S.S.#3 North Oxford - Dickson's Corners

Thursday, July 5, 2007

S.S.#3 North Oxford - Dickson's Corners

After graduating from Stratford Teachers' College, Gordon, with the support of Uncle Charlie Ballantyne who would supply the transportation, drove about the countryside looking for a teaching position. That first assignment in 1936 was Blackcreek near Sebringville, the school he attended as student. Neighbours, Sam Herman, George Eckert and Edwin Erb acting as trustees, drew up that first contract. In 1937,Gordon and Lois were married and moved into the "two storey red brick house" mentioned earlier to live with Jack and Beanie.

Lois and Gordon's next move came in 1939 when they rented, for $5.00 a month, an apartment attached to Houck's General Store in the village of St.Pauls. This apartment had one room on the main floor, two bedrooms on the second floor and the real luxury - three outhouses, also serving the needs of the adjacent community hall.Gordon was now the teacher at #9 school, Lois's home school and was the teacher for Lois's brother, Vic and sister, Roberta.

As Lois recalls, by 1942 Gordon felt that the trustees of #9 had raised his pay as much as they were able. He began to keep a constant awareness of ads for teaching positions through the London Free Press delivered daily to Houck's store. As referred to earlier, and ad for the need of a teacher for S.S.#3 North Oxford, Dickson's Corners, caught his imagination. Lois and Gordon had a doctor's appointment in London and decided to try to find Dickson's Corners in what was to be a very round-about trip. Gordon was always good at asking often for directions. They managed to find Erwood Kerr, Walter Hutcheson and Jack Butterworth, the three local farmers who had the responsibility for hiring the teacher. The stone school, the brick house with an outbuilding to serve as a garage was located beside Jim Calder's bush in a setting where three roads converged, #2 highway in front, a gravel road behind and a cross-road along the edge, "Dickson's Corners."

posted by louandjohn @ 12:32 PM

"Well, That's The Story"

Saturday, July 7, 2007

"Well, That's The Story"

Gordon and Lois McEwan and their family of four, Lou, Loiey, Bob and Terry moved to St. Marys in 1952, having purchased a house on a double lot from Kelly Hearn. The house on St. George Street has its own interesting history in the Hearn family chronicles from the Hortons to the Hearns to the McEwans and from clapboard to red insulbrick to its present Tudor white plaster treatment.

Gordon McEwan had been offered a position and partnership in W.A.Clarke Hardware in St. Marys by Walter Clarke. So, it was good-bye to Dickson's Corners and hello to new surroundings in St. Marys, "The Town Worth Living In."
From the classroom to the hardware store seemed an easy transition for Gordon as his natural abilities in meeting, greeting and enjoying people were given full play in the hardware business, an already successful venture because Walter Clarke, himself, was generous, affable and civic-minded with a sneeze that would reverberate down and around Queen Street from D.L. O'Brien's Clothing Store to Dave White's Butcher Shop across to L.A. Ball Fiurniture Store and Funeral Home and back up to The Toronto-Dominion Bank.

Phoebe Eely ran the office in the hardware store and Marjorie Switzer, John Tyler and Gordon McEwan handled the customers, selling everything from nails to wallpaper to pots, pans and kitchen utensils to fishing tackle and other sports equipment. My job in Grade 8 was to sweep the floors every morning at 8:00 a.m. before I went to school. There was a big barrel of dustbane at the back of the store and I scattered dustbane up and down the aisles and then swept it up from the front of the store to the back. Marjorie Switzer thought I lifted the broom a little too high and covered the open bottom shelves of the display counters where the granite ware was kept with dustbane. Gordon usually swept the front sidewalk and that was an excellent opportunity for him to greet fellow business people and early customers to the store. In dealing with customers, Gordon would discuss and answer all the questions he could, closing the deal usually with, "Well, that's the story.

1952 also saw the arrival of a new minister at The St. Marys United Church. Ross and Helen Crosby and their two sons, David and Paul, took up residence in the manse and thus began a long and rich ministry both to the United Church and the town of St. Marys. Walter A. Clarke was a member of that search committee and "W.A." was always pround of the fact that he was instrumental in bringing both the Crosbys and the McEwans to St. Marys in the same year.

"Well, That's The Story"

Postscript # 1: I was always amused when my father, Walter Cull would come into the hardware and be greeted by Walter Clarke with a cheery, "Hello, Waller" followed by an equally friendly, "Hello, Waller."

Postscript # 2: When Walter and Ella Clarke were first married, they lived in an apartment above Sommerville's Drug Store. On the opposite side of Queen Street where Tim Hortons is now located was a Chinese Laundry. Mr. Wong, the proprietor, would collect laundry from people's homes as part of his customer service

One morning when Walter Clarke was shaving and getting ready for work, there was a knock at the apartment door.

Walter called out, "You go, Ella."

From the other side of the door came a response from the irate M. Wong, "You go 'ella too, Mister Clarke!"

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.)

Birthday Celebration

On one occasion at least, Gordon planned a special birthday celebration for Lois. This one occurred after Gordon had retired from teaching. They had travelled to Arizona to vist their friends Clare and Gwen Odbert who spent several months each year in the south. Gordon organized the party on his own, something which he would find difficult and something with which he had little experience. A big group of their friends: the Douglases, the two Somervilles, the Aitchesons, the Bill Douglases, and the Betteridges were all invited. One of the small gifts given to Lois was this small candy dish from Chips and Charlie Betteridge. The Bettridges had a cottage at the Bend next to the cottage which Gordon and Lois rented for several years. On one of their trips out from the Bend Gordon and Lois had purchased a new set of dishes which carried a thistle pattern. The Bettridges had either been part of the purchase or had been shown the purchase. In any case, Chips remembered the pattern and gave this dish to Lois as a birthday gift.

Lois' 30th Birthday

March is Lois' birthday month. Here are two of the birthday cards which she received for her thirtieth birthday in 1944. The first is from her mother-in-law Beanie. Inside the card there is a letter in which Beanie relates the story of her trip to Windsor to attend the funeral of her older brother Alex, a rather handsome man who in his younger days had a head of dark curly hair. Alex was a baker. He and his wife Alice moved to Windsor in the era when Windsor was a booming city with its car plants, its industry and its proximity to Detroit. Beanie relates that she travelled with her sister Alice and her brother-in-law Charlie who did the driving (I don't believe that either of the women had a license.) I presume they drove in Charlie's Model A. On the trip home they left Windsor at 12:30 a.m. and did not arrive back in Stratford until 6 a.m., having travelled all night. No wonder Beanie complained of being tired.

The second card is from Lois's Aunt Ada, her father's sister. Here is what it looked like.