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farafftrille iritwwe vol 59 no 18 the tribune stouffville ont sept 4 1947 new road surface on main not appreciated many ratepayers angered two sweethearts thrill exhibition crowd fears expressed that our fine macadam was being reduced to a gravel top road stouffville residents or many of them were thrown into a perfect turmoil last thursday when a road construction gang descended upon the town and in a few hours trans formed our macadam top roadway extending through the whole vill age into a veritable gravel road a rush was made to the office of the reeve only to find that this official was quite unaware of what was going on however he prompt ly contacted the county road en gineer in toronto and was assured by him that the job being done by the toronto and york road com mission would prove entirely satis factory within a period of two or three weeks when the oil applied to the surface before the small stone was laid had a chance to penetrate to the surface the engineer said that a coating of trinadad ashpalt such as was used when the road was built would cost s30000 if available and since the price was out of bounds at present the alternative was to apply the type of surface that has just been laid a similar new top has been placed on the fine road running through sutton village and it has turned to a black top as the engineer said and appears to be entirely satisfac tory had trinadad asphalt been applied stouffville would have come in for a special assessment no doubt just lefore the debentures on the ori ginal road are paid off the top applied last week is comparatively new and with the modern machin ery used the whole job was done in live or six hours and will not necessitate a special assessment the toronto york commission will care for the expense in the usual way it was imperative that the road be surfaced tefore another winter to preserve the base objection to the new surface is the terrific dust and observers pro phesy that half the road will be blown away in a couple of weeks shop floors are white with the dust from the soft limestone chips and town men are unable to clean the sweet to keep the dirt from getting into the sewers of course the over all appearance of a gravel top is inferior to the macadam surface that has been covered up i had no intimation that such a top would te placed over the maca dam said reeve nolan i was however informed that a top had to be built almost immediately as the cracks in the road were regard ed as dangerous to the base but we were not told any more than that however the reeve says he is will ing to be guided by the engineer and that he accepts his assurance that the top will be much the same as we are accustomed to when the oil penetrates through the stone many citizens are not aware that the toronto york road commis sion are responsible for the main tenance of the road and as they have a big financial stake in the fine i stretch of pavement which is re garded as the show window of stouffville the commission and engineer rose are anxious to pre serve their financial interests even if they are not sentimental about the pride that stouffville took in the fine road surface now covered the reeve said that county offi cials should have instructed and in formed the local officials so that six forms and seven teachers open high school term here a peak enrolment of approxi- matelv one hundred and sixty students filed into stouffville high school on opening day this week there are fiftysix firsttimers necessitating two grade 9s the school is equipped this year with seven teachers the largest staff ever engaged here principal l c murphy ba will teach chemistry and mathematics mr p sherk ba mathematics agriculture and phvsical ed mr thos pherrill ba english mr robinson ba shop work guid ance geography and english miss e goodyear ba historv physical ecu- miss b davis ba french miss g campbell ba latin art home economics agricultural science is being in troduced this year in grade 10 for the first time the upper school grade will see a class of twenty while a large enrolment of begin ners is expected in the public school accurate figures could not be arrived at this week owing to sickness which was keeping as many as twenty pupils away from one grade alone thieves rob theatre find only 20 in cash but overlooked 200 in bills wrapped in en velopebelieved to be work of local amateurs ransacking the stanley theatre over the weekend in search of money thieves found the hidden cash drawer with about 20 in sil ver but they overlooked 200 hidden in a brown envelope and which no doubt was the object of their search local couple win sinclair trophy mr and mrs will birkett mem bers of the stouffville bowling club are proud possessors of the sinclair manager bob bone had been leav- 1 ophy which they captured in doubles competition at claremont sang at exhibition the baker hill double quartette sang at the cne last thursday dur ing the afternoon program in the womans world theatre at the col iseum and we hear they made a real hit with the large audience personnel of the group mrs old ham leader mrs ken wagg mrs keith hutchinson mrs alex rat- cliff mrs floyd ratcliff mrs don ratcliff mrs stewart stouifer mrs howard ratcliff mr clarion baker pianist dnionville farm accepts award of 400 for valuable animal killed betty rae of unionville shown with her 5yearold hackney pony dress parade never misses the cne one of her proud admirers is her grand mother mrs davison who knows more about show ponies than would fill a look the yearold james russell 0 heifer claimed to have been killed the h expecting to find money claim of mr w for a pedigreed wellliked farm hand at gormley absconded like a thief in the night albert denardo employed by mr william smith gormley farmer folded up suddenly and left for parts un known he was supposed to be tak ing in the exhibition on monday but he never returned and later it was discovered that he had taken a wrist watch valued at 35 and a signet ring valued at 15 further he had pried open a strong box in on his unionville farm as a result of being chased by dog or dogs was finally settled on tuesday when markham council who had prev iously caused a cheque to he issued to mr russell for 300 now added 100 to make the total payment of 100 reeve chas hooper urged the settlement after a long discussion between council and mr russell deputy reeve d rumney said we are not coming to a settlement very fast and i am going to make an offer it will be for council and mr rus sell to accept or reject the offer was to pay mr russell another hundred in addition to the previ ous amount of 300 mr russell in accepting the offer said i am not much in favor yet i am not going to fight the issue if your dog tax however is showing a profit you are chisseling the fund for general taxes in conctilsion mr russell said he didnt think the council handled the whole matter in a very businesslike manner last fall a valuable animal on the russell place died and death was pronounced due to hemorrhage a dog had been seen chasing an animal on the adjoining farm where council paid compensation for one dead beast it was presumed that or other valuables but appointed in this effort a strange thing in connection with the man is that denardo was well liked by the smiths he was an excellent worker seldom left the farm and when he did it is now recalled that he always wore dark glasses he never wore glasses about the farm however constable clarence wideman is investigating he located a torn up letter giving the name of a person in sault ste marie which may prove of help in locating the missing man denardo was secured by mr smith through the office of the farm service force on the 2sth of july and from the first clay the new farm hand proved efficient and was aisi agreeable a the place ing the receipts in the theatre but ho will not do so any more evident ly persons who were familiar with what is done with the theatre re ceipts was in on the robbery and if finger prints were token this could ultimately be proven the thieves disturbed everything in the place in their search for money and when they came upon the cash drawer with the silver concluded that the main receipts were not in the building and they departed through the main entrance where they forced their way in manager bone was out of town on sunday and monday and the robbery was not discovered until the place was being opened for busi ness monday afternoon mr bone had not returned at that time and mrs bone assumed the total money left in the place had been stolen however later when the manager arrived the discovery was made that the s200 was intact and had been overlooked by the sneaks on saturday this is the second time that the birketts have won the cup eddie goodmans rink from oshawa were runnersup therell be a ladies trebles tourn ament on the stoullville greens this thursday afternoon beginning at 130 ratcliff 100 years in clan celebrates canada first gathering of the clan descendants of mr and mrs william ratcliff who came to can ada in the fall of 1840 just over a hundred years ago gathered on the identical farm that the pioneer ratclilf bought when he came up from new york state to select the land after landing his family there from the old country this is the present well known robert ratcliff farmon the townline west of stouff ville where picnic grounds and park facilities are available when the first william ratcliff came to markham the township was very young but had all been surveyed undoubtedly the possi bility of water power influenced the new comer to choose the farm he did the property had teen deeded by the crown to one who received it for military or other service and from this individual willam rat- the russell beast had been chased cliit maie his obtaining also but nobody ever saw a dog at tha 80 wv russell place mr russell took an the 100 acres for s25 pounds which affidavit that he believed his cowl undoubtedly represented a i was killed as a result of dogs coun- more mone ln ulose cil offered him 300 and he appeal- they could have educated the people wl u the department ani l t awarded s700 the full award was caused here last thursday when the construction company thunder- eel through the main artery spread ing oil and stone to the embarass ment of onlookers who regarded them as a wrecking crew or some thing more unwelcome lt iukxs after crashing thick travelling on main street east tuesday evening after dusk a car owned by mrs ford who lives on the former fred pugh farm on the pickering townline east of townand never paid and since that time the sheep and dog act has teen chang ed limiting any single animal claim to not more than 250 however this new statute is not retroactive to this claim tuesdays settlement proved an agreeable conclusion of a longstanding case that would have cost both parlies more money had they allowed it to pass into a court action great times than it does today markham lands were selling at that time for an average of ss0 per acre however the place was heavily timbered then but in those early days that was no great asset however rat- cliff turned it to good account for he set up a sawmill which is still in operation although hundreds of others have come and gone during the century william had a care ful business training before he came from england as was indicat ed at the picnic on saturday when an account book kept by him was exhibited tne day book was start ed in england and showed every ratcliff robes used by some of the first families a deed was exhibited showing the sale of the ratcliff sugar bush on the 6th concession of whitchurch for only a hundred pounds or 486 in canadian funds back in 1804 it was later acquired by william ratcliff and in due course passed to his son henry and now is owned by his great grandsons but the fine old bush is a landmark in the township and still has virgin trees which must have teen known to the indians whose village was nearby this pro perty 300 years back the first william ratcliff of whom we speak and who landed in 1846 in markham township had five sons the eldest was henry who became a mill hand and lumber merchant he was the father of our present rotert ratcliff and his sister mrs john nicely second son was frederick who became a preacher in the baptist faith was the father of two busi ness men who made their mark in stouffville the late john and the late james ratcliff joseph third son lxcame a farmer and had a place on the 6th of con cession of markham david was a farmer in whitchurch on the och concession and was the father of mr ernest ratclift thos became the publisher and editor of the newmarket era he had mrs houck cashel dies at ninetyone cashel community in the heart of markham township was saddened on learning of the death of martha jane houck who passed away at the great age of ninetyone years she was the widow of the late john w houck who predeceased her nearly 22 years interment was made at melwille cemetery on tuesday after noon in the presence of a great many friends and relatives and the members of the family mrs houck was a member of melville united church a lovin mother interested in her home and church activities she was a lover of flowers and possessed a talent for music things which occupied her spare moments at one time she was a member of the peaches choir taught the bible class and was church organist she was fond of needle work too the aged lady was born at rich mond hill a daughter of the late frederick quantz at one time she assisted her parents in the store business at keswick north gwillimsbury aurora and beth- esda then they took up farming at cashel on what is known as rose hill farm but later returned to their former residence in richmond hill here she was married from the home of her parents to john w houck when the young couple took up farming at cashel she never forgot her wedding day and often related how because of impassable roads her husbandtobe had to walk from cashel to richmond hill to keep this important appointment on the death of mr houck their son harvey assumed the farm mrs houck despite her great age enjoy ed good health all through life and until she met with an accident when she received a fractured hip two years ago however despite this handicap she recovered suffici ently to be about again and kept in close companionship with her fam ily she was only in bed the last few months but always retained an active mind there is left to revere the mem ory of this great mother three daughters and one son the girls are mrs benson meyers living with the mother mrs percy puterbough of maple and mrs earl eate of newmarket and the son harvey of cashel nine grandchildren irene mar ion and ruby puterbough mrscarl wreck chimney to recover coat kok santa cijaus smaller laos hear the presence of a lot of young sters on mill street on tuesday morning watching the veteran newt hill demolish an unused chimney on the side of the spofford block is easilj explained somehow word was passed around that last christmas santa claus lost his coat in that chimney and the mason was tearing it down to recover the lost article you may iaugh but there are just j as ridiculous yarns often passed around older people that are per haps not so innocent though per haps just as groundless baptist pastor resigns called to sault ste marie the announcement that rev d macgregor pastor of stouffville baptist church and markham first baptist church for the past ten years has tendered his resignation to become effective this week will be learned with general regret aside from his own church group mr macgregor was greatly esteem ed and enjoyed many personal con tacts with the business life of the community mr macgregor has accepted a call to first baptist church at sault ste marie which has a strong congre gation and a wide field for workt he will make his farewell here this coming sunday and will then take over the new charge mrs macgre gor and son donald will move north when the new parsonage in course of construction is ready for occu pancy a successor to mr macgregor has not been named yet tate lloyd tate of orangeville harvey and neil tate john and marilyn houck two great grand children carol hoover and connie hoover of markham nee earlene tate populationjncreases over 1400 alltime peak ceipt day by day the same hook was used when he wiukmavs to hear about relief work miss winger who is interested in the mennonite relief committee driven by her son crashed into a i work will speak in the wideman standing truck owned by earl bril- 1 mennonite church markham on linger the car a recently over- j thursday sept 4th at 230 in the came to canada it shows that he hauled ford burs into flames when afternoon jjld lumber at 10 a thousand feet in 1sv5 the purchaser being mat muttoneating dogs killed a sheep fi ws one of the larger or the farm of harvey schellstouff- h i- pttus ville recently on monday mark- m im cnr ham township council compensatl other exhibits at the centennial ed the owner to the exen of si3 on monday inclixied parts of ward- quality for writing but died in mid whc the assessment roll is re die life vealed to the municipal council on sarah the only daughter born to thursday nighl hy e r good new- this pioneer couple bowman became mrsj y appointed assessor it will show not be used for taxing purposes un til next midsummer the sharp increase in population is gratifying and indicates that the assessor has completed a thorough inodiilation figures of 1436 largest job and that nobody has been over- early records written at the time j of stouffyille looked and this is as it should be william ratcliff died at an advanci el age indicate that he was a man mr good nas just completed values and increased aasessment with a great religious zeal born l item of expenditure and every rjhesratesurch of- england i to the year 1948 which under known as the assessment added will be reported on after the j roll is submitted to the council the gasoline tank burst and thej outfit was a total loss brillingers truck came off with little damage the firemen were called but could do little since the car was doomed before they reached the sceno i he earlv joined the baptist faith inj cha the old land and when he located py nge in law must be made when it may then become public vious year many municij incidentally it might be interc nterest- in markham soon found friends holding his own religion beliefs he gave the land where second mark palities issue their tax demands in ing to say that a careful study of february and march and in their the trading area of stouffville indi- case the early assessment will beeates that at least 8000 people are however soserved in and about this town mcr- er these figures actual selling mar-