Myron Manford Culbert (1884-1961)

On this day in 1884, Myron Manford Culbert was born.

Myron Culbert c1912

The third of six children, Myron was born 16 May 1884 to Richard Culbert and Jane Fairhall. He came into this world in a log house on the Coursey Line (Concession 2) in Biddulph Township near Lucan, Ontario. 

The registrar must have been having an off day because not only did he misspell "Myron" as "Miran," the registrar also wrote Myron's gender as female!...

Myron's father, Richard built a new, brick house for the family when Myron was about 16 years old...

On 14 June 1911, 27-year-old Myron married Effie Pearl Taylor, a young lady from nearby Exeter, Ontario. Myron had known Effie for some time. A few years earlier, his cousin, Ina Luella Kent (whose mother was a Culbert) married Effie's brother, Hector Taylor.
 

Myron Manford Culbert and Effie Pearl Taylor on their wedding day, 14 June 1911. Photo courtesy of Jane (Gras) Heigis.

When his aging parents moved into a house in Lucan, Myron took over the family farm, where Myron and Effie raised their own six children...

Myron & Effie Culbert and their six sons. Back row, left to right: Ken Culbert, Mel Culbert, Mert Culbert, and Earl Culbert. Front row, left to right: Cliff Culbert, Myron Culbert, Effie (Taylor) Culbert, and Ivan Culbert.

Myron never really wanted to be a farmer but he didn't have an option. He wanted an education but his father, Richard believed that education wasn't a priority. 

Nonetheless, Myron carved out a good living for himself and his family. For many years, Myron and Effie had a stall at the open-air Covent Garden Public Market in London, Ontario...

Until well after World War One, Covent Garden Market was the business and cultural heart of the city.

Early on Saturday mornings, Myron and Effie made the cold journey over 20 miles to the market by horse and sleigh, or by horse and cutter...

Myron and Effie Culbert, 1928.

Turkeys were the mainstay of their business but they also sold other fowl, butter, eggs, and in the early spring, maple syrup. During the Great Depression, the market was an important source of income for the Culbert family.

He was active in municipal politics, serving on the Biddulph Township Council. Myron Culbert was elected Reeve of Biddulph Township, Middlesex County, Ontario in 1936 and again in 1940. (A Reeve is the president of a township.)

Myron was raised a strict Methodist. He acted as a lay preacher for the community and was actively involved in the operations of the Methodist Church of Lucan (later the Lucan United Church.)

Following a fall from the barn roof in the mid-1940s, Myron was hospitalized. He suffered back trouble and was in a cast for a year. From that time on, Myron walked with crutches...

Myron on crutches at Ipperwash Beach, 1957. You can't keep a good man down.

Not one to let a disability get in the way of things, Myron built a slant board that allowed him to join the family at the dinner table. Even though he couldn't so much as bend to tie his shoes, Myron wasn't deterred from harvesting his garden. In order to pick strawberries and collect other produce, he built a wheeled platform. He lay face down on this platform and used two short sticks to move himself along the garden rows. He also built a series of ropes and pulleys and installed them above his bed so that he could get in and out on his own. 

Myron must have been in serious pain but he was never heard to complain. His obituary states that "he carried on cheerfully despite his great handicap."

His disability never prevented him from enjoying time with his family...

Enjoying a picnic at home on Poplar Farm in 1951. Left to right: his son Ivan's wife, Elvira Culbert; Myron's wife, Effie; Myron's grandson, Phil Culbert; and Myron.

In 1953, Myron and Effie moved into a house in Lucan on Alice Street...

Effie and Myron Culbert in their house on Alice Street, Lucan, Ontario.

Myron Culbert at home in February, 1957, several months before Effie died.

Effie died in October, 1957. Myron carried on until his death in 1961. Despite his injury, he did his own canning and pickling, and looked after his house and garden. His sons and daughters-in-law often looked in on him. I remember frequent visits to "Grandpa Culbert," as I called him. He always had a Nielson's Jersey Milk chocolate bar for me. I was fascinated by him and would sit quietly, eating chocolate and listening to him talk. I was only four years old when he died but I remember him with affection.

Myron Culbert died 19 November 1961 and is buried beside Effie at St. James Cemetery, near Lucan.

Myron and Effie's final resting place in St. James Cemetery, Clandeboye, near Lucan, Ontario. Photo by Mary Jane Culbert.

 Myron's obituary...

Myron Manford Culbert's Family Tree: 
Ancestors: 
John Culbert & Mary Ward (grandparents) 
Richard Culbert & Jane Fairhall (parents)
Descendants (sons):
Clifford Burton "Cliff" Culbert
Kenneth Arthur "Ken" Culbert
Ivan Hector Culbert
Milward Taylor "Mel" Culbert
Merton Manford "Mert" Culbert
William EARL Culbert