This year’s open house will take place between July 3 and July 8, during which the Archives will be open from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. As he has been in previous years, genealogist Walter Brown will be present, along with his library of genealogical data, for family research work.
Due to lack of participation, there will be no further sessions of Tale Spinners. Anyone interested in recording stories of interest may contact me, Venetia Crawford, at 647 5685. The following story was prepared for the last session of Tale Spinners.
MAIL DELIVERY IN CAMPBELL’S BAY
By Sadie Lett April 7, 2006
My father, Ernie Gillis, started to deliver the mail when I was going to school. He used to give us pennies to go down and buy candy at Bolam’s store. He was still delivering the mail when my daughter Gail was a child.
The mail came to Campbell’s Bay by train from Ottawa every day except Sunday. My father picked it up at the Post Office in the Doyle Building on Front Street. He drove a Model T Ford in the summer time and a horse and cutter in the winter. The mail route started at the Post Office, down the Highway to Carswell’s, up the Moorhead Road to the Campbell’s Bay Road, on to the Hayes Line and back to Ernie Stevenson’s. In the winter time, he took a short cut down the winter road that went through the fields down to Dick Moorhead’s home on the Beauchamp Road and then back to his home on Temperance St.
In the winter time he used to deliver groceries along the way. He hardly had room for his feet sometimes. He also sold stamps at the mailboxes where he had to pick up the cold pennies to pay for them. At Christmas he used to get lots of nice gifts – cakes and puddings.
Elwin Brown’s father, Eric Brown, got the job when the government changed. After that my father went to work at the mill.
April 7, 2 p.m.
Topic: Mail Delivery
How do you get your mail? How has mail delivery changed over the years? Have you experienced any unusual incidents with the mail?
Come join us on Friday afternoon for tea, a cookie and stories.
At the first session in February, Rev. William McDowell told tales of the many schools in the region and Art Shore added details. Betty Shore told about her experiences teaching at Murrell School.
At the March session, Betty Shore told the Legend of Saint Patrick’s Day. We read “the Hangman’s Tune,” a play produced in Campbell’s Bay and Bryson. We read “The Wake of Dan O’Brien from The Wildest Rivers/ the Oldest Hills. We also read an earthquake story narrated by Edgar Mulligan.
Hope to see you April 7th.
Are you interested in learning about life in Pontiac County? Would you like the opportunity to learn about the history of your town from the people who lived it?
At our last meeting of the Pontiac Archives, in order to encourage more people to use our vast quantity of local historical information, we decided to invite everyone who is interested in telling tales of the past to form a club where everyone will have the chance to participate in a friendly atmosphere. We will sit around a table, drink a pot of tea and share our memories. Each month we will have a different topic. The first topic will be “School Days.”
Our volunteers have been making collections of newspaper clippings and other documents related to different topics. Pearl McCleary and Gwen Armstrong have prepared many binders full of interesting information about Pontiac Schools. We encourage you to come to the Archives on regular days - Tues. to Thurs. 9 am - 4 pm and Saturday 10 am - 2 pm to get inspiration and facts to support your stories. Our first gathering will be on Friday, Feb. 3, 2006 at 2 pm at the Pontiac Archives in Shawville. Hope to see you there.