HISTORY OF BOWMANVILLE
Part 18
By Mr. J. B. Fairbairn, P. M.
Coming back to my grandsire; He first began his Canadian course of action at Terrebonne, Quebec. What on earth took him there I cannot even guess. Five fruitless years he spent among the habitants. He had no business faculty and was totally unfitted for the struggle in a new country. He was a book worm and a student to the last and at the time was said to have been better up in Hebrew than any one in the country. Mr. Gibbs, the father of the Gibbs of Oshawa, also was residing there and a friendship sprang up between them which continued until both parties passed to the great majority. Mr. Gibbs who was a much wiser man in worldly matters, had built a mill in South Oshawa, and he induced my grandfather Jas. Walker to follow suite and come west. The latter at one time owned the farm now belonging to W. J. Bragg, Esq.
When I pass this pretty place, as I sometimes do, naturally having a fondness for the former home of my people, I am more than pleased to know that it is in such worthy hands, and I hope Mr. Bragg, with his interesting family, may long be spared to enjoy every blessing it may bring. How does all this apply to my thesis? At his solicitation my grandfather took the two sons and two daughters of his Oshawa friend, Mr. Gibbs, and with my eldest brother and two sister, formed a class and taught them at his house. Thus it came about that the Hon. T. N. Gibbs, his brother William, Mrs. Blackstock, whose husband recently died, and Mrs. James Gooderham, received their education, partly at least in this lonely place in the woods. The latter lady has been a prominent worker in the Methodist church. She wen to Japan a few years ago to investigate the state of missions in those wonderful islands. I had the pleasure of spending an afternoon a year ago with her in the city. We recalled the early experiences in Darlington. I now say good-bye to the first place in the Township in which an attempt was made to impart some of the academic training.
W. G. King, of Trinity College, Dublin, turned up at a very early date. Why and how he pitched upon this locality as the arena wherein to play the game, I do not know. Among all the varieties of the species that I have met, I have never seen anyone to compare with him. A mystery hung over his past. It was supposed that he was the natural son of some nobleman in the old country. On his arrival he had a plentiful supply of money, and he commenced his country life on the middle road. The place was afterwards owned by Mr. Colwell, on the fourth concession. He put up quite a number of small buildings which looked like a miniature village. There were still some of them to the fore when I collected taxes in '47. For a time he was like Robinson Crusoe, monarch of all he surveyed. Money, even if gold, has the knack of melting away, and this melting process went on out there at a great rate. He lived in fine style, and for some time continued to get remittances. Finally they stopped and he was compelled to fall back on his mental resources for a living. He came out to the front and, taking the position of tutor, he taught a good many youths who were desirous of obtaining a higher education than could then be had in the ordinary schools. Few were better qualified to impart instruction in any branh of study. He was a splendid linguist. He had a fine presence, and you could see the aristocrat in every liniament of his countenance. He had no companions and lived exclusively by himself. When sober and in his normal condition an unaccountable disire possessed him for seclusion. Every domicile he ever inhabited was barricaded with closed shutters at each window. It is not so long since those articles were on a little brick house he once occupied near the end of Church St. on the north side. Among his pupils were the Misses Smith of Erpingham. I went to him for the short period of three months, being oliged then to abandon all hope of further schooling. The fire compelled me to go into the post office to help my parents, and there I have been since. This reminds me of the gentleman who said he went through college, when he had stayed one day, entering by the front door and leaving by the back. Mr. King was then stopping with Mrs. Frank, mother of little John. On the old road, south of Mrs. Hibbert's, some poplar trees still stand marking the site of the house. In going down I used to follow a short cut through the woods from the Eastern house. All I remember of what he taught me in Latin is the verb "amo, amas, amat". Did I get the worth of my money? It is probable I should have done so had I stayed long enough. What odds did it make after all? Many of my compeers, who had the best advantages, did not come off in life's contest any better; still you want the best tools you can get to make a well-finished job. At times he went on terrible sprees, lasting occasionally for weeks, and then the innate recklessness of his nature had full sway. He would take up with the lowest wretch he could find for a boon companion and for the ultima Thule of course ribaldy he had no equal. In his madness he would go any length. On one occasion in a fit of fury he struck a large stone jug which was standing on the bar counter in the tavern on the hill and smashed his hand. The two smaller fingers were so inured that he no longer had the use of them. His writing was done with the other two. But when the real man asserted himself and the demon was suppressed he was one to remember. Some of the Warren's of Oshawa, were for a time under his fare. Finally he went to the Grand River, employed by Mr. Little, uncle of W. J. Jones, Esq. The end was in keeping with his manner of living and acting. He was found dead on the bed, the bottle from which he had taken the fatal draught, by his side. It seemed as though he had coolly read a newspaper until he became unconscious, for it was found in a position to indicate this. Endowed by his Maker with splendid intellectual parts, having all the advantages of a liberal University training, such was the end. It is unsafe to navigate the ocean, no matter how staunch and well-manned the vessel may be, without a safe chart and a good seaman at the helm. Poor King, I fear, had neither! He did not to my knowledge, profess any kind of religion.
THE POST OFFICE
The following extract is taken from the Bowmanville Statesman:
"the first post office in Darlington, the township in which Bowmanville is situated, was at Black's Hill, five miles west of the present town, on the Kingston road, Colonel Black being the postmaster. The office was, however, removed to the town on July 1st, 1827. Darlington being then the name of the place. Robert Fairbairn, J. P. was appointed first postmaster July 5, 1828 the ninth year of the reign of George IV. Mr. Fairbairn's son, the present postmaster, came into the office as assistant in August, 1845 and was appointed to succeed his father, January 28, 1857. Hon. Robert Spence being Postmaster General. Mr. Fairbairn was born in 1831, so he has practically been in charge of the office from the age of thirteen, and thus becomes, no doubt, by length of service, though not by age, the oldest postmaster in Ontario, if not in the Dominion. A unique feature of the management is the fact that during the long period of seventy-seven years covered by the services of father and son, only one registered letter has been lost, and that was stolen when the post office was destroyed by fire in 1845.
Nothing would be more interesting those than the Statistics of the Post Office in early days. I am sorry they cannot be obtained. The revenue was small, although in '56 it had become quite an item. A wonderful expansion in business of every description had taken place during the previous ten years. Leading up to this, an enormous amount of foreign capital was brought into the country and laid out in the construction of public work, prominent among which was the Grand Trunk Railway. The Crimean War created a demand for all kinds of produce, and fabulous prices were obtained by the farmers for anything they had to dispose of. Such golden days have never been seen since. Many an one heaped up a fortune. Above all, we had later on, reciprocal trade with big, wealthy Uncle Sam, so that it had nearly reached the point at which it stands today. The Post Office was at first under imperial control and management. Mr. Sutherland was the first Deputy, and afterwards, T. A. Stayner. Both were able, upright men, and in matters that arose concerning the management they were just and fair to Postmasters. But what a system prevailed in the inland service! It looked as if the most cumbersome plans possible had been devised. Under such conditions it would be utterly impossible to handle even a moiety of the correspondence now passing through the mails. The rates of postage were determined by the distance the letters were carried. I my memory serves me, 11 pence was the rate to Montreal, and 4 ½ pence to Toronto (Through the courtesy of E. P. Stanton, Esq., Supt. of the Stamp Branch Dept. Ottawa, I find that I am correct and he also informs me that stamps were first introduced by the Canadian Post Office Dept. for the purpose of prepaying postage, in 1851). The greater proportion of the letters were sent unpaid and had to be regularly charged against the receiving Office. Letters from Europe came in sailing vessels to Halifax, and sent west by stage and boat. The charges wee so high as to preclude any frequent interchange. I have envelopes upon which the are from Scotland is shown to have been for shillings sterling. After the Department was handed over to the Canadian Government great improvements were made. But the process was slow. He men at the head of affairs had skill and preserverance and, under their management, it gradually developed, until now it is quite equal to any postal service anywhere to be found. Perhaps greater improvements in working details, and in larger matters such as the dreduction in the letter rate, wich now applies to Canada, the United States, Great Britain, and other of the Post Union countries, the introduction of postal notes, the extension and modification of the money order system are due, more to Sir Wm. Mulock, Dr. Coulter, Deputy Postmaster General, and to the skillful members of the staff, than to any of their predecessors. Sir Wm. Mulock has recently retired, after many years of devoted service to the work. I am sure the wish of all Canadians is that he may long be spared to occupy the high position he at present fills, and that he may leave as grand a record there as he left behind him at Ottawa.
Next - Bowmanville and Darlington History Part 18
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