HISTORY OF BOWMANVILLE

Part 25

By Mr. J. B. Fairbairn, P. M.

 

Referring again to the flour mill. It was disposed of by the Montreal House to James McDougall, the uncle of the late John McDougall and his two brothers Robert and David, who are still denizens of this town. He was a wealthy man and was living at the time in that city. He sent his brother George to take charge of it and manage the business. For many years he did so with success. He was very quiet and unassuming. He at last made up his mind to leave the country altogether and went to one of the Sandwich Islands. At that time very little was known about them and to get there was quite an arduus undertaking. I am told that he died only a few years ago. James McDougall, was succeeded in the affairs of the mill by his nephew, Mr. John McDougall, who built up by his energy and close attention a large trade. Many thousands of dollars changed hands during the McDougall regime. Owing to the alteration in the kind of crops that was found suitab le to the capabilities of the land there was a serious lessened production of wheat. This made milling unprofitable and he also abandoned it. The property was sold to a Mr. Stevens who lived near the Whitby boundary. It was during the time that he was the owner that it was burned down and the whole establishment wiped out. John and David went into the produce trade. They were engaged in it for some time afterwards. At last this firm dissolved and their long connection with this traffic ceased. Mr. John McDougall was appointed clerk of the Division court and Secretary Treasurer of the High School Board, both of which positions he filled to the utmost satisfaction of all concerned. His sudden and untimely death came as a great shock as he was so well known. He passed into the unknown grieved for by large numbers of his neighbors, acquaintances and friends.

No class of the people do I more highly respect than those who have made a name for themselves as a result of their own unaided efforts. In this comparatively new country by far the largest number of those who have reached a high level among their fellow competitors had been born not with the proverbial silver spoon in their mouth but the chances are that nine out of every ten had only a pewter one with which they were fed. In the old land things are mightily different from what they are here. The lines which divide the masses are very distinctly drawn. My remarks do not refer to the great aristocracy with whom riches have been hereditary for ages but to those in middle rank who for the last two hundred years have grown to be such a powerful quantum in every kind of activity permeating through and through the social domestic and national life of England. Many children have been reared in homes with a super-abundance of this world’s goods have been judiciously trained by those intrusted with their early education so as to balance the good that can be done and also to eschew the dangers incident to superflous wealth and have learned how to use and not abuse the vast advantages of having rich parents. I suppose familiarity wit their surroundings, having every luxury that could be obtained, has led them to take the pleasant side of things with moderation.

On this side of the Atlantic, at least in Canada, it is not so. I am persuaded that in the majority of cases where a great amount of means has been inherited it has proved not a blessing but very often a curse to the recipients. I heard a gentleman who now is at the top of the financial ladder, say, many years ago, that his herculean efforts were made largely with a view of saving his sons from the hard work and anxiety he underwent in his earlier years, evidently over looking the fact that the necessity for exertion on his part had called the latent forces which kind Nature had bestowed upon him into active exercise and to which he owed his very prosperous career. A young fellow can hardly be blamed who grows up without any higher ideal of life than what he can get out of it in the shape of sensuous pleasures, knowing that he is under no necessity to bother about the ways and means by which to live. The German rule of even the Royal family being compelled to learn a trade of some kind give s that nation an object lesson which the commonality has not been slow to learn, and which is making them today one of the foremost progressive people in Europe. Of course, in towns of the size of Bowmanville it is impossible for any one to make a ver large fortune. The happy medium though, thank God, is attainable, neither poverty nor riches, and this is the fortunate lot of the vast majority.

I was discussing this question quite recently with my friend Dr. John Hoskin, K. C. of Toronto and perhaps no man in that city has had an equal opportunity by direct observation of arriving at a correct conclusion and he readily agrees with me in thinking that in very many cases riches had proved a bane to families brought up having too much money at their disposal. He named many a young fellow who should have been an ornament to society and useful in helping the betterment of others whose existence had become a menace to society and a bitter pill to those who had a right to look for better things from those of their own blood.

I want now to give an instance or two to show what stage can be reached by any young man who has the right stuff in him, independent of unfruitious circumstances. During he McDougall occupancy, William Scott was one of the millers. He came from the "land of cakes and brither Scots". He was god-fearing, careful and industrious. He added little to little while working at his trade until he had accumulated sufficient to by a farm. He invested in one on the tenth concession of Darlington and afterwards prospered in that calling. A lad William Scott, Jr., growing up under those rural surroundings, on reaching the age when naturally he would take an outlook for the future, determined to use the native talents he had and make a name for himself in this land of progress. He with dauntless pluck devoted his mind to study with the result that he is now the principal of the Normal School, Toronto. I had the honour of being asked to meet the Durham Old Boys Association at his house in the city to spend an evening with them. The spacious rooms were filled with a happy lot of guests renewing old acquaintanceship and recalling the many happy days spent in West Durham. A most enjoyable evening was passed and most generously were we entertained. The hostess is a daughter of the late highly esteemed John Hughes, than whom no one was better and more favorably known in all this region. Her brothers are James L. Hughes, Inspector of Public Schools, Toronto. My old friend Colonel Samuel, M. P. for North Victoria and who was for some time a resident of Bowmanville, during which period I got to know him intimately. Colonel John who is now Reeve of the township of Clarke and William in the service of he dominion government at Kingston. They were all born and bred in Darlington and I have no doubt they look upon it as an honor to claim West Durham as the place of their nativity. I now that many of the old friends and neighbors who knew them in their youthful days h ave followed them in their different conspicuous stations in life with interest and feel that they in turn are honored in their useful and prominent careers. They inherited strong physical constitutions and well developed brains. These qualities combined with the excellent training they got from their father who was a teacher, have made them what they are. I know of no other instance within the range of my observation where four sons of the same parentage have occupied as large a space in the public eye for so many years. When the future annalist records the doings of the men who have aided much in building up our fair Dominion, he will have some bright interesting things to say of the Hughes family.

Next - Bowmanville and Darlington History Part 26

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