THE WAY IT USED TO BE

 

Written by Everett John Elliott - February 1977

 

It is just a short trip down memory lane to Seeley’s Bay and vicinity of seventy-two years ago.

 

Mapping The Early Days

 

Let us commence by defining what Seeley’s Bay is and where it is located. Seeley’s Bay is a hamlet or small village situated in the western section of Leed’s county, about one mile from the Frontenac line. Though generally supposed to be on the Rideau River System, it is really on the Cataraqui System.

        The Rideau System has its headwaters near Fermoy in Frontenac County and flows north-easterly from Wolfe, Sand, Upper and Big Rideau lakes into the Rideau River at Smith Falls. It winds its way for miles, expanding into Dow’s Lake and emptying into the Ottawa River at By-town, now called Ottawa.

        The Cataraqui System starts at Mud Lake, now called Newboro Lake. It is separated from the Upper Rideau by the isthmus or what is now called Newboro, a mile of high land. Mud Lake flows in a south-westerly direction; it picks up Clear, Benson, Loon, and Indian lakes to break through into Opinicon at Chaffey’s Locks, which in turn empties into Sand Lake at Davies Locks. From there it flows to Whitefish Lake at Jones Falls. Whitefish Lake separates, part of it forming the Gananoque system, going through Whitefish Falls, picking up the Beverly Lakes, flowing through the Furnace Falls and through Lyndhurst, Singleton, Red Horse, and Gananoque Lake to empty into the Gananoque River, which flows into the St. Lawrence at Gananoque.

        The other section of Whitefish, on which Seeley’s Bay is situated, flows south-westerly into Cranberry, breaking through Brewers Lake at the round-tail from the Cataraqui River, which empties into the St. Lawrence at Kingston.

        I am only drawing your attention to this bit of geography to show you why Seeley’s Bay got such a late start in life. Before the Rideau Canal was completed and the water in all three systems controlled and regulated there must have been only a small shallow bay where Seeley’s Bay now stands. The water on this level is said to have been raised five feet with completion of the canal in 1832. This being so it is doubtful if there was much more than a foot or two of sluggish water in the Bay beforehand. Settlement in the early days was largely regulated by proximity to falls and rapids as a source of power for sawing lumber and grinding grain.

 

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        History and the land records tell us that the first grant of land in this district was granted to John Seeley in 1825. He in turn sold it to his father the same year. This land was Lot 4, Concession 8 rear of Leeds, afterwards referred to as the Colman farm.

        At the time this first grant of land was issued there had been a mill at Whitefish Falls or Norton for twenty years, and it was built and operated by Lemuel Haskins. There was a smelter and foundry farther down the same stream at Furnace Falls or Lyndhurst. These were built and operated by Walter Sunderlin. Justus Seeley who now owns Lot 4 Concession 8 is said to have started a store in a shack or tent at Haskin’s Point and later to have moved to and operated a store on the Raven lot where Glen Mathews lives and the parking lot is situated.

        Seeley’s customers must have been few and far between because he died in 1829, three years before the Canal was completed. He may have gotten some trade from surveyors, Indians, and some from a group of fifteen men under the supervision of Abel Stevens of Bastard township, who cut a road from Furnace Falls to Kingston Mils and who reported in November 1829, that they had completed the work and causewayed fifteen streams. Previous to this the only roads were blazed trails and the streams had to be forded. This road left the concession at Manfred Perry’s place, went up to the Bay Road and is marked on the map as the Old Kingston Road. Instead of going around the south-east side of Leo Lake, it went in where Ray McCann now lives, past Harry Turry’s and the Sutherland place and crossed the creek between Leo and Cranberry Lakes.

        I have before me an old map of Seeley’s Bay. No doubt some of you have seen the same map or have access to one. This survey was made by Walter Benty, part of it registered as plan no. 5 surveyed in 1861. The second part is registered as plan no. 36 surveyed in 1874. All of it being located on the north part of Lot 4 Concession 7, so it is one concession south of the original grant to Seeley.

        The northern boundary of this survey is the concession road between Concession 7 and 8. The southern boundary is very close to where the highway 15 cut-off is, and it extends the full width of Lot 4 (Leadbeater’s lot) to the line between Lots 4 and 5. Then it goes northerly to the concession road at the point of commencement. The streets are just as you know them today except there is one unopened named Park Street which leaves Tay Street 296 feet south of Helen Street which extends the width of Lot 4 to the Chapman line. The lots are all surveyed and numbered on all streets. However there is as much of the village outside of these two surveys as there is within them now.

        Not having been born in the village, my earliest recollection of it dates back to the winter 1904-05. I was attending Seeley’s Bay Public school, located where Dick and Gertie Murphy now live. We’d gotten a new schoolteacher named Hazel Noble, a lovely and very lonesome, homesick kid, who had a heavy crush on Frank Dillon, Manager of the Crown Bank. They had to exchange notes daily and for some unknown reason I was chose as messenger boy. I must have been a fairly successful cupid for they eventually got married.

        When I delivered these notes to Frank, he would generally slip me a nickel and tell me to get a treat. I would stick around for twenty minutes while he wrote a reply. I didn’t have a watch in those days so I may have overstayed my allotted time and anyway I didn’t want to spend all that money in one place. During the course of the winter I saw the entire village many times. I learned who lived where, and I don’t remember being reprimanded once for staying away fro school too long.

        I will try to describe the village as it was then as well as I can remember. Between the school and the village there were three houses; Alfred Chapman’s (where Alice now lives), John Chapman’s (where Doug Babcock lives), and Ephrian Bracken (where J. de Graff now lives). The first house in the village, now owned by Ian Bell, was occupied by Dr. Elliott. The one directly across from it, now owned by Len Whiteford, was occupied by Wellie Cross. Mrs. Ed Coleman lived on the north side of the concession road with her two daughters, her husband having been drowned shortly before. The house near the corner of Dean’s Road was Coleman’s Hall. I think it was privately owned by the Coleman family, leased for community affairs but I doubt if it was used for anything except a storage shed at this time. There were no buildings on Dean’s Road – only the Deann farmhouse and barn, except a small house, behind where Doug Clarke lives. This house was owned by Wes Kenny. It would take much too long to describe who lived in all the dwellings, so I’ll just move on to the business establishments.

        North of the concession road was Bracken’s Saw and Grist mill, which employed five or six men during the winter and spring. Sometimes it employed two or three men during the summer. South of that on Bay Street was the feed mill – going back to the concession and going south-west on Main Street, we have J. C. McKinley’s store, where Jerry Downs lives. Across the street where Roy Burtch lives, there was another general store, owned by Morton Shook. Next to that, where Manfred Macpherson lives, was Dr. R. J. Gardiner. Next to him there was a general store owned by Fred Young. There was a blacksmith’s shop, run by George Cheatham where Gordon Chase now lives. Opposite that, on the lot where the Standard Church is now located, was the horse stage barn and on the corner of this street and Main Street, Ed Putnam ran a grocery store, where the Red & White now is. West of Putnam’s store was a dwelling owned by Hy Willis, an insurance agent, Notary Public and J.P. who drew up wills, made out deeds, and performed other legal tasks.

        Across from that was the Anglican Church and beside that a small frame house, owned by an aged couple named Wright, who mended harnesses and shoes. Further west, on the same side of Main Street was a blacksmith shop owned by William Berry which was burned, along with the adjoining dwelling and a store situated just east of the shop. There were two dwellings just west of the blacksmith’s shop owned by Tom Bennett and Wray Goodwins. From there to Bay Street, the only buildings were the house where Ken Elliott lives and a barn just south of Gray’s store. This entire block where Gus Halladay, Gray’s store, my lot, and Beatrice Watson and the telephone company lots – were all one lot on the map, owned by Mrs. Chapman, who lived where Ken Elliott now lives. Going back to the north side of Main Street, where Jack Cameron lives, George Hawkins owned and operated a general store. On the west side of this store was an attached building or kitchen and it was in this building that the staff of the Crown Bank worked, where I delivered the aforementioned notes, which helped promote a warm romance.

 

BANKING and COMMERCE

 

        Until 1902 or 1903, Seeley’s Bay had no banking facilities and most banking business was done in Gananoque, but about that date a branch of the North Crown Bank was opened, in the building adjoining Hawkins store. It only operated for a short time when it sold out to, amalgamated with, or was otherwise absorbed by the Royal Bank of Canada, who operated in the building now owned by Cyril Jardine. The Royal Bank later sold out to the Toronto Dominion Bank – to become the Toronto Dominion Bank, as we know it today.

        West of the bank on the same side of the street, was a frame hotel, owned and operated by Saul Metcalfe. This hotel was burned – about 1904 or 1905 and was replaced by the cement block building which is now part of the Carveth Nursing Home. The stables which were not burned were remodeled and are now an apartment behind the post office.

        The brick house where Stuart Willoughby lives was then the residence of Norton Johnson who ran a furniture store and undertaking parlour where Stuart has his office and Pete Clark has his workshop.

        In the building now operated by Pete Vogelgang as an antique shop, A.J. Steacy and his brother Matthew operated a hardware store and tinsmithing business. Between that store and Bay Street an old gentleman by the name of Arthur Likely, assisted by Neil Brady, the town constable, made wooden pumps.

        Further along on Main Street, where Ron Basely lives, Chauncey Gilbert ran the post office as well as a small store. There were no buildings on the Point Road – only Dave Patterson’s house, just this side of the ferry landing. West of the Point Road, Joe McAlonan and his family lived, in a small frame house, where Vera McAnnell’s house now stands. Joe made cheese in, and later owned the Gilt Edge Cheese factory, where Ken Elliott has his dairy store.

        The only buildings on the south side of the street was the brick house, where Emerson Baxter lives, and the Ferry house which was occupied by the William Gilbert family, who made buggies, cutters and sleighs in a shop (where Thompson’s Electrical establishment now stands) and they used the upper half of the house for a store room, where they displayed their buggies, cutters and sleighs. This was the extreme western boundary of the village.

        West of that there were four dwellings and farm buildings toward the Frontenac County line: Albert Leadbeater, grandfather of the present occupant, Gordie Leadbeater; George Moore and family where Sarah Moore lives; Sam Gardiner where Arnold Davies now owns; and that of Robert Gardiner and his wife, together with George Gardiner and his wife and family, where Wallace Gardiner now owns.

        Starting at the foot of Bay Street we have Bracken’s feed and grist mill. Proceeding south toward Main, there was only one building, owned by Neil Brady. On the west side of Bay Street where Ralph Sweet, Hubert Mainse, the Legion Hall and the Municipal park now are, all was vacant land and used as a pasture lot during the summer months.

        South of Main on Bay Street, I only remember one other house where Thomas Moore lived. He was the original owner of the brick and tile yard, which was then owned and operated by Albert Neal who, with his wife and family lived in the brick house on the corner of Helen Street and Adelaide Street, now owned by the Simes. The brick and tile plant was on the south side of Helen Street, back of the Garry Serson and Ross Hartley homes. The plant employed seven or eight men.

         On the north side of Helen Street, George Hawkins had recently built the large brick house now owned by Howard Gray, and west of that on Adelaide Street, the Masonic Hall stands where it still is and further south the Methodist Church, now the United Church. Further east on the north side of Helen Street, John Moraghan lived where Al Mustard now lives.

        On the south side of Helen Street, next to the church was the parsonage, then occupied by Rev. Thos Meridith. This minister had two children, a boy and a girl named Homer and Clara, who attended school. At the extreme end of Helen Street, Mrs. Truman Russel, the widow of the original owner lived in the brick home presently owned by Mr. And Mrs. Perry.

        I referred to Truman Russel as the original owner. Actually Lot 4 Concession 7 was granted to Kings College, and in 1859 the entire lot, consisting of 200 acres was sold to Truman Russel for $1400.        

        In 1861 the north part of Lot 4 was surveyed into village lots, total area approximately 40 acres.

 

AREA INDUSTRIES

 

I have spent time in the description of the village I 1904-05. I will now move on to industries of the era. Not having water power, Seeley’s Bay had very little industry until the advent of the steam engine. The first industry of any consequence was probably the saw mill, which was operated by David Collinson, a great-uncle of George Collinson. David Collinson was caught in a line shaft in the mill and was killed. At the time when I remember it, a grist mill and feed store had been added and the owner was William Bracken. Later it was purchased by Chas. Hartley and it still remains in the Hartley family. The saw and grist mills were burned in 1965 or 1966 and have not been rebuilt. This industry employed five or six men during the winter and early spring.

        Albert Neal was operating a brick and tile yard between Helen Street and where Highway 15 now is. This brick yard was started and operated for many years by Thomas Moore, grandfather of Douglas Moore. It employed six or seven men full time.

        At the western end of the village where Russ Thompson’s electrical appliance building now stands, William Gilbert and his two sons George and Harry had a carriage shop, where they made buggies, cutters, sleighs and wagons using the upper half of the building next to the shop now owned by Leola Perry, as a display room. Directly opposite this was the Gilt Edge cheese factory, now owned by Ken Elliott, This factory was then operated by Joe McAlonan. There was another cheese factory, south of the village on Robert Tates farm, called Gardiners factory operated by W.M. Flood, on land now owned by Dan Roantree. Each of these factories employed one or two men in addition to the manufacturer on a seasonal basis. There were two blacksmith shops at this time, one on Main Street, west of the present firehall, operated by W.M. Berry and one where Gord Chase’s house now is, operated by George Cheatham. Each shop employed one man on an apprentice basis.

 

THE FARM SCENE

 

        It is useless to describe the village industries without describing the surrounding country, as both the village and community were entirely dependant on each other. Contrary to the general opinion, this was not strictly a dairying settlement, although that was probably the largest cash crop. Nearly all farms kept a few brood sows and raised a couple of loads of pigs to ship, as well as for their own use. Each farmer had on his farm or somewhere in the neighborhood, a wood lot which furnished fuel for the farm house. Logs for lumber to build and repair with some to sell. Many farmers had a sugar bush and made syrup and sugar. The horse was the King and furnished all the services supplied today by the tractor, truck and car. Most farmers raised their own horses and a few to sell.

        Nearly all farmers of my generation can remember dozens of times plowing, discing or doing other work with a team of horses, with one or two foals running alongside bugging you to stop every half-hour so they could nurse. They were a damned nuisance, but you couldn’t help loving the little devils.

Many farm women kept flocks of turkeys, chickens, ducks and geese. The chickens supplied eggs for the table as well as to trade at the store along with berries, homemade butter, and other farm products for groceries. The turkeys, geese, ducks and roosters were killed dressed and sold at Christmas time.

        Many farm women made soap by leaching ashes and boiling fat and lard in the lye. This was very efficient for laundry or scrubbing floors and woodwork. Nearly all feed for stock and fowl was raised on the farm, with horses supplying all the power. My earliest recollection of threshing was with a twelve horse-power outfit, which my Dad owned and with which he did his own plus custom threshing.

        The threshing separator was a hand fed Sawyer and Massey, with straw carriers. There were several of these outfits in the vicinity and I have driven the horses on the horse-power, both for threshing and wood sawing as a child.

        You were equipped with a whip with a long lash and your sole purpose was to keep the laggards dusted up and when anything went wrong or they wanted the machine to stop, someone, or more often two or three would run out and grab a team by the bridle and gradually slow them to a stop.

        The horse-power was followed by the portable steam engine mounted on wheels and drawn by horses. In the winter time when much of the threshing and all of the wood-sawing was done, the wheels were removed and a heavy set of sloop-sleighs were substituted. The portable was followed by the traction steam engine which of course was self-propelled. The grain separators were by this time equipped with a self-feeder and straw blower.

This in turn was followed by the gasoline tractor, using the same type of separator but generally drawing the grain into the granary and blowing the straw into the barn.

This in turn was followed by the combine – either the swather and pickup or the      header type – both of which are in use at the present time.

So you see, the advances made and the time and labor saved in the years from 1910 until 1965 when, in the course of one lifetime, I have helped thresh grain with five different types of threshers, each one a great improvement over its predecessor.

Perhaps the one greatest single invention to save time and labor on the farm, was the gasoline engine, which could be, and was, used for so many purposes from pumping water, milking cows, sawing wood … you name it, the gasoline engine did it.

        There was one other item which was essential and worth an extra man on the farm, a well-trained collie dog. He or she would bring cows to the gate at milking time, put them with the pigs in the pasture or pens if they broke out, and acted as a watchdog and friend and protector of the children. The collie dog saved you countless steps and expected nothing but a kind word in return.

        This period and for many years after, was generally a period of mixed farming. The village and the farms complemented and supported each other. The farms furnished logs for the mill, grain for the grist mill, milk, butter, eggs, poultry and many other items for the stores as well as fuel for many of the villagers. The farmers in return received clothing, groceries and other necessities from the village. Prices were very low, according to present standards, as were wages. A great deal of the purchases were for trade or barter. Logs for lumber, grain for flour, wagon axles and tongues for horse shoeing and so on down the line.

Labour was mostly on an exchange basis; your neighbours – and everyone was a neighbour in those days – might want help with something he could not do alone, so you helped him in the certain knowledge that when, in turn you needed help, he would be there. Barn raisings, threshing, wood sawing and silo filling were almost community affairs, as were quilting bees with the women. A common saying at the time was “I can do without my relatives, but I can’t do without my neighbours.” However, it was nice to be on good terms with both.

 

COMMUNICATIONS and THE STAGE LINE

 

        There was no rural mail in those days, no rural telephone, and you could only subscribe to a weekly paper because you only got to a post office occasionally. Lighting was furnished by coal oil lamps and lanterns, which weren’t too wonderful to read or sew by, but still a great improvement over the candles of a short time before.

        Communications consisted of a telegraph line with an operator in Morton, and a single Bell line running north from Kingston, with one phone in Hawkin’s store so people could call Kingston in an emergency.

        There was also a daily mail service from Westport to Kingston. One driver left Kingston in the morning, and made Seeley’s Bay by noon, met the Westport driver who also made Seeley’s Bay by noon. They exchanged mail, took fresh teams, and after having dinner, proceeded to their destination, to start from opposite ends of their route the next day.

The stage barn where extra horses were kept, was in the vicinity of the Standard Church and its parsonage of today. The horses were cared for at this time by Rod Bryan. The road was just a narrow gravel road as were all the roads in these parts of Leeds and Frontenac counties. They were not plowed in the winter and the stage drivers switched to sleighs.

        Much of the transportation during the period between 1900 and 1920, both passengers and freight, was by water. For many years the Rideau King and Rideau Queen, boats operated by the Rideau Lakes Navigation Company, carried passengers and freight between Kingston and Smith Falls. Later, Swifts of Kingston added the Buena Vista, while still later the Ottawan was added, making a total of four passenger and package freight boats operating on the Smith Falls-Kingston run. In addition, there were several coal barges and several tugs towing scows loaded with lumber, cordwood, cheese-box heading, and pulpwood.

        The wharf was north of the saw mill on what is now a vacant lot; there was a large storage shed for coal, owned by Captain John Randall, who also owned a coal barge. He would fill the coal shed full of coal during the summer for use during the following winter.

        There were three coal barges operating out of Seeley’s Bay: the John Randall, the Jessie, and the Kenervan, owned by Captain Edward Smith and his son Captain William Smith, who owned and operated the farm where Horton Herbison now lives. All of these boats used steam power as well as the tugs of that period. Later, when gas engines became more common, J. H. Coon of Morton bought and ran a gas driven freighter called the Ariadne, carrying feed, flour, lumber, and supplies for the general stores. The stores, mills and shops along the Rideau would stock up in the fall, but when they ran low in the winter months they would hire teams to replenish their stock from Kingston or – in the case of flour and feed – from the railway siding north of Gananoque.

        Some time about 1910 or 1911 the first cars began to appear in the village. The first two were owned by J.C. McKinley and William Bracken. Between then and 1914 the car became quite common, mostly Model T Fords. This was a friction driven car propelled by a motor with magneto ignition, no water pump, and the water circulated when it got warm enough. The connecting rods had paddles that splashed oil up into the cylinder walls. The result was – that when you were going uphill – your number four spark plug fouled; and when you were going downhill, your number one cylinder got most of the oil. Consequently you seldom had all four cylinders operating at the same time. The lights on the first models were carbide lamps that were about on a par with two fireflies. These were followed by lights that were powered by current from the magneto, which lights were fair when operating at, or near, top speed, which was 38 or 40 mph. However, these lights were mostly non-existent when you slowed down for bad roads, which was most of the time.

        The Model T didn’t have much to recommend it by today’s standards, except for the fact that it was cheap ($500) with all accessories, including a screw driver and a set of pliers. AND it never wore out.

        It was followed by various makes: Chev, Overland, McLaughlin, Reo, Maxwell and others such as Peerless and Ball which were assembled from bits and pieces from other companies.

        The car of the period from 1913 to 1918 was a touring car, meaning they were equipped with top and side curtains for bad weather. The side curtains were taken off and – if you so desired – the top could be taken don in bad weather. During the early years nearly all cars were equipped with 4 cylinder motors. The early cars were noisy and they scared the Hell out of the horses on the road, and well they might, for in less than ten years from their first appearance, they and the trucks had displaced the horse on the roads during the summer months, and by 1945 the car, truck and tractor had relegated old Dobbin – what few of them were left – to the status of a family pet.

 

THE TELEPHONE COMETH

 

In 1909, or thereabouts, The Leeds and Frontenac Rural Telephone Company was formed. It was a joint stock company, and the shares sold for $50, if I remember correctly. You were assessed $10 regularly or annually for maintenance. It served the country from Morton to Inverary. It was divided into sections, or lines, with a central office or exchange, making connections between lines. A line might consist of anywhere from 3 or 4 phones to ten times that many. When we first were hooked up we were on the Morton line along with 31 other families. Needless to say, you often had a long wait to get your party. Each phone had a different series of rings, and everyone knew everyone else’s ring, and when you called a party on your own line you could generally count half a dozen receivers clicking down. Who needed a daily newspaper?

In a few years the lines were reduced in number of phones per line which improved the efficiency of the system. When you wanted to call long distance, which was anywhere other than on your line, you pressed a button and cranked once; the operator connected you with your party. The first operators in Seeley’s Bay were Mr. and Mrs. Albert Putnam and the first central office was over Gilbert’s store, where Ron and Joyce Beazly now live.

        The company later bought the house where Susan and Emerson Baxter live, and installed their switchboard. It was operated from there until 1968 when the company sold its shares and lines and equipment to the Community Telephone Company which installed a dial system, a great improvement. The early phones were powered by 2 dry cell batteries which had to be replaced at least once a year. The first maintenance man or lineman was Ben Brown, followed by Rube Burch and several others. This early system may seem crude compared to what we have today, but it served its purpose, and was a big improvement over a horse and saddle.

       

                                      

EDUCATION

 

        The school which those of my generation attended, was a two room school where Dick and Gerty Murphy now live. It was a large shell of a building heated by two wood burning stoves, one upstairs and one downstairs, and in the winter time it was about as warm as a step-mothers kiss. The junior teacher had grades 1-4 downstairs. The principal had grades 5-8 in the upstairs room. There was no highschool closer than Gananoque or Athens, and there was no transportation to either place, so it goes without saying that 95% of us finished school at grade 8. Nevertheless, two of those students became members of the federal government, John Bracken and Hayden Stanton, and one became a member of the provincial government.

        In 1924 the school board rented the lower half of the Masonic Hall, hired two more teachers, and taught grades up to and including Grade 12.

        In 1930 a new school was built on lot 5 concession 7 just east of the village. The public school and the continuation school were taught in this building until the Department of Education phased out the continuation school system in 1954. Then the Rideau High School District was formed, consisting of Leeds, Lansdowne, South Crosby, Bastard and South Burgess and the village of Newboro, using the schools at Elgin, Lyndhurst and Seeley’s Bay until a new modern school was built one mile east of Elgin.

        In the early 1970s the school sections were phased out and a Township Public School was built at Sweet’s Corner. The kids were bused to both schools and seldom got their feet on the ground, unless they went to play ball or some other form of sports. A far cry from the day we were glad to bum a ride on a milk wagon in the summertime to save a two and a half mile walk. In the winter there were no milk wagons, and if you didn’t chance a ride, you walked the sleigh tracks if the road was good, or snow-shoed or skied across country if it wasn’t good.

 

CHURCHES

 

At this time, 1904-1907, there were two churches in Seeley’s Bay. Firstly, the Methodist Church, which became the United Church after union with the Methodist, Congregational and part of the Presbyterian faiths. I want to mention only one more thing about the United Church. Mary Davies and Glenna McKinley have compiled an excellent history of it and had it printed in book form and I would certainly recommend that anyone who has not read it, procure a copy.

        St. Peters Anglican Church had only been built a few years as the Anglicans from this district had formally attended St. John’s Church at Leeds.

        The Roman Catholics worshipped at St. Barnaby’s Church at Brewers Mills. In the early 20s the Standard Church was built.

 

SPORTS

 

Seeley’s Bay has always been quite active in sports. There was a lull in this activity during the First World War, as few villages could muster enough athletes to form a team, but during the 1920s an athletic association was formed, and by holding dances, Field Days, and Tournaments, financed the teams. They were able to field some excellent hockey, soccer, baseball and later softball teams. This athletic club is still operating, but whether or not it has been continuous I’m not certain.

I think I had better skip the periods covering the two World Wars, and the years of the Depression, as everyone has heard enough about those years to last several lifetimes.

After the Second World War, in 1948 a number of veterans of both wars formed a branch of the Royal Canadian Legion. They bought a modest building, applied for a charter and were granted #491. This first hall was burned down and they rebuilt, and have continued to enlarge and improve it until today. They have an excellent hall. They have been a very community minded organization, helping with every worthwhile project and granting the use of their hall to such groups as Cubs, Brownies, Chamber of Commerce and the Senior Citizens Club, which was formed in 1974.

Another group to which the village and surrounding country is indebted is Seeley’s Bay Volunteer Fire Department. After several serious and costly fires, a group of public spirited citizens formed this organization, and with some help from the Provincial Government, township council and private donations, bought an engine and have since enlarged until now they own their own hall, two fire engines and an ambulance. All these vehicles are all on standby and all are operated by volunteers. Needless to say, this group has saved a great many buildings from being destroyed, and saved a quite a few lives with their ambulance service.

I would be remiss if I failed to mention and comment on the Ladies Auxiliaries of the Legion and the Fire Department, as they have rendered outstanding help and support to the men in their endeavors.

 

HEALTH

 

Perhaps the greatest advance of all over these decades has been in the field of medicine and surgery. During the early part of the century the communicable diseases were killers. Tubercularosis, diphtheria, small-pox, scarlet fever and influenza were real threats, especially to the young. This was due to poor ventilation and unsatisfactory sanitary conditions, Once any of these plagues struck a home, they were very likely to afflict all members and were generally fatal to one or more. Due to better knowledge, vaccines, inoculations and segregation of victims in the early stages, these diseases have been almost eliminated.

Seventy years ago an appendix operation could be regarded as about an even break and anything beyond that wasn’t even considered, unless perhaps an amputation of a gangrenous or badly mangled arm or leg. Two world wars, when surgeons had no alternative but to amputate, and a vastly improved knowledge of the human body and the functions of its various members has added a great deal to both the surgical and medical professions. Childbirth and infant mortality claimed many during the early nineteen hundreds, due to poor prenatal care, poor nutrition and too much hard work for pregnant women.

If you check through any of the cemeteries, you will find by the dates on the headstones, that more people died under the age of thirty five than there were who lived beyond that age. During the early part of the century there were two doctors in the village, Dr Elliott and Dr Gardiner. They made their calls by horse and buggy, or horse and cutter, depending on the season, and as no one had a telephone, someone had to drive to notify them in the case of sudden illness, accident or childbirth. At that time all births in the rural sections were in the homes. The doctor was generally assisted by a midwife, who often was one of the neighbour women, or relative of the patient.

Once the telephone system was installed, and cars were in use, it was much quicker to get a doctor in an emergency, or to get a patient to the doctor’s office. Also, where surgery was required, it was a great deal quicker to get a patient to hospital. Today, an ambulance can get a patient to the hospital in half an hour, and if the condition is serious, surgery may be performed in an hour from when the doctor is notified. Vastly different from the time a neighbour of mine was stricken with appendicitis. Someone had to drive three miles for a doctor. The doctor decided an operation was necessary, so they drove three miles back to the village, contacted J.C. McKinley, who had a motor boat. Then they carried the kid, who was about fourteen, half a mile, mattress and all, put him in the boat and struck out for Kingston. It was a four and a half hour trip. They got him to the hospital, operated on him, and he recovered. Yet it was a slow service compared to present transportation. A fast team and wagon would have been quicker, but the doctor didn’t think the patient would have survived the jolting. The roads weren’t very smooth at that time.

 

CONCLUDING OBSERVATIONS

 

This covers most of the changes from 1905 to 1977, as near as I can remember. When you hear some old timer refer to the good old days, take it with a grain of salt. He is probably thinking of the good old friends of his schooldays with whom he played, worked and socialized, and who have since passed on. Those good old days weren’t all that hot. The hours were long, the pay was pitifully small, the houses were not insulated and they were cold in winter and the privies were drafty.

There was no children’s allowance, no social security for the aged, no unemployment insurance for those out of work, and no welfare assistance for the sick and needy. So you can see the advances which have been made to improve the standard of living in just one lifetime.

During the first 20 years of this century, if you didn’t work you didn’t eat. When parents got too old, sickly or crippled, they were looked after by their children. There were no alternatives.

I wonder what our parents would think if they could return and see the changes over the years. I expect the same if we could come back in the year 2050 for a couple of days and look around. The generation that was born in the 1890s and are still around, have lived through a wonderful period. We started out in an almost pioneering time when there were no cars, television, radios, electricity, or telephones … and we have seen it develop into the affluent society which we have now. Had anyone told us 70 years ago that we could sit in our own living room and talk to friends in Florida or Alaska, that we could watch a hockey match in Madison Square Gardens, or see men land on the moon and gather rock samples and then splash down in the Pacific and be taken aboard a boat, we would said that person was overdue at the funny-farm, but today these things are now taken for granted.

There have been greater advances in technology, medicine, transportation, communications, agriculture and general knowledge in this past three quarters of a century than in all recorded history prior to 1900, and I hope you will forgive those of us who were born in the last century for feeling that we have contributed a little, each in his own small way, to the standard of living that we now enjoy, and may the village and community continue to prosper and grow.

 

February 1977

Everett John Elliott,

Seeley’s Bay,

Ontario

 

 

 

Keith and Marnie Elliott’s “REMEDY” Site

 

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