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Recording of Duncan brothers talking about life in Deseronto, Ontario

  • CA ON00156 DA 2013.13
  • Item
  • 1967

Recording by Don Duncan, made November 26th, 1990, comprising two older recordings.
(01:16) The first is of Jack and Bill Duncan (Don's father), made in 1967. The two men reminisce about their early days in Canada. Jack [John] was born in 1896 and Bill in 1889. They arrived in Deseronto in late 1906 and worked for the Rathbun Company for a short while, having been brought in to break a strike. They were originally from the Midlands in England and were a family with five children, the youngest being four months old.
Bill recalls arriving in Napanee and waiting for a flat car to take them down the company's railroad track to Deseronto and the poor state of the property they were initially housed in (03:00). Bill thought it was a chicken house – and there were rats in the place.
Bill bought a kettle for 75 cents. His father told him to take it back, as it was three shillings in English money. Bill refused to take it back, so they had tea made in the tin kettle, as they didn't have a teapot.
(04:49)They moved into a house across the street and got hold of furniture and a woodstove. Their father, John, worked at bringing up logs from the water, while Bill worked in the sash and door factory for the Rathbun Company.
(05:54) There had been a strike in Deseronto and the Duncans were being used as strike breakers. The winters were bad – snow piled high so that you couldn't see people walking on the other side of the street.
(07:00) Jack's teacher donated a basket of groceries for the family's first Christmas in Canada.
(08:19) Bill was laid off because he asked for $1.50 a day instead of $1.25. His father was laid off shortly afterwards. He worked at a charcoal-bagging firm for a few weeks. They were both out of work for a few weeks.
(10:45) They walked to Corbyville to the cement works but couldn't get work there. They nearly got run over by a train. They stayed in a boarding house in Belleville and had sausages and fried potatoes for breakfast. They got work on construction sites in Corbyville for $2 a day each.
(13:15) They went home for Christmas with the money they'd saved. It was a good Christmas – two ducks and a Christmas pudding were cooked on the old woodstove, with difficulty. Jack got in trouble for eating the leftover duck while the rest of the family were out.
(14:45) They got the wood for the stove from the Rathbun mill for about a dollar and tried to dry it at the back of the stove.
(15:25) Both the men were out of work after Christmas. Maria worked as a housekeeper for ten cents an hour. A pound of butter was 21 cents, eggs 15 cents a dozen and a whole calf's liver was 5 cents.
(16:40) John and other unemployed men were set to work by the Town breaking rocks with a manual drill. Bill couldn't bear to watch, because he feared his father would be hit with a sledgehammer. John was employed to go out on the frozen Bay in a cutter for a day but didn't get paid.
(19:30) Bill worked at a farm, splitting wood, and was paid with a bag of potatoes worth 50 cents. When he got home his shoelaces were frozen solid.
(21:40) Bill and his father worked at the iron works. John was unloading coke. Bill got a night job there breaking up slag at the furnace and dumping it in the Bay.
(24:13) They walked to Point Anne to see if they needed any workers.
(24:50) The authorities in Deseronto told the family that there was work in Stirling.
(25:57) Memories of Jim Wilson, an East End Cockney. He and Bill would go to the Post Office in Deseronto and stand in front of the radiators there in front of the windows for an hour or two to warm up.
(27:13) Bill rolled his own cigarettes with Betty Blue tobacco.
(28:04) The family stayed in Deseronto until May 1907, then moved to Stirling. Bill and John went to Stirling first to meet the Reeve (Mather), who ran the general store in Stirling. They got to know the Reverend F. A. Robinson in Stirling. John got work almost immediately. Bill got work with the village blacksmith, Burkitt. He and his father were also involved in building a house for a man called Ward in Stirling, for $1.50 a day.
(30:50) They got a house opposite St. Andrew's Church in Stirling. Bill worked for the blacksmith until the following May. The Clydesdale horses used to fall asleep on him when he lifted their hind leg.
(32:29) Memories of people in Stirling: Les Kennedy, Don Burn, Andy Anderson, Jessie Montgomery ("a blonde bomber").
(33:26) John Duncan used a team of horses to clear an old cemetery in Stirling to make way for a park.
(34:20) Jack worked in the General Store, where they operated a barter system for farmers. Bill got interested in joining the ministry.
(36:40) Discussed why they left England: John was a shoemaker who was involved in the trade union movement, which made it hard for him to get work. Bill was the only one working, earning 26 shillings a week. It was their mother, Maria, who was the biggest influence on the family's decision to leave England. Bill thinks it was a good decision, as the family is now professional and better off than they would have been in England.
(41:50) Very quiet discussion about Art [Arthur Duncan, born 1904] who worked in Stirling.
(45:15) Maria Duncan singing 'The Man who Broke the Bank at Monte Carlo' in the 1950s.

Duncan, Don

Map of Hastings with the Principal Villages and the City of Belleville

A map of Hastings County including the Town of Belleville and other principal villages:

Trenton, Madoc, Marmora, Tweed, Bridgewater, Stirling, Wicklow, Bangor, Herschel, Monteagle, Carl, Dungannon, Wollaston, Limerick, Cashel, Tudor, Grimsthorpe, Elzevir; Rawdon, Huntingdon, Hungerford, Sidney, Thurlow, Tyendinaga.

Scale: 3 miles =1 inch. Published by Evans & Bolger, P. L. Surveyors, P.L.S. in 1879-1880.

Evans and Bolger

Plan of Lot 11 in the village of Stirling

A certified reproduction of the Plan of part of the Village of Stirling, Lot # 11 in 1st Concession of Rawdon Township, owned by Edward Fidlar. Surveyed by John Emerson, P.L.S. and signed October 1852.

This copy was made in 1972 of plan #37, as registered in the Hastings Land Registry Office.

Donated by Walter I. Watson, O.L.S.

Emerson, John, P.L.S.

Plan of Higgins Block in the village of Rawdon (Stirling)

A certified reproduction of the Plan of Higgins Block, part of Lot # 13 in the 1st Concession of Rawdon Township, for Thomas Jahred Higgins. One building marked “School House” on the west side of Marmora Street. Surveyed by John J. Haslett, P.L.S. in 1853.

This copy was made in 1972 of plan #42, as registered in the Hastings Land Registry Office.

Donated by Walter I. Watson, O.L.S.

Haslett, John James, P.L.S. & D.P.S.

Plan of part of east Lot 11 in the village of Rawdon (Stirling)

  • CA ON00156 M/M430-1754
  • Item
  • Jun 1847 - May 1849
  • Part of Map collection

A certified reproduction of the Plan of part of Rawdon (Stirling) Village: the east half of Lot # 11 in 1st Concession of Rawdon Township. Property of Edward Fidlar. Depicted are bridges, buildings of Grist Mill & Saw Mill on Rawdon Creek. Surveyed by John J. Haslett, P.L.S. and signed May 1849.

This copy was made in 1972 of plan #59, as registered in the Hastings Land Registry Office.

Donated by Walter I. Watson, O.L.S.

Haslett, John James, P.L.S. & D.P.S.

Plan of part of Lot 12 in the Township of Rawdon

A certified reproduction of the Plan of part of Lot # 12 in 1st Concession of Rawdon Township. Property of Ebenezer D. Allan. Note that this plan became a part of the village of Stirling. Surveyed by John J. Haslett, P.L.S. and signed December 1849.

This copy was made in 1972 of plan #56, as registered in the Hastings Land Registry Office.

Donated by Walter I. Watson, O.L.S.

Haslett, John James, P.L.S. & D.P.S.

Plan of Lot 23 in the village of Rawdon (Stirling)

A certified reproduction of the Plan of part of Rawdon (Stirling) Village, the north end of Lot # 23 in 9th Concession of Rawdon Township. A tannery is by the shore of Rawdon Creek and buildings are on Wright Street and John Street. An “Old Bridge” & a “New Bridge” extend over the Creek. Surveyed by John J. Haslett, P.L.S. in 1849.

This copy was made in 1972 of plan #54, as registered in the Hastings Land Registry Office.

Donated by Walter I. Watson, O.L.S.

Haslett, John James, P.L.S. & D.P.S.

Plan of part of Lot 12 in the Township of Rawdon

A certified reproduction of the Plan of part Lot # 12 in 1st Concession of Rawdon, for proprietor Joseph Green. The lot is bounded by Marmora Road, Church Street. the Line between Concessions 11 & 12 and Front Street. Surveyed by John J. Haslett, P.L.S. and signed in December 1849.

This copy was made in 1972 of plan #52, as registered in the Hastings Land Registry Office.

Donated by Walter I. Watson, O.L.S.

Haslett, John James, P.L.S. & D.P.S.

Plan of Allan's Block in the village of Stirling

A certified reproduction of the Plan of Allan's Block, part Lot # 12 in 1st Concession of Township of Rawdon (Stirling). Surveyed by John J. Haslett, P.L.S. in 1853.

This copy was made in 1972 of plan #57, as registered in the Hastings Land Registry Office.

Donated by Walter I. Watson, O.L.S.

Haslett, John James, P.L.S. & D.P.S.

Plan of Park Lots 1, 12-14 and 26 in the village of Stirling

A certified reproduction of the Plan of Part of Village of Stirling for Edward Fidlar (Esqr.), showing the subdivision of Park Lots 1, 12, 13, 14, and 26. Surveyed by J. Emerson, P.L.S. and signed July 25, 1855.

This copy was made in 1972 of plan #77, as registered in the Hastings Land Registry Office.

Donated by Walter I. Watson, O.L.S.

Emerson, John, P.L.S.

Plan of Lot 23 in the Township of Sidney (Stirling)

A certified reproduction of the Plan of Lot # 23 in 9th Concession of Sidney Township, including Park & Village Lots (in Stirling). Surveyed by J. J. Haslett, P.L.S. in 1859.

This copy was made in 1972 of plan #95, as registered in the Hastings Land Registry Office.

Donated by Walter I. Watson, O.L.S.

Haslett, John James, P.L.S. & D.P.S.

Plan of Lots 10-11 in the village of Stirling

A certified reproduction of the Plan of part of the Village of Stirling, being part of Lot # 10 and east half of Lot # 11 in 1st Concession of Rawdon, for Edward Fidlar. Surveyed by John Emerson, P.L.S. circa 1860.

This copy was made in 1972 of plan #96, as registered in the Hastings Land Registry Office.

Donated by Walter I. Watson, O.L.S.

Emerson, John, P.L.S.

Plan of Park Lots 13-14 in the village of Stirling

A certified reproduction of the "Subdivision of part of Park Lots # 13 & 14 (shown on plan by Emerson, P. L. S.), east of Edward Street in Village of Stirling, being part of Lot # 10, Concession 1, Rawdon. Laid out for Robert Potts Fidlar." Surveyed by Thomas O. Bolger for Evans & Bolger, P. L. S., and signed September 1874.

This copy was made in 1972 of plan #176, as registered in the Hastings Land Registry Office.

Donated by Walter I. Watson, O.L.S.

Evans and Bolger

Plan of Block F Lots in the village of Stilring

A certified reproduction of the "Plan of Lots Laid out on Block F of Stirling - prepared for F. B. Parker; J. Clare Halliwell.” Surveyed by William R. Aylsworth O. L. S. and dated May 16, 1901.

This copy was made in 1972 of plan #326, as registered in the Hastings Land Registry Office.

Donated by Walter I. Watson, P. L. S.

Aylsworth, William Robert, O. L. S.

Plan of subdivision of Lot 22 in the village of Stirling

A certified reproduction of the "Plan of subdivision in the Village of Stirling - Lot # 22, Concession 9, Sidney Township, on part of the property of E. F. Potts.” Surveyed by A. W. Ponton, P.L.S., and signed November 14, 1881.

This copy was made in 1972 of plan #226, as registered in the Hastings Land Registry Office.

Donated by Walter I. Watson, P. L. S.

Ponton, Archibald William, P.L.S. & D.L.S.

Plan of Wellington Block in the village of Stirling

A certified reproduction of the "Wellington Block in Village of Stirling in Township of Rawdon...For Robert Potts Fidlar, Belleville merchant.” The block includes the eastern part of Park Lots # 13-14 and Park Lot # 12, east of Edward Street. Surveyed by Thomas O. Bolger, P. L. S. and dated March 9, 1877.

This copy was made in 1972 of plan #206, as registered in the Hastings Land Registry Office.

Donated by Walter I. Watson, P. L. S.

Bolger, Thomas Oliver, P.L.S.

Subdivision of Lots 13-21 in the village of Stirling

A certified reproduction of the "Subdivision of Parts of Lots # 16 to 21, Lot # 13 and North 34 feet of Lot # 14. Haslett Plan of Village of Stirling, Township of Sidney and Rawdon.” The area includes; Lots # 16 to 21 inclusive on the east side of Henry Street and Lots # 13 and north 34 feet of Lot # 4 on the west side of Henry Street. Surveyed by Donevan & Richards, O. L. S. and signed January 27, 1951.

This copy was made in 1972 of plan #859, as registered in the Hastings Land Registry Office.

Donated by Walter I. Watson, P. L. S.

Donevan & Richards, O. L. S.

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