A Night to Remember the Empress of Ireland

March 11, 2015March 24, 2015 / veronicablanchette / Leave a comment

***Update***

Unfortunately, the Empress of Ireland event has been cancelled.
Purchased tickets will be refunded.

The Sinking of the Empress of Ireland: People and Context will be an evening event with a talk from Dr. John Willis, Curator from the Canadian Museum of History. Guests can enjoy a casual get together with friends at Huronia Museum with hors d’oeuvres and wine followed by a talk by Dr. Willis who will share the story of The Empress of Ireland, the largest maritime disaster in Canada’s history. Friday, March 27, 2015 7 00 pm Hors D’oeuvres and Wine 7 30 pm Lecture 8 30 pm Coffee, Tea and Sweets Tickets are $50 per person and can be purchased at Huronia Museum or online at http://www.shopmidland.com/HuroniaMuseum/ This event is a fundraising event for the Huronia Museum and the Friends of the SS Keewatin. The event will be held at the Huronia Museum. Dr. John Willis will speak on the following: It took less than a quarter of an hour for the Empress of Ireland to sink to the bottom of the St. Lawrence River on the early morning of May 29, 1914. A total of 1012 lost their loves. Hundreds were injured, other scarred for life. This presentation will focus on the crew and the passengers aboard the ship. We will try to get a feel as to why some of these people were aboard the shipl their provenance, their destination; their destiny. I will also examine tow elements of the context of the times: first: why and how people were travelling; second the great waterway by which they entered and left our country, the St. Lawrence River.

Heritage Dinner 2015 – Featuring Speaker Dr. Kathryn Labelle

March 6, 2015May 11, 2015 / veronicablanchette / Leave a comment

“Confronting Champlain’s Legacy In 17th Century Wendat Country”

Much has been made of Samuel de Champlain and his exploration of the “New World”. Biographical sketches detail his personal life as well as his professional legacies concerning the settlement of what would become Canada. Unfortunately similar biographies are rare for those Indigenous people who encountered Champlain and his European counterparts. Consequently current histories continue to neglect the lesser known “dreams” of First Nation Leaders and their legacies.

Dr Kathryn Labelle’s talk offers a unique opportunity to counter this trend and discover the significant story story of Chief Aenon of the Wendat Bear Nation. As a skillful diplomat and advocate for his people, Labelle uses Aenon’s Biography to create a more nuanced depiction of the 17th century Wendat Country (Huronia).

Friday May 8th, 2015 at 5:30 PM at the North Simcoe Sports and Recreation Centre, in Midland, Ontario.

Join us as we hear Dr. Kathryn Labelle speak on Chief Aenon’s Dream: Confronting Champlain’s Legacy In 17th Century Wendat Country. Dr. Labelle is an Assistant Professor of Aboriginal history at the University of Saskatchewan and an adopted member of the Wyandot Nation of Kansas. She is the Author of “Dispersed but not Destroyed” also available for purchase at the Huronia Museum.

Buy tickets at the Huronia Museum or online at http://www.shopmidland.com/HuroniaMuseum

Looking Back 60 Years Ago in North Simcoe Last Week of February 1955

March 5, 2015 / Tom / 1 Comment

Fifty Years Married
Shovelled snow for two days to get to church for his wedding;

Joseph Paradis, whose father was also Joseph, got very little formal schooling as he started work at 10. His father was paid $80.00 a month to work on the log booms for the Georgian Bay Lumber Company but was required to pay his own help. Joe Jr. went as the assistant so as to keep all the money in the family. When he was 15 the family moved onto a farm in Port Severn where he worked until he married. Mrs. Paradis, who will celebrate her 68th birthday next month, is the daughter of Mr. & Mrs. Edmund Bressette and unlike Joe did go to school and lived at home until married. They were married in the church at Port Severn by Father Laboureau who only came to Port Severn once a month as his parish extended from Penetang to Honey Harbour. Joseph recalls having to shovel all day Saturday and Sunday to open the road to get to the church for the Monday wedding.
When married they moved to Victoria Harbour where he worked for the Waldie Lumber Co. on the sorting jack for $1.75 a day. Later he learned carpentry which earned him .35 cents an hour and a three year job building the locks at Port Severn.
Thirty two years ago they moved to Penetang with their family of five sons and one daughter. Joseph got a job at Grew Boats as a finisher and worked there until his retirement last year. At the time it was Gidley Boats, later the Stewart Company, then Grew Boats who sold out to another firm who retained the name.
The couple remembers the first bicycle they ever saw, ridden by Dr. Boyd of Coldwater when he came to Port Severn on calls. The same doctor drove the first car they ever saw. The main entertainment in Port Severn was dancing, around Christmas there was a dance almost every night. Square dances held in various homes with fiddlers, an organ if there was one in the house and occasionally an accordion. “And we had a lot more fun than they do now.”
Only one son, Fred, is working in Penetang, Edmund, Joseph Jr. and Felix are working in Kingston and Alden is with the RCAF in Ottawa. There only daughter Valerie, (Mrs. Vic Moreau) died about two and half years ago. They have 24 grandchildren and 2 great grand children.

10 Years Ago (70 years Ago)
Since February the 6th four thousand tons of ice 19 inches thick has been harvested from Georgian Bay at Port McNicoll for the CPR. Four thousand tons were kept in storage for the CPR steamships, the remainder was shipped by rail to Windsor, London, Owen Sound, Orangeville and Trenton.

50 Years Ago (110 years Ago)
Listed among the merchants in a 1906 business directory is the Midland Boat and Canoe Company operated by W.H. Hacker and Co. W.H. was the father of F.A. Hacker who still operates a store on King Street (1955). “It was located at the foot of King Street where the present Midland Boat Works now stands.” “Perhaps our biggest business was renting houseboats which we had towed wherever desired up the shore,” said Mr. Hacker. “There were no summer cottages dotting the islands then. Only a few permanent settlers scattered about in the wilderness.” The advent of the gasoline motor changed all this, as it did a lot of other things. (Descendants of popular Midland son and retired lawyer Fred Hacker)

Roofing the St. Andrews Hospital addition are Mel Bumstead, Midland, John Fagan, Wyebridge, roofing contractor C. Annand and Elmer Beardsall of Midland.

Plumber Jack Wilson from Waubaushene, Don Gillespie and Albert Atkinson of Midland working on the expansion of St. Andrews Hospital Midland, February 1955

Ernie Robins from Midland Foundry and Machine installing elevator in addition to St. Andrews Hospital, Midland.

St. Andrews Hospital addition construction photo, Carl Newman from Walkers Electric working on electrical panel. Bob Newburn, electrician for Walkers Electric working with conduit.

Midland Lion’s Club sponsored little league hockey MVP’s. Edgar Dorion, AHL, Jim Wilcox NHL, David Simmonds junior OHA. Edgar is holding the new PMCL trophy. Coach unknown and Rev. Len Self.

Esteemed Port McNicoll businessman George Patterson dies in England.
A former Warden of Simcoe County and Reeve of Port McNicoll for 14 years, Mr. Patterson, aged 72, died in a Berwick-On-Tweed hospital while visiting his sister. Born in England on May 9th, 1883 he apprenticed as a tailor but soon followed his father in the masonry trade. He came to Canada in 1906 and obtained work in Hillsdale as a mason then moving to Elmvale to work for a contractor named Parker. In 1907 he moved to Victoria Harbour and worked for Sherman Burns as a mason. In 1911 he moved to Port McNicoll and built many foundations including the one under the Bonar Presbyterian Church. He served in France during the war and returned to Port McNicoll in 1919 and opened a men’s clothing store. He was an elder of the United Church and enjoyed curling and fishing. He was predeceased by his wife Maggie Tooke of Victoria Harbour and leaves six sons, Jack, Jim and David, all of Toronto, Bob and George of Port McNicoll and Donald of North Bay, one daughter, Mrs. Clive Park of Midland.