Results for ‘General Events’
HISTORICAL SOCIETY
Photograph “Price Cemetery”
[Welland Tribune, 1 October 1985]
A highlight of the Welland Historical Society meeting held recently at the Museum was the celebration of the birthday of an honorary member, Mrs. Mabel Brown, with a decorated cake and candles.
President George Chipman thanked everyone who participated in the arrangements for the Fenian Raid Tour and picnic; the Rose Festival Quilt raffle and the Celebrity dinner at Julio’s.
A donation to the Museum for hygrometers and dehumidifiers was approved by the Society, as well as brochures in French and English for a walking tour of downtown Welland.
In researching the name of Denistoun Street, Cecil Dyson came up with origin of three other streets as well, all named after members of the Bald Family. He obtained his information at the Welland Public Library in Rice’s History of Welland County and Thorold Township Cenennial year book, he presented a short outline of the Bald family.
A Scotsman, Thomas Bald immigrated to this country in 1784 and settled on the Bald homestead on the Welland River across from the old County Hospital, now Riverside Terrace Apartments.
His son David married Hannah E. Cook of Cook’s Mills who was the first woman teacher in Welland County.
The Balds had a farm in the vicinity of Bald Street and Willliam Bald lived in and possibly built the Presbyterian Manse on Bald Street which gave Bald Street its name.
David Bald had three children, James who J.C. Bald School on Thorold Road named after him; Catherine was remembered by Catherine Street and David Denistoun whose name was given to Denistoun Street.
Denistoun has played an important part in Welland’s history.
In the very early years, there was a dock at the north end of Denistoun on the Welland River and the Bald family owned scows on the River.
It was the home of the Welland County Fairgrounds from 1857 to 1974. The Methodist Episcopal Church and burial grounds was established in 1865 across from the Welland High School and the high school was built in 1879. Also the Electric Steel and metals was built in 1913 with two original Heroult’s electric steel melting furnaces and which produced many thousands of 16 and 18 pound shrapnel shells for the Allies during the First World War.
Harold Fox spoke on the life of David Price who is recorded as being the first white settler in Welland and that an Indian settlement was located at the corner of Jane Street (Now Maple Avenue) and Fraser Street at that time.
He quoted from a copy of the Remanences of John Price and his father David of Welland, written for the Buffalo Express by B.B. Babcock and published in the The Tribune May 14, 1897.
David was born about 1750 in the valley of the Mohawk River near Wellsville, New York.
During an Indian uprising he was taken prisoner by a tribe of Seneca Indians and held seven years.
After his release he was an employee of the Commandant of the military post at Oswego until the close of the war. He then moved to Niagara in New York State and later to Fort George where he worked as interpreter, clerk and storekeeper in the department of Indian Affairs, August 20, 1800 at St. Mark’s Church at Niagara-on-the Lake, he married Margaret Gonder. In 1812 David moved his family to 200 acres of land along the Chippewa Creek, a place known only as Seven Mile Stake.
David’s son John tells of being born in a log house on the south bank of Chippewa Creek, the same location that the Niagara Regional Youth Home is situated on West Main Street. His death occurred Feb. 26, 1841 and his remains were buried in the Methodist Episcopal Church cemetery on Denistoun Street. Hazel Sauer and Emily Laing were in charge of social arrangements for the meeting.
[Welland Telegraph, 16 July 1907]
Tremendous Crowd in Welland on July 2th—An Address of Welcome by Mayor Crow—Monster
Orange Procession—Speeches by Leading Orangemen, Evan E. Fraser, M.P.P., W.M. German, M.P., Frank Lalor, M.P., and Others—Sports of the Day
THE BATTLE OF THE BOYNE IN HISTORY
William Prince of Orange landed at Carrickfergus on the 14th of June, 1690. All Ulster rose to receive him and the soldiers took heart once more. Ten days later he started south at the head of 36,000 men. When William’s army approached Dundalk, James fell back upon Ardee; and the former still pressing southwards, the latter continued his retreat, until the pursuer was brought to a halt on the morning of the 30th of June. The English and Irish armies at last looked each other in the face across the now historic waters of the Boyne. The day passed in an exchange of shots across the river, from one of which William well-nigh lost his life, for it grazed his shoulder.
The morning of the first of July broke fair and a little after sunrise the English army advanced in three divisions to the attack. William at the head of the left wing, consisting entirely of cavalry made for a difficult and dangerous crossing in the lower river. The conflict raged hotly for a short space at the southern exit of the ford. Schromberg dashed impetuously into the river. The arrival of William at once decided the doubtful struggle. “Men of Inniskillen, what will you do for me?” was his inspiring question to the sorely pressed Protestants of Ulster; and drawing his sword with an arm yet stiff from the wound of the previous morning he led his Dutch guards and Inniskilleners against the still unbroken centre. The defeat of the Irish army soon became a rout, and their retreat a flight. James, who had watched the _ against him was making the battle from the hill of Donore till it best of his way to Dublin. His army was now a broken and confused mass of fugitives. The Battle of Boyne was won.
EXCERPT: The 12th July celebration held in Welland on Friday was a magnet that drew more people within the city walls than was ever here before. It is probable that the visitors numbered seven or eight thousand. The character of this immense concourse was one that did credit to the order of Orangemen. It was a sober, orderly, well-dressed representation of good Canadianism.
The crowd was so big that it was rather more than Welland could conveniently swallow. Truth to tell Welland on its ordinary days is crowded to the attic. The advent of the special trains and boats in a figurative way hung out the Standing Room Sign- only sign all over the place.
The town was astir early in the morning and people rose to see a fair day after twenty-four hours of rain. Flags were flying and streamers fluttered in the wind. In the middle of the forenoon the Grand Trunk specials came in from Niagara Falls and Dunnville. Then towards noon the Hamilton contingent arrived on the T.H. and B., and the Hagerville people on a special M.C.R.R. The Buffalo Street bridge at noon. But this crowd that came by train and boat was largely supplemented by the immense numbers that drove in from the country. When the whistles blew for noon the sidewalks were covered with people, and the street with vehicles. Welland never saw anything like it before.
Noon brought with it the great responsibility of feeding the people, a stupendous task. The hotels did everything within their power. The ladies of the Methodist Church fed hundreds with a special dinner served in the basement of the church. The ladies of the Presbyterian Church had a tent on the canal side and here a thousand were given dinner. The doors of a thousand homes were thrown open but even at that it is not unlikely that many went without dinner.
[Welland Tribune March 13 1947]
Car licence trick is worked by bandits who scoop up $2,500
Smithville, Ont. March 13- A bank robbery that almost misfired and which was partially fortified by the timely appearance of a Caistor centre farmer netted five armed bandits approximately $2,500 yesterday afternoon where they held up the Royal Bank here.
The five men, four of them wearing white handkerchiefs on their faces, the fifth wearing dark glasses, entered the bank a few moments before closing time. According to a witness they announced it was a holdup and “just swarmed over the counter. Front and back.”
Earl Wait, the farmer, parked his automobile across the street from the bank and, unaware of the holdup, attempted to enter the building. The bandit keeping watch saw him approach and as he(the farmer) was about to open the door, the man ordered him inside.
Wait realized what was taking place and dashed down the steps from the bank. He scraped his hand as he stumbled but kept running and shouting that the bank was being held up. The bandit on guard took deliberate aim and fired a shot in the direction of the fleeting ma. He missed.
At the sound of the shot, one of the man who was scooping up the money in the teller’s cage said: “let’s get the hell out of here.”
The men. a witness said, filed out of the bank almost leisurely. An accomplice, the sixth of the bandits, was at the wheel of a large automobile in front of the bank and the men scrambled into the vehicle and they drove away. As they did a Smithville woman took the licence number of the car.
Coincidently, three bank inspectors were visiting the building and they with three bank employes were forced to lie on the floor while the bandits gathered their loot. Jean Voll, ledger keeper, was the only woman employe in the bank and declared she was “pretty nervous” at the time.
The bandit car followed Main street and disappeared on No. 20 highway as police threw up a road blockade south of Stoney Creek.
Ingenious License Dodge
Kitchener, March 13-Ontario car thieves are obtaining proper license plates for their booty in an ingenious way which police are trying to circumvent, it was learned here today.
“In fact the man who thought out the scheme is a minor genius,” said a police officer who described the process.
Bandits who held up the Royal Bank at Smithville, Ont. Yesterday made their getaway with $2,500. were said today to have used a stolen car, with regularly-issued plates.
The method, to which police are now wise, entails first of all stealing a new car. Then a false bill of sale is made out, taken to the provincial license issuer who registers the car and turns over the plates.
Three cases of such false registration in February have come to light and two of the cars have been recovered. The third is currently in use by the Smithville quintet, Witnesses took down the number of their car and investigation showed the license to have been issued at New Hamburg to a “Frank Malone. R.R. No. 1, Elmira” was issued plates in Kitchener last Feb 11 but the car was recovered in Ottawa two weeks later.
A car recovered recently in Toronto had been similarly registered at Guelph by a “Mr Taylor of R.R. No. 1 Breslau.”
If the thieves stay clear of the law after registering their car the trick is difficult to detect under present regulations.
[Welland Tribune March 12, 1947]
Expect new memorial hospital will benefit from gov’t policy
The announcement yesterday of Provincial Treasurer Frost of a new policy in grants to hospitals of the province both for maintenance and construction is being received with enthusiasm in Port Colborne in view of the plans already approved for a 50-bed memorial hospital to be constructed in Lakeview Park.
Capt. R. Scott Misener, chairman of the board of directors of the hospital fund, was out of town today and could not be reached for comment. But the announcement of the provincial treasurer made in his budget speech yesterday was being generally acclaimed in the town, especially by those who have been active in the raising of over $250,000 for the proposed Port Colborne Memorial hospital.
Hon. Mr. Frost’s announcement indicated that up to $1,000 per bed for both private and public ward beds was available for construction of hospitals in the smaller communities and rural areas which on the basis of the 50-bed plans for Port Colborne Memorial hospital might mean a grant when construction is started of up to $50,000.
Any grant which will be made under the new plans announced by Mr. Frost will aid the Port Colborne hospital.
Construction Costs Up
Capt. Misener, in accepting a check for $3,000 from the Port Colborne Lions club recently, stated that tenders received thus far for construction of Port Colborne’s memorial hospital indicated the cost of construction would be well in excess of the original estimates and that additional funds to the more than $250,000 already collected would be required.
The new grants for hospital also provide a new departure in payments for maintenance which will be based on the number of public ward beds. In the past the provincial grant has been for indigent patients and not on the basis of the number of beds.
[Welland Tribune, 26 May 1979]
William Hamilton Merritt, builder of the Welland Canal 150 years ago, visited the Town of Pelham Tuesday to sign the guest book and visit two local schools to explain the circumstances surrounding the canal construction to students. When signing the guest book, supervised by Ald. Mary Lamb, Mr. Merritt wondered how a modern contraption like a ballpoint pen could be called a pen and could write, for he did not have to dip it into an inkwell and no ink flowed from it. He was afraid the thing would smudge the book. But it didn’t. Mr. Merritt is played by actor-playwright Dave MacKenzie of Ridgeville
[Welland Tribune February 7, 1947]
At Stoney Creek, Ontario, on February 19, 1897, the first Women’s Institute in the world came into being in Squires’ Hall, with Mrs. E.D. Smith, the wife of E.D. Smith of Winona, now Senator Smith, being elected as the first president. On February 19, 1947, at Stoney Creek, the Mother Institute will hold its golden anniverary celebration and on that occasion, Mrs. G.D. Conant, daughter of the first President, Mrs. Smith, will be the guest speaker. Among the honoured guests on this occasion will be the charter members of the first Women’s Institute in the world along with officers of the Federated Women’s Institutes of Canada and of Ontario. Since their inception at Stoney Creek fifty years ago, Women’s Institutes have spread all over Canada and into many other countries, with an international organization known as the Associated Countrywomen of the world as the co-ordinating body binding them all together in service to the rural communities.
[DATE UNKNOWN]
At the recent meeting of Welland Historical Society, the origin of the name of Hagar Street was given by Wes Laing. He received information on the Hagar family from *Alice Hagar, a descendent of the family and a retired librarian of the University of Wisconsin.
Jonathan Hagar II and Azubah (Hopkins) Hagar, his wife, settled near Beaverdams between 1792 and 1800. Jonathan died from wounds in the war of 1812-14. They had 13 children, one of whom was Jonathon Hagar III, born 1809 and died 1879. He married Jemina Carpenter and they are listed in the history of Central United Church, Welland as early pioneer members when it was a Methodist church. They had six children, the eldest son Franklin Metcalf Hagar, was an early Welland businessman who owned a lumber business and is believed to have run an ice and coal business as well. His first wife, Clara Evelyn Fell, was the mother of his three children, she died at the age of thirty. He then married Anna Brooks. Franklin died in 1905 (14 September) and Miss Hagar believes Hagar Street was named after him as many Welland streets bear the name of early businessmen.
She is a descendant of Ward Hagar IV, Franklin’s brother, who farmed family lands at the north end of “the Island” near Quaker Road. The families that farmed on the Island were removed to the mainland to make way for the Welland Canal.
George Chipman introduced the guest speaker Dennis Teakle a graduate in advertising of the Ontario College of Art in Toronto. He was freelance illustrator before accepting a teaching position in Prescott where he taught art for four years. During this period he and his wife became interested in auctions and in due time he left his teaching profession for his increasing interest in antiques and opened a business on Lake-of-Bays, Muskoka. That was 16 years ago. Now a very accomplished antique dealer, he and his wife own and operate a shop in the centre of Fonthill dealing in country furniture and accessories. He brought with him many interesting and unusual items, stoneware, a glass fly catcher, three canes (one of amber glass by the Port Colborne Glass Factory, one with a snake coiled around it from the Welland County and a Prince Edward Island cane with an ivory eternal knot for a handle), a Redware Dog Bank made in Paris, hand forged iron trivet and meat cork from Ridgeway made from about 1830, Tiger Maple and Rosewood picture frames from the 1840 era and 1804 children’s books.
The audience participation in identifying some of the exhibits was enjoyed by all. Dr. al Purdon thanked Mr. Teakle for his splendid presentation.
President Shirley Jones chaired the business meeting. Cecil Dyson gave a report of the Regional Historical Society meeting. Mac Swackhammer, Curator of the Museum, announced that “Christmas with Culture” will be held Sunday, December 7th from 1-5 p.m. at the Museum, and members were reminded of the Christmas Dinner to be held Tuesday, December 9th at Wesley United Church.
*Alice Hagar was the daughter of Joseph Ward and Flossie Hagar (6 June 1917-10 April 2002).She graduated from Welland High School and was employed by the University of Wisconsin, La Crosse.
[Welland Tribune, 13 July 1900]
The corner stone for a large addition to the Prospect house at Niagara Falls, N.Y., was laid last Saturday. Some interesting mementoes were deposited under the stone for the delight of relic hunters a century hence. There were copies of all the daily newspapers of Niagara Falls, Buffalo, Rochester, Lockport, North Tonawanda, Toronto, Hamilton, besides a copy of In The Mist, the only daily tourist and travel paper in the world.
After the papers came the timetables of all the trunk –line railroads leading into the Falls, as well as of the trolley lines. Then followed a bound copy of the common council proceedings for the past year and the plumbing contract of the F.W. Oliver Company. The last and good luck offering to go into the stone was a Queen Victoria Jubilee sovereign gold piece.
Fenwick News
[Welland Tribune, 7 September 1900]
On Saturday, Sept. 1st, Richard Dawdy of Fenwick reached the 78th anniversary of his birthday. Unannounced his relatives and friends to the number of one hundred gathered at his home to do him honor and wish him many happy returns of the day. In the happy company were residents of the counties of Welland and Lincoln and the cities of Hamilton, Toronto, Erie, Pa., and Chicago. Tables were spread and bountifully laden with the contents of many baskets. All sat down, and in joyous mood ate and drank together until the company was called to order by Rev. George E. Honey, Mr. Dowdy’s pastor, who, in a few appropriate words, presented the guest of this day with an old gentleman’s staff, the gift of his sons, Joseph and Harley; also a purse of money, the gift of his brothers and friends. This kindness so touched him that when he arose to thank the friends he was hardly able to speak. After dinner there was a general good time in conversation, songs, recitations and instrumental music. The first item of the programme, conversation, gained the active participation of the whole company. The other parts were rendered very acceptably by Wesley Dawdy, Harmon and Chauncey Dawdy’s families and Mr. Tritton.
When the time came to separate all said, “We have had an enjoyable day!”
[Welland Tribune, 31 August 1900]
An interesting bicycle race took place on East Main street last Friday afternoon between High Constable Dowd and C.J. Page of the Electric Light Co. Mr. Dowd being a guardian of the law, it might be said just here that the rate of speed attained did not violate the statute against furious speeding. Page spurted and had a good lead at the half, but getting winded and finding Dowd fast overhauling him on the straight stretch, slid off his wheel and shoved the vehicle in the direct line of Dowd’s route. The chief saw the dodge when several rods fell off, but whilst he rides well in a straight line, he has not learned to turn yet-at least not in less than a five acre lot-and so the inevitable crash occurred, the contestants and their wheel s performing some ground and lofty tumbling. Friends interfered and prevented the chief from getting vengeance, and put an end to a pretty scrap. Undertaker Cronmiller saw the contestants start off, and having an eye to business put a couple of coffins in a rig and started to follow, but fortunately the affair ended without any fatalities, and, like John Gilpin, When next they ride a race, may we be there to see.
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