Charlie Ballantyne's new Chevrolet Touring car

In the previous blog I posted a photograph taken in 1918 of Charlie and Allie Ballantyne standing proudly in front of their new Dodge Chevrolet Touring car. While I use both names in reference to the car I am sure that the reality was that the car "belonged" to Charlie. Alice never learned to drive and Charlie took complete responsibility for the upkeep and maintenance of the vehicle.   Here is a story as told by Gordon McEwan, that speaks to Charlie's relationship with his car.  When the story begins Charlie and Alice had a hired man named Eddie Dietrich who lived in the community. " One day Charlie and Eddie were washing the family car, a very early Dodge.  Cars were objects that were few and far between and therefore, objects of great pride.  Just when they were finished, the car began to back down the grade that led to the garage.  Shouting for Eddie to help, Charlie threw himself behind the car and held while red
spots danced before his eyes.  Before Alice could get out to put on the emergency brake, the car's speed backwards began to increase and the wary Eddie leaped for safety, leaving Charlie the car to himself. Now the car got out of control, Charlie barely got out of its road and he saw the fender of his new purchase buckle against a post. Eddie who had been watching the proceedings at a safe distance now poked his head around the car to ascertain Charlies's position.  Seeing the face of the object whom he considered to be the cause of the happening, Charlie rid himself of some frustration by landing a round house right which sent poor Eddie head over heels down the slope.  "No sooner had I done it," Charlie admitted later, "but I was sorry that I had taken it out on poor Eddie!"
Attached is a copy of Charlie's 1920 motor vehicle permit for the Dodge Chevrolet. In the second photo a group of relatives is standing in front of another car in about the year 1912 (Tom the boy standing in front of his mother was born in 1901). The owner of the car shown in the photograph is uncertain but my guess is that it may have belonged to Charlie's nephew Frank Ballantyne (the fellow on the left holding the camera).

Charlie Ballantyne's 1918 Chevrolet Touring Car

Charlie Ballantyne was married to Gordon's Aunt Alice.  Charlie and Alice who farmed on Lot 21 Concession 3 in Downie Township close to the McEwan farm had no children and they were reputed to be wealthy.  In April 1918 Charlie purchased his first motor vehicle, a Dodge Chevrolet Touring car which he ordered through Kalfleisch Brothers dealership in Stratford.   Built at the Dodge Brothers factory in Detroit, Charlie's new car was to be delivered a month after being ordered. The company offered a 90 day warranty on defective parts.  However, the warranty would only be honoured if the owner prepaid the transportation charges and if the vehicle had not be driven at a "speed exceeding the factory rated speed, or loaded beyond the factory rated load capacity." Furthermore the company offered "no warranty whatever in respect to tires, rims, ignition apparatus, horns or other signaling devices, starting devices, generators, batteries, speedometers, or other trade accessories".  It is not clear how much Charlie paid for his new Chevrolet.  There are two order forms: on the first form the price is listed as $1290.00 plus $20.00 freight charges, whereas on the second order form  (which I have attached) the price appears to be $840.00. There is also a receipt dated May 21, 1918 for the amount of $1267.28 which may have been the final negotiated price. Regardless, I am sure that Charlie was proud of his new purchase and, equally important, the Ballantyne car was much admired in the community. Here is a photograph taken at the Peter Smith farm of Alice and Charlie with their new car.  Underneath the photo Alice has written "Alice and Charlie Ballantyne. Our first car."

Discipline in Pioneer Schools in Perth County

In a previous blog I proposed that the standard of the teaching in the rural schools of late 19th century Perth County may have been of high quality. As support for my position, I pointed to the written reports submitted to the federal government by James B. MacEwan when he worked for the Dairy Commissioner's Office in Ottawa during the early 1890's. I speculated that it would be unlikely that James would have had any formal education beyond that provided by the teachers in SS # 3 Downie. (To be sure, he likely attended a dairy school but I suspect that those sessions were of very short duration and focussing on the practical aspects of cheese making.)  However, other stories about the quality of the education offered in rural schools are much less positive. Here is a story related to Gordon McEwan by his father Jack who attended the Black Creek school a few  years after his Uncle Jim.  "The children [i.e., Jack and his two older sisters Harriotte and Agnes] went to S. S. No. 3, Downie Township where the mysteries of learning were unfolded to them by varied types of teachers.  One of these was a unique individual by the name of David McNeil who boarded at Goettlers and every morning went to the straw stack to fortify himself with a drink before meeting his scholars.  Another stop at a towering willow shading Black Creek permitted him to enter the portals of learning with a visible incentive.
When McNeil entered the school room and called the class to attention, he staged quite a show in depositing the willow gad in a prominent position.
"That won't last long," John whispered slyly to his friend and cousin, Peter Smith, who acknowledged the remark with a nod and a smile.
"What are you smiling about, Peter!" thundered McNeil happy to have an opportunity to put the class in place.
Afraid of the dictatorial pedagogue, Peter replied, "John said that it wouldn't last too long, sir."
McNeil bared his teeth slightly. "You don't think so, John! come up here!"
Whereupon, the schoolmaster proceeded to smash the willow branch over the back of the suffering John.
Next morning, as John was readying himself for school, his mother Harriotte seeing him toying with the edge of the wash cloth in a manner common to growing boys, questioned:
"Have you cleaned your ears thoroughly, John?"
"Yes, mother," was the rejoiner.
As a mother beset by the principle of cleanliness, Harriotte stepped up to her son, put her hand on his shoulder and attempted to peer into the suspected auditory appendage.  However, she did not get the opportunity. As soon as her hand touched her son's shirt, he moved as though he had been jolted by an electric battery.
"What's wrong, John?" questioned the startled mother.
"Nothing, mother," returned John who knew the rules of the pioneer day -- rules which stated that if you were beaten at school, you were punished at home, too.
Harriotte again resumed her examination of the suspected ear but when she laid her hand on the bank of her offspring, he responded with a violent jerk.
"Take off your shirt!" she ordered and when she saw the angry criss-cross welts forming an ugly pattern across the back of her son, she went to the door and called for her husband.  Robert looked carefully at John's back and made a remark that he probably deserved what he got but when John took off for school that morning, he carried a note written by his father asking Mr. McNeil to come to the McEwan farm after school.
That afternoon, John's back was again bared -- this time by his father for the purpose of showing the visiting school master his handiwork.  McNeil was profuse in his apologies but when he left that afternoon, he, too, had a lesson in mind.
"Mr. McNeil," Robert stated, "I expect you to keep order in our school but if you ever beat my boy like you did yesterday, I'll break your neck."
John continued school -- at the end in the winters only, until at last he said "Farewell," to formal learning. "
I have attached a picture of John in the era after the McNeil incident and likely taken during the period in which he attended only in the winter.

M(a)cEwans and cheese (pt. 4)

The Black Creek cheese factory was originally a cooperative with the local farmers providing the capital.  “in 1868 the price of cheese dropped suddenly and the industry briefly contracted.  As the number of Black Creek’s patrons tumbled from 120 to 30, Ballantyne sold his farm and with the help of a provincial grant, bought the factory outright” (Dictionary of Canadian Biography).  Of course, it would be interesting to know whether John McEwan and all the Ballantyne connections were patrons of the factory and whether they lost money in the contraction of 1868 but I have never heard any stories of disagreements over the factory.  During this period there was potential for a large export market to Britain but only if cheese of consistent quality and volume could be produced. The factory system was central to this vision and Ballantyne became a strong advocate for training skilled cheesemakers and demanding the highest standard of cleanliness and sanitation. Gordon’s father John drew milk from neighbouring farmers to the Black Creek Factory. Here is a story told by Gordon many years later.  It illustrates the challenges that Thomas Ballantyne faced in insuring the highest quality of professionalism in his factory.  “On John’s (i.e. John McEwan the grandson of the original John) route was a half-mad woman, who had won for herself acclaim by chasing the tax collector to the road at the end of a pitch-fork.  My fearful recollection of her was a slim, supple-looking woman with gray hair piled in a myriad of wisps about her face and tied in a knot at the back of her head.  Wild eyes indicated the dangers to be discovered in this strange and dangerous woman who appeared to wear the same apparel at all times – a woollen upper-garment, a pair of rubber boots and a piece of filthy sacking strapped to her waist by binder-twine. One morning, John picked up her milk as usual but when the cheesemaker was examining the first can, he discovered an errant cat had tumbled in to meet a milky death.  The cheesemaker holding the milk-drenched feline gingerly turned to John and said. “Well, Jack, you have the welcome job of taking her milk back to her.  We’ll bury the cat.” You can imagine that John quickly deposited the cans on her milk-stand that day and sped the horses on their way. However, the story is not done because the next morning as his team trotted westward, he noted her cans plus the mistress of the estate gathered by her milk-stand.  As the team was pulled to a halt, she went straight to the point: “McEwan, why did you bring my milk home yesterday?” John told the story attempting, if possible, to mollify her and let her see the reason of the happening.  When he had finished, she summarized her position clearly and finally: “McEwan, if you ever bring my milk home again, I’ll put the dung fork through you.” Then, having stated her case, she strode into the house.  John, however, found a way of placating her.  When her milk was considered unfit by the factory, John dumped it into the ditch and filled the cans with whey and because she could  neither read nor do mathematics she simply cashed her cheque"and life carried on.  The attached internet picture from an unknown factory is what it may have looked like as the driver's pulled up to unload their milk at the cheese factory.
Addendum: I now realize that Gordon's cat story above is from a later period when the factory had been transferred in ownership to Thomas' son William Wallace Ballantyne.  

M(a)cEwans and cheese (pt.2)

Without doubt, any discussion of the McEwan connection to the cheese industry must lead directly to Thomas Ballantyne.  Thomas Ballantyne and Agnes Ballantyne McEwan were doubly related.  First, Agnes' father Robert was the younger brother of Thomas' father James, and second, Thomas married Agnes' younger sister Mary.  This means that Thomas was both first cousin and brother-in-law to Agnes McEwan. This double relationship may explain why John McEwan was willing to transfer to Thomas Ballantyne five acres of land on the north-west corner of  Lot 25 Concession 4 in Downie Township at the point where the Black Creek takes a lazy bend to the east as it skirts the high rise of land on which John McEwan built his stone house.
Here is what I know about Thomas Ballantyne. Several years after his Uncle Robert left Scotland in 1839 to settle in Canada, Thomas' two older brothers emigrated and took up land near Robert.  Then in 1852, Thomas, his parents and his sister

Agnes left Scotland to live in Canada. Shortly after he arrived in Canada Thomas was hired as a teacher in one of the newly established schools in the community. He was 24 years old. The year was 1853.  Almost immediately. Thomas became involved in municipal politics.  In 1855 Thomas became the township auditor and in the next year he was the township clerk.  In the same year he married his first cousin Mary Ballantyne, the daughter of his Uncle Robert, and Thomas and Mary went to live in a log house near the school where he taught.  Six years later, in 1861 Thomas quit teaching (there may have been a dispute about salary) and he returned to farming. However, it appears that farming was not totally satisfying to Thomas.  During this period, new business opportunities were opening up in the dairy industry for settlers in this fertile land of Upper Canada which I will write about next time. (In the meantime, I have attached a photo of Thomas and the only one I have of Mary.  Neither picture portrays them as they would have appeared in their younger years during the heady - but doubtlessly frightening -  years when Thomas developed the Black Creek Cheese Factory.)

MacEwans: The New Zealand Cousins

After close to 50 years I have re-connected with our MacEwan cousins who live in New Zealand.  The first connection was made in England and occurred under one of those rarest of coincidences.  Here is how it happened. In the Fall of 1967 after I graduated from university I travelled to Montreal, toured the Expo site and then flew to London, England to have "some new experiences".  Since I didn't have much money I immediately began looking for work and within a week I had a job teaching in a Junior School on the huge Dagenham housing estate in Essex, east of London.  Shortly after I began working in the Matthew Arnold Junior School, the Head Master mentioned that he had had a recent contact with a family from New Zealand who had the same last name as mine.  Coincidentally, Ian MacEwan from New Zealand a distant cousin of my father was at that time staying with my parents while he attended a conference in nearby London, Ontario.  Ian was able to confirm that, indeed, the family in England was his son and daughter-in-law and their children. I visited the MacEwans and the first link was established. After that visit I went off travelling on the continent, the MacEwans returned to New Zealand and after three years I came back to Canada. In the meantime my parents heard that Ian had had a stroke and then everything went silent.  That was until recently when I noticed that Callum MacEwan was managing a genealogy web site on which he has created an extensive family tree which includes some of the Canadian ancestors. Callum has expressed an interest in hearing more about the Canadian McEwans particularly stories of why three young men chose to travel across the globe to begin new lives in New Zealand.  I know a little about that history and I will write down some of the stories which I have heard.  In the meantime and to begin the narrative, I am attaching a picture of the brothers - George (I believe), Arthur and James

who left Canada in the early 1890's and who emigrated to New Zealand.  The second picture taken in my parents' home is of my father Gordon McEwan and his New Zealand cousin  Ian MacEwan in about 1968.   

Entrance Exams

Jimmy Noxan taught school at SS#9 for several years in the 1920's. Lois remembers him as an ineffectual teacher. Not much learning went on when he was the teacher. Then, when Lois was in the senior third, Mr. Noxan was replaced by Miss Hazel Crago, a native of Blanshard Township. Immediately Miss Crago recognized that the students in the senior third were unprepared for the entrance exam. This provincially set examination was held each spring and was used to determine whether students would be allowed to proceed into high school. It was an important hurdle for students, and doubtless, it was also a measure of the quality of the teacher's work. Miss Crago instituted before school classes for the seven students in the Senior Third. The group consisted of Lois Hearn, Mary Riley, Frank Riley, Crawford Tyler, Helen Teahen, Oliver
Bell, and Jennie Dunsmore. To try the entrance examination all students in the township had to travel to Stratford where the examination was held in the County Court House. The distance between her home and Stratford is likely less than 8 miles but Lois remembers that she had never been to Stratford before, and she suspects that with the possible exception of Jennie Dunsmore, none of the others in the class had ever been in Stratford. At the lunch hour break between exams the group went for a walk but were careful to always keep the court house tower in view. Otherwise, they might be unable to find their way back.  Here is the Stratford Court House with the tower that the group of country kids had to keep in view during their lunch hour walk. Later, when the exam results were announced the group took pride in the fact that they all passed their entrance exam, five with honours.

Tuberculosis: the Dreaded Disease

Throughout the 1800's tuberculosis was a leading cause of death across the industrialized world. As with any disease in which the cause is unknown a whole body of myths grew up around the causes and prevention of the illness.  One such myth was that the germs that caused TB could be transmitted through clothing. Attached is a cartoon from the August 8th 1900 edition of Punch Magazine. The cartoonist Samuel Erhart illustrates - in dramatic form - the common belief that the trailing material in woman's cloaks could pick up germs from the streets. Once in the house the germs could be transmitted to innocent family members.  Rural Ontario was not immune from either the scourge of TB or the myths that grew up around the disease. A distant relative of Gordon's who lived in Perth County died of consumption in the early 1900's. After her death, a fur coat which she owned was given to her nieces.  Ten years later when the nieces each contracted and died of TB in their early 20's the conviction in the community was that the inherited fur coat was the culprit.  And this rumour instigated a second tragedy that these families had to face.  Not only did they lose family members but the whole family became tainted with suspicion of being carriers of consumption. Furthermore, I am sure that there was guilt and blame among both the family who gave the coat and the family who received the coat. Gordon who was born in 1914 remembers as a child that his mother and other family members did not want to be kissed by the those distant relatives.  And, as a child Gordon remembers being nervous about visiting the relatives because of the  "dreaded consumption".  

Avonton Softball Team 1932

Here is a picture of the Avonton Softball Team in 1932. Unlike the other men, Gordon is wearing braces and so his team shirt is neatly tucked into his trousers. Of the 15 people in the picture, Gordon is a blood relative of all but one of the others. Only Helen Struthers, the woman second from the right in the second row, appears to be an outsider in this close knit group. Although Will Smith, the man in the tie, is related to Gordon through the Hemsley's, Will is also an outsider to the group in that his ancestors came from the south of England. The other 13 people can all trace their ancestry directly back to Robert Ballantyne, a shepherd who lived near Peebles Scotland and whose grandson, also called Robert, first emigrated to Perth County and settled land in Downie Township.

The First John McEwan

John McEwan who was born in Glasgow in 1819 was the originator of the McEwan clan in Perth County. Gordon tells the story that John and his brother Arthur  (footnote 2017: I wonder whether the name should be George) came by boat to Goderich and then walked east toward Stratford. Arthur stopped in Huron County while John walked on into Perth where he met the Ballantynes. While that story may be accurate, the registration of John's marriage to Agnes Ballantyne in 1847 lists John's residence as being Toronto, and his witness John McGaelin as also being from Toronto.   After their marriage, John and Agnes settled in the extreme west of Downie Township on the border of Fullarton Township. Black Creek ran through the McEwan property and it was on this land that the Black Creek Cheese Factory was built by John's brother-in-law Thomas Ballantyne. Although the cheese factory has disappeared, the square fieldstone house of the McEwans still sits overlooking the valley of Black Creek. (Below is a picture of how the house appears currently.) While John's obituary paints the picture of a staid man who was a devote member of the Presbyterian Church and a staunch reformer in politics, family stories reveal a more colourful character. Here, in Gordon's words, are a couple of stories passed down by Gordon's father Jack. "Besides being afraid of the Lord, John had a healthy respect for trains that thundered east and west along the track that crossed the Fullarton-Downie road to link Stratford and Goderich. To people of another generation, it is difficult to visualize the fear that horses had of the train as it raced across country spitting out sparks with smoke belching from its stack. Also great forests blocked one's vision and it was a real fear that the horse and driver might reach the track at the same moment as the train roared by.
To guard against such happenings, John used to get Agnes to run ahead of the horse which he stopped a long distance from the track. After Agnes had checked carefully in both directions for oncoming trains, she would give the "all clear" signal and John would urge the horse onward at as speedy a pace as could be mustered, cross the rails, pick up Agnes and hurry on to what was a zone of safety. Agnes would shop at the village store, wait for John to leave the bar and set herself patiently in the buggy for the homeward ride.
Undoubtedly, John would be in an expansive mood and I am certain his countenance would not wear that grim, dour look which he wears in the only picture of him that I have seen. As they turned southward and began to approach the dreaded railroad track, Agnes realized that John was doing nothing to abate the speed of the steed. Their conversation is recorded as being something like this:
Agnes: "We're coming close to the track, John!"
John: "Aye"
Agnes: "Do you want me to get out and look after the train?"
John: "Let the train look after itself, Agnes! Get up Prince!"
(more John McEwan stories next time.)

Women's Institute Circulating Library 1935

The Women's Institute -- like the Orange Lodge before it -- is disappearing as a fixture of rural life in South Western Ontario. For many years, however, the WI played an important educational and social role in the lives of farm women. In 1935 the Downie Township W. I. to which Gordon's mother Beanie belonged, established a circulating library for the use of its members. Likely individual members contributed books from their own collection to be part of the library. Sunset Pass, a Zane Grey novel published by Musson Book Company in 1931 and owned by Mrs. Jack McEwan was one book in the circulating library. Glued to the inside cover of the book is a pinwheel circulation list. Anyone who knows the farmhomes on the Centre Gravel leading to Avonton can visualize the path taken by the book as it moved in a biweekly path through the neighbourhood. From Mrs. Jack McEwan it went to Mrs. J. Boyes, Mrs. W. Robertson, Florence Aitcheson and so on until it reached Mrs. Robt. Thompson, Charlotte Simpson, Mrs. E. Erb where it was then returned to Beanie McEwan. (You remember that if you double click on the image you can enlarge it.) It is somewhat ironic that only the single women retain their individual identity on the list; the married women are all listed as somebody's wife. I wonder how good these women were at keeping the book moving in the rotation and how many of the books ended their lives in someone else's house. Evidently, this particular book found its way back to its original owner. From the one page that appeared when I opened the book, it is obvious that Sunset Pass was not complex reading. Nonetheless, I am sure that it provided an important source of relaxation and imaginative escape for many women.

Ada's Autograph Book

In the spring of 1892, several weeks before her eleventh birthday, Ada Hern, Lois' aunt, acquired an autograph book. Carefully, she wrote her name and address inside the front cover and then proceeded to number the 62 pages in the book. One can only imagine her excitement at owning such a book and then her anxiety to get some autographs in the book. Not surprisingly, the earliest entries are those of her mother and father and her younger brother Robert. The book has poems and autographs from friends and neighbours and relatives. The last entry is in 1900 when Ada would have been 18 or 19. While there are no entries after that point, the autograph book must have remained important to her. Through the many moves and upheavels in her life, Ada's autograph book remained with her, and after her death as an old lady in the 1960's the autograph book was moved to me.

Gordon as a eleven year old

Here is a picture of Gordon taken in 1926 when he was 11 years old. While he loved sports and likely dreamed of being the boxing champion of the world, he was also a quiet studious person who loved books. A good assortment of his books have survived, a testament, very likely, of their importance in his life. Books appear to have been a standard gift at Christmas. The year that he turned 12 his cousins Bill, June and Charlotte Simpson who lived on a farm almost immediately behind the McEwan farm, gave him Ralph Conner's The Sky Pilot In NoMan's Land. He also owned Conner's The Prospector. Robinson Crusoe had been a gift when he was seven. Horatio Alger appears to have been a favourite author with several of Alger's books being part of his collection.

Bethesda Sunday School - Possible Origins

These two paragraphs from an article by Ryan Taylor likely explain how Bethesda Sunday School began at a crossroads in Downie Township.


"Because Methodism had evangelism as its base, there was a tradition of Circuit- riding missionaries through out the province. Small churches were established even in remote villages. Tiny country churches sprang up at crossroads without any houses around them. They served the farming community in the vicinity.

The farmers in a given area would be glad to have their own church nearby, however small it was. They might also find themselves in a disagreement with their neighbours or the local preacher on some theological point and begin a new congregation. The result was a proliferation of these little log cabin churches dotted on back concessions."

I don't know if this accounts for the Sunday School being established on a 1/4 acre lot on the SE corner of Lot 6 Concession 12 on land first settled by John Edwards in 1854. At his death in 1862 the lot was subdivided into 8 pieces for his children. A short time later in 1865 the Sunday School was built. Could there be a connection between John's death, the splitting up of the land, and the establishment of the Sunday School?
Methodist Church Records In Ontario
By: Ryan Taylor, Biography and Archived Articles