Historical Society Members Visit O'Leary House

 

 

 

 

Last November Allison Murray from Murrayholm Farms gave some members of our Society a tour of the O’Leary house located east of St. Andrews.

 

The house dates back to 1812 built by a wealthy landowner Mortimer O’Leary. The beautiful four bedroom home was once a stagecoach stop on the Montreal to Toronto route and served as a post office because the stagecoach stopped at various locations along the way.  

 

 

 In the photo are Gerald and Hazel MacDonald, Don McIntosh and Karen Martin

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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Voyageur Gerry Duguid Recounts 1967 Canoe Trip

 

 Across Canada

 

 

 It was a trip of a lifetime for local resident Gerry Duguid and guest speaker at the Cornwall Township Historical Society October meeting. While serving in the Canadian Army in 1966 Gerry was chosen from a select few to represent the province of New Brunswick on a team of six voyageurs who would paddle their way across Canada in a canoe. The trek began in May 1967 at Rocky Mountain House Alberta and ended in September at Montreal at the site of Expo 67.  Gerry described his exploits on this journey of of lifetime facing everything from hoards of black flies to carrying the canoe in portages over rugged Canadian Shield wilderness.

 

Gerry says that he now meets regularly with his former voyageur pals and on occasion have had an audience with various Governors General. In the photo are Left Gerry Duguid, Ken McDonald and Art Buckland.

 

 

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Carol Goddard Releases New Children's Book

 

 

Avid local historian and now published author, Carol Goddard recently released her book entitled The Morewood War Memorial.  The book is geared for children but the message appeals to all ages: how war memorials remind us of the great sacrifices made by others who fought and died for our freedom.  In particular, the book focuses on the Morewood Memorial constructed and funded by residents in the hamlet of Morewood in 1921.

 

Besides being well scripted, the book is beautifully illustrated by artist Carrie A. Keller. A portion of all book sales goes to the Morewood Cenotaph Committee for future care and maintenance.  Her presentation was held at our September 2018 meeting.

 

 

 

 

 

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CTHS Donates to Bishop's House Restoration

 

 

 

At our March 2017 meeting Brenda Baxter from Glengarry Fencibles Trust updated us on the progress of the preservation and restoration of the historic Bishop's House located at St Raphaels. The Bishop's House was once the home of Bishop Alexander Macdonell whose work in the early 19th century raised the Glengarry Fencibles for the War of 1812 which defended Canada and Great Britain. He was the first bishop of Upper Canada and he acted tirelessly to help large numbers of ordinary people of all faiths in their dealings with government.

 

Members of CTHS feels that the efforts of the Fencibles Trust is a worthy cause as it will send a message that we need to preserve the past if history is to live on. It was agreed almost unanimously that we contribute $2,000 which will be matched dollar for dollar by a Parks Canada grant. In the photo presenting the cheque to Brenda Baxter are Left to Right Don McIntosh, Ken McDonald, Brenda Baxter and Johanne Cameron.

 

 

 

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Wood Crafter Brian Sturgeon Builds Replica of Log Church

 

 

Local craftsman Brian Sturgeon attended our April meeting to display the recent completion of the miniature log church he built. The church is an exact replica down to the last detail of the log church located at the pioneer cemetery in St. Andrews.  Brian says that he spent over 500 hours this past winter building the model. Brian also showed us some of the small tools he used during the construction.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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Cornwall Cheese Maker Eugene Kyer demonstrates the Process of Making Cheddar.

 

 

What normally takes 8 1/2 hours was completed in just 20 minutes as Eugene Kyer put on a cheese making demonstration for members of CTHS at the October 27 meeting. With his props and equipment Eugene, Upper Canada Village's cheese maker,  explained the whole process starting with un-homogenized milk and ending with a 90 pound cheese round. Eugene explained the ingredients that go into making cheddar and why temperatures are a big factor in determining the type of cheese produced. After the meeting, members sampled some of Eugene's two year aged cheddar.  The reviews were excellent.

 

 

Eugene with his assistant Don McIntosh (L)

take a temperature reading from cheese vat.