Hauling A Grist to Mill on a Tree Trunk.---A Land Boom of the 'Fifties.---An Old Sunday School and a Burying Place of the Long Ago.
___________________________
But although the limit of three score and ten was passed so long since, the veteran's eye is still as bright, his mind as clear and his step as firm as that of many a man of 60; and tho' his life's history covers a period within which so many world stirring events have occurred, it is not of these things, but rather of teh simple annals of life among the ioneers of Durham that he delights to tell.
His name is Henry Elliott, and he is known as the Father of Hampton. Mr. Elliott was born near Bideford, Devonshire, England. In 1831 he sailed, with 61 others, in the little bark Bolina, boud for Prince Edward Island and Quebec.
A LINER OF THE TRIRTIES (sic).
"The Bolina was a tidy little craft," said Mr. Elliott, "but her 61 passengers filled her as full as she would hold."
A considerable number of those on Board were bound for Bideford, P.E.I., where Mr. Yeo, father of one of the present members of the House of Commons, was engaged in founding a settlement bearing the name of the old home in England. The Bolina left England on the 4th of May and reached Prince Edward Island on the 5th of June. After a stop there of ten days she left for Quebec, reaching the ancient captial some ten days later. One or two of the passengers stopped off at Quebec, but some 30 came on by batteaux to Kingston and by steamer from Kingston to Port Hope. There was no wharf at Port Hope in those days, and the passengers were carried ashore by a bog boat called the Red Rover, and owned by an uncle of Dr. J. C. Mitchell, Enniskillen.
SOME OF THE PASSENGERS.
Among those who so landed were Rev. Jesse Whitlock, of Port Perry, Mrs. Wm. Puley, now a widow of Bowmanvill, but at that time a little girl. Robt. Ashton and wife, who died within a few days of each other at Columbus eight or ten years ago, and whose sons are now at Port Perry, Richard Foley, who settled west of Bowmanville, and who died there five or six years since, some of whose children are still about the old homestead; others are in Manitoba' tje ;ate Tjps/ Cortice, uncle of L. M. Courtice, Reeve of Darlington, and who first settled in the south part of Darlington, but afterwards removed to Pickering. "And a fine man he was," said Mr. Elliott. Some of Mr. Courtice's children are now up about Clinton.
Mr. Elliott remained at Port Hope until 1839, working part of the time in a grist mill belonging to the father of the late Hon Sydney Smith A fellow workman of Mr. Elliott's at this time was Thos. Oke, who afterwards died at Exeter, and whose grandchildren still reside there. The grandfather of Hon. Sydney Smith, by the wa, is said to have been the first white settler at Port Hope, having gone thither for the purpose of opening up trade with the Indians.
Mr. Elliott, while at Port Hope wored fora time in a mill owned by John Brown. Although Mr. Brown's period of activity occurred during the slow old days, that gentlemen (sic) had ideas in the matter of attracting trade which, for their originality, would do credit to the manager of a modern departmental store. Mr. Brown had a store as well as a mill, and, when he heard of anyone living in the back townships whose trade was worth having, but who did not trade with him, he would promptly enter suit to recover an imaginary debt from the person whose trade he was after. The man sued would usually, as may naturally be supposed, be in a towering rage on reaching Port Hope.
"What do you mean by suing me?" the traveller would inquire on metting Mr. Brown, "I do not owe you any money."
"Of course you don't; I only sued so as to bring you out where I could see you."
The joke of the thing, coupled with the Royal treament which followed, genreally made the injured party a life customer of the Brown store.
One daughter of Mr. Brown is now married to Capt. Meredith, another to Capt. Wallace, and a third toF. H. Buron, all of Port Hope.
From Port Hope Mr. Elliott removed to Bowmanville in 1839, where he engaged in the mill owned by C. Bowman & Co., and managed by the late Hon. Jno. Simpson, then a young man.
"The Bowman then did a tremendous business," said Mr. Elliott.
AN OLD-TIME MILL.
Mr. Elliott now thought it about time to start inbusiness on his own account. The mill site at what is now Hampton seemed to afford the looked for opportunity, and he went thither in 1840. There was not a house in the place at the time, but the frame of a milll had already been erected, on the west side of the stream, by Mr. Allin, father of John Allin, who died not long ago in Bowmanville. the mill property was bought by Mr. Elliott, who erected a shanty for a residence, thus giving the name of Shantytown to the place; subsequently it was called Elliott's Milles, and later on the present name of Hampton was given. At the time Mr. Elliott removed to his new home Duncan Malcolm lived in a log house about two miles down the road toward Bowmanville. The house which is still standing is the one remaining landmark in the neighborhood that dates back to the early forties. There were only one or two other houses on the line then and they are gone now.
It was not until the fall of 1841 that the Elliott mill was started, the iron work for the same being obtained a t Colourg, and the stones at Port Hope. Instead of a bolt there was an old-fashioned "shaker" to sift the flour; the power came from a "tub" wheel, and the capacity of the mill was 40 to 50 bushals per day.
A TREE TRUNK FOR A WAGGON.
Customers came from a way back in the Cartwright and Manvers, the journey almost invariable being made with ox team; there was then hardly a horse in the whole country around. Dozes of customers would sometimes arrive in a day, and, although the mill ran day and night, it was unable to keep up with the demands made upone it, and frequestly patrons slept all night in a corner of the barn-like structure waiting for their grists.
"Some of the wheat was brought down by ox cart," said Mr. Elliott, in the speaking of those early days, "but many did not even have this convenience. Those who did not made a counveyance by cutting down a sapling, three or four inches through, with a crotch near the top. The butt end of the sapliing was fastened o theyoke of the oxen, and the other end, with the crotch was allowed to trail on the ground behind. On this tail end a rude board platform was built, and on it were piled the two or three bags of grain that formed the grist. Equipped in this way settlers frequently drove 15 or 20 miles to Mill, the round trip taking at least two days and a night."
SOME OF THE OLD-TIMERS.
Among the early patrons of the mill were the Hooeys, Bruces, Beacocks, Bradburns, McLaughlins, Devers, Axworths and Tooles of Cartwright.
A new mill was built in 1851, the roller process was afterwards applied and the capacity increased to 50 barrel per day. The mill is still runnning and is under the management of Thomas, son of Squire Elliott. A store, established by Mr. Elliott about the same time as the mill, is in the hands of his son Henry, the latter havine been behind the counter ever since 1819.
800 ACRES FOR A TAVERN.
At the time Mr. Elliott first removed to what is now Hampton, the late John Farley, sr., owned 800 acres in the neighborhood, about 50 acres of the same being under cultivation. Mr. Farley obtained his land in exchange for a frame taven six miles west of Port Hope. This land was sold out by degrees, a son of Mr. Farley disposing of the last of it 20 years ago to Mrs. Marsh. Mr. Farley, sr., is now buried at Hampton, and the sone John who sold the last of the estate is off in California.
When Mr. Elliott started in business, Michael Cryderman was running a saw mill a mile and a quarter further north. Mr. Cryderman was a member of the first council of the municipality. He died years ago, but a son of his is still living at Hampton, and another resides in Bowmanville.
HOW FAMILIES BREAK UP.
William Elford moved into the embryo village soon after. "H was one of the best men we ever had in the township," said Mr. Elliott. Mr. Elford died three years ago, but is widow is living in the old house and one child is in Mantoba, one in Dakota and one in Chicago. The only one of the children left in Canada is married to Charles Rogers and lives on the Mitchell farm by Bradley's School House.
DR. ORMISTON LOGGED.
Darlington Township, in which Hampton is situated, is rich in its production of great men.
"Rev. Dr. Ormiston, the celebrated divine, who died lately in California, logged his way into college from this township," said Mr. Elliott. "His uncle Lockhart Ormiston, came here two years after I did, and young Ormiston worked faithfully about the log heaps and branding piles to earn the money with which to secure the education of which he afterwards made such good use.
PREMIER GREENWAY'S BOYHOOD
"This township," continued Mr. Elliott, as his eye kingled, "cannot exactly claim the honor of having been the birthplace of Tom Greenway, but it was here the Premier of Manitoba spent a large part of his boyhood. Mr. Greenway's father was a mechanic, and came from Kilkhampton, near my old home in England. he came here about 1844, and left in 1848 or 1849 for the Huron Tract, which was then known as all bush and a fine country. "A pretty straight going fellow Tom Greenway was," the old man continued. "H has promised several times to run in and see me, and I expect be (sic) will do so some(sic) of these days of these days when on his way to Ottawa. It is only about six miles off his road."
LAND BOOM OF THE FIFTIES.
Hampton, Like Toronto, has had its real estate boom. Toronto once imagined it was going to take in the whole country from Hamilton on the westto at least Highland Creek on the east. Hampton was more modest. It proposed to be satisfied with the acquisition of Bowmanville as its lakeside suburb, with Enniskillen as its outpost to the north. But the Hampton boom, like the Toronto one, suffered a collapse.
The Lockhart Ormiston above referred to once owned the land on which the Hampton Boom started. He had 200 acres of it, but he sold out about 1856 or 1857, and took up land near Owen Sound, where some of the family yet live. A considerable portion of his Hampton property was cut up into quarter acre village lots.
"Some of those lots," said Mr. Elliott, "fetched $800. To-day, over 40 years later, they might bring $35. About the same time B. F. Perry started a big mill near the north end of the village, and he cut up 50 acres more into twn plots. One of his corners sold as high as $100. you might get $75 for it today, but the crash of the late fifties came on about then, and Hampton's real estate boom collapsed in the general smash. A daughter of Mr. Pery, by the is now married to Provincial Model School Inspector John J. Tilley of Toronto."
NOTED LOCAL PREACHERS.
Regular minsters were not so munerous in the early days as they are now and the rude pulpits in the bush were often filled by local preachers. David Burke, father-in-law of the Hon. John Simpson, often preached at Hamton, "and a fine man he was," was the comment of Mr. Elliott as entioned the fact. The Hon. Mr. Simpson sometimes filled the pulpit himself, and when he did so his snuffbox generally accompanied him.
AN HONORABLE RECORD.
Mr. Elliott has been a magistrate since the end of the forties. His first associate on the bench was the late Anthony Washington. When Darlington seperated from Bowmanville in 1858, Hampton became the township captial, and Mr. Elliott was apointed (sic) municipal treasurer. That office he has held ever since. During that time he has received an average of $20,000 a year in township funds; during a large part of it he has handled a goo deal more of his own; and a question as to his honesty has yet to be raised. No other comment is needed than the plain statement of facts here given. No richer heritage could any man wish to leave to his children than the simple record of ublic and private duty well performed.
A WEIRD STORY.
Mr. Elliott tells a strange story of one of his experiences while living in Port Hope. One night he dreamt that one of a team of colts elonging to him, out at pasture two miles a way, was in danger of drowning in a pond. He woke with a start and told his wife what had disturbed him. His wife persuaded him that "it was only a dream," but later he woke frrom a second dream, which was precisely like the first. This time he determined to go out and see the colts. Putting on his clothes and getting a lamp, he tramped to where the animals were and there found one just on the point of being drowned, exactly as he had seen the occurrence in his dreams. Assistance was secured and the colt rescued.
"But for that dream the animal would have been drowned before morning," said Mr. Elliott. Explain.
ANOTHER VETERAN.
The first church and Sunday School in the neighborhood was built at Ccryderman's mill, the money for construction being provided by subscription, most of it by the Crydermans themselves. The building served as a preaching place for the Methodist and Bible Christians, for the holding of a Sunday School for the benefit of all denominations and for a day school.
James Cryderman who was born on the 26th of May, 1825, two miles aove Bowmanville, removed with his father to the mill site in the thirties, and has lived about Hampton ever since. Mr. Cryderman's father and mother were born near Picton (his mother was a Benson) and his grandfather was a veteran of teh Revolutionary war. From Mr. Cryderman some interesting particulars about the old school and church were obtaine.
"The building was 24x30," he said, "and was put up about 1840 or 1841. It was dedicated by David Wright, a Methodist minister, who bestowed upon it the name of Mount Pleasant. Wm. Hill, of Clarke Township, was engaged as a temporary teacher for the school and he was followed soon after by Wm. Sloan, who came from the neighborhood of Whitby. A son of Mr. Sloan is, I believe, teaching still.
A SCHOOL ROLL OF THE FORTIES.
"Amongst the pupils were; James Williams, who is here still; Ann Williams (afterwards Mrs. Cryderman), now dead, Rev. Geo. Smith, who is still living; John Smith, now dead but some of whose children are living in Mariposa and whose son, James, is a well known missionary in the east Indies; F. W. Cryderman, dental surgeon, of Detroit; J. Herbert Cryderman, merchant, of Bowmanville, and Winona Cryderman, now Mrs. Bellamy, of Moosejaw, and mother of Herbert Bellamy, after whom an orphange in Japan has been named.
"Aburial place was shortly afterward established in connection with the meeting place. The first funeral occured when a child of Wm. Elford's was buried there, Old Mr. Stonhouse and wife still rest in the old plot, but the ground is no longer used as a cemtery and has been plowed up with the adjoining fields.
FIRST SUNDAY SCHOOL.
The first Sunday School in the township was held in this old meeting place. The late Thomas Stripp, whose sons now live up about Exeter, was superintendent. The late John Lyle was one of the teachers; John Farley, now of California, a son of the first settler in this section, was another. The first Sunday School anniveersary in the township was held here. One of the principal visitors from outside was John Sumpter, a storekeeper of Bowmanville. Hes visit was particularly acceptable, because he brought with him a supply of bull's-eyes and nats, the first luxuries of teh kind many of the children had ever seen.
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