1 97 and still spry gjug/9*x»J3/ *5 ̂ 'I'm real young' says Lily ByMARGHAYLOCK Staff Reporter WELLINGTON - A dis- tant cousin of British hospital reformer Flor- ence Nightingale, Lily Morton, at 97, is the Boldest resident of Clinton _ m real young. I'll be 98 on June 1st," she says. She can recall the early settlement days of Huff's Island, where she grew up and attended school. "My mother was a Nightingale and the Nightingales came from England in 1840. They liv- ed in Toronto until their children were old enough to farm and they started to look for land.' It was through Bishop Strachan that the Nightingale family learn- ed of Prince Edward County and they bought 1,400 acres of land on Huff's Island. A friend in Toronto purchased half of this property, leaving the Nightingales with 700 acres by the bay. "Florence Nightingale was a cousin of my grandmother Nightin- gale. When grandmother \came to Canada, Flor- ence was 10 years old. There was talk of her coming for a visit but her parents wouldn't allow her to come over to this strange place." Lily Wallbridge (her maiden name) grew up on Huff's Island the sixth of seven children. She recalls that her father's family came to Canada from the United States, after the War of 1812. "The Wallbridges settl- ed the Massassaga Line. Another bunch of them who were doctors and lawyers settled on the shores of Belleville; near the Loyalist-Wallbridge Road." "My-mother married a W a l l b r i d g e f r o m Massassaga and I was born on Huff's Island." Lily Wallbridge re- mained with her family, as a young woman. She made a trip to Chicago to visit family friends and she accompanied them on a trip "to the old coun- try" as a companion for their young daughter. At her father's death, she continued to care for her mother. When she was 30 years of age, Lily mar- ried Fred Morton, a farmer from the Melville area. Today, both Melville and the neighboring hamlet of Allisonville are ghost towns but she can remember when each 111 Y MORTON c o m m u n i t y had a general store. There was a church at Allisonville and French's Mill and French's factory. "They built a lodge in Allisonville and used to have meetings there and put on little plays." "When I got married, I lived on that road from Melville to Allisonville." Fred Morton retired from farming with the arrival of the age of mechanization. "We us- ed to farm with horses. Tractors started coining in and my husband never liked anything like that so he sold out and we came to Wellington. My children all were mar- ried at the time." A widow for a number of years, Lily says she is happy at Clinton Lodge "because they let you do about what you want." She has an old Singer sewing machine in her room, purchased in 1920 and still enjoys stitching quilts. "You don't want an electric machine for quilts. My eyesight is gone and I can't see to thread a needle but I can put qui l t s on the machine." i i