Sons of Temperance in Kettleby (written in 1936)

Provided by Jim Hunter; written by his mother; great niece of J. M Walton.

 

On the twenty-ninth day of September, 1842, sixteen persons assembled in a small upstairs room on Division Street in New York City and organized the First Division of the Society they named the “Sons of Temperance”.  Form this little mustard seed has grown a great Order that has spread throughout America and Great Britain, Australia, South Africa and other countries.  The growth of the order was rapid.  In the year 1848, First Division, number 1, Brockville was organized in Ontario. A year later, the Grand Division was organized in the province with 6 subordinate Divisions.  With great rapidity the Order spread throughout the province.  In 1854, 254 Divisions were instituted.  The membership contained many leading men of the province. “The Canadian Prohibition Liquor Law League” was launched in direct affiliation with the Order.

 

The first attempt in Kettleby to organize a Division was made in 1849/50.  The hamlet was then known as ‘Kettleby Mills, Canada West’. Robert Boyd, Ira Webb, Thomas Boyd, John Tyson, Ellis Lloyd, Murdock Lloyd, Albert Hodgins and Jacob Walton were the charter members of the Division, and its founders.  The Division was organized in David Watson’s house, which stood at the corner of the Lloydtown Road and the fourth concession.  This farm is now owned in 1936 by James Murray.  The farm house is still standing and is occupied by James Murray.  The meetings were subsequently held in Pringle Shaw’s store which stood across the road at the fourth concession.  The little group of buildings were known at Tatville, so named after the nickname of David Watson.  This old store building of Pringle Shaw’s was later removed to the village of Kettleby and now stands between the village store and the blacksmith’s shop.

 

After some months of troubled existence, this organization went out of existence and its supplies were sold to a new Division being instituted at or near Bond Head.

 

Some months after the collapse of the First Division, a charter was granted to P. Bogart, G. Bogart, M. Lockart, A. Gordon, G. West, N. Srigley, R. Srigley, Joseph Stokes.  The Division was instituted on the 22^nd day of February, 1855, named Kettleby Division #232.  The charter is still in existence and has never been surrendered.  This Division was organized in Proctor’s school house in the fifth concession, the locality being commonly known as the Hillborn settlement.  Benjamin Pearson, Teaville Appleton, Samuel Irwin, Albert Kennedy, Clayton Appleton, and Hunt of Aurora came out to the settlement to plan this new branch of the Order.  At that time, Aurora had a Division of the Sons of Temperance, and these men were members of that Division.

 

At this time, secret orders were an innovation, and some members of the community were very suspicious of the operations of this secret society.  Many looked upon it as a menace to the well-being of the community.  Suspicion and curiosity were aroused and many attempts were made to spy on the meetings and reveal the mysteries and secrets of the Order.  The use of the school house was objected to by certain members of the community, and the little band then met in a house located near the west limit of Kettleby, located on the Toole farm.  This house was some years later occupied by Asa Buck and has been since torn down.  After a few meetings the little Division next found a meeting place in the mud brick mansion built by Captain Tyrwhitt, on which site now stands the present Walton residence, Brunswick Hall.  The Division grew in members and popularity, and when the membership had reached twenty-five or thirty members, the big undertaking of building a hall was considered. The zealous members turned out and felled the standing timber during the winter for the frames.  The logs were drawn to local saw mills and sawn on shares, the miller taking part of the timber in payment for cutting.  Bees were made and the building erected.  William Stokes gave a long lease at a rental of one barley corn a year to the trustees.  The lease contained a stipulation that no liquor should ever be sold on the premises.  It is interesting to note by the minutes that some years later some zealous member objected to allowing the township council to rent the hall for holding meetings at which licenses were granted for the sale of liquor in the municipality.  Contributions of money subscribed by various people paid for the skilled labor in the building of the new hall.  In the fall of 1856 the new hall was completed.  The smart frame building, painted white and bearing the triangle emblem on the front gable, with the motto, “Love, Purity, and Fidelity”, and the Star of Temperance emblazoned around.

 

At this time began a series of some twenty-eight annual festivals or Temperance Tea Parties held in the grove east of the United Church, and became famous throughout the whole province.  Bands and musicians were brought from the city and surrounding towns.  The best speakers of the day were invited to address the vast crowds which gathered.  By 1860, it was found necessary to add an additional lodge room, so an addition of 18’ was built at the south end for Lodge room purposes.  As many as two hundred members would pack themselves into this small lodge room.  On Saturday nights the village would be swarming with young people who had come to attend the Division meeting.

 

The cooking and supplying of provisions for these annual tea parties was one of the big events of the year.  A committee would be appointed and baking would be carried on for a week or ten days in preparation.  Vast quantities of cakes and other provisions would be supplied, and to be a waiter was one of the social ambitions of the young people.  The waiters would be named by the Division, about 25 young men being appointed.  They would then select the girl of their choice and each young man would either buy or hire the finest horse and buggy available.  The waiters met a stated point about a mile or two away from the scene and proceed in a procession to the picnic grounds.  The young ladies would carry in their laps vast boquets of flowers with which to decorate their tables, and the best decorated table was usually awarded a prize.

 

The cakes were decorated with tissue paper bands, and scene was very bright and impressive with flowers, music and speeches.  It made a great and memorable day for young and old.  People came from all parts of the county.  A few years later, another addition was made to the west end, and the Hall was completed to its present state.

 

In recognition of their services at the annual Tea Parties, the waiters were sold tickets at the reduced rate of 1 shilling, 10 ½ d for a couple.

In 1857 the first lamps for burning oil were procured.  Previously, tallow candles were in use, the cost being 1 shilling per pound.  10 ½ d was the price paid for the first pint of the ‘burning fluid’.  They evidently considered quite a long time before equipping the Lodge room with oil lamps, for in 1857, a lecture was held and the proceeds were applied to the purchase of four candle sticks.  By March 1861, coal oil had been reduced to the cost of $1 per gallon and it is recorded that the lamps were remodeled for coal oil.

 

In the earlier days penalties were imposed for violating any of the rules or pledges.  Records are frequently found in the minutes of charges and penalties.  For the violation of a pledge, members were fined various amounts, usually 5 shillings.  Officers were fined 7 1/2 d for being late, although an amendment sometimes let the offenders off with a penny penalty.

 

On the 9^th of November 1856, the minutes record that it was deemed necessary to fix a penalty for anyone “seen eating an apple or apples, or a nut or nuts, or strewing the shells on the floor”.  The penalty for this offence was 7 ½ d.

 

On December 7, 1856, upon the motion of the late brother Hillborn, seconded by Brother Joseph Stokes, ladies were first admitted to the Division, and on the 14^th of December of that year, Mrs. M. Stokes, Miss Mary Lemon, Misses R. Shipman, Roxy Hillborn, Eliza Cross, M.A. Bogart, Rebecca Lockart were initiated.   On January 10, 1857, the second group of ladies were initiated.  They were Misses A. Spink, Hannah Toole, Helen Ailes, and Mary Lloyd.  A motion is recorded that “the ladies provide their own regalia and foot the bill”.  Evidently the influx of new members of the fair sex was anticipating a new supply of regalia.

 

Observance of the pledge was very strict in the early days, and drinking habit very prevalent.  There were at least seventeen licensed places to sell liquor in the township, and two hotels operated in Kettleby village.  As the pledge prohibited the buying as well as the using of liquor, many members would be fined for treating others, as this of course was a violation of the pledge.  In 1859, a young member who later became very prominent in business circles in Toronto, was charged with the buying of “spirituous liquor and giving the same away to drink”.  The erring brother was reinstated in consideration of the circumstances, but the discussion was very warm on the practice of treating non-members to drink.  But the reinstatement of this brother resulted in the resignation of some indignant members.

 

It was at this period in 1859, that a resolution was introduced to prohibit the Township Council from using the Hall for meetings at which licenses for the sale of liquor were to be granted.

 

In 1875, the Cadets of  Temperance was instituted by the late brother Joseph Webb.  His assistants were Brother Ellis Lloyd, and Sister Susan Lloyd.  Susan afterwards became the wife of Joseph Webb.  The Charter list of the Cadet Section was Silas Stephens, J.W. Webb, William Stokes, Chas. McArthur, William and Walter Rodgers, George and Alfred Butler, L. Hollingshead, A. Webb, E. Hilborn, Levi Watson, H. Shropshire, Clara and Jennie Walton, and Carrie Stokes.  Seventy-one members were enrolled.

 

Joseph Webb lost an arm in the sawmill at Springdale while filing a circular saw.  He died of consumption at an early age, leaving his widow Susan Webb, who lived to a ripe old age and was noted for her temperance and church activities.

 

Much could be added to this short sketch of the early history of the Kettleby Division.  The Hall trust has been well maintained.  No dancing, or sale of liquor has ever been permitted.  The Hall has been the cradle of the Methodist and Anglican churches, the Salvation Army and several Sunday Schools.  In the years of the Division’s existence over one thousand members have been enrolled.

 

The Division at one time had a membership of two hundred and twenty-five, and for many years maintained a membership of over two hundred.  The Division held first place in membership in the Grand Division of Ontario for several years.  Among its members who have attained the office of ‘Most Worthy Patriarch of the National Division of North America’, were the Hon. G. W. Ross, whose membership was transferred from Lobo Division, and J. M. Walton.

 

J. M. Walton, when a member of the Kettleby Division and resident of the village, established the monthly periodical known as the Sons of Temperance Record, and continued its publication for about twenty years.

 

J. M Walton attended the First Grand Division at Kingston in 1887 and for the next half century has seldom missed an annual session.  He has held various positions in the Grand Division, notably Treasurer and Grand Scribe and Grand Worthy Patriarch.  In the National Division, he attended nearly every session since 1896 and when in the office of Most Worthy Patriarch of North America, he attended the National Division, Great Britain and Ireland in 1925, to settle the question of dividing the jurisdiction and refused the application of Scotland for a separate charter as a National Division.