Posted with permission from the Hamilton Spectator
SPECIAL TO THE HAMILTON SPECTATOR
(Dec 21, 2007)
He wasn't asking for pity, but the Christmas that George Thomson described back in 1857 sure sounds bleak.
Thomson kept a diary. He didn't have to. That wasn't part of his job. He was the lighthouse keeper and ferry man at the canal on the Beach Strip, on duty for nearly 30 years.
All that time, Thomson kept putting quill to paper and, wasting no words, recorded the moments of his life by the lake.
It's all in several slim volumes that somehow never got lost. Thomson's account is a major treasure, especially to the Beach Canal Lighthouse Group, the band of citizens working hard to have the lighthouse and the keeper's cottage restored. And they are now celebrating an important date, as it was 150 years ago this Christmas that George Thomson moved into that new 1 1/2-storey cottage.
Starting in the spring, he kept track of the construction in his diary.
And finally, these entries:
"Dec. 23: Mrs. Wells is washing out the new house. Carpenters left for home. 3:30 began to carry in the beds and bedding. Took supper in the new house. 8 p.m., got all the books and a number of other articles removed. Took possession of the new brick house.
Dec. 24: Slept in the new house for the first time. Find that it is smokey with the high west wind. Closed lighting up. Navigation may be considered closed for the season.
Dec. 25: 7 a.m. Christmas morning. Feel weak and unwell, through hard work, cold and smell of the new house. Got a few apples from Mr. Lottridge. Baked a panful and ate one."
So that's it, an apple being the highlight of Christmas. Sounds lean and lonely, but other days Thomson did lead an interesting life.
"He was the man at one of the principal intersections in Hamilton, the Beach and the canal," says David Auger, executive director of the lighthouse group. "He had all the news. Traffic was passing by."
Through the canal, it was scows, schooners, steamers. Across the canal, horses, buggies, wagons.
In the summer of 1856, disaster struck at that key intersection. From Thomson's diary:
"July 18: 4 p.m. Large lighthouse caught fire by a spark from the steamer Ranger. Burnt to the ground with ferry house, lightkeeper's house and my own dwelling house. Great number of tools, clothing and other articles destroyed.
"July 19: Slept in a rough shanty last night with the few articles safe. Got breakfast at Baldry's this morning. Feel tired and restless. Got the shanty finished."
So that was why Thomson's employer, the federal department of marine and fisheries, had to build him a new dwelling. And as that old eight-sided wooden lighthouse had burned with it, they had to build a new tower, too. Work started on that months after the new house was done. They made it of stone and it still stands.
George Thomson's house is the oldest structure on the Beach Strip. The lighthouse group aims to turn it into a museum that would become property of the city. Serious efforts to raise money begins soon and the project could cost $1 million.
The group thinks one fundraising tool might be to produce replicas of George Thomson's diary.
A few more entries from 1857:
"April 23: Took a warm bath last night between 8 and 9 o'clock.
"July 17: Can hear the big drum of the circus in Hamilton. Received a new pair of slippers by Mr. Wells. Sent them back being too large.
"August 26: Five wagonloads of herring gone across the canal this morning. Bought a pair of long-leg boots. John Dynes caught 13,000 herring yesterday and 7,000 the day before.
"Sept. 5: 24 wagons ferried over by 7 a.m. Noon, 38 wagons put over canal. Lost count of the wagons after 42.
"Sept. 7: Masons erecting the scaffolding round the house. Bought a dozen of ale. William shot a mink.
"Sept. 9: Bought two volumes of the Leisure Hour and The Philosophy of Salvation with the Atmosphere in Its Phenomena.
"Oct. 20: Received bitter abuse from Baldry's wife for waiting on a team on the north side of canal.
"Nov. 8: Rested in bed this morning till 7 o'clock, the longest this year."
About half-a-dozen lightkeepers called that dwelling home. The last was Pete Coletti, who left in the early 1990s when he and his parrots were sent off to the Maritimes. It's been empty since then.
StreetBeat appears Monday, Wednesday and Friday.
pwilson@thespec.com
905-526-3391
SPECIAL TO THE HAMILTON SPECTATOR
(Dec 21, 2007)
He wasn't asking for pity, but the Christmas that George Thomson described back in 1857 sure sounds bleak.
Thomson kept a diary. He didn't have to. That wasn't part of his job. He was the lighthouse keeper and ferry man at the canal on the Beach Strip, on duty for nearly 30 years.
All that time, Thomson kept putting quill to paper and, wasting no words, recorded the moments of his life by the lake.
It's all in several slim volumes that somehow never got lost. Thomson's account is a major treasure, especially to the Beach Canal Lighthouse Group, the band of citizens working hard to have the lighthouse and the keeper's cottage restored. And they are now celebrating an important date, as it was 150 years ago this Christmas that George Thomson moved into that new 1 1/2-storey cottage.
Starting in the spring, he kept track of the construction in his diary.
And finally, these entries:
"Dec. 23: Mrs. Wells is washing out the new house. Carpenters left for home. 3:30 began to carry in the beds and bedding. Took supper in the new house. 8 p.m., got all the books and a number of other articles removed. Took possession of the new brick house.
Dec. 24: Slept in the new house for the first time. Find that it is smokey with the high west wind. Closed lighting up. Navigation may be considered closed for the season.
Dec. 25: 7 a.m. Christmas morning. Feel weak and unwell, through hard work, cold and smell of the new house. Got a few apples from Mr. Lottridge. Baked a panful and ate one."
So that's it, an apple being the highlight of Christmas. Sounds lean and lonely, but other days Thomson did lead an interesting life.
"He was the man at one of the principal intersections in Hamilton, the Beach and the canal," says David Auger, executive director of the lighthouse group. "He had all the news. Traffic was passing by."
Through the canal, it was scows, schooners, steamers. Across the canal, horses, buggies, wagons.
In the summer of 1856, disaster struck at that key intersection. From Thomson's diary:
"July 18: 4 p.m. Large lighthouse caught fire by a spark from the steamer Ranger. Burnt to the ground with ferry house, lightkeeper's house and my own dwelling house. Great number of tools, clothing and other articles destroyed.
"July 19: Slept in a rough shanty last night with the few articles safe. Got breakfast at Baldry's this morning. Feel tired and restless. Got the shanty finished."
So that was why Thomson's employer, the federal department of marine and fisheries, had to build him a new dwelling. And as that old eight-sided wooden lighthouse had burned with it, they had to build a new tower, too. Work started on that months after the new house was done. They made it of stone and it still stands.
George Thomson's house is the oldest structure on the Beach Strip. The lighthouse group aims to turn it into a museum that would become property of the city. Serious efforts to raise money begins soon and the project could cost $1 million.
The group thinks one fundraising tool might be to produce replicas of George Thomson's diary.
A few more entries from 1857:
"April 23: Took a warm bath last night between 8 and 9 o'clock.
"July 17: Can hear the big drum of the circus in Hamilton. Received a new pair of slippers by Mr. Wells. Sent them back being too large.
"August 26: Five wagonloads of herring gone across the canal this morning. Bought a pair of long-leg boots. John Dynes caught 13,000 herring yesterday and 7,000 the day before.
"Sept. 5: 24 wagons ferried over by 7 a.m. Noon, 38 wagons put over canal. Lost count of the wagons after 42.
"Sept. 7: Masons erecting the scaffolding round the house. Bought a dozen of ale. William shot a mink.
"Sept. 9: Bought two volumes of the Leisure Hour and The Philosophy of Salvation with the Atmosphere in Its Phenomena.
"Oct. 20: Received bitter abuse from Baldry's wife for waiting on a team on the north side of canal.
"Nov. 8: Rested in bed this morning till 7 o'clock, the longest this year."
About half-a-dozen lightkeepers called that dwelling home. The last was Pete Coletti, who left in the early 1990s when he and his parrots were sent off to the Maritimes. It's been empty since then.
StreetBeat appears Monday, Wednesday and Friday.
pwilson@thespec.com
905-526-3391