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BEVEL Goan PART THREE Last month we learned that two years after the death of Alex R. Wilson, his wife Mary lost interest in the family’s island estate and sold it to Harry S. Ely and his wife Freda. In this, the final part of our series on Seven Mile Island, we will take a look at the changes that have taken place at the estate since September 1943 when the Ely family walked onto the property as its new owners. Following the death of her husband, Mary Wilson lost interest in the estate and about two years later, on September 4, 1943, she sold Seven Mile Island for a mere $18,000 to Harry S. Ely and his wife Freda. Mr. Ely was one of a group of four men who joined forces to purchase the prop- erty but before the deal closed, his three partners backed out, leaving Mr. Ely to arrange financing for the purchase on his own. Harry Ely was the owner of "VanKirk Chocolate Corporation,” a choco- late manufacturing company located at 301 King St., Toronto. The com- pany made chocolates and chocolate bars for a variety of stores, including Loblaws, Dominion and Eatons, and also provided chocolate bars under the "VanKirk” name for movie theaters. He was probably most famous for developing a baking product under the brand name "Chipits.” Harry Ely passed away when he was only 41-years-old, but the firm continued under the management of his wife, and later with the help of Freda’s second husband, Henry L. (Harry) Fogler. The VanKirk company was sold to an American firm, and was later purchased by the Hershey Co. "Chipits” are still produced by Hershey today, using the same logo designed by Harry Ely more than 60 years ago. Mrs. Freda (Ely) Fogler, now more than 93 years of age, remembers that when they purchased Seven Mile Island from Mary Wilson, it was in a state of disrepair and neglect. "The lawns looked like hay fields,” she said, and remembered working "like fiends” to cut down the waist high grass and clean up the property. While owner of Seven Mile Island, Harry Ely also purchased two farms adjacent to the island estate, but out- side the main gates on the mainland of Scugog Island. Mrs. Fogler recalled that the family was not initially received with open arms in the community, speculating it may have had some- thing to do with them being Jewish. Gradually the family did become accepted, and they did much of their shopping in town for groceries and. summer clothing. She particularly remembered shopping at Bentley’s Hany and Freda Ely with their daughter Elizabeth at Seven Mile Island in 1948. 38 FOCUS - AUGUST 2010