An Outing to Die For: The "Graveyard Girls" do Chatham-Kent

 If I spend any more time in cemeteries, I'll become a haunt.

Still, if you're into pioneer graveyards, summer is the season to visit. The warm weather, absence of snow cover, and firm, dry ground make this the ideal time to wander and read the inscriptions. 

So when I was invited by Maggie to join her and friends Ruth and Rosemary to visit five graveyards in rural Chatham-Kent, I was happy to go along. While Ruth was visiting loved ones in two of the cemeteries, the rest of us went along for interest's sake. 

Our first stop was Duart Cemetery in the small village of Duart, Orford Township. This public cemetery was never associated with a particular church. 

Kudos to Rosemary for finding what might be the most interesting monument at Duart, this "white bronze" hollow grave marker erected by the Fleming family. White bronze is a misnomer, as these monuments are actually pure zinc with the grey colour achieved by adding a chemical oxidizing agent. Probably made by the White Bronze Monument Company of St. Thomas, these markers were practically indestructible, free from corrosion and discolouration, moss or lichen growth. Made to imitate stone markers, they were usually obelisks like the one below. The name plates could be removed to be updated, if necessary, and because the removal revealed a hollow space behind, a rumour arose that bootleggers were using them to store liquor.*

So why aren't there more of them? I'm guessing that a) they were expensive, and b) people at the time didn't know how long-lasting they'd be and continued to use the traditional stone. 

The Fleming monument has one of its sections removed, probably to be updated and reinserted. The crown at the top probably does not represent earthly royalty. Instead, it likely refers to the crown of life or glory, promised in scripture for those who endure hardships and remain faithful to Christ.

On this side, a thistle and a corn cob. The thistle represents Scotland, while the corn suggests the deceased was a farmer or harvester. Alternatively, the numerous kernels may represent prosperity, fertility, or rebirth.

On a third side, Lily of the Valley, suggesting innocence, and a rose (for England?)

Finally, a wheatsheaf, a chain and anchor, and a plow. The first may represent a long, fruitful life, while the anchor may indicate steadfast religious hope, and a plow is another agricultural reference. 

As for the village of Duart itself, it was originally called Kilmarnock but was renamed after Duart Castle on the Island of Mull in Scotland. Scottish settlers presumably named the village after the castle, ancestral home of the Maclean clan. Duart post office opened in 1857 and operated well into the twentieth century. But like many rural communities, Duart has seen better days.  While Duart Hall is a going concern, there are few other businesses or public buildings.

This Covenanted Baptist Church, built in 1896, is closed. Not the first church on the site, just the solid brick replacement for an earlier flimsier building. This Baptist sect had Scottish roots, being founded by Dugald Campbell. A small group, they had only five churches in southwestern Ontario in the 1850s.

Duart Presbyterian Church is gone already, having been demolished in 2010. 

Duart Presbyterian is commemorated by this monument in a village parkette. After the church contents were auctioned in the fall of 2010, a stained-glass window was saved by an anonymous donor and restored. This spring, the window was installed at The Gathering Place Community Church in Ridgetown. See here for details. 

Former commercial or industrial building, now a home.

Palmyra Cemetery

Palmyra, once the site of the famous Guyitt House, can scarcely be recognized as a hamlet at this point. However, there was a post office by that name from 1874 until 1918. 

The cemetery at 14048 Talbot Trail (Hwy. 3) has a lot of older graves arranged into cement pads:

One of older monuments shows what appears to be grapes. These might symbolize the blood of Christ, the eucharist and the promise of eternal life ... but might also signify fertility and abundance. The chain around the clasped hands represents John and Maria Barker's unbreakable bond which not even death could sever. 

Rev. Henry Coates, Methodist minister. A weeping willow symbolizes mourning.

Abram Eberle, Deacon of the regular Baptist Church of Orford. According to ancestry.ca he was born in the U.S.A. in 1798 and died at Palmyra in 1851.

A poignant memorial to "Charlie," a son of John Wesley Knight and his wife Elizabeth A. Eberle. The lamb signifies innocence but it's worth remembering that Christ is the "lamb of God," a sacrifice for humanity. The child is now safe with the Good Shepherd. 

The unfortunate Lucy, daughter of John and Jane Scott, was born in 1838 and married Christopher Matthew Smith before dying at the young age of 27 in 1865. Note the name of the stonemason, David R. Riggs, Chatham. According to a Kent County directory, Riggs was still in business on Talbot Street in 1880.

Keyes Cemetery

Across the road from Palmyra is the tiny Keyes family cemetery. These four stones may once have stood farther back on a pioneer farm and have been moved closer to the road. Note the use of the name Lorenzo, an unusual given name more common among Italian and Spanish families. 

Louks Cemetery

Another small family cemetery perched on a hill (or what passes for a hill in flat Chatham-Kent) next to a cornfield at 19119 Kenesserie Road. Second from left we see the old fashioned Christian name "Charity."

After an overly-long lunch at nearby Erieau, the Graveyard Girls visited Botany in Howard Township. Yes, Botany, as in the study of plants. No, I don't know how this lonely part of the former Kent County received its moniker. Cornelius McBrayne operated a post office by this name from 1865 to 1900. Was he honouring a relative sent to Botany Bay in Australia? Or is the name a reference to the dense woods found in pioneer days? If you know, do share.

There are two cemeteries at Botany, Methodist and Presbyterian, across the road from one another. In other words, finding a relative involves knowing which church they attended. There were indeed churches of both denominations in the area. Today, St. John's Botany United Church still holds services at 12377 Botany Line near Kent Bridge. The former Botany Howard Road United Church was demolished in 1998.

Monument at Botany.

On the Presbyterian side of the road, a monument to Edwin & Edna, twin children of Charles and Elizabeth (Chalcroft) Keech, born September 12, 1888, died 25 days later on October 7 (family info from ancestry.ca).

On the Methodist side, an inscription to Rhoda and Bruce McKay, a set of twins born November 11, 1880, and dying July 14, 1881, the children of John C. and Maria McKay. The Graveyard Girls discussed whether this family name is pronounced "McKay" or "McEye" without reaching a conclusion. As for me, I'm wondering whether it was common for twins to die on the same day, as apparently both sets of twins here did. While life expectancy for twins in the nineteenth century was often low, I am wondering if birth complications or a shared infection led to the twins' demise at the same time?

After leaving Botany, the dead-tired Graveyard Girls headed for home. But there will be more cemeteries in my future. I can feel it in my bones.

Three Graveyard Girls - myself, Ruth, and Rosemary - at Duart. Spooky photo in glorious black and white courtesy of Maggie Brannen.

*For more information, see William G. Stewart, Nature Rambles, 2000, pp. 56-62. 

Of UELs, 1812 Vets, and Willeys

On July 26, I attended the Willey Cemetery memorial service. This quiet graveyard at 5267 Gentleman Drive, just off Thames Road in the former Ekfrid Township, was busier that day than it had been in years, as it was officially dedicated as a United Empire Loyalist (UEL) Burial Ground. A War of 1812 veteran buried here was honoured at the same time. The event, sponsored by UELAC Western Ontario Branch and Glencoe & District Historical Society, reminds "Old Stock" Canadians who we are and why we're here. 

Piper Rob Easton performs at Willey Cemetery.

Who were the United Empire Loyalists and why do they matter? Well, they were the foundational English-speaking settlers who fled the fledgling United States to remain loyal to Britain. Their presence shaped Canada's demographics and formed our politics and culture for generations. Contrary to American myths, those loyal to Britain were rarely wealthy or privileged. According to the United Empire Loyalist flyer handed out at the event, most Loyalists were farmers and craftsmen. Large numbers of them were Pennsylvania Germans, African Americans, or Indigenous. Nor were they a small number.  This diverse group of people had only one thing in common: they believed the disputes between the Colonies and Britain's Parliament over taxation and trade did not justify a rebellion. An estimated 80,000 people preferred to leave the rebellious colonies rather than stay in the new republic.

As for the War of 1812, it marked the successful defence of what was then British North America against American invasion. The struggle united British regular troops, local militias, and Indigenous warriors in a fight to remain un-American. By so doing, they laid the foundation for a distinct, continuing national identity. Many of us are still grateful.* 

After opening words from various politicians, Glencoe Historical Society member Harold Caruthers, UE,** gave attendees a history of the Willey family and the cemetery that bears their name. The Willey family originally hailed from Vermont, and, after a brief stint in Lower Canada, moved to the Elgin side of the Thames River in 1819. Bray Willey and his wife Christiana McNaughton had a family of nine children who owned farms on both the Elgin and Middlesex sides of the Thames. Various members of this family are buried here and were listed in the programme we received. 

The first burial was that of a Willey child in 1850, but pioneers of other names are buried here too. The programme says the cemetery was "cleaned up" in 1975. At that time, the Willey family installed their family gravestones in a cement cairn. In 1983, the township of Ekfrid gathered stones from several nearby abandoned cemeteries and placed them into an extension cairn. Some McRae stones were later moved back to the McRae site.***

Harold introduced Master of Ceremonies Retired Major Greg Childs, who gave us a brief background of the Revolutionary War and the War of 1812. Major Greg was fair and balanced as he explained the origins of both wars.****

Then we proceeded to the main event, honouring Corporal John Phillips, UEL (1751-1844) and Sergeant Peter Phillips, UE (1786-1866). John, born in Trenton, NJ, fought in the 2nd Battalion New Jersey Volunteers, commanded by Colonel Isaac Allen. Discharged at Saint John, NB in 1784, he and his wife Isabella Phinney and family settled on a New Brunswick land grant. He later moved to Norwich Township, Oxford County in 1812. By 1822, he and his family were in Southwold Township, Elgin County. The family last moved in 1828 over the river to Ekfrid, which explains why John and Isabella's tombstones are at Willey Cemetery. Their children settled throughout Elgin, Middlesex, Kent and - oh dear - back to the States in Michigan. 

Their third child, Peter, served in the 1st Regiment Oxford Militia during the War of 1812. In 1815, he was promoted to sergeant. After the war, in 1817, he married Elizabeth Neville in Fingal and proceeded to have ten children with her. After 15 years in Elgin, they too moved to Ekfrid. They are also buried at Willey, as are two of their daughters, Isabel and Elizabeth,  who married David Willey and Thomas Kirkwood respectively. Peter's older brothers Archie and John also served in the Oxford Militia during the war but are buried in Southwold Township and Kent County. All three sons fought at the bloody battle of Lundy's Lane. 

Next, historical reenactors fired some very loud volleys:

Then came the laying of wreaths by organizations such as the Royal Canadian Regiment,  Royal Canadian Legion, UELAC, GDHS, the County of Middlesex, the Township of Southwest Middlesex (of which Ekfrid is now a part), and the Chippewas of the Thames, represented by Elder Maxine Hendrick.*****

Then we sang God Save the King. Oh, don't worry, O Canada was sung too, at the beginning of the event. Interestingly, I think a few people sang "in all thy sons command" instead of "in all of us command." Forgetfulness or continuing to honour our sons?

Finally, an opportunity to chat, look at displays, and soak up the atmosphere:

Like most rural cemeteries, Willey needs further restoration. This broken gravestone is nearly swallowed by the surrounding brush. 

* For the record, these are not my ancestors, nor do my people stretch back that far in Canada. My earliest relatives on this continent settled in Oxford County in the 1820s.

**Descendants of UELs may add the letters UE after their names, once their genealogical link is proven. This is Canada's only hereditary title. For more info, see the UELAC website, linked above.

*** I overheard a rumour that some members of the McRae family weren't pleased to have the stones moved in the first place. Some well-meaning attempts to honour our ancestors can backfire. 

**** Perhaps it's appropriate to present both sides of these conflicts, but I'd have been more pro-Britain myself. After all, this is Canada. And if I'd been living in the Thirteen Colonies in 1776, I'd have been a Loyalist myself. My reasons are as follows:

• I prefer stable ongoing traditions to the chaos of war and revolution. 
• Britain had the world's most powerful navy and a highly-trained professional army. Any war with such a superpower, even if won, would be protracted, costly, and bloody. 
• Siding with the global superpower seems more logical and safer than betting on a poorly-supplied, untrained amateur militia. 
• I'd be concerned that the "patriots" would allow "mob rule" and be nastier than the British.
• King George III wasn't a "tyrant." He was a conscientious constitutional monarch who admired the Magna Carta. He never vetoed acts of Parliament, respected common law, and functioned largely through his ministers. The "tyrant" label was American propaganda used to justify revolution. 
• As Samuel Johnson wrote in 1775: "How is it that we hear the loudest yelps for liberty among the drivers of the negroes?" Imagine complaining about British control and taxation while keeping one's fellow humans in chains! I'm aware that only a minority of Americans owned slaves, but the optics looked bad.
• I'd have been tarred and feathered and have no choice but to leave. 

As for the War of 1812, they didn't let women fight but I'd have defended my cabin with my pitchfork, if necessary.

***** My understanding is that, during the War of 1812, the Chippewas of the Thames allied with the British and Tecumseh's Confederacy to defend their lands. Their warriors fought in key frontier engagements, notably the 1813 Battle of the Thames, where Tecumseh was killed. Hence, an entirely appropriate Indigenous presence at this event. 

Mary Grant, London Township Trailblazer and Women's Advocate

An unpretentious grave in Hyde Park Cemetery bears the name of an energetic local trailblazer, Mary Samantha Grant (1875-1934), clerk and treasurer of the former London Township (now part of Middlesex Centre). Mary appears to have been the first woman in Canada to hold such a position.  

Mary is buried with her brother and sister-in-law, as well as a niece.

A daughter of James Grant (1841-1901) and Samantha Elson (1843-1919), Mary was born June 6, 1875, in London Township. She was educated at area public and high schools and attended Hellmuth Ladies' College just down the road in London. 

Her father, James, was a Justice of the Peace, president of the London Mutual Fire Insurance Company, and assistant manager of the Royal Standard Loan Company. He became London Township clerk in 1873 and treasurer in 1887,* continuing until 1900 when he became too ill to work. His daughter Mary took over his job and, after James died in 1901, Mary's position became official. 

James Grant and daughter Mary, in Alice Gibb, ed., London Township: A Rich Heritage 1796-1997 Volume 1. Arva, Ont.: The London Township History Book Committee, 2001, p. 30. James looks jovial, his daughter more serious. 

This may not at first seem remarkable. We can assume that an unmarried daughter assisted her father by filing, typing, and so on, while he collected his salary and took all the recognition. Mary no doubt knew a lot about her dad's work. But when a man resigned his position in those days, another man almost always replaced him. Perhaps the township council decided to hire Mary instead, knowing she was no ordinary girl. 

Mary had ambition. And energy. According to a 1922 news article:**

She also took over her father's work at London Mutual Fire Insurance until his death on October 26, 1901, after which the company chose a man to succeed him. 

She was president of the Middlesex Patriotic Association, a volunteer organization instrumental in rallying thousands of women to support local soldiers during World War I and veterans after it.

She was a member of the Middlesex Mothers' Allowances Board, a local administrative body responsible for overseeing the Mothers' Allowance Act, an early form of welfare. This board evaluated and monitored widows and single mothers receiving state financial assistance to ensure they maintained strict moral and financial standards.

She was a member of the War Memorial Sick Children's Hospital Committee. Not sure, but this might have been part of the Imperial Order Daughters of the Empire (I.O.D.E.), the organization that raised the money to build the hospital. 

She was a member of the Canadian Tax Conference of the Citizens' Research Institute. The latter was founded to promote effective, efficient government. It held conferences to bring together municipal assessors, civil servants, and tax experts to discuss public finance in Canada. 

She represented the township at the "Chamber of Commerce." I assume this means the London Chamber of Commerce, founded as the London Board of Trade in 1857.

For her war work in the Red Cross Society, she was presented with a life membership. This might have been the London Red Cross, unless the county had its own organization. 

She was president of the Ontario Municipal Association, now the Association of Municipalities of Ontario, in 1922. You can see Mary's name on the list of presidents here.

One of her most interesting positions was that of Secretary of the London Township Hydro-Electric System. Here, "she emphasized the benefits to be derived from Hydro by farmers' wives" and "was eager to see labour saving devices installed in every rural home."*** No doubt she had watched her mother and other pioneer women struggle and hoped to make rural homemaking easier through electricity. 

Mary might have had other positions besides those above. But her most remarkable achievement was retaining the position of clerk-treasurer of London Township until she died in 1934, a record of 34 years.  And at a time when few women held municipal offices of any kind. 

Mary Grant died of colon cancer on March 5, 1934, at St. Joseph's Hospital, London. Newspapers carrying her obituary included The Globe and Mail and The Toronto Star. As a trailblazer and advocate for women, she had become a celebrity.

Seems like she deserves an historic plaque, doesn't it?

* There seems to be some confusion as to whether these were two separate positions or only one, that of clerk-treasurer. I'm going with the version found under the Grant family history in Alice Gibb, ed., London Township: Families Past and Present. Arva, ON: The London Township History Book Committee, 2001, p. 155. Mary and her father are also covered in volume 1 of the above work, London Township: A Rich Heritage, p. 30. 

**Miss Mary Grant New President Ontario Association. The Victoria Sentinel, Victoria, BC, December 22, 1922, p. 6. Accessed through newspapers.com. Yes, Mary made the news all the way out in BC. 

***Mary Grant, London Township. Grand River Sachem, Caledonia, Ontario, April 25, 1934, p. 7. Accessed as above. 

In Praise of Small Town Museums

Those who find small-town museums boring - or all the same - are missing a lot. Arguably, small museums keep local history alive in ways no one else can, by preserving the unique heritage that larger big-city institutions overlook. The sites I visited yesterday do a deep dive into the specific industries, families, and history that shaped their parts of Oxford County. 

Ingersoll Cheese Museum

This cheesiest of all small town museums first opened in 1977 with a grant from the Canadian government, on a site donated by the Town of Ingersoll. It began as a recreation of a nineteenth-century Oxford County cheese factory, appropriate for this dairy capital of Ontario. In fact, it's just along the road from where cheesemaker James Harris' original factory was, the current site of Elm Hurst Inn. Harris and two other gents produced the 1866 Mammoth Cheese, as a display in the museum's gallery indicates:

Part of the historical signage featuring Oxford's Mammoth Cheese.

Over time, the museum has acquired other buildings, including a local history gallery, blacksmith shop, barns, and a schoolhouse portraying two different time periods of one-room schools.

Some railway history in the main gallery.

The Allen Dairy milk wagon.

Blacksmith shop.

The Museum Mouse, at large in the smithy. Every museum needs a Critter Curator.

Children might be freaked out by the schoolteacher's desk, complete with straps. Ouch!

The Reta L. Dickson classroom. How much could you learn, sitting on a bench, facing the wall, and writing on a slate, while the woodstove crackled behind you?

Beachville District Museum

Beachville is one of Oxford County's earliest European settlements, but it probably has only about 1,000 residents, so it might still be surprising that it has such an imposing museum. But it does:

The ground floor of the historic main building dates to 1851, which was when owner Philander King had the home built out of local fieldstone. The second storey, made of limestone, was added by the Downing family in 1902. The Downings were big figures in the local limestone industry, John Downing being one of the founders of the local quarries. The family sold the home in 1969, but Beachvilime Ltd. retained the house for decades before selling it to the Beachville District Historical Society in 1992.* The cost? $2.

The interior features a reproduction drawing room and a kitchen filled with antique equipment. Upstairs is a work in progress, but staff are completing a bedroom, antique children's toy collection, display on the lime industry, replica of a general store, and even an old-time bathroom.

What's unique, however, is the connection to baseball history. Beachville is the site of the earliest recorded baseball game in Canada:

In fact, we now know it was the earliest recorded baseball game in North America, predating Cooperstown by a year. Little did those pioneer players know they were literally making history. But it turns out that in 1886, Dr. Adam E. Ford, a Beachville doctor who moved to Denver, wrote a letter to Sporting Life magazine describing the match he witnessed as a child in Upper Canada. His letter is the first formally recorded account of a baseball game.* 

Note that the game wasn't played on the museum site, but farther into the village. But the museum is making the most of the ballgame connection, including Assistant Curator Sidney Williams' hands-on baseball-making workshops. 

Some Other Thoughts on Small-Town Museums

The guides in such museums are often local residents or historians, eager to share the origins of their displays. Enthusiasm makes the driest history come to life. 

The two museums above operate on a pay-what-you-can donation basis, which makes them accessible learning places for families and those without ample means. 

There's an informal, non-intimidating aura about such museums. The world's largest, supposedly greatest, museums are daunting as heck. Not Ingersoll and Beachville. Go out and enjoy.

* https://beachvilledistrictmuseum.com/baseball 

A Stop at Banner

I discover so many interesting places when I'm not looking for them, just passing through on my way somewhere else. An example is the hamlet of Banner, on Co. Rd. 60 and 15th Line in Zorra (formerly North Oxford) Township, which I would never have seen if I hadn't been on my way to Ingersoll on "60." 

Settlers arrived in early pioneer times at the intersection that became known as Spearman's Corners. A log school was built on the Joseph Spearman farm ca. 1840, replaced by a frame building in 1851. Eventually, the school site changed to make room for a playground. A brick school was built at the new site in 1900 and remains there to this day. 

S. S. 2 North Oxford. 

Our ancestors were profoundly religious. Hence, one of the first buildings in any pioneer community was the church. At Banner, we find North Oxford Wesleyan Methodist, founded in 1857, surrounded by a cemetery. Whoever thought to paint the door bright blue deserves a round of applause.

There was also a New Connexion Methodist Church across from the school building. The two congregations united in 1874, after which services were held in the Wesleyan church and tea meetings were held in the New Connexion structure. In 1893, the New Connexion building was purchased, renamed the "Shareholders of Oxford Hall," and moved to its present site west of the church. From that point onward, it was used for meetings, concerts, and so on.  

The intersection was renamed Banner when a post office opened in 1893. One story claims the postal department thought Spearman's Corners was too long a name. Another story claims that Joseph Spearman himself thought the name too long. At a community meeting, Mr. Minklar suggested the name "Banner." The origin of the name appears to be unknown. 

The northeast corner has this monument to Sarah Clark, postmistress from 1893 to 1914, when rural mail delivery replaced her post office. Sarah also had a store, started by the Patrons of Industry. There was a blacksmith in the community, and Banner Cheese Factory was about a mile north. The latter closed in 1958.

A woodyard and shipping station owned by Armon Clark was on the railroad just to the south of the hamlet. Known as Patton's Siding, the station acted as a shipping point for Banner farmers. A man named James Clendening met the train and picked up mail for the Banner Post Office. For outgoing mail, Clendening hung a mail bag on a hook at the side of the track for the train crew to snag as they puffed by.  

The sparse remains of Ontario's crossroads reflect the early twentieth-century shift in how people lived, worked, and traveled. Many early hamlets thrived because they were a day’s horse-and-buggy ride apart. But, as roads were paved and automobiles became common, rural residents were no longer forced to rely on a small general store such as Sarah's. The blacksmith was no longer necessary. The schoolhouse closed, replaced by a larger consolidated school. Only the church fulfills its original purpose, with an attractive website. 

Those wishing to know more about Banner - or Zorra - should check out the numerous historical resources available on the Oxford County Library website here. Beware of conflicting accounts, though; such is the nature of the historical record. 

The Ghostliest "Ghost Town" in Middlesex

Located on Napier Road in Adelaide-Metcalfe Township, the ghost town of Napier is a one-of-a-kind place. Nestled in the woods on the Sydenham River, Napier has a feeling of abandonment about it. It's undoubtedly Middlesex County's most romantic-looking vanished village. I've been here many times, somehow drawn to the place.

This area was first settled about 1829 by retired British military men. Among the most important of these was Captain Christopher Beer, who spent 14 years in the Royal Navy. In 1830, he received 800 acres of land in what is now Napier, where he built a two-storey log home and a large barn. In fact, 1835 was referred to by the locals as "the year Captain Beer's big barn was raised."* Most of the able-bodied men in the west end of the county assisted in its construction.

Another early settler here was Captain Robert Johnston, a Waterloo veteran who arrived with his family in 1832. Like many military men, he received land for his service. He wasn't the average settler, though; he arrived in the wilderness with bagpipes, a piano, 30 complete sets of military arms, and about £2,000.** Those sets of arms came in handy during the Rebellion of 1837; Johnston taught local women how to shoot so that they could defend themselves against attack while their husbands were away fighting the rebels. Not surprisingly, Johnston had the funds to build himself a large brick house with six chimneys on the east side of the future village site. Anglican church services were apparently first held in this home since it was large enough to hold a congregation.

One of the first public buildings constructed here was St. Mary's Anglican Church. The land for the church, on a hill north of the village, was donated by Charles Preston. The exact construction date varies with the source, but the church was completed around 1843. The oldest remaining church in Middlesex County, St. Mary's Chapel of Ease holds an annual Decoration Day Service in June. It's a day I try not to miss, since it's an opportunity to enter a primitive pioneer building that's usually closed. 

Attendees gather at St. Mary's Anglican Church, Napier, on June 28, 2026, for the annual service.

A cemetery surrounds the church. When Captain Christopher Beer died in 1871 at the age of 80, he was buried under a stone that reads "Anchored in the harbour of eternal rest." What more fitting tribute to a sea captain?

The grave of Captain Christopher Beer at St. Mary's, Napier.

In another corner lie the remains of Joe and Mary Wrinkle:

The original, now nearly illegible Wrinkle grave marker, next to a newer monument.

The replacement monument was recently added by Joe and Mary's descendants.

Joe was a fugitive slave from Louisiana who followed the Underground Railway to its ultimate destination, Canada. According to Napier resident Dana Bernier, who related Joe's story at this year's Decoration Day service, Joe was offered his white bride as partial payment for work on a local farm. According to a booklet entitled Napier Remembered, Joe worked on the Beer estate, and his wife was Mary McPhail of St. Thomas. When folks asked her why she married Joe, she replied, "His gracious manners and kindly ways took my fancy. The colour of his skin doesn't matter."*** I'd like to think Mary had some choice in her marriage. 

The array of signs at St. Mary's: the blue plaque unveiled by a descendant of Christopher Beer, a contribution from the Middlesex Historic Trail, and the 911 sign indicating 1418 Melwood Drive. 

Another early building here was a schoolhouse. The earliest school building was on the St. Mary's churchyard site, but, in 1866, a two-room school was built on Mary Street. The school building standing on Mary today, S. S. No. 3 Metcalfe, was built in 1900, the different brick colours suggesting it was built partially from the bricks of the earlier school. For a while, this building was a Women's Institute. By the way, according to this, the township would like someone to buy it. 

Metcalfe S. S. No. 3 is now boarded up. Note the Middlesex Heritage Trail sign on the entranceway.

Eventually, a bustling village developed here on the banks of the Sydenham. Johnston built a store and gristmill in 1838, importing millstones from Scotland that had to be hauled here by oxen from Port Stanley. Johnston also built a sawmill to harvest the black walnut trees in the neighbourhood. Not surprisingly, an early name for the community was Johnston's Mills. Later, it was known as Puffing Town from the sound of the steam engine at one of Johnston's mills. Apparently, it was one of the earliest, if not the earliest, steam engines in western Ontario. 

Later, after the Township of Metcalfe was created in 1840, the village was named Metcalfe. It was not until a post office opened here on November 6, 1851, that the village was named Napier. Where does the name originate? Well, it might have been named after Sir Charles Napier (1782-1853), British general during the Napoleonic Wars, or his brother William (1785-1860), another general, who wrote History of the War in the Peninsula. Perhaps some of the military men at Napier served under one or the other? 

In 1857, J. G. Sutherland moved to Napier, acquired the mills from Johnston, and built a new woollen mill. His enterprises dominated the community for many years. In fact, it was Sutherland who built the store known as the Napier House in 1872.

Napier House store is in poor condition as of spring 2026. 

Eventually, the Napier post office moved into the building above. Sutherland's son-in-law, W. S. Calvert, took over the store afterwards. Calvert eventually became a federal Member of Parliament. 

At its height in the 1860s, Napier's population may have been about 250. The community had merchants, inns, saloons, blacksmiths, and mills. This "capital" of Metcalfe Township had a map of its own in The Illustrated Historical Atlas of the County of Middlesex (1878):

So many streets and lots laid out! But whether all the lots were occupied is a matter of conjecture at this point. Most of the streets have reverted to bush. 

There were other churches here besides St. Mary's. A frame Methodist church was built on Clover Street in about 1860, but both the church and Clover Street are gone. A Presbyterian church was built in the south end of the village about 1864, but was replaced by another in 1887. The latter, St. Andrew's, still stands, but it appears to have closed.

When an organ was installed in the church above, staunch Presbyterians were horrified. One older man, who often slept through sermons, said he never had the same feeling of sanctity while sleeping in church after the organ was added. Another fellow claimed that "it would not be long before the devil would have a fiddle in there too." Sure enough, years later, a fiddle accompanied the choir.**** 

What happened to Napier? How did such a bustling community become the backwater of today? It's mainly the fault of the railroads. Both branches of the Great Western Railway (later the Grand Trunk and still later the CNR) bypassed Napier. The northern branch passed through Kerwood and the southern through Glencoe. Next, the CPR and the Michigan Central skipped the village. The people of Napier (what were they called ... Napierites?) expected to build a station on a hill south of the Napier House, but there was never any need. Much business was lost over the years as settlers moved to points along the railway. 

It's also been suggested that once the walnut trees were depleted, there was less work for the sawmills. But whatever the reason for Napier's decline, it didn't "go bust" overnight. Instead, it slowly faded during the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. The post office closed in 1915, and the village became part of R. R. 3, Strathroy. 

What else remains at Napier? Well, there's the Masonic Lodge next to St. Andrew's, a 1950s building replacing an earlier version declared unsafe:

Photograph and caption taken from the Middlesex Historic Trail sign at the Masonic Lodge.

This millstone from Sutherland's gristmill sits in front of the Masonic Lodge.

Today, there are numerous newer homes in the hamlet. I can't blame people for wanting to live in such a peaceful spot. Can a ghost town still be called a ghost town when it's grown in recent years? I think so. Napier is nothing like its 1800s heyday. 

On my last trip to Napier, I visited Dana and Nancy Bernier's unofficial Napier museum and archives in their garage. The collection could be archaeological (pottery, bottles, and other artifacts) as well as historical and archival (photographs of the Wrinkle family, news articles, etc.). Dana and Nancy also moved a local pioneer log cabin to their yard and restored it:

A pioneer cabin, rescued by Dana Bernier from a nearby baseball field where it was used as a concession stand.

*"Scorched Lodge Goat Mystery To Masons of Township of Metcalfe," London Free Press, January 30, 1932, p. 8.

** Napier Grist, Woolen Mills Aided Growth of Community," London Free Press, May 21, 1949, p. 31.

***Ruth Merrick, Napier Remembered: Memories of Metcalfe Township's Pioneer Community. Arva: The Medway Valley News, 1991. A quick look at ancestry.ca indicates that Joseph H. Wrinkle (1829-92) married Mary Sarah McPhail (1843-86) who came from St. Thomas. 

**** "Scorched," LFP, p. 8.