Whether you are a history hound or simply researching your family tree, you have probably come across occupations that are now extinct or most certainly rare. Ever wonder what those jobs entailed or where they went? Let’s have a look at what some of our ancestors did for a living. Some occupations on our list disappeared thanks…
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Old Movies Offer More Than Nostalgia About Our History
Why do we so love watching old movies? I draw equally upon my own experience as a lover of film and as someone who loves history and all the different ways we can re-capture our past. Movies often reflect what life used to be like, prompting memories and emotions to reappear, nurturing something deep inside us….
Symbols On Memorial Markers Tell Stories Of Lives Passed
This is the second in a two-part series on tombstones and monuments, including the secret meanings behind the symbols and language used on memorial markers. We will begin with an examination of the decorations frequently found on monuments, along with the inscriptions, exploring some of the motifs and commonly held interpretations of their symbolism. It is important to…
Exploring The What, How and Why Of Area Headstones
This weekend on NewmarketToday, we begin a two-article examination of tombstones or monuments. I have been conducting walking tours of cemeteries for years and a major focus of these tours has been the history behind burial markers and the hidden language that the engravings on monuments represent. I have also conducted presentations on the topic…
The Story of Gamble’s Inn
This weekend on Newmarket Today we examine the first hotel in the Newmarket area, located in what once was the first white permanent settlement in King Township, established at the beginning of the nineteenth century at Armitage, located on the West Side of Yonge Street, just southwest of the town of Newmarket and bordering on…
Charles Thompson’s Little Known History
Charles Thompson, while he is perhaps little-known today, was once one of the most important entrepreneurs in Ontario during the first part of the 19th century. Most of the traffic, whether it be of the human or merchandise variety, which travelled from York (Toronto) north to Simcoe County, was carried on one of his stagecoaches…
Historians Balance Facts With Narrative To Bring Alive Our Past
Art or science? It’s a topic that has been under debate for many years, in fact dating back to my final thesis at university back in the 1970s. What is the nature of the study of history? Is it more closely aligned to the arts or the sciences? I invite you to join the discussion…
Infamy Of Rebellion’s Lount Put ‘Other Brother’ In History’s Shadow
It is often the case where one person is immortalized in our local history while others of equal importance are practically left by the wayside and yet they are most certainly worth remembrance. That’s the case with “the other Lount,”George Lount, who unlike his older brother, Samuel, has fallen through the cracks of our local…
Pickles And Packing Part Of The Lore Behind Newmarket’s Newest Heritage House
The future of the Charles Denne/Bosworth House is in the news this week with a move by the Town of Newmarket to designate the property as historic — a move that the owner resisted. At yesterday’s committee of the whole meeting, council voted to proceed with the designation — a decision that needs to be finalized at…
AGO’s The Grange Has Links With 2 Prominent Newmarket Families
On a trip to the AGO a few weeks ago, I visited The Grange and suddenly remembered its connection to Newmarket through the Boulton and Robinson families. The Boulton family was closely associated with the early history of Newmarket, the street running west from Main and Church streets was known until the 1860s as Boulton…
