| NAME: | Stuart William Gilmour |
|---|---|
| GENDER: | M (Male) |
| BIRTH DATE: | 5 May 1909 |
| BIRTH PLACE: | Almonte, Lanark County, Ontario, Canada |
| DEATH DATE: | 27 Apr 1977 |
| DEATH PLACE: | Ottawa Municipality, Ontario, Canada |
| CEMETERY: | Huntley United Cemetery |
| BURIAL OR CREMATION PLACE: | Huntley, Ottawa Municipality, Ontario, Canada |
| HAS BIO?: | N |
| FATHER: | William Gilmour |
| MOTHER: | Isabella G. Gilmour |
When miller Edgar Salatandre halted the Almonte flour mill’s steel rollers in 1987, he closed a 164-year chapter of Ottawa Valley history. Still powered in part by the tumbling waters of the Mississippi River, the Almonte mill was the- last of 18 or so grist, textile and sawmills that once flourished along a 30-kilometre river stretch from Carleton Place to Pakenham.
Its closure marks the end of an era that began in pioneer times and peaked at the turn of the century. The end for one of the town’s oldest industries also meant layoffs for 15 men and office manager Ardeth Brooks, who had worked at the mill for periods ranging from 12 to 36 years. Two men were able to retire on pension while severance payments eased the pre-Christmas crunch for the others, who say they will have to look outside town to find comparable jobs.
Salatandre, one of only about 30 millers in Canada, accepted a transfer to Toronto. Ray Ladouceur and his cousin, Don, at the mill 17 and 20 years, respectively, say they will look for jobs in Carleton Place and Arnprior, or Ottawa if necessary. “There is nothing locally,” said Don. Rick Gladman, who had been mill manager from 1978 to 1983 and is now operations manager at a much larger mill in Port Colborne, returned to oversee the shutdown.
“This is not a happy time for me,” he said moments before locking the mill door for the last time. “I’m losing a lot of old friends.” Economics, the great arbiter of change, had dictated that the mill, which once sent its flour throughout the Ottawa Valley and around the world, was no longer a viable operation. The cost of trucking western wheat from grain elevators near Prescott, a limited market, inadequate storage and outdated equipment made it uneconomical to continue operating the mill, said Lewis Rose, chief financial officer for Maple Leaf Mills Ltd, which owns the Almonte mill.
The Almonte mill’s production will be replaced by Maple Leaf mills in Montreal and Toronto, where grain boats unload at docks alongside. “There was no significant reason to continue having a mill there,” said Rose. “It didn’t make economic sense.” But to pioneer entrepreneurs, the 30-metre drop of the Mississippi River from Carleton Place to Galetta was a potential source for generating rotary power. The river became the catalyst in turning a wilderness into one of the country’s leading manufacturing centres for quality wool cloth. The reputation of the woolen mills built along its shores became international.
Local history buff John Dunn remembers as a youth seeing huge bales of worsted cloth being shipped to, of all places, England, which is famous for its woolens. “I can still remember seeing those bales and reading the labels on them,” said Dunn, who has lived in the town of 4,200 most of his life.
Before the textile industry got started, it was the grist mills and sawmills that created the nucleus around which towns such as Almonte were built. Their place names still dot the countryside Bishops Mills, Oxford Mills and Brewers Mills. Almonte, in fact, was first called Shipman’s Mills, after Loyalist millwright Daniel Shipman, who built a grist mill and sawmill here in 1823. Grist mills were essential for farmers, who hauled their grain to them for grinding into feed for poultry, hogs and cattle.
Sawmills cut the abundant timber into boards and planking for construction. As industry flourished, the early wooden mills were replaced with more formidable stone structures, many of which stand today. The sprawling six-storey Rosamond No. 1 woolen mill built in 1866 for $26,500 and shut down in 1986, was being converted into a condominium. Others have become restaurants, museums, art galleries and homes.
The nearby Mill of Kintail, built in 1830, was an abandoned derelict when rescued in 1930 by doctor-sculptor Robert Tait McKenzie. He restored the picturesque stone mill as his summer home and studio. It is now a museum housing many of his artistic works. The fate of the Almonte flour mill is still uncertain. The building is to be sold after Maple Leaf, which acquired it in 1965, removes the milling machinery, precluding possible resurrection by a competitor.
The original wood-frame structure was built about 1840 by Shipman. It was probably replaced by a second wooden mill, either in 1866 or 1886 but the history books differ here. The second mill was destroyed by fire in 1909. At the time of the fire, the mill was owned by The Wylie Milling Co. Ltd. The name still appears on the large, double-door office safe in the mill office. Wylie rebuilt, erecting a four-storey structure with stone walls more than half a metre thick.
The new mill, by this time evolving more toward flour than grist milling, had storage capacity for 12,000 bushels of wheat. The rebuilding was followed by a series of business transactions and foreclosures that led to the mill being acquired in 1931 by William Reuben Pierce. He eventually changed its name to Almonte Flour Mills Ltd., more accurately reflecting the mill’s main enterprise.
The mill was acquired in 1951 by Philip Strickland, who previously had operated mills in southwestern Ontario. “The mill was in danger of going out of business when I bought it . . .” Strickland recalled from his retirement home in Orillia. “All its production had been for export, which was falling off. I managed to sell flour locally.” He brought in a new generation steel roller mill and business prospered. Production grew from 27,000 kilograms of flour daily to 90,000 kilograms.
In 1968, the mill was again rocked by an explosion and dust fire, which blew out every window, lifted the roof and heaved the huge, three-storey rear stone wall out about a metre. Edna Clement, who worked at the mill for 45 years until her retirement in October 1986, has vivid memories of the 1968 fire. “I was sitting at my desk making up the pay envelopes when I heard a big bang and I thought the men in the mill were making some unnecessary noise,” she recalls. She left her desk to see mill workers fleeing the fire by sliding down a grain chute. She ran back to her desk, grabbed the satchel containing the pay envelopes, and escaped.
There was more excitement in 1974 when a 16-car train derailment rocketed two cars into the side of the mill and five cars into the river behind. “It’s sad, very sad indeed that it’s closing now,” says Strickland, who sold the mill in 1965 to Maple Leaf as part of an arrangement in which he joined the company as a senior executive. “It has a good staff. But the company hasn’t been able to sell all of its production and the land transportation costs have risen to the point where it was difficult to keep it going.”
The Ottawa Citizen
Ottawa, Ontario, Canada
07 Dec 1987
Philip Strickland Almonte Flour Mill 1959
The town’s woollen manufacturing had its start with the opening in 1851 of a mill with one set of machinery by the Ramsay Woollen Cloth Manufacturing Company, a company formed under the new Joint Stock Companies Act with capital raised in Ramsay and Beckwith among some forty shareholders. The village of Ramsayville at this time had a population of little more than two hundred persons. The next summer a fire destroyed the new woollen mill, gutted Daniel Shipman’s nearby unfinished and uninsured new gristmill and destroyed his old mill. Disaster, however, struck a scant two months after the mill had been put into operation. Fire broke out. The mill was totally destroyed, and the company was forced by circumstances to close down. Two years later, in 1853, James Rosamond bought the site and prepared to rebuild on the same spot. Mr. Rosamond, however was from Ireland, and this time he resolved to build in stone.
The loss in this Mill Street fire, one of a number of similar fire losses of following years, was about 2,000 pounds to the company and 2,000 pounds to Mr. Shipman. Daniel Shipman at once rebuilt his mill within its standing stone walls. The building, later owned by John Baird, finally was torn down in 1902.
The Ramsay Woollen Cloth Manufacturing Company opened in 1852 at
the bottom of Mill Street in a frame building with just one set of machinery.
This was the first local venture to process wool products for export, rather
than for local use. Shares were owned by 36 local residents, among
them Daniel Shipman (Ramsayville) and James Rosamond (Carleton
Place).
When the building was destroyed by fire the following summer,
Rosamond bought the site and water rights himself. By 1857 he had built a
3.5-storey stone building, known as the Victoria Woollen Mill, to produce
wool products for export. In 1862 James’ sons Bennett and William, who
had acquired management of their father’s textile business, doubled the
capacity of the Mill Street mill by adding a three-storey, five-sided building
adjacent to the earlier one. It is this second building which survives at 7
Mill Street.
Other woollen mills soon followed: Samuel Reid and John McIntosh established the Almonte Woollen Manufacturing Company on Shipman’s old sawmill site in 1854, operating there until 1865. Demand for woollen products was very good amongst the people on the farms in Ramsay and Huntley, the mill was the first woollen mill in the place, and the future looked good. Their venture marked the beginning of what was to become the major industry of the place for the next hundred years.
.
One day in the spring of 1851 Mr. Haskins and Mr. ———- (late in the employ of the Rosamond Woollen Co. of Carleton Place, called on my father, John Gemmill who died the following year on the subject of establishing a mill at Almonte. This project was looked on favorably by Mr. Shipman. Mr. John Scott and Mr. Hugh Rae also favored it. The result was that a company was formed called “The Ramsay Woollen Cloth Manufacturing Company.” It ran a short time and was burned. This was the beginning of the industry in Almonte. Mr. John Gemmill was chairman of the Board in this firm. Shortly after the fire Mr. James Rosamond moved his machinery from Carleton Place to Almonte and launched the Rosamond Woollen Company which was for many years to enjoy an enviable prestige for turning out cloth of the highest quality.
More History on the Almonte Knitting Mills — Wylie Milling Company
The Mules of the Number 1 Mill?
The Drought of 1871 and the Mills on the Mississippi River
So Who Was Mary Rosemond/Rosamond?
When the Circus Shut the Town Down
Falling Through the Cracks at Work
Tears of a Home -The Archibald The Seven-Barrelled ‘pepper box’ Revolver — Rosamond Fight — July 1875
Hesch Hanley President/ Director
Hesch has 35 years of federal government experience working at central agencies and large operational departments, providing executive advice and direction in the areas of resource reallocation and governance, project management, risk management, strategic and operational planning, policy development, task force management, and program management and review.
During his career, the wind down and the transformation of Museums Canada from one corporate entity into new corporate entities: the National Gallery of Canada, Museum of History, and other notable federal cultural institutions, occurred. Hesch was also part of the Public Service 2000 initiative that oversaw the transformation of the federal government, including Program Review I and II. Hesch has lectured at Queen’s University and the University of Ottawa.
Lizz Thrasher, Vice President/ Director
With a background that ranges from kitchen management to auto restoration, Lizz has an unusual mix of technical and artistic skills. She formally trained in conservation and arts administration at Sir Sandford Fleming College, Peterborough.
Since starting her career as a conservator and museum professional, Lizz has worked in a variety of heritage institutions, including the Canada Museum of Science and Technology and The Klondike National Historic Site. She has worked on objects as diverse as a beaded silk wedding dress and the carding machines upstairs at the MVTM. She is currently the Facilities Manager at the Diefenbunker, where she is responsible for the building and building infrastructure as well as the care of the museum collection.
Meredith Filshie, Secretary/ Director
Meredith has been passionate about textiles, fibres, beads and beautiful things all her life. She has an undergraduate degree specializing in Textiles, Clothing and Design from the University of Guelph and an MBA from the University of Western Ontario. For 24 years, she worked in economic development policy groups with the federal government and had increasing levels of management responsibility. Currently she is the owner of Canada Beading Supply in Ottawa and is a member of several fibre arts organizations in the Ottawa area. Her experience in management, policy development, strategic and operational planning, budgeting and personnel combined with her involvement in the fibre arts community will help the Mississippi Valley Textile Museum remain a vital and exciting institution in Eastern Ontario.
Alan Jones, Treasurer/ Director
Alan was the Chief Valuator for Revenue Canada, and retired in 2000. He and Glenda moved to their new home in West Carleton in 1994. They have 20 acres of ANSI land -Area of Natural and Scientific Interest. Alan is an MBA, and a Fellow of the Chartered Business Valuators, the Chartered Professional Accountants, and the Certified General Accountants. He has been involved with the Mississippi Valley Textile Museum (MVTM) since 1995,and served as treasurer 1997-2003 and president 2008-2012. He has served on a number of local initiatives, such as the Stewardship Committee, the Heritage Committee, the Mills Community Support Corporation and the Mississippi Valley Conservation Authority. Alan and Glenda won the Mississippi Volunteerism Award in 2013.
John Beesley, Director
John has now lived in Almonte for 3½ years. He has recently been looking at ways that he can contribute to the community in a meaningful way, while also leveraging some of the skills that he has developed in his full time work. John has come to appreciate the importance of arts organizations to the community, and given that the MVTM is one of the pre-eminent arts organizations in Almonte, he believes he can help the organization build on its past successes and prepare for the future.
From an academic perspective, John has an Executive MBA from the Smith School of Business, Queen’s University. The program is generalist in nature and provides a background in business management, human resources, operations management and finance. Additionally, he has worked for CIBC in a number of roles with increasing scope and complexity throughout the years. His work experience has given him exposure to personal & small business banking, project management, leadership of branch and district teams and regional operations accountability.
Edith Cody-Rice, Director
Edith is a senior lawyer, now retired, with years of experience in public, legal, and voluntary sectors. She is deeply committed to public service and is a strong negotiator and team player with superior collaborative and communication skills. Edith is fluent in both official languages and has long experience in governance and management of projects, policy development and the crafting of legislation and reports. She loves the arts and museums, and thinks that the textile museum is one of the most valuable assets in the town of Mississippi Mills. Edith has been deeply involved in the voluntary sector most of her adult life.
Josée Dambois, Director
Josée has had a lifelong curiosity and interest in fibre arts, learning sewing from her mother at age ten to being a self-taught quilter and knitter. Currently, she is pursuing coaching in classical drawing and painting as well as apprenticing with a master weaver. She is a member of the National Gallery of Canada, the Ottawa Valley Weavers’ and Spinners’ Guild, the Out of the Box Fibre Artists group and, of course, the Mississippi Valley Textile Museum (MVTM). Fluent in both English and French, her work experience includes three national museums (the Canadian Museum of Nature, the National Gallery of Canada and the Canada Science and Technology Museums Corporation) amongst other national organizations. Josée brings over 20 years of experience in non-profit sector, ten of those years in corporate governance. She holds a Diplôme d’Etudes Collégiale (DEC) in Business Administration with specialization in Finance, a Fine Arts Certificate from Algonquin College and a Bachelor of Arts, majoring in psychology, from Waterloo University.
Jill McCubbin, Municipality of Mississippi Mills Council Representative/ Director
Jill is a Mississippi Mills Councillor, Almonte Ward. She also works at the Mississippi Mills Public Library, at Mill Street Books and provides marketing and communications services to a couple of private organizations. Jill’s background includes small business (mainly bookstores) website design and development, publishing, writing and editing. She was a founder and early editor of theHumm and of Independently Reviewed (a national newsletter). Jill is also an artist and has exhibited paintings in Ottawa, Peterborough, Almonte and at the MVTM in 2013.
Kathy Priddle, Director
Kathy has lived and worked in Almonte for more than 23 years. She has raised her 3 children here and been a tireless volunteer over the years. Her roles have ranged from President of the Almonte Toy Lending Library to President of the MVTM. Kathy also volunteers at The Hub and Cornerstone Community Church and served on the Mississippi Mills Library Board. She still finds time to work part-time in downtown Almonte and also teach drama. Early in her career, Kathy taught Grade 4 and was also a nature interpreter for the MNR. Her educational background is in Environmental Studies (B.E.S., University of Waterloo) and Education (B.Ed., Nipissing University).
Fraser Scantlebury, Director
Fraser is currently the Executive Director of the United Way Lanark County, having joined the organization in the spring of 2011 as Fund Development Officer. He brings to that position an extensive business career as a consultant, combined with a long-standing volunteer commitment to the non-profit community. Fraser has had extensive dealings with a number of senior level management teams across various industries, government, and non-profit organizations, and his management roles have included international experience, as well as serving on the boards of a number of non-profit organizations and a publicly traded company. Primarily areas of expertise include leadership learning; fund-raising and marketing; governance; e-learning program development; and project management.
Michael Rikley-Lancaster
Text- Many thanks to Peggy Byrne
Peggy Byrne emailed me to say she had talked to Murray Guthrie about the above Almonte photo. If you don’t know who Murray is; he is a well known wealth of knowledge for the Almonte area. Murray will be 95 next July 1st. and remembers skating at the old arena when it was on the Island among other great stories. He’s a WWII Veteran and remembers many of the servicemen from Almonte who served and he and Peggy’s Dad (John D. Byrne) went to Toronto to enlist on the same day. Thanks to Murray he was able to identify the people in the photo and said the picture would have been taken in 1944. The names he gave are: starting at top left: Mary Mitchell, Muriel Davis, Eddie Wright, Milly Willis, Milly Lotan.
Mary Mitchell was the eldest daughter of Thomas Mitchell who was a CPR Lineman. She was born in Almonte on Union St. She married a man by the name of Gordon Duncan and they lived in Cobden.
Muriel Davis was the eldest daughter of Bill Davis & Viola Barker. Bill was a CPR baggage man and Muriel was born in Almonte on Union St.
Eddie Wright was born in Carleton Place. He was a LAG in the RCAF in Trenton. He married Milly Lotan and they lived on Thomas St.. Post war he was an insurance agent and he moved to Calgary.
Milly Willis was the daughter of Ben Willis. She was born in Lanark and they moved to Ritchie St. in Almonte. She worked as a Bell Telephone operator in Almonte for years and then moved to Toronto where she married. Her married surname was Murray.She retired and returned to Almonte. She was a resident of Country Haven when she passed. She still has a nephew (Gord Lee) living here in Almonte.
Milly Lotan was the youngest daughter of Albert and Gineta (nee Black). She was born in Almonte on Water St. She married Eddie Wright and post war moved to Calgary. They had one daughter and she died in a canoeing accident.
Now you know the rest of the story about this photo, and thanks go to Peggy Byrne and our beloved Almonte resident Murray Guthrie.
Wright, Mildred “Millie” Dorothy
(nee Lotan)
Peacefully in Fairview Manor in her beloved Almonte, with her family by her side on Monday, May 6, 2013, in her 96th year.
Predeceased by her husband Edward and daughter Bonnie. Loved by her children Nancy Chapman (George) of Alberta and Richard (Mary) of Arnprior. Dear granny of Ross, Kerri, Kristi, Heather and Melanie and great-grandmother of Aaron, Alex, Dylan, Aiden, Thomas, Abbey and Jessie. Predeceased by her sisters Kit, Helen, Omey and Roey.
Memorial service will be held at St. James Anglican Church, 225 Edmund Street, Carleton Place, on Wednesday, May 8, 2013 at 2 p.m. Inurnment to follow.
Donations to St. James Parish Cemetery would be appreciated
Duncan Mary
Of Cobden, and formerly of Almonte passed away peacefully in Caressant Care Nursing Home Cobden on Friday September 17, 2010 in her 91st year. Mary Duncan nee Mitchell beloved wife of the late Gordon Duncan. Dear mother of Judie (Randy Patterson) and Tom (Judy) Duncan. Also survived by 1 granddaughter Carrie Brodacki (Kevin); 2 great-grandchildren Justin, Miranda and 1 sister Marge Naismith.
Mary Mitchell was my mother’s first cousin . She married Gordon Duncan in 1945 . Her father was Tom Mitchell , the man who looked after the gardens at the train station in Carleton Place . Her sisters married names were, Marjorie Naismith , Evelyn Foote , and Florence Honeyborne .
Attached is a photo of the Fishenden family fom Pakenham taken around 1906. The lady bottom left is Agnes Fishenden , my mother’s,( Margaret Prime ), mother . Five in from there is Emma Fishenden , ( Mary Mitchell’s mother ).
So this ram was last seen at Wool Growers in Carleton Place in1978, and my question was: “Where is it Now?” I called the kind folks at the Real Wool Shop here in Carleton Place and they told me they thought he had moved lock, stock, and wool barrel to Almonte.
The ‘Cumberland Ram’ now resides in Carletbn Place Stuffed Cumberland rani’ was a witness to history. When Leon Czolgosz fired the shot (hat killed United States President William McKinley in Buffalo, Sept. 5, 190I, little was it known that a somewhat insignificant feature in the assassination would crop up in a small town in Canada 77 years later. At (he Canadian Co-operative Wool Growers warehouse in Carlelon Place, there is a mounted “Cumberland Ram,’,” which according to legend, figured prominently in the fatal shooting of McKinley.
Louis Filler, in his book The President Speaks described the tragedy in this way: “In March 1.90I, he (McKinley) commenced a nationwide tour that was a triumphant procession from Alabama to California. His visit to the Pan-American Exposition on the Niagara frontier seemed like a capstone to his achievements when suddenly, he was dead, struck down as he extended his hand in goodwill to the assassin. Leon Czolgosz, a 29-year-old native born citizen of Detroit.” The legend has it that the”Cumberland Ram” was on exhibit at this Buffalo Exposition and the assassin fired the fatal shot probably while leaning nil the glass rase that enclosed the mounted sheep.
A contemporary journalist w.rote at the time, “never was there a crime more without purpose, more without possible good effect; William McKinley was no oppressor of the people, no irresponsible and cruel autocrat; no.act of his had ever, from evil intent, taken bread from one man’s hand, the hope from one man’s heart; he was the representative of the people’s will, not their master.”
The ram was eventually purchased from an American company in 1954 by G. A. O’Brien, then with an Oxford, N. S., woojen mill and later with the Canadian Co-operative Wool Growers.’ O’Brien lives at his Scotia-Heath farm just outside of Carleton Place and he enjoys reminise-. ing on the story of his “Cumberland Ram.” According to Bob Cleland and Eric Bjergso, executives at the Canadian Wool Growers plant, the “Cumberland Ram” is an extinct breed. They believe the Cumberland sheep was originally bred in Scotland and then rehabilitated in Cape Breton. Bjergso said that when the Wool Growers had their office in Weston, Ont., some years ago, the “Ram” was an object of great interest and the company planned on having it placed in a large glass bubble over the front of the building but zoning or other regulations prohibited this.
The “Ram” was then stored away in what is called a “sheep crush” and removed when taken on exhibition tours throughout Canada. It was last publicly displayed at the 1977 plowing match in Kingston. The animal presently is prominently displayed In the company’s product display room. The Carleton Place plant, formerly a Canadian Pacific roundhouse, is the main warehouse for all ‘ wool growers in Canada. . Fifteen years ago, said Cleland, they handled 10 times the quantity of wool they presently do. He attributes this to the fact that sheep farmers were in the business for wool, whereas now they raise sheep for meat. Another unique feature which Cleland mentioned is that a sheep raised for wool does not have the same meat value as one raised specifically for meat; conversely the animal raised for meat docs not have as fine a wool coat. But the company likes to play both sides of the sheep farmer and while they prefer the choice Canadian wool,, they compromise to help the meat producer with the slogan replete with bumper stickers proclaiming “Eat Canadian Lamb , 20,000 Coyotes Can’t Be Wrong.”
The assassination of President McKinley
This ram had indeed moved around from the 1901 Pan American Exposition where he was allegedly involved in the assassination of President McKinley, and then on to Oxford, N.S. The ram even made the 1977 Kingston Plowing Match. So, he was capable of being anywhere, but I was curious.
I called the Mississippi Valley Textile Museum in Almonte, and sure enough that very same Cumberland Ram is there in their permanent third floor display. History moves on and so did this ram. Yesterday is history, and sometimes tomorrow is a mystery, and once again a head scratcher is solved with a story.
Mississippi Valley Textile Museum
Mississippi Valley Textile Museum
Photo-Kickshaw Productions
Photo Linda Seccaspina- Mississippi Valley Textile Museum
Photo from Almonte.com
Almonte Gazette 1871
Sir—
You will obliged by inserting the following in the Almonte Gazette. Having seen a letter by Mr. “O” of the Carleton Place Herald— first to the employers of the No. 1 Mill and secondly in the interest of the workpeople. I think it should not pass unnoticed.
Mr. “O” says that girls have been placed to work as mules in one of the mills, and undoubtedly-he means instead of the boys, to save expense. This is positively an untruth, but suppose it had been true, where is the wrong; every man is justifiable in running any business as cheap as he can, as long as his proceedings are just and honest.
Again Mr. “O” says in the Herald— the girls have been worked nearly 14 hours per day. This only occurred once, and then by the girls’ request, and if this had not been the case, we think it quite out of place at this time when shortness of water has caused such delay, to mention the working of one quarter of a day overtime as a means used by the employers to find a living out of the poor.
Again Mr. “O” refers to the fine of one dollar, deducted from the boys’ wages for absenting themselves from work without permission, and says that in some cases it amounted to nearly three day’s pay-(including the half day’s time lost).
This of course is another way whereby the rich live at the expense of the poor. Does Mr. ‘‘O” suppose that if a lad neglects his work for one half day, that three days’ pay makes up the loss, if the machine he runs stops one-half day, is not invariably the next process injured, and the third and fourth and so on; through the whole mill the delay is felt and the goods late in market and perhaps thrown on the sellers hands.
Where is the common reason of the thing, or the foolish parent who would encourage his children to pursue such a course? Nothing but ‘‘ill will,” I think, could have induced M r. “O ” to. write such a letter. First, he tried the editor of the Almonte Gazette, but with an invisible success, and then came out in his true colours, manifesting a fair share of the avaricious spirit he speaks so much about, and resembling, in a slight degree, the principles of the Societe Internationale, as mentioned in the Almonte Gazette and injurious to the working classes of Almonte, generally.
How can the employees attempt to ask any favours of their employers, when such treatment is practised upon them, as to be publicly exposed and to have statements made in reference to them-which- is wholly untrue in a public newspaper, it is unnecessary. to ask to which side does the avaricious spirit belong, but does it not rather suggest to us how liable we are to err, and how many of us are there who have not committed actions and found the silent rebuke of conscience a sufficient punishment, and what we have done in haste we, have grieved over at our leisure.
Much more might be said, but we would be sorry to lie too personal or severe in our remarks: rather let us examine ourselves and see first if there is not a beam in our own eye to be removed, before we attempt to”take the note from our brother’s eye”, and if not let us so walk that the light reflected from our good deeds which shall show others the way wherein they should go.
“The D”
Author’s Note- So why was there such a furor? Why was Mr. O’s letter printed in the Carleton Place Herald and not the Almonte Gazette? Did Carleton Place still had bitter grapes about Rosamond leaving Carleton Place in 1866 for Almonte? Towards the close of their lease with Mr. Boulton in Carleton Place Rosamond wanted to buy or rent the water power. The owner Mr. McLaren of Beckwith would do neither and the town council of Carleton Place was on the side of McLaren. Rosamond left Carleton Place in a huff for Almonte and it appears the media battle began. This letter was obviously written by someone with great education and an instigator to be sure.
The Mississippi Valley Textile Museum (MVTM) is located in the annex of the former Rosamond Woolen Company in Almonte, Ontario. History click here
August 11 1871– Almonte Gazette- The employees of No. 1 mill had a gala day, on Saturday, their employers giving them a free trip to Ottawa. Two years ago they were treated with a trip to Brockville ; and last year they were taken up ‘the Ottawa as far as Portage-du-Fort. The excursion party consisted of about 350 persons, and was composed principally of the operatives of the firm, their relatives and a few invited guests.
Upon arriving in Ottawa they walked from the railway station to the Parliament buildings, and here, through the kindness of the Hon. Alex. Morris, they were shown every attention, and were taken through the chamber of the House of Commons, the Speaker’s Room, Library, Senate Chamber, and other places of interest about the buildings. Many of the excursionists visited the Chaudiere, the mills, factories, and other sights worth seeing in the capital, and altogether a most pleasant day was spent in ‘‘ doing” Ottawa. All present enjoyed themselves with the trip; and nothing occurred to mar the general pleasure.
Come and visit the Lanark County Genealogical Society Facebook page– what’s there? Cool old photos–and lots of things interesting to read.
Information where you can buy all Linda Seccaspina’s books-You can also read Linda in Hometown News and now in The Townships Sun
Related reading:
This was an anonymous letter sent to the Almonte Gazette in 1889
Dear Editor,
I am not only a minister’s wife, but it should also be read that I am a farmer’s wife. Sometimes, indeed, the terms are synonymous. There is the raising of children and chickens and making butter, cheese, and bread. Then comes the omnipresent jobs of cutting, making and mending the clothes for a whole household. Not to speak of doing their washing and ironing, taking care of the pigs and the vegetable garden. Making winter applesauce, and picking my radishes and cucumbers, drying fruits and herbs are also on my list. There are no men involved in putting my twins through measles, whooping cough, mumps, scarlet fever and chicken pox. With a child on each hip I must also keep a river of hot grease on the kitchen table to float potatoes, carrots, onions and turnips for the family and farmhands.
However, your farmer is a round stalwart comfortable animal. There is nobody wailing at his pantaloons while he plows and makes a fence. He lies under the nearest tree and rests or sleeps when he can no longer work for his profit. The man comes into the house midday with the appetite of a hyena and the digestion of a rhinoceros and then goes forth again into the hay field till called home for supper.
Tintype photo from the collection of Vicki Racey
There stands his wife with the same head with which she rose in the morning still darting hither and thither for whatever is wanted– helping the hungry children or farmhands. After the supper is finished then comes the dish washing, milking and thoughts for tomorrow’s breakfast. Perhaps she sleeps with her eyes open for a baby or sick child and rises the next day to pursue the same unrelieved tread mill wearing ground the next day.
“Fanny Fervor”
Come and visit the Lanark County Genealogical Society Facebook page– what’s there? Cool old photos–and lots of things interesting to read.
Information where you can buy all Linda Seccaspina’s books-You can also read Linda in Hometown News and now in The Townships Sun
Perth Courier, December 25, 1868
Mrs. Abel Wright of North Elmsley has shown what can be done by a good housewife. She had two cows from which she began to make butter about the 7th of April last and on the 10th of September she got a third cow and from the three cows Mr. Wright has obtained 390# of butter at the present date. Mrs. Wright used large tin pans. Surely she deserves praise and should be a good example to all farmers’ wives to do likewise.
Example of a trap door – not a trap door at the Rosamond Mill
Dec 1, 1886–Almonte Gazette
One day last week Mr. William. Smith, who was a superintendent of the Rosamond Woollen Mill, had a very narrow escape from what might have proved to be a very serious, if not a fatal accident.
While walking through one of the lower rooms of the mill he stepped into an open trap door but his arms caught on the floor and prevented him front going entirely through. He was quickly extricated from his perilous position. Had he gone through, his escape from instant death could only have been averted by a miracle, as he would have dropped on some machinery underneath and perished.
Photo–Virtual Reference Library—Book cover of Frost and Woods Works, Smiths Falls, Ont
Mr. Hugh McGillivray, while working on Frost & Wood’s new storehouse at Smith’s Falls, fell between two joists the floor and broke two ribs. A board on which he was standing gave way caused the accident.
Author’s Note-
Many old mills did not have stairs- just trap doors and ladders. Sometimes there was the odd hidden mattress under a trap door for those hoping to take a snooze working long hours.
In doing research for trap doors a Miss Jones from Leeds UK is doing trap door art. I kid you not.
Come and visit the Lanark County Genealogical Society Facebook page– what’s there? Cool old photos–and lots of things interesting to read.
Information where you can buy all Linda Seccaspina’s books-You can also read Linda in Hometown News and now in The Townships Sun
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