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PAGE EIGHT--NINTH SECTION = THE FKEE PRESS. LONDON, ONTARIO. SATURDAY, JUNE 11, Lam , Mossley Town Hall at Delaware Stood Over Century DELAWARE IS ONE of the oldest settlements in Middlesex County --' as early as 1817 there were 18 houses in the. village, with about 80 inhabitants, as well as a church, school, grist mill and two saw mills. the plank road to Port Stanley The village, in fact, was once discussed as a possible county seat, but a grant of land was set aside at London and the buildings were erected there. The district around Delaware Village was first settled by Eben-ezer Allen, who was given » 2,200-acre grant in 1798. Legend has it that he was a horse-thief. Whether that is true or not, he did antagonize the Government by taking over one of their most cherished prerogatives -- coining money. For this, he spent time in jail. In 1801, the land where Delaware now stands was bought by Dr. Oliver Tiffany and settled by his brother, Gideon. Rich Land The land was rich--the flats along the Thames produced 100 bushels of corn an acre, and walnut trees 11 feet in diameter. The banks of the river were covered with pine, which, when cut, was floated down the river and taken across Lake St. Clair to Detroit. In 1852, Delaware had a population of over 350 and the grist and sawmills it possessed in 3817. Fiom Delaware t.o London there were two roads. One joined at a point six miles from the village. The other went direct toward London, joining tht plank road about two miles south of London. Farm Produce Through this period--until the building of the Great Western Railway in 1853 and the London and Port Stanley Railway in 1856, Delaware teamsters moved thousands of tons of farm produce along these roads to London and to the docks at Port Stanley. After these railways were buiH, teams were not in as great demand, and Delaware lost much of its prosperity. In 1842, the village, having been named centre of the township, watched a brick town hall rise besi'de the main road running through it. This building, over 100 years old, was host to its last council meeting recently, and will be torn down. Delaware today is a quiet community on No. 2 Highway, the shopping centre for a large area of prosperous farm lands surrounding it. Land Height At Mossley Detrimental HEIGHT is frequently an advantage in the location of n town, but to Mossley, a little South Dorchester village consisting of a store, service station, church, school and a handful of houses, it proved the greatest detriment in its history. Mossley is located on the highest elevation of land in North Dorchester Township, and it was this that restricted growth of the village, for when the Canadian Pacific, or Credit Valley Railway, was built through the area in 188Q, it followed the more level ground, with the result that Mossley had to be content with a station half a mile from the village proper. The "coup de grace" was administered when' the station, instead of being named Mossley, was named Harrietsville after another village two and a half miles south of Mossley and two miles from the railway station. Richard J. Jelly, a descendant of the original settlers, explained it this way: "The Harrietsville people were just a bit too smart for Mossley. They got ahead of us. They named it and had it all signed and sealed before most The old Town Hall at Delaware is doomed, by decision of the Township Council. The council is now meeting in the remodeled Presbyterian Church. The above building, more than 100 years old, has been part of the social life of Delaware, and has witnessed theft and murder trials before trials were moved to London. In recent years, motor vehicles failing to make the turn on No. 2 highway, have repeatedly smashed into the structure. people woke up. It was just a smart little game." Mr. Jelly, whose father, William Henry Jelly; came to Moss-ley from Brockville at the age of 12, was the first of three generations of veterinaries. The school still stands today on the site where the original school was Duilt in 1850. The Wesleyan Methodist Church was built in 1862 on Concession 3 about one mile from Mossley. The first store was run by George Main. George Henry Amos built a. store in 1863, and the post office was established in 1866. John Mossop, a carpenter - farmer, helped solicit the charter for the post office and urged that the place be called Amosville after George Amos. But due to a similarity with other names it was finally decided to call it Mossley. VANSTONE MOTORS LTD Established In 1928 To Serve You At All Times as torn. Almost o quarter of a century ago • • - Vanstone Motors was established to give Londoners the best in automobile sales and service - - - A good business never stands still, and Vanstone Motors has continually advanced - - - Only four years after its opening a large expansion program was carried out. -Again in 1944 a modern up-to-date body shop was added to make Vanstone Motors a leading automotive sales and service centre of Western Ontario. To keep abreast with every advance in automobile service - - - Vanstone Motors have installed the most modern scientific machinery - - - to make their garage one of the best equipped in the city - - Experienced service men and mechanics working with the finest equipment guarantee you better and more economical service. Vanstones are specialists in General Automobile Repairing, Wheel Alignment and Frame Straightening, Brake Adjusting and Relining, Body Repairs and Auto Painting. THREE GREAT MOTOR PRODUCTS The Quality English Car HILLMAN MINX For Luxury The PACKARD For Commercial Service, The COMMER TRUCK F, G, VANSTONE, President R, 0. MARR, Sales Manager CAL CHAMBERS, Service Manager ARTHUR AYRES, Body Shop Manager GEORGE CLARKE, Service Station Manager AUTHORIZED SALES and SERVICE and PARTS DEPOT VANSTONE MOTORS LIMITED Dundas St. at Colborne Metcalf 4300 Middlesex Cemetery at Lambeth Remains Village Heart IT LIES AT the intersection of highways No, 2 and No. 4 the Dundas and Richmond of Lambeth, this low ivy-covered hrick church. Around it, row upon row, like soldiers of ths guard, stand gleaming white tombstones. Dorchester Klan 'Home' Commercial interests cast envious glances at the strategic location, thinking in terms of the dollars and cents a gas station or store on that location would earn. But barring an earthquake or the breaking of a century-old will, that graveyard, Lambeth's oldest historical site, will remain in the heart of the rapidly-growing village. It was in 1826 that Jeremiah Schram, one of Lambeth's first settlers, was laid to rest "neath the green sod of the lot he owned on the junction of Longwoods and Talbot roads. In his will, one of the most unusual probated in the history of this district, he left that lot to be used as a public burial ground with the stipulation that an Anglican church was to be built on the location. For this reason the property can never be sold. It was willed to the community for the community's use and must remain as such. Last Plots Sold Few empty spaces remain in the church grounds today. The last plots were sold more than 10 years ago. Although there are « few modern vari-colored granite tombstones scattered here and there in the churchyard, the majority are plain white marble slabs. No records exist giving the actual date of construction of Trinity Church. On a plaque at the front of the building is the date 1863, but it is claimed that was the year of the consecration, and that the church was built 15 or-20 years before. The earliest records of the church in existence today are dated 1866 when Rev. Edmund Newman was rector. Old Pulpit Remains Although the interior of the church was completely redecorated five years ago, some furnishings, believed to date from the construction of the church, remain. The old pulpit and reading desk are still in place at the front of the church. Everything about the exterior' of the church marks its antiquity - the low long construction, the little belfry at the front and the old-style stained glass windows. But age is no obstacle to progress. Six years ago the congregation included not more than 20 families. But with the postwar growth of Lambeth the church has grown too until now the congregation boasts approximately 50 families. The village was one known as "Junction" because it was strategically located at the junction of Longwoods and Talbot roads, or alternately "Slab Town" because of its saw mills. DORCHESTER VILLAGE wa§ named in honor of Sir Guy Carle-ton, Lord Dorchester, who wa» governor general of Canada from 1786 to 1796. One fact that is almost obscured in history ii that at Dorchester's Donnybrook Field in 1925 was held the first open-air initiation of member! into the Ku Klux Klan of Canada. On October 15 of that year, more than 100 Londoners wer» initiated into the. Klan in th» first open-air "naturalization"' ever held in the Dominion. Ac« cording to the records it was an impressive ceremony with th» new members marching behind a King Kleagle who carried ft flaming cross. All Masked Both klansmen and new members were masked completely in the familiar white hoods and robes as they circled the field of Donnybrook three times. With hands on each others shoulders they marched to the tunr of sacred hymns played by a Klan band and took the solemn oath of the "Invisible Empire" before the altar and fiery cross. Dorchester Village, Dorchester ^Township, and Dorchester County in Quebec were all named after Lord Dorchester, whose title was taken from the picturesque town of Dorchester in England. And it was through the Township of Dorchester that Governor Simcoe and his party including Col. Talbot passed in 1793 on their way from Niagara to Detroit. One of First Cabins One of the first log cabins in Middlesex County was built at Dorchester in 1794 by William Reynolds, who came to Canada in 1793 with Major Ingersoll. It is believed that the site of that first log cabin is somewhere on the farm now owned by Archie Zavitz, just west of the village. One of Dorchester's outstanding early settlers was Joseph N, Hardy who settled there in 1844, took charge of Matthew's lumber business and store, and waj postmaster there for 30 years. Hardy was the last survivor of the men who left Ireland in th». ship Brunswick to found New London. James B. Lane, another early settler, carried 30 pounds of naili on his back from London to build his blacksmith shop -- the first frame structure in the village--and a Mr. Geiner built his log hotel within 40 rods of this black« smith shop in 1824. Cheese Factory Once Largest HARRIETSVILLE, situated 10 miles north of Aylmer on Highway 73, is not an incorporated village, but as early : as 1867 it boasted the largest cheese factory in: the world. Although it has been remodeled several times, the nucleus of that original building still stands on the same site at the southern outskirts of the hamlet. And until recently it still produced some of the best in Canadian cheese, and was stilled owned by the Facey family that built the factory more than three-quarters of a century ago. Now Receiving Station Three generations of Faceys operated the cheese factory until it was sold a few years ago by Eugene Facey to the Borden Company, who now operate it as a milk receiving station. Originally the factory consisted of two buildings, both three-storey structures. The one housed the actual factory, with an engine-room and lean-to on the south side, which was used as a house, and an equally large building for storing and aging the cheese. The first 'settlers arrived in the Harrietsville area during tht 1830's, but it was not until 184T, when Captain McMillan, a nativ« of Ireland, arrived that the com-munity was named. Captain McMillan, who was the first postmaster, named the village after his wife, Harriet. Army Centre Harrietsville in the 1860's WM known as the military centre of North Dorchester, In 1863 Me-Millan formed the Harrietsvilln Militia Co. No. 2 of the Seventh Regiment of Middlesex which h» commanded during the Fenian scare. And as a result of hi» work the Government erected a drill shed and an armories on Lot 12, Concession 2. McMillan was later chief magistrate of the hamlet. Among the early settlers of th» area were the Jellys, and water is still drawn from the well on the southwest corner of the in« tersection which once served an hotel operated there by J. J. Jelly, Glanworth Cabin Stands ON A FARM on the outskirts of the Village of Glanworth, situated at the corner of Wellington road and Concession 8 of Westminster Township, stands an old log cabin, its timbers weathered and worn from years of exposure to the elements and the chinking i falling from between the logs.' But generally it is as substantial as the day it was built a century ago. This is the old Fisher cabin in which Maddison W. Fisher, a. veteran resident of Glanworth who died a few years ago, was born. The log cabin is the oldest remaining landmark of Glanworth's early days. Other evidence has been erased by the years. Settled in 1834 The first land cleared in the vicinity was the farm of Richard Rose in 1834. Some years later a post office was established with » Mr, Webb a* postmaster, and by 1887 the population of tht village had reached 160. Some of the early businessmen were John Turnbull, postmaster, along with Joshua Kindree, was a general merchant; John Drom« gole who kept a hotel, Georgt Doan a harness shop, Andrew Scott a carriage maker and A. Taylor a blacksmith. One of the village's major industries was the cheese factory run in turn since 1888 by L, Smith, W. Brodie, G. Brodie, J, Johnston and Canadian Milk Products Co. The plant was later sold to Bordens, the business turned over to the Belmont plant and the buildings torn down. In 1927 a new factory was built by a stock company com» posed largely of farmers. It was first managed by G. Miller and now by H. Upfold. Located on the London and Port Stanley and on a main high-way, Glanworth continues on ths even keel of * country village.