HISTORY OF BOWMANVILLE
Part 13
By Mr. J. B. Fairbairn, P. M.
The next place was the dwelling of Cooper Lee. It was standing until quite recently. Many no doubt wondered why it was perched up at such a height and in such an awkward position. When it first came into existence it was on a level with the street. Later a new road was constructed reducing the hill and leaving Lee high and dry with hardly sufficient room to et in the front door. I do not remember him very well. He met his doom in the millpond. One evening about dusk he and T. Coleman were swimming some distance from the bank when he suddenly disappeared. It was supposed that he had taken cramps. They got the body by draining the pond. Thos. Manning, father of John G., was living with him. He came out in 182, and afterwards had a cooperage of his own and carried on the business energetically. He was an upright, inoffensive, good citizen. After a long, useful life, he passed into the unseen, only a few months ago. His son is following in his footsteps and prosecuting the same craft. Poor Lee was, I fear, given too much to sociability and its concomitants. As I recollect him, he was a fine -looking and kindly man. He was the father of Mrs. Philip Tyler.
An old residentor said to me one day "you have forgotten the Coles, who lived on the hill. They were among the early new comers into this part of Canada." I said, no, I have not but how can I manage the limited space at my disposal so as to bring under review the dozens whom I recall and about whom I would gladly write; well deserving as they are to have a place in these reminiscences. I cannot but think as I take a backward look over the past history of this section of the country, what an all important question this one of emigratio is. It cannot be too strongly advocated by all who have any influence in molding public opinion, that the greatest care should be exercised in preventing people of a low grade from getting a foothold in this great growing country of ours. So many are seeking homes in the west who are scarcely one removed from a state of barbarism. I am glad to see the Government is alive to the necessity of having a rigid medical examination as to the physical condition of all incomers, sending those back to the countries from which they came, who are so deseased as to be unfit to live in a respectable community. Fortunately, when Darlington was settled there was no doubt as to the kind of stock who came from Cornwall and Devonshire and who populated the front part of the township. They wee splendid settlers who then came into the woods from that part of England. Many of them were sons of toil, brought up in humble circumstances, but having the fine qualities of strength and moral fibre propagating in their offspring industrious habits and the fear of God, out of which material the inhabitants of Darlington have risen to so high a place in the grand Province of Ontario; indeed many claiming it to be a banner one. Roger Cole, Sr., and family, came to the little village in 1832. I am told that they and the Heals, who arrived in the same year, first occupied an unused cooper shop near the bridge; no other place of refuge could be obtained. They received advice and assistance from Mr. Bate's people who at one time kept a hotel on the farm just above the hill. Mr. Cole rented from the Bowman estate, the farm now occupied by Mr. Beith; At the time only a small part of the land was cleared, I suppose he underwent the usual hardships growing out of the immature conditions in which husbandry was prosecuted. It was while they lived on this place that the late Georges Haines became connected with them by marriage. I well remember the way in which the unwritten law of charivaring was carried on. The groom very justly determined to fight this outrageous and unseemly custom. The battle raged with varying success, until the mob were worn out and gave it up in despair.
While I am on this topic, I must allude to Mr. Haines, who afterwards loomed up so largely in the affairs of the place, as it grew into importance. He was by trade a wagon and carriage maker and carried on the business for many years. He was a large man every way and was endowed with native talents of a high order. If it had been his good fortune to have had the advantages of a higher education, he could have risen to any position. As it was, he became most useful in the civic work of the town, elected time and again councillor and also filled the Mayor's chair. He had good judgment and a level head. After he retired from business and had severed his connection with municipal affairs, he was appointed by the Government, Police Magistrate, the very onorous and responsible duties of which office he discharged to the utmost satisfaction of the public. As a judge he was just and inflexible. I do not think any of his decisions were ever appealed from. He reached a ripe old age. Sad to say, his son George, who succeeded him here - a worthy son, and good citizen - died in middle age, much regretted.
Mr. Cole bought the farms near Bethesda, which are still in their possession. They lay in the most charming locality. The view from the homestead is one to conjure with. You can see east, west and south, for miles, including the town of Bowmanville, (a city set on a hill) when lit at night by electricity, it is a sight worth seeing. It must be a perpetual source of pleasure to the dwellers, their having such a grand and ennobling sight of dome Nature's handiwork perpetually under their eyes. He had five sons, Roger, Immanuel, Mathew, John and Thomas. All have passed the bourne from which none returns. One daughter Mrs. Mary Tamblyn is still living at Zion, Hope, she is an aunt of W. W. Tamblyn, M. A Bowmanville. Mrs. Roger Cole and two daughters are living in town. John is on the place where is grandfather first settled and James is east of it. Mrs. Vanstone is a daughter of Matthew. How one thing leads on to others. The stream of influence flows through many channels. Another sister, married a man who I knew when I was a lad, Mr. Henry Hoar Sr. I never forgot my first impression of his nature. Alas, his sojourn on earth was limited, but the effects of his teaching and example are still operating as a power for good in those who followed. Mr. Henry Hoar, Jr., is still in his prime giving his untiring energy for the public wealth. He has devoted a good deal of time to Sabbath school work and in endeavoring to keep up and in crease through the Agricultural organizations the interest of the farmers, trying by this and other means, to educate them in more scientific and useful plans to increase the output of the crops grown from the soil, as well as to teach them how better to improve and add to the value of their stock and collateral products. He is President of the Agricultural Society and Head of the Farmer's Institute. The death of Thomas R. Hoar is still fresh in our memories. When taking him to Toronto, in the hope that something might be done to aid in his recovery, I saw him at the station and without exception, it was the most pathetic sight I ever witnessed. Hard indeed would have been the heart of any human being who could have looked on that sight without it being stirred to it's deepest depths. The body was encased in plaster paris, to all intents dead, while the mental and spiritual gleamed in full intelligence from the eye, I remember Mr. J. C. Vanstone saying to me and he was the last man to speak unadvisedly, that T.R. was one of the finest men he ever knew. How mysterious indeed are the ways of Providence but one thing is sure, that all things must work together for good to such as he was. He left his family a most valuable and lasting heritage in the record of his short fruitful life. His untimely death was caused by an accident: He fell from an apple tree and severed the spine.
I will vary the programe for a little. The use of whisky was almost universal. Could the quantity consumed be ascertained I am sure it would show startling figures. From infancy, when the babe on first entering this earthly scene was given a spoonful, until the last rites wee performed, it was the one thing that followed the idiviual, enveloping him from first to last in a fiery mist. It was supposed to cure every ill and heighten every joy. Being sold at the stores it entered into the consumption of the people and was as readily bought and used as any other article of diet. It was sent out to all the country round about in kegs. Many a farmer I've seen with one of them in his conveyance. In those early days neighbors were very sociable, frequently getting together for mutual aid and help. "Bees" of every description were in order, - for logging, hauling wood, husking corn in the late autumn; indeed, for all operations incident to rural, occupations at a time when manual labor had to be solely depended upon. The liquor was cheap and good, not the hot, adulterated stuff now so commonly sold. A young woman was once brought before the kirk authorities in Scotland for dancing. The minister, in the course of the investigation, said: "Janet, what were you thinking" about?" "Deed, Sir," she replied, "I thought nae ill". "Then gang away home," he said. The state of mind as expressed by Janet, largely explains the situation. The best of every class, even ministers at times, indulged in a social glass. The poor devil who drank to excess was looked upon as a fool, not as a victim. Considering the whole situation from what I heard of the times, before my own knowledge of them, I should say the wonder is that so few comparatively took the horrble disease in its worst form. It should not be forgotten that many had hard luck and underwent great hardships, and they sometimes resorted to drink foolishly, indeed for stimulation and consolation. Burns said, "It makes the wheels of life gang down with rattling noise and glee" and no doubt they were glad to get and take anything that would cheer them up. The worst effects were seen in public meetings when the populace assembled in large numbers filling up the taverns. The bar then as now brought the evils of the traffic into white light. Many a terrific row took place, a consequence of free indulgence in that stuff which, put into men's mouths, steals away their brains. The fact is that it was looked upon not only as free from harm, but as a positive benefit. I offer this as some excuse for many who unwittingly fell into the arms of this demon of destruction. I will mention one case that I saw with my own eyes where it was evident the poor unfortunate was under the power of the worst form of whisky fever. At times he lost all self-control and would do anything to obtain it. One morning my elder brother and a clerk of ours found that during the night he had broken into the storehouse where the liquor for sale was kept, and had broached the barrel. After drinking all he could, he lay down without turning off the tap and was found literally swimming in his favorite beverage. He had nothing on but his shirt and pants. When they got him out he was in a state of complete collapse, but after having a liberal supply of cold water pumped on him, he revived. He afterwards adopted the only cure for the complaint, - he gave it up entirely. I will deal later on with the great agitation that subsequently arose to curtail and do away if possible with the traffic.
Next - Bowmanville and Darlington History Part 14
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