Last week I wrote about Minnie Dunlop who used to run Darou’s Bakery on the corner of Emily and Bridge Street in Carleton Place. If you had no idea like I and some of the family did: Minnie not only baked her heart out, and ran that part of town like she was in charge, but she was also married to a former mayor from Carleton Place, Andrew Earl Dunlop.
Today, one of the family, Doug Caldwell called me and we had a lovely chat about the town of Carleton Place. He remembers the pool hall really wasn’t the place and Minnie often hauled her son Murray home by the ear after rescuing them from the evils of pool-playing. Oh the horrors! She was a no nonsense woman who believed in the theory that sliced bread was here to stay and purchased one of the first bread sliceing machines to stay ahead of the competition. Doug remembers her telling him to grab a stool and show Carleton Place how its done slicing the bread. He said he was pretty proud doing that job.
Photo Carleton Place and Beckwith Heritage Museum- read-In Memory of Mike Moldowan — The Man Behind the Fries
But Doug not only helped Murray, he helped Mike Muldowan at the chip wagon and when he got there early in the morning Mike would give him a large pail of potatoes to peel. I asked him if he ate his weight in chips for payment. He said, “You know I would have, but I remember getting silver coins, Mike never paid in paper!”
His mother Edna Florence Caldwell, was a hairdresser on Bridge Street and his grandmother, Mrs. Jamieson played the organ at St. James Anglican Church, and his two aunts sang in the choir. He also remembers the horse stables in the back of St. Andrew’s Presbyterian Church. The farmers came to church with their teams and sleighs and it was quite the sight as they parked. When they left they had to unharness everything and regroup, and mumbled and grumbled. But that was not the only place they mumbled in grumbled at St. Andrew’s. In the days that Captain Hooper’s house Raloo Cottage was going to be torn down the citizens of Carleton Place were not happy. Not happy at all! So I asked him,”Did they protest?” He said they protested the way they always did– complaining in front of the churches on Sunday!”
He also remembers every year the gypsies–(2021 word Romani) and would set up shop on the corner of Lake and Beckwith near where Nichols Planing Mill was. He said it was quite the event as in those days the stream behind it was quite larger than it is today.
So they mumbled and grumbled about the Levine building across the street, and they muttered about the new Fleming Funeral Parlour opening up on Lake Ave West. Because, that’s the way things were done. His grandfather, Will Jaimeson was a CPR railroad man and he did the Ottawa Brockville run which was a very prestigious run in those days.
Doug remembers being put on top of one of the L carts and having his Grandfather perform a steam show so to speak. His grandfather would holler to start shovelling the coal really fast and once the steam would get up to speed it was a sight to see. So he ran the smaller wheels and then the bigger wheels to show his grandson how much power that Locomotive had. Meanwhile the coal man wasn’t too happy and he would tell young Doug that his grandfather was showing off just because he showed up.
This morning I had a ZOOM chat with Doug Caldwell, as the family reunion is coming up October 30, 2021 at the Gastro Pub in Carleton Place. He told me about the continual arguments he used to have with ‘Jimmy Edwards’ at Edwards Grocery when he went to go pick up a ‘knob of tobacco’ for his uncle on the corner of Coleman and Franktown Road. He was allowed a treat so he wanted to make sure he got the most bang for his money. In those days Jimmy Edwards bagged the candy and they were all in small paper bags. At each purchase Doug would argue with Jimmy saying he was getting cheated as he was not getting a full handful. Doug at the age of 5 would argue up and down but it was always the same result. Jimmy Edwards held the upper hand with those paper bags full of candy. So Doug at age 5 would leave the store muttering, hauling his little wagon down the street on his way to deliver that ‘knob of tobacco’ to his uncle. One day that tobacco got the best of him and he chewed off the corner of that tobacco wanting to see what it tasted like. Well you and I probably have a good idea what it tasted like, and he said he felt like he was poisoned. Worse that that he had to tell his uncle how he lost the corner of that tobacco.
In the end everyone moved away after the war so the family could seek better fortunes, and on October 30th, 2021, the families are all reuniting once again at the Gastro Pub in Carleton Place for a salute to the “Jamieson Daughters”. It’s time for the family to reunite, celebrate and time for the younger generations to know their history. Family reunions are the place where you remember where you came from.
Thanks Doug for the stories!!
Shane Wm EdwardsNever heard anyone call my grandfather “Jimmy”. But in a “Remember When” column in the Canadian by S.C. Ribe in the late 40s, I read a reference to a “Jimmy Edwards” who had taken pictures of some Doukhobours at the train station. Having a copy of that picture I finally made the connection. read-How Many Women Does it Take to Replace a Team of Horses?The Doukhobors
What do the Darou Family of Bakers and Minnie the Hooker Have in Common?
lindaseccaspina 