January - February 2000 ESQUESING HISTORICAL SOCIETY NEWSLETTER P.O. Box 51, Georgetown, Ontario, Canada L7G 4T1 THE CENTURY IN REVIEW - THE 19TH CENTURY While the 20th century will be reviewed in detail this month in newspapers, on radios and television - the Esquesing Historical Society offers you a review of Esquesing Township in the 19th century! In November 1820 Nathaniel Roszell, his second wife Hannah Fowler, and George Roszell arrived at Lot 1, Con 7, Erin Township. A Presbyterian Church and school house is now erecting in Esquesing, another building at Nelson and a third at Flamboro East. (Colonial Advocate 3 June, 1824) 1825 - Benajah Williams, a 60 year old clothier from Lincoln County on the Niagara peninsula came to Lot 21, Con. 10 with his third wife, Elizabeth Kennedy and children. THE GUELPH AND YORK ROAD On Saturday the 3rd current, a numerous meeting took place at the Toronto Hotel, at Streetsville, of the inhabitants of the townships through which lines have been run of the proposed road from Guelph to York. (Canadian Freeman, 8 Nov. 1827) Spoke at McNabbs. Baptised four children. Made arrangements for building a new chapel there. - Journal of William Summersides, 26 July, 1833. ...We...arrive at Norville, a flourishing village containing between three and four hundred inhabitants. There is a school house which is occasionally used a church, a grist mill containing four run of stones, a saw mill, a distillery and a brewery. ((Travels in Upper Canada( Montreal Gazette, 4 March, 1837) 1839 - Jacob Williams built woollen mills at Williamsburg. A meeting will be held at McKenzie(s Inn to consider erecting an Esquesing Town Hall on 10 March, 1849. Meeting at School house to encourage extension of Bronte plank road to Acton - Rev. Denny, John Holgate, Rufus Adams, John Holt, Matthew Swann, Lucius Adams, Michael Farmer, Alex Grant (Guelph Advertiser Jan.24, 1850) Toronto & Guelph Railway directors decided on northern route today. (Elora Backwoodsman 3 June 1852) A. McGlashan & Co., 82 Yonge Street, Toronto, are now receiving regular supplies of leather from their new and spacious tannery at Acton. (The Daily Leader, 18 October, 1853) The Queen(s birth-day was celebrated by the spirited people of Acton, by various athletic games, and other demonstrations. (The Halton Journal, 30 May, 1856) A grand soiree in Acton Temperance Hall on 24th, music, Acton choir - proceeds to procure a School Section Library. (Canadian Champion, 5 May, 1864) Esquesing Council granted $100. To Capt. Allan to erect Drill Shed in Acton. (Canadian Champion, 4 June, 1868) Concert in Acton - On 25th in aid of the English Church. Miss Jennie Fraser, the Wellington warbler will sing... (Canadian Champion, 24 Feb, 1870) Mr. Robert Little of Acton unanimously appointed as County Inspector of Schools. (Canadian Champion, 15 June, 1871) County Council on June 10th: Mr. Clay moved, seconded by Mr. Barber, That the petition of W.H. Storey and 130 others praying for the Council will pass a by-law to incorporate the Village of Acton into a separate municipality, be received, read and referred to a special committee. (Canadian Champion, 12 June, 1873) April 1873 Speyside post office opened with Robert McPherson as the first postmaster.Smallpox hospital burnt down last night. (Acton Free Press, 24 Sept,1875) Grangers Picnic - Ballinafad, Glenwilliams, Stewarttown, Hornby, Acton, Erin Village and Caledon held a grand picnic on Friday last in extensive grove of Mr. Whiteside on the 7th Line - long tables for 7 -800 people. (Acton Free Press, 8 June, 1876) Official opening of new Methodist Church. (Acton Free Press, 6 July, 1876) Congregationalist Church corner stone laid on Sept. 6th. (Acton Free Press, 7 Sept, 1876) 30 Nov, 1876 Joseph Tweedle sells the Stewarttown mill and property to H. P. and David Lawson of 3rd Line, Scotch Block where they had lumber mills. 1878 - Samuel Beaumont buys woollen mill at Glenwilliams. The street lamps are now being lit at about 5 o(clock in the afternoon. ( Acton Free Press 22 Dec, 1881) Acton Town Hall tendered to Wm. McCulla of Brampton. (Acton Free Press 2 Mar, 1882) Glen Lawson mill burnt down. Millers R. Elliot and E. Lamb locked the door but it was found open and one body was fund in the remains. It was later rebuilt as a tannery. (Acton Free Press Apr 13, 1882) A NEW TELEPHONE - An Acton inventor has something new, simple and successful in the matter of telephones. Mr. J. E. McGarvin(s drug store and this office are connected with the new invention, and there is a good deal of helloing sometimes by those anxious to test its efficiency. (Acton Free Press 16 Nov, 1882) The Canada Glove Works will move into the splendid new factory on Bower Avenue about 1st December. The telephone wire has reached Acton, but the instruments and appliances are not yet placed in the central office. (Acton Free Press 6 Nov, 1884) The recent wedding in St. Joseph(s was first Catholic wedding in Acton. (1 July, 86) A grandstand has been erected in the park to replace the one destroyed by the cyclone last July. ( Acton Free Press 2 July, 1891) Glenwilliams Lacrosse Club will play Young Canadians of Acton in the park here on Saturday Afternoon. (Acton Free Press 3 Sept, 1891) Kodak is popular in Acton (Herald 7 Oct, 1896). April 1st was first meeting of Free Library Board in Council chambers. (Acton Free Press, 7 Apr, 1898) 1898 - H.P. Lawson buys William(s electric plant and names it the Georgetown Power and Light Company. Moving pictures presentation given in Town Hall last Friday and sat. night using a cineograph and a verescope. (Acton Free Press, 10 Jan, 1899) A GRATIFYING SUCCESS Acton's municipal electric lighting plant put into successful operation on Saturday. Mill Street with its 17 electric lights gives a perspective like a city street. (Acton Free Press, 2 February 1899) 25th Anniversary of Esquesing Historical Society The year 2000 marks the 25th anniversary of the Esquesing Historical Society. The Society preserves a letter in its Archives from librarian Betsy Cornwall. It says in part, (A meeting of people interested in Georgetown(s past will be held in the Public Library on Monday January 20, 1975 at 8 p.m.( At the meeting it was decided to expand the mandate of the new Society to encompass all of the township of Esquesing. The programme for the first year was rather hap-hazard. The Oakville Historical Society addressed the first meeting in January, 1975 on the topic of (Forming an Historical Society(. The second meeting convened in April to hear John Rempel speak on (Historic Buildings Preservation(. In June John McDonald offered the first of many historical walking tours of downtown Georgetown. Rev. Rick Ruggle spoke about Norval in November and in December the Society convened in front of a roaring fire-place at the Halton Region Museum to recall Christmas in pioneer style. That marked the first of ten different trips to the Museum in Milton, to spend our December meeting. The Society will mark the 25th anniversary with a slide show by John McDonald in January showing a selection of slides from around the township. Join us for a piece of birthday cake! Decision on Historic Cemetery Hailed A decision by the Commercial Registration Appeal Tribunal not to move the Clendennen Cemetery was greeted with much enthusiasm by preservationists. The pioneer cemetery, located in the Town of Markham, just northeast of Toronto comprises five gravestones in an area of approximately 20 feet by 20 feet. In 1994, a company registered as 839374 Ontario Inc. applied to the Province to have the cemetery moved from its current location in order to make way for a new building development. The development and the closure were approved with support from the town, and on February 9, 1995, the Provincial Registrar for the Ontario Cemeteries Act issued a Notice of Order( to close the cemetery. According to the Registrar, it was in the public interest to dig up and move the cemetery. Within weeks the Ontario Historical Society (OHS) and the Ontario Genealogical Society (OGS) filed an appeal to the Commercial Registration Appeal Tribunal, claiming that the required process under the Cemeteries Act was not followed and that the Registrar was wrong in determining that the closing was in the public interest. Nineteen months after the hearing began, a decision to protect the cemetery was finally made. (This is a landmark precedent-setting decision which recognizes the importance of respecting and preserving cemeteries in their original location,( said Catherine Bray of Borden & Elliot, who represented the OHS and OGS. The participation of descendants in hearings was another important victory implicit in the Tribunal(s decision. The Province, the Town of Markham and the developer had vigorously opposed full participation by the Clendennen descendants. The OHS and OGS on the other hand, felt that it was important to hear the concerns of family members and supported the participation of Harold Clendennen. During trial he simply turned to the tribunal and said, (My family is against relocating it - the cemetery was there first - once a cemetery, always a cemetery.( The precedent is now established that the Province of Ontario cannot in future wilfully ignore or dismiss the voices of its citizens when deciding the fate of cemeteries and burial grounds. -Heritage, Fall 1999 Society Notes EHS EXECUTIVE Sherry Westfahl 873-7145 President Karen Hunter 838-2109 Dawn Livingstone 877-6506 Doug Cole 877-3657 Marion Gilmour 877-8157 Stephen Blake 877-8251 J. Mark Rowe 877-9510 EXECUTIVE OPPORTUNITY The Annual General Meeting of the EHS takes place in February and involves the election of a (new( executive. While our Society has been very fortunate to have a dedicated, hard-working executive to serve its interests, new ideas and new faces can provide renewed vitality to a group. While we are an (historical( society, the last thing we want to become is staid and dusty! Please consider this appeal as your invitation to join the executive of the EHS! This may be an opportunity you cannot miss! ARCHIVAL NEWS The Esquesing Historical Society acquired a few items related to Smith & Stone from Mr. Art McAllistair. We also received a photograph of his father, Dr. McAllistair, in a buggy on Main Street. The BIG Archival news since the last newsletter is the donation to the Society of the entire negative / photograph collection of the Acton Free Press / Georgetown Independent. The majority of the huge collection are thousands of negatives dating back to about 1959. Since both newspapers have switched to digital images, film is no longer used. We will be employed for years in cataloguing and digitizing this collection. We anticipate a large expenditure of Society funds to properly house the negatives over the next year. ANNUAL GRANT We will be receiving a grant of $600.00 from the Ontario Heritage Organization, Ministry of Citizenship and Recreation. This grant is based on our previous years expenses. INTERNET CONNECTIONS The Esquesing Historical Society now has an official web site on the World Wide Web. You can visit us at Send your e-mail to rowem@aztec-net.com or dlvngstn@stn.net EHS NEWSLETTER This newsletter was prepared by John Mark Rowe with assistance from Karen Hunter and Dawn Livingstone. MEMBERSHIP We have a total membership of 83 for 1999. At the August executive meeting, membership fees for 2000 have been raised to $10. The family, institution rate remains at $12. Fees for 2000 are payable between now and February. HERSTORY REVEALED!!! Your Society has come up with a meeting topic which we ask everyone to contribute to. We would like to focus particularly on women in Halton and especially in Halton Hills. Please consider sharing the (herstory( of someone you are interested in at our February meeting. STEWARTTOWN PAMPHLET The Esquesing Historical Society is pleased to announce the publication of the 11th pamphlet in our series. The former capital of Esquesing Township, Stewarttown is the subject of a pamphlet published by John Mark Benbow Rowe, Archivist of the Society. It will be available at our meetings for the usual price of 25 cents. While you(re there be sure to update your collection with other pamphlets you may be missing LIME KILN PROTECTION Mary Shier will speak at the February meeting on the Limehouse Kiln Group. She will explain the aims of the group to the Society in a short presentation. McCULLOUGH CEMETERY INFORMATION MEETING Karen Hunter represented the EHS at the open portion of the local council meeting, dealing with building an extended care nursing home, on the site of the old McCullough Cemetery. Also present at the meeting was Robert Leverty, representing the Ontario Historical Society. The builder intends to put up a 135 bed facility with parking for only 35 vehicles. This was a public meeting, at which the public could make presentations, but there was no comment from the Town at this time. The Esquesing Historical Society sent the town a comment letter, as did Dawn Livingstone. Karen photocopied information about the McCullough Cemetery, and it was her sending this information to the Ontario Historical Society that led to their attendance at the council meeting. HISTORICAL MP The Member of Parliament for Halton, Julian Reed has sent each household in his riding a calendar for 2000 which features many photographs from the Archival collection of the EHS. Leanne Moussa, Special Assistant to Julian Reed, contacted the EHS in October to gain permission to use the images. The executive agreed as long as our credit requirements were met. WRITERS WANTED To better promote the Society and our meetings, the executive hope to run a series of short articles of local historic import on a monthly basis this year. If you would like to submit an article of about 400 words, contact Stephen Blake or any other executive member. For examples of previous articles see the Society Collections series which comprises three volumes. FAMILY CEMETERIES NEED RECOGNITION! With development surrounding us, it is very important that municipal authorities know where all cemeteries are located. There is no master map - no one who knows them all. Anyone with knowledge of marked or unmarked private family burial plots should report these to the Cemeteries Regulation Branch, Ministry of Consumer & Commercial Relations, 250 Yonge Street, 33rd Floor, Toronto, Ontario M5B 2N5. They should also be reported to the Town of Halton Hills so that the Official Plan can be amended. Sir William Osler Hospital Georgetown Memorial Hospital is gone! The new corporate reality of hospital economics joined Georgetown to Brampton and Etobicoke hospitals. A new name for the entire corporate structure was chosen. Renown Canadian physician Sir William Osler was chosen. A brief summary of Sir William follows: Sir William Osler, 1849(1919, Canadian physician, M.D. McGill Univ., 1872. Renowned as a physician and as a medical historian, he was also the most brilliant and influential teacher of medicine in his day. He was professor at McGill (1875(84), the Univ. of Pennsylvania (1884(89), Johns Hopkins (1889(1904), and Oxford (from 1905). In 1911 he was knighted. His many medical observations include those on blood platelets and on the abnormally high red blood cell count in polycythemia. He wrote The Principles and Practice of Medicine (1892), one of the most prestigious medical textbooks in modern times, often revised, and A Concise History of Medicine (1919). See Aphorisms from His Bedside Teachings and Writings (W. B. Bean, ed., 1950); biographies by Harvey Cushing (1925) and E. G. Reid (1931); bibliography by R. L. Golden and C. G. Roland (1988). ________________________________________ The Canadian Encyclopedia Plus Copyright ( 1996 by McClelland & Stewart Inc. The Columbia Encyclopedia, Fifth Edition Copyright ( 1994, 1995 Columbia University Press. Licensed from and portions copyright ( 1995 by INSO Corporation. All rights reserved. ESQUESING HISTORICAL SOCIETY SCHEDULE OF MEETINGS Wed. 12 Jan., 2000 Historical Slides Night - Join the Society to view an eclectic selection of historical slides from across Esquesing township. John McDonald will be our guest for a relaxing trip through the images of Esquesing from years past. KNOX PRESBYTERIAN, Georgetown, 7:30 p.m. Wed. 9 Feb., 2000 Herstory! - This is your chance to immortalize your favourite local FEMALE personality. Bring your own stories to add to the tales prepared by Society executive. A meeting devoted to the achievements of local women! KNOX PRESBYTERIAN, Georgetown, 7:30 p.m. Wed. 8 March 2000 Judgement Night - Our ever popular opportunity to share family treasures, antiques and curios with an experienced auctioneer has returned. Ward Brownridge, that world-renown auctioneer that hails from Ashgrove, will join us for an entertaining evening. KNOX PRESBYTERIAN, Georgetown, 7:30 p.m. Wed. 12 April 2000 Acton Fire Department - Join Herb Dodds and other retired firefighters of Acton as they recall their days serving and protecting Acton in the last century from that timeless scourge of fire! TBA, Acton, 7:30 p.m. Wed. 10 May 2000 Ghost Towns of Ontario - Well-known writer Ron Brown of Toronto will speak on the ghost towns of Ontario, the subject of a recent book. Mr. Brown will highlight former settlements from this area. KNOX PRESBYTERIAN CHURCH, Georgetown, 7:30 p.m. Wed. 14 June 2000 Walking Tour of Norval - Our season closes with our annual pot-luck dinner and a guided tour of historical Norval. Cathy Gastle, Town Councillor and unflagging promoter of Norval will lead us on an historical ramble. If you cannot make the dinner, join us for the walk. St. PAUL(S PARISH HALL, Adamson St., Norval, 6:30 ; 7:30 p.m. ALL MEETINGS ARE OPEN TO THE PUBLIC AT NO CHARGE! Please bring your own cup for refreshments to help protect our environment. Membership for 2000 is now due! - $10 per annum HONOURING THE LIVES OF LOCAL PEOPLE The study of the people who lived in a certain era of history is most often the study of (famous people( simply because these people generated most of the available documentation. As historians we have an obligation to document our own selves, our loved ones and all the other (not-so-famous( lives. These are people who, through their choices, actions and relationships, made history. By studying these lives we restore dignity to individuals who led unheralded lives of quiet accomplishment and then generally passed on to little fanfare, leaving only weathered inscriptions and fading memories as meagre testimony to the fact that they ever were at all! Herstory For our first exercise in restoring others to their historical context, the Society would like to focus on women in local history. The Society would like to present (Herstory(. Please choose any woman who lived part or all of her life in Halton County from any age of history. They must be deceased and can be relations, former neighbours, or just someone you(re interested in researching. Please compose an essay of one or two pages in length. Pictures are welcome. Please inform any member of the executive that you would like to share your essay. We are planning to share our Herstory essays at our February meeting. Different members of the executive have prepared essays to share at the February meeting. However, any member is welcome to present their research. It need only be a paragraph in length. FIRST PRIZE: Commemorating the life of another for history to remember! All presentations will be audio-taped for preservation in the Society Archives. ((((((((((((((((((((((((((((((((((((((((((((((((( A SAMPLER OF ESQUESING WOMEN Isabella Preston Isabella Preston, plant hybridist, horticulturist, writer, civil servant (b at Lancaster, Eng 4 Sept 1881; d at Georgetown, Ont 31 Jan 1965). Immigrating to Ontario in 1912, Preston entered the Ontario Agricultural Coll in 1913, but soon gave up formal studies to conduct practical work under the supervision of Prof J.W. Crow. By 1916 she had not only become the first professional woman hybridist in Canada, but had vaulted into the front ranks of plant hybridizers when a judicious cross produced the acclaimed (George C. Creelman( lily. She joined the Central Experimental Farm's (Ottawa) Horticultural Division under W.T. Macoun in 1920, at a time of great horticultural activity. From then until she retired in 1946, Preston originated nearly 200 hybrids (roses, lilacs, Siberian iris, Rosybloom crabapples and lilies). Her lily hybrids alone guaranteed her horticultural fame, although awards and recognition came to nearly every breeding program she attempted. She wrote numerous, wideranging horticultural articles as well as the first book on lily cultivation in Canada. Edwinna von Baeyer, The Canadian Encyclopedia Plus Copyright ( 1996 by McClelland & Stewart Inc. Flora (McNab) Tracy Flora, daughter of Alexander McNab, married Richard Tracy, a merchant, on the 12 Dec. 1844 at Norval. The officiating minister was Rev. R.J. MacGeorge, one of the first Church of England ministers to this area. After Mr. Tracy(s death she married John Murray of Stewarttown, also a merchant, in St. Stephen(s Church, Hornby, the 29th January, 1857. Marjorie (Murray) Barclay, a descendant through Flora McNab, and a Norval resident on Old Pinecrest Road, is now living on part of the original James McNab, and later Alexander McNab farm. -Norval History 1820-1950, by Joan (Browne) Carter, Norval:1997 Therese St. Jean Born in 1903 at St. Hyacinthe, Quebec, Miss St. Jean first arrived in Ontario in 1936 as housekeeper and school teacher for her uncle(s farm for orphan boys at St. Catharines. In 1947 Miss St. Jean, her uncle Father Clovis Beauregard and several orphans moved the farm school to the Moyer fruit farm at lot 17, concession 8, Esquesing. Therese St. Jean was left in charge with the sudden death of Father Beauregard in 1950. She managed the farm with the labour of 20 orphan boys and also provided an education for them. Her strict discipline was well-known. Autumn harvest often interfered with their lessons, but Miss St. Jean maintained that the lost time was made up. In 1957, a part-time English teacher was added to the staff. The religious upbringing of the boys was also strictly supervised with attendance at Holy Cross Church on Guelph Street and service as altar boys. Miss St. Jean(s strict discipline came under scrutiny in 1963 when four boys claimed abuse in an article in the Toronto Telegram. However, no inquiry was initiated. Many of the orphan boys chose to make their home in the Georgetown area after graduation from Notre-Dame de Beauregard. By 1957, a French-Canadian Club was organized which comprised 28 families. The club, L(Association Canadienne-Française soon became politically active with Miss St. Jean as their spokesman. As soon as Holy Cross School was established in 1958, St. Jean began pushing for French classes. The Georgetown Separate School Board quickly gave in, establishing bilingual classes. After-school French classes began in 1963 which some public school children joined. By 1964, Holy Cross had 373 English students and 121 bilingual students. Bilingual Kindergarten was the next goal of Therese St. Jean. Over-crowding at Holy Cross caused the Board to turn down the request. In May, 1965 St. Jean led a (sit-in( at Holy Cross. After being ejected by the Fire Marshall, an alternate school was set up in the basement of Holy Cross Church. At the end of May, the Board relented. Therese St. Jean was recognized by L(Association Franco-Ontariene D(Education in May 1965 for her work in helping eastern French-Canadians to locate here. L(Association Canadienne-Française held a banquet for her at the Stewarttown Hall. The next goal for L(Association Canadienne-Française was to acquire the empty Holy Cross Church on Guelph Street, now that a new Church had opened on Maple Avenue. Bishop of Hamilton, Joseph Blake Ryan granted the request for a French-speaking parish to be established. L(Eglise Sacré Coeur was opened on 26 June, 1966 under Rev. Françoise Germain. L(Association Canadienne-Française next moved to have a totally French school. Fights with the Board continued until 1 January 1969 when the Halton Separate School Board was created. They established L(Ecole Sacré Coeur which was housed within Holy Cross School, but was operated as a separate entity. With that L(Association Canadienne-Française finally became more of a social club, although Miss St. Jean ensured they kept a high profile. That included news items in the Herald which were printed in French. After a series of three strokes, Therese St. Jean closed Notre-Dame de Beauregard and sold the property to the Cistercian Brothers. She retired to Valleyview Crescent, Georgetown, where she died on 10 December, 1977 at age 74. -Private Education in Georgetown, John Mark Benbow Rowe, Georgetown: 1988 Annette McMaster Miss Annette McMaster was born in Ireland about 1830 to a Baptist family. Miss McMaster may have begun her teaching in Streetsville about 1858 and moved to Georgetown the following year. She offered private primary education. She ran her school on Main Street near the Congregational Church (now the Georgetown Library). C.W. Young, a teenager at the time, recounts with that it was named, (...the Old Maid(s... a kind of kindergarten where most of the young people of both sexes received their first instruction.( He describes Miss McMaster(s school quite clearly in his reminiscences. (As I remember there were long desks, at which as many as possible found seats, the others sitting where they could. The discipline was better than could be expected and while the old lady passed for a Tartar, she had a really kind heart, and within her limits was a good teacher.( Georgetown parents must have agreed that Ann McMaster was a good teacher. She successfully ran her school, supporting herself in the bargain, until about 1870. The school closed when she left the village. -Private Education in Georgetown, John Mark Benbow Rowe, Georgetown: 1988 Ann (Cooke) Thompson William Thompson of Temple Michael, Longford Co. Ireland, born in 1789 emigrated to Quebec in July 1822 with his wife Ann, daughter of Ralph Cooke, of Carrigallen, Co. Leitrim, Ireland, with their children, Robert, John and Elizabeth Jane. They settled on Lot 16E, Con. 7, part of the 200 acres of Clergy Reserve, later leased by her father, Ralph Cooke, on which land some Native people were still living. Ralph Cooke laid claim to this land in the late 1820's and early 1830's and endeavoured to leave this to his daughter Ann and son-in-law William Thompson. We have been told the original home of William and Ann was built at the base of the hill believed to be at a point on the west side of the curve on John St., now Millpond Road. The late Mrs. Mabel Thompson remembered the remains of the building near the west half of Lot 16, Con. 7. William built a dam and a sawmill nearby. One morning not long after their arrival, Ann, attracted by the sound of a dog barking, set out to find the dog. It is said she (crossed the river( and met a woman with the dog. The woman was Mrs. Christian Barnes. They had met halfway between their respective homes and were delighted to find they were (neighbours(. Today, the distance between these two locations seems considerable but in the early days of no roads, just short-cuts through the bush in this sparsely inhabited community, they would not have seemed to be far apart. The two women became very good friends. -A History of St. John(s Anglican Church, Stewarttown, Ontario, Lucy E. Emslie, Stewarttown: c.1982 Fern Brown Fern Brown retired as church organist in 1948. A talented musician, she had begun serving as organist in 1910 - a remarkable 38 years! She took over in 1910 from Miss Lottie Speight. Miss Brown was credited as being well qualified for the position and as performing her duties with skill and acceptance. -The History of the United Church at Acton, Ontario, Kay Dills, Acton: c.1987 Beatrice Hilts To celebrate her 90th birthday, Miss Beatrice Hilts went from Georgetown to the old home farm that the Hilts families occupied for 142 years. Many friends and former neighbours came to extend congratulations last Thursday afternoon at her former home on the Eighth Line of Esquesing township near Ballinafad. There was a birthday cake, a plant from the U.C.W., many cards and gifts for lively Miss Hilts. Miss Hilts lives on Mill Street in Georgetown and is in good health, with an excellent memory. (I(m not so spry,( she admits this week. (I can(t walk as far as I used to. I(ve got to admit my legs are getting old!( Miss Hilts has always been especially interested in her family(s history. Miss Hilts was a W.M.S. member for many years before it became the U.C.W. She taught Sunday School for almost 60 years, before and after church union. -The Independent, Georgetown, 21 October, 1971 Esquesing Historical Society Newsletter 1 Esquesing Historical Society Newsletter 10 Esquesing Historical Society Newsletter 12