John Beames, a young farmer from West Garafraxa, operated a supplementary business in the late 1890s.
He purchased a threshing machine, and during the late fall and winter he toured the countryside with it, processing grain cut by farmers and stored in their barns since harvest. There were hundreds like him around the province. The extra income would help pay for their threshing machines, which was by far the most expensive piece of machinery owned by farmers in those days. Normally they hired one or more employees to assist with the work.
During the second week of February, 1899, John Beames and his brother were threshing grain at the farm of George Maitland, about three miles south of Elora. On the afternoon of Feb. 9 they finished the job in mid-afternoon. The brothers loaded the threshing machine onto a sleigh, and prepared their equipment for the move to the next customer on their list, Torrance Hood, in Guelph Township. They left for the Hood farm after supper.
The Elora-Guelph road was filled with drifts that made passage difficult. The road was not plowed at that time, of course, and traffic merely packed the snow down over time, and detoured slightly, if possible, to avoid the deepest drifts.
The trip was a precarious one for the brothers with their awkward and top-heavy load. For most of the way, one of the brothers, and sometimes both, walked alongside the wagon, attempting to hold the machine in place.
At that time a watering trough intruded onto the roadway about a half mile north of Ponsonby. It was at particularly bad spot in winter conditions, as snow tended to drift badly there, reducing the road to a narrow alley. As the Beames brothers’ wagon passed through the narrow passage, it tilted to one side. John struggled to keep the load in place. It was an exceedingly dark night, with a new moon, and visibility was very poor. A runner on the sleigh struck something solid in the snow, halting it suddenly. The threshing machine kept moving and fell on John, crushing him to the ground. His brother, who was also walking alongside the sleigh, had a leg pinned to the ground, but he was able to extract himself with considerable tugging after about 15 minutes.
The brother staggered ahead to Hurst’s Tavern at Ponsonby, and returned with help in a few minutes.
Several men struggled to get the threshing machine off John, but it was obvious that he was dead due to severe head injuries. It was likely that he never realized that something had struck him. The consequences were tragic for his family. He left a widow, Mary, and a son who had been born only five weeks earlier.
A couple of men volunteered to take the body to Elora by wagon. They placed it in the firehall at the rear of the old town hall. The coroner looked at the body soon after, but deemed an inquest unnecessary. Aaron Auger, a part time undertaker, prepared the body for burial. Beames was taken back to West Garafraxa the next day, and buried on February 11.
His widow, Mary, was convinced that the accident was a consequence of poor road maintenance by Wellington County. Shortly before his death, her husband had sued another threshing crew in a complicated matter over damages. The case was settled out of court quickly, and largely to her late husband’s advantage. That example probably led her to believe that pursuing a lawsuit for damages was a simple and straightforward matter.
Mary Beames may have also received some inadequate legal advice, or perhaps some urging from her father, Benjamin Smeltzer. In any case, she brought an action against the county very quickly. The county received notice of the impending action on Feb. 23, 1899. Mrs. Beames demanded $5,000 in settlement, or she would initiate the suit two days later, on Feb. 25.
That time span made an investigation and response by the county impossible. The matter would need to be referred to the appropriate committee of council, which would investigate the facts, consult the county’s solicitor, and report back to the whole council with a recommendation for action. In those days county council met only three times per year, and the next session was scheduled for the end of May.
As she threatened, Mrs. Beames initiated her action against the county, and the case came up before the 1899 spring assizes in Guelph in April 1899.
It was a late addition to the court’s calendar, and Justice Ferguson decided there was insufficient time at that session to deal with it.
He referred the case to the next non-jury session of the High Court.
The matter came up at the May session of county council when the warden mentioned it in his opening address. Later in the session “Honest” John McGowan, of Peel Township, gave further details to the other councillors concerning the case, and indicated that, on legal advice from county solicitor Hugh Guthrie, the county would defend the suit.
The warden told the session that he and members of the roads committee had already had a couple of special meetings concerning the case, and were confident that Wellington County would win the case.
The case came to trial about a month later. Mary Beames was somewhat surprised that her arguments did not convince the judge that Wellington County was negligent in its construction and maintenance of the road. The judge ruled that the Beames brothers were careless in transporting a threshing machine on a dark night, and not having it tied down securely on the sleigh. She received nothing but a bill from her lawyer.
Unsuccessful in the lawsuit, Mary Beames next approached county council directly. She was considerably less strident than in her earlier demand for $5,000. She sent a written request, in her own hand, for financial help. County council considered her appeal at its December 1899 session. She made no mention of a dollar amount. Now she wanted only “a grant” to help provide for her and her infant son.
The county’s standing committee on finance considered the request, and recommended to the full council that no action be taken on the request. For the second and final time, her request for help was turned down.
Mary and her infant son returned to her father’s farm at Lot 15, Concession 5, of West Garafraxa. The household was a large one. As well as her parents, she joined three brothers and three sisters.
Her oldest sibling living there was 20, and the youngest, Forella, was 16 months younger than her own son. It was a case where the nephew was older than the aunt, but that situation was not unknown in the era of large families.
Neither Mary’s name nor her son, John, appear on the West Garafraxa census for 1911.
She may have moved away, or remarried. Perhaps both. She was lucky in having the support of her family.
There were few alternatives at the end of the 19th century for young widows with infant children.