We’re going to start off this week’s column with news about non-dead people. We’ll save the history for a bit later; it’s not going anywhere. Kenny and Annette MacLeod, on the other hand, are. Last week, the little modern-log home they purchased a few years ago from Marj Munroe sold in record time. This, in turn, allowed the couple to close a deal on their next abode. Kenny tells me it has nearly everything they were looking for: single-storey, large detached workshop for his growing trapping business, enough land so they don’t feel cramped and a much longer laneway. The only problem is that it’s at the north end of Greenfield. For the first time in — well, ever — Kenny won’t be able to call Dunvegan home. As for the lucky sods who get to move in next door to Bruce and Lynn MacGillivray, I don’t have a whole lot of details at this stage. However, I can tell you it’s a family with young children. Something that our little hamlet (and the Dunvegan Recreation Association, assuming we can get its engine turning over post-Covid) needs more of. Best of luck to Kenny and Annette in their new home. We’ll miss Kenny’s little putt-putt machine zipping up and down Dunvegan Road piled high with varmint traps.
If sign’s by the road…
Since we’re on to a ‘moving’ theme, I wanted to voice a belated welcome to the Grant family, Phil, Gina and their five sons: Nicola, Gabriele, Charles, Hubert and Samuel. The couple spent most of their married life in Val Morin, Quebec. That said, Phil’s an RN and he and the family did spend time in remote northern communities, Cree villages and the Lower North Shore of Quebec. In 2016, they moved to the suburbs of Montreal, but soon discovered they needed to get back to the country. When I asked why they chose to move here (Dunvegan not being on most people’s map, thankfully), Phil told me the area chose them. “We’d visited a lot of houses and farms and nothing pleased us, until this one came on the market,” Phil explained. “We have family in the Vaudreuil area and in the Laurentides, so this was pretty central.” And it had the added bonus of being in Ontario. It also turns out that the maternal side of Gina’s family — the Joanettes — are from Green Valley originally.
By now, you may be asking where in Dunvegan did the Grant family plant their roots? Answer: the southeast half of Lot 16, Concession 9. That’s the fifty-acre property just to the east of René Trottier. While the farmland has had a parade of owners from the time it was first deeded to Duncan McCuaig in 1855, the most lasting footprint to date was planted by Dr. Burton Ayre and his wife Amelia. When SS #5 & #20 (Caledonia and Kenyon), more commonly known as Skye School, moved into new digs in 1896, the original log building was sold to Donald Bethune, moved south to Dunvegan Road and converted to a home. Burt and Amelia bought the property in 1974 and used the old log schoolhouse as the anchor for the house they built as a weekend retreat. Unfortunately, the Ayre’s unique home was razed by fire in the fall of 1998, along with their extensive collection of art, sculpture and antiques. The house that stands today is almost an exact replica of the one that had been destroyed. Amelia had it built almost the moment the ashes had cooled to the touch. When I asked what it was about the Ayre place that caught their eye, the Grants emailed back, “(The) layout was perfect for our horse hobby and for our small egg operation… the boys fell in love with the little bunk house… the swimmable pond looked more tempting than any pool we had seen…. and we could see ourselves growing grey hair on the front porch.”
When I dropped in announced last Saturday, it was obvious that no one was sitting around in rocking chairs going grey. The boys were helping their dad cut wood for their boiler, taking care of their five Western horses and looking after the family’s mixed flock of laying hens. “In Val Morin, our hens laid green, blue, brown, and white eggs and people loved them,” Phil told me. “Hopefully our new neighbours will too.” I gather this isn’t too big a concern; they’re having a hard time keeping up with the demand. Their eggs are 100% organic and retail for $5 a dozen, although this might have to change to reflect increasing feed prices (see item that follows). It’s a specialty price for a specialty product, and quite a bit less than what you’ll pay as you move deeper into Ontario. The family also produces duck eggs, which have more Vitamin D, more protein, are much larger and are great for baking. Phil jokes that they’re also “much harder to quack.” If you’ve travelled Dunvegan Road recently, you’ve probably noticed the colourful “Fresh Eggs” sign, which was painted, incidentally, by the five Grant boys. Phil and Gina assure me that, if the sign’s at the end of the lane, there are fresh eggs in the fridge.
When I asked the Grants if they had any regrets with the move, they reported just one… “Not having moved here earlier.”
Baby fries up 33%
I’m no economist, but I smell the stench of inflation in the air. I know Mr. Silly Socks and his Gang That Can’t Shoot Straight have a steady hand on Canada’s financial tiller. But the question remains, do low interest rates cause inflation? Some say yes and others say no. All I know is that small packages of mixed green, red, yellow and orange peppers were $14 for two this past weekend. (I was afraid to check what a single pack cost.) And my standard order of a steamie all-dressed and a baby fries at an Alexandria den of gastronomic inequity had skyrocketed by 33%. Guess who won’t be motoring from Dunvegan to Alexandria as often? (By the way, that’s a very small order of fries, not actual fried baby parts. Just in case, knowing me, you weren’t sure.)
DGB… wish come true
Just over three years ago, I opined on this platform that it would be a boon if Royce MacGillivray could be convinced to update his amazing Dictionary of Glengarry Biography. If you’re unfamiliar with this work, it’s a compendium of ‘who was who’ in Glengarry, back in the day. I expressed a hope that, if the Glengarry Historical Society were to spearhead a new edition, biographies on persons who have contributed to Glengarry in more recent years could be added. As I wrote, “If the late Burton Ayre, a newcomer to Dunvegan… could make the last edition, what’s to prevent Velma Franklin, Gwen Morris, Kent MacSweyn, Blair Williams (and) Bill Gilsdorf… from joining the club?” Aside from the fact that the latter three aren’t dead yet, of course. If these new entries couldn’t be added to a revised edition, I wondered out loud if the Glengarry Historical Society could consider an on-line appendix to the Dictionary.
Well, it would appear that my wish has been granted. I’ve learned that the Glengarry Historical Society, in an initiative headed by Robin Flockton, is planning a two-stage enhancement to this classic work. And while Royce MacGillivray will not be involved in the nitty-gritty details, I’m told he is 100% in support of the project. The first stage is to put the existing Dictionary content online as a searchable database that is hosted and fully integrated with the Glengarry Historical Society’s web site. The second is to develop a robust mechanism for the nomination, creation and approval of future additions to the database.
When Robin told me of the project, I must admit some thoughts immediately came to mind as grist for the mill. First, unlike the hard-copy version, where the index is in the back, I would suggest the web version be index-driven, i.e., the first functional page after the introduction page(s) would be an alphabetical list of all the entries. Clicking on a name would take you through to a page with that entry (note: one entry per page). Second, I would suggest that any “New Entries” be added alphabetically to the existing “Original Entries” index. However, from a researcher’s perspective, I think it is essential to differentiate between the two. I would recommend using a simple graphic symbol, rather than colour type. Some people are colour blind. Third, additional content should mirror as closely as possible the original editorial style. An addendum to this would be that the temptation to “wordsmith’ new entries using a committee be avoided at all cost. Fourth, in addition to the alphabetical index of names, the Dictionary database would still need to be searchable to allow researchers to comb through the entries for terms of interest… “Orange Lodge”, for example. And fifth, in addition to developing a template based on one entry per page, I would suggest using a layout that allows for the inclusion of photos and graphics that relate to the individual being featured.
Robin and the Glengarry Historical Society deserve a big round of applause for taking this on.
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