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Publishers contributed to the life of Acton Centennial Section The Acton Free Press July JH Hacking Taken from Ihc Free Press of April 1605 Mr J H Hacking the founder of the Free Press died at the home of his son-in- law Mr Henry Hill Buf falo on Thursday after a lenthy illness His ailment was something similar to that of the late Rev G Cooke Mr Hacking was for many years the publisher of the Banner which was perhaps hit most successful enterprise He sold the Banner about years ago removed to and engaged in the publication of the Daily Advertiser with Mr Elliott now the proprietor of the Times as foreman The competition in Guelph was very keen and events proved that the town could not successfully main tain three dailies Mr Hacking then turned his attention to Acton and after consultation with the businessmen of this place found that a local newspaper would be welcomed ana was promised encouraging support On July 1B75 he issued the first number of the Free Press which has regularly appeared every week without interruption In 1877 Mr Hacking disposed of his youthful Journalistic child to Messrs Moore and Gal- bra it h find returned to engaging for some time in the Job printing business Subse quently he went to Clifford and established the Arrow Shortly after this activity in the commercial capital of the North West attracted his attention and he removed to Winnipeg and secured the ion as foreman of the Press Job department which situation he filled successfully for some time For several years his health has been falling and he found the severe winters of Manitoba very trying Last fall he removed to Buffalo and has resided there since His first wire died In Winnipeg several years ago He subsequently married a Miss Allan In that city who with three daughters well as two sons survives him J If Hacking was a firstclass printer an upright and conscientious business man a loving husband and father and a worthy citizen of any community where he resided His interest in Acton was always manifest and the success of the Free Press throughout Its career was a matter of personal gratifi cation to him His remains were Interred at the family plot at Listowcl the home of his early years on Saturday April 1895 Pap that included the full gamut of reading material was a par tner with T Albert Moore In the publication of The Acton Free Press in its early days The partners followed found er Joseph Hacking Mr Hacking after publish ing from to 1877 conclud ed the 14 miles that separated his business in from the one in Acton was not satisfactory and agreed to sell to the new partners In future the Free Press will be conducted by Messrs Moore and Galbraith he wrote Mr Galbraith was named editor of the four page from a continued novel on the front page through the mis cellaneous local national and world news that was common in publications of that era The partners set out an in dependent course for the paper refusing to espouse either the Grit or Tory line They also added a new card press and other requisites to a well conducted printing of fice On July 18 187B it was re ported thot Editor Galbraith had accepted position with the Montreal Evening Post and he left the fledgling Acton paper then in its third year of publication Faithful to Mr it ml who In authority me In inl u authorised no In win it to l In omen and In I ho I ho win in lu irt nucmntiri in out edition ho on drnnndn of Urn frit- lofinlrn It I nil llilo to fmii 1inrn up nil type I may find ti office flour Mm office flour Initi rtrV Burning imllor In In iinn ami nlwnyn in tidy table During nil III Tier- wy- and In older fintit tin It In will thorn to no to Mm by noven oclock It In tine ti return homo for my DiUs From The Free Press of January one uloltl tint Pre rfice that none to In with my work or that I Ion le the off ion I further agree to fror the any Inf no ml iye Moore The Rev Albert Moore was the first apprentice of the Acton Free Press and later rose to become part owner of the publication later aban doning printing for a career in the church He became moderator of the United Church of Canada It was as a member of the partnership of and Moore that purchased the newspaper from the founder Joseph Hacking that the Moore family first became associated with the Acton newspaper Both were des cribed as enterprising prac tical printers when in they became the papers Albert Moore was pub- lisher He and his partner acknowledged in 1878 that compliments go a great wuy in encouraging an editor but It will not support him It is a well known fact that it takes a great deal of money to run a newspaper and we would like it If those who arc in arrears would come and settle at once When the editor S W Gal braith took a position with the Montreal Evening Post T Albert Moore took as part ner P Moore as manager The Moore partnership was dissolved June 30 1B79 and H P Moore continued sole owner until establishing a partnership with G A Dills in nil bo truthful will I In nil renuonnble 1111 beit to advance onto of and a to bnrrru It arranged that bo om- ey ami t hey 1111 he Indented by Acton Ctii Hay HP Moore Taken from the Free Press of Thursday July 1931 The robins in the maples sang lustily last Saturday afternoon as the casket en casing the body of H P Moore Judge churchman newspaperman friend and lover of children and birds wan carried out from the home he loved so well on Church Street Acton That man needs no monument noted one of the throng who had come to pay their respects He has it in the bird nouses he has built around him You dont know the half of it brother commented another more familiar with the situation He has built monuments In the hearts of scores of children not only In Acton but all over Ontario to whom he has given bird houses but he has left something even better than that in the respect he engendered in the warm friendships he made In the good deeds he did for his native town and for the folk within his magisterial juris diction On the Friday evening previous a little girl of perhaps nine stood looking for a moment with the hundreds of others at the face which had smiled down at her frequently In life He made a bird house for my little sick brother she noted with childish Ingeniousneas And then be got better and painted it and a Bird came In it every year And then my brother died but the birds still come Typical Perhaps It is that sort of thing typical of hundreds of similar Incidents running back through half a century that P Moore would rather be remembered by To those who loved him that type of legacy is vastly greater than all the honors of his pro fession as well as of church and state which were bestowed on him in generous measure For above and beyond everything else H P Moore was first of all friend counsellor and helper Another type of tribute lust as significant in Its ex pression came the next morning when a man whom Magistrate Moore in his official duty had committed for a term to a government penal institution brought a bouquet he himself had gathered He was square with me he said I only got what was coming to me Ive always remembered him kindly The more ordinary payment of respect came in the throngs who came from distant points from adjacent counties from the county round about and from the home village in numbers beyond the capacity of any church or ordinary building and who stood reverently appreciatively while the service was being conducted and while the robins sang their praise under the blue sky of a perfect July day Usual routine Magistrate Moore to be in splendid up to the Saturday before his death The previous Wednesday evening he had given an address Including a very considerable amount of Information as to the early settlers of the district at a garden party at Churchill Later In the week he had held court In and Milton following his usual routine On Saturday morning just at breakfast time when he was working with the flowers he loved at his home he suffered a seizure In the abdomen which caused exquisite pain Later In the day a specialist was brought from Toronto as consultant with the family physician and was felt that with due rest the ailment might be tided over Every effort was made to alleviate the primary condition and on Wednesday distinct Improvement seemed to be evident On Thursday morning however after a trying night the heart known for some time to be affected wore itself out and the end came quietly if suddenly It may safely be said one thinks without any suggestion of exaggeration that few towns have had a more representative or more helpful citizen than H P Moore Born in Acton on the spot where he later built the family home on October 18 he loved his town and was from boyhood to the time of his death zealous and energetic in its interests After attending the Public School in Acton he was at Academy and Albert College Belleville Publisher As a young man Henry Moore spent some years in the stave and shingle mill operated by his father north of the present CNR line and later worked In the tannery operated under the Moore and Storey interests Just about fifty years ago he became interested in THE FREE PRESS and as a young man in partnership with his brother Albert now Rev Dr T Albert Moore assumed the responsibility for the publication of the paper which he continued until four years ago In 1879 he married Harriet Isabella Speight daughter of John Speight another Acton Perhaps It is clent to say that there has never been any other woman in his life A personal characteristic thoroughness and a liking for which was evident In his person his home his business soon found itself reflected in the newspaper which in later years came to be familiarly dubbed by the editors newspaper associates the dude weekly of Ontario Through THE FREE PRESS the editor fought for the best for his town lending his influence to every good cause and frequently fighting battles against what seemed unworthy and towering movements During his work as editor he was closely associated with the Canadian Press Association and developed some of his finest friendships among the members In he was honored with the Presidency of this body Offices In 1875 Mr Moore was Clerk and Treasurer of the Municipality of Acton was for fortyfour years Sec retoryTre usurer of Acton Board of Education and for years up to the time of his death a member of the Acton Library Board These offices give some idea of the faith fulness of his service for his town outside of his newspaper influence Probably however Moore made as great a con tribution to the church of his choice as in any other depart ment of his life Just how great this was may be judged from the fact that for thirty- three years he was Super intendent of Acton Methodist Sunday School was a member of the Official Board for fortyfour years a member of the Trustee Board of the church for forty years and its secretary for nineteen years He was given various honors by the church being elected repeatedly to Annual as well as to General Conferences for years In he was elected a member of the Book Committee the board of direction of the churchs publishing house and held this office con tinuously til Union was con summated in 1926 At that time he was chosen chairman of the newlyformed board which position was held till his death A member of the committee on Church Onion he was subsequently elected a commissioner to the first two General Councils of the United Church In education circles he had held office as a member of the Board of Albert College Belleville since and was last year elected a member of the Senate of Victoria University Magistrate During his later years his magisterial work came to claim a very large part in his lire Over years ago he was appointed as J P in he was named Police Magistrate for the Counties of Helton Peel and Wellington and in an orderIn council designated him Judge or the Juvenile Courts throughout his Jurisdiction In his courts he was notably just and ab solutely fearless He may have made the occasional mistake though surprisingly few appeals have been made against his decisions and in very few cases indeed have these been successful At other times particularly with first offenders or when there had been mitigating circum stances he was exceedingly kind As in other things in his magisterial work he became deeply Interested In the organization for furthering the interest or the profession For a number of years he worked energetically in the Ontario Magistrates Association and In was elected President In his work in this office he made a material contribution for the betterment of the organ ization Op to this point these para graphs have been devoted In the main to P Moores work and it will be realized that he worked hard as was necessitated by the enormity of varied interests suggested But he also played hard and In his own good way From his boyhood as he has been familiarly known in his home town has loved to handle a trout rod The streams in the Acton vicinity were naturally stocked in the early days providing excellent and the editors greatest outdoor relaxation has been to spend an af ternoon with a friend latterly usually with his son on one of the streams in the neighbor hood Through the years he had developed almost an uncanny knowledge of lore and It was unusual that he did not return at the end of the day with at least double the number taken by any other member of the party Anyone who knows his home on Church Street Acton would know of another hobby flowers and gardening With large foresight he purchased the lot on which his father had lived and the family hod grown up after the home had been broken up planted the properly witn fruit and ultimately erected the home over thirty years ago Everyone In Acton knows the gardens with flower borders trimmed like a Beau Brum m el with a new haircut with a rose garden the Magistrates particular pride which presented blooms from June till December On the other section of the property ex tensive vegetable gardens usually provided the best of everything in the vegetable world Another hobby Four years ago when he disposed of Free Press to G A Dills the present pro prietor Judge Moore began the development of another hobby Storting with the construction of a few bird houses for his own property he began to build them In large numbers- The use of hammer saw and plane seemed to give him the outlet he needed for his abundant physical activity and scar cely a day went by no matter the season but that an hour or two were spent in his cellar work shop fabricating bird houses of almost every type There are a hundred or more of those bird houses made with his own hands in Acton most of them given to children They maybe seen In the trees and around the homes In every section of the town There arc scores of them In Toronto Others have been carried east to Quebec and others again north to Some of his friends knowing his active tempera ment had been somewhat fearful on his retirement from his strenuous news paper work lest his time should hang heavy on his hands But lie found in this unusual occupation a hobby which not only served the purpose of keeping him busy but also gave him a great deal of pleasure and provided an immense amount of Joy for the children who were favored with his production On Victoria Day an event occurred which was not only significant but gave Judge Moore a great deal of satis faction and pleasure While he and Mrs Moore were in England with the Canadian Editors party in they met in quite an incidental way Sir Harry who at that time was the sitting member of the municipality of Acton England in the British House of Commons As a result Mr and Mrs Moore visited the English Acton and various amenities have since been exchanged including a coat of arms from the English town which hangs ia the town hall here This spring Sir Harry Brittaln was in New York on some mission for the British government and made opportunity to visit the Canadian Acton While here he was the guest of Judge and Mrs Moore and took occasion to make himself thoroughly acquainted with the town A friend In all this it seems Is surely the record of a worthy citizen But with ft again goes the spirit of a warmhearted friend something which cannot well be dwelt on in on article of this kind Judge Moores body was carried out while the robins song But he is not dead A good man lives in the things he has done for the friends he has made in the influence he has left And P Moore has left a spiritlegacy of this kind just as surely as he made friends while he lived The service in the home on Saturday afternoon while one of the most largely at tended the town has ever seen was dignified and simple Just that Conducted by his pastor Rev Clarence Poole B D sections of the service were taken by Rev C W Bishop DD Principal of Albert College as rep resenting the Board by Rev S D Chown who came especially to represent the Moderator of the United Church by Rev Charles President of Hamilton conference by Rev S DD as rep resenting the Board of Publications of the Church and by Rev George Little the secretary of the same board The casket was bo me out by fellowelders of the local church men with whom he worshipped from Sunday to Sunday Survivor Mrs Moore and the only son J Moore are left In the home Besides this his sisters Mrs Lyman of St Clair Mich Mrs of Toronto and the brothers Rev Dr Albert Moore and S Moore both of Toronto were present at the funeral The death IohI Thursday of George Dills in his year of The Acton and The Canadian Champion Milton ended a life of rich service to his com munity and to his profession In 1958 The Acton Chamber of Commerce had named him towns first Citizen of the Year That same year he wan honored by members of his profession when The Canadian Weekly News papers Association named him an Honorary Life Member and the provincial association named him Mr Weekly Newspaperman of the Year A lifelong resident of Acton where he obtained his education he was always Its proud defender and public champion while he pressed for its progress directly in the field of community service as well as from the editorial chair of its paper fie was not on provincial and national topics either and his editorial writings were frequently quoted Mr apprenticed in the printing trade under the late II P Moore in 1909 and later breadth of practical experience in Toronto Guelph Kingston and New York State In he returned to Acton and the Acton Free Press where he installed the countys first linotype mo- chine to reduce the laborious hand setting of type In he married and the following year be came partner with P Moore in The Acton Free Press In 1927 he became sole owner of the paper During years with the Acton paper he coauthored Actons Early Days which was compiled from a series of newspaper columns that appeared under the name The Old Man of the Clocktower He was an active member of The Acton Citizens Band and his memory was rich with recollections of parades and Minstrel Shows lie served as a director and was president of Acton Fall Fair in In he was presented with an Agri cultural Service Diploma He was an Honorary Life Member of Acton Fall Fair He was a member of the Acton Library Board the Acton Public School Board Walker Lodge and Trinity United Church He served chairman and as a member of the North High School District Board for a number of years He was the first president of the Acton Board and played an active role in establishing that facility in the com munity For a number of years he was on the advisory committee for the School of Graphic Arts at Institute of Technology He was Justice of the Peace for many years and was active in Ihe Liberal party in Acton and His editorship of The Acton Free Press kept him at the table of Acton Council for years he played an active role in Victory Loan Cam paigns A Mosquito bomber was named after the town during one of those cam paigns for the promotional work he developed He was a member of the executive of the Intermediate Hockey Club and saw the team win its championship in 1939 War Service work and a host of other projects were included in his Interest In 1943 he purchased The Canadian Champion Milton and soon It with the Acton paper In the winners circle for national weekly newspaper honors During his association with the business that spanned years he saw and particle In expansion from four employees to the present As one of the founding members of The Canadian Weekly Newspapers Associ ation he enjoyed with Mrs Dills a number of con ventions particularly In later years He served as a director of the national organization and as chairman of the Executive Committee for a number of In 1958 illness forced him to discontinue his active partici pation in the daytoday of the business but he continued as president of the Dills Printing and Publishing Co Ltd which he formed in 1954 Until recently he made almost daily trips to the Acton plant and retained a keen interest in its ac tivities His life was one of many loves He loved his family his work his community and a new challenge The printing plant in Acton which acquired in 1927 was always a second family home His children were always welcome and early in life they were challenged with an opportunity to be useful His work placed heavy demands on him physically and mentally and the busy yean of the second world followed in close succession the depression years with struggles common to that era His acquisition of the Milton paper in 1943 came at a time when he might have been forgiven for expecting to take life a little easier but ha enjoyed the challenge il provided The acquisition of new plant facilities in Acton in aroused his keen interest although he was physically limited and prevented from playing an active role in the resulting move His keen assessment of planning and negotiations however were ever present in the trans act 10a The funeral service was held Saturday from the Funeral Home conducted by the Rev Engel of Trinity United Church Acton Inter ment was in Ceme tery A Masonic service was held Friday evening Those acting as pallbearers were former Acton Mayor TylerSr longtime employee J R nephew A Lodge and Church associate ft Elliott former Milton mayor C Gowland and secretary- manager of the Ontari6 Weekly Newspapers Association Leavens Bolton He is survived by his wife Macphcrson a daughter Frances Mrs C Prosser two sons David of Acton and James A of Milton and one sister Myrtle Mrs Pi Browning Toronto Pri deceasing him were one George Macphenwn Dills a brother Park and three sisters Blanche Mrs Bob Etta and T Workman Those of us who worked with him and those of us who were his family naturally feel a great sense of loss for enthusiasm Imagination and love of challenge were rich assets he freely shared