HISTORY OF BOWMANVILLE
Part 18
By Mr. J. B. Fairbairn, P. M.
Memory recalls two names with which we had a good deal to do in ancient times, -John Dewey, so long Inspector and latterly the Chief, and Colonel Wicksteed afterwards the Accountant. I am told they are both living and both nonegenarians (I see that Col. Wicksteed died quite recently at 93 years of age.) They were able and faithful in the discharge of their duties. While serving the interests of the public, they gave the Postmasters fair play. The employees in the service now would smile if they had to put up with the unnecessary labor involved in general operations as then carried on. All letter packages were accompanied by a bill giving the number and the amount of postage to be collected on the unpaid matter, also the number and the amount on those paid for in cash; and after stamps were introduced they also had to be counted. Then the said packages were put up in paper covers and sealed with wax bearing the official stamp. The system of registration has never been very much changed. The mailbags in use on the main routes were made in England and were of the heaviest kind of leather, in share somewhat like an ordinary trunk. They had on the upper side a flap or small door, and this was secured with hasps fastened to the leather by iron bolts. A chain ran through them meeting in the centre and locked completing the receptacle. When full this was about all a sturdy man could lift. The following was the modus operandi: Toronto, in dispatching mails east as far as Kingston, would fill it with small canvas bags labeled for the different offices to which mail was to be dispatched. These were taken out as each place was reached and outgoing mail put in. What a job it was to handle! Often the little sack for us would be at the bottom of the pile, and we had to unload the Noah's Ark before we could get it. It is singular, but the town is so situated that a large portion of our mails have arrived ever since I can remember during the night. I have a very vivid recollection of the fact that hundreds of times I had to turn out during the bitterest nights of winter, generally twice and take in and overhaul those bags. The horses were changed and fresh one harnessed up at the hotel immediately opposite the office. The driver would leave the bag and I often had to wait his convenience before I could get back to bed again. It was his duty to wait till I got through and then take charge of it, but he had a good excuse as in that case the poor animals would have to stand perishing in the cold.
Thomas Scott, father of the Scott's at Tyrone, was Mr. Weller's agent at Toronto. He was the contractor and ran the stages between Toronto and Montreal, and he was indeed a grand begum! However, all complaints were referred to Mr. Scott and received from him prompt attention. There was no coal in use and the wood fires were generally out. On looking back it seems a mystery that I ever stood it. Before leaving this part of my subject I would say that the worst thing we had to put up with in the olden time was the Sunday delivery of mails. The regulations provided that the Office should be kept open one hour to the public on that day and this was rigidly enforced. Every effort to have this changed had proved unavailing, all remonstrance on the part of those who believed in the sanctity of the day and whose consciences were thus concussed were coolly told to submit to the rule or resign. When Hon. Sidney Smith, was Postmaster General, he took the question up and after due consideration by a few strokes of his pen wiped out this intolerable evil. I am sure every postmaster in Canada who can recall this praise-worthy act on his part will hold his memory in deep respect.
What about the stage drivers? How any rational human being would choose such a calling is one of the things unexplainable. The run was from Posts' tavern in Pickering to Bowmanville, and the next stage to Bill Marsh's in Hope. Of course the couriers were changed at each post station. They were out in all weathers, summer winter, fall and spring. The roads, if they could be called such, were a terror excepting in summer or in the winter when there was sleighing. During the fall and spring rains there were places like the bottomless pit. About half way up what once was called "Munson's hill", now "Stanley's", there was a layer of quick sand. It became at times a quagmire. A stretch of the road opposite Mr. Loscombe's and Souch's hill were as bad, and this is just a sample of what generally prevailed throughout these counties. The huge coach then in use, when filled up with passengers, luggage and mailbags, was a heavy load even for the four horses that hauled it. How did the poor brutes stand it? They certainly were made of good stuff. It was quite an adventure to go any distance on this kind of conveyance in bad weather. It was so often upset or stuck in the mud and was so delayed that there was no certainty of its arrival at a given time at any point. Two hills, one in Bowmanville and the other at Wilmott's were a constant source of anxiety to the voyagers. Going down was worse than going up. The Jehus an the horses down the incline, and to the beholder it looked a dangerous proceeding to see them racing down at full speed with the lumbering load behind, but they became expert in handling the whip and reins. I never knew an accident to occur in consequence. The drivers were compelled by law to blow a horn on approaching a post office. Many a night, I lay awake expecting to hear its melodious sound. They commenced at Stanley's and on a cold clear night you could hear it a very long distance. There was quite a knack in using it. Mr. Hindes had a favorite dog that was always on the lookout and would yell for all he was worth at the first toot. The poor devils of drivers had a hard life and most of them a hard fate.
Their remuneration was of the most meagre kind. This was supplemented by what was called "jumping the pole," namely, taking pay from passengers who were not booked and pocketing it. Those who continued in the work did not live past middle life; many became totally or partially blind, two committed suicide, and the balance drank to excess. Indeed the latter remark will apply to them all.
I must not overlook one personage in this connection who had his hand up to the elbow in the pie. Wm. Glover, father of our present mail contractor, who is said to have brought the first mail that appeared in the village. He arrived on horse back and must have caused quite a commotion among the onlookers. When I first recollect him he stood at least six feet in his stockings and weighed not less than two hundred pounds. No superflous flesh every muscle standing out like whipcord. You may ask how I knew this. Well, I am not romancing, often out of curiousity I put my hand on his and I tell you he had the strength of two ordinary sized men. He was hasty in temper and when angered from any cause it was better to be at a safe distance. I have always admired those who had great physical powers. I remember one day when walking past Maynard's hotel there were two fellows fighting in the archway, a big man abusing a little one. A farmer from Cartwright I think by the name of Dever was driving into the yard. His team was stopped by the bellegrants. At a glance he took in the situation jumped off the wagon and quicker than it takes to relate it, had his coat off and gave the big brute all he wanted. I never saw that man afterwards but what I took my hat off to him.
But to resume, Mr. Glover must have remained in Toronto two years as his advent here as a resident arose from the dreadful scourge of Cholera which had broken out in that city. He wife became alarmed and insisted upon getting to some place less dangerous. Why they pitched on this locality I do not know. This fixes the date of his arrival in Bowmanville at 1830. He bought the lot on which the new post office now stands and resided there until he sold the property to the town and it was upon this lot they placed the town hall. When Weller's line of stages came into operation he drove for them several years. After he quit the road he acted as their local agent. At this time the steam boats carried a portion of the mails during the summer months and when he first became a contractor in Her Majesty's service it was to carry the mails to and from the port. He also took passengers there. After the Grand Trunk commenced running it superceded all the other methods that had been in use and he was fortunate enough to secure that contract also and this he continued to hold during his lifetime. Occasionally he had opposition in the buss line and this he did not readily brook. Many a funny encounter took place between him and the passengers who wanted to patronise the opposition. He had a rough voluble tongue and did not hesitate to use it no matter who the party happened to be. The first omnibus he brought into town created quite a furror. J. B. Spence who was an engineer on the Grand Trunk Railway, a fine looking fast Englishman took the driver's seat and ran it up and down the town stopping at all the hotels. It was chucked full of those who wanted to enjoy the fun and they soon got as full as the coach. They had a good old fashioned spree over it. The old gentleman lived to be pretty well up in years but he had to pass in his checks and take the last journey as we all must do. I saw him shortly before his death, he lived in the place now owned by Robt. Young, B. S. His son William succeeded him in the business and to this day is the mail contractor. He also keeps a livery stable. So we have another rare occurrence to relate, the Glovers, father and son have had direct connection with this branch of His Majesty's service for seventy years and in no case has a bag been either stolen or lost. The only break in the chain was for four years when McMurtry and Sandercock got the job by tendering at a lower rate than the other.
Next - Bowmanville and Darlington History Part 19
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