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“This topic deals with my favourite topic, hewing. To that end I am asking those that can square timber by hand the ‘old’ way to drop by for a chat,” wrote ‘Northern Hewer’ on the Timber Framing Guild website’s forum.

Richard Casselman, otherwise known as ‘Northern Hewer’ first started this thread about four years ago. Since that time over 500,000 interested people have visited the site, proving that interest in the historic art of hewing is still alive and well in the world.

“It does seem to me that there is much interest in the preservation of the old ways and methods,” said Casselman, a long time resident of the area. He was introduced to timber framing by his father, Ross, many years ago. 

Interestingly, both men were previously employed by Upper Canada Village (UCV). According to Richard, his father “was in charge of the restoration of many of the log and timber frame structures at Upper Canada Village during the time frame 1958 to 1961. These structures include the Saw Mill, the Woolen Mill, both Craft houses, the Fort, the Cheese Factory, the Bakery, both Dutch barns” and more.

As for Richard himself, he “was involved in maintaining these structures and in overseeing the addition of the Grist Mill, two Drive sheds, one three-bay English barn, the Tin Shop, the Smoke House, and the Harvest Barn.”

Richard worked at UCV for approximately 30 years before he finally retired.  “During my tenure at UCV, I was very fortunate to have been chosen to work closely with many great artisans. My group put together yearly and daily events that not only showed the old techniques but, in the process, we managed to bring to life many types and styles of the early building and construction styles that were disappearing in this area, thereby preserving them for future generations.”

To call him a timber framing enthusiast would be an understatement. Richard Casselman is passionately devoted to preserving local heritage, especially with respect to structures and buildings.

“Since retirement, I have tried to carry on helping and showing many people the old ways, both on the Internet and locally. I take great pride in striving to retain heritage buildings in this area,” he said. As an example, he pointed to St. Paul’s Lutheran Church in Morrisburg. The Church, he said, was built in 1875 and “exhibits, on its exterior facade, hand made bricks of various colours set in lime mortar and, on the interior, the original paint graining on the pews (as well as) the plastered walls set on wood lathes with nicely rounded ceiling edges to enhance the sound distribution.”

As for Casselman’s forum thread, he said he “mainly talks about historic woodworking, hewing, timber framing, and, at times, strays away to other historic subjects.” He admits that he likes to talk about “life in the days gone.” People are interested, he believes, because “it’s not coming from a book; it’s coming from a person. I’ve lived that transition. I’ve seen both sides of the equation,” he said. Here, Casselman referred to his early days, before modern inventions and technology, when, for instance, people “hunkered down” for winter. 

“There is a real interest out there for true historic talk and displays,” said Casselman. “There’s an awfully big movement in the States and in Europe, too, to learn the old ways again.”

Through the forum thread, “I have been asked on many occasions to solve problems that deal with the old trades, especially historic timber framing, but discussions might lead into other associated topics like historic millwrighting, paint graining, and water and steam powered mills,” said Casselman. “The interest in this site shows that public support and interest is there to retain and reconstruct examples of our heritage that we are losing.”

“I hope that we can retain our local historic structures as well as other out buildings like the only surviving swing beam barn that remains in this area. There were two about 20 years ago, (but) now only one remains. With its demise, we will lose a great part of our heritage for future generations.”

Richard continues trying to preserve the old techniques at home and on the Internet. His thread on timber framing is still going strong with an average of 2,000 views per day.

Forums and Threads

“A Web forum is a website or section of a website that allows visitors to communicate with each other by posting messages. Most forums allow anonymous visitors to view forum postings, but require you to create an account in order to post messages in the forum. When posting in a forum, you can create new topics (or “threads”) or post replies within existing threads.” (www.techterms.com)

[…]

 

According to a report submitted to South Dundas council, the township currently owns 109 properties.

On January 17th, council agreed with Clerk Brenda Brunt’s recommendation that seven of these properties should be declared surplus and then sold.

According to Brunt, “staff has done extensive research on our properties. These seven have been identified, that we feel are surplus at this point.” Brunt’s report pointed out that two of the properties have buildings, while the remaining five are vacant.

The seven properties include various locations throughout South Dundas. They are: 5680 Duncan Street in Mariatown; vacant land at the corner of County Roads 8 and 41; vacant land beside the outdoor rink in Dundela on County Road 18; vacant land on Hanesville Road; vacant land on Pleasant Valley Road;  vacant land on Caldwell Drive in Iroquois; and, 2 Miller Street in Iroquois.

According to the report, “proceeds from the sales will go to the Sale of Assets Reserve Account.”

[…]

 

 In the very early hours of dawn, April 29, 1849, the ship, Hannah, en route from Warrenpoint and Newry, Ireland, to Quebec City, Canada, carrying perhaps 180 Irish immigrants and a crew of 12, struck a frozen reef in the strait near Cape Ray off the coast of Newfoundland during an ice storm.

The Hannah’s 23-year-old captain, Curry Shaw, son of one of the owners of the ship, prepared to abandon the vessel. But before he did so, he ordered the ship’s carpenter to nail down the Hannah’s after hatch: his Irish passengers would be sealed below decks. Then he and some members of the crew climbed into the life boat and rowed away into the darkness. 

Another crewman, however, wrenched the hatches back open and those passengers still able climbed out on to the heaving deck. 

Among those who staggered on to the Atlantic ice April 29, 1849, were Owen McCourt and his wife, Jane McKnight.

Now, over 162 years later, Owen and Jane’s great grandson, Pat McCourt, of Williamsburg, has traced the story of his family back to Ireland, and to the circumstances that led them to the deck of the Hannah.

“The Hannah was called,  even in the day, a ‘coffin ship’, as were many of the ships which carried Ireland’s poor to the New World,” Pat McCourt told The Leader

McCourt, a retired principal, can remember, from a very young age, being fascinated by the stories told in his family about his Irish ancestors.

His desire to know more only increased when CBC National – Doc Zone – ran a documentary called “Famine and Shipwreck: an Irish Odyssey”, a film by Brian McKenna, on March 17, 2011. As a descendent of survivors of the wreck, McCourt was invited to be part of the documentary.  

The Irish McCourts hailed from the lowlands of Poyntzpass, on the boundary between Counties Down and Armagh, about 15 miles from the town of Newry. 

In the late 1700s, Pat McCourt’s great-great-grandfather had been moderately successful in setting up a small flax selling business.  

Eldest son Patrick was educated as a doctor while Owen, the youngest son and Pat’s great grandfather, was a farmer, whose two acre holding was opposite his widowed mother’s six acres,.

He had been living with Jane McKnight, daughter of Scottish-Irish Protestants. “I suspect that both Owen’s and Jane’s families were very upset at their union,” McCourt said. “However, two children, Daniel (my immediate ancestor) and Eliza were born to them.”

No Irish Catholic could actually own land; he could only lease it from (often absentee) English landlords. And if a family actually tried to make any improvements to the home or fields, the rent was promptly raised. 

For one third of the Irish, population, uneducated, faced with crushing rents and official English indifference (if not out and out dislike), life was a ceaseless grind of poverty.

Ironically, English papers regularly described the Irish as “lazy and indolent”, people who refused to work, to better themselves. In the 1800s, the stereotype was wide-spread in society and accepted.

The lowly potato was literally the sole  basis of survival for  many Irish families. 

In 1845, a deadly blight attacked. Soon Ireland’s potatoes were rotting in the fields. 

“The thing is,” Pat McCourt said, “there was enough food still being produced in Ireland, despite the blight, to feed the people. Landowners were exporting food all during the famine despite authorities knowing people were actually starving to death. But it appears that many English privately saw the famine as a convenient way to finally get rid of the troublesome Irish ‘problem’. 

“If you can’t call this genocide, it’s pretty damn close,” Pat McCourt commented. 

Prior to 1845, Owen McCourt agreed to stand as guarantor of a loan taken out by his McKnight brother-in-law. 

 “Then the famine came. His brother-in-law defaulted on the loan.”

Owen McCourt had to sell the lease to his eight acres for £80. When his brother-in-law’s debt was settled “we think he may have had £10 or so left. He and Jane decided to take the money and go to Canada to start over. Passage cost  £2-3 each.”  

They left Daniel and Eliza with relatives and boarded the ship at Newry. 

Jane and Owen left Ireland on April 3, 1849. Owen was wearing a warm overcoat his doctor brother had given him at the last minute. It may have saved his life.

On the bitter morning of April 29, with the other survivors of the Hannah, they stood on the heaving ice. 

“The ice broke apart,” Pat McCourt said, “forcing survivors into two groups. People slipped and fell into the arctic water.  Hands and feet froze. Bodies were abandoned on the ice.

My great-grandmother said that when she was trying to get on board the rescue ship, she had to use her elbows and teeth to climb. Her hands were frozen. Later, horribly, a hatch cover was accidentally dropped on her damaged hands.”

About 10 hours after the Hannah struck, a second ship, also carrying Irish immigrants, came on the horizon. She was the Nicaragua, captained by William Marshall, whom McCourt calls the “hero of this story.” 

Captain Marshall, described as a God-fearing Protestant who never expressed a word of anti-Irish sentiment, immediately turned to the rescue. His crew nearly mutinied, terrified at being lost on the ice themselves. 

“Then,” Pat McCourt said, “they heard the people crying and begging from the ice and they relented. As Captain Marshall put it, ‘what has to be done, must be done.’”

When the survivors could not fasten bow lines or ropes with their frozen hands, he and his crew lassoed them, dragging men, women and children from the ice and on to the Nicaragua any way they could. 

“He pulled 129 survivors off the ice that day, including Jane and Owen.” McCourt said. “He could not carry them all on his own already loaded ship, but other vessels had come on the scene, and he transferred the Irish survivors to them. 

William Marshall will always be a true hero to me.”

Nothing was ever done to punish captain Curry Shaw for his actions April 29, 1849.  

Owen and Jane ultimately decided to get off a second ship in Cornwall.

Daniel and Eliza McCourt eventually joined their parents in Canada in 1851. By then, 16 year-old-Daniel was ready to strike out on his own. 

He apprenticed with a Cornwall shoemaker,  then worked on the canal and down the Mississippi River, narrowly avoiding being pressed into the Confederate Army during the American Civil War. 

“Why does this story of the Hannah matter so much to me?” Pat McCourt commented. 

“This is who I am. These people are part of my identity. Their stories and the heritage of these incredibly strong, determined Irish people are my background.”  

But,” he added smiling, “even  family stories can get changed. We were told Owen went back to the Hannah just before she sank to bring off blankets and, supposedly, meal. 

Well, in reality, he brought off blankets and strong spirits. But that part of the story was apparently cleaned up in the telling.” 

[…]

 

“English country dancing is lively, it’s very sociable and the music is wonderful,” explained Sara Lawson, who will be offering classes in English country dance beginning February 5. “This is exercise for the mind and body that people will really enjoy.”

And classes are starting up just in time for participants to join in the festivities surrounding the 200th anniversary of the War of 1812 in Ontario. 

“One of our goals is to take part in the Regency Ball which will be held on Canada Day, July 1, this summer,” Lawson said. 

English country dancing originated as far back as the 1700s. By 1812, the slower and more elegant styles were performed in the drawing rooms of the gentry, while the livelier dances of the country people took place in barns and fairgrounds. Accordions, flutes, fiddles and violins still form the music. 

British officers were regular participants at the dances in the communities where regiments were stationed. “Military re-enactors are today among those eagerly taking up English country dance for the Regency Balls all over Ontario.” 

There has been a tremendous revival of interest in this type of dance in the last 10 years in North America.

Lawson, who has been teaching English country dance for 15 years in Ottawa, Montreal and Ogdensburg, will be starting classes at Allen Hall in Morrisburg for adults over 18. She expects famed caller, Nigel Kilby, known as “Mr. English Country Dance” to come to Morrisburg to ‘call’ for local dancers later in the summer. 

“These are walking dances rather than dances needing special steps. Everyone can do them,” Lawson said, “and they will have a wonderful time.”

For information about classes call 613-652-4010 or contact skgl@sympatico.ca

[…]

 

Time-of-use rates for those who buy their electricity from Rideau St. Lawrence Distribution Inc. will not be going into effect this month, as was previously expected.

In fact, it appears quite possible that the change won’t take place until March 2012.

Originally, the local hydro utility expected to have their 2012 Electricity Distribution Rate Application filed by December 2011. 

However; according to Chief Financial Officer Allan Beckstead, Rideau St. Lawrence contacted the Ontario Energy Board on Monday to confirm that they “are not moving ahead” with the application. “It just does not make sense,” he said.

In explaining the reasoning behind the decision, Beckstead said, “it’s a deep subject. It’s tied in with the province’s Meter Data Management and Repository (MDM/R) and the standards.”

Rideau St. Lawrence has decided to wait until the MDM/R is finished testing and everything can be done properly and in compliance with all rules and regulations.

When asked about the reasoning behind the Time-of-use rates, Beckstead explained that the province’s intention is “to provide a more stabilized load for generation. It costs a lot to have it on stand-by.”

In terms of cost to customers, Beckstead couldn’t say anything for certain. He did, however; offer the following: “From the majority of articles that I’ve read, if you don’t change anything you might see a $2 increase per bill.”

According to Beckstead, Time-of-use rates are expected to “probably” be implemented sometime in March. 

However, he also added: “We don’t really see it as an advantage to our customers so we’re not in a hurry to get there.”

Rideau St. Lawrence Distribution Inc. services South Dundas, Prescott, Cardinal, and Westport.

[…]

 

On January 12th, a winter storm hit the area with freezing temperatures, freezing rain and, of course, snow.

Students woke up to good news on the 12th: a snow day! Schools remained open, but buses were cancelled.

Unfortunately, Friday the 13th proved to be unlucky for those hoping for another snow day. Despite the freezing rain, snow, and poor driving conditions, buses were not cancelled. 

According to the Upper Canada District School Board’s (UCDSB) website: “the UCDSB strives to ensure the safe transportation of children. Ultimately, each parent has the right and legal obligation to protect their child. You may decide to keep your child at home at any time if you feel that it is too risky to have him/her transported to school.”

By mid-morning on the 13th the storm was still going strong and, according to police reports, “SD&G OPP officers responded to a total of 37 traffic/weather related calls for service. The incidents ranged from vehicles in ditches to property damage collisions. Fortunately, no injuries resulted.”

Flashbacks of 1997’s Ice Storm were front and centre in the minds of many local residents, especially when, at 11:54 a.m. on the 13th, the power went out in Morrisburg, Williamsburg, and areas farther north. Iroquois was not affected.

According to John Walsh, a representative for Rideau St. Lawrence Distribution Inc., “the storm caused trees to come down on the main line that feeds Morrisburg.”

The main line belongs to Hydro One and “they repaired the problem.” Hydro power was up and running by 1:31 p.m.

And, on January 17th, children were gifted with another snow day. As of 9:20 a.m., there was still a freezing rain warning in effect for all parts of South Dundas.

[…]

 

According to a press release, Upper Canada District School Board (UCDSB) students were safely transported to and from school on Friday, January 13 after the board made the decision to allow buses to run during the morning’s slushy weather.

Based on a favourable forecast, and positive reports from bus contractors who checked the conditions on area roads between 4 a.m. and 5:30 a.m., the decision was made to allow buses to run, said Superintendent David Coombs. Unfortunately, the weather took a turn for the worse.

 Coombs also conceded that board officials were caught off-guard by Friday morning’s wet and slushy conditions, and said they would have cancelled had they known how the weather would turn.

“Hindsight is 20/20,” said Coombs. “But in hindsight, with today’s conditions, we should have cancelled.”

“Unfortunately, this is not an exact science and we make our decisions based on the best information we have at the time. We apologize for any concerns we might have caused for our students and their families.”

“At the same time, it’s also important to remember here that our students got to school and back safely.”

Coombs explained that the GM/CAO of Student Transportation of Eastern Ontario works closely with Pelmorex/The Weather Network, and bus contractors, in order to receive the most up-to-date information about local weather and road conditions. 

Decisions concerning the cancellation of school bus and special vehicle transportation must be made cooperatively based upon this information by no later than 5:30 a.m.

Friday, the information conveyed was that although there would be some light patchy freezing rain in some areas, it was not significant enough to warrant cancelling buses.

There are 18 distinct zones within the UCDSB. Every zone has a captain that goes out to check roads in their area, who then provides their input. All captains gave the go-ahead to run the buses, said Coombs.

Coombs added that parents may decide to keep their child at home at any time if they feel that it is too risky to have him or her transported to school.

[…]

 

It has been my great pleasure to produce professional theatre in the Seaway Valley. With this show, I will recognize and represent all things Cow Patti stands for.”

Those are the words of AnnaMarie Lea as she prepares to stage the final Cow Patti Theatre production  in the Seaway Valley at the Ramada Inn in Cornwall, this February.

For the final production, Lea has selected Marc Camoletti’s Boeing-Boeing for the last laughs of a hugely successful 11-year run that has produced 17 plays, 340 performances, 42 benefit performances, 106 actors and countless crew…and most impressively, attracted 34,000 guests.

With this upcoming show, Lea and The Ramada Hotel and Conference Centre are hoping to top $180,000 raised for various local charities through a handful of benefit shows in each of the runs. 

In addition to her Cow Patti productions in Cornwall, Lea is well known for her acting skills which she has shared and entertained us with, on the Cow Patti stage and the Upper Canada Playhouse stage in Morrisburg.

Although she returned with her family to Alberta in the summer of 2010, she was back in Cornwall last February for Cow Patti’s 10th anniversary, for which she staged Norm Foster’s My Darling Judith.

Lea told The Leader in a recent interview that her decision to make this year the final show for Cow Patti, was made so that ‘she could spend more time with her family.’

Cow Patti has successfully relaunched in Alberta, and that she suspects will keep her busy.

“We are closing the barn doors on Cow Patti in Eastern Ontario after our production of Boeing-Boeing from February 2-19,” says Lea in a press release. “We have been privileged to have produced for you for the last 11 years and are so grateful to have received such support and kindness from all of you.”

Lea promises that “first up with this production (Boeing-Boeing) will be laughter and plenty of it! This is notably one of the wittiest farces of our time and it goes without saying, we will compliment all this laughter with the Ramada’s superb buffets, which, guaranteed, will set your tummy in the mood for some great big belly laughs.”

“For the past 11 years, Cow Patti has prided itself on creating opportunity for Canadian artists and Boeing-Boeing will be no exception.”

The cast for Boeing-Boeing, which is a prequel to Don’t Dress for Dinner staged by Cow Patti in 2010, includes well known actors Garfield Andrews and Susan Greenfield, who have graced the Cow Patti Stage numerous times in the past, and Lea herself.

Joining them are actors Kate Gordon, Katie Lawson and Jamie Williams. Richard Bauer, who directed Don’t Dress for Dinner, is returning to direct Cow Patti’s last act.

In Boeing-Boeing, it’s airline stewardesses, fiancées and a romantic air traffic controller/maid, (played by Lea), and best friends Bernard and Robert who got themselves into quite a mess in, Don’t Dress for Dinner. Seems this time around, Bernard has three fiancees, who all, unfortunately, experience changes to their flight plans.

Lea says tickets sales, which kicked off before Christmas for Boeing-Boeing are ‘quite good’. The annual Cow Patti productions have become  popular Valentine’s celebrations and with Valentine’s Day this year falling on Tuesday, the celebration is stretching through the weekend of February 10-12 as well as on the 14th.

Boeing-Boeing opens on Thursday, February 2 and runs through Sunday, February 19. There is no theatre on Mondays. Dinner and brunch theatre tickets are available in addition to afternoon and evening cabaret tickets. For information or to book tickets visit www.cowpatti.com or call the Ramada at 1-877-552-9166.

If you are planning to make Cow Patti and Boeing-Boeing part of your Valentine celebration, don’t delay.

[…]

 

The St. Lawrence Seaway closed for the season on December 30, 2011, with the westbound vessel Algoma Spirit reaching Lake Ontario at 7:54 a.m. after having transited the locks on the St. Lawrence River.  

The Seaway’s 53rd navigation season commenced on March 22nd, and the system remained open for a record 284 days, exceeding by one day the previous record set in 2006.

The tug / barge combination John Spence / Niagara Spirit was the last vessel to transit the Welland Canal, clearing Port Colborne December 30th at 8:26 p.m. on its way to Lake Erie.

The St. Lawrence Seaway’s positive momentum remained intact in 2011, with tonnage volumes rising by 2.5 per cent to reach an estimated 37.5 million tonnes.  

Trade patterns exhibited a number of changes, most notably with iron ore and coal becoming export commodities due to strong overseas demand. 

Grain volumes decreased overall by some 6.4 per cent due to a decrease in the amount of U.S. grain moving via the Seaway.  

Strong increases in the volume of bulk liquids, salt and scrap metal contributed to an overall cargo increase of 930,000 tonnes for the system’s 2011 season.

Terence Bowles, President and CEO of the St. Lawrence Seaway Management Corporation, noted that the year brought about some significant progress on a number of fronts.  

“We recognize that while some of our core markets remain under pressure, work is progressing in terms of diversifying our market base, containing our costs, and increasing the system’s productivity,” said Bowles.  “Over the last four years, our market development efforts have generated $12.5 million in new business revenue.”

“In addition to advances in cargo volumes, we achieved a good deal of progress in 2011 on a number of other fronts. In October of 2011, a new three-year labour agreement was ratified, extending to March 31, 2014. We reached a fair settlement that controls our costs and ensures that our customers can continue to experience reliable service.”

“This is the second consecutive year of increases in Seaway traffic and tonnage, reflecting the resilience of the North American economy” said Collister Johnson, Jr., Administrator of the U.S. Saint Lawrence Seaway Development Corporation.

A recently published economic impact study, commissioned by Marine Delivers, demonstrates the significant role that the Great Lakes / Seaway system plays in supporting the Canadian and U.S. economies.  

Some 227,000 jobs and $34 billion in economic activity are supported by the movement of goods within the Great Lakes / Seaway waterway. 

Since its inception in 1959, over 2.5 billion tonnes valued in excess of $375 billion has been transported via the Seaway. 

[…]

 

 The headline in the Cornwall Standard-Freeholder for October 14, 1892, made it brutally clear: 

James Slavin Was Found Guilty Today of the Murder of J. R. Davey. Sentenced to be Hanged on the 16th of December. 

On September 6, 1892, Slavin, an often drunken, unemployed brawler, shot and killed Special Constable John Robert Davey on the corner of Ninth Street. Slavin also wounded Louis Lafave, Davey’s friend.  Within minutes Slavin was seized by an enraged crowd. 

In what some might see as a supreme bit of irony,  John Davey had been on the job as a police officer exactly one day.

Constable Davey was buried in St. Columban’s new cemetery three days after his murder. His funeral was a large affair attended  by civic, police and military officials. He left behind a wife and three sons.

Slavin was duly hanged two months later in the walled courtyard of Cornwall Goal, his body unclaimed and buried in the Goal grounds. 

The years passed. Cornwall grew. Other events, other incidents, other issues occupied people’s minds. Eventually, there was no one left who recalled the death of Constable John Davey. 

In time, no one even remembered where Davey lay buried.

Until 2010, when Cornwall police sergeant Thom Racine found out about him.  

Thom Racine laughingly described himself, during an interview with The Morrisburg Leader as a “born and bred sports guy. Anything I’d ever done up until then had a sports angle to it.”   

An officer with the Cornwall police since 1981 (he was also born in Cornwall), Racine has spent much of his life devoted to sports and to encouraging people to stay active. 

He is a very well known figure in South Dundas. 

Currently, Racine is in his second year behind the bench of the Morrisburg Junior B Lions hockey team. 

How did this sports-minded man come to take on the role of historian, writing Constable Davey, A Future Lost, based on the events surrounding Davey’s tragedy?

“About six years ago, my son came home from school talking about World War II. He was deeply interested. In a kind of spontaneous reaction, I said, why don’t we go to Europe and see what it was all about? That vagabond journey, which took us to cemeteries and memorials honouring soldiers, seemed to put the history hook into me.”

That “hook” as Racine calls it, truly dug in. 

He soon began including historical anecdotes in his regular column in the Seaway News.

However, it was not until he was asked, in 2010, by Police Chief Dan Parkinson to write a history of the Cornwall Police, that he learned of the death of John Davey, and the execution of James Slavin. 

“Davey was a man who may have been recognized for two or three days after his tragedy then forgotten,” Racine explained. “He was a genuine kind of everyman. Davey was no “sitter”: he was a man who got out and got involved in his community. He had served with the militia, run a business, taken part in civic affairs, and he volunteered to be a Special Constable for a dollar a day, if you made an arrest. And Davey gave his life in the line of duty. I really felt that that should be recognized and acknowledged.” 

“Derailed”, as he called it, from the task of writing the history of the Cornwall police, Racine began to focus on the life and times of John Davey. 

His book, Constable Davy, A Future Lost, was the result. 

However, Racine did not stop with simply writing the book. 

“John Davey was a hero,” Racine said. “As the Ontario Police Memorial in Queen’s Park says, he was a hero in life, not death. He died trying to help someone else. There is a quote I like. ‘A hero is no different from an ordinary man, except for five minutes.’ John Davey deserved to be honoured.”

Racine set out to ensure that a man who had died over a century earlier would finally be recognized by his hometown, his province, his nation. 

He got the Cornwall Police on board with his efforts. He researched old files and newspapers. He talked to area historians, searched church records, looked through jail accounts. He traced members of Louis Lafave’s family. He blind e-mailed Davey descendents seeking to put together a picture of this husband, father, soldier, police officer and good citizen. 

Now scattered all over North America, many of the Daveys had no idea of their past and John’s heroism.

The week of September 23, 2011, his book just out, Racine saw Constable John Robert Davey receive the recognition of government and community that had been a hundred years in the coming.

Davey’s name was already on the Queen’s Park Memorial. But just days before special Cornwall ceremonies, Racine learned that petitions to the Ottawa Police Memorial had finally been approved. On September 25, Davey’s name would be engraved on the memorial and honoured in Ottawa.

Ceremonies in Cornwall were held around Davey’s refurbished grave: a street was re-named in his honour. The pipes of the Stormont, Dundas and Glengarry Highlanders, and solemn lines of police officers in dress uniform gathered to give John Davey his due.

“It was a lump in your throat moment for me,” said Racine. “I think what hit me the most was the pride of the Davey family members who had come to Cornwall from all over North America to honour this hero in their family. I will always remember the face of seven-year-old Violet Davey, when police chief Dan Parkinson handed her the folded Canadian  Flag from her great-great-great grandfather’s grave, her look of stunned awe and deep pride.”

Also with Racine for the ceremony was 15-year-old Cornwall artist Dominic Cyr. 

“Dom’s brother Patrick played with the Lions and I’d see him sitting at games,” Racine said. “His dad told me he was a talented artist. I threw him the challenge of creating a drawing of Davey and later of his killer, Slavin, from descriptions and old photos. His work was wonderful. Dom’s sketches and drawings now illustrate my book and the Cornwall street sign. He has a gift that will work for him forever.” 

Racine’s book is a colourful, deeply researched history of a brave man, his time in history, his contribution to the world through his descendents. It is also the story of the efforts of a lot of people to see this man formally honoured by his town and nation. 

Thom Racine is at work on other books now (including that neglected history of the Cornwall police).

 “I will say that I miss spending time every day with John Davey,” he said quietly, at the end of the interview. “In some ways I didn’t know what to do when we at last went to print, and I finally had to leave him.”  

[…]