Books

The second Kidd Schoolhouse book has arrived.  We will do one more book.  It MUST contain a picture of our historical society members.  Every one should look at them for comments on new things to include before we order a third book.

Now, Heritage Day is Sat. Sept. 12.  We are going to produce one Mac book on this event.  This will include any ads, location of ads, food, quantity of food, food processors, visitors, events, etc, etc.  For example, Agnews is going to provide a cooking pot, this must be mentioned and a picture taken.

The book should be all inclusive.  I will be looking for people to supply photos for the book, at the end of Saturday!   For visitors, we'll tell them we would like a photo for our book, so they won't be surprised to hear of a picture of them in a book.

Thanks for shoes

Someone has added two pairs of horseshoes to the Bamford Pits.  They have colours of blue on one pair and white on the other.  Thank you.

When the horseshoe stakes get welded onto wheel rims, they will complete the process and be buried in 'ditch-harvested' sand.  Then it's time to get a 'league' operational.

Two people from Cardiff visited our museum site and are planning on building a pit for their community.

Plein Air Arts Festival

The following site will give you information about the Sept. 10-13 outdoor painting activity.

Consult highlandseastpleinair.wordpress.com for  complete outline of the activity.

Next meeting

Friday, July 24, 7 pm at the centre to discuss Heritage Day.

Coming Soon

Thanks to Carson Bamford for donating lumber and Donny Bamford for donating patio stones, a second horseshoe pit is being made.  Hopefully by mid July the Bamford Horseshoe Pits will ready for heritage action.

Nice screen door purchased.  Bill is applying varnish.  The door should keep mosquitoes out.

Some training has been received for the New Horizons Program.  We should be able to post pictures and information directly from our computers.  The site, through the municipality, looks great.  Adele is going to come to HG for more training.

News and updates

Adele Espina, organizing the New Horizons project, has sent us a reference to WW1 soldiers.  It is great.  Click on it and you are taken to a map and locations of individual locations of soldiers.  We will be able to include this in either a 'veterans' book or 'cemetery' book, or both.  The following is from Adele.

One of the maps I created during last year's Cultural Mapping project, and that we are going to expand on for this project, is the "WW1 Veterans of Highlands East" map.

Here is the link you can click on to go to that map on the Highlands East municipal website:
https://www.google.com/maps/d/viewer?ll=45.000738,-78.281708&t=m&source=embed&ie=UTF8&msa=0&spn=0.436973,0.8638&z=10&hl=en&mid=z_xs6HwvLgnI.kWZDKqJnmTJA

You' ll notice that I created a map point for where each of the veterans lived in the townships, and that there is a list of those veterans along the left hand side of the web page.

I have also created a WW2 Veterans map, but it is rather sparse at the moment, so not yet visible on the internet. We will be working to add names and information about WW2 vets to that map during the course of the project.

Elva Bates' book "A Journey Through Glamorgan's Past" lists WW1 and WW2 veterans in the Gooderham area on pages 235 to 237.

...................

Donny Bamford is going to fund a second horseshoe pit.  He will provide the patio stones and weld the stakes onto wheel rims.  Carson will provide the lumber for marking the pit.  We still have to get a photo of Donny and historical members along with Suzanne Partridge and/or Cam McKenzie.

Highland Grove has a Rec committee, although they may not have been active lately.  There may be some money in their transfers to the municipality.  We are asking if there are funds to get us one or more picnic tables for the horseshoe pits.

Irene at the municipal office printed out up to date records of the Deer Lake Cemetery.  These are at the HG centre. 

News Update

Dates to remember:

Friday May 29, H. G. Historical Society 7 pm
Sat. June 27, Strawberry Supper, 4-7 pm
Sat. Sept. 12, Heritage Day and Doors Open
Sun. Sept. 13, Doors Open

News

Donny Bamford will fund another horseshoe pit.  We'll set up a time for our society to meet with Suzanne Partridge and Donny for a photo for the newspaper.  Everyone will be contacted.

Irene Cook, municipal clerk, has printed off a complete list of burials in Deer Lake Cemetery.  The list will remain in the centre.  The numbering system for the cemetery seems a bit complicated, but perhaps can be learned.

It seems that there are LOTS of photos about the Kidd Schoolhouse being moved and renovated.  If members  can gather the photos it will be a great book.  The amount of labour that went into the building is really incredible and should be celebrated for historical  purposes.

Adele has been told that we would like to swap a PC for a Mac.  In addition, it was suggested that since all our members have cameras, perhaps we could swap the camera they want to give to us for a scanner which we do not have.  She is approaching the New Horizon people.

              200 Questions for Highland Groves and extended area,  “Who knows this Area?’

     These questions are about Highland Grove and surrounding areas.  The questions may need refining, rethinking or elimination.  Everyone is encouraged to submit questions and or answers.

Questions

1. In what year was the Cardiff mines opened?     (1956)

2. What was the chief material mined at Cardiff?   (Uranium)

3. Who was one of the earliest postmasters in Highland Grove? (Elmer Hughey)

4. The letters in IB&O stand for...(Irondale, Bancroft, Ottawa)

5. In what year was the general store in Highland Grove started?       (1895)

6. The “Robin Hood” of Cardiff and area was... (Walter Kidd)

7. In 1900 deer licenses were established, two deer per license cost....( 25 cents)

8. The now ghost town of Cheddar opened a uranium mine in 19.... (1939)

9. The original name of Wilberforce was...  (Pusey)

10. What did Wilberforce Veneer specialize in making? (Veneer)

11. When did the IB&O last run through Harcourt?  (March 30, 1960)

12. What kind of company bought the high quality railway ties? (US razor blade company)

13. Why did the IB&O train stop east of Diamond Lake? (cold water spring)

14. What caused the ‘end’ of the railway? (highways and truck transportation)

15. The nickname of the IB&O was... (I. B. and Slow)

16. German prisoners in WWII worked north of Harcourt at... (Standard Chemical logging camp)

17. Many ‘imported’ young teachers in the area ended up getting ...(married)

18. The I.B.&O connected in Halibuton with the ...(Grand Truck Train)

19. With luck, taking the 11 am train from Bancroft gets you to Toronto at ...(9 pm)

20. The first I.B.&O train was called the ...(Mary Ann)

21.  The fastest time for the I.B.&O to cover 51 miles was ...(4 hours)

22. The town of Cardiff named after ...(Town Cardiff in Wales, England)

23. Where was the railway station in Highland Grove (Location of old township garage)

24. Where was the cheese factory (Location of the old Orange Lodge)

25. Name an early blacksmith  (Sanger Laundry, brother of Frank who owned the store)

26. Who owned the dance hall? (Peel family)

27. Where was the Orange Hall? (On present library property, close to Loop Road)

28. Where was the restaurant in HG?  (On Sucie Rd, owners Kirk and Mable Watson)

29. Where was the first church? (Anglican and just north of Rowley Rd.)

30. Who bought the property for the Deer Lake Cemetery? (Watson family)

31. Name an early midwife in HG.  (Mrs. Robert Drury)

32. How many stores did HG have at one time? (Three)

33. Who owned the grist mill? (Elwood Peel)

34. Who owned the sawmills? (Frank Laundry and Bill Ayotte, Jahel Breckenridge)

35. First couple to be married in Catholic Church was… (Roy Marsh and Violet Hogan)

36. Where was there a corduroy road? (Meteorite Road)

37. Where is a haunted house? (old Chamberlain House)

38. The first phone in HG was …. (Railway station)

39. Where was Leafield? (3 miles north of Highland Grove)

40. Who looked after the Deer Lake Post Office (Ogilivie Family)

41. Where was the Lewis Line? (Ojibway road)

42. Where was the ice cream stand? (owner John Covert, 90 degree turn H.G.)

43. Who went to the farms and picked up cream? (Alphonse Coe)

44. Who delivered meat? (Ken Lewis)

45. Where is ‘going down the track’? (South Baptiste Road)

46. Who was the travelling minister? (Rev. Gander)

47. Who was one of the first teachers at S S # 2 Cheddar School? (Ethel Ogilivie)

48.  Where was the first municipal equipment yard? (Tom Elliott’s Driveway)

49. The community of Cheddar was initially called… (Wood’s Corner)

50. Why is the Red Cross Outpost building unique?  (Ontario’s first Red Cross Hospital)

51. How many times is the Essonville church scheduled to be used? (Xmas and Memorial Day)

52. Magnificent Road used to be called…(West Line)

53. Where was the Kidd Schoolhouse initially built? (Cheddar Road)

54.  Where in Harcourt was there a ‘hot pond’  (Finlays Sawmill)

55.  Where was the dump in HG? (On Sucie Road)

56. Who owned the shingle mil?  (Albert and Elmer Hughey)

57. How long was the Peterson Road, competed 1863? (101 miles)

58. Ends of the Peterson Road? (Ottawa and Opeongo Road to Muskoka Road)

59. Was the Peterson Road a success? (No, fire and wilderness destroyed most of it)

60.  What major road went through Kennaway? (Peterson Road)

61. What was the best wood for corduroy roads? (Cedar, resists decay in water)

62. Monck Road was to be a major link between…(Lake Simcoe and Ottawa)

63. Monck Road was built because…(fear of American invasion)

64. Burleigh Road ran from …(Burleigh to Wood’s Corner, on to Peterson Road)

65. Road linking Gooderham, Tory Hill, Wilberforce, Harcourt and Highland Grove? (Loop)

66. Who was the step dancer in Harcourt?  (Archie Sweet)

67.  Where was the Highland Grove Raceways?  (Jack Sucie Property)

68.  Who ran the HG raceway?  (Donny Bamford)

69. What was one of the first settlements in Harcourt area?  (Kennaway, before 1850)

The following may or may not have answers, give them a try

  How did Highland Grove get its name?

  When was the loop road paved?

  How often did the trains run?

  How long to travel from HG to Bancroft?

  When did IB&O install tracks?

  When were the tracks removed?

  How much was a train ticket?

  Was HG ever incorporated?

  Who was the first mayor?

  Did HG ever have a community council?

 Why did settlers come to the area?

  How much land was given to settlers?

  Name 5 prominent families who were early settlers.

  When did electricity come to HG?

  When did telephones come to homes?

  How did neighbours communicate before telephones?

  When did  TV come to HG?

  Name one exciting thing to happen in HG.

  What tragedy has happened in HG?

  Who was the biggest employer in HG?

  What was the top grade reached in HG schools?

  Did the early schools produce students who went to high school?

  Was education important to the community?

  What types of community celebration, if any, happened in HG?

  Who had the first car (or truck)?

 What was the first model car in HG.?

Year that Mitchels purchased land from Drury family?

How long did the Mitchels live in the farm house? Year leaving?

Did Mitchels own cottage(s) across Deer Lake?

If you have more questions and answers, please write them down and submit to Joanne at the library.

Many pieces of information have been taken from Valerie Smiths two publications

History of Wilberforce Elementary School and Surrounding Communities

Book Published

This is the cover of the first hardcover book.  A second book was ordered.  Ordered on Sunday, the book arrived in Highland Grove on Wednesday, same week.  Cost of $100.

These books are a great way to keep family histories alive.

First Hardcover Book

Well, for the past few months the museum staff have been working on a 72 page, hardcover book that covers the maternal side of one family.  It covers genealogy in detail and photos.  As might be expected the genealogy is probably out of date since updating is a difficult area.

The book was sent to Apple on Sunday morning and on Tuesday morning we received confirmation that the book was sent.  There may be some difficulties since we used Adobe Photoshop to add text to many photos and set up a system which is not covered in the iBook.  Fingers crossed.

The book was sent through the internet and took less than 10 minutes of upload time.  Cost was just less than $100, including shipping.

The book can be modified by additions and subtraction of pages and resent for an additional book.  It seems like a good way of getting family history into a compact framework perhaps as good or better than an album.

Supporting Firetruck Heritage

A committee has been set up to restore this OLD NUMBER ONE in Wilberforce.  Our museum is supporting their efforts by donating 10 coffee mugs with the above graphics.  They can use the mugs for raising funds.

Covert Homestead

1953-54 Highland Grove School

1953-54

Names for 1953-54 class?

These are the best guesses made by various people.
1. Alvin Peters
2. Arthur Cooney
3. Ross Covert
4. Jim Ayotte
5. Ron Hogan                        
6. Marion Watson                          
 7. Helen Lewis
8. Elsie Allen
9. Cheryl Condon
10. Tommy Condon
11. Dave Ayotte
12. Floyd Peet
13. Allan Watson
14. Loretta Ayotte
15. June Foster
16. Arlene Condon
17. Allan Andrews
18. Bonnie Hughey
19. Harold Pacey
20. Doreen Ayotte
21. Ron Walker
22. Tris Ogilive
23. Edna Ayotte
24. Mrs. Ogilive
25. Arnold Cooney
26. John Condon (hidden)

Class 1953-54

How about identifying these kids?  There are numbers on each child.

E-mail for museum

If you need to contact the museum, for information, coffee mugs, horseshoe times, here is your email:

     kiddschoolhouse@gmail.com

See anyone you know.  Let us know.

Ghost of Kidd

Ghost of Walter Kidd comes to schoolhouse he built.

Before 1938

Can you ID any of the numbers?

Moving the school

 School moved 2004 from Kidd's Corner, renovation started 2005.  Trillium grant of $15,000.

Doors Open in fall

Every four years Highlands East gets to host "Doors Open" which is a provincial initiative.  On Sept. 12 and 13 our society has been asked to occupy the Kidd School house and offer historical information.  This year the Ontario Heritage Trust is focusing on sport heritage, although this is not the only activity.  Jane has been the organizer in the past.

     The Society can talk about this when we all get together in the spring time.

Sample geneology

Our first hardcover book is starting to take form.  It will represent the Drury side of the family.  Putting together the relationships in a compact form is a challenge.    The following is a sample page.  We will try to take it down to existing members of the family which our three ring binders usually do not cover.  This will be perhaps a difficult job.

     If we didn't have to include names in photos it would be quickly done.  The final copy should be around 60 pages.  Viewing the work done by all the volunteers in collecting family information is really remarkable.  Similar work is probably hard to find in other small communities.

Let me know if you have any comments.

These are the new renovations completed by the municipality.  Not too bad, eh?

This is the first posting

Hi Heritage Society.
     This will be the location of http://Kiddschool.blogspot.com with a title of Schoolhouse Museum in Highland Grove.  I am including a picture below to make sure the system is working.
      As an update, Joanne and I are working on producing a hard cover book for Bonnie (Hughey) West of the Drury family.  We will use a Mac program in addition to Photoshop.  We're setting a deadline of April, so the snowbirds might be able to see it when they arrive.
     Our museum is running two session on washing raw fleece, Feb. 7 and 14, with the goal of producing fleece for wet felting in mid-March.  We have held 3 workshops sessions on felting and we had great results.  There is no cost for any of the activities.
     We are still producing coffee mugs when people come in with memory sticks and photographs.  Still no response from the Legion, but we'll keep after them.
     Not a lot of response for the 200 questions.  Perhaps we'll publish it on this site later this week.  There are about 70 questions with answers.
     A small article about the museum has been sent to Bancroft This Week, but no response from them yet.