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Our historical heritage By EUGENE HENRY. Whitby's foremost historian the first Loyalist settlers who came to the Whitby area following the American Revolution (1776) some tirnes brought valuable and smnall pieces of household furniture with themn but what they needed most were small tools like hammers, plail(ý chisels, and augers, land clearing and house building work was at an end. The first pieces of plank furniture made for use in the first primitive shelters were tables, benches, chairs, beds and cupboards -end they were put together skillfully with a few nails. The woods most of ten used ( fi WIIITBY FREE PRESS, WliINESDAY. lUNE 25, 19>80, PAGEI15 Early Ontario furniture was crude littie of it goes back to the days of first settiement. It is probably of a much later date and gives testimony to the skills of our farmers who, of necessity have always had to be handy with the small tools. During the depression years a lot of small farmers in this area got off their marginal land and became urbanized factory workers when they could get such work. Auction sales of their household effects were held, some through distress but most often to get rid of equipment, tools, and cum- bersome furniture that could not be used in a city home. The terms were spot cash, on a "take it away today" basis. The prices were often low, low, 10w. But, one must remember that the buyers who attended such sales had little cash for the purchaws of such cast-off items then. Those were the da: 's, however, when well m.,.tc early household furnib-re (in walnut particularly) emerged from hiditig to become the collector pieces of today and tomorrow. The crudely assembled primitive pieces in pine, maple, and hickory had few takers back in the depression days. Unfor- tunately nuch of it was destroyed and many years would pass before the primitive look became at- tractive to Ontario furniture collectors. Making furniture at home was a necessity in the day of first settiement (1800 - 1815) but after the War of 1812 was out of the way and after the frontier of Central Canada and the Whitby area had been successfully pushed back. There was more time and better tools to make bet- ter furniture. thL lathe was a key new tool it was operated by a foot treadie. It fast became the chairmakers delight and it is likely that his first produc- tion pieces were Windsor or arrow back chairs just lik,. those in the photogralins that illustrate this columiu. They were often painted a peari grey color with a free seSessL S e e hand black or red decoration over the basic grey. These chairs are merely typieal of the breed flot necessarily the -best. It is difficuit indeed to tell tbe difference between primitive and crude. o w e3 naUvt everything You'1l Need For Your Preserving Supplies VISIT 1 MA Wanda & Tony Martin at J THE COMPLETE HARDWARE STORE DOMIN10N HARDWARE] 31BROCK ST. S.668-3540 kit( - quprn,,)ent such as iro s >.-,knives, forks andsr" Good fi.. ntu.t! was not appropriate at ail. For the rude and primitive shelters that were the first homes of our first settiers. In those areas where the trees were devse and tal across the new land, whip saws, axes and wedges were the first tools needed to clear the land, hew the timber for a log house and make the first crude pieces of fur- niture that would be. needed immediately. Logs for furniture boards were sawn co-operatively with the whipsaws that every fouth family received from the government set- tiement officers and sometimes the planks were split by careful wedging-a far cry from the fine cabinet making skills that would come eventually to a few af- ter the settiers top priority were pine, maple, cedar, oak and hickory. Few pieces of this primitive furniture survived the settiers paint or stain brushes when lie could get the rnaterials to give his first shelter not only a bit of color but furniture that jooked like the better-built kind, from his earlier 111e. This is why the first pine furnîture was stained a mahogany red with burnt Sienna and Vevettan rc-d pigments. Eventually wear and tear would take its tol. paint would cover the worn stained wood and way down the years a collector !'. early ontario furnitu: c would remove it ail, Ieaving the chair or table bald and yellow, with the years and character of the good early pieces completely erased. Furniture made with saw, hammer, chisel, knife, bat- chet and auger can still be found in the Whitby area but 1 p. V wJu 1220 DUNDAS ST. Eue WHITBY 668,01065 AT MIDAS MFLER WE OFFER YOU SHOPS ast riendlyService. SHOPS With The Finest Prod uct & we guarantee i -I.L MIDAS