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I CELEBRATION EDITION Wednesday May SO IBM EXPLORING OUR ROOTS Georgetowns history connected to the waterwheel The following story about the Barber Paper Mill George town the third mill built in Upper Canada first appeared in the Pulp and Paper ine in 1913 It was written by WA Craick There had arrived in Crooks Hollow shortly after the paper mill was built a family consisting of a father four sons and a daughter which was destined to plan an important part in the history of the Canadian paper industry These were the Barbers The father was a stonemason by trade the sons were hardy Irish boys They had emigrat ed to Canada from Ireland in 1822 and after Niagara had come to Crooks Hollow to obtain employment in the mills William and Robert the oldest and the youngest of the sons worked in the woolen mil James the second son became interested in the paper mill while Joseph the third son took up the mill right s trade They remained at Crooks Hollow for thirteen years when the brothers deel ded that it would be just as well for them to set up in business for themselves In casting about for a suitable place to start ion they hit upon Georgetown then a tiny village containing about three houses There was good waterpower available however and that decided them In the year of the rebellion they moved all their families and belongings oxcarts to their new location A custom and one set carding mill was erected on the west branch of the Credit near what is now the centre of the town of Georgetown and for six years the brothers ran this primitive industry before the next development took place This was the removal of Robert Barber and his brother in law Benjamin Franklin to Streetsville where the pair put up a second woolen mill Both mills were jointly owned by the family and both prospered Ultimately in a new and much larger factory was built in Streetsville into which the machinery of both plants was put and the Georgetown mill was closed down Then followed the begin of the paper industry in Georgetown A Scotchman by the name of David Forbes had gone West as far as Gait and had there attempted to start a mill but had become discoura ed owing to the long distance it was necessary to haul his product to market At the time the Grand Trunk Railway was building westward and construction was approaching Georgetown Here on the Credit River right beside the route of the railway seemed a better place to locate rented him both the power and premises Soon after the mill was started the brothers began to manufacture newsprint ing an all rag product which they sold extensively to weekly newspaper and to the Toronto Daily Leader They also made use of straw expecially pea straw for wrapping papers and until the time that wood began to be employed instead were large consumers of straw In this connection an excit ing incident occurred in 1861 Some new boilers were install to boil the straw and early ore morning soon after they were put in they all blew up killing one man and injuring others Forbes however did not stick at his venture and almost before he had got started the A pretty section of Mill SI In downtown Georgetown brothers found themselves saddled with a piper mill The first Barber mill built in 1853 is still standing and is now known as No Machine Room It is a solid stone structure by feet and is the building in the right hand foreground in the picture It contained originally a 36 inch cylinder paper machine on which the first paper mill Po made in the mill was tured Meanwhile a second build ing had been erected in into which a cylinder ine was put It is probably of this machine that the story is told of James Barber the brother who was in charge of the end of the business that he came to the mill one morning and was told that the new machine was running 100 feet a minute This was so astonishing that it was almost incredible and he would not believe the performance until he had personally timed it with his watch In 1869 the partnership which had existed without the shghtest friction among the brothers and their brother in law was dissolved It is said of this partnership that for 39 years they carried on all their activities together without a settlement among the partners owning almost everything in Following this the paper manufacturing business to expand By the plant comprised a a 62 and J inch fourdnnier paper machine hands Herald founded by Isaac Hunte The Herald was founded in by Isaac Hunter In the early days it was known as the Halton Herald and local agents sold tising as far away as Oak and Burlington The second owner of The Herald was Joseph Craig who ran the newspaper side of the business while his brother Richard ran the printing side Printing often helped cover the losses on the newspaper side until the paper was financially stable MINISTER The Craigs sold The Herald to Nelson Burns a Methodist Minister who ran a private school while he was in Georgetown to help make ends meet Mr Burns sold the paper to Thomas J Starret who stay in Georgetown for about four years before moving to Milton and taking over publishing a paper there By the paper was edited by David Edgar who began his newspaper career atthe age of with the Northern Advocate in Bracebridge Robert Douglas Warren became the editor of The Herald and proprietor of the Herald Steam Printing House In An Acton native Mr Warren ran for the Liberal seat In in 1908 and lost but unlike many publishers of that era he didn allow his political leanings to influence the contents of the paper Mr Warren was active in politics and served as Reeve of Georgetown and Warden of Halton County Mr Warren employed Joseph Matheson Moore to run The Herald until Mr Moore was able to buy the paper Mr Moore was a native of Acton and later served as a reeve of Georgetown Mr Moore left school at the age of and became a printer devil at the Acton Free Press before coming to The Herald as a foreman in the print shop FIRE The Herald office was upstairs in the Herald Main St building with a big press at the back When fire gutted the building around the time of the First World War the press plunged right through to the basement Most of the back issues to that date were destroyed Mr Moore operated The Herald until his death in his family in his will to sell the business because he felt the day of the independently owned small town newspaper was over Garfield Mac McGilvr ay ran the newspaper between Mr Moore s death and the purchase of the paper by Walter Biehn The printing trade was always changing as in 1928 when The Herald bought a linotype machine which eliminated the need to set type by hand It took three hours in those dajs to print the to copies of The Herald on the hand fed flat bed press Back then the population of the town was about 2 Walter ran the paper as an independent for almost years While in the army during the Second World War his wife Mary ran the business OWN OFFICE The Herald purchased its own office on Main St in 1952 where it remained until 1980 when a new building was purchased at the corner of Mill and Streets The larger structure facilitated the operation of printing presses m the basement In the late 1950s the paper was purchased by the Thorn son newspaper chain The Herald and the Orangeville Banner were among the first weeklies in Ontario to be purchased by the chain Walter remained with The Herald until when he retired Since then Mr Biehn has been active as a town councillor and executive member of the Georgetown Chamber of Commerce The paper is now being published by Paul Taylor who is active in the commu nity with the Kiwanis Club while participating in golf tennis and curling Mr Taylor was born in Pans Ontario and he has worked for a variety of news papers including Woodstock Oshawa Kamloops and Niagara Falls Condensed from a histo ry of The Herald by Richard Statistical review of Georgetown 1981 by Stats Canada How we rate compared to other regions The Herald contacted the Statistic Canada branch In Toronto to find out bow Halton Hills compare to the rat of Ontario and Canada la some ami concerning rent and Income Id Ontario there were 11 per cent of ail families pending more than per cent of their income on food shelter and clothing putting them aitoo per cent of all more than per cent of their income on In Ontario per cent of all unattached Individuals spent more than per cent of their RELIGION Eastern non Christian Eastern Orthodox Jewish income on food shelter and clothing compared to 31 1 per cent in Hills The average total income for males In I960 in Canada was while in Hills the average male Income was Halton Region is The average total income for females in IBM was 414 while in Hills the average female income was Females In Halton Reg on average a total income of The average gross monthly rent in Canada is while average major monthly payment in Canada is In Canada IS ft per cent of the population have less than grade schooling white the figure Is 12 per cent for Hills Those who have between grade and grade 13 education in Canada represent per cent of the population compared to 49 per cent for Hills Researchers Inter In Hills will be hard ai work now that the Statistics Canada have released the findings of the 1981 long form census The form gathers information from a per cent sample or rather one out every five Canadians answer questions on family Income schooling monthly housing pay men Is and other topics The long form which is a favorite mark researchers has been available in booklet form for about three weeks although the microfiche tabulations have been out since the early summer Statistics Drove that Hills experienced any sub stantial growth since 1B78 The town has increased by only residents in the period In the same period nearby Milton increased their by while Halton Region bulged by Hills population as of 1981 is Hills is still very much different from the cultural mosaic of Toronto British origins rep resent per cent of the population while French origin accounts for per cent of the population English Is the mother tongue to all but 3 residents while French mother tongue residents total There are residents or 8 per cent of the population who are bilingual while ice people in town can speak neither of Canada official languages French is Ihe home language for people according to the census Eighty two per cent of the town residents were born In with 6 per cent coming from the United Kingdom and per cent originating from a European country Res dents from Central and South America or from As a represent 1 per cent of our total population According to the census Hills gained more lens born outside Canada In period after the second World War last until 1965 During that period there were 3 migrants who moved to HaJton Hills while in the period from 1981 there were people grating to lown The area has 605 people who are members of the Catholic faith The Protestant faith is represented by 155 members The United Church follower while the Anglican Church is affiliated with 375 people according to 1981 statistics An per cent of Ihe population is atheist listed as no religious preference which compares to Halton Region s figure Eastern Orthodox has followers while members of the Jewish faith live in Halton Hills Eastern nonChristian beliefs have 100 followers FAMILY INCOME Under 335 730 10000 14 15 1435 24 30 39 999 and over