THE BOYD PAPERS FROM BARB - FALL 2024

Yes, thank you, we have been busy! Many people through the Museum and many more in for Book Sales. No student this summer so Carolyn and I have been manning the rooms seven days a week, and yes we are tired. Wendy Hall and Joyce Bryon hosted a ‘Lucy Maud Montgomery Tea’ in early August and we had a full house. Lucy and Gilbert (grands of Jenn Gillard) put in an appearance. This tea was held in the Art Room so our book sale could stay up in the second or Ogemah room. This book sale will have to come down late August as all the rooms are rented for the day.

We (that’s the Royal We) have decided the former MTO office is too grand and too large for our office and perhaps a little too far from the front rooms of the building so we will stay in the present office. The painters use the MTO, now called the Club Room, and if we can have more renters in there to off set the cost of the room it should work out to our favour, if not we may have to find a permanent tenant. We will give it a try for this winter.

Jen Gillard’s grands (Connor and Sarah) as Lucy Maude and Gilbert.

20 people attended the tea (sold out) and recipes came from the book “

Lucy Maude Afternoon Tea Recipe’s”. 

A bit of history – part of our Museum story -

In the fall after the harvest many young men in the Bobcaygeon and Verulam Township would hire on to Boyd’s lumber business. They would head into the bush until late February or early March.

Their days were spent working. First light until dark. Their double bitted axes would have been sharpened the night before by the camp blacksmith. Huge piles of logs along the waterways awaiting the spring thaw. Logs would tumble down into the fast-moving rivers and the river drivers would take over. Assembling huge rafts of logs, moving down the waterway. Sending logs down timber chutes one at a time and reassembling the rafts and travelling to the next obstruction. Once again repeating the job, of sending logs down the chutes (or flumes) to adjoining waterways. Months of hard work just to get these logs down to Bobcaygeon. Travelling down to Lake Ontario where the rafts would be barged to Quebec City to be sold. English sailing ships needed these rafts of logs to return home as ballast, settlers as ballast on return trips from England, Ireland, Scotland and Wales. The timbers would be used for masts and spars on the sailing ships. Old Mossom Boyd rode the rafts to Quebec. Realizing there was a middle man in Quebec, Mossom returns to England and finds his own buyers. While there he sees a steamship and knows this whole market would collapse. What to do? New York had cut all of their forests and needed wood for their rapid growth. Boyd and his crew could supply. This is when he starts cutting boards ‘75 thousand board feet daily’. Moving once again down the waterway, across Lake Ontario to the Erie Canal, on to the Hudson River to Albany, New York. Setting up an office he begins to sell Kawartha White Pine to help build New York City.

A constant flow of money from this endeavour enabled Mossom Martin and his step brother WT.C. Boyd to educate their sons and daughters to an unimaginable degree in the back lakes of Ontario. The boys went on to Oxford colleges and Wycombe College for the girls. Truly, Downton Abbey in Bobcaygeon.

The story never ceases to amaze me, just the hard, backbreaking work these early settlers did to open up this area and then promote tourism to take over when the trees were gone.

Puts our work telling the story and maintaining the Boyd Lumber Offices miniscule by comparison. 

We prepared for our 25thAntiques and Collectibles Show for the third weekend in August. Vendors are getting harder to find – all are getting older. The Boyd will have our usual book sale table, this did really well last year so here’s hoping for a repeat. 

The profit was down, less dealers renting space and less people attending. We were down about $1,000 from the previous year. We are thinking perhaps next year we could hold this in our building. We could accommodate 10 dealers saving ourselves over $1,000 in rent for the Curling Club. Ruth McIssac says she can still have her café from our kitchen and providing seating in our front room (children’s school room). Talking to our long term dealers they would agree to set up in our building for two days. We’ll see!

For those who park in our parking lot (or swimming pool after a rain), we are contemplating having the driveway and parking lot properly graded and paved. Many dollars! Winter is dangerous for pedestrians walking across the dips and dives in the driveway.

I was given the green light to hire Buckhorn Asphalt Solutions and they could do the work this fall (a bonus).    

Six of these trucks filled with gravel dumped their contents on the driveway. There was a 30” difference at the back of the driveway to 

to the front. All of this fill was packed and graded then rolled. It will stay like this for about 10 days then they will be back to pave the driveway. The head guy said we will never have to worry about this driveway again. I mentioned we were pretty old. Well, it will be here for a long time. Wonderful hard working crew a credit to their company, Buckhorn Asphalt Solutions. Super guys!

   We finally could receive this painting of Willy Boyd and his sister Letitia. It is mounted above the fireplace in Mossom’s office. The painting dates around 1880s. Willy is about 5 years old and his sister Letitia is about 3. The detail on the lace of the dress is wonderful. Come by and see it!  

.     Pendulum clock from home of WTC Boyd (we think it may be German).
 The clock also will live in this room. The clock has no identifying maker’s name or origin. Another interesting donation was a ‘Wombat’ coat dating about 1920+-. Owned by a local family. It is in perfect condition and the fact that it was a local coat we felt we could accession it. Apparently, Eaton’s or Simpson’s carried ‘Wombat’ fur coats in the early 1900s, but I haven’t found it in the old catalogues. How would a chap in Bobcaygeon have a fur coat from Australia?? I’m sure we will find out. Sheila certainly loved her fur coats so who knows maybe one of the Boyd women had a wombat coat. We also received photo albums that had belonged to Bridgie (Ann deGrassi Boyd) McIntosh. So, lots more pictures from the early Boyd families. 

In this collection, a wonderful diary (unsigned from 1812) detailing travel to the Isle of Wight, food, weather etc. Larry and I think it was written by a woman (just because of the details to food and mode of travel, weather, description of ships ie. ‘man of war’) but Bridgie had this diary and it could have been an early Boyd, a deGrassi, Clemens, St. George, or??? 

Our lawyer, Anna Friend, will be looking over the agreement from the City, letting go their part ownership of the Boyd Building to the Foundation. If all is acceptable it will go to the registry office and a Deed will be drawn up naming the Boyd Building and grounds to the A. Sheila Boyd Foundation. This should be done around November. Speaking of, the City is having trouble with the word ‘Foundation’ and even though I have quoted the Canadian Oxford Dictionary’s meaning of the word Foundation, they are requesting we re-register ourselves as a Company, Association, Group etc. The time and hassle that would entail plus the cost is really quite nasty. Any other governmental group we have applied to for funding, both Ontario and Feds have no problem with the word, only the Economic Development Department of the City. Other departments in the City do not have a problem with the name. We have been the Foundation since 1984. I asked if the City would pay for the name change – no reply! But bank accounts, any transactions, emails etc. all would have to be changed. We are toooooo old to play these games! 

Larry has rewritten our By-Laws as per requested by Ontario, a huge job so well done Larry!  

 We just have a few days more of usual Museum opening then closing and spending the last weekend at the Fair. Wendy and Joyce will be manning (wommaning?) the Boyd Booth in the arena. Next up will be our Annual Meeting, then participation in “Haunt the Village” inviting the local youngsters to come and decorate a pumpkin, have their fortunes told and take a scary trip through the rooms. Then our Gallery of Gifts in November. However, there is always lots of paper work, planning and a couple of talks I have to do over the winter months. Keeps us out of trouble!

I will be stepping down as Chair of this organization as soon as the Deed has been registered. I will stay on to manage the museum and properties. That should keep me busy! The building and property is in good shape. We just have some questions about property etc. We have some questions that have been emailed to the City and we are awaiting answers before signing anything.

Joyce Ingram will be leaving the Board, a sorry thing for us, but she has many irons in the fire. Sue no longer wants to be secretary of the Board and Joan Mathew has stepped down as vice-chair. So many changes coming down the pipe. Some fresh blood would be good, new ideas etc. as we move forward. I am still worried about the eventual future of the building, but with our Heritage status and the continuing and growing interest in the building, I feel somewhat reassured that it will carry on. We are educating visitors that the City does not fund us nor do they own this building (at this moment). This is surprising to most ‘out of town’ visitors as well as the locals that visit. Most municipalities support their museums.

Doors Open was a resounding success for us this year. I started a count about noon ended up around 215. All but maybe 5 or 6 people wanted a tour. We captured all of the guests with our story and they were amazed with the history of this little village. Carolyn, Jen and her granddaughter Sarah were there to help. 

It has been mentioned that all along the waterways, back in the day, there were many logging companies. Yes but, in this area only the Boyds achieved the wealth and expansion of their various industries and achieved national and in some cases international recognition.

Sue will be sending out these papers along with our membership renewal forms – feel free to sign up once again, we can certainly use the help – especially after having the driveway paved! However our charity is the building and property! We do have to look after it.

Wendy Hall sends out interim Boyd reports keeping you up-to-date on daily happenings.

We really appreciate the corporate support we receive from J & K Devitt, BMO, Jermyn Lumber, Purdy’s Jewellery, Lavish Locks, British Empire Fuels, Bobcaygeon Lions Club, Kinettes, Lions Club. 

See ya in the spring –Barb McFadzen 

  This has certainly been a tumultuous year. We are not through yet.

The City and ourselves have not yet arrived at an agreement about the building. I meet with a representative next week, so before this is sent out to you I may have some news about the future of the building and the collection. The Board feels we can go it alone without the City and we would not have to answer to the City. We would carry on with our activities, fund-raising to maintain ourselves. The Chamber/MTO would then pay us rent for their space. I on the other hand would like the City to be a fall-back in the event of the Board breaking up. I would like assurance that the collection would remain in the building and the museum would carry on.

We have not had a great deal of organizations or people coming in to rent out the original library space. Perhaps the Christmas season coming up will see some interest in the rooms for corporate or private events.

In August we held a very successful ‘high tea’ selling out 50 tables. Lynn Nichols catered the event and we have been asked when the next ‘tea’ will occur. That will be in early December when we will decorate the rooms for a Victorian Christmas. We are looking to purchase tables as our book sale tables are not really suitable for teas. 

Our chairs are not quite suitable, but Settlers Village was switching up their chairs so we were given 50 chairs (all the same) and we will be putting covers over the backs (making them very spiffy), so next will be purchasing tables.

In early August we hosted an art and artisan show on the grounds. This was a fund-raiser for us and there were about 20 vendors outside and inside the building. Perhaps there are so many art shows throughout the summer months and just weeks after the show at Settlers (most of the same artists), we were not overwhelmed with people or buyers. Also, in August we held our usual Antiques and Collectibles show. This was well attended and is the usual best fund- raiser we hold. A few of the vendors thought that this was probably their last show. (We are all getting older). However, we have contacted most of the dealers a couple of months later and some have revised their answer. So, we are planning on holding this event for at least another year. Perhaps a one day, this would be cheaper for the vendors

And Sunday is usually a slow day for the vendors.

A very special art show was in this summer Anne Gordon (b. Bobcaygeon and now living in Texas). Related to the Gordon boat works, Anne is a ceramic artist and she has replicated all of her father and grandfather’s tools used in the manufacture of their famous canoes and boats. These ‘tools’ were so realistic that I was constantly reminding people to ‘not touch’ as they assumed these were the real deal. Anne connected with many ‘old’ Bobcaygeon friends and relations. She also gave a short talk for our August high tea. Anne left her book for us at the museum explaining the show and the history of this local company. 

We had two Karl Illini painting donated to us this past summer. Both paintings showed the Boyd house, a favourite of Karl’s, one donated by Mr. and Mrs. Bing Wang and the second painting, again of the Boyd house but with a Rolls Royce parked in the back yard. This was donated by Jack Bingleman.

Mr. & Mrs Wang with Carolyn Jack Bingleman’s donation

We were also given two velvet Victorian chairs which blend nicely with our museum pieces and would have been in either of the Boyd homes. Meta Boyd’s platform rocker was also donated.

Another notable donation was Sheila Boyd’s side saddle. This was sadly neglected for many years. My sister-in-law, an avid horsewoman and saddler for many years happened to be visiting when the saddle was donated. She repaired the interior of the saddle with unbleached cotton and fiberfill, cleaned and nourished the leather and repaired one small tear. She said this was a good saddle and that Sheila rode often. This will be on display next year. We also received an 1887 Singer treadle sewing machine and a 1920 gramophone. Now I have to figure where to put these items and tie them into the existing story.

Along with the saddle we received a number of Sheila’s paintings – all unframed.

Larry  received some photo albums along with the paintings that had belonged to Bridgie Boyd McIntosh. 

Carolyn has taken advantage of our extra rooms and has set up daily book sales. These daily sales have proven so popular that they have paid our way over the summer. People have now realized that we (the Boyd) are the used book sale people (not the library). The Kawartha Voyageur cruise ship comes to the museum in the evenings when they dock in Bobcaygeon overnight, and they also love to pick up some good books at very reasonable prices. Once the summer visitors have left the sales dropped but still prove worthwhile for the locals. The books will go away while we hold our Gallery of Gifts in November then our Christmas Tea and Victorian Christmas. Carolyn and I are usually in the building until one ish each day and Sue Rasksen is there from 11:30 ish to around 3. So, the book sales are daily from 10 to 3. They are life-savers, this also allows the art room to be open from 10 to 3 and because the library is no longer there, the art room had limited hours. Now it is available almost everyday from 10 to 3.

Sylvia Green organized our Fall Fair booth this year and we did very well. Serving soups and chilli (even though it was 30 degrees on Saturday) the chilli sold out. Popcorn machine ran all day long on Saturday. Lots of water and pop was needed. 

So, for fun Wendy Hall, wanted to hold our version of the Haunted Village. This was an Impact 32 idea. All businesses downtown were invited to hold some type of Halloween special. We had pie pumpkins and stickers (no cutting into pumpkins) special displays (scary eh!) and coffee for parents. The front hall was turned into a fortune tellers domain. This was very popular. A line up of kids was a constant for Sue. She even got some of the parents, but didn’t quite know what to do with them!

Are we having fun yet?  Soon – will talk to the City Tuesday and then will send out these notes. Fingers crossed!

The GOOD NEWS we are safe – We will carry on as we are with some financial help from the City and if the Foundation ends the CITY will assume ownership of the building and the museum and collection will stay as is. I slept last night.

Till the spring – have a good winter you will see my 20 wedding gowns ready for our Victorian Christmas.

- Barb McFadzen