{"id":2452,"date":"2019-02-17T13:38:51","date_gmt":"2019-02-17T18:38:51","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/alanskeoch.ca\/?p=2452"},"modified":"2019-02-17T14:25:39","modified_gmt":"2019-02-17T19:25:39","slug":"fwd-barn-raising-erin-twp-1820-mysery-on-a-scrap-of-paper-dated-1940","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/alanskeoch.ca\/?p=2452","title":{"rendered":"Fwd: BARN RAISING, ERIN TWP, 1820, “MYSERY ON A SCRAP OF PAPER DATED 1940”"},"content":{"rendered":"
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Begin forwarded message:<\/div>\n


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From: <\/b><\/span>SKEOCH <alan.skeoch@rogers.com<\/a><\/a>>
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Subject: <\/b><\/span>BARN RAISING, ERIN TWP, 1820, “MYSERY ON A SCRAP OF PAPER DAED 1940”<\/b>
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Date: <\/b><\/span>February 17, 2019 at 12:53:32 PM EST
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To: <\/b><\/span>Alan Skeoch <alan.skeoch@rogers.com<\/a><\/a>>
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MYSTERY FOUND ON A SCRAP OF PAPER DATED 1940<\/font><\/div>\n

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(listen to Joelle, fiddler extraordinaire\u2026in your imagination)<\/font><\/div>\n

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ALAN SKEOCH<\/font><\/div>\n
Feb.2019<\/font><\/div>\n

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Picture of a barn frame\u2026It was customary for the barn builder to walk the high beams in a kind of celebration.<\/font><\/div>\n
Often whiskey was  involved.  This picture is not the alleged Skeoch barn on the Cruickshank property.<\/font><\/div>\n

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AN  ODD STORY CAPTURED ON BACKSIDE OF A 1939 CALENDAR.<\/font><\/div>\n

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alan skeoch<\/font><\/div>\n

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By chance this scrap of paper fell from a  pile of old letters\u2026it led  me on a trip.  Please<\/span><\/div>\n
Join me.<\/span><\/div>\n

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This letter was never mailed\u2026written about 1940.  Hard to say  the real  origin as it has been transcribed onto the back<\/font><\/div>\n
of a  1939\/1940 calendar   Written in pencil\u2026faded\u2026but translated below.<\/font><\/div>\n

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Mrs. F. Slater,<\/font><\/div>\n
73 Heywood St.,<\/font><\/div>\n
Moss side<\/font><\/div>\n
Manchester<\/font><\/div>\n
England<\/font><\/div>\n

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Wrtten in pencil, so faint that in another decade it will be indecipherable..<\/font><\/div>\n

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Found  among papers  and clippings I bought at an auction sale years ago<\/font><\/div>\n

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ERIN COUNTY BARN RAISING 1820 ?<\/font><\/div>\n

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\u201cThis is  a true story a barn raising in the early history of the settlement of Erin Township, in the County of Wellington,<\/font><\/div>\n
Whisky was cheap in those days and it was the custom to have a keg on hand for the barn raising. The whiskey was<\/font><\/div>\n
procured and  stored  in the old barn while the carpenters  were in the woods preparing the timbers for the new barn.<\/font><\/div>\n
The good lady paid a visit to the whiskey keg and  when the mend came in to dinner the good lady was in high good<\/font><\/div>\n
humour but no dinner was ready. The husband and with the help of a carpenter put up the dinner.  After  dinner they <\/font><\/div>\n
went out to the barn and  getting the offending keg. They, with the aid of a rope slung it high up in rafter out of reach.<\/font><\/div>\n
Later in the day the good lady paid a another visit to the barn only to find the whisky out of reach, however, she set her wits<\/font><\/div>\n
to work going back to the house. She returned with the wood tub and the rifle setting the tub under the keg she put<\/font><\/div>\n
a bullet through the keg and caught the whiskey in the tub.   When the men came in to supper she was in quite good<\/font><\/div>\n
humour but a good  supper was prepared, after supper she told what she had  done.  She said she didn\u2019t care so\u2019<\/font><\/div>\n
much for the  whiskey but she was not going to be outwitted by the men. The next day the neighbours were called<\/font><\/div>\n
for the raising. the men putting up the barn, the ladies preparing the meals. By supper the last rafter was on and<\/font><\/div>\n
the floor laid. After supper all the young and old folks gathered  on the new barn floor.  The fiddler and caller were<\/font><\/div>\n
on hand then to the tune of Turkey in the Straw,  Old Irish Washerwoman, and the Scotch reels and \u2014  On with the<\/font><\/div>\n
dance which was kept up until the wee hours.  Incidentally the first settler came into Erin Township in the year 1820.\u201d<\/font><\/div>\n

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SILLY OR MEANINGFUL?<\/font><\/div>\n

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Was this copied from an original written 120 years earlier.  Hard to say.  This unsigned rewrite was done sometime<\/font><\/div>\n
in 1940.  My thoughts?  1) There may be a  kernel of truth\u2026small kernel  2) The  story is the kind of story that<\/font><\/div>\n
would  be told at a one  room rural school Christmas social.   These evenings featured short plays, speeches,<\/font><\/div>\n
music (as mentioned) and as much humour as possible.   Women were usually  associated with the Temperance<\/font><\/div>\n
movement as cheap whiskey (25 cents a gallon in early 19th century) caused a lot of trouble in small communities.<\/font><\/div>\n
To sophisticated ears today this  story seems rather silly but mid winter socials were not sophisticated.<\/font><\/div>\n
Associaitons of alcohol with barn raisings was no exaggeration.although hardly mentioned in the laundered<\/font><\/div>\n
barn raisings.   Kernels of truth acted like sand in a clam shell.  Layers and layers of exaggerations resulted in<\/font><\/div>\n
a pearl of  a story.<\/font><\/div>\n

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ALEXANDER SKEOCH..TRUTH OR FICTION<\/font><\/div>\n

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I am not sure about the truth of the hearsay concerning Alexander Skeoch and barn raising.  One story has<\/font><\/div>\n
Alexander walking the top beam of the barn\u2026a topping off ceremony.   Allegedly, He had been drinking whiskey and<\/font><\/div>\n
fell from the top beam.  Injured  or dead?  I have no idea.  I even suspect the story is false.  I am not even<\/font><\/div>\n
sure a person called Alexander Skeoch was a  barn builder.  Alexander Skeoch, however, did exist. <\/font><\/div>\n
 The kernel of truth came from Christina  Skeoch<\/font><\/div>\n
and Evan Cruickshank who assured me that a person name Alexander Skeoch did build the Cruickshank  barn.<\/font><\/div>\n
I have a picture of t he barn to prove its existence.  On one occasion I even entered the barn, by then a part of<\/font><\/div>\n
land owned by Imperial  Oil.  A huge pile of grain had  been dumped on the threshing floor and ignored since<\/font><\/div>\n
the grain was being eaten by a bunch of rats some of which were dead from poison.  The barn looked great<\/font><\/div>\n
but its future  seemed tenuous.   I have no proof that Alexander Skeoch built the barn or<\/font><\/div>\n
walked the high beam to celebrate or had  been drinking whiskey.  If the barn was built around  1890, then Alexander <\/font><\/div>\n
Skeoch would have been 46 years  old.   A barn builder possibly.<\/font><\/div>\n

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WHAT HAPPENS WHEN PAST AND PRESENT COME TOGETHER?<\/font><\/div>\n

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COMMUNITY MID WINTER CELEBRATION AT WOODSIDE SCHOOL 1940   (HYPOTHETICAL)<\/font><\/div>\n

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WINDMILL THEATRE WNTER CELEBRATION OF CELTIC MUSIC, PORT CREDIT UNITARIAN CHURCH, FEB.  2019  (REAL)<\/font><\/div>\n

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I know this  requires a stretch of the imagination but stick with me for a moment or two.  On Feb. 16 we attended a wonderful performance at the Windmill Theatre.  A festival of Celitc Music.  As I <\/div>\n
watched  and listened my mind jumped back in time to the small  farm community on the Fifth Line of Erin Township in the late 1940\u2019s where my grandparents provided some of the music\u2026Granddad on the violin<\/div>\n
playing the Devil\u2019s Dream, Grandma singing Roses  of Picardy\u2026and everyone else contributing with dancing or elocution (public speaking)\u2026or food  and drink.  Drink?  No alcohol because the<\/div>\n
Temperance Movement had been victorious in the battle with the demon Whiskey.  Heavy drinking of cheap whiskey had damaged many  families.  It was fortunate that horses<\/div>\n
knew the way  home after some of those heavy drinking evenings such as barn raising celebrations. Motor vehicles  had no memory.<\/div>\n

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So look over the pictures below,  taken Feb. 15, 2019\u2026grainy pictures\u2026and let your mind  roll back to Woodside School in 1940.  Someone is giving a speech on a  barn raising way back in 1820<\/div>\n
in Erin Township.  First, however , listen to the music.  Join in with the lyrics if you wish.<\/div>\n

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MASTER OF CEREMONIES:<\/div>\n

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“AND ON THE VIOLIN\u2026FIDDLER  JOELLE\u201d, A NEW RESIDENT ON THE FIFTH LINE, LIVING ON THE OLD MCLEAN FARM.<\/div>\n
JOELLE WILL PLAY A FEW REELS AND JIGS\u2026AND THEN WATCH HER FEET AS SHE TAP DANCES  HER WAY TO YOUR HEARTS.<\/div>\n
JOIN IN IF YOU WISH\u2026SING, CLAP,  DANCE\u2026WHATEVER.  WE ARE GOING TO DISPELL THE WINTER DOLDRUMS  TONIGHT\u2026.”<\/div>\n

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SKYE BOAT SONG<\/div>\n

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Speed, bonnie boat, like a bird on the wing,<\/span>
Onward! the sailors cry;<\/span>
Carry the lad that’s born to be King<\/span>
Over the sea to <\/span>Skye<\/a>.<\/span>

Loud the winds howl, loud the waves roar,<\/span>
Thunderclaps rend the air;<\/span>
Baffled, our foes stand by the shore,<\/span>
Follow they will not dare.<\/span>
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DANNY BOY<\/span><\/font><\/div>\n

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