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EARLY SETTLERS, PHOTOS OF BUSINESSES

FERRY WARS, MORE PLACES AND FACES
 

  Originally called Charlesville, (the reason is unknown), the area for this village was first settled by disbanded soldiers of the King’s Royal Regiment of New York.   The five original soldiers, William Impey, Francis Albrant, Abraham  Freeze, Alexander Rose and Michael Ault named their fledgling  settlement Charlesville and then slowly began the hard work of  establishing a real community. Charlesville’s first store and tavern  was opened around 1787 by another Loyalist settler, Richard Loucks, who received a 400 acre land grant just west of the original town site. The  Loucks Tavern, sometimes known as the Lunenburg. The tavern included  a pillory so prisoners could be padlocked just in case they tried to  escape.  A post office operated by Joseph Bockus was known to  have existed as early as 1832.


The village was later  renamed Aultsville, in honour of Samuel Ault a member of Canada’s first  parliament in 1867, and a resident of the community. Samuel Ault’s  father, Nicholas J. Ault, dammed the creek at  the village site,  built a sawmill, and shipped lumber  downriver to Montreal.  Isaiah Ault was postmaster for many years, then reeve for the Township of Osnabruck, and finally warden  for the United Counties of Stormont, Dundas and Glengarry in  1891.



   In the mid 1840s Aultsville had about 120 residents and one  tavern.  The arrival of the Grand Trunk Railway in 1856 opened a new period of growth and prosperity for Aultsville. By the 1870s  the village’s population had jumped to 400.  In addition to the railway. there was also a rather crude ‘passenger ferry’ operating  between Aultsville and Louisville Landing, New York during the summer. The village continued to grow adding a second brickyard, owned by Thomas McConnell, the Riverview  Hotel and a general store and cheese factory operated by John Croils and Alexander McCullough.  Butter and cheese from Croils’ and McCulloughs’ factory, located near the railway station, was frequently shipped to Montreal for sale.  An elementary school was built in 1864.

   The late 1880s saw a number of long term changes that would  play important parts in the future of Aultsville.  After Aultsville outgrew its old railway station, a new station, with  separate waiting rooms for the gents and ladies was constructed in 1889. The village also gained a new church when St. Peter’s Anglican Church was established. A new chapter was opened with the arrival of  one family who would later figure very prominently in the community, the Jarvis family.

   James Jarvis and his large  family arrived from Harbour Grace Newfoundland around 1887. In 1890 he purchased the store from John Croil and Alexander McCullough.  Then he moved into a two storey home, with a long rambling porch, that was adjacent to the railway and facing the  highway. Although the Jarvis home hardly qualified as prime  residential real estate, it proved to be an excellent location for a new business. After James’ son Doug purchased a new home, the old  family home was converted into a general store, operating under the name of James D. Jarvis and son.

   The population  of Aultsville was four hundred inhabitants in 1879, and remained  pretty much static until the Hydro and Seaway projects of the 1950s. Prior to the railroads becoming a faster way to travel, Aultsville was a port town with a large dock that could accommodate the various  steamers that carried passengers and freight to the many ports along  the shores of the St. Lawrence river and the Great Lakes beyond. With the steamers passing into history the waters around the dock began to silt in and larger ship traffic could no longer dock at Aultsville. Aside from becoming the local swimming hole the dock regained a new popularity when a ferry service began carrying  passengers to and from Louisville Landing, NY. (with it’s famous dance hall) on the American side of the  river.


   Along with the three sawmills, clay deposits along the riverbank yielded bricks and pottery from the Elliott’s yards and led to there being more brick buildings here than in any other of the lost villages. There were three churches, an elementary  school, a high school, four general  stores, an automobile dealership, two service stations, a cheese  factory, a bank, a  sash and door factory, a barber shop and the Canadian National Railway station, a landmark that was moved to a  prominent location west of Upper Canada Village.  Some of Aultsville’s renowned doctors were Dr. Edward D’Arcy Ault,  Dr. Samuel Alan Hickey, and Aultsville’s last doctor was Dr. Edwin  Lyall  Brown.


   Aultsville was fortunate to be situated in a region where there was an abundance of riverbank clay.  This led to the establishment of one of Aultsville’s most important industries,  Elliott’s Clay and Brickworks, operated by brothers John and William  Elliott. The Elliotts produced various types of dishes, jugs, crocks  and pots that were sold as far north as Ottawa.  The brickworks  also contributed to Aultsville’s reputation as the prettiest of all  the lost villages because of the prevalence of handsome brick homes and buildings, which unfortunately proved a drawback when it  came time to move as most brick home where too heavy to move to the  new town and many were burned prior to the inundation and in the process used to test new fire safety and fire extinguishing  equipment. As a result the residents of Aultsville may have been the  most negatively impacted by the Seaway and Power  Project..

     Notwithstanding its deep roots  in confederation, Aultsville contributed in a surprising way to Canada’s agricultural history. In 1881 farmer Michael Cook imported  the first Holstein-Friesian cattle, nine cows and one bull, to Canada. today, about 95 percent of all dairy products produced in  this country originate either from Holsteins or cattle with Holstein  mix.  A historical plaque now resides along the old railway grade/entrance to the bird sanctuary where this  corridor crosses the remaining dry land of the Cook farm.  The Cook house was moved to Upper Canada Village and is now the  “Doctor’s House”

 

THE LOYALIST SETTLERS OF AULTSVILLE

     William Empey was born in America in 1759 and  enlisted with the Kings Royal Regiment of New York (KRRNY) as a  private soldier on August 15, 1777.  He originally served with  Capt. Angus McDonnell’s Company, and then served as a light infantryman under Capt. Steven Watts until 1781.  In 1782 and  1783, he served with Capt. Patrick Daly’s Company. William, a carpenter by trade, was the son of Philip Empey Sr., of Stone  Arabia, New York.  He  settled in Royal Township #2 with his wife, Catterina Von Hildenbrandt, and their two sons.

     Abraham Freeze was born in America in 1757 and enlisted  with the KRRNY on January 22, 1777 as a private soldier. He  originally served in Capt. Stephen Watts Light Company, and later as  a grenadier with Capt. Jon McDonald’s Grenadier Company.  In  1779, he served as a scout to the Mohawk Valley, prior to the 1780 raid on Johnstown and the subsequent burning of the valley.  Abraham was a farmer in New York State before moving to  Canada.

     Francis Albrant (Albraut) was born in America in 1754 and enlisted as a Private in the First Battalion of the King’s Royal  Regiment of New York on June 19, 1776.  He was a Grenadier in 1782 and 1783. He was a farmer from Tryon County, New  York.

     Alexander Rose (Ross) was born in Scotland in 1760 and enlisted as a Drummer in the First Battalion of the King’s Royal  Regiment of New York on September 13, 1779.  He was a Drummer  from 1781 to 1783. Alexander Rose was a farmer in New York  state.

     Michael Ault (Alt) was born in America in 1759 and  enlisted as a Private in the First Battalion of the King’s  Royal  Regiment of New York on May 6, 1777.  He served as a Grenadier from 1781 to 1783 and was also a farmer from Tryon County, New York.
 

AULTSVILLE BUSINESSES

  calender
Jarvis & Shaver General  Store


  read more
Borden’s Cheese Factory



 C.N.R. Station, Freight and  Stockyard




 W. Bedingfield Grocery Store


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     read more
A. N Dafoe General Store and Grist Mill



Hagerman’s Grocery Store



E. Gillard’s Service Station



Riverview Hotel



Bank of  Montreal
 


Immanuel Presbyterian  Church
*spelling*




   Trinity United  Church



St. Paul’s Anglican Church



S S # 4
Aultsville High  School




Parson’s Tea Room




Hollister Electric  


Dr. E.L. Brown and his home




S. G. Wells Garage




Thorold Lane Telephone Exchange
and
T. Atchison Barbershop

Thomas (Tommy) Atchison



McCarthy Service Station & Lunch Room


Manse McConnell Barber Shop

L. Brown’s Egg Grading Station

B. Gillard Blacksmith shop

Faye & Rombough
Sash and Door Factory


Fire fighters



contact

 

AULTSVILLE'S "INDUSTRIAL PARK"

   While sorting through the documents and papers from the Fran Laflamme Estate, the following information was found, provided to the historical society by James Gordon Jarvis, Webster, New York, on April 10, 1991.  This information provides an excellent glimpse into the "life and times" around the Aultsville Railway Station and the businesses which built around it. In recent newsletters, information on some of the "Lost Villages" has been provided, as told by those who lived in the villages. We trust that this information, provided by Mr. Jarvis, will bring back memories. AULTSVILLE

   The Edwards cheese factory at Aultsville, in the 1930's and '40's, made both cheese and butter.  It was of concrete-block construction; up to the late '30's, it was about 2/3rds of its final size. Photographs show a seam in the concrete blocks where the addition of a cold-storage facility was made to the west.  The refrigeration plant was electrically powered, was of the ammonia type, and sat on a platform on the north side of the building, and not far from the Canadian National Railway siding. Prior to the installation of the refrigeration plant, there was a large icehouse, between the factory's "parking" lot and the property of the grist mill. 

   Ice was cut in the St. Lawrence, near the Aultsville wharf, and hauled to the icehouse by horse-drawn bob-sleighs. It was great fun "hitching" rides on the sleighs (a favourite Saturday activity of mine).  The ice was buried in sawdust insulation and lasted through the following spring, summer and fall. The ice was used almost exclusively to chill the cream, rapidly, after it had been heated in the pasteurizers; then it was pumped into a large cylindrical churn made from imported cyprus. Until the refrigeration plant was introduced, cheese was cured at whatever temperature prevailed. 

   Heating for the cheese vats and the pasteurizers was by steam generated in a coal fired boiler, at the east end of the factory; a large metal stack often belched black smoke. W.A. Edwards, in the '30's, owned at least two other cheese factories: one was in East Williamsburg, on the banks of the St. Lawrence; the other was at the north end of the paved section of the Aultsville Road (between Gallingertown and Osnabruck Centre). They were operated by sons Charles and Jack, respectively.

   Prior to World War II, most farmers brought their milk or cream to the factory on horse-drawn wagons. After World War II, trucks picked up milk over large areas, making the local factories unnecessary; they rapidly disappeared. Sons Marshall and Malcolm Edwards operated the Aultsville plant. W.A. Edwards suffered severely from Parkinson's Disease, and was not active himself from the mid-'30's onward.

   Up until World War II, most roads were not plowed in winter. This, in combination with lower milk production by the cows, made it attractive for farmers to "separate" cream on site and to either churn their own butter or deliver the small volume of cream (in a horse-drawn cutter) to the factory. Home-churned butter (called dairy butter as opposed to creamery butter) was "traded" at the Jarvis & Shaver store and, in turn, shipped to Montreal on the "Moccasin".  Dairy butter disappeared when laws were passed that forced the pasteurization of all cream being churned into butter.  Skim milk, butter milk, and cheese whey were all collected in a huge vat above the boiler and gravity-dispersed into the farmers' empty milk or cream cans and used, subsequently, to slurry the milled pig-feed bought from Jarvis & Shaver.  Cheese, at that time, was not made from pasteurized milk. It had to be cured a minimum of 30(?) days before being sold.  The curing period, presumably, killed harmful bacteria. 

   The grist mill was built in the late 1920's or early 1930's. It contained a mill in which the grinding plates were of metal and were belt-driven by a large electric motor. There was storage space, on the ground floor, for bags of feed; however, most of the grinding was on a custom basis (farmers paid to have their own grain ground, and took it back home).  There was a small heated office in the south-west corner.  On the upper floor there were large bins that could be filled by bucket-type elevators.  However, to the best of my knowledge, no grain was ever stored there. It was said that the support columns were too small to support any useful tonnage of grain!  The bases of the elevators were open on the CN side of the building and could have been fed via an inclined chute from cars on the siding. There was, also, a double door on the CN side, that could be used to off-load freight cars. 

   The grist mill was first owned, I believe, by a Snetsinger family from Moulinette. They ran it for a few years, rather unsuccessfully (depression years!), and sold it to Wilbur Crites who ran it until it was purchased by Jarvis & Shaver in the late 1930's.  It was actually operated by Shaver's brother (Charlie) and his sons.  Jarvis & Shaver used the office as an egg-grading station for a few years.  After World War II, the grist mill was sold to W.A. Edwards (or Borden) who used it as a warehouse to store cheese boxes and other supplies.  Manley Shaver lived on the farm immediately across from the Aultsville Station. He was not related to the Shaver of Jarvis & Shaver. Manley Shaver frequently unloaded Canadian National carloads of mill feed, flour, etc., for Jarvis & Shaver. 

   Arthur N. Dafoe operated a general store on the north east corner of Highway #2 and the Aultsville Road. Dafoe handled a line of goods that was comparable to Jarvis & Shaver's, and was the principal competitor.  The business continued in Ingleside (for a few years) as a hardware store (operated by his daughter, Minnie, and son-in-law).

   Clifford Gove lived mid-way between Highway #2 and the CN right-of-way.  He handled coal in a building that had once housed a carriage shop owned by his father, Simeon Gove. During the first six years of my life, I lived in a house rented from Sim Gove.  The house to the east of the Jarvis residence was occupied for many years, and into the '40's, by the CN station agent, Leon Piper. Another house, the one immediately to the south of the station, was occupied by Allen McMillan, CN station agent, through the '20's and most of the '30's.  His father was CN agent at Wales for most of his life. I find it hard to believe that "all of these buildings were situated on railway property".

   I have just re-read the deed granted to my grandfather, James D. Jarvis, on November 20, 1890. It describes the property (on which the Jarvis and Shaver general store later stood) relative to the north-south highway, and the southern boundary of the Grand Trunk right-of-way; it does not recognize any ownership of the land by the railway, and, in fact, grants James Jarvis title to the land "free of any in encumbrances"
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   During my residency in the area, I never once heard of any recognition of ownership by the railway, nor of payment of rent, etc.  It was well recognized that the roads were owned by the railway, as were the stockyards. The roads were re-surfaced with cinders so many times, in some places, they became higher than the concrete sidewalks and actually spilled over onto them. 

   James D. Jarvis came, with a large family, from Harbour Grace, Newfoundland, in 1890, and bought the above mentioned property from John Croil and Alexander McCullough, merchants. I believe that Croil might also have owned the cheese factory adjacent to the store property.  The store, itself, was on the site of the Jarvis & Shaver store, built in 1922.  To the north of the Croil & McCullough store, and adjacent to the railway, was a two-storey dwelling with a long porch facing the highway; it became the residence of the Jarvis family.

     Some 15 to 20 years later, the brick house on the south side of the jog in the road near the stockyards was purchased by my father, Douglas W. Jarvis, and became the residence of his father and mother, his sister, and himself. The former residence, near the store, was then converted into a store, where business was conducted under the name: James D. Jarvis and Son. After James Jarvis retired, my father formed a partnership with Frank T. Shaver in 1922 and built a new store on the site of the original Croil & McCullough building.   The former residence/store then became a warehouse for flour, glass, paint oil, etc. 

   For a while, one large room was used for the storage of bulk corn and wheat, which was off-loaded from CN freight cars via a wooden chute passed through a window adjacent to the tracks.  A refrigerated room was incorporated into the structure in the late '30's for an egg-grading station.  I spent many hours working in that cold, darkened space!  In about 1949, the old house burned to the ground, and was replaced by the small egg-grading station. 

   Two of the Jarvis girls married Grand Trunk/Canadian National Railway employees, both of whom worked in Montreal offices. I don't know what Mary's husband, Fred Anderson, did, but I do know that Maggie's husband, Herbert Balkwill, was CN's "Chief Car Accountant" in the '20's and '30's.  It must have been a good job, for they lived in grand style in St. Lambert, with live-in maid and part-time gardener.  Uncle Herb commuted to work, across the Victoria Bridge, on the high speed electric cars of the Montreal and Southern Counties Railway.  As a further indication of the successful nature of the Jarvis & Shaver business, Douglas Jarvis was able to send his three children to Queen's University where Doreen trained to be a high school teacher, Wilfred Douglas became a Presbyterian Church minister, and I (James Gordon) became a physicist.  Frank T. Shaver had been a school teacher and then a clerk in the general store of the Ault Bros. at the four corners in Aultsville.  He was a fine orator and became a Member of Parliament for Stormont in 1929, in the government of R.B. Bennett.
 

FOOTNOTES

 
     Emmanuel or Immanuel?
     Most of the Aultsville church members spelled Immanuel with an "E" and when we looked at documents, we found out that it was supposed to begin with "I".  Many still use the incorrect spelling but it is really "Immanuel", beginning with “I”.