This Product is being made at the Carp Flour Mills at Carp– 20 miles from the Capital City, on the Pembroke Highway. In three months over 110 merchants were stocking the line in Ottawa alone. In the early part of James Kyd, a well known grocery broker of Ottawa, was secured by Mr. Hopkins to take over tbe selling and distribution of Mello-Creme, and by the spring of the same year the sales had spread over all Eastern Ontario and into Montreal, also the Eastern Townahipa of Quebec, besides Toronto, which was being given a trial. It was decided that a limited company should be formed to lake over the new cereal.
In conjunction with the sale of Mello-Creme for a cereal, has come its rapid adoption to the making of a whole wheat bread. Today thousands of loaves of Mello-Creme Bread are being made In Ottawa and many points as far as Windsor by the Kwan Bread Company. The popularity of the bread is demonstrated by the fact that there is never a loaf left over and the Ewan Bread Company (95 Echo Drive) is now making alterations to their building- to take care of the tremendously increased demand.-10 Dec 1927
Mr. Johnston had been a resident of Ottawa for over 35 years, but was born on the 3rd line of Huntley, about three miles from Carp, and has not forgotten the scenes of his boy and young manhood.
In the early days there were many of Mr. Johnston’s forbears in Huntley. Grandfather Robert Johnston went to Huntley from Ireland some time in the twenties. There was one thing about Robert Johnston, the pioneer no one could accuse him of not trying to make a living, for, according to his descendant, Mr. Johnston not only farmed but ran a blacksmith shop, made harness and conducted a barrel factory. Robert Johnston was known far and wide in Huntley and lived till 1863. The pioneer had four sons and five daughters.
Mr. Robert Johnston’s first recollections of Carp and Huntley date to 1864, when he was 10 years of age. Carp at that time was quite a small place. He remembers that it had three general stores, a tin shop, two blacksmith shops, three churches (Presbyterian, Anglican and Methodist), and two hotels. The hotels were kept by Wm. Dorley and John Brown. One of the storekeepers whom he recalls was W. J. Feather-ston. The Presbyterian minister was Rev. Mr. Sinclair, the Anglican minister was Rev. Mr. Godfrey. The Methodist minister’s name he does not remember. Carp Today Carp today boasts a grist mill, a small saw mill, and the factory where “Mello Creme” was made.
Associated more closely perhaps than anything else in Mr. Johnston’s memory is the Carp river. Just as the people ot Richmond love the little Jock, and the people of Renfrew love the Bonnechere and the people of Arnprior love the Madawaska, so Mr. Johnston loved, and still loves, the Carp. Why the Carp river was called the Carp he cannot understand as, so far as he could ever ascertain, there was never a carp fish in the river. There were, however, thousands upon thousands of suckers, sunfish and mud-pouts.
For the people who in the 1860s who lived along the banks of the Carp (and even back from it), the suckers were literally “meat on the table.” However few returned in the spring when the water of the Carp overran its flat banks, as ascended up the hundreds of small creeks that fed it, the suckers followed. By the thousands they fell victims to the traps and nets of the farmers. The farmers who worked hard all day at their farm chores spent half the night with torches in hand beating the creeks and forcing the suckers into waiting nets or into cunningly devised traps.
When the creeks were full, these farmers would build dams with one outlet through a sluiceway or flume, at the end of which was a big and strong net. Each morning the net would be almost choked with suckers, which would be divided between the beaters. The Carp River, according to Mr. Johnston is one of the most, crooked streams to be found anywhere in Canada, and it has the peculiarity of running in a different direction to that ot all its little sister streams.
The Carp has its rise in drowned lands near Richmond and flows in a tortuous fashion till it finds itself near Ottawa, near Chats Falls. Prior to the 1890s the Carp River used to overflow its low banks badly. For example, 35 acres or more of Mr. Johnston’s own farm used to be yearly flooded prior to 1891, when the river was dredged by the provincial government on a sort of local provement scheme. The work was done by the Barrett Bros of Ottawa, who shipped their dredging machinery and boat into parts to the Carp and put them together. The little river was dredged to a width of about 65 feet from the 12th line of Goulbourne to two miles west of Carp– a distance of 12 miles. This work stopped the Spring menace in its tracks.
We went as far afield as Constance Bay, Rideau Ferry, a variety of Fall Fairs, upstairs at the Richmond arena and all of the aforementioned towns, but the favourite for me was Mulligan’s barn; located on the Carp road (long gone). read-
Old Dick Langford was a miser, and the pride of his life was a fine bay horse with a white spot on his nose. Old Dick was eighty years old and the horse was eight. They lived on Old Dick’s farm in the county of Carleton, six miles from the town of Carp, ten miles from Stittsville, and thirty miles from Ottawa. Many a time the shrivelled old man and the spirited bay horse had done the distance to Ottawa in less than four hours. Old Dick’s wife had left him twenty years before he got the bay horse. She had said Old Dick was a skinflint and a torturer, and she would not live in the same county with him. He chuckled and showed his solitary front tooth, and transferred his farm so that she could not claim a part of it. After his wife was gone, Old Dick tried to regain title to his farm, but the man to whom he had transferred it disappeared, so Old Dick bought the farm near Carp and settled down alone, with his bay horse with the white spot on his nose, and a few farm horses, cows, chickens, dogs, and four books.
“Old Dick’s bay horse was stolen in 1889,” says Murray, ” and the old man raised a tremendous hullabaloo. About three months later the horse was recovered in Ottawa and Old Dick was happy. In the fall of 1890 the horse was stolen again. Old Dick declared he knew the thief, and the adjoining counties were placarded with the following:
‘STOP HORSE THIEF!
‘Stolen from Richard Langford, Lot 13, Concession 8, Township of Huntley, County Carleton, on Friday night, October 3rd, 1890, A DARK BROWN HORSE; age 8; height 16 to 17 hands; weight about 14 cwt.; black points, except white spot on nose and white hind feet. May have traded since. Arrest
‘GEORGE GOODWIN,
‘alias St. George, alias Brennan; height, about 5 feet 8 or 9 inches; age, about 24; fair complexion, small sandy moustache, sandy hair, slim build and sharp features; grey clothes, and wore a cap when last seen. Take charge of any horse he may have and wire
‘R. McGREGOR, ‘County Constable, ‘Almonte, Ont.’
“Old Dick spent his time driving about with other horses searching for his bay horse, and declaring that the thief would go to prison this time. In December Old
Dick ceased driving about and locked himself up in his house and devoted himself anew to his library of four books. The favourite was a ‘History of the Siege of Londonderry and Defence of Inniskillen.’ The other books were ‘Meditations and Contemplations,’ by the Rev. James Hervey; ‘A Short Defence of Old Religion against Certain Novelties, Recommended to the People of Ireland’; and a big family Bible. Old Dick would open the ‘History of the Siege,’ and lay it on the table. Then he would shout passages from it at the top of his voice and toddle up and down the room in the throes of great excitement over the deeds of the lads of Londonderry.
“On Saturday afternoon, December 6th, 1890, three weeks after Birchall was hanged, neighbours passing to and from the town of Carp could hear Old Dick, the miser, roaring away over the ‘Siege of Londonderry.’ His door was locked and his windows were barred, but his voice could be heard while he thumped with his cane and trod the kitchen floor, as if leading a gallant charge. Robert Clark, a neighbour, whose house was in plain sight of the home of Old Dick, saw a light in the house in the early evening and at nine o’clock, when he looked out, Old Dick’s house was dark, the light was out and the old miser, as was his custom, was supposed by Clark to have gone to bed. About half-past ten that night, as Clark was locking up for the night, he looked out and saw Old Dick’s house brightly lighted, something Old Dick never did, because he deemed it extravagance. It was so unusual, that Clark was on the verge of going over to see if all was well with the old man, but it was snowing and blowing, so he concluded to wait until the next morning. On Sunday Clark went over to Old Dick’s. The house was locked. It was blowing heavily. Clark beat on the door, and when no answer came he went to the barn. Lying on the floor of the barn was Old Dick, sprawled out senseless, his head a mass of frozen blood. Clark shouted over to his own house and his family came and they bore the old miser to his house, forced in the door and endeavoured to revive him. The doctors were called and they worked over Old Dick, but he died, declaiming a passage from the ‘History of the Siege of Londonderry,’ and speaking no word as to the identity of his murderer.
“I arrived before the old man breathed his last. His head had been beaten by a blunt, heavy instrument. I searched the barn and found an iron pin, thirty-seven inches long and weighing ten pounds. Old Dick had used it as a pin to fasten the barn door, but white hairs and blood on it showed the murderer had used it as a club to beat Old Dick’s head almost to a pulp. The doctors, who examined the wounds on Sunday, said that Old Dick had been beaten on Saturday, and had lain all night in the barn. I searched the house. I found the ‘Siege of Londonderry’ open on the table, as the old man had left it. I found his bed had been disturbed and that some one had slept in it; a man, judging from the footmark, which was not Old Dick’s. The footmark showed no shoe, but seemingly a thick, wet sock. The murderer, whoever he was, called Old Dick out from his house to the barn on Saturday evening, either by hailing him or threatening to steal a horse, and as Old Dick entered the barn the murderer smote him with the iron pin and left him for dead, then quietly went to the house and lighted the light seen at half-past ten by Clark, who had thought at once that something was wrong, or Old Dick would not waste candles or oil. After warming himself at the fire, the murderer calmly went to rest in Old Dick’s bed, and
slept serenely while Old Dick lay dying in the barn with his wounds freezing. On Sunday morning the murderer had gone his way in the blinding snowstorm that covered his tracks.
“I began the usual house-to-house questioning of everybody in that part of the county, and at the very outset I was reminded of Old Dick’s stolen horse and his belief that he knew the thief. At every house I asked if they had seen George Goodwin recently. Goodwin was known in that locality as a loose character. He chopped wood and did odd jobs for farmers. I found a farmer who had seen him early on Saturday evening about a mile from Old Dick’s. Goodwin at that time was walking toward the Langford farm. I found another farmer who saw him still nearer Old Dick’s house. Later I found another who saw him on Sunday bound in the opposite direction, away from Old Dick’s. I got a good description of Goodwin. He was twenty-four years old, five feet eight inches tall, weighed one hundred and forty-five pounds, and had sandy hair and a light sandy moustache. He was bow-legged, had watery eyes, was near-sighted, and a silent fellow, who seldom spoke unless spoken to. But what satisfied me was the description of his clothing given by the farmers who saw him. He wore a blue suit, a short, striped overcoat, an imitation of lambskin cap, and beef-skin moccasins. The moccasins settled it. They accounted for the footmark in Old Dick’s bedroom as of a thick, wet, stained sock. I billed Goodwin for Old Dick’s murder. He was known also as Brennan, St. George, Wilkins, and used other names. He had relatives living near Ottawa, and I expected him to go to them before jumping to the United States. He had not robbed Old Dick, for I found his money.
“Goodwin did precisely as I expected. He sent money to his relatives for money, while he hid near Ottawa. I had hunted him through December 1890, and January and February 1891, and in March I located him near Ottawa. His trial was set for the Spring Assizes. His relatives retained Dalton McCarthy to defend him. Justice McMahon presided, and the trial was postponed until the Fall Assizes at the request of the defence. In the interval, Goodwin got out on bail. He skipped the country and never came back. It was good riddance of bad rubbish.
“I wondered often whether the murderer enjoyed pleasant dreams when he lay down and slept in his victim’s bed. The prosecution’s theory was, that Goodwin had killed Old Dick, not for robbery necessarily, but because Goodwin had stolen Old Dick’s horse and Old Dick knew he did it, and was waiting to locate him in order to have him arrested and sent to prison. If our theory as to the murderer had been wrong, Goodwin would not have been apt to run away.
“I had good luck in the Goodwin case, as indeed I have had in almost all cases. But about this same time I had a case where luck seemed wholly against me — in fact, I laid it away as a hard luck case. It was toward the close of 1890. John Brothers was the man in the case. He manufactured agricultural implements in the town of Milton, in the county of Halton, about twenty miles west of Toronto. He took farmers’ notes in part payment for implements. He became hard up, placed his genuine notes in the bank and added some forged notes to them. In due time the
manager of the bank told him to take up the notes. Brothers went to his brother-in-law, Amos Darling, an honest farmer who had a nice home earned by hard work. He dumped the notes on to Darling, telling him they were a good thing, paying seven and eight per cent. interest. Darling went to the bank and took up the notes, giving the bank his own note for $5,000, or almost the value of his farm. Brothers promptly disappeared, and the bank induced Darling to exchange his note for a mortgage on his farm, and in the end he lost his farm. I billed Brothers all over the country.
“Through a letter he wrote from San Francisco, I located him there. He was working as a moulder in the Risdon foundry. I prepared extradition papers and started for San Francisco. While I was on my way west and before I arrived there, a friend of Brothers in Canada notified him of extradition papers having been issued, and Brothers disappeared the day before I alighted from a train in Frisco. I notified the police all over the country, and after waiting some days and hearing nothing, I returned to Toronto. My train was several hours late. I learned that Brothers had been arrested by the chief of police at El Paso, Texas, on the Mexican border. The chief had wired me to Toronto and the telegram had been repeated to San Francisco and I was on my way back, so it missed me. I telegraphed immediately to El Paso, and the chief replied he had held Brothers as long as he could and had been compelled to release him a few hours before my telegram arrived, and Brothers had just left the town. If my train had not been late I could have reached the chief in El Paso in time. But luck was against me clear through in this case.
“Brothers crossed into Mexico and stayed there. I have heard he is dead. I felt very sorry for his brother-in-law, Amos Darling, whose home paid the forgeries of Brothers. Such Brothers as this one are not desirable even as brothers-in-law.”
MURRAY, JOHN WILSON, provincial detective for Ontario; b. 25 June 1840 in Edinburgh, son of Daniel Duncan Murray, a sea captain, and Jeanette Wilson; d. 12 June 1906 in Toronto. Read more here… click
After a destructive fire in January 2013, the Cheshire pub and former schoolhouse has been rebuilt and reopened.
Year the school first opened.: 1/1/1883 Year the school closed.: 1/1/1957
Thomas Mulligan donated land in 1820 for the site of “Mulligan’s School”. Initially there were log structures before a stone building was erected in 1883. An organ was installed in 1929. The building ceased operation as a school in 1957 and became a residence for several families. In 1989, it was converted into the popular “Cheshire Cat” old English pub. It is owned by Dustin & Crystal Therrien, and is also a designated heritage site. (2193 Richardson Side Rd, Carp, ON K0A 1L0)
Mrs. Mulligan, who, prior to her marriage, was Eliza Jane Bradley belonged to one of the oldest families in the Carp district of Huntley township. She was a daughter of the late Clement Bradley, and a granddaughter of the late William Bron Bradley, who settled on the first line of Huntley away back in 1639 on property deeded to him by an older brother. Edward Sans Bradley, who pioneered there more than a hundred years ago. William Brown Bradley and his family were residing in Montreal and came from there to take possession of the homestead. On her mother’s side ther mother was Rebecca Alexander. Mrs. Mulligan is a granddaughter of the late Andrew Alexander, another of the Carp district early settlers.
Doreen Sample’s class at S.S. No. 1 Huntley, circa 1960 – Courtesy of Doreen Sample. Front: Doug Radbourne, Doug White 2nd Row: Wayne McGee, Bobby Styles, Ray Rothwell, Bruce Story, Ralph Paul, Herbie Stykes, Sefton Moore, Clifford White, Weldon Wilson, Brian McGee, Roy Daley, Stanley Cowan 3rd Row: Bruce Mordy, Ernie Manchester, Harold Daley, Dale Wilson, Ken Paul, Eleanor Daley, Marilyn Mulligan, Donna Baskins, Verla Cowan, Fred Manchester, Sterling Howie, Ronnie Radbourne, Calvin Mulligan Back: Elva Moore, Kathy Manchester, Glenna Bradley, Gail Radbourne, Sandra Rump, Marion Moore, Diane McGee, Arlene Boyd, Cheslyn Mulligan, Catherine Boyd, Diane Rothwell, Linda Baskins
These were Carleton Place and Almonte men, so they had quite a ride in the winter to get there.
Jaan KolkI question whether the young Nicholas Sparks mentioned in the 1938 article as having taught there ca. 1860 really was the son of Bytown’s Nicholas Sparks. There were *a lot* of Sparks family members in Carleton; I wonder if this might have been Nicholas Sparks born in Bell’s Corners in 1835 to George Sparks and Letitia (Caldwell) Sparks. George was the brother of Bytown’s Nicholas (and not to be confused with cousin George Sparks.) Two of George’s other sons, George and William Edward, married two daughters of John Oliver Riddle of South March, and moved to that area.Doris Grierson Hope has worked hard on sorting out the connections of the Sparks family. CLICK HERE
Convivial British pub featuring a robust array of whisky, local beer & refined bar fare. Service options: Dine-in · Takeout · No delivery
Address: 2193 Richardson Side Rd, Carp, ON K0A 1L0
Trudi FarrellYes, they have pictures up on their walls of its former past, if memory serves me correctly
Marjorie Moore KellyMy mother and her siblings walked several miles down what is today known as the Richardson Side Road to go to school in this building. They were instructed to dive into the ditch when they heard a car coming (which was rare). I have a very old picture of the youngest girl (barefoot) with other students in the schoolyard. Later, my husband and I visited when our friend Hartley Green lived in the schoolhouse and built a catamaran in the yard. He and his wife sold the schoolhouse and sailed to the Caribbean.
Marjorie Moore KellySchoolgirls in side yard of Cheshire Cat, my aunt Lillian barefoot in front. This picture hung in the Cat for quite a few years and I think their copy may have been destroyed in the fire.
Marjorie Moore KellyMarilyn Lindhard Barefoot Lillian Craig, b. 1929, youngest daughter of Rowland and Catherine Craig. Farm situated between 5th and 6th lines “up the way” from the schoolhouse on what is now Richardson Side Rd.
Marilyn LindhardI went to school at S.S.No 1 Huntley school (cheshire cat now)for 8 yrs starting in 1945 with Ruth Bradley as my teacher.(marilyn cox)good yrs
Marjorie Moore KellyGwyn Nicholson Yes, I didn’t know of the Aboriginal camps but my mom (older sister to barefoot Lillian in picture) told of periodic gypsy encampments on their farm. While my grandfather allowed the gypsies to camp, the kids were scared stiff of them. I suspect they were warned they’d be stolen. Truth be told, I think my grandparents were afraid of the gypsies too, the way my mother told the story.
Mrs. William Mulligan (Eliza Jane Bradley), was my second cousin if I were born four generations ago! Little did she know she was sort of related to her teacher Nicholas Sparks; Her second cousin Catharine Bradley was married to John Snow, whose cousin Philemon Wright Jr. married Sarah Olmstead, but after Phil’s tragic death, Sarah married Nicholas Sparks Sr., and they had Nicholas Sparks, the teacher. Lillian Craig was Eliza Jane Bradley’s first cousin (twice removed).
We went as far afield as Constance Bay, Rideau Ferry, a variety of Fall Fairs, upstairs at the Richmond arena and all of the aforementioned towns, but the favourite for me was Mulligan’s barn; located on the Carp road (long gone). read-
Clipping from Sarah More and an unidentifed donor$5M factory fire may leave 65 out of work —-A fire Saturday destroyed a West Carleton kitchen factory, causing an estimated $5 million in damage and leaving a cloud of uncertainty oyer the future of its 65 employees. The blaze at Laurysen Kitchens on Carp Road, north of Hwy. 417, started at 10 a.m. Within minutes, the flames engulfed the 4,050-square-metre building where kitchen cabinets, cupboards and shelves were custom-built and stored. “Seventeen years of hard work, all lost in 20 minutes,” said business owner John Laurysen.
A native of Holland who emigrated to Canada in 1960, Laurysen said he was to meet his employees today to discuss plans for the family business he has operated since 1970. He said he did not know if any workers would lose their jobs. Firefighters from West Carleton, Almonte, Beckwith and Goulbourn townships worked throughout the night Saturday to prevent the smouldering debris from igniting and spreading to the Laurysens’ nearby home and warehouse. The warehouse contained such flammable’ materials as varnish and paint thinner. The company’s showroom, located in the owner’s house, was not damaged. The cause of the fire is not known. Ontario fire investigator Marcel Lalonde continued his investigation today, said Terry Kelly, chief of the West Carleton fire department.
Lalonde interviewed witnesses this morning and he and Kelly were to begin examining the debris in detail this afternoon. Kelly said there is no indication how long it will take to determine a cause. Laurysen said he lost about $5 million worth of equipment and supplies in the fire, which left nothing but heaps of twisted, charred debris in its wake. Chemical products were not stored at the plant and smoking was prohibited inside the building, said Laurysen. One employee was inside the building when the fire started and escaped without injuries. About 15 shift workers were outside on their break when the blaze broke. Laurysen said he hopes to rebuild.
He said a nearby lumber company has al- Wayne Hlebert, Citizen Firefighters worked throughout the night Saturday at Laurysen Kitchens ready offered an empty warehouse as a temporary place to house the factory. If all goes well, he said, he would like to. start re-establishing the business in the donated building within a week, then rebuild the the factory during the next month. “But most of the equipment came from Europe,” he added. “Replacing that will be the hardest part.” “We’ve looked after our customers for the past 17 years. Now I hope our customers will look after us and wait until we rebuild.” , Bruno Joppen, a cabinet-maker who has been working at factory for the past 10 years, said the employees will have a better idea of what their future holds after today’s meeting. “I’m not really worried, but I am concerned,” he said. “You can go on unemployment insurance and look for something else, but I’d rather go back to Laurysen’s because he is good to his employees.” Joppen, 58, said it won’t be easy whatever happens, but he hopes the owner will decide to rebuild. “It’s our livelihood and I hope he is going to get back on his feet,” he said. “The problem is the ongoing contracts: he is going to lose them.”
We ranged far and wide, to investigate the gals of Almonte, Perth and the Smiths Falls. Beside the point, the Almonte girls and twelve girls in Perth likewise Smiths Falls’ girls were not likely to have anything to do with a carload of boys from Carleton Place, however our dreams took us! The boys grouped in a car, probably because they were too timid to approach a girl on her own and the girls grouped for protection from these roaming boys: a protection that was hardly necessary (not considered by either).
Along came recognition that the weekend dances were a better opportunity to actually socialize with the opposite sex- no pressure; you could participate if you found the courage or just watch from the sidelines until something/someone moved you to contemplate an approach to a girl bereft of her protectors (six or dozen)-it happened.
We went as far afield as Constance Bay, Rideau Ferry, a variety of Fall Fairs, upstairs at the Richmond arena and all of the aforementioned towns, but the favourite for me was Mulligan’s barn; located on the Carp road (long gone).
We drove to these places in our jalopies amid a myriad of hiccups- 39 Plymouth, the exhaust/ muffler fell off onto the highway, so hot had to be kicked to the side and picked up on our rather noisy return. The repair was a bendable pipe that left the noise behind us. Same car (not mine); armed with a bucket and on arrival at Mulligans, placed it under the rear of the car. The plan was to not get so involved in the dancing and socializing that we would forget to return to the car and empty the gasoline that was dripping into the bucket- some close calls. Another close call was my getting kicked off the dance floor for, “swinging to hard”. (rock and roll in its infancy was not always appreciated). A really close call not ending in my favour either, was when we were cooling off after a dance, a girl and I decided to visit the car (ostensibly to check the bucket), had hardly settled in when there was knock at the door, which I reluctantly opened, to face a young lad about ten years old, speaking the dreadful words;-“Mom wants you to come with me and you are going home” I forgot about the bucket! Never saw her again, which turned out to be a good thing!
I must have had a reputation.
Constance Bay dancing the night away with my girlfriend (future wife) while trying to ignore her sister (our chaperone). Venturing from the hall, I had trouble finding the car, the fog was that thick and finding the road, problematic but I had to get the girls home. Settled on winding the window down and steering by white line, creeping along for what seemed like hours. Finally able to transfer from Hwy 7 to Ashton’s main street? and made the right turn at Campbell’s house, but I must have been so tensed with the drive that I didn’t t let go of the wheel after the turn and ended up in the ditch-I had a reputation for ditches at the time and this just added to the history.
TWO new concrete bridges are built here spanning the Carp river, replacing the old log structure which has been used for many years. Among other things Carp has a splendid large brick school, a number or churches with a new Methodist edifice soon to be erected, the Bank of Ottawa and several most enterprising business houses.
North Lanark Regional Museum—-This photograph of a sweet little boy and his teddy bear was part of a recent donation of items belonging to Winnifred Lamrock, a school teacher at S.S. #5 and S.S. #9 in Pakenham during the 1930s.
Dr. George Groves, Carp, Ontario was born in Fitzroy, Carleton County, Ontario on June 6, 1851. His parents were Richard and Ann (Hodgins) Groves, natives of Ireland who came to Canada in 1834 and were pioneer settlers in Fitzroy Township. Dr. Groves received his early education in the public school and took a private course for matriculation with the Reverend Benjamin Franklin. He also obtained a first class certificate at Richmond for the County of Carleton at the age of eighteen and taught school for six years, being principal of the Carp Public School for three years of that time. He then entered McGill University, Montreal, graduating M.D. in 1879.
He is a member of the Masonic fraternity, holding membership in the Almonte and Richmond lodges. He has been District Master for March and Huntley in the Orange Order, is a member of the Scarlet Chapter and Royal Black Preceptory of Ireland, is a Past Preceptor of Carp R.B.P. No. 305, and has obtained the Red Cross Certificate from the Grand Lodge of Ireland. He is president of the Liberal-Conservative Association of North Lanark, and was nominated for the Commons in 1882 but declined the honor. He was married in 1883 to Fanny Monk, eldest daughter of G. W. Monk, M.P.P. for Carleton County for twenty-three years. The doctor was a director of the Central Canada Exhibition of Ottawa, and has been president of the Huntley Agricultural Society for twelve years. He is a member of the Bathurst and Rideau Medical Association, of which he was vice-president for a number of years. In religion he is a Methodist.
The above biographical sketch was written in 1895.
DEATH OF RICHARD GROVES
—–
One of the Oldest and Best Known Men of the Ottawa District
Richard Groves, one of the oldest and most respected residents of Carleton county, died at the residence of his son, Dr. Geo. H. Groves, of Carp, yesterday. Deceased, who was in his 83rd year, was born in Ireland. He came to Canada when quite young and settled in the township of Fitzroy. Until about eight years ago he followed agricultural pursuits with an enviable degree of success. Then he sold his farm and took up his residence at Carp. Three years ago his wife died, and he went to live with his son, Dr. Geo. H. He was a staunch Conservative and a member of the Methodist Church. He leaves five sons, three daughters and many grand children. His sons are Dr. Geo. H. Groves, of Carp; Dr. Wesley Groves, of Quyon; Wm. Groves, of Kinburn; Richard Groves, of Fitzroy Harbour, and John T. Groves, of Cincinnati. Deceased’s dauhgters[sic] are Mrs. James Baird, of Fitzroy; Mrs. B. Hodgins, of Huntley, and Mrs. W. Green, of Mohr’s Corners. Two grand children live in the city. They are W. E. Groves and F. S. Groves. The funeral takes place to-morrow morning to Pakenham cemetery.
I have been writing about downtown Carleton Place Bridge Street for months and this is something I really want to do. Come join me in the Domino’s Parking lot- corner Lake Ave and Bridge, Carleton Place at 11 am Saturday September 16 (rain date September 17) for a free walkabout of Bridge Street. It’s history is way more than just stores. This walkabout is FREE BUT I will be carrying a pouch for donations to the Carleton Place Hospital as they have been so good to me. I don’t know if I will ever do another walking tour so come join me on something that has been on my bucket list since I began writing about Bridge Street. It’s always a good time–trust me.
On August 18, 1991, West Carleton, Ontario housewife Diane Labenek was home when she heard her dogs barking. When she looked out the window to investigate, she saw a UFO-type object in a field nearby with red flames and lots of smoke. The ship then lifted up and disappeared into the trees. Diane claimed that about ten minutes after the ship left, a helicopter flew over the area where she saw the lights, and then flew over her house and vanished. Diane went to the site the next day, but she found nothing and only told her husband and mother about the incident.
AMERICAN TELEVISION NETWORKS INVESTIGATE UNEXPLAINED UFO SIGHTINGS NEAR ALMONTE The Almonte Gazette
Feb. 3, 1993
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UFO researcher Bob Oechsler waved a hand over the pile of documents and photos on the kitchen table. “This is a landmark case in ufology (the study of UFOs),” he said. The pictures on the table show a blur of multi-colored lights in a disc shape and white faces with black almond-shaped eyes. Most of them were taken off a video sent to Oechsler anonymously almost a year age. Since then, Oechsler has methodically and meticulously analyzed the video and the site near the Old Almonte and Corkery Roads.
His case was convincing enough to draw two major American television networks there to film. NBC’s Unsolved Mysteries airs its version this Wednesday on cable at 8 p.m. and this Friday on CJOH. The Fox network’s story on Sightings hits the airwaves Feb. 12. Oechsler’s involvement began when he received the videotape at his Annapolis, Maryland home last February.
The Video
The 32 minutes of footage show a “mostly white” linear light with red flares off to the left and a flashing light on top, said Oechsler. The color of the lights ranges from red to blue to green from one end to the other. Smoke billows out from under the lights and moves to the right. As the photographer moves closer, reflections off the disk show a rounded turret in the centre with a vertical blue strobe on top and “fins” or slates around its edge.
Closing in even more, “Guardian” gets shaky close-ups of the upper strobe.
The sound track has sounds of barking dogs and a “ratchet” sound. (NBC spent $115,000 to recreate this whole effect with no success, said Oechsler.) The rest of the tape is taken up with freeze frames or still shots of supposed aliens standing in tall grass. Some are holding bright lights in their hands.
Hooded figures with large almond shaped eyes have short snouts and little facial detail.
The tape was wrapped in six pages of accompanying information, some typed on fake Department of National Defense (DND) letterhead. The documents showed a map of the Corkery area and a page of hand-drawn symbols with a map of the same area. There is also a photocopy of two Polaroid shots with grass lit by a flash in the foreground and a row of lights in the back.
Lightfoot and Oechsler asked if the Labeneks had seen anything unusual. It turns out Diane Labenek had seen an unusual set of lights when tucking her children into bed around 11 p.m. Aug. 18 1991, said Oechsler. She had also witnessed the November, 1989 event. (Because of her agreement with NBC, Labenek cannot tell her story until after the broadcast.)
She drew pictures that were “geometrically correct” to the video and gave details about the incident not captured on tape, like the craft’s departure. A neighbor recalls seeing “red lightning” and a white light with a gold halo the same night, according to Oechsler.
Within a half hour of the sighting, and for months afterward, the Labenek home became the target for unusually active helicopter activity. The black, seamless, unmarked choppers hover over the house sometimes low enough to see in the Labenek’s windows. Twice they have blown shingles off the house and the outside shed.
DND has given the Labeneks pictures of its machinery to prove it is not their doing. That element still remains a mystery. Only the cattle know for sure!
Case File: Guardian UFO Location: West Carleton, Ontario Date: August 18, 1991 Description: West Carleton is a historic township in Eastern Ontario, Canada. It is located in the rural parts of the new City of Ottawa, west of Kanata. Local Diane Labenek described a UFO craft she described with a blue flashing light on top and another light on the bottom with burning red flames.
Case
History: On August 18, 1991, West Carleton, Ontario housewife Diane Labenek was home when she heard her dogs barking. When she looked out the window to investigate, she saw red flames and smoke coming from a field nearby. She then saw a UFO-type object landing next to the flames in the field. The ship then lifted up and disappeared into the trees. Diane claimed that about ten minutes after the ship left, a helicopter flew over the area where she saw the lights. The helicopter then flew over her house and vanished. Read more here.. CLICK
Filmmaker re-examines the mystery of the Carp UFO sighting decades ago BLAIR CRAWFORD
It’s the unsolved mystery of an unsolved mystery. Who was “Guardian” the person whose blurry videotape of strange flashing lights in a field near Carp more than 30 years ago lured UFO researchers and TV crews to West Carleton like conspiracy theorists to an Area 51 picnic. It’s the question Toronto filmmaker Nick Crowe plans to explore when he visits the area next month to film a documentary on the events of the fall of 1989 for CBC’s Point of View. The film, Searching for Guardian, is looking at the eye witness reports of a purported spacecraft landing and lurid claims of aliens who worked with the Nazis and planned to enslave humans.
“A lot of serious UFO types don’t even bother with it because there was something so strange about it and people thought it was just a hoax,” Crowe said. “We’re treating this less like, ‘Whoa. Did a UFO really land there?’ to ‘Why did someone go to so much trouble to do this? What’s the human story behind this?'” Whoever launched the unidentified alien frenzy went to a lot of trouble. The incidents spanned over several years and included claims of a UFO crash landing near Manion Corners on Old Almonte Road and an “eye witness” report from a woman, Diane Labenek, who claimed to have seen a strange, brightly lit craft land in a field near her house the night of Nov. 4, 1989.
Coupled with those stories was the video mailed to several UFO researchers in Canada and the U.S., signed only with the name “Guardian” and a thumbprint. The nighttime video shows abrightlylit object with a blue flashing strobe approach a clump of bright flares in what appears to be a landing zone. The video, though blurry and inconclusive, didn’t appear to have been doctored, Crowe said. “It was a fairly convincing attempt at showing a spaceship landing,” he said. “The feeling among people with expertise in photographic analysis was that it was a pickup truck with road flares.”
The tape became fodder for several TV shows, most notably Unsolved Mysteries, which aired on Fox from 1987 to 1996. Canadian UFO enthusiasts who investigated the Guardian video and Labenek’s claims concluded it was all a hoax, but in February 1992, Guardian mailed another copy of the video to a prominent U.S. UFO researcher, Bob Oechsler. That was enough to bring a crew from Unsolved Mysteries to Carp. The show interviewed Oechsler and others and featured a recreation of Labenek’s sighting, played by Labenek herself. But the highlight was the Guardian video, which host actor Robert Stack gravely intoned was “to be shown for the first time ever on national television.”
“That’s what everyone remembers that videotape” Crowe said. Searchingfor Guardian is a natural follow for Crowe, whose previous documentary, Spaceman, was about an eccentric 32-year-old B.C. mechanic who was building a spaceship in his yard. The man vanished before it was finished, telling his family he was going on a journey with extraterrestrials. It’s the human story behind the Guardian hoax that intrigues Crowe, but finding area residents with first-hand memories of the incident has been difficult. “What we’re lacking is anyone who had a personal connection to it. We’re not making something salacious or a ‘gotcha’ piece looking to explain the whole thing away.”
At the end of the 1992 Unsolved Mystery broadcast, a stone-faced Stack resolves the West Carleton mystery leaves only questions, “Questions perhaps the person called Guardian alone can answer.” If you have memories of the West Carleton UFO story, you can contact Crowe at nick.crowesaloon-media.com. bcrawfordpostmedia.com
Recently I read that European countries like France and Belgium have publicly acknowledged the existence of UFOs, and have released previously classified information on the subject. There have been too many credible sightings and encounters with UFOs. Who they are, and what they want– we may never know, but they are out there.
The first time my world was introduced to space information was in 1961 when Alan Shepherd went 116 miles up in space. My mother sat in her wheelchair and cried her eyes out, and repeated over and over,
“That poor man’s wife! What is she going to do without him?”
Of course Shepherd was just fine, and my mother marveled at what had just transpired. I, of course, was more interested in American Bandstand then entering into space travel. Everyone is entitled to their beliefs, and I insist that no one dare knock mine down about aliens. When my kids went to elementary school, rumour was that one of their mother’s friends had been abducted by aliens outside of Almonte, Ontario. She had actually lived to tell the tale.
Her story would eventually sell, self published, for $4.99 in the coming year at local bookstores throughout Lanark County. Mum even appeared on the TV show Unsolved Mysteries and some suggested “up and down the line” she might had have moon rocks in her head. I sometimes think that most of the alien hoaxes belong in the World Weekly News, but I do believe in Area 51 and the Almonte abduction. Maybe the calls the OPP (Ontario Provincial Police) received last year from Prescott, Ontario, were not just the lights from the local Riverside Pontiac Buick car lot.
Last summer I did go to the exact spot where the local mother was allegedly abducted. Nothing but rolling land, and lots of power lines that go all the way to the huge power dam in Arnprior, Ontario. This would be the same dam where people have constantly reported alien sightings.
As I stood there by the side of the road with nary a car going by me; I shivered. There was nothing but total silence, except for the sounds of live power sifting through the lines and waiting for the odd spaceship to gas up.
I was kind of worried standing there in the middle of nowhere, but I figured I was pretty safe. Yes, I remembered the ways you can be abducted, and yes, I made sure I was prepared.
Personally I think an up and coming trend for Apple might be the “TinFoil Hat App for the iPhone” so your communications are not monitored by aliens or Men in Black.
Mulder? Scully?
Time to watch X-Files!
Epilogue
Amanda Armstrong just told me : I’ve seen a couple in the past year. One in Ottawa last March, and the most recent a few months ago, while driving on McNeely. Personally,I never did see an alien that day outside of Almonte, ON. and I wondered why until I saw a comment on a blog I did about aliens last year. Gorlockness, a random blogging alien who does indeed write on Open Salon told me why. His exact message was:
“We had our sites set on Ur sight in Canada but U moved. We are getting new coordinates now. Do U require the probe to be warmed ahead of time?
Keeping aye on U, linda, waiting for U to leave bizzy city and come back, come back …to remote rural Renfrew, Ontario… Renfrew is, i beleev, Canadas area 51- it’s a date”
lindaseccaspina 