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PAGE SIX--.NINTH SECTION = = THE FREE PRESS, LflNDON, ONTARIO, SATURDAY. JUNE It 1949=^ Quakers Built First Lucan School Lucan, Ailsa Craig, Granton tossP r *** Q( ^M * m ^* LUCAN is the modern name for the old Village of Marysville. Like Delaware and several other early communities of Middlesex County, Luean's first settlers were a. boisterous lot, fond of quarreling. In 1830, the lots now occupied by the village were taken up by Messrs. Butler, Wyatt, Whitehead and Pinkham, who were the original settlers. It is odd that a people so proper in their conduct as the Quakers should be interested in Lucan, but they were instrumental in founding*'the first school, and until 1843, The Friends supported a colony of colored pioneers and provided them with a medium of education. During this time, the district was startled by a series of bizarre happenings, among them a number of murders and the suicide of Mrs. Wyatt. The old lady, said to be religiously mad, tied her own limbs together and lay down in the creek, all to appease a strange god. After this, the Quakers quit the village. Steady Progress Building went on steadily for the first two decades, and the name of Marysville was given in honor of Mary Macdonald, wife of the sheriff. Between 1856 and 1859 expansion was held up until the railway company decided where their line was to run. After the uncertainty had passed, however, Lucan became a prominent place in South Huron (in 1865 Biddulph Township became a part of Middlesex). The village was incorporated on January 1, 1872, with Robert F. O'Neil as reeve. Immediately there were seven applications for tavern licenses. In June of 1874, an effort was made to organize a fire company, and additions were made to the school which had been opened in 1864. By this time the grain business had risen to 167,000 bushels. Two years after a post office was established in 1857, William Porte became postmaster, and up until a year or so ago, the office was held by the Porte family. On April 14, 1865, a flag was placed at half-mast in respect to Abraham Lincoln, and Dr. White, a southerner then residing in Lucan, fired upon the flag in contempt. On December 16, 1886, on the occasion of a visit from John A. Macdonald, prime minister, The Lucan Enterprise printed in red ink. Engines Loaded Core/wood at Ailsa Craig AILSA CRAIG, a Middlesex settlement founded by David Craig in 1835, has always had many good things to say about itself. This written account of the growing village as it appeared in 1868 is a classic example: "This is a village of vast importance to the neighborhood around for many miles, a large amount of business being transacted daily. The railroad alone keeps many teams in active employ, procuring wood, of which there are immense piles around the station. A large business is als6 being done in getting out square timbers for shipment. We have 13 well-stocked stores, two of them medical halls; two tailor shops, a tin shop, two shoe stores, five taverns and a cooper shop; to keep all of which in active operation, there is a bakery, recently established, which turns out bread, buns, etc., of the best quality; and that the masticating organs may not fail to perform their duty on said articles, we have Mr. H. Kinsman, dentist, who will quickly rectify or replace the dental organs to the entire satisfaction of aching or toothless humanity. "For the prevention and cure of all ills to which flesh is heir, we have two medical gentlemen of acknowledged ability. For the suppression of intemperance and the reclamation of the inebriate, we have a temple of the I.O. of G.T., which is rapidly increasing in numbers and influence. For those whose tastes are educational, we have a literary society and reading room. For church-going people we have three sects established, Baptist, Presbyterian and Methodist; and for dealers in cattle we have our monthly fairs. We have also a paper, The Review, which is well patronized; also a good bookstore." tula HARRY 0. WHITE East Middlesex To The London Free Press upon its 100th anniversary May the next one hundred years be even better than the preceding hundred. Harry 0. White, M.P. EAST MIDDLESEX /waft.;. :" make your dream house a reality with A.LL the qualities you will ever want in your new home are yours with concrete construction. Concrete, in its many forms, assures home beauty, permanence and fire safety. The initial cost is moderate, the upkeep cost is low. Best of all, perhaps, concrete means a CLEAN home -- dust and dirt can't sift through this weathertight construction material. Your concrete home will be cool in summer, warm in winter, much easier on fuel consumption. Interesting floor plans and construction details tie yours in these free booklets. Send coupon today. r I HE-17 Canada Cement Company Limited, Canada Cement Co. Building, Montreal 2 Please send booklets -- I""] "Building Better Farm Homes" Q "Suggested Design* for Concrete Homes" Q "Why People like Concrete Homes" Name...... Address.. COMPANY LIMITED CANADA CEMENT COMPANY BLDG., PHILLIPS SQUARE, MONTREAL CANADA CEMENT Typical of farms of the day, this artist's drawing shows the residence of Samuel Longford in Biddulph Township during the late 1870's. Prosperous farms such as this grew rapidly during the latter part of the last century developing the natural wealth of the area. Biddulph Township became part of Middlesex County in 1865 with Lucan as one of its main centres of population. Too Young Granton's Name Recalls Original Settler to Reach Site L -^ ^^ I TT? "HTTP TNT r!. tV.« «o «!;«*. j___ ±1___ , t , __ MONTREAL TORONTO WINNIPEG ONE HALF-CENTURY is probably much like another in that new folks are born, old folks pass on, and the way of doing things change. In 1910, Alexander C. Caswell, atman from California, who had spent his boyhood in the village of Granton, Middlesex County, wrote a letter to James Grant, of the family after which the community was named. In the letter he recounted some of the events of his boyhood which were associated with the church. That 50 years took him back to the time when The. Free Press was first established, and the fol-Kiwing cAueiytjs iium mr. v^as-well's letter give some idea of church-life in 1849. Boy of 10 "When I was a boy of 10," he writes, "I went to church barefooted, hopping from log to log over the corduroy road in front of Bob McCulloch's, or dodging the mud-holes near John Rigney's. If I were going to the new church in town now I suppose I would have to go in an automobile, or a carriage at least, with patent leather pumps. "When I was a boy of 16 I wished to unite with the church, but was told that I was too young; better wait until I was older and would better understand what I was doing. In the meantime no effort was made to explain away my difficulties. Young people were not 'urged' to 'come forward" till they had babies to be baptized. Now, thank God, the young people are doing much of the active work of the church, and doing it as well as their fathers did, while the older people serve as balance wheels to keep them steady. No prayer meetings in those days, and no teachers' meetings. "I often wish for the good old congregational singing. I wish I could hear James Grant start the first few notes of Duke Street on Communion Sabbath morning, or sing with you the Hundredth Psalm. "Go Aside Awhile" "How I would like to stand in the vestibule and see those men of God as they take the 'tokens' from the people, leaving their farms and their cares for a time, to honor their Master and get strength for the duties and burdens of the next week. Those people felt that it meant much, amid their struggles with nature in the primeval forest, to 'go aside awhile.' How marked the reverence in those days at such times. "Here comes the minister. He is young, slim, clear-skinned, alert, reverent, ready to act as mediator between God and men. He preaches at three other places, and has ridden on horseback seven miles to get here. "What self-denial it must have taken in those days for the people who live in log shanties and wooden houses to build and pay for a brick church. It must have meant less to eat and fewer things to wear to many of these hardy pioneers. I wonder what made them able and willing to spend and be spent? "Once a year the neighbors of all persuasions met at the annual picnic, and visited, and talked about the crops, and maybe the neighbors and the minister's last sermon. Hush! Take off your hat. That is Robert Rad-cliffe, with his boys and girls, with skin as fair as lilies, cheeks and eyes aglow. They have walked five miles to be present with those who come here to worship." IF DURING the earlier days of the Village of Granton, anyone uttered Shakespeare's famous quotation, "What's in a name?" he probably got an earful. It seldom developed into fighting, but there was plenty of feuding and fussing over the choice of a name for the village, which eventually resulted in the village having two names at the same time; one for that part lying north of the old Grand Trunk Railway lines, and another for that part of the village lying south of the railway tracks. In the village as it existed then, if you were born on the "wrong side of the tracks" you these four lots. Then came the problem: What name to give the newly-surveyed village? After considerable discussion and suggestion the Grant brothers decided to perpetuate their own name and registered their plans as the Village of Granton. Needless to say the two property owners south of the railway were greatly offended. They couldn't follow the pattern set by the Grant brothers, so Instead they selected the distinctive name "Awmik," the Indian word for Beaver, for their village. However, the name Awmik gradually fell into disuse, perhaps partly because beavers were store of James S. Hodgins and C. M. Webb Sr. Also, James Mclntosh, a cripple, kept a small store during the early days. James Armitage is credited with building the first tavern, but soon sold out to James P. Mclntyre who eventually moved to Toronto. The next tavern was built by Samuel Hodgins and became, in more recent years, a temperance house. Alexander Grant, one of the two men after whom the villag* was named, is believed to have been the first settler in that vicinity. According to historical records, Grant arrived in 1842, and the post office was opened in 1864 with James Harrison as postmaster. ferent municipality as far as residents on the opposite side were concerned. Surveys In 1860's Surveys of the farm lots on which Granton was established were carried out in the early 1860's. The Grant brothers, Alexander and James, owned two of that area. Finally the two villages were merged and became Granton with the approval of all concerned. Built First Store The first store in Granton was built by James Harrison and this was followed by a general Denfield School 'Old-Timer' THE OLD SCHOOL stands proudly among the maple trees on the corner of the 15th concession, London Township, and the Denfield sideroad. Its brick walls are cracked and tarred, the wooden trimmings show signs of many repairs, but the years have dealt kindly with the old school. According to those who knew the school "back when," it has changed very little. Officially, it is known as S.S. No. 1, London Township, but to its former pupils, past, present and probably future, it is the Denfield School, a little brick building that has served this hamlet since its construction in 1870. The location of the first log school that served the Denfield district as both school and meeting place is uncertain, although it is said to have been located somewhere on the 12th concession. The first school definitely known to have been built on the 15th was a log building constructed directly across the road from the present school in 1853. Settled in 1821 It was more than a century and a quarter ago that the first settlers made their way into the vicinity of Denfield in the northwestern part of London Township. Historical accounts record the arrival of settlers in that vicinity as early as 1821, and it' was eight years after this that the first school was built. Capt. John Matthews is said to have been the man mainly responsible for establishing what was later known as the Welsh settlement. Capt. Matthews prospered in the United States, but had to leave after the War of 1812-14 because of his pro-British sympathies. He is said to have persuaded a brother and two sisters, then living in Glanmor-ganshire, Wales, to settle with him in the recently-surveyed London Township. The result was that three families totaling 31 people arrived near the present site of Denfield, sometime in 1821. Sites of First Homes Denfield residents of the present day still point out what are believed to be the sites of those first homes. One property, first settled by John Rosser, is still in the Rosser name, being owned now by Mrs. Charles Rosser. The Welsh settlement was given the name of Brecon when the London, Huron and Bruce Railway was built in 1875, but the post office later became known as Denfield community. This name was in use in 1880 when the village had a population of 100. Ilderton-Middlesex Farmers Co-Operative Manufacturers of We Also Carry Full Line of PURINA FEEDS Registered and No. 1 Commercial Seed Grain ALFALFA - - - CLOVERS - - - TIMOTHY PASTURE GRASS MIXTURES LUMBER AND SHINGLES Modern Seed Cleaning Plant Universal Milking Machines Hogs Shipped Every Thursday Fertilizers "Serving Middlesex and Surrounding Communities" ESTABLISHED 1920 PHONE 1 RING 1. ILDERTON For More Than 20 Years, It Has Been Our Privilege To Meet You Through The Columns of The Free Press . .. And To Serve * The Motorist, Industry and The Farm In The London Area CITIES © SERVICE OIL COMPANY LIMITED