IN a township possessing so many natural advantages as Blanshard, one would suppose that a number of little villages would be found within its borders. Such is not the case. No doubt this is owing to the town of St. Marys being located near the centre of what is known as the “ Gore.” All the main roads converge in this, the commercial point where nearly all the trading is done, not only for a large portion of Blanshard, but for others of the surrounding municipalities. In St. Marys are found many large manufacturing establishments, and goods of every description can be obtained at such rates as leaves no inducement for people to purchase elsewhere. Immense quantities of farm produce are shipped from this place, an evidence of the fertility of the soil and the skill with which it is cultivated. Of the three villages or “corners” which have sprung up in the boundaries of the municipality, Kirkton must be awarded first place as to present population.

The first building in this pretty and prosperous little business centre was a small log house which stood on the edge of Fish Creek, in rear of the large brick store now owned and occupied by Shier & Marshall. Into this log house Timothy Eaton, now of Toronto, brought his stock of merchandise early in the fifties, for the accommodation of the settlers in that out-of-the-way section of country. In this log house also was opened, by Mr. Eaton, in 1856, the first post office between St. Marys and Exeter, a distance of over twenty miles. This backwoods emporium was erected on the eastern side of the road.

On the corner of lot 8, in the W. B. of Blanshard, a small brick cottage was next built and occupied by a gentleman by the name of Neelon. In this establishment Mr. Xeelon placed a stock of goods suitable to the requirements of the settler. Mr. Eaton removing to St. Marys about this time, the commercial interest of Kirkton fell into his hands. This building was afterwards remodelled and used for many years as a hotel. The hotel being abolished the old house was taken down, and the present large brick edifice erected by Mr. Taylor, its present occupant. Adjoining the hotel to the east stood a log house occupied by a shoemaker, where the brick building of Roadhouse & Brown now stands, and still further east Mr. John Callander had opened a blacksmith shop—the first in that section. In 1860 these were all the buildings in Kirkton on either side of the boundary.

In 1861 or ’62 a new frame store was erected by William and Robert Currie, on the site of the present dwelling north of Shier & Marshall’s.

The progress of this village was retarded for several years by the conduct of the proprietor of lot 9, on which is now built a large portion of the village. In 1859 he had cleared that corner of his farm, but persistently refused to sell any part of it for building purposes; and it was not until the place came into Mr. Doup’s possession that any great progress was made. Mr. Alexander Kirk had made a survey into lots of part of No. 8, and was followed soon after by Mr. Doup’s survey of No. 9. This action of these two gentlemen gave an impetus to building operations which has continued, with some intermissions, ever since.

The name Kirkton was given to the village in honor of the Kirk family, who were the pioneers in that section of Blanshard and the adjoining township of Usborne. Three of the brothers, Alexander, Lewis, and James, located on three of the farms on which the village is built; the other three brothers, David, Robert, and John, residing on adjoining lands. The site of the village is all that could be desired, occupying as it does the level grounds receding backwards from Fish Creek. It contains a number of residences that would do honor to more pretentious places. Side-walks are laid on all the principal streets, which are lined with shade trees whose foliage in the summer months affords a refreshing shade for the citizens. The present population is over 200.

Exactly one mile and a quarter to the south, on the same boundary line, lies the village of Woodham. How this village received its name we are unable to say. Previous to its being made a post office it was known only as the “ Corners.” This village was founded by an English gentleman by the name of Unwin. In 1859, when we first set foot in what is now Woodham, it contained one house on the corner of lot 12, and which building still stands. Mr. Unwin had bought a small stock of goods, the disposal of which was a supplementary aid to the profits accruing from his efforts on the farm which he occupied at the same time. On the opposite corner, where the post office is now located, the old woods still waved in luxuriance. On the other side of the road, in Usborne, workmen were busy erecting a hotel building for a Mr. Creary. Some distance north, another and most useful building was being erected for a grist mill, by a gentleman from London by the name of Campbell. These three buildings, with a shanty on the other corner, where lived one of the settlers, constituted, in 1860, the village of Woodham. Through the efforts of Mr. Unwin a post office was opened in 1862 or 1863, with himself as postmaster, and which office he retained while he remained in the municipality.

In later years a saw mill and pump factory have been added to the industries of the village, gravel side-walks have been laid down on the principal streets, and the great number of shade trees give the place a handsome appearance. In late years several beautiful residences have been erected by its citizens, indicating a progressive character and a desire to keep fully abreast of the advanced ideas of the times. The rivalry that existed for many years between these two places for precedence seems to have passed away, and a kindly interest is now manifested between them on all occasions. The village is composed of about thirty families, whose total number may be 150.

The third, and only other village in Blanshard, is Prospect Hill, situated on the boundary line of Biddulph. With the exception of one dwelling place, it is wholly in Blanshard. Although surrounded by a splendid section of country, Prospect, as it is called, has not been so progressive as the two sister villages of Woodham and Kirkton. Its situation is all that could be desired, standing as it does on what is perhaps the highest elevation in the township, and from which an excellent view can be obtained over a large section of country. The first post office in Blanshard outside of St. Marys was established by Mr. Bell at Fish Creek in 1852. It was afterwards removed to Prospect, where it has ever since remained.

Long before Woodham or Kirkton came into existence, this was an important point, and could boast of having two hotels for the accommodation of the travelling public. Previous to the building of the G. T. R., great quantities of produce passed through to London over the London and Proof Line road from Blanshard, Fullarton, and the country to the north. Every day long strings of teams were passing and repassing to and from the city, then the great commercial centre of the west. Prospect in those days was a place of considerable consequence.

In later years, however, the stream of commerce was . directed into other channels. The Grand Trunk had been built. St. Marys had grown into importance. A new village had sprung up at Granton, a few miles to the west, on the line of the railway. These places had the effect of destroying the traffic passing to London, and since then Prospect has somewhat fallen in the rear of the other villages in Blanshard. It still contains a good general store, blacksmith shop, and a few private residences as remnants of its former glory.

EDUCATION

To the matter of education for their children the early settlers of Blanshard contributed liberally of their means for its dissemination and support. Wherever a few pioneers had located, their first great effort was to erect a school-house for the training of their families. Humble little places they were, and destitute of all the conveniences and comforts of the fine buildings erected for educational purposes at the present day. In the centre of the little settlement, and usually at a cross-road, the old log school-house was built. Unpretentious it was, and in the summer months the boys made sad havoc with the chinking between the logs, for the purpose of letting in plenty of air to the little chamber. The furniture was of the most primitive kind. Around the walls on both sides were arranged the desks for the more advanced scholars. These desks were composed of a couple of boards laid on pins which had been driven into auger holes made in the logs that formed the wall. In front of these desks were benches made from plank, and in these at each end were auger holes in which were inserted pins for their support. For the smaller children, benches of the same description were set across the building, on which, day after day, they spent in listless weariness the hours prescribed for receiving their mental training. The door was always in the end of the little low building, and on the floor in front of it sat a great box stove which in the winter was kept at a glowing heat. At the farther end was placed the master’s chair. The walls were uneven, and ornamented here and there with a lonely map, which seemed as if it had lost its way and had been stuck upon the rough logs by mistake. In those little log school-houses on the corner some of Canada’s great men received the rudiments of their education.

But the whirligig of time brought its changes. The settlements grew and prospered, and with prosperity came the desire for better school accommodation for the education of the young and rising generation. That affectionate solicitude which is ever wakeful and watchful in the bosom of parents for the protection of their children, was soon productive of better things. Indeed, the improvement in the school premises in many instances was far in advance of the improvements in church edifices or the private dwellings of the people. It is now many years since the last log school-house in Blanshard passed out of existence. In every one of the fourteen sections into which the township is divided, comfortable and substantial buildings of brick or stone have been erected. In all of the schools the most elaborate and modern equipment, under an advanced system of education, is to be found. The school property and the committees in connection therewith are under the most careful inspection of officers appointed by the municipality. Every precaution is taken to insure the most perfect sanitary conditions on the premises and for the promotion of the health and comfort of the children.

At what precise period of time many of the first school sections in the township were formed it would be impossible for me to say, as no record is to be found in the archives of the municipality regarding the formation of the first section. In 1851 a motion was passed by the Council adopting certain by-laws then in force, “and that the said by-laws remain in full force and virtue until repealed.” By-law No. 8 of this code relates to the division of the municipality into school sections. It is therefore clear that the division had been made for school purposes previous to the passing of the Municipal Act. This by-law, together with several papers in connection with the early history of Blanshard, I have been unable to discover.

The Council of 1851, being the first Council acting under the new municipal law, was singularly fortunate in being able to dispose of school matters in such a summary way. The lines of their successors did not all fall in such pleasant places. The conflict over the existing boundaries and the formation of new school sections soon began, and continued to rage with almost unabated fury, in some parts of the municipality, till the year 1881, when union section No. 14 was brought into existence. This was the last section formed in the township, after an almost uninterrupted conflict of nearly thirty years. The question of school sections was one on which were wrecked the hopes of many an aspirant after municipal honors. At the Board, for nearly the whole period from 1852 up till 1870, the question of schools seems to have been kept up with great energy and determination. At one meeting a deputation would appear, and after giving certain explanations, the Board would place on record a motion giving effect to the desired scheme of the applicants. At the next meeting the opposing party would appear in force, and having given their views in language more forcible than elegant, the former motion would be rescinded and the whole affair be allowed to remain, as it is recorded, “in status quo.”

This state of affairs, to say the least, was not creditable to the Board. It appears to us, notwithstanding our high appreciation of municipal men, that the action of Council must have been founded to a great extent on the number and influence of the deputation with which they were dealing for the time being, rather than on the justice or fairness of the principles propounded by parties. The pledges which had been made by some of the legislators to their constituents, previous to their election, in the matter in dispute, were now openly and in rude and emphatic language thrown back. In extreme cases, if the councillor was not able by his intellectual superiority or by an exhaustive explanation of the fairness of the course he was pursuing, to satisfy the irate electors, recourse to physical arguments of the most convincing kind on more than one occasion settled the question.

It may fairly be said now, however, that out of the thirty years’ war of the school sections an order of things has been evolved that seems to give satisfaction to the great mass of the people. Indeed it is doubtful if better arrangements could be made regarding school boundaries than at present exist in the township. And such seems to be the feeling of the people, as since 1881 no legislation of any importance has been asked for by that Board in connection with the schools.

TOWNSHIP LIBRARY

The Council, having succeeded in establishing schools in the several sections which had been formed in the municipality, next turned its attention to giving further educational facilities to the people by establishing a township library. On the 25th day of November, 1853, at a meeting of the Board, it was moved by Henry Willis, seconded by Mr. Cathcart, that £50 be granted for the purpose of establishing a library for the people of Blanshard. This motion was carried with the approval of the whole Board. The Council, feeling itself in some degree inadequate to the proper carrying out of such an important matter as the selection of the books, at a subsequent meeting made further arrangements. On the 21st day of December, in the same year, on motion of Messrs. Hill and Cathcart, the whole Council was appointed a library committee. With this committee were named as associates, William Woods, Johnston Armstrong, Rev. Mr. Lampman, Dr. Wilson, J. K. Glendinning, J. R. Bennett, Dr. Wood, Dr. Coleman, and all the clergymen of all denominations. A township librarian was appointed, with a salary of four pounds per annum, and to give security in the sum of forty pounds ; the ward librarians to receive two pounds per annum for their services, and to give security in the sum of twenty pounds for the proper performance of their duties. The officers appointed to act in the several wards were: in No. 1, Thomas McIntosh, who was also township librarian. Mr. McIntosh received sixty-five volumes. This was, no doubt, for that portion of the municipality north of St. Marys. In ward No. 1 was also appointed Duncan McVannell, who received fifty-seven volumes for that portion of the ward south of St. Marys. In ward No. 2, John R Bennett was appointed, and received 133 volumes. In ward No. 3, William Sansburn was appointed, and received 136 volumes. In ward No. 4, Eliza Cathcart was appointed, and received 137 volumes. In ward No. 5, David Merrical was appointed, and received 137 volumes; thus making for the whole, 665 volumes. The institution, whatever may have been the idea of its promoters, did not last long, and could not be said to be a success. As to the selection of the works by the committee, judging from those we have seen, they appear to have done their duty with excellent judgment.

CHURCHES

Prior to the year 1859, Blanshard contained but few churches, and those it did contain were not of a very substantial order. The west end of the township had no churches at all. It must not be inferred, however, that because there existed no churches there were no religious observances. On the contrary, indeed, many of the old pioneers were very devout, and paid strict attention to their religious duties. All the denominations that exist in the township to-day were in existence then. The true worship of Grod does not require the “long drawn aisle and fretted vault” to make it acceptable. That joy and peace arising from a close communion with the Most High can be found at the altar raised in the log shanty in as great degree as if the worshipper bent his knee amid pomp and ceremony under the dome of an ancient cathedral. In the various log buildings erected for school purposes the services were held, and when these were not convenient, then the doors of the settlers were always open to the minister who desired to impart religious instruction to the people. Previous to 1859 a Presbyterian Mission had been established at Anderson, on the second concession, and of which mission Mr. Alexander Wood, now of Nissouri, was a most earnest worker. After Mr. Wood removed from Blanshard the services of the Presbyterian body were no longer maintained. A portion of the members united with the Motherwell congregation, and another portion in the west end of the district joined with a part of the township of Usborne, and established what is now Mr. Colin Fletcher’s church, at the head of the third concession of Blanshard. On the Mitchell road, Mr. Johnston Armstrong and others established what is now the Zion congregation. At Prospect Hill the English Church had established a mission and erected a church. The Presbyterians had also raised a church at the lower end of the tenth concession, on the farm of Mi*. William Hamilton. The Methodist body also erected a church near the same place. A log church in connection with the Anglican body had also been erected on the corner of lot five, on the sixth concession.

In 1860 a revival seems to have set in with regard to church building. Till this period the Methodists and the Presbyterians both held their services in the old log scliool-house at Kirkton, which then occupied the spot where the present brick school-house now stands. The Rev. John Fotheringham was then Presbyterian minister in what is now Mr. Fletcher’s congregation. Steps were being taken by both bodies for the erection of churches, and shortly after, the Methodist body erected in Kirkton the first brick church ever built in Blanshard. The Presbyterians also erected, about the same time, the old stone church one mile and a quarter to the north. A new church was also erected by the Anglicans in Kirkton, and which at the present time is about to be removed for a handsome brick building on the same site.

The several bodies into which the Methodist Church of to-day was then divided seemed to vie with each other in building churches; and with such zeal and energy did they pursue this craze for church building that in a few years the township of Blanshard contained or contributed to nearly a score of churches. After that great change in the policy of the Methodist body which has led up to her splendid position of to-day, by a united effort for the extension of her principles, a new order of things has been brought about. When the union was finally consummated, a number of churches were allowed to fall into disuse. The union of the several congregations added strength financially and numerically to the society, which previously had wasted its energy in fighting a part of itself. Thus any one of the old buildings was found to be too small to accommodate the increased congregation that now worshipped together under the same roof.

New churches had therefore to be built; and in this connection the people of Blanshard have shown a most liberal spirit.

The first move in the line of erecting new buildings was begun in the village of Kirkton several years ago, when a splendid edifice was raised on the site of the old brick one. This innovation on the part of Kirkton was followed by Anderson, and Zion on the Mitchell Road, where handsome and substantial brick buildings have been erected. These three churches, with the fine building at McIntyre’s, the brick church at Woodham, the frame church on the tenth concession, and Cooper’s church on the base line, and the frame church at Prospect, are all the Methodist churches now in Blanshard. Outside of the town of St. Marys, the township does not contain a Presbyterian church. The Anglican body has a church at Prospect. It may be said, however, that the Methodists own all the church property in Blanshard with the exception of the small building at Prospect Hill.

Thus has passed away the old order of things, and in the great march of progress all seems to have changed. In the short period of sixty years the old woods have nearly all been cleared away. The corduroy roads and the stumps are no longer seen. The oxen and the sled are gone. The log barns are rotted away or burned up. The old cradle and the hand rake are seldom used now. The old log school-house on the corner is long a thing of the past. The old church, too, has been changed. Its environment has also changed. In the grassy plot around where it stood are numerous mounds over which the weeds solemnly wave. These were not there sixty years ago. The old shanty with its hallowed associations has passed away. The old clay fire-place, the chain and the hook that hung from the lug-pole, the old bake-kettle that sat on the hearth, the old benches that stood by the walls, all are gone. The old familiar faces that sat around the great old fire-place sixty years ago and told the old stories of their early homes far away, they too are nearly all gone and sleeping—sleeping in the years of the long ago.