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FREEMAN JACKSON of
Enterprise Recalls Early Days on Farm Kingston
Whig Standard July 25 1931 On the 3rd
of July last, Mr. Freeman Jackson, one of the oldest remaining residents of
this community, celebrated his eighty-seventh birthday. Born on the old
homestead near which he still lives, Mr. Jackson has spent the whole of his
life a respected citizen of the Enterprise district. In spite of
his many years, Mr. Jackson’s memory is very clear and he can relate many
interesting happenings of his early days. His ancestors on both his father’s
and mother’s side were United Empire Loyalists, leaving the United States
after the Declaration of Independence and settled on the shores of Hay Bay in
South Fredericksburgh. His grandfather on his mother’s side (William Wagar),
at the time of the War of 1812, was the only man in the vicinity in which he
lived on Hay Bay to own a team of horses. Horses being in great demand for
war purposes in transporting soldiers and supplies, the team was
requisitioned by the Government. Mr. Wagar was permitted to go along as a
driver with wages which privilege he accepted. At the
close of the war Mr. Wagar was called to Kingston where he received pay for
his horses and for the time he had served. With the money thus acquired he
bought six farms of 100 acres each in the township of Camden in the vicinity
of Enterprise. The farms are occupied by Bert Jackson, Arthur Brown, Alonzo
Wagar, Milo Jackson, Chester Clark and Elmore Jackson. For many
years Mr. Jackson with several of his brothers was engaged in the lumber
business and well remembers when the finest of pine lumber sold for $15 per
thousand and lower grade for $3 per thousand. He also with his brothers did considerable
road building throughout the township. Mr. Jackson brings to memory when
there was only one small log house in what is now Enterprise; this home was
situated near where the Royal Bank now stands. Part of the
drive house on the farm on which Mr. Jackson has lived for so many years is
the first frame building that was built this side of Centreville and is well
over one hundred years old. He has also had the unique experience in his life
of ploughing in the early days with oxen, then horses later on and last year
with a tractor. Mr. Jackson
well remembers when the farmers had what was called a community threshing
floor, where the grain was drawn to a central spot prepared for the purpose
and was threshed with flails. He has been a witness to the progress from
threshing with flails to horse power, steam and gasoline tractors. Mr. Jackson
attended school in a little log school house near Mike Wagar’s premises at
the turn of the road on the way to Centreville and remembers when church was
held in the school house by travelling clergymen and that the settlers with
their family would attend the services, coming for miles around on sleds
drawn by oxen. He brings
to mind the first buggy that appeared in the settlement and which caused more
excitement than the first automobile or aeroplane caused in later years. He recalls
when a potash works was operated on the banks of what was then known as
Dunn’s Creek and which is just west of town on the highway leading to
Tamworth. The settlers drew their ashes and cordwood to the works receiving
for maple cord wood the sum of $1.00 per cord Later the works were moved to
the village and were operated by Robert Thompson on the lot now owned by B.N.
Parks near the general store of O.B. Jackson. Mr. Jackson remembers when his
father built the house on the farm on which he was born and recalls that the
wages paid the carpenter were sixty cents a day. |
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ANDREW JOHNSTON A Remarkable Man Daily British Whig Apr 22 1870 Mr. Andrew Johnston died this week in the
Township of Sidney and the Belleville Ontario
published the following curious history of his life: - At the time the Thirteen Colonies declared
their independence of Great Britain a man named Johnston was living in the
upper part of Central New York. He declared in favor of the Royal cause, and
did his king good and faithful service during the whole of that long struggle
as a scout and guide, between the British forces in Canada and those farther
south. At the close of the Revolution he followed the Royal Standard to
Montreal and ultimately settled at Bath, when that now ancient village was a
wilderness. Johnston had five sons and two daughters;
the eldest, Andrew, was ten years old at the declaration of Independence and
he died last Sunday at the house of his son, Mr. William Johnston, on the
Front of Sidney. The old man, whose memory extended back beyond the birth of
the great nation at the south of us, retained his faculties to the last,
remembering and loving to dwell upon the scenes of his early life. – He kept
a tavern in Bath for over forty years, in the days of good old Jamaica rum
and “regulation spirits,” and yet, strange to tell, never tasted strong drink
in his life. His table was famous for its good cheer among all wayfarers
between Little York and Kingston and yet he never tasted meat; he, however,
confessed to a great weakness for chicken. Mr. Johnson, in the war of 1812 – then a
man approaching fifty – carried despatches and
mails between Kingston and York on foot, coming up through Adolphustown,
crossing a ferry at the Stone Mills and so along Prince Edward shore to the
Carrying Place. He crossed the then unbridged
streams by improvised rafts; slept where night overtook him, in the rude
cabin of the settler, or in the woods. He was a famous pedestrian in those
days, and on one occasion left Kingston with a companion who was well mounted
and who for a day or two left him out of sight, but he overhauled the jaded horse
somewhere about where Whitby now stands and beat him and his rider into York
by five hours. Mr. Johnson was a life-long member of the
Church of England, and for many years led the responses in the old Bath
Church, in the days of the Rev. Mr. Langhorn, the clergyman of whom it is
told that every morning of the year he took his plunge into the bay; in the
winter of course through a hole in the ice.
While keeping tavern in Bath, he became acquainted with everybody on
the bay, as in those days they had to go to mill at Kingston with their boats
and his house standing near the water was a favorite stopping place. Kingston too, divided the honors of the law
with Adolphustown and many a boat load of suitors and jurors have sat beside
Johnson’s cheerful fire and related the court news, or hazarded wise opinions
on the law. Mr. Johns then, did not come among strangers, when he moved about
the time of the rebellion to Picton, where he lived till about 15 years ago,
when his son, William, took him home to his own house, where he remained till
his death. On the Thursday before his death he said to his daughter-in-law,
“Mammy, you and William have taken good care of me for many years, but I
shall not be here much longer.” It is very gratifying to his friends to
know that he died in the full serene hope of a Christian. The Rev. Mr.
Campbell preached his funeral sermon, and he was buried in the Meyer’s
burying ground on that beautiful mound overlooking the Bay of Quinte, on
whose waters he had looked almost every day for nearly a century. Mr. Johnson was the brother and was ten
years the senior of the celebrated “Bill” Johnson, of thousand Island fame.
His brother’s course was a matter of keen regret to the loyal old man, but he
knew circumstances which went far in explanation if not in extenuation of the
fierce rage which the valiant outlaw entertained for Canada. It is an
interesting fact that “Bill” Johnson was buried on the Sunday just seven
weeks before the death of his brother, Andrew. He died at Clayton, the same
place which was the scene of most daring exploits, and where he has left a
large and very respectable family, one of them being Collector of Customs at
that port. |
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WILLIAM JOYCE An Octogenarian Napanee Beaver Mar 26 1897 Mr. William Joyce, of North
Fredericksburgh, now in the eighty-fourth year of his age, though not a
native of this county, has spent so many years as one of its active residents
that he may well be classed among our pioneers. He was born in County Armagh, Ireland, on
the 11th of June, 1814. His father,
George Joyce, owned a valuable farm and was among the well known farmers of
his native county. He patriotically
served his King in the Yeomanry during the rebellion in Ireland in 1798 under
Col. Bleaker, of Carick Bleaker. The
command was 300 strong. The family emigrated
to Canada in 1842. Crossing the
Atlantic over half a century ago was a very different matter from doing so
today. They sailed from Belfast on the
10th of May and experienced a tedious and boisterous voyage of seven weeks
and three days, attended with the many privations and discomforts of a
sailing voyage of those times. Among
the members of their company were the parents, William, the subject of this
sketch, his brother George Joyce, now of Richmond township, four sisters, Mr.
and Mrs. William Bell, now old and well known residents of Tyendinaga, the
parents of Thomas and Lewis Bell, now well known residents of North
Fredericksburgh,, and Mrs. M. Nolan. The survivors of that company
have still reasons for a vivid remembrance of some of their experiences in
connection with that trip. When off
the Banks of Newfoundland, they encountered a very severe storm which lasted
24 hours, during which their ship appeared at times to lie helpless amidst
the mountain-like waves. The captain
ordered all the passengers, 213 in number, down below for safety and there
they remained the long hours not knowing which one might be their last. At Quebec, they all changed for a steamer
to Montreal, and the change seemed an agreeable one indeed. They left Montreal in a canal boat, in tow
of the steam tug, "Shamrock" and just here they escaped a very
serious danger indeed which appeared specially
providential. The tug had a canal boat
lashed on each side and the vessel in which they were was towed behind. Just after starting the Captain sighted
Captain Neilson coming up stream with a steamboat for Kingston, and ordered
on all steam so as to get ahead. In
the sudden start the cable broke and left the canal boat quite in the
rear. Before the Shamrock had gone
very far, a loud report was heard and a cry of terror went up. The steam boiler had burst, destroying the
vessel so that it sank on end in a few minutes. All the passengers on the tug and the two
accompanying boats were either killed or badly scalded and the three boats
sank together. Capt. Neilson hurried
to the rescue, to help those who were now trying to help themselves, but most
of the unfortunates sank with the boats.
Capt. Neilson took the remaining boat in tow and brought them on to
Kingston. The party soon found their
way to North Fredericksburgh, where Valentine Joyce, the oldest brother, who
came out the year before, had already settled. Valentine was well known for many years in
the township; he died February 7th, 1893, an old man, and several members of
his family are still residing in that locality. The newly arrived family
purchased Lot 11 in the 4th concession of Fredericksburgh and became permanent
residents. There, the subject of this
sketch still lives, though now unable, because of age and physical
infirmities to carry on business. His
nephew, Thomas Bell, now conducts the farm.
His father died in November, 1862, and had the satisfaction before
that time of seeing all his family comfortably settled. The farm on which they located was at that
time, like nearly all the others around it, still in a wild and uncultivated
state, with very little clearings. The
roads, back in the forties, were yet in a very rough state, with here and
there barely enough clearing for teams to pass, and in the spring and fall
all but impassable at times. The young
people of today have
little idea of the mud, the corduroy, the stumps and the stones
found even in some of the best roads of the township at that time. Maple sugar making which was a very
important part of farming at that time, was a novelty indeed to the new
settlers, but they soon became initiated into its mysteries. Wolves were still plentiful and were
frequently seen, and it was difficult to keep sheep, in consequence of their
depredations. Deer,
foxes and other small animals, were plentiful for years after. Mr. Joyce has still pleasant
remembrances of his trips to Napanee, to mill or market, with a yoke of oxen
and the common ox-cart of those times.
Many of the farmers made their trips to town that way at that time,
their wives or daughters perhaps riding in the cart, and they themselves
walking the entire distance at the head of the oxen. Travelling at the rate of three or four
miles an hour was considered making fairly good time. Napanee was only a small village then, and
visits were seldom made to it. Schools and churches at that
time were very small and few. There
was not then a church of any kind in the entire township, with the single
exception of the old Lutheran church, miles away on the Big Creek. The Methodists had regular preaching places
in the school houses here and there, but mostly on weekevenings, and seldom
oftener than once in a fortnight, or even monthly. That was before the "Parke's
Chapel" was built, which became old and was torn away three years ago,
giving place to a modern new one. That
was, we believe, the first Methodist church erected in the township. Mr. Joyce has been a faithful member of the
Methodist church for more than half a century, taking an active interest in
the promotion of all its interests. He
was one of the pioneer Sunday school teachers of the township, and in these
early efforts he was much encouraged and assisted by the now venerable Milo
Parks, who is now about the only survivor of the co-workers of that
time. They also secured much
encouragement and assistance from the Rev. David Wilson, who first came among
them as "the young preacher" about that time, and who has ever
since been a faithful teacher and friend--but not another of the preachers of
those days is now left remaining. Mr. Joyce had a good early
education and for a term was a successful school teacher in his neighbourhood,
teaching in the old long school house near the Hay Bay shore--now only a
remembrance among the oldest of the inhabitants. Several of the present grandfathers of that
locality may, per chance, still remember receiving their first threshings
from his faithful school-rod. Those
were the days when Solomon's wise admonition was always kept in remembrance:
"Spare the rod and spoil the child." In these degenerate days the popular
translation appears to be the "spoil the rod and spare the child." The near neighbours at that
time were William Barragar, Jonathan C. Jackson, Billyat Outwaters, Peter
Parks, Jacob Hermance, Peter Woodcock and others, all of whom have passed
over to the great majority. The old
man, now having served his day and generation, is calmly awaiting the
Master's call, in confident hope of hearing the "Well done, good and
faithful servant", in common with many of his former co-labourers. Mr. Joyce has never married, as
he felt it his duty to remain at home in care of his aged parents. He has, by his honest industry, always
succeeded in making a comfortable home and making ample provision against old
age. He has been a life long
temperance man, and of regular and industrious habits and now reaps the
advantages in his old age. With the
exception of a severe injury in consequence of a bad fall a year ago, he
feels but lightly the burdens of his eighty-three years. He can still see to read without
glasses. His hearing is good and his
memory is unimpaired. He has been very
fond of reading and is therefore a man of excellent intelligence. As an evidence of his rare good judgment in
reading matter, we may here remark he has been one of the reliable
subscribers and regular readers of the Napanee Beaver almost ever since it
was first established, and would now deprive himself of a good many comforts
sooner than be deprived of its regular weekly visits. R.B.A.
Special thanks to Linda Corupe for
transcribing “An Octogenarian” |
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DENIS LAKE, ESQ.
Journal of Education for Ontario 1874 Denis Lake was
born in the year 1808, on lot 22, on the 4th concession of
Ernestown; and
the house in which he was born, though a frame one, is still standing and
occupied. When about 25 years
of age he settled in Portland, where he continued to reside till last
fall. When he went there that part of
the country was almost a wilderness, although now it is one of the finest
sections about Kingston. By industry,
strict economy, and good judgment, he succeeded in his vocation, and soon
becoming an extensive and model farmer, he was enable
to secure a large quantity of land, which, under his management and good
taste, became one of the finest country homesteads in the Province. Mr. Lake furnishes a good example to young
men, by showing that one can go into the woods with his axe on his shoulder,
and a determination to succeed, as his only stock in trade, and in the course
of a lifetime become one of the wealthiest men of his locality and times. - Kingston News. |
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CALVIN LEE
Calvin Lee of Yarker, Aged 95 Born in Camden Township – Member
Orange Lodge 79 Years Kingston Whig Standard June 3 1931 Ninety-five
years of age, in good health and able to read without glasses is the proud
boast of Calvin Lee, who is the oldest resident of this village. And these
are not the only good points that have been achieved by Mr. Lee. For
seventy-nine years he has been a member of the Orange Lodge, and all his life
has been a staunch member of the Conservative party. Mr. Lee was born in the
Township of Camden on January 3rd, 1836, and during these
ninety-five years has resided within fifteen miles of this village. His
grand-parents were Mr. and Mrs. William Lee, who were residents of the United
States and at the outbreak of the war, like many others, came from the State
of Vermont and settled in this country. They were the real United Loyalist
stock. Mr. Lee’s father was Nicholas Lee and his mother was Margaret Davy.
The latter was born in Holland. Mr. Lee well
recalls the days when he was a boy. His father after coming to this part of
the country erected a shanty which was made of logs, and mud and moss were
used for mortar. Yarker in the early days was called High Falls, and the
subject of this sketch remembers when Camden was practically a wilderness.
With the aid of oxen, Mr. Lee helped to clear the land and the work was very
difficult and arduous. In those days maple syrup was made in pot ash cans, and
there were many maple trees in Camden. Mr. Lee had eight brothers and one
sister, of whom there are two brothers living. With the exception of one
brother, all have lived past the three score and ten mark.
One brother, Chas. Lee, is 84 years of age, and the other brother, Jesse Lee,
is 87 years of age. The former resides in Colebrooke and the latter at
Shibley’s Corners. In the year
1852, Mr. Lee joined what was then known as the Yarker Loyal Orange Lodge,
and which is known today as the Colebrooke Lodge. It is doubtful if this
record can be duplicated in the Province. Mr. Lee was a personal friend of
the great Conservative chieftain, the late Sir John A. Macdonald, and was an
unswerving supporter of his policies. Only last year he and his two brothers
in company with nine others in this district who were intimate friends of Sir
John, had a group photo taken at Colebrooke, and he is very proud of the
photo. For the past three years he has resided in Yarker with his son Manson
Lee. His occupation was farming and his church was Methodist (now United_.
One son, Alex, has passed away and one son Manson resides here. There are three
daughters, Mrs. Harriet Warner of Yarker, Mrs. C.N. Peters of Kingston and
Mrs. Hester Bradshaw of Utica, N.Y. There are nine
grand-children and nine great-grand-children. He is very active, enjoys a
conversation, likes to talk of the olden days, remarks on the improvements of
the present age, and it is the wish of his many friends that he may live to
see more birthdays, and continued good health. |
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MAJOR ARTHUR B. LOYST
Napanee Beaver
Major Loyst Is Interviewed For Historical
Society Mr. Alkenbrack then interviewed Major
Loyst, and the interview was tape-recorded. Major Arthur Loyst has been farmer,
cavalryman and school trustee. He also took part in municipal politics as
reeve of South Fredericksburgh Township, served four years in county council
and was warden of the county in 1911. He is the oldest living ex-warden of
Lennox and Addington. When Major Loyst joined B Squadron of the
4th Hussars 70 years ago at the age of 16, his regimental sergeant-major was
John Magee, father of Bert Magee, Sandhurst. His wages were 50 cents a day,
with an added $1 for his horse when at camp. The cavalrymen had to look after
the horses at the summer training camp and clean the stables. At that time
the officer's pay ranged from $1.50 to $4 a day depending on his rank. Major
Loyst took command of his regiment in 1909. On his father's farm was a large wood lot.
As a young lad, he helped to clear this and drew lumber to Gibbard's
furniture factory in Napanee. Barley was grown extensively in the Hay Bay
area and sold for $1 a bushel. Storehouses were built along the bay shore at
Hayburn, Parks' and Woodcock's. Two-masted schooners sailed into Hay Bay to
ship out the barley. This trade ceased when the price of barley dropped to 30
cents. Ferries were operated to provide transportation across the bay.
Woodcock's ferry was a one-horse tread ferry; Brooks later operated it as a
gasoline-powered ferry. A two-horse
ferry operated between Hayburn and what now is known as Wilson's Island. This
ferry was built by some Napanee people to encourage the farmers of Hay Bay
area to trade in Napanee. Major Loyst is quite familiar with Hay Bay; he has
fished its waters, and on his 80th birthday he skated across the bay. |
