Friday April 16, 2010

Hi Everyone

            I am surprised how often someone tells me that they found out about the Morris Turnberry history book on this website. That’s my motivation behind writing a catch up note this afternoon.

            We had a bit of a hiccup over the winter as we sorted through our funding, but everything is now in place to produce a two volume set of books on Morris-Turnberry.  We think this will be the first time anyone has ever written the story of an amalgamated township, and we are sifting through mounds of material. If this sounds like an unending project, it won’t be. We need to have the manuscript to the printers by December to bring the book in on budget. So, that’s a firm deadline.

Our last deadline for submissions, October 30, 2009, has long passed, and we’ve been caught up with the material for a while.  Fortunately family histories are still coming in slowly, because we still have many gaps in our lot by lot story of the municipality.  We know there is a lot of land owned by bigger farmers, and that many of those farms no longer have homes on them, but there still are many where people can remember the previous owners.  These farms do have a history, and if you think you could help us record it, we would sure like to hear from you.

We are also missing histories from many present day owners, particularly on the Morris side of Amberley Road. Many thanks to Ken Shortreed who called around the Walton Road farms and convinced people to put their stories in, because he wanted an interesting book to read!  So far, those stories are the best reading in the manuscript. Thanks Ken.

In trying to fill in some gaps, I’m learning a bit more about genealogy through Donna Nicholson. Donna takes the stories that come in, and makes sure that they jive with genealogical records. Sometimes she  takes stories from old newspaper clippings that we find interesting, and figure out where the people lived using old Voters Lists and by adding in family information we find in census material, as well as birth, death, and marriage records, she can tell an accurate and interesting story about people who owned farms in the 1800s. Those stories are turning out really well. Donna also helps people who come in and are not exactly sure of all the limbs on their own family trees

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Right now I’m looking at school histories. Fran Breckenridge has done a great job of getting pictures for most of the Morris schools, and is now hunting for ones we are missing north of Amberley Road. So far we have very few pictures of the Turnberry one-room school houses and their students – with the major exception of SS#2 Turnberry, Kirtans’ School. I’m sure Fran would like to hear from you if you have something. I can put you in touch with her.  As for the written histories of the schools, there are some that need some more personal stories to flesh them out. I do have a nice collection of memories from both students and teachers for Morris schools, but the Turnberry side is scanty, again with the exception of SS#2 Turnberry, Kirtans’ School. I have a nice story about Turnberry Central from Marie Walker. Here is an excerpt:

“I can vividly recall my first day of school which I anticipated with mixed emotions of excitement and apprehension. Daryl and I anxiously waited for the bus. Wearing my new baby blue gingham dress, white ankle socks and my black buckle shoes I was ready. Our bus driver, Dave Haugh, arrived punctually at 7:45 am. We were off on what would be a tradition for all my siblings. Mr Haugh delivered all of us safely to Turnberry Central over a span of 18 years. Upon arrival that first day we exited the bus, walked through the double doors on the west end of the school and there stood a large man with his hands on his hips, He greeted us all and then looked at me saying, “Young lady, you have just made history. You are the first girl to walk through the doors at Turnberry Central School!” I soon learned that Mr Tervitt was our janitor.”

I’m hoping that the above might prime someone’s memories, and in turn mean some more submissions for the book! The memories can be of lessons, teachers, recess, or even the walk home. If you can remember them this long, they must be important!

            While we can insert stories right to the last minute, an avalanche of material in December may mean we don’t have time to place the stories in the manuscript before we send it to the printer.  A more practical deadline for material is early summer. We will have two summer students to help us with the work it takes to place accurate material into the manuscript, and we need to be in the “polishing” stage by fall. 

 In order to get that far that fast, we will need some volunteers to come alongside. We need people who enjoy writing and proof reading, as well as people, like Fran and Donna, who will take on a project within the book.  It seems to me that people that might make great volunteers, are the same people that would take the time to read this. You can consider that a hint.

For more information on Turnberry contact Jodi Jerome   jjerome@hurontel.on.ca

For More information on Morris contact Jenny Versteeg versteeg@wightman.ca

Happy memories,

Jenny