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5000 readers famffirille mibum 1425 copies awarded jos clark memorial trophy for 1939 vol 53 no 1- stouffville ontario thursday april 18 1940 eight pages brother 82 sister 84 give up old home samuel hoover and sister maria hoover to give up their obrien avenue home both born on the farm close by towns oldest native born brother and sister yes its an awful thing to be blind said sam hoover 82- yearold citizen of obrien avenue to the tribune the other morning when we sat at his beside and conversed about the war also things long past i havent seen daylight for four years and was steadily go ing blind five years ago said mr hoover but despite this terrible handicap he is cheerful and possesses a keen mind able to quote accurately the dates of incidents long past and discuss intelligently the events of the day he keeps abreast of local news by listening to the radio in addition to his blindness this veteran is bedfast with rheum atics mr hoovers sister mrs maria hoover who is 84 explain ed to the reporter that they are giving up house keeping and are offering the brick residence for sale mr hoover will live with his daughter mrs percy brown just north of stouffville and the sister will be at rich mond hill with her only son mr fred hoover manager of the canadian bank of com merce there despite her age mrs hoover is in possession of all her faculties and certainly does not impress one that she is a woman even approaching 80 she did not have to change it her name when she married d l hoover who died about 48 years ago their short married life was all spent in ringwood and district of eight children in this original hoover family who claim as their birthplace the fine old homestead at the south end of obrien avenue now the harper farm seven are living namely maria hoover samuel joseph elias all of town mrs bishop toronto mrs ada boyd en the 10th and mrs susie davidson in brantford the house on the homestead in which they were all born is still in excellent condition built of stone and erected in 1855 we urged mr hoover to tell us about his younger days when he stated i married john cleavers sister and we had a long life together until she died this winter and now i am going to live on the farm again with my daughter but its not the farm i worked he explained i started to farm between the 8th and 9th and stuck at it for 34 years he said then i sold to mcclures but fred mortson has it now mr hoov er stated members of the christian church in town they have been unable to attend for some years because of their great age it is with general regret that friends in town witness the breaking up of this longestablished home and the removal out of town of two of its oldest citizens there is probably not another broth er and sister in stouffville who were born here and are any where near approaching the age of sammy hoover and aunt maria as their many relatives here call them councillor suggests all dairies licensed c whitchurch councillors learn recent storm costs were 2000 i am delighted declared reeve earl toole at the whit church council meeting last saturday when it was revealed that the recent snow storms of the month of march the worst in 27 years in the district cost the municipalities 2000 it was pointed out that some town ships ran nearly double this amount for coping with this teirific storm and all members of the council wore a gratified look of approval when they learned how they had been able to handle the situation so well total road accounts passed at the meeting amounted to 2124 it was stated by the treasurer that snow shovelling to date had cost around 3300 a figure below last year when the township possessed no mechanical equipment for shov elling and could not do as good a job chief engineer harvey rose wrote council urging them to proceed at once with the pur chase of necessary pieces of land at boggarttown and pieas- antville for the proposed widen ing of the county road mr rose stated that the depart ment does not wish to make the curves any sharper than shown on the blue prints submitted to the council some months ago a committee of the council will look into the matter within the next week or two arthur wellesley school at tendance officer for king town ship advised the council that he was not responsible for king children attending s s no 3 king and whitchurch he ad vised that some years ago this matter was dealt with when the jurisdiction of the children was placed in the hands of the whitchurch officer relief for the month of march engagement mr and mrs j a davis west of town announce the en gagement of their second daughter muriel jean to john blair johnson only son of mr and mrs russell johnson ninth line markham the wedding will take place on saturday april 20th totalled 191 and store ac counts for this amount were ordered paid mostly for groc eries supplied councillor herb wells wanted to know why the council is not considering the passing of a by law to license dairies peddling milk in the township reeve toole warned that council had a sorry experience with one of these bylaws a few years ago and if another one came up he wanted it carefully considered and scrutinized before proceed ing to pass it the matter of a peddlars bylaw was also talked of and the clerk said one was now drafted which might be introduced at the next meeting if the council desired it following a long discussion with a representative of a liability insurance company it was decided to insure the municipality against liability for accidents to any road em ployee the rate is 350 per 100 of actual wages paid the men in all cases of accident the decision of the workmen com pensation stands as law and when apprized of all the facts ail members of the council de cided the municipality could not afford to take the risks for any possible claims councillor geo leary and deputy reeve j cook introduced the motion instructing the clerk to take out the coverage necessary local lion speaks at bradford club a number of members of the local lionss club were guests of the bradford club on monday evening the speaker for the occasion was rev l e atkin son who was warmly praised for his interesting discourse those who attended from here with mr atkinson were hugh bannerman john hodgins clayt baker m e watts jess cook blake sanders and a v nolan messrs watts and sanders with t b rae pro ceeded on to barrie later in the evening to attend a lawn bowl ing meeting william boyd 103 buried here monday the oldest man to be buried in markham township of whom we have any record is william j boyd who went to his last resting place on monday when he was buried at first line baptist cemetery following a public service in the church there pall bearers were six nephews mr boyd was in his 103rd year mr boyd was born in ireland and came to canada over 50 years ago after a short time in toronto he settled in markham and soontook up land for him self always living in the vicin ity of the baptist church just south of stouffville on the 9th concession six years ago his wife died she passing away on the 15th of april and mr boyd on the 13th mrs boyd lived to the remarkable age of 98 he was a frequent visitor to stouffville where his son hugh lives mr boyd lived with his youngest daughter mrs dart toronto for six or seven years he had been confined to 51 wheel chair for the past few weeks prior to that he got around with only a walking cane for support he was 102 last novem ber the boyd family held a re union last year at locust hill markham township with mr boyd the centre of all activity around him gathered more than 100 descendants he had 11 children 10 now living they were all born in ireland with the exception of the youngest daughter with whom he lived the surviving mem bers of the family are adam boyd toronto alex of mark ham samuel of zephyr david on the 9th of markham and hugh boyd of stouffville also five daughters mrs mahaffey mrs roberts mrs hornshaw mrs d dart and miss mar garet there has been improvement in the run of sap since the middle of last week old established hardware sold another new business face will be seen on main street this week since mr allen goudie sold the long established button hardware which he pur chased three years ago to mr w frank riches of lindsay the change took place last monday morning when mr e a button gave up this business in 1937 he had completed thirty years in the hardware which he first took over in the old spofford block now ratcliffs on the south side from mr d j aitcheson it was always regarded as a healthy hardware concern and the new owner will have a good background mr bill sanders has been re tained as chief clerk issue settled tonight markham juniors were scheduled to meet grimsby peach buds in the fifth game of their best of five series in maple leaf gar dens this wednesday night for the ontario junior c championship bruce wmorton joins the civil service mr bruce w morton who re cently rented his farm on the 9th concession just above stouffville to mr ben talbot has received an appointment to the civil service at ottawa with the dept of transport mr morton left last week to take up his position while mrs morton will remain with friends at ringwood mr morton is a steady industrious man and the department will find they have one who will be competent and willing to bend every effort to the work assigned to him thursday night min strel show this thursday evening in ratcliffs hall the local ioof will present the minstrel show of the ryerson press of which every member is an employee of the united church publishing house in toronto it is an old time minstrel show with end men jokes songs choruses and fun galore the admission is fixed at only 25c for adults and 15c for children so that every one who wishes may enjoy again one of the funny shows that bring merriment to all housebreaker out onjmoobail earl quinn of toronto charg ed with housebreaking was re manded for hearing april 19 and was released on 1000 bail when he appeared in county court on saturday morning quinn was charged with entering the house of robert duffield of unionville and steal ing a gold watch and chain and 50 cents in money and enter ing the house of charles stiver also of unionville and stealing a watch gold cuff links a gold and diamond ring and 300 according to constable gay- man who along with constable daniels of markham village made the arrest the house breaker has also confessed to similar robberies in markham village richmond hill and thornhill the system used by quinn was to call at various homes and if anyone answered to ask for an unknown mr smith in the event no one was home the intruder went to work unmolested however while in markham last friday he un wittingly tried this stunt at the constables door and mrs daniels hastily summoned her husband the only home entered in markham village was that of mrs lugsdin where a purse and gold watch were missing first trains through here are recalled on his 100th birthday william hill smilingly recalls doubts held by farmers that trains would ever be safe one hundred years old last monday mr william hill said there are times when he feels like a boy and certainly his complexion and skin is as fresh as one could expect with a person of 50 lifelong resident o f bloom- ington mr hill moved into town only the sat urday before his birthday and with his one daughter miss laura will occupy part of miss nora stap- letons resi- wiiiiam hill dence many floral bouquets a shower of cards and friends calling to congratulate mr hill on his great age marked the occasion mr hill attended the old log school at bloomington long since gone mrs hanna fairies is the only living per son who attended school with mr hill he was quite grown up when mrs fairies started in few people at 80 have the sound health and fresh appear ance- which mr hill enjoys i dont see why people should call a man old just because hes 100 said mr hill some people are old at 40 its all how you feel and hqw you look at things i kept on pitching hay and plowing until just a few years ago its hard work good ancestors and a smile- that keeps you young at 100 i never worried in my life never could see any sense to it and my fathers mother lived to be 104 so why shouldnt 1 smoked for 40 years one of mr hills mottos is dont take things seriously and his sunny smile is proof that he doesnt hes never been really sick although he confess es he once took one dose of medicine half a century ago and has always refused to take an other dose since he enjoys smoking and does not claim to be a prohibitionist first train blows up i can remember when there were wolves and foxes and all kinds of wild animals roaming around the country said mr hill i can remember when they built the railway and how we all got skeptical after the first train blew up with a bang that threw bits of the train all over the country an investiga tion showed that the engine crew had trouble getting up enough steam so they tied down the safety valve and ive seen musselmans lake turn into a summer re sort said mr hill and i dont think theres anything wrong with the bathing suits they wear either why should young people always be critic ized by their elders mr hill has four sons alex at aurora walter at toronto russell at peterboro and how- jard at home there are five daughters mrs ernest davis mrs watson fairies edna 1 elma and laura there are four grandchildren mr hills father john died at the age of 56 years in the year 1866 but his mother whose maiden name was hanna lewis lived to be 92 while her father attained the remarkable age of 1102 the lewis family hailed jfrom the usa local firm conducts grain show gave m playlet the garret evening auxiliary met last wednesday at the home of mrs herbert lee a playlet directed by miss gladys brooks was well rendered leading the last three days of this week will be marked by a seed grain show conducted by stiv er bros who have secured the former delbert holden stand just west of their own place of business to place their added display reliable brand seeds will be on display and fanners are invited to be in hand when a specialist in seed grain will answer questions and offer suggestions to the farmers problems 200 cheques issued to pay only 1428 characters being miss janet brodie and mrs woodburn miss eva hoover discussed a chapter from the study book and a piano selection was given by ruth lehman mrs j m storey and miss gertrude todd as tea hostesses served dainty refreshments miss lillian dowswell presided the new system of book keeping instituted for looking after road accounts has some worthwhile features but one of them is not the number of cheques that will have to be issued to pay the army of men who work on roads at ux- bridge township council meet ing last saturday it was re- vealled that 200 cheques would have to be issued to pay out 142818 for work done during the month of march all for snow shovelling each cheque must bear a 3c stamp and it takes another 3c for mailing to say nothing of the clerical work the man who actually does the work must receive his own cheque and this applies in cas es where farmers send out their hired help one reason for this is obvious municipalities are liable for accidents to men working on the roads and most of them carry liability insur ance to protect the ratepayers if a farmers hired help was in jured and his name was not on the pay roll he would not be covered and the township would have to bear the brunt at least one case is on record where a township without insurance on a workman is paying 40 to a comparatively young widow for life and her two children are awarded 10 each until they become of age a lengthy discussion concern ing the purchase of a power maintainer was heard such an outfit with snow plow complete would cost around 7500 and would have to be financed en tirely by the township as the government last january with drew the old agreement where by they paid half the cost it was said that debentures would have to be issued to raise the money and this procedure was frowned on by members of the council however it was point ed out that the dept would pay a daily rental for the machine at the rate of 175 or 2 per hour which would go some way toward the cost one problem advanced was that one snow plow could not cover the town ship satisfactory as its services would be demanded all over at the same time several ratepayers on the fourth appeared to lodge a com plaint against the way the road was being opened in their sec tion they suggested a change fii the foreman notice was received that four patients had entered hospital and clerk was instructed to re pudiate the liability one of them is not a resident of the town ship it was stated work started on ballantrae church with mr arthur smith of bloomington as foreman work commenced last week on the new united church building at ballantrae which will replace the one burned last fall carpen ter work being done by day labor forged ahead at a good rate and on saturday the cellar windows were in floor joists laid and the siding going up a good deal of free labor is being donated the building is being erected on the site of the former church and will be the same in size but perhaps a bit more convenient and attractive the exterior will be finished with insul brick so far as the cost is concerned it is not expected that it will place any strain on the members and adherents