Blyth 130 Years Ago

Blyth 130 Years Ago

Browsing through our digital collection of Blyth history today, I came across our entry in a Huron County Directory for 1881, four years after the incorporation of the village.

It opens with a brief description of the village, as follows:

A flourishing village on the London, Huron and Bruce Railway, 60 miles from London. Population about 1300. It contains several stores, newspaper office, hotels, saw and grist mills, foundry, salt works, woollen mills, etc.

There are about 120 entries in the Blyth section of the directory. Directories of this type included entries by subscription; they were not intended to identify all residents. Both individuals and businesses are included in the listings along with the name of the street location. Most personal entries identify the occupation of the person, with "gentleman" indicating a retired person or "res" indicating a resident. Most individuals are male heads of family with no reference to their spouse. There are a few female entries in the case where a woman runs a business, or is a widow in which case the given name of her late husband is noted.

e.g. Coulter, Ann (wid Thomas) res Queen

The array of occupations I found especially interesting. There is a whole group of occupations which provide local services which today are uncommon in small communities and are usually provided by large corporations engaged in mass production. Included in this category are these occupations: pumpmaker, shoemaker, livery man, dray man, brickmaker, tailor, harness maker, cooper, confectioner, carriage maker, merchant tailor, stove manufacturer, teamster, furniture maker.

One entry that caught my eye right away is "Pollock, Robert J. , prop Temperance House, Queen" We know that Pollock owned and operated the Queen's Hotel which was located at the north east corner of King and Queen where the Corner Café is located in 2010. We can only speculate on why this hotel in 1881 bore the seemingly contradictory name, "Temperance". One possible explanation is that he was trying to assuage the anti alcohol faction by suggesting that his establishment allows only moderate consumption. A more likely explanation is that the local authority (village council or county council) had decided not to issue a licence to Pollock for that particular year to allow his place to serve spirits, and he may have changed the name to reflect the enforced "dryness" of the hotel.

The temperance movement in Ontario was misnamed, because their whole aim was towards total prohibition - not temperate use of alcohol. Invariably spurred on and supported by a outside activists, the locals applied pressure on authorities to keep a firm control on drinking establishments and close them on the slightest provocation. Although there were at times as many as five hotels in the village, those authorities would arbitrarily decide to issue only three licences to sell alcoholic beverages in public establishments. They also would usually allow one business to sell spirits for private consumption (medicinal purposes only?).

There is no doubt that there was a great deal of alcohol abuse in those days - even more than today. But the hotels contributed enormously to the development of communities in those early days. At various times the local hotels were the only place available for community meetings. Hoteliers encouraged business development and personally contributed much to the growth of the community. Of course the core contribution was their provision of food and lodging for visitors who brought wares, business opportunities, and commercial ideas to the village.

The lives of these hotel owners and operators were made extremely difficult by the temperance people. They never knew what the next year would have in store for them, since their business could be decimated by the loss of their licence for the next year.

The following are the hotel proprietors in 1881: Robert Brownlee, Mansion House (Westmoreland and Queen); Jonathan Emigh, Revere House (Dinsley near the GTR Station which is in 2010 the Station House B&B), William Hawkshaw, Commercial Hotel (Queen and Dinsley, now Blyth Inn), Robert Pollock, Temperance House aka Queen's Hotel, (Queen and King); David Erwin, Central Hotel, (Queen Street where the car wash now stands).

There is a reference to one of the Central Hotel's boarders, Arthur W. Nation, manager of McCosh Bros. We are not sure what business was conducted by that firm.

Thus Blyth had five hotels in 1881: Mansion, Revere, Commercial, Temperance, and Central.

The above commercial uncertainty may explain why in 1881 two erstwhile hoteliers, William Shane and John Sherritt, are shown in different fields of endeavour. Shane is listed as carpenter, and Sherritt as a shoemaker

The name of David Erwin of Central Hotel has the letters KOTM after his name. This stands for a benevolent organisation called Knights of the Maccabees.

Blyth's only newspaper at this time was called Blyth Review. Its proprietor was John T. Mitchell. listed in the directory.

We often think of these olden times as rather spartan, with no one having the money or the time to indulge in luxuries and ornament. This view is challenged by the fact that there were at least two jewellers in Blyth in 1881. The best known, and probably the most successful was Frank Metcalf, recorded in the directory as handling jewelry and fancy goods. (We also know that his shop included a telegraph office, and he was very active in a provincial organization of fruit growers). This shop was located directly across from the Memorial Hall, in the south half of Sharon's Miniature Museum (2010). The other jeweller listed is Martin Owen.

One man is listed as a fireman. This was Murdoch Campbell. He would have been responsible for the operation of the steam plant of one of the mills in Blyth whether saw mill, grist mill, or flour mill.

One photographer is listed in 1881 and she is woman, Mrs. Sarah Foy. Photographers were very important in those days before simple and compact cameras became widely used by the public.

There are two coopers listed here: John Kruse, and Fred Burnett. Kruse operated on Queen Street, but lived on Westmoreland; Burnett lived on Comb street, but might have worked for Kruse.

There are two clergymen listed in the Directory: William Birks, minister of Blyth CM Methodist Church (Queen Street, same building as used by the Christian Reform Church in 2010), and Rev. Archibald McLean of St.Andrew's Presbyterian Church (Dinsley and Mill Street)

There are many Blyth people in the building trades which is reasonable, given the fact that this period is one of rapid growth. There is a high demand for building of homes and business. The occupations of carpenters, sawyers, contractors, plasterers, bricklayers,brick makers are all represented in this directory. The demand for construction was increased by the frequency of both residential and commercial fires.

In 1881, James Huckstep is listed as a barber on Queen Street in Blyth. His shop was located in the middle unit of the Howard Block which is the building immediately north of Memorial Hall. James (Jimmy) gave me my first haircut, probably around 1936-37. I don't recall how I behaved during that operation, but if I cried, I am sure it was caused by the sight of the scissors in those shaky old hands. Jimmy died in 1941 at the age of 81.

Only one person laid claim to the cheese maker trade. I assume that he was not the only one in that business, but no one else subscribed. There probably was a cheese factory in or near the village at that time.

There were a few display ads in this section of the directory.

This is the text of Lawrence and Gracey advertisement:

Blyth Steam Cabinet Works

LAWRENCE & GRACEY

Manufacturers and dealers in

HOUSEHOLD

FURNITURE

Parlor Suites a Specialty

Undertaking attended to and funerals furnished at reasonable rates

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This blog article is an example of how much information can be gleaned from a few pages out of a book over 100 years old. While it's not likely to produce earth shattering news, it can give fascinating glimpses into the world of our ancestors, and sometimes by contrast, it illuminates aspects of our life that we take for granted.

If you enjoyed this type of article, I would appreciate your sending me a note to that effect. Well, send me a note even if you didn't find this interesting. That's useful news as well.

You can use the comment feature at the end of the article. Or you can email me at

hbvodden@ezlink.on.ca

HAPPY NEW YEAR

BEST WISHES FOR 2011

Majoritarianism and the Charter of Rights and Freedoms

Majoritarianism is the basis of the belief that most decisions should be based on the viewpoints and wishes of the majority of the group in question. It is a well-established principle in our political and judicial systems as well as in most of the community organizations. Motions that are approved by a majority in parliament or in the local club are adopted as policy. In the supreme and superior courts of the land and the provinces the decision of the majority of jurists wins the day.

Also in our electoral systems, the party winning the majority of seats in the parliament or the legislature forms the government.

In its purest form, majoritarianism presents some serious deficiencies in that it discriminates against the minorities in ways that Canadians increasingly find abhorrent. It is this sense of majority injustice that was a large part of the movement to adopt the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms. The charter has set Canada above most countries in the world in terms of it sense of fairness and openness for all people. The Charter specifies many classifications of rights including equality rights including freedom from discrimination based on race, religion, beliefs, national or ethnic origin, colour, sex, age, mental or physical disabilities.

The Charter spells out a broad spectrum of rights for each and everyone in Canada. At one time or another, regardless of our situation, any one of us may need that protection. But another very important purpose of the Charter is to protect minorities from the dominant majority.

There are times when the will or predilections of the majority come into conflict with minority rights. These can be very sensitive issues, but as time goes on, most of these matters become resolved.

One of the most contentious issues a few years ago was the decision to ban religious exercises and instruction in public schools. It was recognized that the students in our schools come from families with many different beliefs. To continue with Christian prayers and bible readings as well as classes in religious education in public schools discriminated against a these children.

While we still hear complaints about that change in the education system, it is broadly accepted as a necessary change in our increasingly pluralistic society. The Public School system was developed to provide education for all children regardless of their families' belief systems, and it was wrong for them to be treated like less than equal members of society.

In the United States, a federal court ordered the State of Alabama to remove a statue featuring the Ten Commandments from the rotunda of its legislature for the same reason. This is a good example of the clash of majoritarianism and the separation of church and state. CNN reported at the time that only one in five Alabamans approved of that order. The majority were in favour of the display, but the court ruled that it violated important basic constitutional principles.

I agree very strongly that government and civic organizations should not give special privileges or status to any particular religion or belief system.

Several years ago I was asked to make a presentation to a closed meeting of a county council here in Ontario. At the opening of the meeting the Warden asked everyone present to stand and recite the lord's prayer - which they did. I assume all of that county's meetings begin the same way. What is the message here? What does it say to citizens of that county who subscribe to a non Christian faith, or someone whose beliefs are non-religious? I wondered if a Muslim, Sikh, or Jewish person were elected to that County Council, would the protocol change or would the council ignore the diversity and require that person to "fit in"?

Those who object to the removal of religious symbols and rites from civic places and events often characterize the change as being anti-religious. That is not the basis for my argument, and it is certainly not consistent with the Charter. To the contrary, the Charter guards against the extending of special privilege to some religious organizations in civic matters while excluding other organizations and their members from such privileges.

We can illustrate this process by reference to a municipality. Many municipalities have had traditions in the past where a religious service is held to commemorate a certain event or to dedicate a new building or other symbol of the community. In these cases, it was common to invite a clergy person to conduct the ceremony. Usually the clergy selected would be from local churches on a rotating basis.

This is no longer acceptable practice. Local government (municipal councils) represent the entire community, people of all beliefs, not just Christian but people of other religions, and people with no religious affiliation. Just as it would be obviously prejudicial to always choose a representative of one particular church, it is equally prejudicial to always choose from a particular faith group.

The most common argument against that view is that "most people in this community are Christian"; therefore, our ceremony should be conducted by that group. Another argument looks at the other side of the equation: "Well, there are very few people who identify themselves as being of other faiths in this community." My response in each case is "All the more reason why the civic ceremony should not be conducted as a religious ceremony. The civic leaders must not give special honours to any one religion, and must not treat anyone as second class citizens based on their beliefs.

Adoption of this policy should not be seen as anti-religious as some people mistakenly assume. It is intended to offset the insensitivity of those groups who refuse to recognize the rights of those who do not share their particular set of beliefs. In fact many of the strongest supporters of governmental neutrality in religious matters are devout Christians.

The essence of this policy is not a ban on religious people. It opens up the opportunity to preside over and participate in any civic ceremony to anyone regardless of that person's faith, beliefs, or affiliations. The form, style, and content of any such ceremony should be cognizant of the homogeneity of the audience.

The whole field of human rights is seen by many as a matter of concern at the federal and provincial levels of government.

It is high time that municipalities recognize that they are equally subject to the Charter and the provincial human rights code terms.

Brock Vodden

Bert McElroy Writes Home About Vimy - 1917

Private Bert McElroy, a young man who was born and grew up in Blyth, was an ambulance driver for the Canadian Army in World War 1. Bert is seen above at the back of his ambulance.

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In 1917 he wanted to write home to the home village to tell them what has been happening in that terrible conflict. What better way to accomplish this "mass mailing" than to write to the editor of the local paper?

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The Blyth Standard at that time was owned and edited by J.H.R. Elliott. Just last week the Elliott-Nixon Insurance Agency celebrated its 100th anniversary. The following is how the letter appeared in the Blyth Standard of July 19, 1917.

The editor has pleasure in presenting to readers of the Standard, the
following letter received on Tuesday:

Mr. J.H.R. Elliott

Blyth Ontario

Dear Sir:- As some time has passed since I wrote you my last letter, I think you are nearly due for another. Well, Mr. Elliott, I have now been in France nearly seven months and during that time have seen quite a few things pulled off here. We have been pushed around pretty much all over but a change is sometimes as good as a rest over here. I guess my busiest time was after the battle of Vimy Ridge and Messines, but between times is very often slack and so consequently we get longer rests than the infantry or artillery units. I don't think I shall ever forget what we had to do after the Battle of Vimy. We were kept busy day and night dressing wounded and getting convoys of them sent down to be loaded on boat for England. During all my time in France I have never been lucky enough to run across any of the boys from near home. Lots of Ontario and Western Canada boys passed through our hands but none that I knew.

The Huron boys reinforcing the 58th Canadians are about 40 miles from me from what the wounded in the same brigade as them say. So I guess there is a very slim chance of my ever seeing them over here. The other morning I was awakened by hearing the anti-aircraft battery firing and on getting up saw them pounding away at a German taube plane. Fritz was too high up for them to hit him but it was plain the concussion of the shells was giving him trouble in the way of controlling the machine.

As I am quite a few miles back it is seldom we see an air fight but always hear the guns pounding and see the star shells at night.

I have been getting The Standard all along and always hate to be disappointed in not gettingit, as it is practically the same as getting a letter from home.

We are getting plenty to eat over here and cannot complain at all to the way of comforts. Right here I may mention the good work being done by the Blyth Girls' War Auxiliary who are so lavishly keeping the boys from Blyth supplied with good warm socks. They are a thing always useful out here, especially to those in the trenches.

Well, Mr. Elliott, I must now close trusting to still receive the Standard as before; also remember me to Mrs. Elliott and family.

Very truly yours,

No. 528700 Pte. T. A. McElroy

No. 2 Can. Stat'y Hospital

B.E. F. France

Jamie Sims - One of our Blyth Heroes

James Sims was known as "Jamie" since his father was also James and was called "Jim".

Jamie's grandfather, William Sims brought his family to Blyth around 1874 and went into business with Robert Slater. Slater built fine quality carriages, and Sims who was a blacksmith, ironed them up. Their business, Slater and Sims Carriage Works, was located where the municipal parking lot is in 2010, on the south east corner of Queen and Drummond.

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Jamie's father had a general store on Queen Street, the fifth store south of the Dinsley Street corner. Jamie worked with his father there before he enlisted in the Canadian Army for World War 2.

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When he returned from the war, severely injured, he worked for a time with Harvey McCallum, a Blyth butcher. He spent the remainder of his life in London, Ontario, but often visited Blyth. He often brought a display of many types of horseshoe his father had made while learning the blacksmith trade. Jamie showed this display many times at the huge annual Threshers' Reunion and Hobby Show at Blyth. This display can now be seen at the Huron County Museum in Goderich, Ontario.

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Jamie had a beautiful voice and served as soloist in his London church and often returned to Blyth to sing on special occasions.

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Problems related to his war injuries followed him throughout his life. He is buried in Blyth Union Cemetery with his wife, Vivian McElroy, also from Blyth.

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Jamie left us with another treasure. While resting in a hay barn in Belgium, during the war, he wrote a beautiful poem which poignantly expressed his feelings about the ravages of the conflict and the hope for a better tomorrow. Here is that Poem:

THE PLAINS OF NORMANDY

We trod the Plains of Normandy

With pack and shovel and gun.

We trod the Plains of Normandy

From dawn to the set of sun.

We know not what the darkness held

Nor the morrow would unfold

While plodding wearily along

Among the fields of gold.

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Far fertile fields of Normandy,

Made rich by man's honest toil,

Your God has blessed the sowers,

And made bounteous the soil.

But men came by in anger

With chariot, flame, and gun,

And left in trampled ruin

The work that they had done.

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Caan, that ancient city

Of William the Conqueror's fame,

Stood guard o'er the pilgrims of Normandy

As vanquished and victor came.

She stood as a war torn hero,

Rent by the strife of man.

Alone, she stood in her majesty,

As all great heroes can.

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We left that ancient city,

Brandishing high the sword,

Fighting our way to victory,

Subduing a murderous horde.

But some remained in Normandy,

Memorials 'neath the sod,

To show that with pack and shovel and gun

Those historic plains were trod.

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Oh! We who are left with a memory

Bestowed on us by God,

May we never forget the sacrifice,

Of those comrades 'neath the sod.

May we carry the torch they threw us

To win the peace on earth.

May our conscience never let us fail

To remember them for their worth.

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We trod the fields of Normandy

With pack and shovel and gun.

We trod the Plains of Normandy

From dawn to the set of sun.

We know not what the darkness held

Nor the morrow would unfold,

While plodding wearily along

Among the fields of gold.

==

J. James Sims

Belgium 1944

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We thank Jamie's daughter, Linda, for giving us permission to share this poem and also for the information about her father and his family.

The Repository of Blyth History (Janis and Brock Vodden)

Pearl and Edythe Gidley

This picture was taken during a Taman-Gidley family reunion. All of the people here have personal connections to Blyth, but in this article I want to draw special attention to two sisters: Pearl and Edythe Gidley. Pearl is the second person from the right, and Edythe is the fourth person from the left.

Although these ladies are no longer with us, a portion of their life stories have been depicted on the stage of the Blyth Festival this summer (2010). The title of the play is "Pearl Gidley". The playwright, Gary Kirkham, was intrigued by Pearl's story which we brought to his attention when he was visiting our Repository of Blyth History. Gary has been generous in expressing his thanks to us, but the creation of this marvelous drama is the product of his genius. The production has received rave reviews from many sources including the Globe and Mail and the Kitchener Record.


Without giving away the story, I will only say that it deals with a period of time when the two sisters shared a home in the village, and take in boarders for income. Pearl who had been an accomplished pianist, has stopped playing some years before as the result of a traumatic event in her life. Edythe has given up some of her personal plans in order to look after Pearl.


The above picture is only one item of many that have come to us from relatives of the Gidleys. We have been in touch with William Emigh of Victoria BC for several years, a close relative of theirs. He is intensely interested in Blyth even though he has never lived here, but because his ancestors and relatives lived here, loved the place, and contributed much to the development and well-being of the community, Blyth holds a special place in his heart.


We asked Bill, on behalf of the playwright, for permission to use Pearl's actual name in the play. His response was that "Pearl would be deeply offended if her real name were NOT used!"

That response is very significant. It is part of a complex web of intersecting events, people, places, pictures, and surprising coincidences.

Some time ago, Bill told us about a portrait of John Taman, a Blyth pioneer and Pearl Gidley's grandfather. The portrait was in possession of Peter Fleck who, like Bill, was a descendant of John Taman. It was hanging in Peter's beautiful Jackson's Falls B&B in Prince Edward County, which was up for sale.

Bill and Peter discussed at length what should happen to this historic picture. Bill suggested that since John Taman and his descendants were so involved in the life of Blyth, that it would be appropriate to return the picture to Blyth. He further suggested that it could join the many other family artifacts which he had already sent to Brock and Janis Vodden. Peter agreed completely.

Sadly, soon after Bill conveyed this message to us, Peter was killed in a car crash. His wife, Nancy, very graciously offered to send the picture, deliver it to us, meet us at Stratford, or invite us to Milford to accept it, whatever we preferred. We chose to go to Milford to meet Nancy and receive the generous gift.

Pearl's name comes up frequently in the early Blyth Standard papers. She is either being announced as successfully passing a music examination or as performing as accompanist for some musical event. As a child, she was a prodigy; as an adult, she was a very versatile musician. She played all types of music - classical and popular. We learned that she could pick up any piece of music that she had never seen before and play it as if she had studied it for hours. Her sight reading skills were phenomenal.

Pearl and Edythe's father was a tailor. His shop was in the north half of the building which now houses the administration office of the Blyth Festival. The stage where the Blyth Festival has been presenting the play with her name as title for the past month is the very stage where she had accompanied countless musical programs. Many of these concerts and cantatas were mounted in Blyth and in other communities to raise money to pay off the debt for Blyth Memorial Hall. Pearl would be surprise to know that she was supporting the venue that would tell her story - almost a century later.

Since word got out that this play was in development and then into actual production, we have had many new contacts with relatives of Pearl as well as people who remember her when she lived in Blyth and later when she was a resident of Huronview, a local Home for the Aged.

A rumour going around stated that Pearl lived to be 103. I am afraid that we made the quite unjustified error of believing this with out checking first. The inscription on Pearl's tombstone tells another story. Her years show 1889 - 1986, a span of 97 years.

Last evening we attended the final performance of "Pearl Gidley", the third time we saw this play. It was to me even more moving than the first time, possibly because it was the final performance and the end of another great season of the Blyth Festival.

The consensus of many theatre folks is that this play will be seen on many stages in the future. Although we adore it because of its "localness", it will endure because of its deep, universal themes. In the words from the play, "It's what we do!"

Brock Vodden

Richard Sellars: Blyth's Famous Poet

Visitors arriving at Blyth by the GTR passenger train between its first run in 1876 and 1911 were almost certain to be greeted by the stentorian voice of Richard Sellars offering local transportation for persons, luggage, or freight. Chances are also that the greeting would have been delivered in poetic meter and rhyming couplets.

Richard was a truly unique and memorable character.

Richard was hired by the Commercial Hotel (in 2010, known as the Blyth Inn) to drive their horse-drawn bus to transport their hotel guests to and from the Grand Trunk Railway station. He was also hired by the Canadian Express Company to handle incoming and outgoing freight items. He was known as a "drayman".

Sellars is, without a doubt, the most quoted Blyth character of all time. We can read reports of what other people talked about or what they wrote about, but we seldom come across verbatim quotations of the words that came from people's lips. How Richard said things was just as memorable as what he said.

The London Advertiser was a paper that operated for just a few years in the 1880s. A substantial article about Blyth's Richard Sellars appeared in their edition of December 8, 1882. I will quote the complete article below:

"Blyth Babblings"

The Blyth Poet

The thriving village of Blyth boasts among its fifteen hundred inhabitants of a real live poet, Mr. Richard Sellars, town carter. He has now over fifty hymns, yielding an average of six verses each, which he intends ere long to publish in pamphlet form. The hymn book opens with the following verse:

Lord, visit this habitation.

Now to this house bring salvation.

Thous knowest it is just what they need,

For these poor souls did Jesus bleed.

His description of the Phillipian jailer is considered by some a fine effort:

When Paul and Silas went to preach

The word of God at Phillipi

So that they their hearts might reach.

The power was given from on high.

"'What must I do,'' the jailer cried,

Who kept the jail and held the key.

''My guilt is such I cannot hide,

Can Jesus save a wretch like me? "

Mr. Sellars is happy as the day is long. Everywhere he goes in an out among commercial men, wheat buyers, reeves, councilmen, he has a complete and sometimes a whole verse ready for every case. He rarely greets an old acquaintance in prose, as he has any amount of poetry at his command. A few evenings ago, seeing a London gentleman coming off the train, he sang out:

"Good day, Mr. Case;

You've got back to this place."

One day he forbade a pugilistic encounter on the platform by remarking:

There's no use wanting to fight, sir,

For Pat Kelly is king of Blyth, sir.

Wishing to purchase some chicken feed for his poultry on the road from the station, he hailed one of the wheat buyers:

Hello! Mr. McMillan,

How much wheat for a shillin' ?

An old friend at the station, departing for the North-west, he addressed with tears in his eyes as follows:

You're going to Manitoba

That cold but happy land,

For the hardships of Canada

You can no longer stand.

One day an old lady stepped on a piece of orange peel outside Southcott's tailoring shop, and rested suddenly on the sidewalk, which gave the poet an opportunity to getting out the following:

There was an old lady of Blyth,

Who slipped and fell on her side.

"This vile orange peel

My fate will yet seal"

Said this heavy old lady of Blyth.

from the London Advertiser December 8, 1882

from the Repository of Blyth History - Janis & Brock Vodden

Another account of Richard Sellars fame

In 1900, a former Blythite, J.S. McKinnon, wrote about his childhood memories of Blyth. He included the following references to Richard Sellars:

At one time the transportation of passengers and freight between the village and the station was the vested right of Richard Sellars, and for years, Sellars, as he was familiarly called, was one of the best known citizens and characters in the community.

As well as being Bussman and Drayman, he was known as "The Blyth Poet". Four times each day the most familiar sound on Queen Street was Richard Sellars calling out "All aboard for the train going north - Wingham, Lucknow, Kincardine" or "All aboard for the train going south - Clinton, Exeter, and London". Richard could make a rhyme about anything at any time or place, and as a passenger would be stepping into his bus, he would say something like the following:

"It will cost you a dime

And the train is on time."

When a train would be coming from Londesborough and it would whistle at the boundary [Blyth Road in 2010], and the passengers would be getting ready to take the train - Sellars would say

"The train is coming 'round the bend

To take you to your journey's end."

Richard Sellars and his horse, Old Kate, were certainly conspicuous figures on the streets of Blyth in horse and buggy days.

Taken from Blyth: A Village Portrait, Susan Street editor, pp 57-58

About Richard's Life

Richard Sellars was born in Yorkshire, England May 17, 1855 to Richard and Maria Sellars. The family emigrated to the United States in 1860, but his parents both died of a fever shortly after their arrival, leaving Richard as a five year old orphan. He was taken in by an uncle who was living in Cedar Rapids, Pennsylvania.

On the very day that Abraham Lincoln was elected president of the United States, November 6, 1860, Richard and his uncle entered Canada from Detroit, Michigan and travelled directly to Exeter, Ontario. Richard grew to manhood in this new home. As a young man, he moved to Blyth and took up his career as drayman and bus driver. We believe that he was employed by the hotelier, William Hawkshaw, who owned the Commercial Hotel around this time. Hawkshaw had lived in Exeter. We assume that he and Richard knew each other prior to Richard's move to Blyth.

On May 4, 1876 Richard married Christiana (Christine) Coulter, 18, also of Blyth. She was daughter of William and Mary Jane Coulter who had retired to Blyth from Morris Township. The young couple were married in Mitchell in the Bible Christian manse by William Hopper. (Marriage registration #008909). We have no explanation as to why they went to Mitchell for this occasion.

Richard is registered in the Blyth assessment rolls as owning three lots in the McCaughey Survey (Plan 170) Block D, lots 7, 8, and 9. These lots are located at the south west corner of Dinsley Street and Morris Street. Lots 7 and 8 face onto Dinsley and lot 9 faces onto Morris Street.

Richard wrote a few lines about a John Carter for the Huron Expositor of Seaforth on February 14, 1879 saying "He bade good bye to his friends and his debts a few months ago, and went to live with Uncle Sam". Not poetic, but well put.

In the 1901 census, the Sellars household was made up of Richard, 51years and his wife, Christine, 40, and four sons Wesley, David, Russell, and Whitfield. As well, Christine's mother, Mary Jane Coulter was living with them.

Richard died at his home August 27, 1911, only 56 years of age. The probable cause was given in the death registry as apoplexy (stroke). The death was registered by his son, Whitfield.

The following obituary was found in the Blyth News section of The Huron Expositor for September 1, 1911:

One of the old residents of this town passed away on Sunday, in the person of Richard Sellars, the well-known drayman and poet. He has been at that business ever since the Grand Trunk Railway came through here. He will be greatly missed by all. The funeral took place on Tuesday afternoon and was largely attended. He leaves a widow and five sons. The boys have all scattered, but three of them were at the funeral, Albert, and Russell from the States, and Whitfield and wife from Toronto, They have the sympathy of the whole community in their sad bereavement. It will be hard to get another man who will be so obliging and careful to fill his place.

In a later blog article, I will share with you a complete poem of 50 verses which Richard wrote about the Donnelly affair - a contemporary piece of great interest!

Special Request

If you happen to have any poetry by Richard, or if you have a photograph of him, or any related memorabilia we would love to add a copy or the real thing to our collection. You can respond to this blog.

Other Blyth Characters

A few years ago, some of us old timers were reminiscing about the odd, colourful,and memorable characters we knew when we were younger. I raised the question of why we don't have any such people around the village any more. Doug Whitmore responded with another question: "Brock, have you looked in a mirror lately?"


Brock Vodden
August 28, 2010

Blyth circa 1910

CULTURE DAYS IN ONTARIO

September 24 -25 - 26, 2010

These are CULTURE DAYS throughout Ontario.

Individuals and groups across the province are inviting everyone to see, enjoy, celebrate, admire the products of their works, talent, creativity, humour, expression, whatever they do.

Huron County has organized many activities and diversions under the newly minted term, "Communitrees". All across the county! Everyone is invited to walk around, bike around, or drive around to see the huge array of interesting offerings.

A basic rule is that all of these events and activities must be FREE OF CHARGE!!!!!

To get more detailed information about Culture Days, Google "Culture Days Ontario" and you'll get many informative hits.

Janis and I will have our own little contribution to this celebration on that weekend.

We can't invite crowds to our two bedroom walk up apartment and we don't have access to a spacious lawn or garden.

So we are inviting people to make a virtual visit to us. Mainly it's an invitation for people who have questions about Blyth ancestors or acquaintances, and who have some burning interest in Blyth's history. We invite people to take advantage of these three days to send us questions about Aunt Martha, or the funeral of great grandfather Scott, or who built the Blyth Inn, or what was the first church built in Blyth, or any other questions.

How to reach us: Look us up on the Culture Days Ontario web site. To find us, just type in our postal code in a box placed on the site to enable you to find all the events taking place within that postal district. Our code is N0M 1H0. So far we are the only event within this postal code, but many other nearby events will come up as well.

You will be able to phone in your request, email us, or write us a letter. We will make a limited number of appointments for site visits for those who need extensive access to the information.

We have no idea how many people will call or what kinds of information they will be seeking. We might be flooded with calls and our mail boxes may be overflowing. Or we might have a very lonely boring three days, staring at the phone.

We may be able to reply immediately to your query, or we may need to do some digging and get back to you ASAP. For most calls we will have a simple form on which we will record your question, and your contact information. In some cases a response will come almost immediately; in other cases, it might take a few days to find your answers. We may also need to start a dialogue with you to track down elusive information.

Why are we doing this?

In part it is shameless self-promotion. We have this marvelous collection. Most people who come to us or consult us by phone or email or in person are amazed at the extent and depth of our collected information. In a few cases people have said "You know more about my family than I do!"

We are in touch with people almost every day of the year. Often we have people come here and spend several hours poring through our binders or reference cards. Some come here often.

We want this collection to be as available to as many people as possible. We hope that by tapping into the marvelous promotion created for Culture Days that our efforts may be accessible to hundreds of people who would otherwise never know about this resource.

If you know of anyone whose ancestors came from Blyth, let them know about this event.

The Repository of Blyth History

Brock Vodden

Blyth Participates in Culture Days

I thought about inviting everyone in Ontario to our home during the week-end of September 24 to 25, 2010. Then it suddenly hit me that our three and a half room apartment might be crowded even if we had a small uptake to our offer.

So, during Culture Days we are inviting virtual visits to our place - a time for all those thousands of people out there whose ancestors lived in Blyth, passed through Blyth, thought about living in Blyth, or wished they could live in Blyth to call us, write us a letter, or send us an email, asking us anything about Blyth that they always wanted to know.

Jan and I were both born and raised in Blyth, and Jan's family came to this area when it was just beginning to be settled. My parents came here in the early 1930s. Thus we have many connections with Blyth families and our memories are reasonably good. But more important than that we have resources that astound most of our visitors. We also have trouble believing the extent of our collection. Quite a few visitors have exclaimed that "you have more information about my family than I have".

It's an innocent little hobby that got completely out-of-hand. We are always months behind in our filing and indexing new information that keeps rolling in. The satisfaction we get from being able to provide family researchers with great leads, copies of documents, actual contemporary newspaper clippings, and interesting anecdotes about great uncles and grgr grandmothers, makes it all worthwhile.

We don't know whether we will get any takers in September or whether we will be swamped with calls for three solid days. At least we have this opportunity to spread the word about this collection of history that is of absolutely no interest to most Canadians, but it is of huge interest to a surprising number of very special people with Blyth connmections.

Educational Democracy - 1881 Style

We came across the following Blyth news item in the Huron Expositor of October 21, 1881.

It illustrates what has happened to our education system as a result of our school board's complete loss of connection with community in matters dealing with our schools. Here is the item:

BLYTH -

TEACHERS AND SALARIES - With a view, no doubt, of lessening the national debt, the salaries of our Public School teachers have been reduced. The Principal, Mr. Henderson, who heretofore received $500, is now only offered $475 per annum, of course merely as a recognition of his past efficient services. The two lady teachers, who were allowed $265, are now being raised backwards to $235. This step has elicited public dissatisfaction in a very marked way. A petition signed by the large majority of the ratepayers, praying that the salaries be left at the usual figure, was presented at the trustee meeting last Saturday evening, where it was moved and seconded that it be filed, but an amendment having been moved to the effect that the petition be laid over for consideration was withdrawn. It is hoped that our trustees, who are certainly elected to carry out the wishes of the ratepayer, will in this instance show their good judgment by acceding to the unmistakable evidence of public opinion, and grant the prayer of the petitioners.

In 2009/2010, Avon Maitland District School Board commits "educational abuse" on Blyth with no compunction and without explanation or even a "we're sorry". In 1881, the boundaries of the school board were identical to the boundaries of the community. If the school board of 1881 did not reverse their decision, you can bet that the board for 1882 will have had a very different membership and will undoubtedly have taken a different stand on the salary issue.

School Board Hears From County

As reported in The Citizen for February 18, 2010.

A delegation of Huron County (Ontario) councillors addressed the Avon Maitland District School Board. Their concern is with the Board's approach to dealing with declining enrolments in the public schools throughout the county.

The Warden of the County, Bert Dykstra, gave a balanced presentation. He acknowledged that the board has a difficult task being faced with numerous fiscal, operational, and demographic issues. He provided some suggestions for making the board's decisions more palatable for the people of Huron County.

In a number of locations through the county, the board is thinking of closing schools located within towns and villages and in one case has already decided to close such a school. Warden Dykstra stated that he represents "all the students, parents, and all the schools across the county"

He emphasized the value of schools to their communities saying "our communities are built on the foundation of our schools" as well as other insitutions. "It's one of the components of a healthy community."

Dykstra emphasized that schools located in urban communitities should not be closed.
[End of borrowing from The Citizen.]

These ideas are not new; they have been expressed one way or another by many community groups and representatives to this same board. Let's hope that the county delegation has greater effect. So far there has been no sign that these very pertinent concepts have had any effect on the AMDSB.

It is to be hoped that this argument coming from the highest political level of the county will have a greater effect on this board, but given their past demonstration of intransigence, and stubborn deafness, we cannot be completely hopeful.

If the process of implementing these destructive plans could be somehow delayed for a few months, the elections in October may produce a slate of school trustees that have better hearing, better ideas, and may actually prove to be trustees to be trusted by the voters.

Brock Vodden

When Things Come Together

The picture below is familiar to many Blythites. Janis and I have had a copy for many years. The picture itself reveals quite a lot about its subject. We can tell that it is a parade related to the Frost & Wood Company. We recognize Blyth's main street. We can tell that it is probably dated before cars were common. But the picture left us with a few questions.


On this very date, February 11, 2010, Janis came across a little 14 line item in an old issue of the Blyth Standard which answers almost all of those questions. Just think! A newspaper published exactly 106 years and 8 months ago today pops up and explains a picture taken the day before the publication, June 11, 1903. From this tiny item in the Blyth Standard we learn the purpose and the date of the event, the route of the parade, the number of wagons in the parade, the name of the photographer, and what happened after this picture was taken.

Here is the article:

- Yesterday was a busy day in Blyth. Mr. W. A. Carter, agent for the Frost & Wood Co. had a delivery of farm implements. There were 85 loaded wagons in the procession, which was formed at the railway station and marched up town to Queen street, where Mr. T. B. McArter took a photo of the group. The implements delivered consisted of binders, mowers, horse rakes, and corn cultivators. All those who took part in the procession were entertained to dinner at the Commercial and Queen's hotels by the Frost & Wood Co.

from The Blyth Standard, June 11, 1903

By way of explanation: the railway station is the one on Dinsley street now the Station House B&B, the Commercial Hotel is now the Blyth Inn, and the Queen's Hotel was located where the Blyth Corner Cafe now stands, torn down about 1920. The photographer was Baxter McArter. We are not sure where the F&W company was located then.

Brock Vodden

February 11, 2010

Getting Back to the Purpose of this Blog

Funny how events have a way of re-directing one away from the main goal.

When I began this blog, my intent was to reveal to my readers (both of them) the reality of this amazing village as I perceive it. I wanted to get across the fact that this perception, which began to form in my early childhood, is still continuing to grow and evolve as more and more of the history of the village and stories of the people emerge.

Then came the school crisis; an immediate and real time change of course that seemed out of character with this village, and which casts a dark shadow over its future. We can only guess at what the future holds. Today's future is tomorrow's history. But I felt compelled to express my outrage at this action.

There has been no shortage of change in the village's past. Blyth has always been able to adjust to these trends and shifts in economy, technology, lifestyle, etc.. The difference with the recent changes is the fact that they have been determined by outsiders despite lack of clear justification and despite strong opposition. Nevertheless, I am confident that we will rebound and overcome these incursions.

Now I intend to get back to basics in All About Blyth. I will be offering more stories and historical perspectives, as well as some comments on current events and issues.

Jan's and my days are now filled to overflowing with studying the many old issues of the Blyth Standard that were discovered a few months ago and given to us by the Whitmore family. They have been microfilmed to preserve their content and to make them available through the Huron County Libary system. We have copies of these papers on compact disks (CDs). We thank the Huron County Library for their interest and assistance in this endeavour.

Thus we are in the process of recovering pieces of history from 1893-94, 1900-1903, 1907-08, and 1930. We will soon have additonal material from the 1940s. Of course there remain gaps in our historical record, but the fact that approximately 1200 newspaper pages of our village heritage have come to light is - I was going to say "nothing to sneeze at". (One remarkable thing about these papers is that they appear to be free of mold. Nothing to sneeze at indeed!)

In the meantime, we have had many rich discoveries coming in from Blyth people and from many descendants of yesteryear's Blyth residents. A dramatic story of a family feud ending in a brutal murder at the edge of Blyth has come to our attention. Although it was widely publicized at the time, an aspect of the event that never came up in the trial and that was never reported in the press at the time has been brought to light by a current Blyth resident.

We have been given access to the entire history of a Blyth area farm by scanning deeds and other legal documents covering the entire period from the original purchase from the Crown. Besides the obvious historical value of this material, it has been a thrill for us to see the handwriting of people who were just names to us up to now.

I hope you will enjoy the pieces that follow over the next few weeks. And feel free to leave a comment or a question at the bottom of the article. Or give us a call!

As you can see, we are just as interested in getting your stories of Blyth as we are in giving them out.

Brock Vodden

Who is qualified to comment on school issues?

There have been comments made by members of the Avon Maitland District School Board, members and staff, that "ordinary" people should leave school administration up to them, the experts who understand the issues and are wise by virtue of their membership in AVMDSB.

That attitude is sheer arrogance - a stance that people fall back on when they are incapable of explaining or justifying what they are doing.

I also want to make it clear that many of the most adamant critics of this Board are knowledgeable and experienced people in the field as former board members, current and former teachers and officers in this and other school systems.

As for me, I believe that my background entitles me (with a touch of arrogance) to at least comment on what is happening to our schools. I have the degrees of Bachelor of Arts, Bachelor of Education, Master of Education. I have taught in elementary schools, high schools, college. I have worked as a curriculum and language arts consultant, and was a superintendent of education. I was a senior administrator in one of Ontario's community colleges. In the course of my work in these positions, I also served as an advisor to provincial educators on education in remote northern Ontario schools.

And I am also one of those ordinary people who feel strongly about our community, its families, and its children.

Municipalities and Religion

Fortunately, most nations of the western world have maintained a clear separation between church and state. We see many nations where lack of that separation causes many problems for both the quality of governance as well as for religion.

At the more local levels - school boards, county and municipal councils - the process of separation has been at times a contentious issue, and in a few instances there remain a few vestiges of the old links between the civic and faith realms. The elimination of scripture readings and the Lord's prayer from public school classrooms has been achieved, although we continue to hear a few individuals complain about the change - in most cases because they do not really understand the reason for it.

A few years ago I was asked to speak at an in camera session of a county council (not Huron County). I was shocked when the meeting was opened with everyone being asked to rise and repeat the "Our Father". I can imagine the commotion that would arise if someone on that elected body were to make a motion that this practice be eliminated, yet it is clear to me that such a motion is long overdue.

Here is my reasoning.

County councils, like all municipal councils, are created to serve their entire community. To maintain a tradition of opening each meeting with a Christian ritual is a clear signal that this court is giving special and discriminatory recognition of a group of people of a particular religious tradition. All other religious groups are thereby diminished in the status they enjoy within that community. The situation also suggests that "this council is not prepared to welcome non-Christians as members of this body even if they are elected by their community".

We live in a pluralistic society made up of people from many faiths as well as those who follow no religion, and our laws and charters guarantee that none of us should be discriminated against for the orientation choice that we make. Those who do not subscribe to the religion "favoured" by their local government may well feel that they are regarded as a sub-class of citizens.

I am proud of the fact that most Canadians have accepted the separation of religion and governance in most regions and in most respects, and they understand the reasons for supporting this ideal. Many years ago working in other parts of Ontario, I experienced many heated debates on these matters, but those days have passed. Today virtually everyone understands and accepts the nature of our current society. They understand that the debate was not a pro-church versus anti-church debate, but rather a move to eliminate significant signs of religious intolerance in our local government operations.

Re-Inventing Blyth - Again!

It seems clear now that Blyth Public School is doomed.


No manner of argument, debate, discussion, pleading caused even a ripple of interest or concern in the Avon Maitland District School Board. The board's feeble gestures of consultation and review of the process of closing schools have so far proven to be empty pretences and false imitations of democratic community consideration.


Closing the school in a community tears the heart out of that community. As an educator, I am sure that the closure will have a negative effect on the education of our children. The long term effects on the community are daunting. They could include loss of businesses, reduced property values, loss of inflow of young families who will shy away from a community with no school for their children. The presence of a vacated school has the same effect as a business district with many vacant retail buildings; it could be seen by many people as a sign of a dying community.

Blyth will survive. Our children will get an education of sorts. But the village will be diminished. We will not forget the sense of abandonment when we recall what the school board, people who were supposed to represent us, did to us, and the fact that the majority of our own municipal council turned their backs on us in the end. Well at least we have a little better idea of where we stand.

Most disappointing is the fact that only a small fraction of members of the community showed up to express their outrage at this attack on our community.

What we need to do now is figure out what we can do to overcome the loss that we are about to experience. We need ideas, creativity, and lots of discussion to come up with a vision of new Blyth. We need dozens of ideas to be discussed, studied, compared, evaluated, weighed, until we come up with a handful of great prospects from which we can choose one or two or three that stand out as WINNERS! Along the way we may come up with a few additional ideas which will be easy to implement, not too demanding of time and energy, and which will contribute to the new community.

By referring to the "new Blyth", I am not implying that we throw away what we already have. We must build on those great assets that we have developed and fostered.