HISTORY OF BOWMANVILLE
Part 20
By Mr. J. B. Fairbairn, P. M.
The first barber shop was opened in a little hole, dug out under the first hotel, occupied by Hindes. The professor of the tonsorial art was a colored man named Smith. He was tall, straight and muscular, something of a pugilist, and up to all kinds of circus performances. He was here, off and on, till well up in the sixties. The only other colored family resident at this time was called Campbell. He married one of the girls. Some years ago a son of his came back to the old place as a full fledged, well educated preacher. He officiated in one of the Methodist churches and I am told, surprised the hearers by his eloquence. Another singular character was John Mahenny. He loafed about the drinking places and would do odd chores to obtain enough to gratify his inordinate love of liquor. He fell over the bridge and was killed.
It is quite a change from hotels to churches. As I am still lingering in the vicinity of the old school, the first place in which any religious service was held, I will take them up and, I f time and chance permit, come back to the former again. While material prosperity is a thing to be profoundly thankful for, the unthinking majority is apt to forget that the religion taught by Christ underlies all true good fortune. The rules laid down to regulate the conduct and actions of his followers, if adopted and acted upon. Lead to sobriety, honesty, industry and brotherly kindness. Are not those virtues the basis upon which good characters are built and worldly success attained? Take it only for the present life and it is most profitable. Include the Great Beyond and then all other interests fade into insignificance. What was the condition of the few inhabitants up to, say 1829? The majority had come from the Eastern States, a few from elsewhere across the line, and whatever had been the
ir religious training, they were now left without any kind of help and instruction. Many of them lost whatever sympathy they may have had with a higher life. Thee was no place in which to worship and no clergyman to conduct a service. Absorbed in the anxiety of their secular calling, it was only to be expected that they would fall into a careless way of living. Sunday became a day on which to loaf and gossip in one another’s houses, or to be spent in pleasure. In summer the woods and streams were a never failing attraction. Fishing, shooting, playing cards and other games, occupied the hours. I can remember when those old habits still prevailed. When the increasing size of the little hamlet justified the effort, steps were taken t bring about a better state of things. After the school house was built it became a refuge for the itinerant Methodist ministers. They occasionally held meetings, and, when in the evenings, the notice would read: "at early candle light." I am not sure members of
this body were among the first to break the fallow ground and call sinners to repentance. This whole country owes a debt which never can be paid to many a humble believer who undeterred by the indifference, or it may have been the active opposition of those they were trying to save, preseered in preaching the glad tidings of a living, risen Savior. The denominational cleavages were more accentuated than now. Presbyterians looked upon Methodists as a sect preaching strange doctrines, and this feeling was fully reciprocated. This remark applies equally to all the other denominations. As the village expanded by the influx of English, Scotch, and Irish, who came from lands blessed with religious privileges and who deplored the want of them here, very early efforts were made to organize themselves into congregations, uniting with the particular church in which they had been brought up. The first necessity was the erection of houses in which the Bible could be taught, prayer and praise offered to the Great Fa
ther of all, and where people would be led to love and adore him. I am at sea as to dates but I fancy our Methodist brethren were the first to build. A church was in existence on the hill about 1840. It was quite an imposing chapel. I went to Sunday school there. My teacher was Charles Brown. Some yet on this side of the boundary line, may recall him. He died, at about middle age. As I was not an attendant at the church, I cannot call up the ministers who officiated. Among the first was Mr. Madden, and in the apostolic succession their pulpit has been filled by many able and devoted ministers. The town having extended eastwards, they turned with the tide and moved into new quarters on the site of the present large, imposing building. This denomination has spread out its branches since the first seedling was planted in the old place of meeting until now it covers three fourths at least of the religious soil in this place and the surrounding township of Darlington.
The Congregationalists were indeed among the pioneers in the onward movement. They had a place of worship as far back as I can recollect. The first preacher was a Mr. Meichim, a well bred gentleman. He was from refined stock in England. Although I recollect him well, I was too young to know anything about his career. I mentioned before, in another connection, that he had built what was a fine residence next to the Bigelows on the western hill. How long he remained wit the people here I do not know. It is difficult to get accurate information as to occurrences so far back. Rev. John Climie became the minister in about ’47. His arrival to take charge here was a most important event and fraught with abiding good to the people. He was a Scotchman, but I do not know from what part of that famous land he came. His wife, though, was from Glasgow. She knew my mother in that city. He was a most indefatigable worker, a good speaker, well endowed with power, both of b
rain and body. I do not think he had many extra advantages in the way of higher education, but he was so constituted that he used every opportunity within reach to improve the gift he had. The awful effect of the widespread use of intoxicants was being seen on every hand. The best of homes and the lowest stratum of humanity were suffering alike. This octapus stretched out its arms, embracing many of our most promising youths. Enniskillen, a small village north was a fair sample of many similar places. Dozens of men in the neighborhood, including both old and young, who would otherwise have been useful members of society, got into its tentacles and were crushed out of all semblance of respectability. While even now great harm arises from the consumption of liquor, the evil cannot for a moment be compared with what it was at the time to which I refer. There was no restriction as to its sale, and no kind of legal machinery to carry out what little attempt had been made by legislation to bring the traffic
under some kind of control. It permeated nearly all domestic life. Scarcely a gathering of any description took place at which it was not freely imbibed. Some however were beginning to see that unless something was done to stop the incoming ocean of evil, the demoralization arising from this curse would overwhelm the whole community. The neighboring States were suffering to as great an extent from the same cause. Aroused to the danger, they commenced agitating for greater restriction in the public sale and for its discontinuance in the family circle. The wave of this controversy struck Canada. The Sons of Temperance were spreading rapidly over the whole continent and a Division was opened here in 1847. Rev. Mr. Climie took up the cause and fought most heroically against the accused evil. At all times he was at the post of duty; on the platform, in the pulpit, and in his private endeavors with his fellow citizens, he advocated total abstinence. In season and out of season, his voice and infl
uence were used to further the cause and what a foe he had to meet. The power and wealth of those concerned. It touched the pecuniary interest of all engaged in its manufacture and sale. They had for years looked on it as a legitimate source of gain. Like the men of Ephesus, their craft was endangered. They fought like lions against any change interfering with their trade. Then hundreds were totally indifferent. The moderate drinkers did not see any especial harm in its use. The truth had not yet dawned on the intelligence of the people, that drinking was not merely a habit to be abandoned at will, but that whiskey was a deadly poison if used to any great extent, producing by its actions on the nerve centres a complicated form of disorder which resulted in both physical and moral paralysis. He stuck to his colours under all adverse surroundings. Abused, maligned, once assaulted, he struggled on. If any worker in the temperance cause deserved a memorial of some kind to perpetuate his memory, it was
John Climie. Then how unselfish he was; at no time did he get more than a bare living. I had a great deal of intercourse with him and found him ever pleasant and agreeable. I have a book he gave me which I highly prize. The inscription reads, "From the Rev. J. Climie, a small recognition of official politeness, 1857."
His son, William, played an important part in the events of his time. He edited with fairness and ability, a newspaper in the interest of the Reform party to which he adhered. He was a true man in the widest sense of that term. His early demise caused deepest regret to hundreds in West Durham to whom he had endeared himself by many ties. The only descendant living in Bowmanville is Miss Climie, of Stott & Jury.
In referring before to this subject I wrote that I did not think the effect was as great from the universal use of liquor as might be thought. Those remarks applied to a much earlier period. Whether people had become constitutionally weaker, or whether it was now more excessively indulged in I cannot say. One thing is sure, from what I myself saw as a youth, -the statements are not too strong. Having looked on that, now look on this. Through the efforts of those earnest men who fought such a gallant battle, there is no place where it is legally sold to-day in Darlington, Clarke, and Cartwright. The Rev. I. M. Reike followed Mr. Climie in the pastorate. He was of Scottish parentage, brought up in England. He was all that could be desired and magnified his office. I have not space to go farther down in time and must leave for the present more recent occurrences.
Next - Bowmanville and Darlington History Part 21
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