Mayor John Green was impressed with the July 11 Traditional Music Festival in Glen Allan and says he will be meeting soon with organizers to discuss the 2010 event.
“People are very excited about the fact we may be expanding this,” Green said at last week’s council meeting.
He told council he thought the event was a great success, especially considering the limited amount of time with which it was planned. He added that when he was at the event, about 45 members of the black community were in attendance and about 100 in total.
The festival, which the township supported with a $1,000 donation, honoured the area’s early black settlers, many of whom were former slaves from the United States, through various musical performances – some by individuals who have performed alongside legends like James Brown.
Green also noted he learned that Canada’s first ordained black female minister was from Glen Allan, which is an interesting part of the township’s history.
He was referring to Reverend Addie Aylestock, who was born in Glen Allan and attended the Medical Missionary College and the Toronto Bible College, while working in domestic service in Toronto. In 1951, she became the first ordained black woman in Canada and served British Methodist Episcopal churches for over 20 years in places like Toronto, Halifax and Owen Sound. She remained involved with the church until she passed away in 1998.
Her family’s story is an interesting one with various connections to what is now Mapleton Township.
The Aylestock family
William Aylestock and Minnie Lawson both grew up on farms in the Queen’s Bush settlement near Glen Allan.
William was the only child on his 200 acre farm and Minnie was one of 17 children. The two eventually married and had eight children. After marriage, they stayed a short period in the Queen’s Bush and lived near several German families.
The Germans referred to the Aylestocks as good neighbours and they often helped each other when the fields had to be threshed. After threshings, all the men would visit the Aylestocks to enjoy some of Minnie’s famous pies.
William and Minnie’s first five children were born in Glen Allan, and the last three were born in Lebanon, where the Aylestocks owned seven and a half acres. William worked in construction and also helped on other farms.
Addie Aylestock was the eldest child. Lloyd Aylestock was an engineer and the first black to be hired at the Avro Aircraft plant in Toronto in 1938. Frank Aylestock was a WWII veteran who later taught electronics. Rella Braithwaite (nee Aylestock), at age 12 was the only black student attending Listowel High School. She has worked for Newspapers and written books and plays.
– with files from
Guelph Museums
