Vol. 28 No. 1 March - April 2003 ESQUESING HISTORICAL SOCIETY NEWSLETTER P.O. Box 51, Georgetown, Ontario, Canada L7G 4T1 www.hhpl.on.ca/sigs/ehs/home.html FRESH MILK DELIVERED TO YOUR DOOR! EXPLORING THE DAIRY INDUSTRY OF ESQUESING I am prepared to deliver milk to all parts of the Town.... William Gillman, (Glen View Farm( 1926 The Acton & Georgetown Creameries We meet you any hour, day or night, if you are busy. Be sure to try us. We need your cream! M. Saxe, Manager 1917 Join the EHS on Wednesday 12 March at Knox Presbyterian Church, Main Street, Georgetown as we recall the days of milk delivery. We are very pleased to have Norma Thompson and Joy Noble to talk about their family businesses. Society executive will share research completed on local dairies. Then it will be the turn of members to share their stories and especially their dairy souvenirs. Everyone is invited to bring any milk bottles they may have. A side view of Georgetown Dairy. Edward Tyers purchased the former Toronto Suburban Railway in 1935. It was sold to Riley Brethor in 1946 and became known as Georgetown Dairy. Brethor sold the business to Irwin Noble of Hanover in January 1949. EHSp216 Fred Laing of Acton purchased Watson Dairy on September 15, 1949 and operated the business for a year before turning it over to Thomas H.Charlton of Toronto. Charlton operated the dairy under the Laing's name until early 1951. Life and Writings by Arthur Charles Dayfoot Published 2002 Although he has not been able to attend our meetings recently, Reverend Arthur Dayfoot has been a member of our historical society for many years. Born in Georgetown in 1915, his name is best known because of his association with Dayfoot Shoes, a factory on John Street, which produced shoes and boots that were well known across Canada. Some members will remember a few years ago, he and a friend came out and talked to us about his family and their shoe association. At that time he brought a pair of sixty year old boots that were then heading to the Bata Shoe Museum. (The old Dayfoot Shoe factory on John street is across from Kiyo(s garage, and is now an apartment building.) Rev. Dayfoot has recently published his second book (Life and Writings( which is a story of his life, growing up in Georgetown and as a missionary, first in China where he married his wife, Bessie, then in Trinidad, as well as his ministries in other places in Canada. Mr. and Mrs. Dayfoot have lead a most interesting and varied life, raising five children. He talks about his early life in Georgetown, how his father built the house at 28 Market Street. Rev. Dayfoot attended Chapel Street Public School and the Georgetown High School. His mother attended the Methodist church, which became St. John(s United, and he joined St. John(s, which was a departure from the Dayfoot family(s regular religious connection with The First Baptist Church on Main Street, where the Dayfoot family had been founding members at an 1849 meeting to establish that church. The stories of their missionary days are extremely interesting and shed light on the every day challenges they faced in dealing with life in general. The book is an interesting and easy read for anyone, but especially for us, with it(s Georgetown connection. Two years ago, Rev. Dayfoot published his first book, tracing the history of the West Indian Church from 1492-1962, a scholarly work which had taken him years of research. That book has been acclaimed as a (treasure trove of information( and has been extremely well received. In 2001, Mrs. Dayfoot published her memoirs, (Would I do it Over Again?( and this book of Rev. Dayfoot(s (Life and Writings( is meant as a sort of companion volume. Mr. and Mrs. Dayfoot have shared fifty-six years of marriage, and are presently living in a condominium in Toronto. We thank them both for taking the time to put down on paper, and to preserve for future generations, their personal stories and the stories of the people and places that have shared their lives over these past many years. They are indeed, preserving our history. (Life and Writings( is available from the Esquesing Historical Society for $25.00 ...... Dawn Livingstone Esquesing Historical Society 2002 ARCHIVES REPORT J. M. Rowe, Archivist The Society was fortunate this past summer in hiring Tara Lesko. Tara scanned about 6000 photographs, bringing our digital collection up to National archival standards. She also took a break from scanning to do filing, labelling, clipping files and sorting out our collection of High Schools yearbooks. The executive of the EHS had several working sessions at the Archives as well. 2002 ACCESSIONS There were 16 accessions filed. The donors were North Halton Scout District, Russell Miller, Karen Hunter, Betty Hunter, Halton Hills Arts Council, Bennett Health Care Centre, Estate of Jean Ruddell, Betty Brownridge, Katherine McKinnon, Town of Halton Hills, Barbara Bryant, and Dorothy Hill. WEBSITE STATISTICS This report was prepared by Archivist John Mark Rowe. The web statistics were provided by Geoff Cannon, Information Technology Librarian and generated by Analysis Suite v7.0c (Build 1467) WebTrends is a registered trademark of NetIQ Corporation. 01/01/2002 00:00:00 - 12/31/2002 23:59:59 Hits Entire Site (Successful) 55,928 Average per Day 153 Page Views Page Views 55,928 Visits Visits 29,423 Average per Day 80 Average Visit Length 00:10:58 Visitors Unique Visitors 13,297 Visitors Who Visited Once 11,460 Visitors Who Visited More Than Once 1,837 Minutes of Esquesing Historical Society Annual General Meeting Wednesday, February 12, 2003 Held in Knox Presbyterian Church, Georgetown, Ontario President, Stephen Blake, welcomed the twenty seven people were in attendance at this meeting. It was a bitterly cold night, and we were pleased to see so many people come out. We have had a very good and productive year, although it was dampened somewhat by the passing in January, of our Treasurer, Douglas Cole, who had acted in that office for the past ten years. His witty little comments, especially at the annual meetings, were missed. His position has been expertly taken over by Karen Hunter. Karen presented a year end financial statement, showing our income for the year to have been $35,871.80 (thanks to the Trillium book grant) and our expenses to be $31,054.29, leaving us a present bank balance of $4,817.51. Donna Robbins made a motion that the statement be accepted, and the motion was seconded by Jack Livingstone. Karen along with Carole Wood gave a report on the Acton Book Sales, which are going quite well. They are now in Chapters in Guelph, and in Global Genealogy in Milton. Mark will give a full archival report with figures, in the next newsletter. Our final year(s membership was 94. Stephen introduced the Board of Directors from the past year, and asked three times if there were any nominations coming from the floor. Since there were non, the past board was reappointed by acclamation. President: Stephen Blake Past President: Sherry Westfahl Treasurer: Karen Hunter Secretary: Dawn Livingstone Archivist: Mark Rowe Publications: Carol Wood Research: Judy Payne Membership: Marg Allan Mark reviewed the questions asked from our Heritage Week Quiz which besides going to our membership in the newsletter, was published in the local newspaper. Winners were: First: Ruth McBride Second: Donna Robbins Third: George Henderson Mark then carried on with the presentation which was titled: Breaking Up Is Hard to Do!! He gave a slide presentation of pictures of Glen Williams and the water and flooding that ruled the village every spring until 1980, when permanent measures were taken to solve the backing up of ice. Gord Preston, Gord Inglis and the Garvins were present, and talked about some of their memories of the flooding. We had a good display of pictures and articles posted. It was a simple but interesting meeting. The meeting adjourned for coffee while people had a chance to talk and look at the pictures. Minutes prepared by Dawn Livingstone. ESQUESING HISTORICAL SOCIETY SCHEDULE OF MEETINGS Wed. 12 Mch. 2003 Fresh Milk Delivered to Your Door! - Join Norma Thompson, Joy Noble and Society members as they present the history of several local dairies. Bring your own anecdotes and souvenirs of local dairies to share. KNOX PRESBYTERIAN CHURCH, Georgetown, 7:30 p.m. Wed. 9 April 2003 History of Methodism in Ontario - John Biddell of Guelph will talk about the evolution of Methodism in Ontario, a topic of consuming interest in the 19th and early 20th century. KNOX PRESBYTERIAN CHURCH, Georgetown, 7:30 p.m. Wed. 14 May 2003 Acton Town Hall - Heritage Acton members Bill and Kathy Sanford will be leading a tour of the designated former Town Hall and adjacent former fire hall. The struggle to save the Hall from the wreckers ball and the on-going campaign to restore the property will be highlighted. ACTON TOWN HALL, Bower Avenue, Acton, 7:30 p.m. Wed. 11 June 2003 Historical Terra Cotta - Local resident Ted von Zuben will lead a discussion on the history of Salmonville / Terra Cotta, following our annual pot luck dinner. Perhaps Credit River salmon might be on the menu! Come for dinner at 6 p.m. or join us for the talk. COMMUNITY HALL, Isabella Street, Terra Cotta, 7:00 p.m. ALL MEETINGS ARE OPEN TO THE PUBLIC AT NO CHARGE! Please bring your own cup for refreshments to help protect our environment. RESEARCH REQUESTS The EHS charges $5.00 for the initial fee, and $10.00 per hour. Each photocopied page will cost $1.00. When requests are received, an estimate will be provided before work begins. Postage and handling charges also apply. Requests can be made by e-mail or regular mail, but we cannot guarantee a delivery time. PHOTOGRAPH REPRINTS Besides the cost of printing a photo, an Archives user fee of $5 will apply for the first photo and a $2 fee for each subsequent photo, ordered at the same time. Postage and handling charges will also be applied. Orders require three weeks for processing. Georgetown Dairy Runaway "Yesterday morning, Gordon Fricker, who drives for the Georgetown Dairy, was harnessing the horse preparatory to making his morning delivery, when the horse escaped from the stable through the open door, and it wasn(t until an hour of so later that Harold Cleave discovered the animal on his farm and phoned in to the dairy. There was no damage done, as the wagon was not yet attached..." ....The Mirror, Georgetowns 5( News Weekly, June 1946 Society Notes EHS EXECUTIVE Stephen Blake 877-8251 President Karen Hunter 838-2109 Dawn Livingstone 877-6506 Sherry Westfahl 873-7145 J. Mark Rowe 877-9510 Carol Wood 873-0792 Marj Allen 877-9985 Judy Payne 877-7627 Don(t forget to add 905 when dialing the above listed numbers. ACHIVAL REPORT See the annual report on page 3. INTERNET CONNECTIONS The Esquesing Historical Society 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 Canadian Council of Archives web site: EHS NEWSLETTER This newsletter was prepared by John Mark Rowe with assistance from Karen Hunter and Dawn Livingstone. Submissions are welcome. MEMBERSHIP It is time to renew for 2003. This will be your final newsletter if you do not renew. Please encourage friends and family to join the EHS and support our efforts to preserve and share our local history. The individual rate is $10. The family or institution rate is $12. Cheques payable to the Society can be mailed to our post box. Marj Allen, membership secretary, will gladly accept your fees at the next meeting. Renew NOW! RESEARCH REQUESTS - POLICY CHANGE The EHS charges $5.00 for the initial fee, and $10.00 per hour. Each photocopied page will cost $1.00. When requests are received, an estimate will be provided before work begins. Postage and handling charges also apply. Requests can be made by e-mail or regular mail, but we cannot guarantee a delivery time. ACTON: THE HISTORY OF LEATHERTOWN The Freckled Lion and Wetherby(s are both carrying the book, but the bulk of sales come from The Olde Hide House, The Olde Book Shoppe and the Acton Leather Store in Toronto. The book sells for $24.95 from the EHS, which does not charge taxes. Retail stores, like The Olde Book House, must add the necessary taxes. Card carrying members of the EHS can buy as many copies as they wish at $20 each, directly from the Society. Books can be purchased at regular meetings or by contacting Publications Officer, Carol Wood. She can e-mailed at . VOLUNTEERS NEEDED! The minutes of the Annual General Meeting are contained herein. While your existing executive was confirmed, there is still a need for volunteers. One particular need is for a coffee convenor for our meetings. A second is to help with the mailing of the newsletters on a bi-monthly basis. Please consider supporting your Society by offering time. Contact Stephen Blake, Karen Hunter or any executive member to offer your help. Absolutely no experience is needed. We have fun and learn while we go along. DOUG COLE REMEMBERED The Esquesing Historical Society would like to acknowledge the donation made in memory of Doug Cole, the late treasurer of our Society. The estate of Doug Cole has donated a valuable piece of local history to the Archives - an 1854 map of Georgetown, showing lots and most importantly, all the existing buildings! What a treasure trove! (BILLIE( YOUNG DIES AT 87 Marion 'Billie' Young, passed away on Tuesday, Dec 31, 2002 at the Sunnybrook Medical Centre, Toronto. Marion was in her 87th year. She was formerly of Terra Cotta and was the wife of the late J. Leslie Young. Her children, grandchildren and great grandchildren survive her. She was interred at Union Presbyterian Cemetery. Marion was an early contributor to the EHS Archives and donated the Tremaine Map which hangs in the Georgetown Library. BRAMPTON HISTORICAL SOCIETY Meetings are held every third Thursday of the month at 7:15 p.m. at Heart Lake Presbyterian Church, 25 Ruth Avenue, Brampton. There is a $5 admission fee. Visit: www.bramptonhistoricalsociety.com ONTARIO GENEALOGICAL SOCIETY The following meetings for the OGS - Halton-Peel Branch take place in the lower level meeting room of the Chingaucousy branch library at 150 Central Park Drive, Bramalea, Ontario. For further information call Betty Cameron at 905.792.0907 or e-mail at HERITAGE WEEK QUIZ February was Heritage month and the winners of our Heritage quiz were: 1st Ruth McBride (last years winner) 2nd Donna Robin 3rd George Henderson First prize is one year(s membership and a ten dollar EHS publications gift certificate. Second and third each receive a $10 gift certificate. THE ANSWERS!!! THEME: Street names 1. Name the street named after one of the famous discoverers of insulin. BANTING 2. The Masonic Hall sits on the street named for the neighbouring farm family. LINDSAY 3. A Georgetown dry goods merchant who bought land where the railway route was planned has an Acton street name for him. YOUNG 4. The world famous mail order seed firm was commemorated in this name. DOMINION GARDENS / BRADLEY 5. A private boys( college in the backwoods of Georgetown is remembered here. COLLEGE / ACADEMY 6. A rural school section is recalled in this escarpment level street. BLUE MOUNTAIN 7. A generous dairy owner from Toronto who supported children(s summer camp was remembered on this street. MORDEN NEILSON 8. This small street commemorates the creek which provided power for the mill though which it ran. BLACK CREEK 9. A famous Norval doctor who was County sheriff is remembered in this street name. WEBSTER 10. The founding family of Acton was honoured with this street name. ADAMS 11. The last mayor of Acton had his family name grace this street. DUBY 12. A Glen Williams lumber merchant had this street named for him. TWEEDLE GOOD LUCK Renew your membership! This will be your last newsletter! Your membership year is shown on the label with your address. Renew NOW! JOE GANNER Joe Ganner was Barry Dunn's Uncle who lived at 64 Young Street in Acton. He lived with a woman named Winifred, never married. He was a dairyman and worked for my cousin's wife's Grandparents. Some of you may know Fred Shortill and his deceased wife Willimantic Price. Ann Shortill, his daughter emailed Barry and told him stories, one was about riding with Joe on a milk delivery run and the children called him uncle Joe. Also Fred who is 92 could relate stories about Joe. INTERESTING ELECTRONIC MAIL February 8, 2003 - Good morning Mark. I find the Halton Library website the most fascinating and helpfull search tool that one could imagine. Hats off to you and all involved in it's creation. I have found data relative to my great great grandfather Edwin Search to be most rewarding and I will someday take time out (in the very near future) to come down to the library and glean through the microfilm files. I have also found references to my great grandfather James Glass who was a son in law to Edwin Search. One of Edwin's daughters married into the Barber family and I will also do more research on that as well. A daughter of James Glass (Alberta or Bertie) was married to the dentist Dr. Frank Watson, and she was born (in Georgetown) in 1875 and died in 1981. My grandfather was her brother, William A. Glass. Of curiosity to me is an article from the Toronto Daily Mail of 24, June 1893 relative to the bio on Edwin Search. They refer to him as the Pooh Bah and I am wondering if it was a tongue in cheek type of reference or what. In various census records he is listed as a broom maker or as a broom manufacturer. In the multitude of files I was unable to come up with any business listing of such endeavor. Could it have been a cottage type business for him to augment what would have been meager income from the village since it was probably only about 1200 to 1400 population at that time? Yours truly ...Larry Trafford....London, Ontario. 10 February, 2003 - Good morning Mark; I was aware of the photo of Edwin Search and was looking for a better one that might be in the archives. Nevertheless, I have two photos that might be usable in your site. You have a bio also on Dr. Frank Watson and I have a photo taken of him perhaps in the late 40's. It is of him and his great wife Bertie. The thing that the family has always found somewhat comical was their appearance due to the vast differences in their height. He was reputed to be 6' - 6" and she was only 4' - 9 or 10" in height. Their devotion to each other is very evident in this photo. Additionally, I am including a photo of Bertie's father, James A. Glass who also served several terms on council before the turn of the century. Regards......Larry Trafford History of Methodism in Ontario - John Biddell of Guelph will talk about the evolution of Methodism in Ontario, a topic of consuming interest in the 19th and early 20th century. Join us on April 9th at KNOX PRESBYTERIAN CHURCH, Georgetown. The Story of Georgetown The Wesleyan Methodists opened the first church in Georgetown in January 1841. The wooden church was replaced by a brick one (1876), which sits today at the end of Wesleyan Street. The Episcopal Methodists built their church on Guelph Street (now St. John(s United) in 1849. The present structure dates from 1880. The Congregationalists opened their church in November 1851. Their wooden structure boasted a 50 foot spire with a BELL to ring! It was replaced, in 1877, by the stone building, which now houses the library. Acton Wesleyan Methodists Methodism came to this area with the Adams family. Two itinerant preachers, Ezra and Zenas Adams, worn out by the demands of constantly travelling, joined their brother Rufus here at Adamsville. The first service was held in 1828 in the kitchen of their log home. When the numbers increased, the adjoining woodshed was pressed into service.... The 1891 census shows the dominance of the Methodist Church in Acton. Within the village limits there were 450 Methodists out of the population of 1209. Methodists were 37% of the village while Presbyterians were second with 29%... ACTON: THE HISTORY OF LEATHERTOWN LIMEHOUSE Methodist Church, 5th Line and 22 Sideroad. It became the Women(s Institute Memorial Community Hall in 1945 and is currently a Community Hall administered by trustees. EHS p310 Esquesing Historical Society Newsletter 3