The following is a re-print of a past column by former Advertiser columnist Stephen Thorning, who passed away on Feb. 23, 2015.
Some text has been updated to reflect changes since the original publication and any images used may not be the same as those that accompanied the original publication.
October/November 1929 95 years ago
Halloween in 1929 brought little in the way of damage and vandalism to the Drayton area.
Costumed youngsters were about early in the evening, collecting candy, fruit and dimes from residents. There were a few reports of missing gates, and a couple of outbuildings were discovered relocated the next morning. Almost everyone regarded those incidents as harmless pranks.
Mr. And Mrs. Sam Brunkhard of Con. 10 Peel hosted the annual banquet of the Goldstone church choir on Oct. 31. By tradition this had become a Halloween event, and most of the 35 guests arrived in costume. They sat down to a roast goose dinner, ending with pumpkin pie and candies. The guests remained until after 2am, singing and playing games.
The Alma United Church Young people also held a Halloween event, at the home of Florence Bender. Decorations on the theme filled the house, and a ghost greeted the guests, who were also in costume. All enjoyed an evening of games and refreshments.
The big news at the beginning of the month was the provincial election. Some observers thought that Premier Howard Ferguson’s ending of prohibition would cost him his office, but his Conservatives swept back to power with 93 of the 116 seats.
Locally, electors bucked the trends by re-electing a Liberal, Dr. George McQuibban of Alma, with a bigger majority than in the previous election. The doctor enjoyed a huge personal following, and the majority of the North East Wellington riding supported his vehement opposition to liquor sales. Dr. McQuibban placed second only in Palmerston. The United Farmers of Ontario, who formed the government in the early 1920s, were reduced to a single member: Farquhar Oliver of Grey South, and he would eventually join the Liberals.
On Nov. 1, Father Keating of Guelph began a 40-hour devotional service at St. Martin’s Church. It concluded on Sunday morning before the regular mass.
Peel council met on Nov. 4 and decided to hire engineer C.D. Bowman to survey the boundary line between Peel and West Garafraxa to resolve several disputes. The rest of the meeting dealt with routine matters: the usual bills for road work, and preparations for the coming annual municipal election.
A price war started among Drayton’s bakers and grocers as bread dropped from 11 cents to 10 cents per loaf.
W.H. “Foxy” Kerr surprised a few people by opening Drayton’s third barber shop, located in the Royal Hotel.
The 1929 Royal Winter Fair had the services of a cattle judging team from north Wellington, consisting of Everett Oxby of Maryborough, Stan Lawless of Teviotdale and Harold Pridham of Harriston. The men attended a judging seminar at the OAC in Guelph before proceeding to Toronto.
Leaving town were two ministers. Rev. Don Mackay (and his family) was taking a position at St. George’s Church in London. Rev. Mackay had come from Bolton in 1926. Rev. C.E. Wilkins, who had charge of the Rothsay, Drayton and Moorefield Anglican congregations, announced that he would return to England at the end of November. He scheduled an auction sale of his possessions for Nov. 21 before leaving to join his wife, who had already returned to England. Rev. J. Melvin Smith moved into the new parsonage at Goldstone, even though O.B. Henry of Drayton had not yet completed installation of the bathroom.
The sudden death of the 14-year-old son of Mr. And Mrs. J.W. Simmons of Con. 7, Peel caused much surprise and sorrow in that part of the township. He had succumbed to a virulent strain of diphtheria. Doctors from Drayton and Palmerston attended the case, but to no avail.
Prime Minister Mackenzie King issued a proclamation urging all citizens to observe two minutes of silence on Nov. 11 at 11am. The Drayton Women’s Institute took charge of the ceremony at the Drayton cenotaph, laying wreaths and issuing an open invitation to veterans, clergymen and the general public to attend. Later that day, about 60 veterans from Mount Forest, Arthur, Palmerston and Moorefield gathered for another wreath-laying ceremony before adjourning to the Magnesium Springs Hotel for a venison dinner, which concluded with the singing of wartime songs and the exchange of stories.
Mr. And Mrs. Bill Main hosted the annual meeting and dinner of the Bosworth Beef Ring on Nov. 14. Beef rings were co-operative organizations in which members supplied everyone with fresh beef on a rotating basis. The one at Bosworth was one of the most successful, and would be the longest-lived in Wellington. The meal, as was usual for the group, consisted of a fowl supper.
An epidemic of whooping cough cut into school attendance in the latter part of November 1929. It was particularly bad in the Parker area of Peel Township.
A sufficient number of farmers on Con. 10 of Peel signed up for electrical service that planning proceeded for a line as far as Goldstone. The work was scheduled for the spring of 1930.
October/November 1954 70 years ago
Drayton’s Rotary Club put together a special Hallowe’en Night for the youngsters of the area on Oct. 30, a Saturday. The costumes were judged; winners included Rick Potter, Judy Lambert, Stewart Gulp and Warren Jack. The children received bags of candy. All agreed that the concept proved a great success, virtually eliminating pranks and property damage around town.
Goldstone United Church scheduled its anniversary service for Oct. 31. Rev. A.R. Robinson of Melville Church in Fergus assisted Rev. Jean Donaldson. The same day, St. James United Church in Rothsay had a guest minister. Marguerite Cousins was a third-year student at Emmanuel College in Toronto. She also conducted the service in Moorefield.
It was a busy week there for the United church. Rev. Philip Smith reorganized the choirs at Rothsay and Moorefield, prior to preparations for the annual Christmas cantata.
And on Nov. 2, the church’s fall supper at Rothsay attracted more than 500, the largest crowd in history. A program by the Arcadian Male Quartet of Galt followed the meal.
Rothsay’s Ivy Chapter of the True Blue Lodge met with 11 members present, a considerable decline from the heyday of the group. Nevertheless, the members busied themselves with a shipment of blankets to the Salvation Army, for distribution to Hurricane Hazel flood victims.
Maryborough council met on the afternoon of Nov. 2. Reeve Phil Rowland and his councillors first dealt with several farmers, who were grumbling about their assessments for municipal drains. After hearing the complaints, council passed a bylaw to distribute the provincial drainage grant among the several projects under way.
Rowland and his colleagues were still upset over the restructuring of the road system required by the soon-to-be-built Conestogo dam. They decided to initiate a fresh round of discussions with the county and conservation authority.
The big sale of the fall season was the dispersal of K.A. Hammond’s herd of Holstein cattle. The 60 head realized over $17,000 and went to buyers in several places in Canada, the United States and Venezuela.
Maryborough’s schools combined for a two-day music and public speaking festival, held at Moorefield Nov. 4 and 5. Brian Hammond, Gary O’Grady and Bruce Lennox were top winners for recitations. Doris Jean Ross and Carol Benson played the best piano duet. Colleen Faulkner, Brian Hammond, Ross Faulkner, Linda Bell, Anna Bouwers, Phil Clark, Bernice Matchett and Don Hammond performed the best solos, and S.S. No. 5 impressed everyone with its rhythm band.
Ethel Waters celebrated 35 years as Drayton’s librarian. She received a congratulatory letter from the head office of booksellers W.H. Smith, and a cheque for $100 from Drayton council. Under her firm hand, Drayton’s library was widely regarded as one of the best small libraries in the province. As well as looking after the books, she conducted a children’s story hour for many years.
The Ladies Guild of Drayton’s Anglican Church met on Nov. 3 to finish their big project of the fall: a shipment of blankets and clothing to those left homeless by Hurricane Hazel.
On Nov. 4, about 65 farmers met at Drayton’s town Hall to continue the discussion of a local co-operative. Henry Zantingh chaired the session, which featured speakers and films. The men voted to make their decision later in the year, after the subject of co-operatives had been thoroughly aired on the National Farm Radio Forum program.
Drayton United Church’s Women’s Association met on Nov. 5, with 31 present. The big item for discussion was the fowl supper, set for Nov. 9. The dinner set new records, as did several such events in the area that year. The meal, prepared by the church women in their new kitchen, produced a net profit of $760. A musical variety show followed the meal.
Bob Tschantz, a native of Con. 10 of Peel, was enjoying success with a broadcasting career. He began on CHVC in Niagara Falls, in November moved to CKCR in Kitchener, permitting the folks at home to hear him clearly.
The 1954 sugar beet harvest, delayed by the rains of October, was well under way in early November. As of Nov. 8, Ralph Henry at the scales in Drayton had loaded 22 railway cars with 752 tons of beets. The 1953 area harvest had hit 1,900 tons, and growers anticipated a much heavier tonnage in 1954.
The local Dutch population increased again with the sale of Robert Clark’s farm, on Con. 6 of Peel, to Mr. And Mrs. K. Byker. The family had been living at Varney for three years after coming from the Netherlands.
A Farmers Night, staged by Drayton’s Rotarians on Nov. 15, featured Mac Coutts of the Ont. Dept. of Planning and Development as speaker. He noted that the GRCA expected to plant 30,000 trees in 1955. He urged farmers to practice conservation methods, “combining farmers’ practical knowledge with scientific findings.” Coutts was on loan to the GRCA, and ultimately would spend the remainder of his career with the authority.
*This column was originally published in the Drayton Community News on Nov. 19, 2004
