Google Books To Read Gravenhurst

DO YOU WANT TO READ SOME WILLIAM HENRY SMITH?

YOU CAN READ "GRAVENHURST; OR THOUGHTS ON GOOD AND EVIL," ON "GOOGLE BOOKS" FOR FREE

     ON THE FIRST OF JULY, I WILL PRESENT A 150TH ANNIVERSARY BLOG, TO COMMEMORATE THE NAMING OF OUR TOWN. IT WAS IN JULY 1862 THAT THE FEDERAL POSTAL AUTHORITY, GRANTED THE NAME "GRAVENHURST" AS A TITLE FOR OUR NEW POST OFFICE. I DON'T KNOW WHETHER THERE HAS EVER BEEN A CASE WHERE THE POST OFFICE HAD A DIFFERENT NAME THAN THE HAMLET IT WAS GRANTED. IS THERE A CASE, IN CANADA, WHERE A POST OFFICE HAD ONE NAME, THE COMMUNITY ITSELF, ANOTHER? IT DOESN'T REALLY MAKE SENSE, THOUGH, AS IT WOULD PRETTY MUCH GUARANTEE LETTERS GETTING LOST N THE MAIL. IT WAS AN ISSUE IN OUR TOWN, BECAUSE THE INHABITANTS, WHETHER AT A FORMAL OR INFORMAL GATHERING, HAD THE PLAN TO CALL THE SETTLEMENT "MCCABE'S LANDING," AFTER MR. AND MRS. MICKY MCCABE WHO OPERATED THE HAMLET'S FIRST ROADHOUSE……WHICH WAS A PRETTY IMPORTANT PLACE FOR THE NUMBER OF NEW SETTLERS COMING INTO THE REGION, IN QUEST OF HOMESTEAD LAND GRANTS. AS I'VE NOTED BEFORE, I HAVE A GREAT DEAL OF RESPECT FOR THE MCCABES, AND THEIR CONTRIBUTION TO BUILDING THE EARLY FOUNDATION OF THIS TOWN, IS WELL DOCUMENTED, AND I DARE SAY, CELEBRATED.  THE PROBLEM WAS THAT WILLIAM DAWSON LESUEUR WASN'T ENTIRELY CLERICAL ABOUT HIS JOB, AS THE POSTAL AUTHORITY OF THE TIME. THOSE CLOSE TO HIM, AND HIS LITERARY COLLEAGUES, KNEW HE WAS MUCH MORE DYNAMIC THAN HIS ADMINISTRATIVE POSITION AFFORDED. SO HE NIPPED OUTSIDE THE LINE ON OCCASION, AND MADE SOME FOLKS MAD. SO IN THE CASE OF THE FINE FOLKS OF MCCABE'S LANDING, HE SIMPLY TOSSED THEIR SELECTION, AND MADE HIS OWN SUBMISSION ON THEIR BEHALF. AND NO, HE DIDN'T ASK IF THAT WOULD BE OKAY. HE DID THE SAME WITH BRACEBRIDGE, AND NUMEROUS OTHER COMMUNITIES WHO GOT NAMES WITH PROVENANCE, BUT NO EXPLANATION WHY.

     So when he made it official, that the Muskoka Bay hamlet would be called "Gravenhurst," it's likely a few of the citizens, at the time, were privileged to some information, as to why their name was rejected, and why another title was selected. Maybe it didn't matter at the time. I've never read any reference to "Hamlet citizens riot over sudden name change for post office." If they were mad, it didn't warrant rebellion or protest, although I can't say if there had ever been an appeal launched to save the name "McCabe's Landing."

     Now here's how I got involved in this project, because this will explain how I've arrived at this point…….planning a blog celebration to honor the 150th anniversary of getting a name we didn't ask for. Hey, Bracebridge got the same treatment. Two year later, their chosen name of 'North Falls," didn't turn LeSueur's crank either, so he awarded them the title, "Bracebridge." Before LeSueur died however, a reporter for a local newspaper, confronted him at an event in Toronto, and he confessed that it was true, the "Bracebridge" name had been taken from the title of a book by American author Washington Irving. Here's where it gets interesting for Gravenhurst you see. Either LeSueur didn't understand the next question, or the reporter misquoted the former postal authority. Somehow, in some fashion, the reporter included a question about the naming of Gravenhurst as well, and it was jotted down……that LeSueur admitted, he had also found the name "Gravenhurst" in Washington Irving's book. THIS WAS NOT TRUE!

     This one gigantic error, of reporting, or LeSueur's simple misunderstanding of the question, or having an extra glass of bubbly at the historian's convention, (and not hearing correctly) caused immeasurable damage over the years, and I can't tell you precisely, how many books and reference sources in Canada and elsewhere, contain this historical error. It's not an easy fact to erase, because even new books out today, especially some of the specialty books on "Names of Canadian Towns and Cities," use reference material that is inaccurate. Web sites, and online references, often contain this erroneous information, and it drives me crazy because it is so far wrong. It's one of the reasons I would love to see our town take an interest in the 150th anniversary of the granting of the title "Gravenhurst." I'd be happy if they did it to finally set the record straight. They don't have to like the handiwork of W.D. LeSueur or British Poet William Henry Smith, who wrote the book "Gravenhurst." Suffice that we could officially correct, that we were not named after the same book as Bracebridge.

     Here's a little historical detail to mull over. When I was doing a book on the naming of Bracebridge, circa July 1864, I got caught on this odd detail, that LeSueur, a brilliant literary critic and Canadian historian, would have used Irving's text to scrounge for a name to present to our hamlet. But this is what Bracebridge historians were still fobbing-off as the truth. How nuts was this? Why would LeSueur, not use the name "Bracebridge" when the folks from McCabe's Landing made their official request for postal status? Why would he have read through Irving's book, for some obscure title to borrow? Why not just take the name off the title page, as he did with Bracebridge, two years later. If you follow my logic here, the names then should have been reversed. Gravenhurst got its name two full years ahead of the hamlet ten miles north. This is what Bracebridge historians have claimed, and probably still cling to, because it had been imbedded in the work of the community's most trusted historians. They certainly shunned me for finding this out. And all it took was buying a copy of "Bracebridge Hall," and reading through the text. It didn't hurt to have back-up information from Irving scholars in the United States, and his museum at Sunnyside in New York, to verify this as true.  Irving never referenced Gravenhurst in any of his books……and there were quite a few books to examine. I even provided the book to our own historical experts in Gravenhurst, and gave them the same challenge. If what Bracebridge historians had been writing for years was true, then they would actually be able to find the name themselves. Case closed. To that point however, they had not read this book, to reject or concur with this inaccurate detail of our community history. So the fact was, our town was not named by LeSueur, as inspired by Washington Irving.

     What local historians here didn't realize, was that LeSueur was not just a run-of-the-mill pencil-pusher with the federal postal authority. The written assessment, touted as accurate by the historical community, was that LeSueur had simply borrowed the name from a book he was reading at the time. On the toilet? Was it that cavalier an event? This was untrue, because LeSueur was a well known literary student, and budding critic, and would become well known in the literary world……and many publications, such as Blackwoods, sought out his opinions. When he granted the name "Bracebridge," he was honoring both the integrity of the new community, and paying tribute to the memory of one of the world's finest authors, Washington Irving. Two years earlier, he did the same thing, but borrowed the name Gravenhurst, from a philosophical work by William Henry Smith, also revered as a literary critic. Both Smith and LeSueur knew each other from their connection with specialty magazines, where Smith used the pen name "Wool Gatherer." Smith lived until 1872, ten full years after the name was granted, and this means, "Gravenhurst" was a tribute given to a living, still-writing author. I suspect, and I may be wrong, that LeSueur may have let his associate know about the naming of a hamlet in Canada, in his honor. It should be our honor as well. LeSueur must have had an incredible opinion of William Henry Smith, in this case, as he was very serious when it came to matters of philosophy.

     William Henry Smith was born in Hammersmith, London, in 1808. In 1821 he attended Glasgow University, and in 1823 he entered a lawyer's apprenticeship and was called to the bar, but never practiced law as a profession. He was a regular contributor to major publications such as the "Literary Gazette," "Athenaeum" and "Blackwood's Magazine." For Blackwoods, he had a 30 year relationship as their philosophical critic. This is most likely where he met up with LeSueur, as this is what he was writing for North American publications, and obviously shared some opinions. Smith was offered the chair of Moral Philosophy at University of Edinburgh, but he didn't want to leave the studious, creative life in the Lake District. In 1857 he wrote "Thordale," a philosophical romance, considered, at the time, "of real intellectual value," by critics. "Gravenhurst, "Or Thoughts on Good and Evil," was published in 1862, also as a philosophical tome. So when LeSueur got a review copy, he must have approved, because he borrowed the name for our town. Smith also wrote two major plays, including "Athelwold," and "Sir William Crichton." He died in Brighton, England, on the 28th of March, 1872. In the world of contemporary philosophy….."Gravenhurst" is in active reprint, and if you were to look it up on the Advanced Book Exchange, you would be able to find many of the modern day editions for sale. Thus it is still a coveted book. 

     As a matter of historical record, in the late 1990's, while working on this project, Suzanne and I decided to purchase a post 1872 copy of Smith's book, for the town Archive's Committee….as they didn't have a copy. In 1967, in the book "Light of Other Days," there was a stated reference to the possibility William Henry Smith might have been the source of the name Gravenhurst, but there was nothing conclusive. I wanted to fix that. So we found an American rare book dealer, and purchased a second edition, important because it contained a memorial biography by Smith's wife…..which I thought was more important for the town to have, in order to know more about the author responsible for our name. So guess what? There was a missing postal code on the parcel. Thus the Gravenhurst Post Office sent the book back to the United States, because they didn't have the right address. How ironic is this? The very Post Office that was granted its name from this book, chucked it into the undeliverable bin…….despite having everything else in the address except the postal code. I got it on the second try. When I contacted the committee, to tell them of our plan to donate the book, I also had to note that the text had an extended title, they may not be very happy about. "The Good and Evil" part. You have to read the book to appreciate that this isn't anything bad. It's actually kind of neat.

     At the same time, we donated a copy of a book written for Carleton University, on William Dawson LeSueur…..the postal authority with a little bit more!!!! Plus an Archives Canada black and white portrait of the man who brought a fledgling town together, with an internationally recognized poet / philosopher.

     I will have much more information on Smith in July, when I host a massive…..or modest, 150th Anniversary of the naming of the Town of Gravenhurst. I've got to do it on the cheap, as I don't have any grant money to purchase a plaque, and as it isn't generally accepted as interesting by the town anyway, we'll just share some information about what we believe is a hell of an honor……and let the world know how proud we should be of our little burg here in the Ontario hinterland. I know it's not as prestigious as the 125th anniversary of incorporation, celebrated by the town a week ago. You know I'm being sarcastic, right?

HAVE A LITTLE GOOGLE FOR A HISTORY LESSON

     What cost us more than a hundred bucks, for a second edition, is now free for all of us to enjoy, courtesy the fine folks at GOOGLE BOOKS. If you would like to read what all the fuss is about, you can Google up "Google Books," and register to read "Gravenhurst, or Thoughts on Good and Evil," by William Henry Smith. You judge for yourself, if this is a namesake we should be proud of. Or were we a happier population, when Bracebridge was handling this for us……..as a name found somewhere in the text of "Bracebridge Hall." We have a right to celebrate our literary provenance. This is an international honor. The 125th Anniversary folks, is very much a clerical, statistical bit of heritage, that frankly, isn't marketable on its own. So if you have wondered, what makes me so damn mad in this town, here it is in a nutshell. Town Hall has taken advice that the 125th, as it coincides with the same number of years as the RMS Segwun, is the holy grail of coincidences. Maybe it is. But I'll offer the 150th anniversary celebration, as gentle and no frills as it will have to be, with the conviction that it is of much greater importance……and should be recognized.  So here's your chance to make the comparisons yourself. Let me know what you think.