Thousands of people who grew up in Wellington County moved elsewhere in adulthood.
Stories of some of them have appeared in this column sporadically over the years. In some places there were clusters of emigrants, in eastern North Dakota and in the Regina area of Saskatchewan, for example. The latter group held annual picnics for a number of years, usually attracting several hundred people.
In the 1880s and 1890s, the outflow of Wellington natives escalated dramatically. Families of that generation were large. Local opportunities, on the other hand, were greatly diminished from what they had been in the 1860s and early 1870s. Declining commodity prices made farming unattractive, and small-town industries were not doing well. Many of Wellington’s towns and villages experienced declining populations in the 1880s. Larger cities were the places to go, and Toronto lured the largest share.
It would appear that many of those who moved away would have rather lived their lives at home had opportunities been available there. Perhaps the most active of the Toronto old-boys groups was the one formed by people from Arthur. They were instrumental in organizing the big old boys reunion in their home village.
Somewhat less well known than the Arthur group, and predating it by a decade, was a Fergus group, often called the “the Old Time Fergus Boys.” It appears that this group had its origins in some informal gatherings of old friends. In 1890, it became a more organized group, with Dr. Mennie as chairman. In the fall of that year, the group organized a banquet at the Elliot House hotel, at the corner of Shuter and Church Streets.
That banquet, on the evening of Nov. 13, attracted more than 100 old Fergus natives then living in Toronto, plus a handful of guests from Fergus. Dr. Mennie occupied the chair, and three other men, H.M. Robinson, R.G. Murdoch, and R.A. Hunt, acted as vice-chairmen for the evening.
The Elliott House was not one of the larger Toronto hotels, but its food was as good as any in the city. After the guests gorged themselves, they pushed back their chairs to enjoy an evening of toasts, speeches, and music.
As was usual for that time, the first toast was to the Queen. Next was one to “The men who govern us.” Centre Wellington MP Andrew Semple was present, and he addressed the group briefly in response.
A toast to “our volunteers” followed. Capt. James Berry, a Fergus old boy who had commanded the Fergus company during the Fenian scare of 1866, responded with a stirring address.
Many of those present had not seen Capt. Berry for a quarter century, and his remarks took them back a quarter century to their childhood.
Three members of Fergus council, Dr William H. Johnson, T.J. Hamilton, and R.H. Perry, accepted invitations to attend the banquet. All responded to a toast to “the Corporation of Fergus.” Dr Johnson, who had practiced in Fergus for a quarter century, spoke at some length, offering some historical anecdotes about the early settlement of Fergus.
In response to a toast from the chairman, Dr. Mennie, two former Fergus men responded: former Toronto alderman John Hunter, and John Imrie.
The toasts and speeches continued through the evening, and required the frequent replenishment of glasses. John Craig, who was at the time publisher of the Fergus News Record and was covering the banquet for his paper, responded to the toast “the folks at home” with some particularly well chosen words.
There were two speeches responding to the toast, “Canada, our country,” one of which was from James Robinson, a Fergus native who was then a reporter on the staff of the Toronto Telegram. His words were emphatically patriotic in tone, reflecting the rising feeling of pro-Canadian sentiment of that period.
Rev. Enoch Barker, who had preached in the old Fergus Congregational Church back in the 1870s, spoke in response to “the learned professions.” Dr McMahon spoke following a toast to “the ladies,” and George Anderson did honour to “the Old Time Fergus Boys.”
After those toasts from the head table, proposed by Dr. Mennie and the vice-chairmen of the banquet, it was the turn of the rank-and-file at the other tables. Men rose, most unsteadily, as waves of nostalgia and good will swept through the room.
Eventually the toasts came to an end. A musical program followed. The Hynds Brothers, accompanied by T.E. Bennett at the keyboard, offered a selection of popular favourites. Another act, the Kelly Brothers, offered more songs, with the guests joining in the singing of some of them.
The gathering broke up in the early hours of the morning. There were promises to organize a repeat event at an early date. That may have happened, but few details of the Fergus group in Toronto have survived. The lengthy program of music and toasts at the November 1890 Fergus banquet was typical of similar events by other groups over the next 20 years, for which descriptions exist.
Women played prominent roles in the organizing of some of the later Wellington County expatriate organizations, but that does not seem to be the case for the Fergus group, which appears to be the earliest of them.
Indeed, it is not clear whether any women attended the 1890 banquet. There was a toast to “the ladies,” suggesting that some were present, but if there were some women in the room, they were very quiet.
A decade and more later, the ranks of the expatriates contained an increasing proportion of young single women, who moved to cities to take jobs as clerks, typists, and office workers. It is not surprising, therefore, that women played large roles in those organizations after 1900, such as with the Arthur group in Toronto.
There are many unanswerable questions regarding those expatriate groups. It appears that none left any documents or correspondence to posterity. Some of their major activities, such as the 1890 Fergus banquet, received press coverage, but the groups certainly held other events. It is obvious that the Fergus group in Toronto grew out of old friendships that were retained or renewed among old acquaintances. It is not clear how they communicated with one another when the group grew to a hundred and more members, how the leadership was selected, or whether there was a formal membership with dues.
It is very likely that the groups varied considerably in their organizational structure. Smaller ones could exist easily as merely an informal network, which could expand when someone received news of fresh arrivals from the old home town.
Wellington County experienced a flurry of Old Home Weeks and Old Boys Reunions between 1900 and the early 1920s. Expatriates and their formal and informal groups played large roles in the organization and success of those events.
The flow of people moving away from Wellington County to pursue new opportunities did not end after the first quarter of the 20th century. Indeed, it probably increased.
The attitude to the old home town, though, changed dramatically. Today, no one would consider forming an expatriate group such as those that existed a century ago. Better communication via telephone and flexible transportation with the rise of the automobile may have been factors, permitting individuals to maintain contact with those back home.
This is a fascinating subject, and one that might interest a university student. I leave the subject on the table for someone to pursue in depth.