2004 – 2005 Speaker Series: Presentation Details

Listed by date of presentation.

Jerry Disher & Ted Smith: By Design: The Role of the Engineer in the History of the Hamilton-Burlington Area

15 September 2004

Messrs Disher & Smith will use their book By Design as the basis of their presentation.

About the Book

By Design is a unique and interesting account of the influence of Engineering on the History of the Hamilton-Burlington area. The Head-of-the-Lake Historical society wrote: "The authors and Seldon Griffin Graphics, Inc. must be commended for creating a book with great visual appeal. By Design is splendidly illustrated both with historical images and contemporary (colour) photographs. Maps are used with great effect to illustrate themes found in the text. The book's layout is striking and uncluttered and the text is written in a style which makes it accessible not only to the engineer but to anyone interested in local history." The Hamilton Magazine recently wrote: "Anyone with an interest in the practical history of this area needs to read By Design... By Design is unabashedly a book of substance... Those who love the area will swell with pride as they revisit the challenges early settlers met and overcame when building our communities."

About the Authors

J. (Jerry) Disher was raised in Ridgeway, and graduated in 1951 with a B. Sc. in Civil Engineering from Queen's University. He joined C. C. Parker Consultants Ltd. Of Hamilton as a junior engineer, retiring as president in 1992 after 40 years with the firm. After his retirement Jerry became president of Hamilton Engineering Interface Inc., a small group of dedicated engineers who saw a need to co-ordinate engineering activities in the Hamilton-Burlington area, and to develop programs to bring engineers and the general public closer together. In 1995 his idea for a book on the history of engineering in the Hamilton-Burlington area was accepted as a Millennium project by HEI. Jerry managed and co-authored the book, By Design.

Dr. Edward (Ted) Smith, Ph.D. was educated at McMaster University (B.A., M. A.)and the University of Guelph (Ph.D.) in History. At the M.A. and Ph.D. levels he specialized in Canadian History. His knowledge of area history, his writing ability, and his previous experience working at Westinghouse in Hamilton, were all strong points for asking Ted to join the By Design team. Recently, he has completed a history of the medical profession titled Hamilton Doctors 1932-1982. In these works, Dr. Smith has focused on the important themes underlying the history of our communities, to help us understand our present circumstances and suggest directions for the future. Dr. Smith also teaches history at Guelph University part time.

John Kaler: William Lyon Mackenzie: The Dundas Connection

20 October 2004

Soon after arriving in Canada in 1820 William Lyon Mackenzie moved to Dundas, Ontario (then Coote's Paradise, Upper Canada). While here, he was a businessman and a strong proponent of the industrialization of the area, including the creation of the Desjardins Canal. Biographies of Mackenzie generally downplay Dundas to focus on his activities in Queenston and Toronto which are, by and large, more historically significant. However the Dundas area was where he first established himself independently and, as such, was a formative influence during his early life in Canada.

The presentation will deal chronologically with Mackenzie's connections to the Dundas area, primarily the time during the early 1820s when he lived here but also during his later years. While here he was an entrepreneur and land owner, owning at one time or another four pieces of property in the town. The presentation will give special attention to these properties, both as they were when Mackenzie owned them and as they are today. It will also focus on the pleasure that Mackenzie took in his relationship with Dundas and the surrounding area, both during the 1820s and throughout his life.

John Kaler has lived in Hamilton off and on for a number of years beginning in the early 1960s. He retired in 1992 after a career in insurance and information technology, and since that time has done volunteer work, including providing technical support to the Dundas Historical Society Museum as they installed their new computer system. More recently he has become interested in historical research projects, beginning with one on the Desjardins Canal and following with a second project on William Lyon Mackenzie.

Rob Winninger: A Year At Westfield Heritage Village

17 November 2004

An entertaining journey and introduction to Westfield Heritage Village and its programmes featuring a sneak preview into its upcoming "'Twas the Night Before Christmas" event.

Robert Winninger is the programme officer of Westfield Heritage Village. He has been involved with the village for twelve years and comes to us with several museum-related degrees, including a Masters of Museum Studies from U of T, and almost two decades of curatorial and heritage planning experience with museums and firms in Canada and the UK. He enjoys working as a volunteer with the local cultural and service community and has initiated museum/peace projects in Russia, Germany, France and Iraq. He is very proud of having negotiated the first twinning of a Soviet and Canadian museum in history which in turn has led him on several adventures and has created many friendships.

Tracy Rogers & Mike Brand:

Who Killed Jimmy Thompson?

Or

Under Circumstances of a very Mysterious Nature: A Historical and Forensic Examination of the 1848 Disappearance of James Thompson

19 January, 2005

On the 10th of April 1848, Dundas resident James Thompson disappeared. When last seen, he was on his way to retrieve a sum of money left in safe-keeping with a local doctor in preparation for a trip to the United States, and never returned. Searches were organized and a reward of £100 offered for the discovery of Thompson's remains. A number of eye witnesses came forward with information that they had seen an individual they thought was Thompson walking with another man around the time of his disappearance. These leads, like the extensive searches made throughout the region, came to naught. Thompson's disappearance remains a mystery.

In 1932 human remains were found while sections of Grove Cemetery were being graded. Roy Woodhouse has suggested the possibility that these remains may have been those of James Thompson. Unfortunately, no record has been found indicating what was done with these remains. In their presentation, Dr. Michael Brand, a Historical Archaeologist, and Dr. Tracy Rogers, a Forensic Anthropologist at the University of Toronto, will discuss the history of James Thompson's disappearance and examine the potential for modern forensic science to determine whether or not the Grove Cemetery remains were those of Thompson.

Neville Nunes: It's About Roots, Branches, and the Fruit of the Tree: A Black History Presentation

16 February, 2005

Neville Nunes' résumé (pdf, 10KB)

Jane Mulkewich: Sophia, Slavery and Deer-Hunting in Dundas

16 March, 2005

Sophia Pooley’s life-story was published in 1856, and remains one of the only first-person narratives existing of someone who lived in slavery in Canada. She was born in New York state, where her parents were slaves, and says that she was seven years old when she was forcibly kidnapped from her parents. She was sold to Joseph Brant at Niagara in 1778. She lived with Brant at the Head of the Lake, and was the first documented Black woman to live at the Head of the Lake, and indeed she was living here before any white settlers moved into the area. The account of Sophia Pooley quotes her as saying. "I guess I was the first colored girl brought into Canada", and "There were hardly any white people in Canada then—nothing here but Indians and wild beasts". In her account, she specifically mentions Dundas, when she describes deer-hunting with Brant’s family in Dundas "at the outlet". It was probably in 1807 when she was sold by Brant to Samuel Hatt for one hundred dollars, and she ran away from Hatt right after the war, in about 1814. After living in slavery at the Head of the Lake for about 36 years, she had no resources and no means of supporting herself in this area, and she made her way to the Queen’s Bush (in present-day Waterloo) where a growing number of Black fugitive slaves were eking out an existence in the wilderness. Sophia Pooley was interviewed in the Queen’s Bush when she was in her nineties.

Struck by the significance of Sophia Pooley’s story, Jane Mulkewich has researched the chronologies and contexts of her life. She asks questions about the political economy of deer-hunting vs. agriculture, and the status of women in society, and the role of domestic slaves, and the value of one hundred dollars for a domestic slave. She hypothesizes about the violence which Pooley experienced at the hands of Catharine Brant. She illuminates some of Pooley’s turns of phrase such as the "year the stars fell". She describes how Brant was involved in redeeming white women from captivity, as opposed to the sale of the Black woman in his household. She asks why slave-owners such as Brant and Hatt are memorialized and Sophia Pooley is all but erased from our collective memories. She illustrates how Pooley’s story gives rare insight into the complex relationships between Aboriginal, African and European peoples in early Canada.