I AM AN HISTORIAN OBSESSED BY SOCIAL / CULTURAL HISTORY
I HAVE A SERIOUS PROBLEM WITH REVISIONISTS, AND HISTORICAL MEDDLERS, WHO HAVE NO IDEA WHAT THEY'RE MESSING WITH, WHEN THEY BEGIN MISNTERPRETING LOCAL AND REGIONAL HISTORY TO SUIT THEIR NEEDS AT THE TIME. JUST AS AN EXAMPLE, "BEN" THE ALLEGED OPERA HOUSE GHOST, IS A BASTARDIZATION OF HISTORICAL RECORD, BECAUSE OF CALCULATED MISUSE. IT'S A PURPOSEFUL CREATION, AND IT "A GHOST OF CONVENIENCE," WHEN IT WAS NEEDED TO SPICE THINGS UP, A NUMBER OF YEARS AGO, WHEN THE VENUE WAS DOWN IN REVENUE AND LOOKING FOR QUICK FIXES…..LIKE A GHOST, TO PUMP UP INTEREST IN THE OLD BUILDING. WHILE IT IS ACKNOWLEDGED THAT A WORKER ON THE ORIGINAL BUILDING WAS SERIOUSLY INJURED, AND OR, DIED LATER, FOLLOWING THE ACCIDENT, BUT WAS NOT INVOLVED IN A LOVE TRYST, OR IN THE KIND OF LOVER'S MISADVENTURE, SUICIDE, OR ANYTHING ELSE SINISTER, A SPIN-MASTER FOR PROFIT, MIGHT LIKE TO CONJURE UP AS A "GOOD STORY NOT TO BE RUINED BY FACT." SON ANDREW, AS I'VE MENTIONED BEFORE, IS OVERLY SENSITIVE, AS IS OUR WHOLE FAMILY, TO PARANORMAL QUALITIES AND QUANTITIES, AND WITH ABOUT A DECADE'S WORK AT THE OPERA HOUSE, HAS NEVER ONCE HAD SO MUCH AS A STRANGE CHILL, OR THE HAIR ON THE BACK OF HIS NECK BRISTLE FROM CONTACT WITH A GHOSTLY ENTITY. IF THERE IS A GHOST IN THE OPERA HOUSE, HE WOULD HAVE FOUND IT……AND HE KNOWS ALL ABOUT THEM. ANDREW WAS DOCUMENTED, WITH HIS MOM, IN A BOOK OF ONTARIO GHOSTS, BY AUTHOR BARBARA SMITH, SO BELIEVE ME, IF THE OPERA HOUSE WAS HAUNTED, THE APPARITION WOULD HAVE FOUND ANDREW A SYMPATHETIC MORTAL……AND SHOWN ITSELF, LIKE THE MANY OTHER GHOSTS IN OUR LIVES.
I LIKE HONEST HISTORY. I LIKE DIGGING FOR FACT AND ACCOUNTS NO ONE ELSE HAS UNCOVERED OR PUBLISHED. I HOLD ON TO THE HISTORIES OF REMARKABLE PEOPLE, LIKE THE OBSERVATIONS KEPT IN A JOURNAL BY "THE TRAMP - ARCHDEACON GILLMOR OF ALGOMA. HIS EARLY ACCOUNTS OF TENDING THE HOMESTEADERS IN THE MUSKOKA WILDS, AND WHAT GENEROSITY HE EXPERIENCED ON HIS THOUSANDS OF MILES TRAVELLED BY FOOT, IS A PRECIOUS RECORD OF OUR REGION……THAT IS SIMPLE AND HONEST, AND REQUIRES NO EMBELLISHMENT…..AS HE NEVER INTENDED HIS JOURNALS TO BE PUBLISHED. IT WAS HIS RECORD. ONE TO BE OFFERED TO THE ARCHIVES OF THE DIOCESE, BUT HE FELT THERE WAS NO OTHER WORTH IN HIS OBSERVATIONS. OF THIS HE WAS WRONG.
TONIGHT I FELT LIKE RE-VISITING THIS AMAZING CHAP, WHO TRAVELLED MORE MILES BY FOOT, AND WATER, THAN ANY TEN MEN OVER A LIFETIME. HE TENDED THE POOR AND HUNGRY, THE LONELY AND THE SICK, AND PUT HIMSELF IN HARM'S WAY CONSTANTLY, REMAINING WITH FAMILIES SUFFERING MAJOR ILLNESSES, WHERE FOUR TO EIGHT RESIDENTS WERE SERIOUSLY ILL AT ONE TIME.
I BELIEVE, MORE THAN EVER BEFORE, IN MY OWN WORK AS A REGIONAL HISTORIAN, THERE ARE TOO MANY HALF-ASS HISTORICAL-TYPES MAKING INTERPRETATIONS WITH LOCAL HERITAGE, AND INKING SOME MAJOR ERRORS. I AM MAD AS HELL, AND READY TO CHALLENGE, FACE TO FACE IN NECESSARY, THOSE WHO TAKE LIBERTIES WITH HISTORICAL RECORD TO SUIT THEIR AGENDAS. I SELDOM GO A MONTH, READING LOCAL MEDIA PUBLICATIONS, THAT I DON'T FIND MYSELF ENRAGED BY SOME DISTORTION OF OUR HISTORY…..SIMPLY BECAUSE SELF APPOINTED HISTORIANS DECIDE THAT RESEARCH ISN'T NECESSARY……STORY TELLING IS WHAT IT'S ALL ABOUT. IN THE NEXT FEW WEEKS, I WILL BE EXPRESSING MYSELF MORE FIRMLY ABOUT THE NECESSITY HERE, OF SETTING SOME RECORDS RIGHT……BEFORE ALL THERE IS BEFORE THE PUBLIC, ARE THESE WEAK INTERPRETATIONS OF THE HISTORY THAT OCCURRED HERE. I CAN'T LIVE WITH THAT…..HONESTLY, I CAN'T! SO HERE IS A STORY THAT INSPIRES ME……ABOUT THE HUMAN SIDE OF OUR HISTORY…..WHICH HAS A LOT MORE DIMENSION THAN THE BOAT BUILDING INDUSTRY AND STEAMSHIPS. I GET TIRED OF THIS STUFF REAL FAST THESE DAYS, AND THERE'S TOO MUCH BUSINESS PROFIT INVOLVED IN ITS PROMOTION. I LIKE THE KIND OF HISTORY THAT DOESN'T INVOLVE MUSEUM ADMISSION……JUST INTERESTED FOLKS TALKING ABOUT OUR FOUNDING SETTLERS, AND WHAT IF MUST HAVE BEEN LIKE BACK THEN……ON A WILD FRONTIER. AND BY THE WAY, WE TALK HISTORY ALL DAY LONG, AT SUZANNE CURRIE'S COOKERY NOOKERY (AND BIRCH HOLLOW ANTIQUES), AT THE OLD MUSKOKA THEATRE BUILDING ON MUSKOKA ROAD. THERE'S NOT COST TO PARTICIPATE. BUT WE'RE OLD FASHIONED TO A FAULT, SO I WARN YOU, WE TAKE OUR HISTORY STRAIGHT UP, AND NEVER, NEVER WATER IT DOWN.
ARCHDEACON GOWAN GILLMOR OF ALGOMA….."THE TRAMP" IN GRAVENHURST
(Taken from the biography written by E. Newton-White, about "The Tramp," Archdeacon of Algoma, Gowan Gillmor, a late 1800's, early 1900's missionary / priest, representing a huge region of northern Ontario, traveling thousands of miles by foot, serving the spiritual and often health needs of his flock. He was well known in Muskoka, particularly Rosseau, but was also revered by his many friends here in Gravenhurst.)
"If Gowan knew all the constellations (from all the time he spent living outdoors, traveling) he also knew all the plants and flowers of the north country. His eye for beauty was very keen, and he could cleverly adapt these things in all their range, to his sermons in the most vivid terms. Survivors of the children of those days can well remember the way in which natural phenomena and wildlife would creep into his discourse."
The biographer continues, "An Alberta lady, once of Gravenhurst, has treasured memories of him in her childhood. Especially she recalls a Sunday School Christmas Concert, which he opened with a most fascinating account of his approach to the town at dusk, that evening, and seeing the Evening Star rise over Gull Lake, 'with fairies accompanying it.' He held us spellbound."
In another account of a friend, "A businessman of Gravenhurst can remember Gowan visiting his home at an age when his interest was certainly not the church, but the stories Mr. Gillmor told them. He says 'He did not believe in spoiling a good story by adhering too closely to the truth'. On one of his regular trips, Gowan had to pass by an empty house, said to be haunted. One day, curiosity got the better of him, and he went inside to look around. He moved very quietly and listened. Hearing a mysterious noise upstairs, he went cautiously all ready to come down in a hurry. There was nothing. Then he found the sound was coming from the attic. Taking some time to gain courage, he finally climbed the attic ladder - 'and there, sitting up and staring at me, was a ground-hog…..yes, a ground-hog! And, d'ye know he was almost as scared as I was'."
"The grumpy looking ground-hog provided the peg upon which many an apposite tale could be hung to fit an occasion. The ground-hog being, as Gowan would say, the most curiosity-stricken person of all our little people; he had only to stand close to the hole into which one had vanished at his approach, and it would appear again. First the tip of is nose, then its eyes, then its ears, and finally its shoulders. Then they would talk' Gowan would ask questions or make the statement, and the would-chuck would reply in perfectly good Connaughtese brogue. The uses of such discussions were inexhaustible. It is almost certain that the haunted house episode, was expanded into such a dialogue many times at appropriate junctures; but if so, they are lost to posterity."
Newton-White also makes note of a special gift given to Gowan in Gravenhurst. "One gift of which we have no more record, was of a fine sleeping bag, given him by a Gravenhurst bank manager, to use when he had to spend the night in the open. One doubts he ever used it." (He made do, preferring less bulk when walking on his regional rounds)
Before leaving Gravenhurst, he said, "I have made friends here, whose friendship will last all the years of my life, and on through eternity."
"We are fortunate to have a rare description of Rosseau scenery of that time, from Gowan's own hand, in the "Algoma Missionary News." He says, 'It must resemble the Lake District of England - Cumberland and Westmoreland, especially when, centuries ago, they were covered with forests, and wolves hunted the deer. We even have places near Rosseau called Ullswater and Windermere, so other must have thought the same," writes Gillmore. "For miles and miles our roads lead through thick bush; the trees in all their variety and beauty of foliage, closing in on either side and often meeting overhead. At every turn, a new scene to delight the artistic eye, with glades opening out and stretching away in exquisite vistas; the sombre coloring relieved by lighter tints and rich hues of wild flowers and the shed of blue water from lake and river." He did not attempt the impossible, which would have been to describe the fall colour of the region; not the best of artists of pen and brush can do that.
"We are to be envied, we who are able to realize how old England looked when Chaucer's words were everyday speech; when they wore buskins of fine soft leather with long pointed toes; like our own moccasins. It has occurred to me when traveling on our roads through the dense woods that they are like the back avenues for local uses through some great demesne in Ireland; but I never come across a gamekeeper or catch a glimpse of running pheasants. But there, however grand it might seem, it would be so closely bounded by high walls covered by ivy, and separating it from human life of the surrounding country."
Gowan Gillmore's description of Muskoka reminds me of the watercolors by legendary Canadian artist, Thomas Mower Martin, a dean of national art in its infancy. I owned a beautiful landscape Mower Martin had painted in Muskoka, and when I think about it now, sure enough, it was as if the missionary and the artist had seen and experienced the same sparkling summer landscape on their walkabouts.
Thanks so much for joining today's blog. I hope you will all consider joining a proposed Gravenhurst Historical Society, if and when it becomes a reality. This is a very positive development on the heritage front. Please join me again soon. There's always a little more room around the Birch Hollow book table, for a few more interested souls. How can you tell I grew up with the "Friendly Giant"?
No comments:
Post a Comment