Obituary

On the 12th inst. there passed away one of Walsingham Centre's oldest and most respected citizens in the person of Squire John Townsend.

Deceased had been failing for a year or more but only a few weeks ago was he confined to his bed. From that time to the end he suffered intense misery, but the Grim Monster laid his icy fingers on him and ended a desperate and heroic struggle for life.

Our various vocations, professions and other walks of life are often decided by very simple means. It was the direction a certain stake fell in the backyard of his parents' home near Avon, England, that sent Edward Townsend, John Townsend's father, to spend the earlier part of his life as a sailor of the ocean. Tiring of this life, and being drawn by the uncertainty of a life beyond the seas, he came to Canada.

Here he met the Dawson family, who came from Yorkshire. He and the boys became sailors on the Great Lakes. He married Margaret Dawson and settled in Port Rowan, in a house near where the Baptist church now stands.

Here, on 18 Mar 1832, John Townsend was born. Six other children blessed this union, all of whom are now dead except Edward.

The elder Edward bought the farm for so long owned and occupied by his son, John, and proceeded to carve out a farm and home from the virgin forests that covered the land. 

He toiled early and late to provide for his family and to make the life of his choice a financial success. He would have succeeded but fate was against him, and John, then a lad of 13, was left as the mainstay of the family.

At the age of 16 John entered the lumber camps, then so common along Big Creek. He followed that occupation for several years.

On 1 Mar 1865, he married Sarah Eliza Hawley, having built about that time, the house where he spent the major part of his life. 

Later he bought the farm now owned and occupied by George A. Card. This he sold and bought off the rest of the heirs to the Townsend homestead. 

His six children were born in the house where he died: Arthur E., a farmer on Concession 5; W. Maitland, clerk of South Walsingham; Nettie, Mrs. John Harper of New York; Ernest, who is at home; Captain J. W. of Simcoe, and Clara, Supt., Medina Hospital, Medina, N.Y.

The battle with the sturdy kings of the forests that surrounded him appealed to Mr. Townsend, and his next lumbering idea took the form of sawmills. He operated the old Davis mill on the Point mill stream, the Joe Mitchener mill near the C. W. Shoup grist mill, and later a stream mill on his own farm.

For several years prior to the division of Walsingham he was a councillor of that municipality and occupied the same position for a number of years in South Walsingham after the division.

He was one of the Fenian Raid veterans of 1866. Much time and patience were spent in drilling on what the family afterwards designated the "drill field" on his own farm, and in rifle practice on the Harry Smith farm. He went with the 39th to Paris, but did not see active service, as the trouble was soon settled.

He was school trustee for many years, and was secretary-treasurer of the same school for 35 years, holding that position until his death.

When the Whitney Government came into power he was made a Justice of the Peace, and was for several years a member of the Board of Health.

The early life as backbone of the family had all to do with education of Mr. Townsend. School tuition was out of the question, when the widowed mother and family looked to him as father; nor was home schooling to be had, for those times were busy times. 

Reading, writing and arithmetic in their most fundamental form were acquired after he was 20 years; and by a shrewdness spurred on by a determination to become enlightened in these three, he made rapid strides. 

Constant practical use of arithmetic, pouring over printed pages, and close observation of those educated made the uneducated boy and youth a man who could account for himself creditably where learning was called for.

Losing his father's guiding hand and head, and thus being thrown on his own resources, he developed the make-up and understanding of a man at an early age and was thus bereft of the pleasures of youth.

Necessity called forth a mental training now attained by those more favorably circumstanced, a determination to make the best of the situation, a well designed spirit to meet the urgent demands of life, a careful formulation of his own judgments and a first adherence to what he believed was right. Few attributes can be stronger nor tend more towards ideal citizenship.

He was temperate, upright, courteous and all that goes to make up a true gentleman. Those traits of character were carried forth at what a cost and yet with what benefiting and influence to him.

The continual grind called forth the best that was in him. Little did Edward his father think that the falling stake  would place in our midst a man of such sterling worth.

The sympathy of the many friends of Mr. Townsend is extended to the bereaved family. We sorrow with them. They have lost a husband and father, and we have lost a fellow citizen whose character well stands emulation.

Walsingham Centre, 18 Mar 1912