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-wp- attracted bv naturql beoutv the acton free praia w november 29 1967 petersons buy old rock anodwr to the series of prise wlnnlnc essays by wtudehts on on history of tte rockwood area is pub lished this week anna peterson chose her own house and its surroundings as her subject research revealed a much more in teresting history than the petersons inspected when they bought the house the story of our home by anna peterson when history is lost it can aever by recovered again said dr h templin in here and there in eramosa the book by frank day there are no pioneers living today so an the first hand infor mation is lost bat stul mere are very many elderly people who are very happy to tell yon of their old memories jf this in formation is not collected in a few years it may be lost the gathering of old data requires a special interest in history and a great- deal of time but in view of its value such efforts are very worthwhile in this writeup i have tried to collect as much information as possible in the time available but i must admit there are some important tacts missing ihave interviewed a number of people who are connected with the past of this property however for additional data i believe church books township books and early newspapers should be examined general description our house ts located in rock wood off main street opposite george street it consists of lots one to nine and some addit ional land in concession no 4 totaling about six acres two of them are clear and four are swamp and bush in 1963 my father noticed an advertisement in the paper off- ering this property for sale when we first visited this place we were attracted by its natural beauty we were charmed by the nigged cliffs and the bubbling stream we liked it so much mat later on in discussion we children offered our little sav ings tor the down payment we became owners of the pro perty on august 27 1963 when all the official documents were signed by earl rlcharson who at that time was residing inguelph the property had been in the richardson family for three gen erations as far as i was able to find oat earls grandfather ralph bought this land from henry strange who owned a large part of hockwood it appears that at that time this property was used as a shingle mill ralph died at about 65 of pneumonia while he was helping his brother at his mill in another township he was buried there his son john inherited the property and lived on it to a ripe old age of 97 born in 1864 died in 1961 he wasburiedinrock- wood cemetery the property came into the hands of earl rich ardson who had another property in guelph so he sold it to my parents at the time of purchase we did not realize the historical back ground of the various remains and buildings after we found rubis of the first mill grade nine course subject for home school meeting various parts of buggies and cof fins did we become interested in the past activities of this prop erty after cleaning up all the scattered wooden parts it was revealed to us more building than we had realised we found i map in the hydro office in rockwood which showed us the location icf the building the house the house which is now two storied was a one storey cottage in ralph richardsons time around the 19308 the second storey was built on the con tours of the old house can still be seen on the outside at the same time a sunporch was added and the basement enlarged the celling are supported by rough cedar beams which still have the bark on them an old coal burner was re cently replaced by modern gas furnace the house has ten large rooms and in the unfinished wing there are four smaller rooms which we use as storage rooms natural beauty of the area attracted the petersons to the atone home beside the creek were famous at the turn of the century farmers used to bring down their own wood to be cut and then paid by leaving some grain cowhide eggs or other produce they also used the sawdust to bed their animals the shingle mill was on the first floor and the workshop where they made coffins and window sills are almost three feet thick by mrs f taylor selection of grade 9 courses win be the theme of the novem ber meeting of rockwood home and school tt will take the form of a panel discussion with lorne fox principal of j f ross cvx and mr morrison vice principal also of j f ross grant merae and bob loveprin- marlon principal of eramosa public school and blair sinclair and brenda smith students grant mcrae win be moder ator an grade seven and eight students in the township 167 in auare invited with their parents to hear this interesting discuss ion and ask questions about this most important matter this is planned for thursday evening november 30 in the jjochwoopv centennial audhpr- when flooded it was used for skating methodist church land was given to the church by ralph richardson in agree ment that if the church was torn down the land was to come back to the owner the church was finished in 1856 and was located on the west side of the branch creek beside the main road a detailed report of the open ing day ceremony can be found in the book here and there in eramosa the church was a brick build ing 30 by 40 feet and served un til 1925 at that time it joined the presbyterian church and be came the united church after the union they tore down the building and only a few founda tions remain not far from the church there was a stable where the people tied up their horses mr h ed wards went to sunday school there mr harris was the churchs last secretarytreas urer acknowledgements i would like to express my sincere thanks to all the people who sup plied me with information for this writeup especially i am thanking mr earl richardson previous owner guelph mrs eva henderson his sisterguel- ph h edwards ss royce c f obrien ch harris remaining wall of water wheel house ruins of the methodist church run for three trustee seats dec 4 two year term in rockwood by mrs f taylor rockwood the nomination meeting for trustees tor the vil lage of rockwood was held on friday evening a good represen tation of residents met in the rockwood town hau and when nominations closed at 830 pm the following names had been election for eramosa 1 couadl school board w rv m move deputy by mrs f taylor cjbarmraasurer lloyd hindley waa appointed chairman of the eramosa township nomination maatlat bald in rockwood town hall on saturday afternoon it was the largest attendance a nomination tor many years and the increase was attributed by many to the saturday innovation the chairman called on era- moeas reave warden cameron lush who spoke mainly on the workings at county council as it fleets the township mr lush thanked all who had worked and eooperated with him in the past year and said it was indeed an education and a thriu to be war- qau during the centennial year ha stated he intended to let his same stand tor election fred coxthe township deputy- reave said ha felt this had been a year of progress in the town ship he said he had enjoyed the ooouaittees on which he had ser ved in bouaty councu and was as jet oadecided as to whether or not he would let his name stand toralectlon cwntuoc earl mckensle thiahart an for their cooperation la the past and told of many mat ters attended to during the year by e h tea this year he weald ant aland tot reelection qbnacinor dane mcphedran wa as yet undecided as to his staid for election he waa cjrite convened over theproposedam- althaatjoa of the township school boaren into one township board bwtf these plana am most inde- fia aft tin prases jtm munt stated ha would let ma name stand tar depotyrteve and reviewed the past years work he extended an invitation for an to come to the official op ening of the municipal building and new township garage on dec 2 a local talent variety prog ram win be held with a dance fouowing chairman of the eramosa school board murray smeltzer gave a detailed review of the ex penses incurred by the new cen tennial school and other schools in the township he was as yet undecided as to whether or not to let his name stand for reel ection doug bottenham will again run tor school board he reviewed the new kindergarten set up and other items dealt with during the year ross mcdougall was undecided as to his plans but gave a good report on the transportation area under the board bob leslie who joined the board daring the year to fill the vacancy toil by dr rj hilton wlu let his name stand for el ection lloyd waddeu who covered the area of personnel win also let his name stand these offices will for the first time be for a two year term a short discussion on township matters followed and other nom inees were called on for n few words joe oakes was as yet undecid ed j hewitt qualified for coun cil david storey declined peter dudnick qualified for council al so barton huland bui adsett george smith and m wolfe conveyed their intentions to let their names stand for school board slated ken murray norm brain jh smith mrs systke drijber lv hilts bert pinkney herb saunders and dd gray an interesting discussion took place on several important issues incorporation and the highly the guelph suburban district high school board representa tive b1u jackson was called on for a few words as was ross gordon a member of the nass- agaweya township council those whose names were slat ed at close of nominations were- reeve c lush and j oakes deputy j milne d mc phedran j oakes f cox coun cil w parkinson j hewitt d storey w oakesd mcphed ran p dudnick r hiu andwm adsett those qualifying at monday noon deadline were reeve cameron lush by acclamation and jim milne by acclamation for deputyreeve for council duncan mcphe dran warren parkinson bill adsett j hewitt burton hiu and peter dudnick those qualifying for school board were murray smeltzer ross mcdougall rob ert leslie lloyd waddeu george smith and morris wolfe election day in eramosa is december 4 unsafe condition of the highway bridge for pedestrians when snow becomes piled on the sidewalk- also discussed were the sewer system and water mains as weu as the safety of school children crossing at the stop signs on guelph and inkerman streets several members of council township present were asked to say a few words at the saturday deadline for qualifying the only names stand ing were don hilts lv hius ken murray and jh smith three are to be elected on dec 4 this is for a two year term the window sills are about sixteen inches wide and are a convenient place for flowers and other articles hi the dining room sttu stands an old buffet bought in toronto by john rich ardson drinking water used to be at he pump outside but when we noved in it was connected to the iressure system all rain wat- r is collected and gathered in no tanks under the floor which ts used for hot water around the house there are many lilac trees and fruit trees some of the apple trees are very old and hollow in the spring when they are in bloom they are very fragrant and beautiful stable a short distance away from the house is the stable it is a stone structure with four wooden staus the upper part where the hay was kept for the horses was blown off during a storm the horses were usedtodeliv- er cut shingles to the customers mow the stable is empty and cov ered with a plastic to protect it from water damage mill the shingle mlu was the main business of the family it was started by ralph richardson and carried on by his son john the richardsons shingles buggies on the second floor now where the two storey build ing stood only a few foundation stones remain john richardsons brother wiu helped john with the work at the min he died at the young age of fifteen as a result of an accident in the mlu when a brok en blade flew and cut off disarm he bled to death for two years eara4l s day in those days that was quite a high pay because everything was cheaper for example a pound of liver for 2 and an ox tail for soup a nickel the waterwheel was removed in 1963 by h edwards the wat er now runs freely and its power is unused there is not much information available about the ruins down stream from the just described mlu earl richardson beard that it bad been a mill and then a distillery it was later des troyed by fire the miupond is overgrown by buurushes and marshgrass ckri4tm49lfu for the ii 0 lady or man in your life yardley gift sets shulton gift sets chanel no 5 gift sets evening of paris on the wind maja gift sets hair dryers shop at our giftware island see our selection of laura secord candies cakes chocolates acton pharmacy your savings earn good interest at your local trust company xssssssshk x lleatlnft call us acton 1530640 roil au you plumbing and heating installations a mpalts business location 17 mill st w behind acton ezewath eelew dannys insurance for any service werfe call collect guelph 213264 a l rkemer limited i would appreciate the opportunity to serve another term as councillor for the township off esquesing reelect 1 to 5 year guaranteed investment certificates amounts 100 100000 come in and ask us about it georgetown 53 mill street 87722o6 john a edgar manager north halton advisory board john t armstrong chairman rcford gardhouse maurice c besty michael lcdwnh john gov dr b d young w j beatty vicepresident and local director convenient office hours mon triors 900 500 fridays til 600 halton peel trust a savings company head offica oakville other trench offices brampton simcoe burlington delhi cobksville milton assets under administration exceed 79000000 member canada deposit insurance corporation