This story is part of our partnership with Maryboro Lodge The Fenelon Falls Museum and was written by Glenn Walker.
KAWARTHA LAKES-Thomas Henry Martin was born June 15, 1891 to William Martin, an Irish immigrant, and Elizabeth Bick. T.H. (Tom) Martin grew up on Lot 18, Concession 8, Verulam, on the Bobcaygeon-Fenelon Falls Road (across from Crazy Monkey Tree Service). He was the youngest surviving child, with eight older brothers and sisters. When he was three years old his mother passed away after a lengthy battle with cancer. Losing a parent made for a challenging childhood. “He would have relied on his teenage siblings to look after him,” John explains. “With that many children, it would have been a big job.”
Tom’s mother, Elizabeth, was the only daughter of George Bick, who had been one of the very first British immigrants to the area. Though George had come over as a coachman, he soon became a community leader. The Martins were also a longstanding local family. “As a young boy, Tom was keenly interested in older people,” John notes. “He grew up in a family where George had been politically involved. He knew that his Grandfather Bick had been clerk, treasurer and reeve. Perhaps that is why a farm boy from a big family wanted to do something other than farming and surviving.”
As a lad, Tom walked to S.S.#4 (nicknamed Ingram’s or Patterson’s school), which was located on the next concession over. His father served as a school trustee. By the time he started school in 1897, the original log school had long been replaced with a frame structure. Six years after he graduated in 1905, the schoolhouse burned and later was replaced with a brick building that still stands on the corner of Cosh’s Road and Anderson Line. “Even when he was a student, he was interested in the road conditions… He thought that the roads in Victoria County were in pretty bad shape.”
As a youngster, Tom spent a lot of time with his oldest brother George, twenty years his senior. Between both family farms they had a great many maple trees. The two decided to try their hands at tapping the maples, even though as Miles stated, “they did not have proper spiles or buckets. Their father, William, encouraged their efforts as it was something that would provide viable income. Two generations later, his descendants have become well known for their maple syrup.
George would later take over the family farm, across the road, which remains in the family to this day. The original homestead was a log house, “I do not think there is another house in the township that has had continued occupancy by the same family for as long,” John observes.
In 1918 Thomas wed a neighbourhood girl, Lydia Kelly. Shortly after their marriage they had two sons, Wallace (1919) and Byron (1921). Tom had previously taken over his father’s farm, shortly after his death in 1916. As a parent, Tom lived through the same tragedy as his father. The month after the stock market crashed, his wife, Lydia, died of influenza. In contrast to his father having nine children to look after, Tom just had his two sons. “He was a widower for so many years, that it made him a fairly independent man,” Betty Anne says. Tom’s sister, Eva, helped raise both Wallace and Byron, staying on at the farm to help out, as farming entailed a tremendous amount of physical labour.
Sundays were always set aside for worship, he attended St. Alban’s Church, moving onto the Anglican Church in Bobcaygeon. “He was a man who would quote scripture. It would certainly be something about helping others, like the Golden Rule, ‘Do unto others as you would have them as you would have them do unto you.’” Betty Anne adds, “Our family would go to church two times a day.” Content to remain a widower he was often asked if he was lonely? Jayne remembers that he would say, “Not after my grandchildren were born,” it seemed there was always a grandchild with him in the car.
In 1946 Tom and Eva moved into Bobcaygeon, retiring from farming to serve as an agent for the Victoria and Grey Trust Company. As a young man, he watched his brother-in-law, Joe Southam (married to his older sister Martha) be elected as Reeve of Verulam Township. Concerned about the condition of local roads, Tom decided to run for the position of councillor. His first attempt was not successful, but he was encouraged to run again, and succeeded being elected in Verulam Township in 1919. As his tenure continued his fellow Reeves chose him as Warden of the County in 1938, when he was forty-seven years old.
In the early twentieth century, being a public official required a great amount of dedication. Government was certainly not something that could be taken for granted. In one way or another everyone contributed their time. When T.H. Martin was first elected, few families had cars and the roads were not plowed in winter, so to attend County Council meetings, he would walk to Bobcaygeon, then catch the train to go to Lindsay. Just traveling to attend the meetings was a huge investment of time.
Being reeve was not a career, it was public service. While serving his community, Tom made his living as a farmer. “His whole life he loved big horses,” Miles recounts. “I remember the picture of Clydesdales that hung in his garage.” Like most of his neighbours, it was mixed farming that provided a basic livelihood, but few luxuries. “The land was not the easiest to cultivate,” John continues. “His brother was a student of agriculture, and shared information about ways to farm.”
T.H. Martin was a very conscientious man and supporting his neighbours’ livelihoods was very important to him. He grew up in an era when most families were trying to ‘get by’ farming There was an expectation at the time that weeds would be (manually) killed, so they would not continue to spread. Even as an older man, he would carry a scythe in the back of his car so he could cut down burdocks and thistles that he saw in the ditch as he travelled.
When he retired from council, Tom became the Clerk (1939-1957) and Treasurer (1941-1957) of Verulam Township. When he began his tenure, “the township office was above Bigley’s store on Bolton Street, and later it moved to the Boyd Building where the Bobcaygeon Chamber of Commerce is now,” Betty Anne remembers. Throughout his career, Verulam Township and Bobcaygeon had separate municipal governments. The accounts were all kept by hand in ledgers, as correspondence was either handwritten or typed. “He was a great letter writer, and wrote to keep in touch with his many friends, politicians and theologians. Tom “was quite supportive, helping people who could not pay their bills.” John notes. “On one occasion he agreed to buy a litter of pigs from a man who could not afford to pay his taxes, and he bought them sight unseen! Now that would be called a conflict of interest.” When the time was coming for Tom to retire, he set about training Roy Mulligan as his replacement.
“Later in his life, when my kids were little, he would come to visit us at our home at the service station,” Betty Anne narrates. “He walked with a cane, and our kids would hide his cane, because they wanted him to play the mouth organ for them. He used to take me out to Joe Southam’s farm, where Mr. McKendry, Jim Southam and Grandpa Tom would all take turns playing the fiddle. He always had humbugs in his pocket. As kids, we were excited, because it was candy, but, once you tasted it, you didn’t really want it.”
“When I came home from University, I was working on a survey team on the Fenelon Falls to Bobcaygeon Road,” John recounts. “He often drove by, keeping track of what was going on as he was on his way to his ranch, the Richmond Farm. One day he stopped and asked, ‘Are you that Bick boy?’ He remembered that George (John’s Great Great Grandfather had been Reeve, and he explained that he was wanting to write a book about his own time on council. It was around 1965, and he was hoping to have it done for the Centennial Year.”
“He asked me to look through what he had written and to write a short introduction for it. I was studying history at university, so it was kind of a natural partnership. I soon realized what a wealth of information he had. He was interested in local history and enjoyed talking to people. He wanted to see local stories put into print, as it was something that had not been done before.”
In the 1960s, many communities were sensing that something was being lost. The last pioneers were dying off. Their generation had left behind their homes and families in Britain to spend a lifetime labouring to make farms and lives from the woods of Upper Canada. Many of them had lived through great deprivation, carrying bags of flour on their backs to be milled, making do without so much that their descendants would take for granted. As the final representatives of this generation passed into history, there was a lot of interest in preserving their stories for posterity while it was still possible. Tom’s contribution was Pioneer Gleanings from Verulam. “People got to know him, and people would talk to him. He was interested in knowing about everyone’s ancestors, who married whom, and who was buried where.” John adds: “He was available to talk to, because he was a single man. He would open his door to almost anybody. He also did a lot of research, and really knew the Township’s records well. When you read his book, at least half of it was taken from the minutes of Council Meetings.”
Pioneer Gleanings from Verulam was more than a municipal history, T.H. Martin sought to tell the story of the people and institutions that had shaped the township. It encompassed local churches, orange lodges, century farms, and neighbourhood institutions like beef rings. In 1967 Tom received the Commonwealth of Canada Medal for his book. He later published a supplement to it. In 1976 he had the honour of opening the Centennial Celebrations with Ed Thibadeau, as well as Mrs. John Crowe who sang the national anthem. In 1979 Tom also received The Fellowship of Applied Education Award from Sir Sandford Fleming, for his significant achievement and contribution to the community through practical application of knowledge and talent. “He was pretty humble, I never knew him to brag. To him it was a duty to serve his community,” John concludes. Thomas H. Martin passed away in January 1980 at the age of 89, but he would not soon be forgotten by his community. Both of his sons would be memorable Bobcaygeon personalities.
This story is a memory and nobody’s memory is perfect. Sometimes details get a little mixed up, things get forgotten or overlooked, and the perspective is inevitably subjective. If you notice something that not right, have something you would like to tell us, or a memory to share the museum would be happy to hear from you: [email protected]
This story is part of our partnership with Maryboro Lodge, The Fenelon Falls Museum.
If you want to make a donation to the museum, you can e-transfer to: [email protected] or mail a cheque to :
Maryboro Lodge Museum
Box 179
50 Oak Street
Fenelon Falls, ON
K0M 1N0
