Eaton's Rural Roots

"Flightstop" art installation by Michael Snow at the Eaton Centre in downtown Toronto. For many years, Eaton's was Canada's most popular department store.

In the last post, I mentioned the popularity of Eaton’s Department Store. Until the chain closed in 1999, Eaton’s was known as “Canada’s Greatest Store,” with locations all over the country.

Eaton's, 1901.

If you’re too young to have shopped at Eaton’s, your parents, grandparents, and great-grandparents most certainly did.

Eaton's in the 1940s.

Did you know that Timothy Eaton opened his first store in Kirkton, Ontario?

Timothy Eaton, born 1834 in County Antrim, Ireland.

Kirkton is a hamlet on the border of Huron and Perth Counties, less than 10 miles (less than 16 km) northeast of the Culbert homestead.

Kirkton is northeast of Lucan, Ontario and the Culbert homestead.

The small, log general store was known as J. & T. Eaton and it was owned by Timothy Eaton and his brother, James. The store opened in 1856 and was stocked with essentials for settlers: dry goods and groceries. 

Timothy had to barter with customers over prices and accept goods in payment or credit for merchandise. This limited his chances for making a profit but because his was the new store in town, he had to accept this way of doing business.

Kirkton, with a population less than 200, wasn’t growing as rapidly as Timothy Eaton had hoped. When the Grand Trunk Railway bypassed the area, Timothy was faced with the prospect of closing the store.

In 1860, he moved the business to St. Mary’s, Ontario, with a larger population of 4,000. However, Timothy Eaton was a man of big dreams, and small-town Ontario wasn’t enough for him. In 1869, he sold his share of the business to his brothers and moved to Toronto. 

It wasn’t long before Eaton’s became a retail empire.

Advertisement in the Globe and Mail promoting the Eaton's department store, its coronation displays and its merchandise made from the British Empire. 10 May 1937. 

Eaton's Centre, Toronto, 1970s.

The Eaton's empire was a Canadian institution until they filed for bankruptcy and closed all their stores in 1999. It's been said that "When Timothy Eaton moved to Toronto in 1869 and declared he would sell his merchandise for cash only, at one price, and money refunded if goods not satisfactory, people said he would go broke... and, sure enough, 130 years later, he did!"

You know from this previous post that Myron Manford Culbert (1884-1961) married Effie Pearl Taylor. Effie’s second cousin, once removed was Lorne Nelson Marshall of Kirkton. Lorne opened a general store/hardware store on the site of Timothy Eaton’s store at the corner of what we know today as Highway 23 and Huron County Road 6...

Lorne Marshall's general store / hardware store on the site of Timothy Eaton's first store in Kirkton, Ontario. Photo courtesy of Lorne's son, Ron Marshall.

Lorne ran the business until 1959, raising his family in the same building. 

Under new ownership, the building still stands today at that same corner in Kirkton. 

A 2013 shot of the Kirkton store that stands on the site of Timothy Eaton's first store. Photo courtesy of Ron Marshall.

Our ancestors, John Culbert & Mary Ward and some of their children probably made the trip to the first Eaton's store in Kirkton at least once in their lifetime. Without a doubt, many descendants of John Culbert and Mary Ward visited Lorne Marshall's general store which later stood on that same site. 

Timothy Eaton plaque. Photo via Creative Huron.

The Honeymooners: Myron and Effie Culbert

If you read Wednesday's post, you'll know that Myron Culbert wed Effie Taylor on 14 Jun 1911.

Myron Manford Culbert & Effie Pearl Taylor on their wedding day.

The wedding took place at 12 o'clock noon, which in that era was the fashionable time of day to get married.

Vows were exchanged at the home of the bride's parents: William "Bill" Taylor and Mary Elizabeth (Bennett) Taylor of Exeter, Ontario.

Effie's parents: Bill Taylor & Mary Elizabeth (Bennett) Taylor

Below is a photo of 404 Albert Street, Exeter as it looked in 2017, over one hundred years after Myron and Effie's wedding took place here...

The house where Myron Culbert wed Effie Taylor. Photo by Mary Jane Culbert.

Their wedding announcement mentions maiden hair ferns not once, but three times! First of all, the house was decorated with maiden hair ferns. Secondly, the ring-bearers, brothers Harold and Ross Hern carried the ring in a basket containing maiden hair ferns. Thirdly, the bride carried cream roses and ... you guessed it... maiden hair ferns. Ferns were wildly popular in the Victorian era; so much so that a word was coined to describe the craze: "pteridomania." Apparently, fern fever had not died out by 1911, if this wedding is any indication.

The young couple boarded a train that evening for a honeymoon in Toronto, Pickering, and The Thousand Islands.


I can't emphasize enough what a big deal it was to travel to Toronto for any rural person. It was probably the first time in this big city for the bride and groom who both had been raised on farms. 


Myron and Effie honeymooned at the Hotel Mossop in downtown Toronto. Today, the Hotel Mossop is a boutique hotel called Hotel Victoria at 56 Queen Street. These photographs of the Hotel Mossop were taken in 1909 when it opened, two years previous to their wedding...

The hotel lobby. I can picture the newlyweds, giddy with excitement as they signed in at the reception desk for the first time as "Mr. and Mrs. Myron Culbert."

I see ferns! Albeit not maiden hair ferns. Torontonians were probably over maiden hair ferns by 1911. Maiden hair ferns were so nineteen-ten.

What happens at the Hotel Mossop, stays at the Hotel Mossop. Please avert your eyes.

We're fortunate to have a few postcards from Myron and Effie's honeymoon. All the postcards are addressed to Effie's sister, Miss Mary Taylor in Exeter, Ontario. Here's the first postcard, showing a view of Queen Street from City Hall Square in Toronto...

To: Miss Mary Taylor

Exeter, Ontario

Postmarked: Toronto 15 Jun 1911 at 1:30 p.m.

Written: Toronto June 15, 9:30 a.m.

Hello Mary: -

We arrived safely here 10 p.m. last eve. Myron says to tell you they turned us out of the 1st hotel but we had a dandy room at the Mossop Hotel. We called on Lillie Neil this a.m. but she was not at home so we left one of our cards. Going to Eaton's now to buy them out.

Love, 

Effie and Myron

I would love to know why Myron and Effie were turned out of the first hotel. Was the hotel overbooked, perhaps? Or were the young couple too boisterous? We may never know. But it seems they went on a spending spree at Eaton's Department Store...

Eaton's around 1910. Credit: Baldwin Collection, Toronto Reference Library

Eaton's several years later in 1918. Known as "Canada's Greatest Store" it was located at 190 Yonge Street, Toronto. Credit: Archives of Ontario, Item Reference Code F 229-308-0-1700

Myron and Effie's excitement about going to Eaton's "to buy them out" is understandable. No where in their part of rural Ontario offered this range of merchandise on anywhere near this scale. However, for those who couldn't make the trip to Toronto, you could order items through the popular Eaton's catalogue...

Acme Corsets. Helpful in maintaining Effie's teensy-weensy waistline.

Next stop on their honeymoon: Pickering Township, Ontario. Why Pickering? It's not exactly Niagara Falls, is it? Before Effie's family came to Usborne Township in Huron County, her ancestors were some of the first pioneers of Pickering Township; arriving from Norfolk, England in 1836. Effie still had family in Pickering Township. Her great-aunt and great-uncle, Sarah (Taylor) Annis and Andrew Annis lived in Port Union, which at the time was part of Pickering Township. Myron and Effie stayed at their stone "Manor House" during their honeymoon...

The Annis Manor House in Port Union, Ontario. Source.

Below, we see another postcard from Myron and Effie. This one shows Riverdale Park in Toronto, dated 17 June 1911...

They're on their way back to the city to take a boat trip.












And one last postcard, showing Union Station on Toronto's Front Street West, where they caught the train...

My transcription of this postcard isn't completely accurate because I couldn't decipher all the words so please accept my apologies...

To: Miss Mary Taylor

Exeter, Ontario

19 Jun 1911?

Monday, 7 .am.

Hello Sister (in Myron's handwriting)

Am just waiting for this old lady to get dressed so thought I would write a few cards. I have an awful time keeping her dress straight(?) and watching her hat that it don't get out of line with her nose. Are all well and expect to be in Lucan tomorrow night. We leave here on the Boat for Hamilton and train to London ... (next words are illegible.)

Myron and Effie.

9:15 a.m.(in Effie's handwriting)

We are on the boat now. It's grand. When you & C. (Charlie Kerslake) take a trip, take this one.

Say I have been ready for breakfast this long time.

Ha Ha Effie.


So all in all, it looks like the happy couple enjoyed a fun-filled honeymoon. They certainly seemed in good spirits.

To wrap things up, here's their wedding announcement as it appeared in the Exeter Advocate newspaper on 15 June 1911...

Culbert Cousins Connecting

Yesterday, Terry Culbert received a couple of surprise visitors at his door in Prince Edward County, Ontario...

County Studio: The home of artists Terry Culbert & Barbara Högenauer of Prince Edward County, Ontario. Photo by Mary Jane Culbert.

In walked Patricia Jane "Pat" (Gowland) Rowell and her husband, Terry Rowell of Dartmouth, Nova Scotia.

"Hello, I'm your second cousin!" said Pat.

Second cousins share a set of great-grandparents. In this case, Pat Rowell and Terry Culbert share great-grandparents, Richard Culbert and Jane Fairhall...

Jane Fairhall and Richard Culbert: the great-grandparents of Pat Rowell & Terry Culbert.

Pat Rowell's grandmother, Hulda May (Culbert) Carscallen and Terry Culbert's grandfather, Myron Manford Culbert were sister and brother.

Pat Rowell's grandmother, Hulda May (Culbert) Carscallen. Hulda May was the sister of Terry Culbert's grandfather, Myron Manford Culbert.

Terry Culbert's grandfather, Myron Manford Culbert. Myron was the brother of Pat Rowell's grandmother, Hulda May (Culbert) Carscallen.

Second cousins, Pat Rowell and Terry Culbert had never met until yesterday. So what brought them together? Pat and her husband read about Terry Culbert on the Culbert Family History blog! And since they were driving through the area on vacation, they popped in for a visit with Terry and his partner, Barbara Högenauer.

Left to right: Terry Rowell, and second cousins Pat Rowell and Terry Culbert. 16 May 2018. Photo by Barbara Högenauer.

The Rowells are en route to Toronto and Goderich. They plan a  stopover in Lucan-Biddulph to visit the Culbert homestead (Poplar Farm) and St. James Cemetery where many Culbert descendants are buried, including our Irish ancestors, John Culbert and Mary Ward.

We love it when Culbert cousins connect!

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