the original twin dams,

  • Below left: A later photo of this dam clearly shows St. Matilda’s Church ruins in the background, dating this photo to about 1920.

  • Below right: the southern dam , which ran almost parallel to Main street., with Pearce mills and Marmora Presbertyrian church in the background c.1890

c. 1920 with ruins of st. Matilda in the background

southern dam, c.1890

All in all, a lot of water over the dams!

For more on the marmora dams, click here

GREETINGS FROM MARMORA -TOO BUSY TO WRITE

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Or Just too Lazy?

We have written quite a lot over the years about postcards and their importance to the historical record.  We have mentioned the famous Roy Studio and Parks studio of Peterborough which supplied thousands of local images for postcard hobbyists,  and, of course,  we can’t omit the famous Peterborough aerial photographer, Harry Oakman, whose aerial shots can be seen in postcards across the country.

Today we came into possession of another type of postcard,  printed for the lazy postcard writers of the Marmora area – a “pick and choose” greeting that saves the busy vacationer valuable time that is better spent swimming, boating, fishing or playing golf.   It was printed by Dexter Color Canada Ltd. in Cornwall,  Ontario, and what we found out after a little research, is that the company was one of the two biggest publishers of “Chrome” postcards.  (The other was Alex Wilson Publishers Ltd. of Dryden)

In 1935 the Eastman Kodak Company of Rochester, New York altered the world of colour photography forever with the development and mass marketing of Kodachrome, the first successful color film used for both cinematography and still photography.  And so was born the “Chrome” postcard.

According to Diane Allmen,  a.k.a. Queen of Chrome, who purchased the Dexter Press Archives in 1980’s,  it was 1960 when Dexter turned to high gloss postcards,  as is  this postcard.  But what is really fascinating is that Dexter numbered all their cards,  and with Diane Allmen’s cataloguing,  we can safely say that our postcard,  #54500B,  was printed in 1962.

For more on Dexter Press postcard  go to   Dating Dexter Press Postcards | Postcard History

Click here to visit the Marmora postcard collection

THE NAMING OF CLEMENGER ROAD

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Wayne VanVolkenburg has done some research on the naming of some of our roads. He writes:

Sometime during Mike Harris's time as Premier of Ontario (1995-2002), it was determined that all of the municipal roads should be given official names. It seems that the Reeve for each municipality was given this responsibility. I was told that John Wilkes would have been responsible for Marmora and Lake Township.


The Clemenger family were early settlers along the road that now bears their name. John Clemenger owned the E1/2 of Lot 20, Con.1, and Thomas Clemenger owned the W1/2 of that lot. The land was purchased in 1869. This location is at the intersection of the Cordova Road, and the current "Clemenger Road."  William Clemenger, born in 1832, in Ireland, purchased the E1/2 0f Lot 22, Con.1, in 1869. In the 1891 census, William, widowed, was living with his son, Henry. Henry, born in 1867, married Emma Drusilla Whitney in 1892. They had 11 (or 12?) children!.  Now there were many Clemengers in the area.

That would make their name a logical choice for the road's name.

Henry (a.k.a. Thomas Henry) Clemenger and Emma Drucilla Whitney 1871–1950

Mildred Pearl Clemenger 1892–1972 William Albert Clemenger 1895–1968 Henry Gordon Clemenger 1897–1986 Cecil Roy Clemenger* 1898–1959 Joseph Earl Clemenger 1901–1981 Cora Vivian Clemenger 1904–1995 Clayton Forest Clemenger 1905–1974 Clinton Alex Clemenger 1905–1993 Howard Alexander Clemenger 1908– .Stewart Valentine Clemenger 1908–1996 George Harold Clemenger 1909–1989 Marjorie Madeline Clemenger 1915–2000

Click here to read about Cook's Cheese factory on Clemenger Road
 

SS 9 - the School on Clemenger Road

While we are a little vague on details for S.S. 9, we believe it was originally built on the Clemenger Road,  near the Cook's Cheese Factory,  but was torn down (1902?) and the children transferred to the Cordova School. S.S. #12 (Belmont)

Wayne VanVolkenburg advises “At that time (when the school was torn down) the Clemenger road followed a little different route. Somewhere near the cheese factory it veered and met the Cordova road somewhere near #2298. The school was located somewhere between those two points. The area was also known as Pleasant Corners.


WHO WAS ST. MATILDA

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Our little church on the west side of the Crowe River at Marmora is named St. Matilda’s.

But who was St. Matilda?

Queen Matilda was married to Henry the first, and a powerful woman. As a political activist she also is now heralded as the ‘Patron Saint of Misbehaving (or Disappointing) Children’- such presumably as her own. It was a title earned as a result of her dealings with two contentious sons fighting over one crown.

         St. Matilda is also venerated as a builder of chapels and by the falsely accused. All in all, she was the right choice after whom to name our contentious little church.                  

No sooner had it been erected, was it the subject of litigation.

The little stone church was built under the direction of mine manager, Anthony Manahan in the mid 1820’s. It was probably the first Catholic Church back from Lake Ontario and was consecrated by Upper Canada’s first Catholic Bishop.

When Church of England members not only came to use it, but also claimed to control the access to it by Catholics, the quarrels began. After a series of public insults back and forth, Anthony Manahan got a Magistrates Order that the church was indeed Catholic. Its ruins still occupy the lovely site beside the  Crowe River, north of the dam.

Two little crosses were made by the Ironworks to crown each end of the little Church. One of them still survives in the Catholic Church on Bursthall St..

TO READ ALL ABOUT THIS LITTLE 1820’S CHURCH, CLICK HERE

                                                   

HOW TO SPEAK "MARMORA"

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MARMORA - 101

Linguists tell us that within any language group local expressions will develop. To understand your community, it is essential to learn the local lingo.

Here is your language course ‘Marmora 101’. The exam will be administered by members of a select committee who may greet you on the street at any time and will expect an appropriate response.

PLEASE FEEL FREE TO SUGGEST ADDITIONS TO OUR DICTIONARY (info@marmorahistory.ca)

So, here we go:

North of Seven: Translation: Way back

Back of Cordova or B. C.: Translation; North of Seven only more so

Git ‘er done: Translation: There is a time for thinking and a time for action. . . . This is not a time for thinking.

Your Grampa was from Madoc: Translation: You are not really from Marmora

Newcomer: Translation: see above

I’m not running for election; I am standing for election:

Translation: I can’t be bothered to talk to you.

Receive for Consideration: Translation: Nope

Receive and file: Translation: Council feels you should go now.

No better than he thinks he is: Translation: a weird way to say he’s not so great.

Like a fart in a wind storm Translation; Hard to predict

How’s ya belly where the pig bit ya?:

Translation; This strange question is in fact used as a polite greeting that need not be specifically answered. If you do respond you can say, ‘good, how’s your pig?’   Origin Uncertain—sounds Australian.

Go ahead, tell it to my wife: Translation: Please don’t tell my wife

Shut your yapper: Translation: I want to talk about me.

He couldn’t hit a barn door with a handful of beans: Translation: He’s drunk.

Seeya on the lake when the ice sinks:

Translation: This pleasant greeting reflects the speaker’s scientific literacy. We all know that spring makes the ice sink to the bottom which is why the deeper down you go, the colder it is. And why it comes up next winter.

Not until Hell freezes over and all the little devils come out to skate: Translation: No thanks. .

The Maple Leaf Café : Translation: A secret place to meet for a beer on the way to the . . hunt camp.

That Poodle can’t hunt: Translation: A nice little insulting zinger to a dog and the owner. . . You probably knew that anyway.

Organ Recital: Translation: Gossip at the old folks’ home

Going to the movies?: Translation: I saw you picking your seat!

Kids don’t take after strangers: Translation: Your kid’s a moron and so are you

Better than a slap in the belly with a wet fish: . Translation: It is what it is and stop yer whinin’!

DID MARMORA INVENT MONEY

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“But dear brother, we have no money here. The best farmer in the country must when he is going out a journey, he must take wheat tic or oats or some such commodity to bear his expense in the towns traveling. We will not see one shilling in the course of a year.

 

Royal Keyes, writing to his brother in September 1834. Royal farmed north of Marmora until his death at the age of 107

Royal Keyes was not complaining about how poor he was.  He wasn’t poor. In the same letter he boasted of a flourishing farm and three good meals of meat daily. He was complaining about the lack of coins and bills themselves.

Archives of Ontario

Money is a strange thing. The rule is clear--it is only worth anything if another person thinks so. It is only of any use if you  can trust that someone else will accept it in payment of something you really need. If you can’t trust the coins or bills, or, if you don’t even have them, trade gets complicated. But when it is trusted, it is a convenience that a growing economy cannot do without.

Instead of shillings or dollars, which weren’t flowing around the new colony, locals were forced to use barter. But when surplus crops needed to be converted to other food or seeds or livestock, the barter system was just not convenient enough. How, after all, could Royal walk or ride the 8 miles to a market with a bushel of wheat to buy perhaps an overcoat? How much wheat makes a coat or a jar of honey or a frypan? Who knows? Would Royal have to carry his wheat back and forth if what he wanted to trade it for was not available that day? What was needed was something light, that could fit in your wallet, and easily go back and forth and symbolize the value of the wheat. That is what coins and bills, if trusted, do.

 In Upper Canada, before a centralized government mint was established to stamp out ‘Canadian Coins’, the need for coins was clear. Farmers, miners, bar tenders, and financiers, all came to accept a wide variety of coinage. The exchange rate was set by law for whatever was floating around--for British Guineas, Crowns, and Shillings, and for American Eagles, and for Portuguese Johannes and Moidores. Set even for Spanish Doubloons, Pistareens, and Pistoles, and for French Louis d’Ors, Livres and Sols Tournois. It didn’t matter where it came from, they worked,  but any gold and silver coins were carefully weighed before being accepted.
If even these national coins were not around, traders often resorted to ‘commercial tokens’, semi-official coins struck by early banks or businesses. One such halfpenny token bore the blunt message—'No Labour; No Bread’. If you had laboured for it, you could buy bread with it. In case you missed the message, the reverse read—'Speed the Plough’. One 1838 Token valued as ‘one stiver’ proclaimed, ‘Trade and Navigation’ on one side and on the other ‘Pure Copper Preferable to Paper!’.

One of the most unusual substitutes for government coinage was this half penny token.                                           

If the image on front looks familiar it may because it was associated with Marmora. It was on the village’s old official seals. What’s more our Ironworks started with shovelling and ended with the blacksmith’s anvil.

Was this early ‘money’ our invention? Here is more evidence that it might have been.

The date was 1820 when the Ironworks to be built at Marmora was a topic of discussion, especially in Kingston where the first bank in Upper Canada was being floated. It was there that our first Ironmaster, Charles Hayes, arrived and where our second Ironmaster, Anthony Manahan, carried on a commercial business. Was this one of their projects?

People learned to love their tokens. The government learned to hate them. Governments like to be in charge of the mint. The right to just print off tokens had to be denied if ‘Government Money’ were to take over. In 1825 commercial tokens were banned. Like most good things they survived, at least briefly in spite of the law. Some have speculated that the tokens just kept being stamped out, backdated so as to escape the new rules.

So did Marmora once invent some ‘money’.  We don’t know for sure but at the risk of inventing history,  we can say  it is a definite maybe. Or maybe it is all a ‘coin-incidence’

 

When in doubt, dowse. 

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For some the neglect afforded to St. Matilda is at least partially excused because it was not certain that its grounds held a burial place. The gravestone placed there was certainly moved there years after the death of Margaret Hughes. That of itself doesn’t resolve the issue.

               On a fine day in September, 2005, a good Christian walked repeatedly back and forth, south to north, over the little meadow west of the ruins of St. Matilda. The sun shone on the flat stone nearby that marked the landing of the old wooden bridge that teetered across the river, once bringing worshippers over from the village. His guide was another good Christian and both had faith in his findings.

               Dowsing for water seems anecdotally to work. Indeed, to have worked for centuries. Some dowsers claim to find not just water but minerals, even animals. But is it reasonable to think we can not only number the buried dead, but determine their gender and a rough age? It is a complex universe and one where greater mysteries are accepted, not just by witches, but by the reverent alike.

               Some consider dowsing another potential source of knowledge in that complex universe. For others it is the sort of witchcraft for which burning at the stake was righteously prescribed.

click here to see dowser'S plan

Whatever your thoughts the results on St. Matilda’s little church seem to, roughly at least, match the rediscovered truths. It was all scrupulously set out in the dowsers’ plans. Seven burials in the first right hand row, ten burials in the second right hand row; two burials in the second left hand row, ten burials in the second left hand row. The next day white crosses were reverently placed in each position.

Not long after the crosses were all gone.

Learn more about Marmora's St. Matilda church - click here

One of the biggest frustrations in genealogy, is being unable to locate the burial site of an ancestor. Although we may have an idea of where this ancestor is buried, we have no proof. Grave dowsing cannot give us the name of the person buried in any un-marked grave, but it can identify the locations of unmarked graves within a cemetery or lot and also provide some clues to their gender and age. (Brenda Marble, Cass County Historical & Genealogy Society)

Hoffman-La Roche, the huge multinational pharmaceutical company headquartered in Basel, Switzerland, has been employing dowsers on the company’s payroll since 1944. The dowsers are used in seeking water for the company’s operations. When interviewed as to the unscientific nature of dowsing, a company spokesperson replied as follows: “Roche uses methods that are profitable, whether they are scientific or not. The dowsing method pays in the short run. The question remains: should dowsing be used if it is really a method of occultic divination? John Weldon Christian Research Institute

Wayne VanVolkenburg wrote:    Some of the members of the Stuckey family, my wife's ancestors, claimed land that was granted under “The Homestead Act” near the current village of Whitestone. After clearing the land, and trying to establish a farm circa 1885, they found that the land would not sustain them. Unfortunately, they lost two children to this harsh land. They then moved on to Alberta.

The children were buried on the farm property in a fenced in area. Over time, the fence rotted away, leaving only pieces of the metal gate frame. There remained two depressions in the soil that were located with the help of a longtime local resident.

 After speaking to a member of the local historical foundation, I learned that there was a person who would “witch” for buried bodies. We met him at the grave site and had him try to provide us with any useful information. Without any prior knowledge, he was able to confirm that there were two graves, and that one was a baby. He also pointed out which direction the graves were facing.

 The children were in fact, a newborn baby, and a nineteen year old boy. There was no mention of the sex of these children. This allowed us, with the current owner's permission, to erect a wooden grave marker. Remarkably, the original log cabin is still standing nearby.

EVER THOUGHT OF MARRYING YOUR COUSIN?

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It may come a surprise to some people to hear that, yes, civilly in Ontario, you can consider your uncle’s son or daughter, as a spouse! (and your aunt or uncle for that matter!) It is against the law to marry your parent, grandparent, child, grandchild, brother, sister, half-brother, or someone under sixteen.

But the question arose when Christina Travis wrote to us about Solomon Johns and Susan Johns. She writes:

“The family stories available on your website say that the relationship between Susan and Solomon is unclear. Census records show that she lived in his house and later married his nephew (also a resident of his house), which seems like a hint in favor of them not being closely related. However, this attached marriage record from the Catholic Church of Marmora/Madoc shows that Solomon is the father of Susan, and so the marriage between Susan and the nephew William Hilton, had to be cleared in Rome with a special dispensation because they were first cousins, which was considered "ex copula illicita." That may clear up the mystery for researchers.”

tHE HOME OF SOLOMON JOHNS and Susan Mooney, with niece, Sarah Mariah Bleecker

And so it still is today, that yes, in the Catholic Church, first cousins can marry if the diocesan bishop grants an appropriate dispensation. The church's position is that two first cousins are forbidden to marry only by ecclesiastical law, not by divine law. For this reason it is canonically possible to receive a dispensation that permits two first-cousins to validly marry in the Catholic church. (This assumes, of course, that it is legal under civil law in the area in which the marriage is to take place).

For more on Susan and her husband, CLICK HERE

For more on other Johns family members, visit our family files. CLICK HERE

GOOD GAWLEY, MISS MAWLEY!

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One of the very early families to settle in the Marmora area was the Gawley family,  brought here in 1823 by Andrew Gawley. (1781-1861) The story has it that Andrew,  whose wife, Jane Reid, died on the voyage here, arrived with four children (Jane, John, James, & Margaret).  By 1834, Andrew had married Dorothy Keyes,  a member of another old pioneer family,  and 20 years his younger.  They went on to have 6 or 7 more Gawleys to spread the name throughout Upper Canada.

Elsinore Cemetery, Bruce County.

One such son was Royal Gawley  (1845-1926),  named after his grandfather of Marmora fame, Royal Keyes.  (Cemetery Information — MarmoraHistory.ca)  Royal Gawley’s life story is one of sadness and perseverance.  Just after his third child was born,  his wife,  Anna Maria Smith died,  and Royal was suddenly totally blind.  Then,  as if set up to be tested again,  his second child,  Andrew (1885-60) fell on a rotating circular saw and lost both his hands at the age of 17.  With the help of good neighbours and his skill as a craftsman he made a living but more importantly assisted Andrew to find his way through life.

 It was Andrew Gawley who made history. 

While in hospital recovering from the accident,  Andrew was determined to design hands for himself,  and with the help of his skilled  blind father and Sy Kolb,  a blacksmtih, he produced steel hands, but they operated on one plane only. He then set to work on improving the model to do more.

“It is a simple hand,  with five holds or grips in it.  Five different grips of different sizes and degrees of power,  two opening as the hand moves closer to the body and three opening as the hand is moved away from the body.  The great problem in designing an artificial hand is to find the mathematical secret governing the grips at various distances from the body.  There is no sense of touch.” 

 Yet Andrew Gawley was able to do anything from thread a needle,  or  tie a bow,   to lifting  a 260 lb.  Ford engine block in one hand.  He went on to be a machinist for the war effort,  worked for Fisher Motor Company,  operated a cigar store, sold fruit trees and silverware, and  ran a flourishing machinist repair shop in Meaford.  He was an avid cyclist, and rode a motor cycle

Andrew Gawley at Ripleys believe it or not Photo from PBS

 But his fame was for his work making hands for amputees,  especially soldiers returning home from war,  who all agreed his hands were far better than the patented hand offered by the government.  Well known as “The Man With the Iron Hands”,  he travelled with Ripleys Believe it or Not,  travelling to the Chicago World’s Fair, and various exhibitions in California, Texas, Florida, Cleveland, San Francisco and New York.  He even did a tour of a number of Canadian towns with Conklin Brothers.Losing his hands, though, was not the end of his grief.  On two occasions he suffered devastating losses to fires,  and ended his days living in a barn.  He was often the target of ” vandals and petty thievery” and ridicule.  But he was known to take it all in stride and on Christmas Day, 1960,  The Man with the Iron Hands died. Luckily his legend lives on at the Meaford Museum, and in a play performed by the Meaford Community Theatre.

Andrew Gawley Lakeview Cemetery, Meaford Ontario.

For articles on Andrew Gawley click here
For more on Gawleys, click here
 

1970 - THE FAMOUS MORTY SCHULMAN CHECKS OUT DELORO

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Who was Morty Schulman, you ask? and why was he in Deloro?

Dr. Morton Schulman was a Canadian politician, businessman, broadcaster, columnist, physician and Ontario Chief Coroner, and he may have been the original force behind the Deloro Clean-up (except for one unnamed Deloro citizen) In the mid 1960s he embarrassed the provincial government when he found them to be disobeying provincial health and safety laws. He was fired and then ran for elected office and won. Here is an excerpt from his 1979 book “Member of the Legislature”. The chapter is entitled “Arsenic and Old Tories”

……………………. In April 1970, I received a letter from a resident of Deloro, a tiny town in eastern Ontario, complaining that arsenic was being discharged into the Moira River and Lake from an old abandoned refinery. The poison level was so high that cows drinking from the lake had died. The writer went on to say that complaints to Ontario's Water Resources Commission had received no response whatsoever.

I drove down to Deloro and found an amazing sight: 400,000 tons of bright blue tailings covering some fifty acres were lying in a huge dump beside the Moira River. Streams of blue tinted water ran steadily from the dump into the river. And through it all stood long dead trees and vegetation, all petrified by the copper and arsenic. The residents of Deloro were in no personal danger for they all drank well water, but everyone downstream was at risk.

The Ontario Water Resources Commission had said that the safe level of arsenic was 0.05 parts per million but tests of the surface water ran at 0.42 parts per million. And the water at the bottom of Moira Lake read at an incredible and lethal 400 parts per million. Several medical studies, dating back to 1929, had shown that drinking water with arsenic in it or even swimming in such water can produce cancer. Therefore, I went down to the vital statistics department and examined the cancer rate for that area (Hastings, Frontenac and Prince Edward counties). I discovered that it was rising 75 per cent faster than the rest of the province.

Moira Lake then had three hundred cottages on its shores, eight tourist establishments and two boys' camps. It seemed to me that I had stumbled onto something of terrible and urgent importance. I went to the Legislature and demanded immediate action, but I was astounded by the response.

Dr. C. R. Link, the local Medical Officer of Health issued a statement, "In my opinion and in the opinion of the Ontario Water Resources Commission and the Department of Public Health there is no danger of people developing cancer." Energy and Resources Minister George Kerr said, "The lake water is drunk only by a small proportion of the cottagers . . . and there is no danger involved in swimming." Health Minister Tom Wells said, "The incidence of cancer in Hastings and Frontenac Counties is slightly below the average for the province of Ontario." He went on that "the levels of arsenic in Moira Lake are no longer considered a health hazard." The two ministers also issued a common statement: "There is no evidence to substantiate charges by Dr. Morton Shulman that residents of the Moira River watershed are in danger. . ."

Morton Schulman - Wikipedia

Things simmered down for a few days and then a report was leaked by an unhappy official in the Water Resources Commission which flatly contradicted the reassurances from the two ministers. This report stated that the concentration of the arsenic was ten times the safe level for human consumption. Suddenly George Kerr got the message. In a statement on June 5, 1970, he said that the government was taking action against the refinery "which will require it to eliminate all leaching certainly this year." He concluded, "We are getting the necessary evidence with the idea of placing the company under a ministerial order. It is also quite possible that we will prosecute the company."

I was quite satisfied with Kerr's statement, but unfortunately I had been totally taken in. No prosecution ever took place. More important, neither did the arsenic leaching cease. Seven years later, after I had left the Legislature, I discovered that the arsenic was still heavily running into the Moira system and in 1977 Minister Kerr promised a cleanup for 1978. As of this writing, (1979) nothing has been done.

It turned out that Wells' comments about the cancer rates were just about as accurate as George Kerr's original statement. In January 1978, Michael Rychlo, a water quality engineer with the Ontario Ministry of the Environment, published a book called The Arsenic Papers. I was not too surprised to read the following:

“Claims by one doctor of increased cancer mortality rates in Hastings county due to the arsenic levels in the waters there were dismissed on the basis that the doctor was misinformed as to the statistics. Health officials referred to the publications of Ontario Vital Statistics to show that the claims were unsubstantiated. The health experts listed 77 deaths from all malignancies in 1971 for Hastings, which was supposed to make the rate for that county 83 deaths per 100,000. However, what the experts failed to include was the number of female deaths which was 68. The 77 deaths stated were only for males.

The correct total meant that Hastings did in fact show a death rate higher than the provincial average. If the rates were inspected again for 1972, it would have been demonstrated that Hastings had a death rate from cancer much higher than the Ontario average. “

In matters of public health as in politics it is not enough just to be right. You must, in addition, get your message to the public. In the case of the arsenic and cancer danger in Eastern Ontario, I failed to reach and alarm enough people.”

The plan to clean up Deloro did not commence until the ‘80s and a health study was conducted in 1998. As of today, they are still working on it.

CLICK HERE FOR MORE ON THE DELORO CLEANUP

Photo from Ontario Government 2020 update

Photo from Ontario Government 2020 update

PROFESSOR DYNAMITE SOLVES EPIDEMIC

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AREAS OF MALARIA IN MADOC IN 1882

Those who believe that there is very little that happens which has not happened before, will be supported by the report of the Malaria epidemic in Madoc. No need to jump back. The disease is long gone form our stomping grounds, but it does show that in this time of Pandemic, there is evidence that history does indeed repeat itself. And that we seldom learn its lessons.

In 1882, Ontario had just set up its Board of Health and the next year the Board made its First Annual Report. Madoc and her troubles were featured, complete with an illustrative map.

In 2020 it is Covid that scares us. In the mid nineteenth century it was Malaria and its lesser relative ague. It was always around the corner but in 1882 it pounced. And landed at Moira Lake.

A dam had been built five years before to raise up the level of Moira Lake allowing for better log handling and water power for a mill. Industry was king and no permissions were needed. The water rose four feet and great patches of lowlands were submerged. Vegetation rotted as fields were drowned.

Before this event there were few health complaints near Madoc, but then malaria spread to settlers around the south part of Moira Lake and, as the summer progressed, so did the disease, up towards the town. The
wetlands ran along the creek through Madoc and malaria seemed to course along its banks. Then it went north and west so that in a few years it arrived at Deloro and Marmora.

Just as we don’t really understand Covid, they didn’t understand Malaria. It had wiped out large numbers of the workmen who built the Rideau Canal in the 1830s and flourished briefly at Duoro. It was always around in Upper Canada but how and why it sprung up and how it spread was unclear. The Mosquito was not yet the prime suspect.

The newly established Health Department speculated. Perhaps it was the general messy state of town and rampant causal sewerage disposal. ‘The soil and cleavage planes of the rock might be the means of polluting the drinking water with malarial germs.’ But, ‘The small swamps from their position and condition would not seem to be in any great degree factors in explaining the presence of malaria.’

So, what was it. The Board continued ‘We now come to what in the opinion of the majority of people in Madoc is the chief cause.’ Although they were, of course, entitled to an opinion, science, then as now, is not a
matter that can be voted on. The Madoc citizens may have been closing in on an answer, but they missed the real villain, the lowly mosquito, and so did the Board of Health.

The Board waffled somewhat between drinking water problem and some kind of wafting swamp gas. They pointed out, ‘There has been much decaying timber, logs and stumps of trees, either cut, or which having been killed have gradually fallen.’ Whether it was rot or was gas, the Board directed that it was time to clean up town of the ‘fluid contents draining from the privy-vaults, cesspools and stables’. While that may not have
helped with Malaria, it surely didn’t harm the town.

Someone, still unknown, had another solution. The summer of 1881 was unusually dry and the base of the dam started to show. One dark night that year, it was simply blown up. The Secretary of the local Board of health, E.D. O’Flynn was able to remark. ‘ Since the lowering of the dam by Professor Dynamite a few months ago, the marshes are drained, and the water of the lake purer, and free from miasmatic indications than at any corresponding period since the dam was built; and it is also noticeable that within this time there has been an abatement of malarial fevers.’

 Problem solved. The Board of Health seems to have agreed.

For a little more on Malaria in Marmora, CLICK HERE

Connecting the Postcards dots. . . .

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Our readers will recall our article on the Oakman postcards and the importance of the collection to the historical record. We also wrote of the famous Roy Studio of Peterborough, which supplied an historical album of local activities for almost 100 years. But less famous was the Parks Studio of Peterborough, which supplied thousands photos for post cards from 1918 to 1980.

This photographic studio was operated by Lewis R. Parks (1899-1993)  and his son Gordon Parks (1929- ), two prominent professional photographers. Lewis Parks was a self-taught photographer who had worked for the Air Force during World War I installing aerial cameras. His first business was opened in 1918 or 1919 on Townsend street, but was moved shortly thereafter to Park Street in front of General Electric.

Gordon Parks first worked for his father as a child in the studio's darkroom on Saturdays. He joined his father's studio in 1951 after graduating from Shaw Business College(business administration) and Ryerson (photography), both in Toronto. Gordon and Lewis worked together as a father and son until his father's retirement in 1966. Under Gordon's influence Parks Studio was greatly expanded and a camera shop was added. The studio's last location, until its closure in 1980, was at the corner of Brock and Aylmer Streets.

Mrs. MacKechnie with "Jean" born 1910 and "Marjorie" born 1909 Photo appears to have been taken on west side of river opposite Pearce mills. note Pearce grist mill still standing.

Gordon Parks sold the negatives to the Peterborough Centennial Museum & Archives during the winter of 1999.   There were 70,000 negatives accumulated by the Parks Studio, documenting daily life, local business and industry, urban development, and key events in Peterborough from the late 1930's to 1980. The business's early negatives survived until the early 1950's, when they were disposed of by the studio. (www.archeion.ca)

We recently received two postcards produced by the Lewis Parks Studio, for which one we could identify the writer, Jean MacKechnie (daughter of Dr. MacKechnie), who described her ride in the rumble seat to Crowe Lake in 1929, while her sister, Marjory got the front seat.

TO SEE MORE OF THE MARMORA POSTCARD COLLECTION, CLICK HERE.

Deloro’s Peter Kirkegaard Associated with Fraudsters

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Peter Kirkegaard was Deloro’s mine manager at the time Canadian Goldfields Ltd. was working the property. He built a home there that was later to become the Deloro Nursing Home (now torn down). He was a very serious researcher, with a good reputation with the universities and governments, and developed the process to refine white arsenic, the more profitable side of Deloro gold.

(Click here to read a more full biography)

In 1907, Canadian Goldfields Ltd. closed. Simultaneously the Deloro Mining and Reduction Co. opened, under the management of Peter Kirkegaard, refining cobalt from Cobalt, Ontario. We recently received a letter from Maggie Wilson of the Cobalt Historical Society, which included Peter Kirkegaard’s business card. She had been reviewing the collection of Albert Norton Morgan, a local lawyer around that time, when she came across the card.

She tells the following story:

“Over the last year, I've been researching and writing a book about the life of a stock promoter named Horatio Barber. He was in Cobalt in 1906 and in the goldfields of Larder Lake in 1907. He made a fortune selling shares in bogus mines. While in Larder Lake, his associates formed a gold mining company named the Larder Lake Proprietary Gold Fields Limited. Kirkegaard was on the board of directors of the company.

From our book, Airy Somethings, the Extraordinary Life of Aviation Pioneer Horatio Barber by Terry Grace and Maggie Wilson:

‘Directors of a mining company, especially a wildcat, were usually people of title or rank. Like a supermodel or sports legend endorsing a product, a recognizable name of some status attached to a mine will give the business a sense of legitimacy. The directors of LLPGF were politicians, medical military officers, manufacturers, and real estate men. Only two had mining backgrounds, and of those, one was a manager of a gold mine and the other was a stock promoter.

Of course, Kirkegaard was the only man of the bunch with any mining background.’ Whether or not he was aware of the fraudulent nature of the stock promotion, I cannot say.”

For more on mining in Deloro, Click here.