T.N. McLean Livestock Sales Barn, Perth- Memories- Stuart McIntosh

Special thanks to Alvin Dobbie for sharing this photo of the T.N.McLean Livestock Sales Barn,Perth.- Stuart McIntosh

Special thanks to Alvin Dobbie for sharing this 1952 photo of Elmer Haley and Cecil. Trucking livestock. Stuart McIntosh

Perth Remembered

T.N. McLEAN LIMITED LIVESTOCK SALES BARN located on the Christie Lake Road. Anyone who grew up on a farm in Lanark County would certainly have come here on many Thursday afternoons. Trucks laden with farm animals of every description could be seen on the roads of Lanark County making their way to the auction. The operation first started in 1951. Anyone have any stories or memories of the Sales Barn? When did the operation cease?

Fred Dobbie

last sale july 1989 8 head of cattle sold

Elaine DeLisle

My Uncle Tom Spence worked there for many years. We went with my dad all the time. Some of the women from out this way still go to town on Thursday…..ha ha Sale barn day.

Joyce Thomas

Remember it well and many times came home with a calf in the back seat of a car between my sister and me . It would be in a burlap bag with its head sticking out!!

Wendy Stanton-Gray

My Mom (Doreen White) ran the canteen for a number of years before it closed, I used to go and help her on occasion.

Debbie Sargeant

Dorreen White and her amazing pies…..

Julie Nagle

Alf Moore built the sale barn

Stephen Fortner

Not the sales barn……but as a kid……we use to watch the steers get loaded on to the box cars down on the siding by the railway station. Every Saturday afternoon! lol…….that was a high point in the summer for us to do. Ride our bikes down and watch this

Cathy Hansen

My Grandfather, who farmed in Assiniboia, Sask. sold cattle to TN McLean. The cattle where shipped to Perth and sold at the Sales Barn

Jim Brownlee

Went there with my Dad a few times. Sometimes we would send cattle with Jack Izatt who went almost every Thursday.

Heather Revill

I was there once only with my father Alex Montgomery.Dad owned the East End Grocery store for a few years after W.W.2. It was well known for it’s meat counter. I wasn’t sure why we were there and I didn’t want to know. At age 6 or 7 I felt sorry for the animals, started crying and was promptly taken home!

John Henry Holliday

Remember being there with my Grandfather a farmer from Merricksville

Nicole Mardon

I spent many days at the sale barn with my Grandma White and my mom Peggy King who cooked there!!! I would go back a 1000 times if it was still around.

Laurie White Griecken

My grandma used to cook and bake in the canteen

Irene Tysick

I ‘m not sure when the sale barn closed but some of the farmers wanted to buy shares and keep it going but it did’nt happen. I remember my Dad buying pails of peanut butter ‘ jam ‘ corn syrup and honey from a sales man there back in the 1950s

Malcolm Kurt Penfold

Dad used to work there part time until the mid 1960s. Loved the smell of his sales barn cloths he hung in the room downstairs under the garage.

Stacy Lee Kehoe

I went a few times, last time was early 80’s with our Grandpa Kehoe. We brought a calf home in a the trunk. Lol

CLIPPED FROMThe Kingston Whig-StandardKingston, Ontario, Canada20 Oct 1947, Mon  •  Page 16

CLIPPED FROMThe Kingston Whig-StandardKingston, Ontario, Canada11 Oct 1950, Wed  •  Page 5

CLIPPED FROMThe Ottawa JournalOttawa, Ontario, Canada23 Mar 1929, Sat  •  Page 3

CLIPPED FROMThe Ottawa JournalOttawa, Ontario, Canada16 Apr 1960, Sat  •  Page 7

CLIPPED FROMThe Ottawa JournalOttawa, Ontario, Canada16 Jul 1958, Wed  •  Page 33

CLIPPED FROMThe Ottawa CitizenOttawa, Ontario, Canada13 Oct 1982, Wed  •  Page 64

Turning left at the corner we come to Bethel United Church, built in 1895.  In the year 1888 a log church had been erected on a plot of ground purchased from William Richard McLean for $5 but this building was later moved to be replaced by the current structure.

(This article is continued in the June 23, 1966 issue.)  The farm at the cross roads belongs to William Richard McLean and has been in the family since 1820.  Opposite the church and high on a hill is the home of James Coutts.  This land originally belonged to Archie Morrison and was passed on to his son David Morrison and to his son James Morrison.

To the left of the Ferry road is the McLean farm now occupied by Ian McLean, son of the late T.N. McLean.  This land has been in the McLean family for five generations having been granted originally to Dr. John McLean of Dumfries, Scotland, a surgeon in the Royal Navy of England, a distinguished scholar and man of letters.  In 1813 he came out on a commission appointment by the British government and headed by Admiral Bayfield.  Their duties were to survey around Lake Superior and across the Canadian border into Michigan.

In reward for his services, Dr. McLean was granted the land on which he homesteaded and upon which he made his home until he died.  Admiral Bayfield’s sword and other personal possessions are in the Canadian Museum in Montreal and two cities in Michigan perpetuate his name.

Who Remembers Harry’s Cafe?

Memories of Mrs. Gee’s Homemade Egg Rolls

Patterson’s Restaurant Perth

The Perth Canning Company — Factories That Are No More

The Original Thomas Alfred Code and Andrew Haydon Letters — Part 28–I Didn’t Swindle Money from the Wampole & Co W.H. Brick

Scrapbook Clippings of Wampole

Another Episode in Spinsterdom–The Armour Sisters of Perth

Did you Know this About the Perth Cannons?

Auctioneers

50 cents I ’m bid–Auctioneer Clayton Hands

Burns Westra and Walker Auctioneers

The Armour Sisters Auction

So Who was this Auctioneer?

Tales from an Auction–Everyone Knows a Hillside Johnny!

H B Montgomery Auctioneer

50 cents I ’m bid–Auctioneer Clayton Hands

The Auction of the Year in Carleton Place

Howard McNeely- I Aim to Please

Howard McNeely Mary Cook Clippings

 

The Ottawa Citizen
Ottawa, Ontario, Canada
06 Jan 1981, Tue  •  Page 4

 

Things You Might Not Have Known About Howard McNeely

Howard McNeely- I Aim to Please

H B Montgomery Auctioneer

“30 dollar bid it now, 35, will you gimmie 35 to make it 35”?–Howard McNeely

50 cents I ’m bid–Auctioneer Clayton Hands

 

In the Year 1923 —- “BHM”– (Before Howard McNeely)

 

 

Mary Cook Archives

Mary and Walter Swinwood — Mary Cook News Archives 1981

The Evolution of the Women’s Institute — Mary Cook News Archives 1982

Bob Sadler’s Boat Rides –Mary Cook News Archives 1982

Carleton Place Ladies Auxiliary — Chamber of Commerce 1987– Mary Cook Archives

It’s Hard for Women to get into Office in Carleton Place — 1974 –Mary Cook

Mary Cook Archives —Philip Mailey — January 25 1983

Carleton Place a place for Mad Scientists! Mary Cook News Archives 1983

Mary Cook Archives — Rifle Ranges and Nursery Schools — September 1980

Mary Cook News Archives — The Wool Industry 1982

The Moldowans —- Mary Cook News Archives 1982

Clippings of Cheryl Coker — Mary Cook News Archives

Donald Lowry …. Mary Cook News Archives

1976 Agricultural Tour — Mary Cook News Archives

The Dear Abby of Lanark County -Mary Cook Clippings

“Who is to say the street won’t be overrun with irate husbands ready to fill people full of lead?” Clippings of Mary Cook

Blue Grass Textiles Speedo- Mary Cook Clippings

Missing the Post Office — Mary Cook Clippings

 

Max Movshovitz Carleton Place Merchant — Mary Cook Clippings

 

Charlie Menzies — Talkin About Pickerel — Mary Cook Archives

Clippings of a Man Named Howard

 

 

The Ottawa Citizen
Ottawa, Ontario, Canada
01 May 1965, Sat  •  Page 31

 

 

Things You Might Not Have Known About Howard McNeely

Howard McNeely- I Aim to Please

H B Montgomery Auctioneer

“30 dollar bid it now, 35, will you gimmie 35 to make it 35”?–Howard McNeely

50 cents I ’m bid–Auctioneer Clayton Hands

 

In the Year 1923 —- “BHM”– (Before Howard McNeely)

 

 

Mary Cook Archives

Mary and Walter Swinwood — Mary Cook News Archives 1981

The Evolution of the Women’s Institute — Mary Cook News Archives 1982

Bob Sadler’s Boat Rides –Mary Cook News Archives 1982

Carleton Place Ladies Auxiliary — Chamber of Commerce 1987– Mary Cook Archives

It’s Hard for Women to get into Office in Carleton Place — 1974 –Mary Cook

Mary Cook Archives —Philip Mailey — January 25 1983

Carleton Place a place for Mad Scientists! Mary Cook News Archives 1983

Mary Cook Archives — Rifle Ranges and Nursery Schools — September 1980

Mary Cook News Archives — The Wool Industry 1982

The Moldowans —- Mary Cook News Archives 1982

Clippings of Cheryl Coker — Mary Cook News Archives

Donald Lowry …. Mary Cook News Archives

1976 Agricultural Tour — Mary Cook News Archives

The Dear Abby of Lanark County -Mary Cook Clippings

“Who is to say the street won’t be overrun with irate husbands ready to fill people full of lead?” Clippings of Mary Cook

Blue Grass Textiles Speedo- Mary Cook Clippings

Missing the Post Office — Mary Cook Clippings

 

Max Movshovitz Carleton Place Merchant — Mary Cook Clippings

 

Charlie Menzies — Talkin About Pickerel — Mary Cook Archives

Things You Might Not Have Known About Howard McNeely

Photos-Carleton Place and Beckwith Heritage Museum -Canadian files

 

Howard died in January 1994 at his home on Rochester Street in Carleton Place

Howard was mayor of Carleton Place from 1960-1967.  In the 1950s he was also a councillor and reeve

Howard operated a barber shop on Bridge Street  for nearly 60 years.

Howard teamed up with H.B. (Burnett) Montgomery and auctioned just about everything off for about 50 years. After  H. B.’s death he teamed up for a spell with Frank Burns. “We aim to please” was his motto on his phamphlets, but I heard “It’s nice and clean folks!” more than the other phrase at his auctions.

As mayor, one of his priorities as stated in the Canadian was acquiring land from the Dunlop family which became the Business Park North and now known as the Dunlop Business Park.

One of Howard’s best friends were the parents of Brian Costello.

Howard was famous for towing along his public address system that he used in auctions for local events any time they needed him.

Howard was once the head of at least two local orchestras and was also a well known square dance caller.

Howard was a 45 year member of St. John’s Masonic Lodge No. 63

Howard never told anyone his age preferring to leave it up to everyone’s imagination. Age is a case of mind over matter. If you don’t mind, it don’t matter.

 

Come and visit the Lanark County Genealogical Society Facebook page– what’s there? Cool old photos–and lots of things interesting to read. Also check out The Tales of Carleton Place and The Tales of Almonte

1. Information where you can buy all Linda Seccaspina’s books-You can also read Linda in The Townships Sun  Screamin’ Mamas (USA)  and The Sherbrooke Record

   

 

Howard McNeely- I Aim to Please

H B Montgomery Auctioneer

“30 dollar bid it now, 35, will you gimmie 35 to make it 35”?–Howard McNeely

50 cents I ’m bid–Auctioneer Clayton Hands

 

In the Year 1923 —- “BHM”– (Before Howard McNeely)

Howard McNeely- I Aim to Please

 

Photo–Here it is, of course I’m on a booster too.
I believe that’s my first hair cut Photo–Donovan Hastie
HVAC TECHNICIAN
EnerCare Home Services

 

Linda Gallipeau-Johnston– The best thing I remember about Howard McNeely is him driving around in his car with the big speakers on the top and telling everyone to come out to the Tombola at Central School yard. That’s the way stuff like that got around in the 50’s. I’m sure he did it for other stuff too – but that’s the one that caught my ears at 7yrs. I just remember how he could drum up excitement doing that!

Author’s Note- Lynda I still use the word “tombola” LOL and people give me the strangest looks.

Ann Stearns Rawson –Do you remember going to the Tombolas? I remember one in particular because my dad was working at it for the IOOF (I think).

Debbie Roy– Howard used to call for square dancing all around the county while my Grandpa Shail played fiddle, my Nanny Shail played piano, my Dad on guitar, and my Uncle on banjo. He was such a fun-loving guy!

Nancy Hudson —Yes I remember Howard calling sqare dances at local dances, he really kept everyone on their toes and was always the life of the party. He also served as Mayor for quite a few years and his barbershop first beside Woodcock’s Bake shop and later down the street at the corner of Elgin[Emily] st. was always a meeting place for local men.

Christy Zavitske McNeely— My mom Tina McNeely worked for him as the auctioneer recorder??? Secretary???

 

Dale Lowe—I remember the inside of his barbershop….little things like the Export A calendar that hung on the wall. When you were small, Howard placed a padded board across the arms of the chair so your head was at at a good level for him. It was a memorable day when you were finally tall enough to get your first haircut without that board…a rite of passage!

                              Photo-Carleton Place and Beckwith Heritage Museum

“Will somebody make it twenty?”

Howard McNeely has been seeking bids for 40 years

By Mary Cook

Carleton Place Canadian, 1987

Forty years ago a large broad axe fetched a quarter.  Today, if it’s really old it could command a lofty $60.  The crowds were smaller back then, and Howard McNeely, the newest auctioneer in the valley knew just about everyone by his first name.  But times have changed since that day almost 40 years ago when Howard thought he could do what he had been watching other auctioneers do for years.  He thought…..”there’s nothing to this.  All I have to do is stand up on the platform or the back of a truck and ask for bids.”  Well, it turned out not to be quite that simple.

A young Howard McNeely had been following the local auctions for years.  He never paid too much attention to the “stuff” being sold, but he couldn’t take his eyes off the auctioneer.  He was fascinated with the fast talking, the rapport with the crowd, and the obvious delight when a bid was over.

Photos-Carleton Place and Beckwith Heritage Museum

 

Actually, Howard had had plenty of experience on the stage by the time he first tried his hand at auctioneering, so he wasn’t walking into the job cold.  For years he had an orchestra that toured the Ottawa Valley, and he was well acquainted with standing up before people.  He is probably one of the few people who had an orchestra but never mastered a musical instrument.  But that didn’t stop him from enjoying the toe tapping valley music everyone loved.  He really had two orchestras.  One was a rag tag group who got together for the sheer love of valley music.  It included Ab Duncan, Stewart Comba, Les Neild.  When he wanted to fancy things up a bit he added Jack Peckett and Les’ daughter Elsie on the piano.  Howie kept up a steady patter between songs and dances and found it pretty easy to entertain the crowd, so that the first time he took to the platform at an auction sale, he wasn’t even nervous.  “I had been so used to being in front of people, that I never gave it a thought.  And besides, in those days you knew everyone…everyone!” he said.

Not so today.  Even if the faces of the collectors and dealers are familiar, Howard often doesn’t get to meet them personally.  For that reason, and because the crowds are so much bigger now, Howard finally had to go to a number system like the big auctioneers in the city.  The crowd didn’t like it when he first introduced numbers about 15 years ago, but as he said, times had changed.

Howard’s first sale was on Park Avenue, “just across the fence from where I was born and raised”, and Burnett Montgomery was the auctioneer who set out to show Howard the ropes.  Burnett had been auctioneering for a long time, and the partnership was to last for 30 years.  “All that time we never had a disagreement.  It was a great relationship.  We got along well, and I learned a lot from Burnett” he admits.

 

Photos-Carleton Place and Beckwith Heritage Museum

 

The biggest sale Howard ever held was when he sold the Mississippi Hotel by public auction.  All the furnishings went too, and then the big stone heritage building was put on the block.  Howard lives by the adage that discretion is the better part of valor, and insists he cannot honestly remember what the landmark building sold for.

One of the longest running auctions was on a farm on the old Ashton road that took three days to complete.  “It was loaded with antiques, and the dealers were there from all over.  The prices held up for the full three days too” he remembers.

There are items today that couldn’t be given away 40 years ago.  Old milk cans command a good price now, and Gingerbread clocks which sold for $10 in the 50’s would be considered a good buy today if you paid a mere $100.

Photos-Carleton Place and Beckwith Heritage Museum

 

Although he won’t say from which sale it sold, Howard recently got the bidding up to $6,800 on an old corner cupboard.  “Forty years ago, you’d consider it a pretty good sale if you got that for a whole house full of furniture.”

Over the years Howard has always tried to keep a good sense of humor.  Early in the game he learned if one person in the crowd was entering into the spirit of the sale by bantering back and forth with the auctioneer, you capitalized on that.  Just last week one woman seemed to be in perfect sync with Howard.  They both ended up cracking jokes throughout the entire sale much to the delight of the crowd.

In the early years Howard has sometimes inadvertently sold the same item twice.  It can happen.  Two different helpers will hand Howard the same item after it has been sold….but as a rule the crowd is astute, and there is always someone there to holler, “Hey, McNeely, you’ve already sold that once today.”

Howard remembers an incident from years ago that still makes him chuckle today.  “It was a large sale, with two or three people in on it.  Someone handed me up a baby carriage.  It was in pretty good condition too.  It was one of those old fashioned jobs.  You don’t see them around anymore.  Anyway, I asked for a bid and got one right away.  The bidding went pretty high too.  And it sold to someone.  Then this woman came to me in an awful sweat.  It seems she brought her baby to the sale in the carriage, and was just off looking at something else when I sold it.  Everyone thought it was very funny, because I had to get the carriage back.  The people who bought it were just loading it into their car.  I was a bit embarrassed, but those things happen.”

 

 

 

Photo of H B Montgomery and Howard McNeely-Photos-Carleton Place and Beckwith Heritage Museum

 

Right from the day Howard started auctioneering 40 years ago, he has always been on the lookout for stealers.  He remembers one sale where two women were busy loading their shopping bags with small things at a sale.  “But unknown to them Herb Cornell, the Chief of Police was watching them.  It was his day off, and of course they didn’t know he was a policeman.  When he showed his badge they put everything back in a hurry.”

At another sale many years ago, he was aware of a big jackknife that was in the auction.  “It was a beauty..very old, and huge, with a handmade wooden handle.  During the sale I remembered it and asked my helper to hand me the jackknife.  Well, it was gone.  It vanished in a couple of seconds.  That’s all i

 

The biggest sale Howard ever held was when he sold the Mississippi Hotel by public auction.  All the furnishings went too, and then the big stone heritage building was put on the block.  Howard lives by the adage that discretion is the better part of valor, and insists he cannot honestly remember what the landmark building sold for.-Mary Cook

 

Related Reading

H B Montgomery Auctioneer

50 cents I ’m bid–Auctioneer Clayton Hands

 

In the Year 1923 —- “BHM”– (Before Howard McNeely)

H B Montgomery Auctioneer

  Photo by Sherri Iona (Lashley) Carleton Place Canadian

Poppa, Burnett Montgomery. My cousin didn’t send entire article and unfortunately he wasn’t wearing his trademark Stetson. This was taken a couple years before he died I think.The Carlton Place Canadian June 1982-

Well-known Carleton Place Auc­tioneer Henry Burnett Montgomery died in Carleton Place and District Memorial Hospital following a short battle with cancer. He was 86. HB, as he was affectionately known throughout the Ottawa Valley, had a career which spanned 40 years in the auction sale business.

 

A former farmer and butcher he handled as many as three or four auc­tions a week for years and over his past years teamed with another well respected local auctioneer, Howard McNeely.

“I always said the auction sale was part of Burnett and he was part of the auction,” McNeely said Monday in reminiscing about his many years of working with Montgomery. “He was a good fellow to work with, a perfect gentleman with a great respect for everyone,” McNeely fondly recalled. “He worked hard for the per­son he was doing the sale for, but he was also fair with the person buying the item,” he noted. “In all the years together we never had a (bad) word,” McNeely stated. “We worked a system and he often said to me ‘Howard there aren’t two men in a million who get along as we do,’ and I’d tell him that it was because neither of us was power hungry and we worked for the betterment of all con­cerned.”

 

Despite his age Montgomery couldn’t completely quit the auction business. “He’d tell me many times he was going to quit, but he never really did,” McNeely mentioned. In a feature story with appeared in The Canadian in June of 1982 Mon­tgomery said he began auctioneering to help “make ends meet”. At that time he was operating a general store in Ashton.

The largest sale HB and Howard McNeely did was when they sold the Mississippi Hotel- They sold all the contents , including pine and oka bedroom sets the same day.

The biggest farm sale they did was Sinclair Turner’s farm in Appleton. According to Montgomery the sale lasted two days.

When HB fist began selling china cabinets they went for 35 bucks– 35 years later they climbed to $1500. Now the antique furniture business has declined with said cabinet going for less that 200 bucks.

Dairy cows used to go for 30 bucks a piece and Montgomery and McNeely earned two percent commission on farm sales and 7 percent on furniture sales. When he first began there was only auctionees Clayton Hands around and when this article was written he said there were so many it was hard for younger lads to begin a business.

To be an auctioneer you have to be pretty good to catch the bids, plus have the gift of gab and know just about everyone. That was HB.

With Stetson. Looks small. He had many over the years. Photo by Sherri Iona (Lashley)

Related Reading:

50 cents I ’m bid–Auctioneer Clayton Hands

Buttons and Quilts by Sherri Iona (Lashley)

The Mysterious Riddell— H B Montgomery House

In Memory of H B Montgomery

 Glory Days in Carleton Place-Sherri Iona (Lashley)

Glory Days of Carleton Place- Dear Miss Powell by Terry Kirkpatrick

Update on Miss Powell from CPHS- John Edwards