Dipping into the past…

October 22, 2015 · 0 Comments

125 YEARS AGO
Thursday, October 23, 1890
• The 36th annual session of the Ontario Conference of the United Brethren In Christ is meeting in their Shelburne Church today. The attendance, both of ministers and laymen, is quite creditable. The presiding officer is Bishop J. Weaver, of Ohio, a tall, venerable looking gentleman, of probably 68 or 70 years. He was first elected bishop by the church’s General Conference in 1865 and has been re-elected by each subsequent quadrennial conference. The reader will observe that this Church resembles the Methodist Episcopal Church of the United States, but it has always been more liberal and republican in its government, the people electing the local church officers and the delegates to the General Conference.
• he services at Shelburne Methodist Church next Sabbath morning and evening will be conducted by delegates to the United Brethren Church Conference. Rev. Dr. McKee, of Dayton, Ohio, is expected to occupy the pulpit in the morning.
• On Sunday evening Shelburne Methodist Church was packed with people who came to see and hear Miss Crosthwaite, a returned missionary from China, who wore the summer costume of Chinese women and, as converted Chinese women do, carried her Bible wrapped up in a blue silk handkerchief. Her address depicted the miserable condition of the Chinese, especially the women, and told of the vast population of that largest of empires who are without the Light of the Gospel. Girls and women in China, she said are thought to have no souls, and many females are made away with at birth. Women there have very few rights and are looked upon as a necessary evil.
• Rev. James Thompson, of the Honeywood Methodist Circuit, has been suspended on pleading guilty to a charge of preaching “conditional immortality and the future annihilation of the wicked.
• At its meeting on Friday evening last Shelburne Council was treated to an exhibit of samples of street lamps by Messrs. R. B. Noble and G. R. Hannah. The lamps shown by Mr. Noble seemed to be the favourite but it was decided to leave it in the hands of Const. Canning for a thorough test before purchasing. Churches, hotels and private individuals who would like to have lamps in front of their premise and be willing to bear a share of the expense, are to have their wishes gratified providing the erection of such lamps would be of public benefit.

100 YEARS AGO
Thursday, October 21, 1915
• he Canadian Pacific Railway and the Ontario Department of Agriculture are co-operating in running a couple of demonstration cars over the railway’s Ontario lines. The route will be about the same as that followed two years ago and plans have been made to hold evening meetings when a leading feature will be moving pictures. The coaches will visit Shelburne next Monday, October 25, and will be open to visitors from 11:30 a.m. to 6:00 p.m. An afternoon meeting for women and girls will be held at the Town Hall commencing at 2:30 and an evening meeting will be held there commencing at eight o’clock. The coaches are now at Alliston and will be in Orangeville on October 29.
• In conformity with its well-known policy of taking steps to minimize the effects of the liquor traffic and at the same time insure such measure of such public support as will make the enforcement of such restrictions possible and satisfactory, the Ontario Government has decided that during the period of the war, all bar-rooms in the province should close at eight o’clock in the evening except Saturday. The hour of closing on Saturday remaining as it is, namely seven o’clock, this means that the retail sale of liquor will stop all over the province three hours earlier than heretofore.
• hree respectable farmers of this county are serving three months’ terms in the Orangeville Jail. They are not criminals in the general sense of the word. Their only offence was that they were observed to be under the influence of liquor in a Local Option municipality. Says the Orangeville Sun: “No matter what way we look at this we cannot agree with a law that lands decent people in jail who happen to drink liquor to excess. He is an unfortunate and foolish man who drinks too much booze, but surely he is not a criminal, and only criminals should be confined in jail.”

75 YEARS AGO
Wednesday, October 24, 1940
• rand Valley electors will vote on the question of a two-year term for municipal elections at the municipal election in January. The question to be submitted will be as follows: “Are you in favour as a war-time measure under the Local Government Extension Act, 1940, of the municipal council elected for 1941 holding office for the term of two years?”
• The possibility of a shortage of 1941 Ontario auto licence plates is seen in reports that construction is being delayed through a shortage of material at the Ontario Reformatory at Guelph where inmates construct, stamp and paint the plates. Officials admit there is difficulty in obtaining sheet steel due to mills recognizing the priority of war orders.
• The third annual Hallowe’en party for Shelburne and surrounding community will be held in the curling rink Thursday night of next week, when the usual costume parade will be held with the Citizens’ Band leading. The Shelburne Rotary Club committee in charge of the event is asking that you think up something new and original to wear or carry in the parade.

50 YEARS AGO
Wednesday, October 20, 1965
• uther Lake in the Luther Marsh claimed another two victims with the recovery of the bodies of Conservation Officers Robert Gunther, 42, of Walkerton, and Carl Liddle, 48, of Paris. The two officers had set out on a routine patrol of the Marsh area Wednesday afternoon of last week, using an air boat. The boat was discovered near the north shore of the lake and a search begun for the two officers. The search included the use of a helicopter, airplanes, boats and numerous Conservation Officers and volunteers. The search was severely hampered by rain, rough water and at times foggy weather. The bodies were finally discovered late Monday.
• The old town clock in the tower of Grace Church of the Nazarene, Shelburne, which occupies the former post office building, is back in operation through the co-operation of the church and Town Council.

10 YEARS AGO
Thursday, October 20, 2005
• he second of three persons charged with first degree murder in the death of Robbie McLennan, 16, on April 18-19, has been convicted in Ontario Superior Court at Brampton. Bronson William Penasse, 24, pleaded guilty to first degree murder last Friday and was given the mandatory life sentence with no chance of parole for 25 years. A second person, who was 16 at the time of the murder, pleaded guilty last spring to second degree murder as a young offender. The third person, whose identity cannot be published, is to be tried in February, 2006.
• School custodians employed by the Upper Grand District School Board have voted 99% in favour of strike action and have launched a “work to rule” campaign while negotiations with the Board continue.
• What was to have been a fall colour tour aboard a hot air balloon became a near tragedy Wednesday when the balloon, with 11 passengers aboard, crash-landed in a field just south of Orangeville.