Thursday, February 16, 2023
The High School my Father attended
Saturday, November 9, 2019
Short Historical Walking Tour in Millgrove, Flamborough, ON to Samuel and Lavina Flatt's home
The Milgrove Walk
The Village of Millgrove lies just west of Highway #6 North, along the Fifth Concession Road at the junction with the Millgrove Side Road. It was founded by David Cummings (1806-1887), one of the three sons of an early Upper Canada pioneer, Daniel Cummings. He and his wife Margaret Rymal arrived in 1826 and began to clear the land, and with other early pioneers such as Albert Palmer, Adam Begg, and the Carey and Ryckman families established a small settlement. It was not until 1835 that David Cummings legally owned the property, Lot 18, Concession 5 which cost him ,66 5s. Rich soil, fish-filled streams and woodlands filled with oaks and pines provided an ideal home for these settlers. Several mills were established along the Grindstone Creek which meanders its way through the village – hence the name “Mill Grove.”
Many of the old buildings dating back to pioneer days still remain in Millgrove. Careful restoration and additions to several old buildings may be seen, along with several excellent gardens filled with varieties of old Canadian perennials.
To view the entire page of the Walk information, please go to http://flamboroughhistory.com/the-milgrove-walk-short-walk-50-minutes-walking-tours/
5. The Flatt Home, 335 5th Concession Road West
This well-preserved frame house was built by Samuel Flatt (1839-1912) the local tax collector in the district. His grandson, Stanley C. Burnes, a sports enthusiast, who participated in many Millgrove activities, also spent his childhood growing up in this home. Behind stands a unique frame barn and stable built c. 1864. The peak slope and small doorway at the top that was used for hay is unusual, and is probably taken from the New England style of saltbox construction, and adapted in Millgrove.
Samuel Flatt and his wife Lavina Bradt Flatt were my father E. Fraser Rempel's maternal Great-Grandparents, the parents of his grandfather Charles Edmond Flatt. Samuel was deeded the land that he farmed (and probably the land where he lived in Millgrove?) by a single uncle when he passed. This is likely the home that my Great-grandfather, Dr. C.E. Flatt, grew up in before he left for Toronto to attend Medical School.
I didn't know before that Samuel Flatt was the "local tax collector" for Millgrove. In a Biblical sense that would probably mean that like Zachias, he was not much loved by the people from whom he collected taxes.
Samuel's mother, Mary Baker Flatt, was a United Empire Loyalist who came to the area from Pennsylvania as a baby, in the early 1800s. His father, Robert Flatt was a Hudson Bay trader from the Orkneys. Samuel was one of many children (13).
Lavina Bradt was from a United Empire Loyalist family as well.
10. The Old Parsonage, 353 5th Concession Road West
This historic frame house was constructed during the early 1850s as a parsonage for the Tabor Chapel of the New Connexion Methodist Church. The property to the left of this home was purchased in 1850 by the church from Albert Palmer for ,10, and used as the site for the Tabor Chapel. The first settlers travelled to Rock Chapel for Sunday services. Tradition has it that the children walked barefoot through the 4th, 3rd and 2nd Concessions with their Sunday boots slung over their shoulders until the Chapel came into view.
A Meeting House was erected in 1848 and by the 1860s boasted over 50 members. Among the Class Leaders was Shipman Cummins, the local J.P. He is remembered as a “stern, puritannical and fiery pillar of the Methodist Church.” With his long, flowing beard, he appeared to the young of the time to have stepped from the pages of the Old Testament. The building was moved to another location and shortly after all services were held at the new brick Methodist Church built in 1882 (the present day United Church.) The parsonage was extensively improved in the 1940s, with added dormers to make a second storey, and a stucco coat applied over the original clapboard.
11. The Old General Store, 358 5th Concession Road West
This corner lot was not only the site of the Old General Store but also the location of several businesses and mills. Before it was used as a corner store it was purchased by David Cummins from Solomon Washburn in 1842 and operated as a small woodworking shop. It was later replaced by a blacksmith shop which operated until the lot was sold in the 1870s and a frame building erected to be used as the general store. On the neighbouring lot James E. Foster ran a small grocery store and post office c. 1880. The bustling corner store was also a social centre and meeting place for the men of the village. Memories of many evenings spent sitting around the large stove exchanging anecdotes and discussing community gossip filled the walls of the old general store for hours.
Map of the walking tour: #5 is the Flatt home
Produced by:
The Waterdown-East Flamborough Heritage Society
Research and design by Lori Dodman
Photographs by Maurice Green
Layout by Robert Wray
Research and design by Lori Dodman
Photographs by Maurice Green
Layout by Robert Wray
Wednesday, September 25, 2019
The Saskathewan Women Grain Growers 1918
The above photo shows my Great-Grandmother, Margaret "Maggie" Fraser Flatt (Mrs. C. E. Flatt) in the Front Row, Centre of a studio photo of a 1918 Convention of the Saskatchewan Women Grain Growers. I believe that she was probably the President of the SWGG at this time.
Friday, September 28, 2018
The Charles Edmond and Margaret Fraser Flatt Family of Tantallon, SK
TANTALLON, Saskatchewan
(taken from "What's in a Name?: The Story Behind Saskatchewan Place Names
" by E. T. Russell)
"Tantallon was named for Tantallon Castle in Scotland, the homeland of the famous Douglas family of the district. At the age of 12 James Moffat Douglas came to Canada with his family and settled near Cranbray, Upper Canada. He was educated at the University of Toronto, Knox College, and Princeton Theology Seminary. Ordained a Presbyterian minister in 1867 he served in Ontario, India, Manitoba and finally at Moosomin, Saskatchewan.
On his retirement from the active ministry in 1893 he devoted himself to farming at Tantallon. He entered politics and became a leading spokesman for the Patrons of Industry, the first important agrarian protest movement on the Prairies and in 1896 he was elected to the House of Commons for Assiniboia East. He played an important part in presenting the case of the farmers against the CPR and the elevator companies. Their protest led to the establishment of the first federal Royal Commission on the grain trade in 1899 and the passage of the Manitoba Grain Act in 1900. Douglas was elected in 1900 and appointed to the Senate in 1906. He was buried in Tantallon on August 19, 1920." (p. 306)
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DR. C. E. FLATT and family (some of the information below is taken from TALES OF TANTALLON 1906-1973) published by the Tantallon History Committee in 1973 and re-printed in 1983)
"Dr. C. E. Flatt came to Tantallon in 1903 from Campbellville, Ontario where he was the local doctor for several years after graduating from Queen's College, (which became Queen's University in 1912). Mrs. Margaret Fraser Flatt was a graduate nurse from Toronto University. (p. 34 "The Nursing Profession": )While raising her family she would often go with her husband to assist him, then stay with the patient as long as necessary during recovery. In 1911, tragedy hit a Tantallon family -- a terrible outbreak of Scarlet Fever struck the home with many taking sick right away. The parents and newborn baby were removed to a tent west of Tantallon. Margaret, a courageous and dedicated nurse, went in to care for the family. Six children passed away within a few days, ranging from one month to 19 years. "This is a nurse that the nursing profession can be very proud of". During the flu epidemic of 1918, Margaret made the circuit of every patient in Spy Hill, taking temperatures and giving nursing advice, at no charge.
Dr. Flatt practiced in the District, first with the construction gangs building the Grand Trunk Railway, before settling in Tantallon, where the family's first home was an apartment in the Paynter Block. (p. 57: a memory about Dr. Flatt from Jim Cozens:) "One day in the summer of 1911, Charlie Coburn came to town to get Dr. Flatt, he never gave the doctor a chance to change his clothes (he had been working in the yard. Charlie said, "Come on," and he drove through town in good old western style, on the dead gallop. The baby was a boy."
The children in the Flatt family were:
Marjory Flatt- March 29, 1892 - August 8, 1895 Marjorie's death certificate states her cause of death as cholera. There was an outbreak of that in Ontario at the time. I write about this HERE.
Jean Fraser Flatt, M.A.- October 12, 1893- February 19, 1976; a teacher with the Saskatoon Technical Institute, poet, and a longtime librarian with the Victoria BC Public Library, until retirement.
Charles Donald Flatt- January 26, 1898- August 1980; served in World War I, worked after the War in Saskatchewan, and moved to Kamloops to retire.
Mary Lavina Flatt- September 26, 1899- 1987; attended Normal School in Saskatoon; teacher in Drake, SK where she met and married in 1924 to William Ewert Rempel; lived in Campbellville, ON, Tantallon SK; Drake SK; Newton, KS;Cherry Ridge SK; Nipawin SK; birthed 5 children: Joy 1925-; Fraser 1927-2013; Herman 1929-199?; Will; Don; gardened; belonged to the Cherry Ridge Homemaker Club; was a member of the Nipawin United Church and the CCF/NDP parties; crocheted, knit, quilted, baked the best brown bread around, rode horses and swam as a young woman in the Qu'Appelle Valley. To understand her philosophy, and that of her mother, and sister Jean, please read Ground for Common Action: Violet McNaughton's Agrarian Feminism and the Origins of the Farm Women's Movement in Canada (PhD thesis of Dr. Georgina M. Taylor, Carleton University, Ottawa) Bill died in 1978. They enjoyed 54 years of marriage. Mary died in Saskatoon City Hospital, 1987, following surgery to remove a bowel tumor.
Samuel Flatt- October 21, 1901 -May 9, 1973; Sam was two years old when we arrived in Tantallon. He married Mary Margaret Brown of the "Big Jack" Brown family of Tantallon (19- ) He lived there until 1919, and lived in British Columbia. During this time he became a military cadet and instructor, as indicated by the certificate below:
In 1923 when he returned to the farm in the Qu'Appelle Valley. In 1928 he and his wife and family moved to New Westminster, BC, and later to Burnaby, where he lived at the time of his death.
He served in the Armed Forces in Europe in World War II and was decorated for his service in 1954. Their eldest son, Benny, 1922-1942, training to go overseas, was killed when the plane he was in had a mid-air collision over Calgary.
Sam worked for "the Dominion Government, Department of Public Works" for 18 years, until his retirement. He and Margaret had a family of 4 boys and a girl, celebrating their 50th Wedding Anniversary in August 1968 with 3 living children, 20 grandchildren and 4 great-grandchildren at that time.
Sam was a gregarious, jolly fellow in my (Cynthia's) recollection. He grew dahlias in his later years and had a garden party in the summer in their back yard in Burnaby that we attended twice. He had fond recollections of his wartime comrades and wrote a book about the experience.
**See Dr. C. E. Flatt mentioned in "The Canadian Practitioner" 1992 re a deodenum ulcer discourse.
***See Dr. C.E. Flatt mentioned in "Canada Lancet, Volume 36" published by Lancet Publishing Company, 1903, page 672, states "Dr. C.E. Flatt, after practicing his profession at Campbellville for twelve years, has left for Assiniboia. His friends and neighbours of Nassagahweya joined in a hearty send-off. The village hall was crowded to the door. Mr. James Menzies read the farewell address, after which the doctor was presented with a purse of $185. The Chosen Friends of which the doctor was a member handed him an umbrella..."
Here is a story about my Great-Grandparents Flatt at a formative time in their young marriage: Cholera in North America: How It Showed Up in My Family Tree
(taken from "What's in a Name?: The Story Behind Saskatchewan Place Names
" by E. T. Russell)"Tantallon was named for Tantallon Castle in Scotland, the homeland of the famous Douglas family of the district. At the age of 12 James Moffat Douglas came to Canada with his family and settled near Cranbray, Upper Canada. He was educated at the University of Toronto, Knox College, and Princeton Theology Seminary. Ordained a Presbyterian minister in 1867 he served in Ontario, India, Manitoba and finally at Moosomin, Saskatchewan.
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| Tantallon Castle in Scotland |
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| Farm Home of Senator James Moffat Douglas (c.1900) |
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DR. C. E. FLATT and family (some of the information below is taken from TALES OF TANTALLON 1906-1973) published by the Tantallon History Committee in 1973 and re-printed in 1983)
"Dr. C. E. Flatt came to Tantallon in 1903 from Campbellville, Ontario where he was the local doctor for several years after graduating from Queen's College, (which became Queen's University in 1912). Mrs. Margaret Fraser Flatt was a graduate nurse from Toronto University. (p. 34 "The Nursing Profession": )While raising her family she would often go with her husband to assist him, then stay with the patient as long as necessary during recovery. In 1911, tragedy hit a Tantallon family -- a terrible outbreak of Scarlet Fever struck the home with many taking sick right away. The parents and newborn baby were removed to a tent west of Tantallon. Margaret, a courageous and dedicated nurse, went in to care for the family. Six children passed away within a few days, ranging from one month to 19 years. "This is a nurse that the nursing profession can be very proud of". During the flu epidemic of 1918, Margaret made the circuit of every patient in Spy Hill, taking temperatures and giving nursing advice, at no charge.
Dr. Flatt practiced in the District, first with the construction gangs building the Grand Trunk Railway, before settling in Tantallon, where the family's first home was an apartment in the Paynter Block. (p. 57: a memory about Dr. Flatt from Jim Cozens:) "One day in the summer of 1911, Charlie Coburn came to town to get Dr. Flatt, he never gave the doctor a chance to change his clothes (he had been working in the yard. Charlie said, "Come on," and he drove through town in good old western style, on the dead gallop. The baby was a boy."
The children in the Flatt family were:
Marjory Flatt- March 29, 1892 - August 8, 1895 Marjorie's death certificate states her cause of death as cholera. There was an outbreak of that in Ontario at the time. I write about this HERE.
Jean Fraser Flatt, M.A.- October 12, 1893- February 19, 1976; a teacher with the Saskatoon Technical Institute, poet, and a longtime librarian with the Victoria BC Public Library, until retirement.
Charles Donald Flatt- January 26, 1898- August 1980; served in World War I, worked after the War in Saskatchewan, and moved to Kamloops to retire.
Mary Lavina Flatt- September 26, 1899- 1987; attended Normal School in Saskatoon; teacher in Drake, SK where she met and married in 1924 to William Ewert Rempel; lived in Campbellville, ON, Tantallon SK; Drake SK; Newton, KS;Cherry Ridge SK; Nipawin SK; birthed 5 children: Joy 1925-; Fraser 1927-2013; Herman 1929-199?; Will; Don; gardened; belonged to the Cherry Ridge Homemaker Club; was a member of the Nipawin United Church and the CCF/NDP parties; crocheted, knit, quilted, baked the best brown bread around, rode horses and swam as a young woman in the Qu'Appelle Valley. To understand her philosophy, and that of her mother, and sister Jean, please read Ground for Common Action: Violet McNaughton's Agrarian Feminism and the Origins of the Farm Women's Movement in Canada (PhD thesis of Dr. Georgina M. Taylor, Carleton University, Ottawa) Bill died in 1978. They enjoyed 54 years of marriage. Mary died in Saskatoon City Hospital, 1987, following surgery to remove a bowel tumor.
Samuel Flatt- October 21, 1901 -May 9, 1973; Sam was two years old when we arrived in Tantallon. He married Mary Margaret Brown of the "Big Jack" Brown family of Tantallon (19- ) He lived there until 1919, and lived in British Columbia. During this time he became a military cadet and instructor, as indicated by the certificate below:
In 1923 when he returned to the farm in the Qu'Appelle Valley. In 1928 he and his wife and family moved to New Westminster, BC, and later to Burnaby, where he lived at the time of his death.
He served in the Armed Forces in Europe in World War II and was decorated for his service in 1954. Their eldest son, Benny, 1922-1942, training to go overseas, was killed when the plane he was in had a mid-air collision over Calgary.
Sam worked for "the Dominion Government, Department of Public Works" for 18 years, until his retirement. He and Margaret had a family of 4 boys and a girl, celebrating their 50th Wedding Anniversary in August 1968 with 3 living children, 20 grandchildren and 4 great-grandchildren at that time.
Sam was a gregarious, jolly fellow in my (Cynthia's) recollection. He grew dahlias in his later years and had a garden party in the summer in their back yard in Burnaby that we attended twice. He had fond recollections of his wartime comrades and wrote a book about the experience.
**See Dr. C. E. Flatt mentioned in "The Canadian Practitioner" 1992 re a deodenum ulcer discourse.
***See Dr. C.E. Flatt mentioned in "Canada Lancet, Volume 36" published by Lancet Publishing Company, 1903, page 672, states "Dr. C.E. Flatt, after practicing his profession at Campbellville for twelve years, has left for Assiniboia. His friends and neighbours of Nassagahweya joined in a hearty send-off. The village hall was crowded to the door. Mr. James Menzies read the farewell address, after which the doctor was presented with a purse of $185. The Chosen Friends of which the doctor was a member handed him an umbrella..."
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| Thomas Moran 2x Matted 24x20 Black Ornate Framed Art Print 'Tantallon Castle, North Berwick, Scotland' by ArtDirect $99.99 |
Sunday, January 6, 2013
Old Rawhide (Max Ferguson)
This just gives you an idea of my Dad's sense of humour. Back in the 60s when I was in school Dad used to listen to "Rawhide"-- the CBC's early morning political satirist Max Ferguson-- as he drove to work in the mornings. If I missed the bus (which I did occasionally) he would be ever so willing to give me a ride to school so that I got to listen to Rawhide as well. I think he was on at 8:35 a.m. (and that was usually an indication that I was late for school as well as for the bus).
(Click here to listen to Cold War: "Nuclear Warfare Can Be Fun")
Update: R.I.P. Old Rawhide. Max Ferguson passed away March 7, 2013. He was 89 years old and had spent 52 years on radio.
Old Man River
When my Dad was young he had a deep basso voice and would love to sing this... I picked me a man with a deep bass voice to marry-- goes to show that we look for our daddies to marry.
Smoke Gets In Your Eyes
I was so impressed by my father's loving memories of our mother. Yes, neither of them were perfect by any means, nor was their relationship, but when she became ill and after she passed away Dad only spoke fondly and admiringly of her. He missed her a lot.
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