Stage Three of Ontario’s “Big Reveal” is upon us and, for Dunvegan, this means that visitors can actually enter the buildings of the Glengarry Pioneer Museum. In addition to the fascinating permanent collection of artifacts that reflect life in pioneer Glengarry, the GPM has two new temporary attractions awaiting you. The first can be found in the oxblood red Roxborough Hall. On display there is an exhibit called ‘ARTifactual’ – a look at the design and artistry in everyday items. The second is a photography exhibit on loan from the Glengarry County Archives showcasing what our towns, villages and hamlets looked like in the 19th century… without the rusting vehicles, abandoned boats, half-finished building projects, illegal shipping containers and other detritus of our disposable society that desecrate the landscape today.
Checkbooks welcome
This coming Saturday, the Glengarry Artist’s Collective will return to the museum in Dunvegan to launch their 2021 Art Show in the Big Beaver one-room schoolhouse. The art will be on view from July 31st to August 15th, and much of it will be available for purchase. Lockdowns have been hard on artists as well, so the more red dots beside the works on display, the better.
In place of the traditional vernissage on opening day, Saturday, July 31st will feature live music and working artists sprinkled around the grounds. It’s a nice twist and sounds a whole lot more appealing than dead music and a motley collection of out-of-work artists. If the weather cooperates, the GPM suggests you bring a picnic and enjoy a lazy, art-in-the-park afternoon.
Tickets going fast
Do you have your ticket yet? If you’re a fan of classical music, the Glengarry Pioneer Museum is hosting a “Classical Music Under the Stars” concert Thursday, August 5th at 7:30 pm on the grounds of the museum in Dunvegan. As the event’s title suggests, the concert will be held outdoors while the sun sets and the stars begin to twinkle… or, in the event of rain, under the big wooden tent.
The recital will feature the talented concert pianist Nicholas Deek from Ottawa. He has been polishing a program of works that celebrate life in the countryside by composers like Mozart, Beethoven and Brahms. Mr. Deek, after reviewing the GPM’s web site, was so taken with the worthiness of this fundraising concert, he slashed his performance fee in half.
In order for the museum to abide by the regulations and keep track of the numbers attending this outdoor event, classical music fans will have to buy a ticket. The easiest way to get your hands on one is to use the museum web site’s convenient new Online Box Office: GlengarryPioneerMuseum.ca. The cost is $20 per person, or $15 for museum members. Note: there may be a few tickets for sale at the door, but there’s no guarantee.
Church not closing
I’ll be honest. When I first read the notice from Rev. Jim Ferrier inviting Dunvegan congregants to the “Memorial Sunday” service in St. Columba Presbyterian Church in Kirk Hill on Sunday, August 8th, I thought the worst. I had unsettling visions of the two congregations having to consolidate and shed one of the buildings. I imagined, wrongly that this was a first step in the assimilation process; combining the Memorial Sunday services.
However, Rev. Jim quickly reassured me that I was day tripping. He explained that the two churches still had separate dates for the Memorial Sunday celebrations: St. Columba was the first Sunday in August and Kenyon Presbyterian’s was the first Sunday in September. Furthermore, tradition has it that Dunvegan is invited to Kirk Hill’s and vice versa.
So this is a reminder to members of Kenyon Presbyterian Church that they have been invited to join their sister congregation — St. Columba Presbyterian Church in Kirk Hill — for their annual Memorial Sunday service on the 8th of August at 11 am. The worship service in Dunvegan for Sunday the 8th will be cancelled so that Dunveganites can worship with their friends at St. Columba.
While I awaited Rev. Jim’s response to my query about consolidation of the two churches, I started thumbnailing plans to covert Dunvegan’s stone church to condos. Hopefully they’ll never be needed, but I’ll tuck them away in a safe spot.
A family circle
As I’ve said before, every so often an item comes along in this column that resonates with a whole lot of folks. My July 7th piece on Robert J. Craig from the Front of Glengarry is another example. The first was Gordon Ferguson, late of Glen Gordon Farms in South Glengarry. His family was forever entwined with the Craigs when a relative, Annie Alberta Ferguson, married Robert J. Craig in 1891. Last week’s corrections came about as a result of his knowledgeable input.
Then the story reached the eyes of Angus Craig in Detroit. He suggested that I speak with Frances Dunlop (née Craig) in Toronto. She was R. J. Craig’s oldest grandchild. And I’m glad I did. At 93, Mrs. Dunlop still lives in her own apartment, with help from her daughter Alex, who drops by regularly. Mrs. Dunlop’s father was Robert Craig Jr. and her family lived on the farm to the east of her grandparents.
Mrs. Dunlop’s memory was sharp as a tack as we spoke of her childhood growing up on the Front. I could almost hear the joy evoked as we reminisced about riding atop a horse-drawn wagon of hay and jumping into pile of new-mown grass in the mow. We talked of her grandmother Annie and Annie’s sister Jane MacGregor from the Dunvegan area.
We also discussed the fact that it had been Uncle Charlie who had lost his arm, and Uncle Leslie (who she had never met) who drowned. I assured her I had made amends in a subsequent column, and asked her if she could confirm a rumour I had stumbled across concerning the accident. A source had told me that, while the St. Lawrence currents were strong where his rowboat tipped, the reason Leslie drowned was more likely that his “steel leg” had dragged him under. Mrs. Dunlop agreed that Leslie had had polio as a young child and that the leg brace he had to wear was probably his undoing.
I must admit I wasn’t prepared for Mrs. Dunlop’s answer when I asked what had taken a young lass from an Eastern Ontario farm to the tall towers of Toronto. I’ve read much of Royce MacGillivray’s Dictionary of Glengarry Biography and know, intellectually, that the County has many men and women with unique talents. However, I was still pleasantly surprised to learn young Miss Frances Craig, after acing her studies at Cornwall Collegiate, had attended the University of Toronto and University of Mexico to earning her Master’s in both French and Spanish… and was working on her Ph.D. in languages at the University of Paris, commonly known as “the Sorbonne,” when she ran out of money. When I asked if she still used her French and Spanish, she admitted she’s a bit rusty. However, she told me the janitor of her apartment building is from Columbia and the two of them speak Spanish from time to time.
By now, some of you are wondering what possible link this globetrotting, multilingual lady has with Dunvegan. And I’ll tell you. When she was very little, five years old to be exact, she came north with her family to attend the funeral of her great uncle Peter MacGregor. To quote from the announcement in the Maxville column of the Glengarry News published on May 19, 1933, “Mourned by hundreds of relatives and friends throughout the counties of Glengarry and Stormont, the body of the late Peter MacGregor was laid to rest in the family plot in the Maxville cemetery, on Sunday afternoon.”
Peter and her grandmother’s sister Jane had lived on Lot 35, Kenyon Concession 7. The couple was childless, hence the farm was passed down to Peter’s nephew Malcolm McEwen, who had come from Maxville to live with them at the age of seven. Malcolm was, in turn, the father of my ‘stringer’ in Blackburn Hamlet, Ken McEwen. The McEwen farm was subsequently acquired by Jack and Linda Fraser. And so the circle is drawn.
-30-