Mrs.
Henrietta Buck recalls early days
spent in Burford district.
ENJOYS GOOD HEALTH
Has been wed twice, first as girl of 16
Five children now living
One hundred year
ago tomorrow, Friday, July 3, a child was born to James Bailey and his
wife on the farm which they had cleared, near Burford.
Tomorrow this same
child, now Mrs. Henrietta Buck of Cultus, in Houghton township, will
observe the 100th birthday, a century of existence spent in its entirety
within a 25-mile radius of Simcoe.
Still enjoying good
health in spite of her greatly advanced years, Mrs. Buck retains all her
faculties, and particularly a memory undimmed by the years. Vivid in her
mind today are thoughts of those early years when this district was
emerging from its timbered chrysalis.
She frequently
speaks of these, and particularly prominent in her mind is the great
change which has come over the social habits of the people.
Today, she points
out, the farmer is more of an individualist that he was in those times,
fourscore years ago, when he had to reply upon his neighbors for
assistance in many phases of farm work.
Mrs. Buck recalls
the logging bees, the barn raisings, paring bees and a host of
activities which today come under the heading of work, but then provided
an opportunity for social intercourse.
Mother was
U.E.L.
Her father, James
Bailey, was of German descendant, while her mother was Julia Lewis,
whose family were United Empire Loyalists. Their daughter, Henrietta,
married Joseph Ravin in 1852 when she was 16 years old, he having emigrated
from England as a lad of nine.
Ten children were
born to the couple, Charles, Austin, James, Frederick and Mrs. Charlotte
[Blaser], now all deceased, and Mrs. Thomas Goodger of Woodstock, Mrs.
Reuben Easton of Cultus, William Ravin of Deseronto, Herbert Ravin,
Cultus, and Arthur Ravin, Cultus.
In 1871 Joseph
Ravin and his wife moved with their seven children from Burford to
Cultus. In their new home they cleared the land which was located in
what was then known as the Laycock Settlement, the nucleus of which was
a sawmill. Surrounding the small community were almost impenetrable woods, open
here and there by narrow logging trails.
Joseph Ravin died
in 1887 and ten years later his widow married Charles Buck who died 30
years later. Since that time she has made her home with her youngest
son, Arthur, at Cultus.
