My grandpa, William Preston Davis (AKA Shiner Davis) was invited back to Alameda for the opening of the rink. That's him in the middle of the photo, his good friend Harry Brandon is on the left. William cut the ribbon to open the skating arena. Grandpa was an avid curler in his day and the Alameda Dispatch has many mentions of a rink or two that he and his team won.
Here is a heart felt letter from William to the town of Alameda.
My father's brother, Cork Davis of Alameda, was honored with receiving Queen Elizabeth ll Diamond Jubilee Medals. I think our whole family is honored.
"even at over 80 years young he continues to keep giving back to the community when and wherever he can" When it comes to town history there is no one who knows more about our community, and no one can tell the story with a prouder voice. Cork continues to be a sounding board for ideas and suggestions from a lot of different boards, and continues to give good, sound advice."
My Dad's brother still lives in the town where my grandmother and grandfather met in 1908 - Alameda Saskatchewan. (2019)
I had a nice long visit with Cork. We talked about the family, he let me record his memories and even sang a song for me. We looked at lots of old photos and had a very nice time together.
Getting ready for winter!
Get that last lawn cutting in before the snow. And Cork came to visit me at the museum on the lawn mover. I was there so long maybe he though the ghost of the museum got me!
After I attended the Ontario Genealogy Society conference. I enjoyed a stay at our friends Marc and Susan in Quebec. In the spare room was a beautiful memorial to an ancestor. Some day I will try and do this for some of my relations, although we only have medals for my gr grandpa, John Kerr, and my great uncle Alfred Davis and we don't have a photo of either of them but I'm inspired to do something. Thanks you, uncle Dick, for giving me the war medals of your grandpa John. They are in good hands with me.
Barnardo's Boys and Girls.
At the little Lake cemetery in Peterborough Ontario is a memorial that I wanted to go and visit so I could honor the little children who came to Canada through the Barnardo program.
In Memory of Dr. Barnardo's Boys and Girls Erected by Hazelbrae Barnardo Memorial Group 2000
The Snedden family is who grandma (Maggie Jane Kerr) lived with when she was sent to Canada. There is more detailed information in an earlier post. https://homechildgrandparents.blogspot.com/2019/10/maggie-jane-kerr-blakeney.html
You travel down a beautiful tree lined country road to the Auld Kirk Cemetery. This is September 2019, you can see how the trees are just starting to change colour.
In June 2020 this little stone church celebrated 190 years! If you are interested in more info on the church or cemetery here is a blogpost:
https://lindaseccaspina.wordpress.com/2018/05/01/everything-you-wanted-to-know-about-auld-kirk/
This is the gates to the church and cemetery.
William Sneddon and Eliza Ann Dickson were the 'receiving parents' who raised Maggie from 1901-1908. William died in 1906, Eliza was ill after her husband died and and Maggie cared for her till she was offered a position in Alameda Saskatchewan with Dr. Galloway who was friends with the Sneddon family.
Cute shops line the streets of Pakenham. I enjoyed poking around. I especially liked the old general store and Olde Crow Creek.
Pakenham, Ontario, is North of where Maggie lived between 1901 and 1908. They had these cool history signs in town "Pakenham Museum on the Streets" I took a few photos of them. You can see the old town buildings.
The next museum on the streets pic shows the Pakenham Community Center Hall.
"Originally build as the Roman Catholic church, it was moved to this sited in 1896 when the present St. Peter Celestine's was built. It served as the agricultural exhibition hall until 1948 when the township took it over and renovated it as the community hall..."
"When settlers arrived in 1823, the river and falls provided all-important resources for development. By 1840, Andrew Dickson, considered to be the father of Pakenham, had established his family home ( the stone building at the end of the bridge) as well as several mills and factories on both sides of the Mississippi River. Gritsmills, carding mills, sawmills, a tannery, a cheese factory and a timber slide allowing logs to pass on their way to the Ottawa River all created a busy centre of activity.
The largest mill seen in the photo (above) was lost to fire in 1915. Early bridges here were made of wood and often damaged by ice in the spring. It was a credit to the township council of 1901 that they voted to stop paying continuously for costly repairs and to instead build a bridge of stone.
At a cost of $13,000 plus $2,400 for a temporary bridge, the present stone bridge was built of locally quarried stone in 9 weeks, employing an average of 70 men. Its largest block of stone weighs 5 tons and there are 2,100 cubic yards of masonry in the bridge, believed to be the only 5 span stone bridge in North America."
The stone bridge and house still stand today (2019)
