004411age
-'--
of Ingersoll
- - _ ^
Had
he people --of the village were;
poor and some of them.a Iu i have.'
suffered severely aG times if it hadi
Ingersoll
Once
•
not :been for the generous, kindly
only 0 amih
t.
rMan £ the o-c' y older o ei citizens of
L gersoll will agree that for forty
r fifty years the population of
ie'town seemed to'have been. fixed
at or near the five thousand mark,
as if loath. w6 'depart from that
figure. But during the past six or
seven years the population has
gGeadily increased until now it is.
wellover sixty-three hundred. The
+j,ad-minded and public "spirited
icy of our professional and.bus-
ss men, and our manufactrring
} working classes in their servi-
'to our community through the
,Axice Clubs andotherorganiza+
ons.are all hearing fruit and ; ten-
ig-to make our town a. better
ee to live. - It is quite evident
A.our citizensare just as anx-
is to see that all 'our people are
:goodhealth and Happy as they
for the success of their own
ipess:- This spirit ,together with
chmacter`nf-our .:industries, all
'd`to'help Ingersoll hold her pres-
§§ growth and create a. tendency
(�"expansion.
It is along way back to Oxford
Rage; or the bngersoll. of 120
re-
irs ago. Yet through the p
yation of some old letters writ-
irin 1828 we are enabled to lift
e lid of that period and peak into
, village of 120 years ago.
fn. 1828 the villagecontained
(ut 20 faidilhes. The houses were
'milt of logs with two or three
rtions, y;bi,4, woxa.�t+_�^:a�a: One
�11ror near where u NeWs
'le now stands and .another
G•ro
( southeast corner of King
J, (Wonham Sts. These' homes
G have been considered the
polls of the wealthy in those
�There' were two. -general
s where goods could be pur-
sed in exchange for bushels of
at, poundsof pork, or pounds,
lings';and "pence, American or
tican dollars or Spanish pieces
eight. It. was a common ex
-
'Xi tea` or. sugar for gallons
'`w'7iisky or pounds of candles.
ire was a tannery, two saw 'Wills,
gist mill, an ashery, a cooper
a distillery, a .blacksmith.
a carding and,:Fulling mill and
rated
e pre;
on the land
in 1819 on
West Oxford
s a list of all the
ins• in the vi
llage:
ille:
I
n i,au oufHali
Clunk Hallaecc .J,,.She
'll m Sherman Gooa Brc
}n Bronson, <,W- rons'on,
)ur. Bronson, Mr. Wickwire,
in Maynard, lens'::..Moi
illism Kennedy, iffioses Ken
AKennedy, George Under
oyes x gersoll, Sr. , � Ir
rates Ingersoll, Jr Tj' DmE
1, C arkhu t,L��ma
Id. � Sc ofield, Henr
'd,-'Chars. Van 'Every; 5,1
cry, J hn-Miller, San.
Wes Boyce, smalls'
` ama re Whi mg �Jr.,.
siting, :M,•. Merieli, Jaayes
1, Stinson, Cy. Stimsoi
nuon, Nelson Doty,-. Alit]
I: Austin o y.
es 1n
tJ
spirit of Charles and James Inger-
soll, -nvho were -ever ready,_ao lend 3I
- We have read much about the
helping hand.
early history of our community and
-
- Elish�aiPB sesiden<-e was at the
The educational advantages were
_
and the stirring events- of the pion-
tioneast and o8 the village on the loco
lion occupied by the ester: Ja a
very limited. - There were ' no free
eer days, but possibly our entry into
Ferguson, the Cgltilelils 'lived jus
schools and every family in the vil-
the status of an incorporated town,
ean'1-" of the HI_, residence. Th1
Gage. that sent children to school -was
surrounded by conditions of
Carroll home was on the hill, Ki
had to shoulder ,the burden of pay- !
more importance and of greater in-
S '-Eaast,' and Samuel Stitl_th's Note
ing $2 per quarter for each eltild'. f..
terest, not only local; but'blr'nation-'
stood opposite `the Inigyx'th' home
for their tuition, besides heilping to,,
-teacher..
al and i4trnational.�as well. As the
about where Z+ryhr 'a bake sho
the can readily
stage coach and the brokenstone
is now. - ,Samuel':.In ersoll's dwell
g
'were
underboard
understand that this -must have i.
is
beena realiburden to the (poor man
,
roads of;toll gatedays:was"a vast
o
in:,,anit tannery - situated o
corker" of King an
who had several.. children. The
improvement ' over+;the oxcart and
We ington St
Wellington Ste.
,
books. used were Murray's gram-
• saddle bags of the old Thames vat-
g
Mr. Bronson was the local Meth -mar,
Woodbridge's geography, Da-
ley trail, so the coming of the Great
odist, preacher and he and J. aiher-.
ha's arithmetic, the English; reed-
Western Railroad in 1854 gave Ing=
man occupied a log dwelling on the
er, , and �Webster's spelling book.
ersoll a wonderful advance ini trade
west corner of King arid'Water Ots.,
The only qualification demanded of
with the outside world. The. pro -
or the west end of what in later
theteacher. was to be able to teach'
duct. of the surrounding farms and
hl years was known as the Ark block.
thesesubjectsand to be a British .,forest
could now find easy access
f¢Sherman s coo er sho stood near
P P
'subject.
'The village did not :possess a
to world markets from the village
:his. home. +�Goff�1'a-s grocery stood
the
church at this time and religious
that once had seen cargoes shipped
oil south side of King" East,
near the dam. The ashery stood
services were held in the log wbool-.
by water down the Thames from
.oil
:the west side of the creek near the
house or: in private.' homes, and i
the .port of Oxford. Then began the
former location of .our: -post office.
some :timed in the barn. The Meth-'.
real attack on the forest foi,.wooa
(The former site of the Ingersoll
odist travelling preachers came
could .now be sold,. wheat wag worth
Post .Office was where the. Canadian
around on their circuit once in two
more and the art of making cheese.
Tire` Cbrporation is now located.)
or three weeks on'"horseback and
in
were well received and had good
was already practice.
The log distillerystood down in the
. hollow where the jog is in Water
congregations.
,' .
�afteiwst south the creek: It was
Although the people were.. poor
ac
often err w ds replaced by C-Ij, Slaw-
and were deprived of many luxuries
soil's pork house, which h- as- also
and inany of. the necessities of life,
Idissappeared in the relentless march,
yet they seemed to have been con-
;of time. L_ _Schofigld',s blacksmith
tented and happy. The yillage,then
!shop first stood -at the northwest
was but a small -clearing in the for-'
'corner King and Water the
est, the river teemedwith• fish and
the forest abounded in game, all of
later fat
the late L.
site later occupied slid
'Noe's candy shop, and now byes
which could be had for the effort
�laimdry. ,The Schofield shop was
!later
of fishing or hunting or Eby. barter
from the many Indians Tor very lit-,(
removed to King West, about
the. -
,the location of J L residence.
The Ingersoll store stood on' the
I
-. It is a long way. from 1828 to; ;
northeast corner n. of King and
1949 'but from song the people
ar
-
Thames and in in was hulls=
of Oxford Village . came many
c
ed the post office. The old house
he
names -that in. after"•years were to
be respected ' honored. The
where .James Ingersoll was bore
stood abo t'the present location. of.
.and
succeeding generations of these
I�t _N,�e�i_lY,��h�oe store,2 and at that
,19&
villagers - have distinguished, thmn-
in of life,.
nnt a ocoupied by Mr. Mi a ii
selves almost every walk
'to
and J. Unit odd. J Lulus
and we today are proud own
plan
hous stood near the southeast cor_
them as our (predecessors. Many of,
ner of Thames and. Charles Sts,. Th,1
them did not have their names en -
log schoolhouse stood at the north'.(
rolled in "the halls Hof 'fame, but they:
side of=the grounds now occupied
did their best for their community.i
the Victory Memorial School.
this time there were but few
lea on King St, west of Thames.
tan Schofield lived on King
it, C arres Parkhurst at the cor-
ner of King an onham. There
were two log houses, one eastand
one west'.of Whiting Creek on .the
site of F. F'ulton's mill, which was
formerly nTcnown as the Km s Flour
Mills. James !Boyce, G. (Whiting,
James Swarts and Mr. Merick lived
,still farther' west of Whiting Creek
on King St. Mr. Ingersoll's saw
maill stood on the present site of the
'dam at Smith's pond, and Elisha
i ,Hall'B saw mill,onthe site of the
(old Stuart'spond northeast of Vic'
l,tr ia'-I 1 •Tc. The carding and full-
�ing mill of 'Charles Parkhurst were
on 'Charles St., near Whiting Creek
and below the. present site of F.
Fulton's mill,
The log: dwellings of the village
-generally had but two rooms below
and a ]of ladder
t above. e. A dd r standing
in one corner servedas a stairway
to the 'loft, where they children and
hired help used to sleep. There
were no stoves in those (lays, so the
log homes were heated by large
brick or stone fireplaces, usually at
one end
f -the, building. oThese
fireplaces - were large enough to
take logs big enough to forma bed
of coals thatwould last through the
long tbinter'. night,: andconsequent-,
lY made the boys work; pretty sharp
to chop wood as fast as the fire,
could take it. Of course,. the wood)
cost nothing then,
J cana� i4H7 rlF4 /
1, (00.000'°--
(•�
^Jblalrry �wmv.rwrt �r+L &scPxG (4�8-
��drdP. r Ct.Cfrv✓ 5n� o,✓ kM+a.'s • i
fjwyA- .ia. 19'1.8
-rka,w o Val" (rc y 60
iCw9S.{4��
rd, 0• n ns�•
01. t�- 1 (w!►�c — �9sFy
Mrs. Buchanan.
trance has his initials, (J. C,, and
1842),
(date chiselled in the stone
JR'�I
Solves, Mystery"The
above the deepset doorway.
home was always a centre of
hospitality for their circle of friends
Of Raid Medal '���
in Woodstock and Bursounding ter -
ritory. My father's only sister, Mar -
The, mystery of the Fenian Raid
-� married Thomas Oliyer, ithe xfist
medal found by Kathy has
member to represent all Oxford at
�Zu�r�hri�g',
been solved. It belongs tare J. V
Ottawa at Confederation. They es -
Buchanan and was earned er
tablished their home in a gabled
,by
father, the man whose name is on
brick house, still standing on the
the back--Cpl. C. G. 'Clarke,.22 Ox-
brow of Sirocco St., Woodstock,
ford.
which later was known as Oliver's
Noting+mention in The Tribune of
Hill. BeverlysIngergist sail of James
its finding, Mrs:' Buchanan writes:
Ingersol�,'Iif•st registrar of Wood -
"Many thanks to `,Bernie Zur-
stock, was killed onone of t P e ac
brigg for turning in to you my fath-
costumed bob -sledding parties there.
er's - medal, which I gave to my
"On the maternal side, Off. Chas
grandson, Bobbie Buchanan, to
G. Clarke came from the, deMabille
put in his "treasure chest".' My
family of Anjou, France, which es -
father, Capt. Ch Cd.G.uatin Clarke,
taped the Hugenot massacre of
1572 b escaping :Hollan
y P g to d, where
was a student at the Woodstock In-
stitute, (later " Woodstock -Baptist
after staying 100 years, they were
College and now I believe a Catholic
given a grant of �3000 acres by the
Institute),' when The (Fenian Raid
king of I -Tolland in America. New
took place in 186G, when he was.
York State and one of the largest
cities is now built part on it.
only 20•
The Oxford Rifles were sent down
"The ancestor who first came out
r
. to theNiagara ' and Fort Erie dis-
to he N World w-6 r
t w Wo d s Pierre .Gav-
e
tricts.
pard de iViabille in 1624. After the
-
American IT the descend -
"The veterans many years later
ants came to New Brunswick in
were presented pvith' medals and a
1783, accompanied by a cousin,
grantofland of 150 acres each, up
Peter Secord, founder -of another cjrl
in a; " then -inaccessible - territory
U. E. Loyalist family. Ills "-father
above Lake Superior. "
in-law, George "Bowditch; pioneerf
"My father was' a son of a pioneer
hardware M-6mbant, established 1846I
Britisher from Yorkshire, "John
in Woodstock, was also one of the
Clarke, who built the large stone
Oxford Rifles Reserve. Upper Can
1 house on the 1st concession, directly
ada was really alarmed at that
south of Woodstocl The main en-'
time."
sue ,.urerican civil war brokV
out in 1.860, and in spite of the
fact that the Northern States were
fighting to abolish slavery yet Eng-
land 'found herself to some extent
lined up with the Confederate
States. The result was that after
some unpleasant incidents at sea,
trade Between (England and the
Northern States was broken off and
at once the demand for Canadian
wheat, dairy products, etc., ad-
vanced as it were overnight. The
need for more cleared land to raise
wheat ''and fodder for dairy herds
became so -important that we are
told the sound of the axe could be
heard in any part of the country
throughout the long winter months
and the tall lines of trees rapidly
receded to the back in the holdings.
All this meant more trade for
Ingersoll. Our merchant business
increased in numbers and in vol-
ume,' and our tradesmen were very
busy- The population had kept pace
with the expansion of trade and in
the year 1864 Ingersoll found that
she had outgrown the village stage
and would be hlieorporated as a
town at the end of the year. As
ihas been said these were times of
'national and international import
Vance. The American civil war ended
i in 1864 and the Fenian scare was.
beginning to be felt. The Fathers
of' Confederation were already talk-
ing, about the possibility: of the un-
ion of all Canadian provinces into a
Dominion, also the plane for the big
cheese had been laid.
The last village council was
follows: John Galliford, Reev
Dr. D. M. Robertson; Deputes
Reeve, and Jas. Noxon, B,_McI)on�l
aid, Arthur �VCarmor, Councillors, .
with X..A.. Wnmleack, Clerk, "andil
Ed_ Doty, Treasurer. There was.
keen rivalry among our leading cit-
izens as to who should have the
honor of representing the new town
in its first municipal council. The
result of the election gave as in
1865 Adam ex, Mayor; James
McCa Reeve and Edsax��d��
Barker, Deputy Ree e, with James
DS14, AaronsiCltri__ s�nh3r, James
Noxon R, u.. Carroll, Edward Bar -I
ker, C. P. Hall, Councillors, the]
clerk and -Treasurer remaining as in
1864.
6
Possibly the inauguration of our 1
advanced status was not celebrate
as such events often are, for
time Canada was menaced by
called Fenian raids and th
(.men from Ingersoll were called o +
with the Oxford Rifles and travellee
to the Niagara Peninsula. These)
(: raids, no doubt, hastened the con-
�sumation of -Confederation of the f
;I( provinces into the Dominion of Can-
!( Thus Ingersoll 1 as a town is 1
years 'old, older than the Dom Si
of ',Canada. We have hadrapi
lit
pension at times and have suff' q' A
some grave set backs, but or o.
to and whole our town has slowly 1
�Ily advanced in many ways un e
day we have one of the mos pe
gressive towns in Western 0 s
and most of our citizens are 1 'r
forward with optimism to a ,in
and steady expansion of a con"
ity that will be as good a plod.1
�r
'five as any other town, any w� .