These days, the museum’s annual “1812 Reenactment Weekend” has much more of a Living History focus, with reenactors from all over Ontario, Quebec and the United States recreating life as it was in Upper and Lower Canada during the early 1800s.
While the main event will take place this coming weekend, September 29thand 30th, many of the reenactors will show up early. Once again, they are generously donating their time on Friday to participate in an Education Day for local school kids. Over 240 Grade 7 & 8 students from Terre-des-Jeunes in Alexandria, Tagwi Secondary School in Avonmore and Char-Lan High School in Williamstown will visit Dunvegan to see their history lessons come to life. Learning stations around the museum grounds will explore everything from indigenous history and aspects of life in pioneer households to the battle of Crysler’s Farm and early education in Glengarry.
On Saturday and Sunday, the reenactors throw the gates open to the public. And I encourage you to stop by, if only for a few hours. You won’t regret it. For a minute-by-minute schedule of each day’s events, visit the Glengarry Pioneer Museum’s web site: GlengarryPioneerMuseum.ca. The daily offerings are too numerous to detail here, but blacksmith Pat Taylor did ask me to pass along his hope you’ll drop in to his shop. He and his fellow smiths will be forging a small anchor over the course of the weekend. Event organizer Jim Mullin also wanted me to mention that fresh produce, wood-fired baked breads, honey, historical clothing, cast-iron cookware, leather goods and more will be on sale in Sutler’s Row. Sutlers were civilian merchants who would travel with the troops and peddle their wares from a tent or the back of their wagon.
As always, the Dunvegan Recreation Association’s food tent will help quell any hunger pangs… and the Star Inn will slake your thirst with flagons of ale or sweet apple cider. Last but not least, the museum is introducing guided tours this year. Scheduled to start at 1:00 PM on Saturday and at 12:30 PM on Sunday, they’ll follow a similar format to Friday’s Education Day. The one-hour tours will include stops at four stations for an in-depth look at life in the early 1800s.
The gates will open — rain or shine — at 10 AM on both days. Admission to is $10 per day for adults ($5 for members) and $25 for families. Children under 12 are free. Dogs, aside from registered service animals, are prohibited on the grounds. One more cautionary notice concerns parking. Please use the designated areas and respect the no parking zone along Greenfield Road (County Road 30). The percussive noise of cannon-fire has been known to shatter windshields.
“Old Time” Service
This coming weekend, even the Presbyterian kirk in Dunvegan is getting into the 1812 spirit. Sunday at 9:30 AM, they will be holding an Old Time service led by Mackie Robertson. The tradition of sitting for hymns and standing for prayers will be observed. And to further add to the 19thcentury spirit of the service, velvet bags with wooden handles known as “tithe bags” will be used for the offering instead of plates. Re-enactors in full regalia will march to the church, and a number of the soldiers will participate in the service. Everyone within reach of this column, and beyond, is welcome to attend.
Glengarry treasures
Despite strong competition from Beau’s Oktoberfest “brewhaha”, the Small Halls concert at the DRA Hall last Saturday was a resounding success. Over 80 enthusiastic music lovers turned up for the show. And the pre-concert buffet dinner was sold out.
If you missed the event, it featured “Cassie & Maggie” as the headline act. Nominated for the Roots/Traditional album of the year at the 2018 Juno awards,Cassie and Maggie MacDonald put on a rousing performance of Celtic song and dance. That said, I felt that their amazing voices were often overshadowed by their instruments. This was especially obvious with their closing number: “Hangman.” In the version I saw on YouTube, the fiddle and guitar track served as the perfectly balanced background for their strong vocal talents. In their live performance, though, the opposite was true. Now this could have been a function of the hall’s acoustics… or the way the audio engineer mixed the sound sources. Either way, it was unfortunate. My research had indicated that these ladies know how to sing, and how!
While Cassie and Maggie were both excellent, my vote for best performance of the evening would have gone to the evening’s opening act:Gabrielle & Rachel Campbell. They were superlative, serving up a rich tapestry of tunes that ranged from driving Celtic rhythms to soft, soulful ballads. In a township already home to so many talented musicians, Glengarry is blessed to also have the Campbell family. If you have an opportunity to see them perform — singly or together — I suggest you grab it.
Per month, not per hour!
Way back in February, I put out an appeal on behalf of Royce MacGillivray, author of Dictionary of Glengarry Biography. He was writing an article about women from Eastern Ontario, especially the Glengarry area, employed as domestic servants in Montreal and elsewhere in the early 20thcentury. While the response was not tumultuous, a few readers did answer my request. So I passed their names along to Royce and moved on.
To be honest, Royce’s pending article slowly slipped from my mind. As a consequence, it was a complete surprise when a large brown paper envelope from Great Britain turned up in our mailbox a few weeks ago. The package contained a copy of the August 2018 issue of Familiesfeaturing Royce’s essay entitled: “The Invisible Domestic Servants: A Genealogical Mystery and Challenge.”
In his conclusions, one of Royce’s suggestions for further research is “how advertisements for domestic servants were written and distributed.” And in his Author’s Note at the very end of the article, he thanks Francis Fraser of Dalkeith for drawing his attention to one such ad in the January 6th, 1906 issue of the Glengarry News. It reads: “WANTED. Glengarry maids to fill positions as general housemaids, cooks, nurses. Wages, $10 to $18. Good positions guaranteed. General servants free of charge. Apply to Mrs. A. Jacobson. 70 MacKay Street, Montreal, Que.”
It’s a fascinating essay and, if you have the chance, I recommend you read it. You might be able to find a copy of the publication through the library. Or, you could enjoy the quarterly publication by joining the Ontario Genealogical Society. Their web site is: www.ogs.on.ca.
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