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A rainy Saturday afternoon, a toasty warm car and a thermos of hot tea are the perfect elements to take a leisurely drive on the back roads of Muskoka during these pre-fall colour days. These shots were taken along a very peaceful Brydon’s Bay Road, off the the Muskoka Beach Road in Gravenhurst.
Photo by Fred Schulz
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A PREAMBLE EXPLANATION
"CANADA IS RICH IN FOLK-LORE. HER NATIVE RACES, THE INDIANS AND ESKIMOS HAVE SONGS, TRADITIONS, AND CUSTOMS, THE STUDY OF WHICH HAS LONG OCCUPIED THE ATTENTION OF THE ETHNOLOGISTS AT THE NATIONAL MUSEUM AND FURNISHED MATERIAL FOR HUNDREDS OF PHONOGRAPHIC RECORDS. FRENCH CANADA IS PARTICULARLY RICH IN FOLK-LORE SONGS, AND MUCH ATTENTION HAS BEEN, AND IS BEING DEVOTED, TO ITS COLLECTION AND COMPILATION. LESS ATTENTION HAS BEEN PAID TO THE FOLK-LORE OF THE OTHER STOCKS FROM WHICH CANADIANS ARE DESCENDED; BRITISH, SCANDANAVIAN, CENTRAL EUROPEAN ETC. THIS IS REGRETTABLE, AS THE FUSION OF THESE VARIED ELEMENTS RESULTS IN THE GRADUAL LOSS OF MANY DETAILS OF VERY GREAT INTEREST."
THE QUOTATION ABOVE WAS WRITTEN IN 1949 BY F. J. ALCOCK, CHIEF CURATOR OF THE NATIONAL MUSEUM OF CANADA. IT WAS CONTAINED IN A NATIONAL MUSEUM BOOKLET, WRITTEN BY W. J. WINTEMBERG, ENTITLED "FOLKE-LORE OF WATERLOO COUNTY, ONTARIO."
I PICKED UP THIS AMAZING LITTLE GEM OF CANADIAN HISTORY, WHILE ON AN OLD BOOK-HUNT TODAY, IN ORILLIA, AND WHEN WE ARRIVED HOME, TO GRAVENHURST, I SAT OUTSIDE WITH OUR OLD CAT BUDDY, ON MY LAP, AND READ THE ENTIRE CONTENT WITHOUT INTERRUPTION. WHICH IS ODD AROUND HERE, BECAUSE OURS IS A WHACKY NEIGHBORHOOD OF INTRUSIVE NEIGHBORS, WITH THEIR WILD ARRAY OF HOME MAINTENANCE MACHINERY, SCOOTERS, SKATEBOARDS, AND LEAF BLOWERS. IT WAS IRONIC, SOMEWHAT, AND A LITTLE PROVIDENTIAL FRANKLY, TO FIND THIS BOOK, AT A TIME WHEN I'M ALREADY HUNKERED DOWN, EXAMINING THE FOLK HISTORY OF OUR REGION OF ONTARIO.
WHILE THE BOOK OF COURSE, DEALS MOSTLY WITH GERMAN FOLK-LORE, MUSKOKA AS WELL (ALTHOUGH MUCH LATER IN CANADIAN HISTORY) HAD CLUSTERS OF GERMAN IMMIGRANTS, DURING ITS PIONEER DAYS, INTERMINGLING WITH HOMESTEADERS FRESH FROM ICELAND, IRELAND, SCOTLAND, ENGLAND, NORWAY, DENMARK AND SWEDEN; FROM THE LATE 1850'S ONWARD. AND GRADUALLY THESE FOLK STORIES AND SUPERSTITIONS WERE SHARED, AND POTENTIALLY ALTERED BY THE GENERATIONS, WHEN THERE WERE MARRIAGES BETWEEN THESE CULTURAL GROUPS.
I WILL BE LOOKING CLOSER AT THIS BOOKLET, IN THE COMING WEEKS, AND USING SOME REFERENCES WHICH I BELIEVE WILL HAVE A RELEVANCE TO PROFILES OF THE SETTLERS IN THE WILDS OF MUSKOKA, AS FAR BACK AS THE 1850'S,.....AND WHAT THEY MAY HAVE BELIEVED ABOUT GHOSTS AND WITCHES, THAT INFLUENCED THEIR VIEWPOINTS OF HOMESTEAD EXISTENCE. THE STORY OF PAT LOVELY'S ARRIVAL IN THE HAMLET OF UFFORD, IN THE THREE MILE LAKE AREA OF THE PRESENT TOWNSHIP OF MUSKOKA LAKES, IS A CASE IN POINT. IT IS A WONDERFULLY TOLD MUSKOKA FOLK TALE, THAT IN FACT, RIVALS WHAT HAS BEEN COLLECTED FOR THE PURPOSES OF THE BOOKLET I HAVE PREVIOUSLY MENTIONED.
AS I WAS SITTING OUTSIDE, THIS AFTERNOON, LOOKING OUT OVER THE BOG, AND WONDERING HOW THE SETTLERS VIEWED LAND LIKE THIS, AS THEY HUNTED ACROSS THE DISTRICT FOR ARABLE FARMLAND? THERE ARE A LOT OF "BOG" ACRES IN THIS DISTRICT. THEN I BEGAN THINKING ABOUT THE STORY OF PAT LOVELY, AS WRITTEN ABOUT, BY SUZANNE'S UNCLE, BERT SHEA, IN HIS BOOK, "HISTORY OF THE SHEAS; BIRTH OF A TOWNSHIP." THE FACT HE INCLUDED HIS STORY, SHOWS HIS RESPECT FOR THE FOLK HISTORY OF OUR REGION. SO MUCH HAS BEEN LOST, BECAUSE IT WASN'T DEEMED IMPORTANT.
I'VE USED THIS STORY PREVIOUSLY BECAUSE IT IS IMPORTANT. IT IS THE ONLY STORY I KNOW OF, IN OUR REGION, THAT SUGGESTS AN ACT OF "BE-WITCHING," ON THE PART OF PAT LOVELY, ON TWO COUNTS. FIRST, THIS PIONEER SETTLER, AN IRISH CATHOLIC, HAVING CLAIMED LAND IN AN IRISH PROTESTANT NEIGHBORHOOD, IN A NEW LAND, IS SAID TO HAVE PUT MUSKOKA'S FIRST "CURSE" ON A NEIGHBOR'S SWINE, BECAUSE IT KEPT GETTING INTO HIS GARDEN, AND DESTROYING HIS CROP. ON THE SECOND MATTER, AND IN A BENEVOLENT WAY, IT IS CLAIMED THE GOOD MR. LOVELY WAS ABLE TO SAVE A NEIGHBOR CHILD FROM BLEEDING TO DEATH, ACROSS A FARM PASTURE, WITH NOTHING MORE THAN A STEELY GLARE AT THE HOUSE. IT IS ALSO SAID, BY THE NEIGHBOR CHILDREN, THAT HE WAS ABLE TO REDUCE HIMSELF TO A VAPOR, AND GET INTO A WOODEN KEG, FROM WHICH HE COULD TALK TO THEM. THESE ARE JUST REMARKABLE STORIES, AND TELL US A LOT ABOUT HOW SCARED AND VULNERABLE THESE FOLKS WERE.....AND HOW POWERFUL SUPERSTITION WAS, IN THE 1850'S AND 60'S, IN DEALING WITH THE HUMAN RELATIONSHIP WITH THE NATURE AROUND THEM. MUSKOKA. A BEAUTIFUL PLACE BUT A DANGEROUS ONE AT THE SAME TIME.
THE STORY OF PAT LOVELY AND FAMILY'S ARRIVAL IN MUSKOKA, IS NOT AN ISOLATED ONE......AND THIS HAPPENED MANY TIMES, IN THOSE PRECARIOUS YEARS, WHEN SETTLERS HANDLED THEIR OWN JUSTICE AND GOOD NEIGHBOR PROTOCOLS....AS POLICING AND LEGAL ASSISTANCE WAS IN SHORT SUPPLY, AND DEARLY EXPENSIVE TO PROCURE. IT WOULD HAVE BEEN INCREDIBLY DIFFICULT, FOR PAT LOVELY, TO THINK ABOUT THE STRONGHOLD OF THE ORANGE LODGE, A SHORT DISTANCE FROM HIS OWN CABIN, AND A VERY SPARSE NUMBER OF CATHOLICS IN THE VICINITY.....OR CHURCH TO ATTEND. AND ALTHOUGH HE WAS WARNED OF THE "THREE MILE LAKE WOLVES," AND WHAT MIGHT HAPPEN TO HIM, IN THAT WILD AREA OF THE DISTRICT, WELL BEFORE HE OPENED THAT CABHIN DOOR ON THAT FIRST NIGHT OF OCCUPATION, HE HAD THE PIONEER FORTITUDE TO FACE WHATEVER ODDS PRESENTED......AND NOT JUST THE PERILS OF FARMSTEADING ON A TREED, ROCK-FILLED, HILLY TERRAIN, WITH A SHORT GROWING SEASON, AND A LONG, COLD WINTER.
WHAT A BEAUTIFUL AFTERNOON IT WAS, TO SIT HERE AT BIRCH HOLLOW, AND LOOK OUT AT THE BORDER HARDWOODS, CHANGING COLORS, AND SEE THE CASCADE OF WINDBLOWN LEAVES ALREADY ACCUMULATING IN THE FRONT YARD. I SEE MANY ENCHANTMENTS, WHERE OTHERS SEE NOTHING BUT A CHANGING SEASON. I'VE HAD THE PRIVILEGE, YOU SEE, OF HAVING AT MY FINGERTIPS, BOOKS WRITTEN BY KEEN FOLK-HISTORIANS LIKE BERT SHEA. THE SHEA BOOKS I POSSESS NOW, IN MY LIBRARY, WERE GIVEN TO ME BY SUZANNE'S MOTHER, HARRIETT, WHO OF COURSE, WAS BERT SHEA'S BROTHER. OF ALL THE MUSKOKA BOOKS, HONESTLY, THIS IS THE ONE I CONSULT MOST OFTEN, IN MY ONGOING CAMPAIGN TO CONSERVE MORE REGIONAL FOLK-LORE.
YOU MAY HAVE READ THIS STORY BEFORE. IF YOU HAVE, THEN PLEASE READ IT AGAIN; THIS TIME, WITH THE PERSPECTIVE OF IT HAVING NATIONAL SIGNIFICANCE. THE ESSENCE OF CANADIANA. WHAT MIGHT HAVE BEEN INCLUDED IN A NATIONAL INVENTORY OF FOLK-TALES, AS WERE COLLECTED IN WATERLOO COUNTY, IF THE SAME INVENTORY HAD BEEN COMPILED ABOUT OUR REGION OF CANADA. MAKE NO MISTAKE. THERE IS A CLEAR ACCUSATION THAT THIS IRISH CATHOLIC SETTLER, COULD BE-WITCH AND CURSE WITH A BLINK OF THE EYE. SO IT DOES SUGGEST VERY MUCH SO, THAT CATHOLICS HAD A LITTLE SOMETHING EXTRA, WHEN IT CAME TO HOMESTEAD SURVIVAL.....THAT THE PROTESTANTS DIDN'T POSSESS. PLEASE READ ON, AND ENJOY.
SUPERSTITIONS AND FOLKLORE ON THE MUSKOKA FRONTIER
SETTLERS BROUGHT FEAR AND LOATHING FROM THE OLD COUNTRY - BELIEFS IN HOBGOBLINS, TROLLS, LEPRECHAUNS AND ASSORTED BANDY-LEGGED WEE BEASTIES
I DON'T LIKE GIVING LECTURES, AND I DON'T LIKE SITTING-IN ON THEM EITHER. DID THIS AT UNIVERSITY AND HATED EVERY MOMENT. YES BUT DID I LEARN ANYTHING? INDEED. THAT I DON'T LIKE LECTURES!
WHEN I'VE BEEN ASKED TO GIVE PRESENTATIONS, IN THE PAST, I ALWAYS AGREE AT FIRST, BUT HATE THE IDEA IN RETROSPECT. IT WAS BEFORE SUZANNE TOOK OVER MANAGING MY PUBLIC PERFORMANCES. I'M NOT A BAD PUBLIC SPEAKER, SO I'M TOLD, BUT LIKE FLYING, I STEW ABOUT IT FOR THE WEEKS AND DAYS LEADING UP TO THE ENGAGEMENT. THE FIRST THING THAT SUZANNE DID FOR ME, AS MY MANAGER / AGENT, WAS TO INSIST ON AT LEAST A MONTH'S NOTICE OF A SPEAKING GIG, AND MOST IMPORTANT, THAT I BE ALLOWED TO SELECT THE TOPIC. I WON'T BUDGE ON THIS. I'M MORE COMFORTABLE CHATTING ABOUT THOSE AREAS OF REGIONAL HISTORY, I'M MOST FAMILIAR. WHEN THE MUSKOKA LAKES MUSEUM CONTACTED ME, ABOUT A PRESENTATION THEY WANTED ME TO DO FOR THEIR WEEKLY "LECTURE SERIES," I REFUSED TO DO WHAT THEY WERE MOST INTERESTED IN……..(NOT SURE WHAT THAT WAS), AND INSTEAD TOLD THEM I WANTED TO DO A LECTURE ABOUT LOCAL FOLKLORE, HOMESTEAD SUPERSTITIONS AND REMINISCENCES OF PARANORMAL ACTIVITIES HERE IN THE HINTERLAND OF ONTARIO. THEY WEREN'T SURE ABOUT THIS, BUT I INSISTED. WELL, IT TURNED OUT TO BE A REMARKABLE EVENING, AND WE TALKED WITH GUESTS FOR MORE THAN AN HOUR AFTER THE TALK. IT'S THE REASON I'VE KEPT UP ON PARANORMAL TALES, AND FOLK LORE, AS DOCUMENTED BY HISTORIANS AND STORY-TELLERS THROUGHOUT OUR REGION. I FIND IT COMPELLING.
WE MUST UNDERSTAND, FIRST OF ALL, THAT THOSE WHO EMIGRATED TO CANADA, AND TO THE MUSKOKA REGION IN THE 1860'S ONWARD, BROUGHT OLD-COUNTRY SUPERSTITIONS TO OUR DISTRICT…..CULTURAL FOLKLORE FROM ICELAND, NORWAY, GERMANY, SCOTLAND, IRELAND, ENGLAND AND DENMARK, TO NAME A FEW COUNTRIES, WHERE EARLY SETTLERS CAME FROM, DURING THE YEARS OF THE FREE GRANT AND HOMESTEAD ACT; GUARANTEEING 100 ACRE PARCELS TO PIONEER FARMERS. IT WAS, IN MOST CASES, A WICKED CONTRAST OF ENVIRONS, FROM THE URBAN AREAS OF EUROPE WHERE THEY HAD LIVED, ONLY MONTHS EARLIER, BEFORE FACING A BLEAK SCENE IN THE HEAVILY FORESTED MUSKOKA OF THE 1860'S AND 70'S. THERE IS ONE OF THESE FOLK STORIES, OF WHICH I AM PARTICULARLY FOND, AND ONE THAT I USED IN MY LECTURE, AT THE MUSEUM IN PORT CARLING. IT'S CONTAINED IN THE FIRST BOOK, WRITTEN BY FAMILY HISTORIAN, BERT SHEA; "HISTORY OF THE SHEAS AND BIRTH OF A TOWNSHIP," AND INVOLVES THE INTER-ACTION BETWEEN IRISH PROTESTANTS AND CATHOLICS, LIVING SIDE BY SIDE, IN THE UFFORD / THREE MILE LAKE AREA, OF THE PRESENT TOWNSHIP OF MUSKOKA LAKES. THE PROTESTANTS BEING THE SHEAS, WELL KNOWN MEMBERS OF THE LOCAL ORANGE LODGE, AND THE LOVELYS, AN IRISH, ROMAN CATHOLIC FAMILY, SETTLED IN THE MIDST OF "ORANGE" AS FAR AS THE EYE COULD SEE. HERE NOW IS BERT SHEA, PROFILING THIS SCENE, CIRCA 1865, (BASED ON FAMILY STORIES) IN THE HILLY, PICTURESQUE COUNTRYSIDE OF UFFORD, TITLED AFTER A BRITISH NAMESAKE.
"THE COMING OF THE LOVELYS"
"Pat Lovely, a stout, heavy bodied man, born in Ireland, a shoemaker by trade, migrating to Canada, and settled around or near Sarnia, moving to the County of York, where he traded twelve pairs of men's handmade boots for the one hundred acres where sits the St. Clair Railroad Station, who from there, having heard the call of free grant land in Muskoka, with his young wife and family of small children, joined in the great move northward; their destination Watt Township and the Three Mile Lake settlement of Ufford," penned Bert Shea, about the coming of this hopeful, enterprising young family.
"Journeying by rail as far as the Iron ran, then on foot, carrying their belongings, stopping somewhere within the boundary of Muskoka for a night's lodging. And in conversing with others, someone inquired where his destination lay, to which Pat answered, Watt Township. 'Ah,' says his friend, 'I would advise you to stay away from there: in that Three Mile Lake settlement, they are a bunch of savages. Around Three Mile Lake, that place in known far and near as the home of the Three Mile Lake Wolves. And Ufford is the centre of it. On your way in you will come over Bogart's Hill and before you is the place known as the Devil's Den, and the next big hill you look down is Smalley's Hill, and that is the home of the Three Mile Lake Wolves. They will poison your cattle, they will burn you out. You will never get along; you are Irish Roman Catholic and they are all Orangemen."
"A blast like this to a man on his way to a new home, among strangers, a law-abiding citizen and a young family, was a terrible dampener to his inspirations. Pat stood silent and motionless for a short time in deep thought. Then turning around facing the direction of his journey, in a low voice and Irish accent say he, 'I'm going anyway.' Pat arrived in Ufford in the dark dreary month of November in the late afternoon. The heavy clouds skidded across the sky, borne on the northwest wind. Darkness creeping down as he travelled over Bogart's Hill and through the Devil's Den. And over Smalley's Hill into the home of the Three Mile Lake Wolves, to the centre of the valley. And wending in the darkness up the brush trail to his little shanty on the hillside of Lot 15, Con.4, the naked limbs clashed in the wind overhead, low whirling blasts swirled the dead leaves around, the little shanty door creaked, as he swung it open to admit the good wife and children. In the dim light of the little lantern, he started a fire on the hearth, that brought light and cheer. This was their home."
Bert Shea records that, "It is hard to know what thoughts may have run through the mind of an Irishman awakened by the voices of the wind or the night, moaning of the trees and the clashing of the gads. And above all, the recommendations he had received on his way in, from his friend at the tavern, regardless of thoughts or feelings that may have reigned in the heart and mind of Pat Lovely; prayers were said and all was left in the keeping of the Good Saint and the little family slept, as only they of clean conscience and weary from their travel. The morning broke. Pat and the good woman were astir, the children's voices were heard and little feet pattered about the shanty. Then suddenly from the cover of thick bush walked a tall black whiskered man. He walked directly to the cabin door. Pat met him at the step, and an Irishman whose face bore the scars of fighting in Ireland, and ready for the worst. Not saying a word, the stranger strode to within arm's length of Pat, and stopped looking the Irishman in the eyes, extending his hand saying, 'I'm Bill Shea; I believe you are Pat Lovely.' 'It's Pat Lovely I am,' says he, as he slowly accepted the outstretched hand as a female voice from within the shanty proclaimed, 'May the Gods in mercy give us peace'."
The historian, Mr. Shea, writes, "What else was said, we do not know, but from that day on, the Lovely's and Sheas were the best of friends. This friendship extended from neighbors to neighbors, till Pat became the Irish seasoning in a mixed community. But as time went on, he became regarded by some in a very serious way. As one who possessed certain powers that were mysterious, which he could use in different ways. One most talked of, especially by the young people who declared to be true, that Pat had the power to put himself in a 45 gallon oak barrel with both ends closed, the only opening being the two inch bung out of which he would talk to them. (He could throw his voice). Pat was a good neighbor and had good neighbors, but sometimes neighborly good nature will wear threadbare. In this particular case, Wm. Kay had a very fine black boar that was hard to keep in his pen; a log enclosure and when free, took a particular liking to the flavor of Pat Lovely's potatoes. Pat continued to fix the fence and chase the boar out till at last his potato crop was going to be ruined. This, to an Irishman, was sufficient reason and justification for retaliatory actions; so he openly pronounced a curse on Kay's pigs for a duration of twenty years. The writer is not adding to or taking away, when he related that it was acknowledged by Wm. Kay that he had trouble raising pigs for some years. After the pronouncement of Pat's curse, and not until the elapse of the years of its duration did he enjoy the measure of satisfaction that eventually became his in later years. The following account is a true happening and known throughout the neighborhood. Though years have passed since its time, the writer has often heard the aged of the community relate this marvelous affair."
He writes, of the near tragic mishap, that "A neighbor boy of ten or twelve years had gotten seriously cut and was bleeding to death. The bed was soaked with blood. All efforts to save the boy seemed to be a failure; he could not last much longer. The father walked out of the house, leaving the mother and the boy alone, as he stood there before the door, the thought came to him. He immediately called the younger son, a boy of perhaps nine years old, saying 'Go over and tell Pat to come over quick, your brother is bleeding to death.' The young man fleet as the wind, lost no time on the run and delivered the message. As the father of the bleeding boy stood on the door yard waiting to see Pat's sturdy body coming hurriedly over the fields. But not so; he appeared from the door of his own house. Before the door, he stood looking over to this troubled neighbor for a short time, in whose interval the mother of the bleeding boy rushed out the door to the father saying the blood has stopped. The writer heard the father, when an old man, declare the truth of the whole affair, saying, 'Pat didn't need to come over. He could stop the blood from where he was, and the boy got better. Pat, as others, gave his time and energy to the rolling back of the frontier, and bringing in an era of development to the community. He built the first frame house in the Three Mile Lake settlement. The writer would question, the thought; at that date it could be the first frame house in the township, as at that date there was a sawmill at Lot 8, Con. 4, to cut the lumber. This house was lath and plastered, the lath having been made by hand. The man who did the plastering and carpentry, his name has passed from the memory of the writer. And at this date there are some remaining to ask, but this home has since been remodeled and is in a state of good repair."
This is a good story of tolerance….. most of the time, except for the black boar incident. A story of the Green and the Orange living side by side in a new country, and actually getting along. Is it possible that Pat Lovely had such power of prayer, that he could stop a child's bleeding? It's a folk tale. It's just one of thousands, a majority of these remarkable stories having been lost over the centuries. It is thanks to family historians like Bert Shea, who have saved this important tale, for enjoyment by a modern, new century audience.
Thanks for joining me today, for this historical blog. There are so many wonderful regional and family histories, contained in the respective Muskoka Collections, of our district libraries. Go and have a look for yourself. Today when we travel frequently, looking for antiques and collectibles, in virtually every nook and cranny in this district, we appreciate the ghost towns and forgotten hamlets, the less travelled crossroads and country lanes, as being the habitations and former caraways that opened up this region to settlement. We are reverent of all the things that have come before us……we are but voyeurs upon the work of so many others. Knowing the history of this region, as antique hunters, has always given us a big advantage over our competitors, especially when dealing with long-time citizens, who wish to share their memories of important heirloom pieces they wish to sell……many items tied in to those earlier days on the Muskoka frontier. We love to talk history.
See you soon. You can visit my other blog-sites, or archive your way through this Gravenhurst site, now more than three years old.
Lots more regional history to come…..whether you're a voyeur yourself, collector or dealer of antiques
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