The Bruce County Genealogical Society and Bruce County Historical Society joined forces to present an Authors’ Night wine and cheese reception at the Bruce County Museum and Cultural Centre (BCM&CC) on Tuesday evening (Aug.8th).
Three authors, Bonnie Sitter, Judy MacKinnon and Kelly Young shared their insights and inspirations behind their varied works.
Bonnie Sitter presented a look back at one of the more unusual and lesser-known education systems – Northern Ontario’s unusual rail car program, a mobile school program that began in the 1800s to answer rural education. In 1871, the Ontario School Act was passed that made school attendance mandatory for children between the ages of eight and 14. It was then that the term ‘common schools’ was changed to ‘public schools’ and that free education was to be provided for all in government-inspected schools.
Both major rail lines the Canadian National (CN) and the Canadian Pacific (CP) operated the rail car school programs that started in 1926, serving all of Northern Ontario.
Her book, On the Wright Track: Memories from C.P.R. School Car #2 (2021), explains how a passenger rail car became a travelling schoolroom in which the teacher, William (Bill) Wright, his wife Helen and their four children lived, and that became a classroom during the day. From 1937 to 1967 they travelled the northern route from Sudbury to White River educating children of the railway workers. The last rail car classroom was retired in 1967 after educating more than 4,000 students.
It was a fascinating look back at the nomadic way of life that teachers in the rail car school program led.
In addition to On the Wright Track, she has written three others: Onion Skins and Peach Fuzz: Memories of Ontario Farmerettes (2019), with Shirleyan English; Agriculture Today: A Portrait of Family Farms in Ontario (2017), with Fred Helwig and Telfer Wegg; The Beauty and Bounty of Huron County (2013), with Telfer Wegg and David Bishop and is currently in the process of producing a documentary.
The second speaker, Judy MacKinnon, gave an historic insight into the village of Paisley in Bruce County in her book ‘Paisley: a Settler’s Dream’, dating back to 1851 prior to when the village was named in 1856 and then incorporated in 1874.
Located at the convergence of the Teeswater and Saugeen Rivers, the town was once a bustling community of mills and hotels and where, today, many of the historic homes still stand.
She also explained that the ‘Treasure Chest Museum’ on the main street in Paisley houses many of the tools and household items from a by-gone era along with early newspapers of the town’s Paisley Advocate.
The book is also beautifully illustrated by local renown artist Ken Thornburn of Tara where he depicted the many historic buildings that once existed.
MacKinnon’s life has revolved around history. She was a member of Williscroft Women’s Institute for 55 years and served as President. In addition, she was also the Tweedsmuir Community History Coordinator and organized the community histories of Bruce County. MacKinnon is also a member of The Bruce County Historical Society and The Bruce County Genealogical Society and has helped with various history projects as well as having volunteered at the local Treasure Chest Museum for more than 20 years.
The last author to speak was prolific writer, Kelly Young, a former reporter in Kincardine who has also written freelance for various publications, and who now has written several series of books, including the Travel Writer mysteries set in Bruce County.
A member of Crime Writers of Canada and Sisters in Crime, Kelly is the independently published writer of the Travel Writer Cozy Mystery series, the Travel Writer Day Trips Cozy Mystery series, the Haunted & Harassed Paranormal Mystery series, the mystery/thriller Flurries Ending, the Sci-Fi thriller The Six Thousand, and more.
“Someone once told me, write about what you know. So, many of my characters are based on real people that I know so that I can create believable dialogue and imagery,” said Young. “I also use locations where I have actually been, such as Kincardine, Port Elgin, Tobermory and even Vulcan, Alberta and where I can use descriptive language that will hopefully encourage readers to visit these places.”
She went on to also explain that her titles are rhyming such as ‘The Piper Sniper’, set in Kincardine or ‘The Sculpture Vulture’, her 5th book that will be set in Orillia. I wanted to set my titles apart from the plethora of titles out there in the crime genre.”
