Madeline's 90th

Madeline turned 90 in July 2014 and her family threw a party for her.

Clare Judy Madeline Joan and daughter

Just about all the grandchildren

George's 90th Birthday

George on his 90th birthday at Judy and Martie's house

Judy and Marty

Judy and Marty and Leah and Riley

by Judy Henderson

In 1985, my father sold the farm in Brome. This was the Henderson’s country get away since 1966. I actually feel that I grew up at the farm. It had all the things I loved: Skiing, Horses, Farming, Friends. Country life was something I grew to love and while growing up in Brome I knew I would always live in the area.

Eventually my love for horses lead me to college for equine studies and for some time I worked as a horse trainer and became a riding instructor. When my father sold the farm, it was heart breaking for me. When we left there, I was sure I would never go back, it would be too difficult. It was like leaving a good friend. Anyway, I moved on and found a new place to keep my horses and a few years later I rented my own little place on Brome Lake.

In 1991, I started a new job working in sales in transportation and customs brokerage and spent time with horses and gave riding lessons to various people as a side line. In August 1993 a student who I had taught for some time over the years, but then lost touch with, called me. Stephanie asked me if I could meet her, and evaluate her and her new horse. She wanted to go in a horse show, but was not sure she would have time to prepare. She wanted me to help get her ready. I agreed to meet her. Stephanie then gave me the address. It was our old farm! I was shocked and quite hesitant at first. Then with something stuck in my throat I told her I would be there. Ouch!

The day came and I drove down that driveway with such apprehension. I arrived at the barn with my little dog, " Prancy" in the back wagging her tail whining with excitement. Of course ! She was elated to be back. This was her home too! I walked into the barn, looking for my student. This was hard because everything was the same as it was. My old stable! I then met up with Stephanie’s boy friend, Mike. Mike told me to go out to the riding ring and I would find her there. So, I went out to my old riding ring where I had taught so many lessons and trained many horses. There at ring side, stood a very handsome young guy, Marty! Well, that is when I met Marty.

My student then, Stephanie, is now a very close friend who has two horses in my stable in Fulford. Her daughter Allison is very good friends with our daughter, Leah. Allison is like Leah’s big sister. They ride together and share in their love of horses.
We look back on that day and remember the farm and not only did my friend Stephanie bring Marty and I together, but my old farm was the place we met!

Marty and I soon moved in together and then we bought our small house in Fulford in October of 1995 . I became pregnant in 1997 and Leah Renee Lavoie was born Sept 18, 1997. Because I would be 40 in 2001, I wanted to have our second child soon. I did not want to wait So I became pregnant in 1999 and Riley Andrew Lavoie was born Feb 7th 2000.

They are both is school at Knowlton Academy, which is an English School but progressing to be a Bilingual School. They do many subjects in French. They are both fluent in French as Marty speaks French to them, and I speak English.

They do well is school and have a lot of friends.
Riley has become quite the little hockey player. He and his father enjoy this sport together. Marty is on the team of coaches and they travel around to tournaments. They watch the Montreal Canadians with passion, and whenever possible Marty takes Riley to a game in Montreal. Riley is a very good soccer player as well. It is a lot of fun to watch.

Leah’s big passion in life is Gymnastics. She started this when she was in grade 1 and since then, she has excelled in the sport. She does 7 hours of practice in a week. She is a member at a local Gymnastics Club in Granby and she participates in competition and has many medals hanging in her room.

Leah and I enjoy the horses together. Leah has a horse too. She competes as well and really loves it.

The Cummings

Born Margaret Cummings, our mother married William Grover Henderson to live at Groveton on the farm and raise six children there.  Below are pictures of her brothers and sisters, all born on the Ventnor road on a farm backing on the farm where she lived all her married life.

George's Letter

Some time ago, George mailed me a letter containing some legal documents related to the farm, including the deed. It is an historical document covering the period when our father and mother bought the farm from Adam Henderson, our grandfather, to when they sold it. George makes several comments in his letter which are well worth reading.

George writes: Enclosed are a sack of legal documents pertaining to the farm. Some of these documents go back to 1910. They tell of a very tough struggle for our father and mother to go through to try paying for the farm and raise a hungry gang of six, and to hang in there and keep on going. I think they had a lot more courage and stamina than today’s citizens.

The Farm:
This is somewhat of a puzzle, but the way I read it is that Thomas Baker died in October 1903 and left his will giving Minor Baker, his son, part of the farm provided he support Mary Baker, his widow, for life, and Amanda Baker until marriage or death, if she did not marry.

It was also in his will that the other part of the farm was to be sold to Adam Henderson for $600 with the money going to Minor Baker, and that they must turn over the land part described in the will to Adam without any fuss.

It looks as if Thomas left the part of the farm to Adam and Adam took possession on Thomas’ death. Now Adam owned all of the farm.

Adam sold the farm to our father for $2000 and took back a mortgage of $1000. But our father didn’t have the $1000, so he took out another mortgage of $1000, which adds up, eh? This sounds easy, but this mortgage was with John Jennings who was one of two brothers who lived a concession north of Groveton about two miles away. I can remember him pestering my father regularly. He ran a shoemaker shop in Spencerville and drove a horse and buggy going right past our house every day.

How convenient to stop in and say, "Hello. Oh, by the way, Bill..." "Sorry, no. I don’t have that much, but maybe next week."

Adam, of course, became very ill and died at our house where mother had cared for him for some time. In his will he gave everything to our father. That was in 1924.

He had a horse and buggy, and before he became too ill, he would drive Ray and I to the ball games. We would be about 4 and 6 years old at that time.

He was separated from his wife who lived in Moose Jaw, Saskatchewan –about the right distance my father used to say. She was sister of Albert McQuade and not very popular as I understand.
Our father was a kind and great man and a hard worker. It took our mother to provide the glue that held things together. They both deserved Gold Medals to provide for a family of six.

God bless them. I think of them often.

Dorothy and Mac's Wedding

Dorothy and Mac were married in St. John the Divine Chapel, Verdun, on March 18, 1948. The witnesses to the wedding met with the newly weds at the Empress Restaurant in Montreal for an after wedding dinner.

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In the photograph, on the left are Betty Chambers and Tim Linester, and on the right of the photo are Margaret and Jim Connington.

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Why is that man laughing?

The Good Olde Days

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My love of cars was inherited. Here is my father sitting proudly at the wheel of his 1920's Model T Ford with Mother beside him.

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On the running board from left to right are Ray, Dorothy and George.

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Dorothy reckons that these pictures were taken in 1924. Aren't they treasures?

Jim Knox: Military Career

JIM KNOX:

MILITARY SERVICE RECORD 1937-1982

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This is a summary of a detailed document written by Jim.

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Jim attempted to enlist in the Finnish army in 1938 when he was 16 years of age, but he was refused. He tried again with the Rainbow Division in 1938, but they wouldn’t have him and that ended his career in the Spanish Civil War before it started.

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However, his determination to join the army succeeded when he joined the Midland Regiment Militia at 16 and attended summer camp. In the summer of 1939, the Midland Regiment was ordered to Trenton to guard the airfield. As Jim says, "It was great fun for a 17-year-old fanatic." His mother forced him back to school in Bowmanville in September, but he avoided school by enlisting in the regiment when it was mobilized to active service because of the war.

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At a posting to Edmonton in 1942, volunteers were required for a secret mission out of the country, for which Jim volunteered naturally –along with everyone else. His name was not drawn from the hat, luckily it turned out, since 100 soldiers were dispatched to Hong Kong to protect the British colony and all 100 were killed or captured by the Japanese.

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Finally in 1942 Jim boarded the troop ship Andes in Halifax on his way to join the SDG Highlanders in England. Among the thousands of troops on board he met his German teacher from Bowmanville High School. He and his buddies were transported by train from Liverpool to Crookam Crossroads, a one-pub village. During the intensive training that followed, Jim noticed that soldiers running with huge heavy packs and sweating like mad. He also observed one group around a large weapon that required a motorized universal carrier to transport it. It was at that point that Jim decided to become a mortar man.

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He was returned to Brockville in Canada for officer training and headed back over on the Ile de France in 1944 as a first lieutenant, a better trip by far than his first one.

He fought in Belgium as a mortar officer and had some scary moments, but the war ended in 1945 as the regiment crossed the Ems River to Evidon in Germany. They moved back to Holland to guarantee that the Germans returned to Germany without incident.

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After returning to Canada, Jim was posted to Brockville where destiny brought him and Madeline together. They were married on October 19,1946 in St. Andrews Presbyterian Church in Spencerville with the reception at Madeline’s parents’ home in Groveton.

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After leaving the armed forces, Jim went back to school and finished his high school. Jim worked at a few jobs, but re-enlisted in July 1947 joining the RCR as a Sergeant. He earned his private pilot’s licence and later took paratroop training in Rivers, Manitoba just about the time Doug was born in 1948. He was promoted in the next few years to lieutenant and then to Captain in Camp Borden. During this period Madeline and he had another son, Barrie.

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Then began a series of overseas postings, first to Viet Nam on the International Commission for Supervision and Control to ensure an orderly withdrawal of the French, who had been defeated at Dien Bien Phu, to the safety of South Viet Nam.

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After the stint in Viet Nam, Jim was posted to the RCR in London, Ontario, followed by a year at Staff College in Kingston where he became a Major. Richard (Richie) Robert was born in Kingston in March, 1958.

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In 1962, Jim was posted with the RCR regiment to Soest in Germany. During their stay in Germany, Jim and Madeline took the three kids to all parts of Europe –Sweden, Denmark, Holland, Belgium, Luxembourg, France, Austria, Switzerland and Yugoslavia. Most of the time they camped using a small tent trailer. While in France, Jim and Madeline visited the grave of her uncle, Newton Henderson, killed at 19 during the First World War.

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While they were in Soest, Michael was born in September 1963. After three great years, they returned to Canada to a desk job in Ottawa, which Jim hated. He was posted back to London, Ontario so he could accompany a peace-keeping delegation to Cyprus to stand between the Greeks and the Turks. After six months, Jim returned to Ottawa in 1967 and immediately applied for overseas posting with family to Ghana, West Africa. Is there a pattern here?

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In 1968, the family, without Doug who stayed in Canada to complete his high school education, arrived in Accra. Jim’s job was with the Defence Ministry to help procure equipment for the army and to instruct in the Ghana officers’ school.

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During leave in 1970, they returned to Kemptville where they had bought a large house. Our mother lived on one floor of the house. After another year in Ghana, they returned to Canada on a cargo ship where they were treated very well indeed.

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Jim retired from the armed forces at 49 in 1971 and lived in Kemptville, spending his time fixing up two more houses for sale. It looked as if that was to be his life. Well, no.

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In 1972, he was offered a job as Deputy Commanding Officer at Camp Ipperwash where cadets from all over Ontario attended camp. He was promoted to Lieutenant Colonel in 1973 and became Camp Commander.

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From 1974 to 1982, Jim was Aide de Camp to the Lieutenant Governor of Ontario, Pauline McGibbon.

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At age 60, Jim finally retired from the army to live first in Kemptville and then in a high rise apartment in Ottawa.

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Jim concludes his memoir: "It was a good life for me and hopefully everyone of us benefited from the travel and friendships.

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"I would be remiss if I failed to mention how proud I am of my four sons. They have never caused me or Madeline a problem.

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"I can’t say enough about Madeline, so I shall not try, except to say that she is the best thing that happened to me."

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Jim was awarded a peacekeepers medal posthumously, which was accepted by Madeline from the Governor General in Ottawa, and it was added to his row of medals and bars.

Snow

How do I remember snow? Let me count the ways.

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Waist deep, piled high, roads blocked, sledding down hill, ice. Lots of all of it with me in the picture on skis after an ice storm.

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Winters seemed to be longer, colder and snowier than they are now. I remember snow being waist deep in our yard, but I suppose at 5 years of age my waist was closer to the ground than it is now.

Since the schoolyard was on a hillside, there was an excellent run down on a sled. We used to take our sleds to school and spend recess running up the hill and sliding down. Having a fast sled was very important. Occasionally, on a really fast day, we would slide down the hill at speed, dip under the fence into the ditch beside the highway and see if we could make it up over the snow bank to the pavement. Pretty dangerous stuff, but we loved it.

Just as there was no water to swim in, there were very few ponds to skate on. I would trek a mile or more up Buckwheat Road to a pond on the Gray property where I would meet Keith and Harold and a few others to play pond hockey. No Zamboni there –shovels and sweat. It was so cold changing from boots into skates that our hands would just about freeze.

When the snow plow went by on the highway, it threw the snow up into immense banks. To get our car out of the garage and onto the highway, we had to dig a passage through those high banks, hitch a team of horses to the car and drag it out. Quite often the car would not start, but with horses that didn’t matter. We would pull it onto the highway, slide it into second gear and let out the clutch. Once it started we couldn’t shut it off.

Old car, cold weather, and deep snow.

Dorothy's Family

Dorothy married Ivan MacRae in Verdun, Quebec, and they have two children, Carol and David.

Enid's Family

Enid married Mac Simpson and they live in Brockville. They had one daughter, Joan, who lives in Kingston.

On Liz's Deck

The Henderson family got together in Ottawa at Liz’s home at a time after Ray and his family had moved to Victoria to escape the cruel Ottawa winters, so he and Shirley are absent from the picture.

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The line-up includes Linda Henderson on the left beside her mother, Barbara, next to Jim Knox. Then comes George, Clare, Madeline and Mac Simpson. Seated are Dorothy and Enid.

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Judy must have taken the picture.

Ray's Family

This formal portrait of the Ray Henderson family was taken in Ottawa at a point when everyone was living at home.
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Mary Lyn, the eldest, is sitting to Ray’s right. Standing behind them are Julie, Jack, Margaret and Ann Marie. Shirley completes the picture.

Maple Syrup

Willie Smail was our next neighbour to the south along Highway 16. He had a maple sugar bush across the highway from us with the sugar shack near the sharp corner in the highway.

The pictures show him boiling the sap to make syrup. To accomplish that, he needed a very hot fire in the evaporator, since the ratio of sap to syrup is 40 to 1. As my father did, Willie used a thermometer to decide when the syrup was ready to be drawn off, filtered through a special felt filter and bottled or canned.

We visited his place in March 1977 on our way to Ottawa. It must have been March Break, because Scott and Shelley are looking at the horses and Paul is just running around. Of course, that is Judy in the sugar shanty with Willie.

The horses were important to pull the sled with the tank on it to gather the sap from the trees. The snow was very deep in the woods, and the tracks between the trees were rough and deeply rutted. To gather the sap from the trees required a hardy soul to plunge through the snow to every tree, empty the buckets into a large pail and then return to the tank to dump it in. It was icy cold, wet work.

Although the job of running the evaporator was the nicest one in many ways, it seemed never ending. When the sap was running, it was difficult to keep up with it, and Willie would boil long into the night.

This kind of operation ended in Groveton when our father and Willie Smail retired.

The Kids

Of course, they have changed over the years.
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The top photograph shows all three of them together at the cottage.

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The middle photo shows Scott and Shelley in Kenya in 1968.

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The bottom photo was taken at Paul and Shelley's combined birthday party in Toronto November, 2005.

Paul

Paul came along much later. We had all been to Kenya for five years from 1966 to 1971 when, on our return, he appeared in Oakville on November 21.

With his distinctive red curly hair, he was a great hit in the supermarkets. The ladies couldn’t stop themselves from touching it.

Possibly in self defence, he always liked to wear hats. He had a great big basket full of hats, and any trip to the market sent him to pick out a hat.

Christenings

Scott was born on May 1, 1963 and we had him christened in Ottawa with John Bruhwiler as god father and Shelly as god mother holding the subject of the exercise. Shirley and Ray were there. Judy’s mother is on Judy’s right with Sallee Bruhwiler on her left.

Shelley was born on November 28, 1964 in Peterborough. The colour picture shows us at the house in Norwood after her christening. With Judy in the photo are Shelley’s god parents, Frank and Donna Grebenc.

Clare and Judy: The Wedding

There are no wedding pictures, so this one will have to do.

We were married quietly in Ottawa in 1962, and we didn’t tell anyone for some time. Judy was working for Trade and Commerce and I was teaching in Madoc. Since she was living with her mother and sister Shelly in Ottawa, we decided to live separately for a while and meet up on weekends.

When we decided that enough was enough, the "coming out" proved interesting. I remember the first time we told anyone in Madoc was at a school dance. "Les", I said to the principal, "this is my wife." His jaw dropped. The look on his face was worth waiting for.
"Meeting up" was sometimes a problem. Judy had a car that she bought for $50 –in those days that was possible– that she used to come up to Madoc on Friday evening and back on Sunday. It was an Austin A40 Devon that had seen better days. It was unsuited to Canadian winters so that the windshield wipers would freeze up and she would have to stop and clear them of ice.

I recall using it in the summer to go camping from Ottawa up into the Gatineau Hills. This model had a trunk lid that opened down so you could pile a lot of stuff on it. We tied all the camping gear on and four or five of us piled into the car, which was now so back heavy that the front wheels almost lifted off the ground. I drove very carefully with the front of the car bouncing up and down.

When she moved to Madoc, Judy sold that car to one of my students for what she paid for it –an exemplary instance of recycling.

Madoc was an interesting experience for Judy. I was in my third year there when she joined me in the little apartment over Devolin’s Grocery store. When she walked down the street past Richard’s Restaurant with her long pony tail and a black turtle neck, the conversation inside was about "that beatnik Judy Henderson." I guess the pair of us seemed a little exotic in those early 60's.

In the summer of 1963, I left my job in Madoc and we moved to Ottawa where Judy returned to work and I returned to school. At Ottawa U, I studied for an MA in English, but I never actually finished it, lacking a thesis, although I knew just about everything there was to know about Harold Pinter and the Theatre of the Absurd by the time we left Ottawa for Norwood.

We stayed in Norwood for two years, but the yearning to travel out of rural Ontario became intense. I applied to teach for the armed forces in Germany and, at the same time, applied to CIDA to teach abroad. In 1966, with two little kids, Scott and Shelley, we flew off to Kenya.

And Kenya is another tale.

George and Barbara's Family

Living in Dorval, George and Barbara raised four children. Judy is sitting on Linda’s lap. Edward (Teddie) looks very happy to have his picture taken, and that is Elizabeth on the right with her perennial smile.

George

During the second World War, George served from 1940-46 in the Royal Canadian Ordnance Corps ending up as a Regimental Sergeant Major, W.O. 1. When the war was over, he and Captain James L. Cooke went across Canada selling surplus army vehicles. Many a prairie farmer bought a used Jeep or army truck to help on the farm.

From 1946-48, he worked for Barrington Rubber and Plastics, Company in Oakville, but joined James Cooke in 1949 at James L. Cooke Motors, Ltd. in Toronto. When the company bought Toledo Motors in Montreal, George moved in as Manager of Cooke-Toledo Motors and became sole owner in 1960. He sold the business and retired to the farm in the Eastern Townships of Quebec near Brome.

While in Montreal, George sold English cars for Jaguar and Leyland Motors. Jim and Madeline bought a Morris Minor convertible from him and Cooke-Toledo was the source of the red MGA that I drove until my family outgrew it –that is, until there were more than two of us.

40th Wedding Anniversary

The family came together for our parents’ 40th wedding anniversary and this picture was taken in the back yard of the house.

The Back row has Barbara (pregnant with Liz, born August 31, 1953), Ray, Mother, Father, Clare, George, Uncle Joe.

The Middle row has Mac Simpson on the left, Ivan MacRae, Jim Knox, Dorothy, Shirley, Enid and Madeline.

In front are Joan Simpson, Mary Lyn Henderson, Linda Henderson and Jack Henderson.

The Wedding of George and Barbara

George and Barbara were married in Oakville on September 17, 1949. In attendance were George’s mother and father, William and Margaret Henderson, as well as Barbara’s parents, Ivan and Jessica Spencer.

George’s best man was James L. Cooke, his business partner in Cooke Toledo Motors. Other members of the wedding party include Jim Perry standing second from the left and Joan McCullogh, Maid of Honour, then Dorothia Henderson and John Bancroft, husband of Mary, Barbara’s sister on the right.

The Garden of Groveton

One of the greatest advantages of living on farm during the Great Depressions of the 1930's was that we had lots of food –very little money, but lots of food. Ironically, it was all organically grown and free range. The cows and chickens got lots of fresh air and exercise.

Today organic vegetables are regarded as premium food and free range chicken costs more. Okay, so it’s better and better for you, but you pay. We didn’t even imagine a day when chickens would be like laying machines caged so they cannot move and that vegetables would be grown in hot houses in California to be flown to our urban supermarkets.

You have heard the expression, "Eat Local." None of those New Zealand apples for us. We ate the ones from our own trees. Although we did occasionally eat a few from Willie Smail’s orchard just down the road. The Smails used to watch their orchard very closely, but they lived quite a way from it, so Dorothy used to get me to go with her to secure some of their Macs. We would creep through the woods and slip into the orchard from the rear, pick a few ripe ones and exit the same way. Although they were excellent apples, we didn’t really need them and we know Mother would frown if we told her what we had done. It was the fun of it that counted, and the thrill. Thrills were not easy to come by in the Garden of Groveton.

In our garden we grew great, huge red tomatoes, cucumbers, radishes and onions that we would eat raw and in great quantities all summer long. The potatoes, cabbage, carrots, parsnips and turnips could be stored for winter eating in our cellar. I remember dumping wagon loads of potatoes down a chute into a huge bin in the cellar and then going down into that cold, dark place in December to pick out a pot full for Mother.

The chickens were kept in the chicken coop. Where else? They would range out into the yard to pick and peck, but at dusk they ducked back through the hen door and reserved a spot on a roost for the night. The roosters mingled with the hens. When Mother wanted one for Sunday dinner, I would be dispatched with a sturdy coat hanger opened out with the end bent into a hook. The trick was to pick out a nice plump rooster and snag him by one foot with the hook. There would be lots of wings flapping and hens running and dust rising, but that rooster must die!

We had a block of wood resting on its end behind the house with an axe leaning against it. There was no point in being squeamish when chicken pot pie was promised. Off with its head and into the scalding water to pluck the feathers. Premium quality fresh free range chicken for supper –we called the meal at night supper– with organically grown potatoes and carrots on the side.

We ate okay, Depression or no Depression.

Buckwheat

We called it Buckwheat Row, but when they finally put up official signs during the 911 startup, they called it Buckwheat Road. "Road" is likely the proper designation, but it is not much of a road, a narrow, muddy, gravel, potholed track joining the highway at Groveton to the path that leads into the Huckleberry Marsh only two miles away.

The question is how did it get its name? Why "buckwheat"?

The area is called the Groveton Bog, which suggests rather low, wet land imperfect for farming. Indeed it is stony and light where it is not muddy and wet. It is poor land that the Scots who came here in the 1800's looked on favourably. How did the pioneers know? It was covered by forest when they first saw it.

Buckwheat grows just about anywhere, so it would flourish around the Groveton area. It came originally from Asia, then to Europe and at last to Canada. It is an edible grain, both for human and animal, and it has other purposes.

The whole grain can be fed to hens, and it can be cracked to be mixed with other grain for a balanced poultry food.

Buckwheat has a nutty flavour when cooked, kasha being the dried and toasted buckwheat groats. Kasha is used in midEastern dishes, very delicious and easy to make. Even as I write this, Judy is preparing kasha for supper.

Buckwheat is also milled to make the flour especially used to make pancakes and crepes because of the texture and taste, in particular, Galettes de Sarrasin which are basic French crepes made with buckwheat flour. One time we were in France, we stayed overnight in a small city on the Loire and, after finding a hotel room near the river, we strolled around to find a restaurant. We sat down on the patio of La Galette, a restaurant specializing in crepes but featuring Galettes de Sarrasin. They were delicious. You can Google the name for a recipe.

Do we need other purposes for buckwheat? They exist. The buckwheat flower is large and much favoured by bees, so that buckwheat honey can be seen on store shelves. It is dark with a strong taste.

Growing buckwheat has another unusual use that I recall from those farming days long ago. It grows very quickly and is very thick and green. It beats weeds! After growing a crop of oats on a field, sometimes a crop of buckwheat was grown to kill off the weeds, and then at fall plowing time the thick green plants were ploughed under to provide humus to the soil making it richer for a planting the next year. It was similar to letting the land lie fallow but with a super bonus. It was a natural, organic way of getting rid of the weeds and enriching the light soil.

So, why not call it Buckwheat Row?

Swimming

Growing up at a time in a place when and where there were no community swimming pools, no rivers, no lakes, no real ponds and poor transportation choices meant that learning to swim was virtually impossible.

My firends and I used to search for ponds that were more than knee deep and tried to splash around to get a decent dog paddle going. There was a gravel pit back the highway a few miles that we used to bicycle to, but it was only full of water in the spring when it was too cold to swim.

The Nation River flows through Spencerville, so there was a chance to get into deep water behind the dam, but only if you could already swim. The mighty St. Lawrence is only fifteen miles away, but it might as well have been fifteen hundred.

So now we own a cottage where we spend the summer months fifty feet from the water, a great place for me to cool off on those hot, muggy August days, while others wear out the water with energy and skill. I never found a pond this deep.

Church

Solid stone. Slate roof from Scotland. Should last forever.

St. Andrews Presbyterian in Spencerville stands proudly on the main street ready to take on all comers.

The church has served many purposes over the years: weddings, christenings, burials. The cemetery behind it is where the Hendersons from Groveton are buried.

In my days of going to church, it was the social gathering for many of my family. It is where I saw my uncles and aunts and cousins on a regular basis.

Everyone would come to church early so they could chat with friends and relatives alike, standing in small groups around the front. They would troupe inside when the bells called them and sit in their own pews. There were no formally reserved pews in the church, but everyone always sat in the same one.

When the Methodists and the Presbyterians joined to start a new church called the United Church, many people left, but, ironically, many people stayed within the Presbyterian Church, and so it continued to exist.

I recall only a small congregation of mostly grey haired seniors, with very few children my own age. When I went to high school and met more of the young people ho lived in the area, I decided that all the good looking girls went to the United Church. That was a revelation.

Mother loved to go to church. She would find me where I was hiding and get me dressed. We were without a car at some times and Mr. Gray would pick us up in his Model T much to my delight.

My father went most of the time, but occasionally we would abstain for some reason. He was a very social person and he loved to talk, so I am sure he loved that aspect of church.

Cemetery in Spencerville

The Cemetery behind St. Andrews Presbyterian Church in Spencerville is the Canadian resting place of the Groveton Henderson lineage, starting with Thomas George Henderson and his wife, Janette (born Storey).

A picture of the gravestone of our grandfather, Adam Henderson and his wife Rebecca (born McQuade) is shown here not far from the gravestone of our father William Grover Henderson and our mother Margaret Blanche (born) Cummings.

The line of the Groveton Hendersons for three generations is buried close together in the same cemetery behind the church that they all attended.