Furniture Plants -Ailsa Craig

In 1875 the village had three furniture establishments which produced fine quality household furniture of all kinds. These were Marks and Droughts, the Shermans and Stephenson and Sons. Then too there were sewing machine shops and dress-making and millinery establishments. The Overholts employed several seamstresses. Jack McKay had a tailor shop also Ed Nablo who had as his slogan: “Don’t be like the Hindu, who makes his skin do”. Cy Zavitz also did tailoring.

The shoes for the village and surrounding district were mended by Mr. Atkinson, disrespectfully called ‘Beezy’ by the youngsters because of the beeswax used in the cobbling shop. (Editor’s note: ‘Beezy’ Atkinson ran the Cooper shop and was called ‘Beezy’ because of the wax used there; ‘Waxy’ Dan MacDonald was the cobbler)

Nichol Walton carried on a pork curing business and shipped products to England.

The bee yard was kept by the family of the late John Anderson. They were the first to experiment in the making of honey butter. Aside from their interest in their apiary they were expert craftsmen excelling in wood carving and remodeling.

DAVID CRAIG

WILLIAM SHIPLEY

            Mr. David Craig and an Irishman named Risk were the first settlers in this spot, a forest in 1835.  In 1836, Big Bow an Indian chief with some fifty warriors with squaws and children squatted on what is now Lot 25, north of the C.N.R. railway.  All fall and winter they remained.  Discovering a “deer shed” in a neighbouring forest, they slaughtered them ruthlessly.  When they finally evacuated their camps in the spring, Mr. Craig counted over one hundred and forty forequarters of deer left behind.  There was feathered game, of which wild turkey was the choicest.  Bears were seen occasionally, and along with wild cats and wolves proved a pest to the farmers.  Mr. Craig was often obliged to desist from chopping wood at three o’clock in the afternoon owing to the near approach of these treacherous animals.  As many as twenty deer have been counted at one time, as they drank at the SableRiver near his home. 

            The first trip Mr. Craig made to Siddalsville with grist; he was forced to hew his way the entire five miles through a tangle of undergrowth.  One mile to the east of his path was an almost impassable swamp.

            No boots or shoes could be bought nearer than London, then only a small hamlet with three stores. It took too many bushels of wheat at twenty-five cents a bushel to pay for a pair of shoes.  Therefore, these articles were treated with respect.

            Among the first settlers were George Shipley, John Morton, James Morton, Asa Goodhue, John Fisher, and Asa Lynn.

The village of Ailsa Craig began to be settled about 1858 when the Grand Trunk Railway—now the Canadian National Railway, was begun.  David Craig and W.G. Shipley surveyed and sold lots, and a settlement immediately began and increased rapidly.  What is the

            The village was settled first near where the C.N.R. crosses the river Aux Sables.  It was incorporated as a village in 1874.

            David Craig, a native of Ayrshire, Scotland, gave the village its name, recalling the name of the celebrated rock which stands at the mouth of the ClydeRiver in Scotland, and which, as a lad, Mr. Craig could see from his Scottish birthplace.  The first time Ailsa actually appears in a written document is in a charter dated 1404.  Geologists have been puzzled to classify the rock.  It is unique—partakes of the qualities of both granite and greenstone, which fits it for curling stones.  The supply has been exhausted.  It is too hard for monumental purposes, and to slippery for paving stones. 

            An engineer by trade, Mr. Craig had erected six large engines for the sugar plantations on the island of Cuba before coming to this country in 1835.  Exercising this skill, he built three bridges in McGillivray at his own expense.  For the sake of adding interest to the story, Queen Victoria’s coronation was in 1837.

East Williams

            The Township of East Williams is bounded on the north by McGillivray, on the west by West Williams, on the south by Adelaide, and on the south-east by Lobo and London. Its survey was commenced next to the townline of Lobo and the first five concessions are parallel to it. Concessions Seven to Twenty are parallel and extend from the townline of Adelaide to the townline of McGillivray. Concession Six extends from Concession Sixteen south-westward and west of the Aux Sables River.

            The soil consists mainly of clay loam and sand loam and is well adapted for agricultural purposes. There are several deposits of clay, sand and gravel which have proved valuable for the making of brick and tile as well as providing material for the construction of buildings and roads.

            The surface is generally level with slight undulations. There are no elevations except low hills along the river and creek banks. The drainage outlet for the township and of parts of the surrounding townships is the Aux Sables River, or the Sauble River, as it is locally known. It enters the township of McGillivray at Ailsa Craig and takes a circuitous course southwestward, then westward through West Williams. It forms the boundary between West Williams and Bosanquet in Lambton County, and takes a northerly course to Lake Huron. Several streams flow into the river on both banks and owing to the natural slope of the land they form an outlet for surface or underground drainage for the farmlands in need of it. They also provided water power for milling purposes in the early days.

            When the first settlers arrived they found the land heavily timbered with oak, elm, maple, beech, basswood, etc., on the higher ground and cedar, tamarack, etc. on the swampy portions. The trees were used in the construction of the first buildings and also for fuel. Later on large quantities were sold in the form of square timber for shipbuilding purposes and of staves for making barrels as well as cordwood for fuel. As it was desirable to clear off the land speedily as possible, immense quantities of fine timber were rolled into log heaps and burned. In some cases a small revenue was derived from the ashes sold to the potasheries. If standing today, the timber destroyed in this way would be worth much more than the land on which it stood. In after years local timber was used in the construction of frame and brick buildings.

            The first culverts and bridges were made of wood, and on low lying and marshy places on the roads logs were laid side by side and the spaces between them filled with earth to form a better roadway. This was called Corduroy. In some cases trenches were dug on the road allowance and large logs rolled into them to get them out of the way. Years after the trees had been cut down stumps which had been burnt were found to be six feet in diameter. On most farms very little of the virgin forest remains. Though some farmers are obliged to purchase fuel there is an output of choice sawlogs but it is decreasing year by year.

            Wild fruits such as plums, cherries, grapes, strawberries, raspberries, etc., were found in varying quantities. These with nuts and certain kinds of roots were very acceptable as articles of food on the early days. The art of making maple sugar and syrup as learned from the native Indians was of special value to the early settlers.

            The bear, the deer, the wolf, the fox and the raccoon were the largest of the native wild animals. Smaller fur-bearing animals were also found such as wild ducks, geese and other birds were numerous during certain seasons. Several kinds of fish were caught in the stream. Hunting, trapping and fishing added to the supply of food and other home needs.