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The following is a copy of a story written by Ruth Simpson, oldest daughter and second oldest child of Permelia Merriam Simpson and William Bramwell Simpson. The event being related would have taken place in about 1890, apparently at Bramwell and Permelia's home which was beside the Anglican Church on the Toronto-Sydenham Road in Chatsworth. Ruth obviously wrote this from memory at an undisclosed date. Permelia was my great grandmother, her second son and third child being my grandfather, Stanley Merriam Simpson. This story goes with the photo of the assembled family. (Sharron Simpson)
The Celebration
As a child of about six years, I remember an exciting summer day in my parent's home when five sons and two daughters (my Mother, one) assembled to celebrate their parent's Golden Wedding anniversary. Several had travelled several days to come. There were many grandchildren ranging in age from babies to grown-ups, also one great granchild. There were forty-two in all.
Cameras and kodaks were not common then and an official photographer from a town some ten miles away (likely Owen Sound) had been engaged to make a photographic record. The group was assembled under a large tree in the garden and while I do not remember the stress of posing and quieting a number of active children, it must have presented difficulties, though I do seem to remember that someone climbed the tree and spread some thing across the branches to shut out a streak of sunlight.
After the photographic session, I heard Grandmother say to several teen age girls that she wanted to show them something and curiosity prompted me to tag along, probably keeping well in the background, knowing that grown up young ladies did not consider a six year old their peer.
Granmother led the way to a bedroom where she had removed her bonnet and left the small box which carried her lace cap which she always wore - she had morning ones, afternoon ones and today, would be wearing a new one, her very best. From the box she removed a small tissue wrapped package and gently removing the wrapping, held up an old fashioned bodice which she said had been part of her wedding gown. It did not seem possible she had ever worn anything so small. The material was the colour of old ivory and the tiny hand sewn tucks and seams were still intact.
Seated, and with the girls at her feet, she said she would tell them a story about it for the material had been bought in Philadelphia and had come from England just before the American Revolution. It had been purchased by a family living in Pennsylvania. They, and most of their nearby neighbours, had come from Germany or the Netherlands and were of the second or third generation. Often a family was divided in it's loyalty; my Father was loyal to the English but his two brothers joined the revolutionary army. When they returned home when the war was over, they took over the family property and my father joined a group who were moving to Canada where the government had set aside land for them. He and my Mother were married and the wedding gown was made from this material. It was a sentimental luxury that they took it with them. I was born in Canada and many years later the gown became my wedding gown when I married your Grandfather.
The Loyalists, as they were called, settled in an area near Lake Ontario and there I met your Granfather. He too, had been displaced by the war. His English born Father had been loyal to the Crown and when the war was over his considerable property in Conneticut was taken from him and he too went to Canada where he did not long survive.
After we were married we lived near my parents and our first four sons were born there, but after the birth of our first little girl, we decided to move to a more sparsely settled area which might have more opportunities for a growing family. It was in the Georgian Bay area and several hundred miles away. With a nurse for the baby we made the journey and for a time settled in a small town where your grandfather worked for a time, then we moved to what in time became a homestead and in time a house and other building were erected;
Meantime your grandfather worked in a small foundry and wood working plant in this village and through the farm was only a few miles away, his working hours were so long and six days a week so he only got home on Sun
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