 |
| Click image for more photos ... |
The following article was prepared by Paula Niall for a Grey County Historical Society newsletter back in November of 2012. I'm not sure when it was published or what came of her work.
I'm copying it here for friends and family on the occasion of dad's birthday -- he was born April 19, 2014.
MAURICE WATSON QUINTON
1914-2012
Maurice Quinton is remembered by Norman
Seabrook as a very strong, active man with a good memory, who contributed a
great deal to his community of Walter’s Falls.
“He loved to talk about the history and he
had a sharp memory, in fact, much of what I learned about the local history I
learned from him,” Norman
told me over the phone. He was his neighbor and worked along side him for many
years. “He sold me my first and only driving mare when I was 18 years old.”
Maurice
was the great-grandson of John Walter (1804-1867) and Elizabeth
Payne (1804-1883). John was the early miller, who emigrated from Somerset, England
with his wife, claiming almost 800 acres of land from the Crown and founding Walter Falls
in 1852.
Maurice’s fraternal grandmother was
Elizabeth, the second daughter of John and Elizabeth Walter. Elizabeth married Thomas Quinton March 30, 1858. Their son,
Richard, Maurice’s father, was born June 21, 1861.
His father, Richard Quinton married Alberta
Carney. Alberta
was the daughter of Sidney Carney and Sarah (Watson) Carney, making, making
them Maurice’s maternal grandparents.
Sidney was the brother of Richard Carney (1802-1885), who was the
first Sheriff of Algoma, the First Warden of Grey County, the First Mayor of
Owen Sound, later became the first owner of the Owen Sound newspaper, The Times,
“Quite a distinguished connection,” Norman pointed out.
“Richard had a brother, Charles Carney,
owned a store in Walter’s Falls, a tannery in Meaford, and a good number of
mills in the area. The Carneys were a great pioneer family,” said Norman, whose
own pioneer family, walked up to Grey
County in 1853 with their
three-month-old baby.
Maurice was born on the family farm in the
former Euphrasia Township just outside Walter’s Falls on April 19, 1914. This was at the beginning of World War I. He and the rest of the family survived the
swine flu epidemic of 1918. His mother
died in 1933 when he was only 19 years old.
Maurice was the youngest of six children;
four girls and two boys. “His elder sister, Hilda Puddicombe of New Hamburg was
born in 1910. Now 102 years of age, she is
still quite spry,” according to Maurice’s son, Reg Quinton.
A Carney descendant, retired RCAF Colonel,
Donald Carney, has written, The History
of the Carney Family. “Don lives in North Bay,” Norman explained during
our telephone conversation, “and he gave me a signed copy of his book as I
helped him gather some of his facts.”
Until the late 1940s, it was the
responsibility of the land owners to keep roads reasonable in the winter. Maurice and his neighbors did so with a team
of horses. Later in his trucking career,
he plowed roads for the township using modern equipment.
Maurice started out farming, but moved to trucking
gravel in 1949, and then went into transporting in 1950 owning and operating
Maurice Quinton & Sons Transportation, Ltd.
His son Anthony was his partner. “He loved
driving,” said Norman,
“he was always driving.”
His son Reg confirmed his father’s love of
driving. He wrote that his father drove
the ‘big rigs’ throughout Ontario for
local businesses, (Hallman Lumber and
Walter’s Falls Milling), local farmers (grains,
apples and fertilizers), culverts and steel from Stelco in Hamilton and, more often than not, road salts (Allied Chemical in Windsor and Sifto in
Goderich) for road maintenance and construction. He drove these rigs until he retired to Owen Sound in his
80s.
“In his final year, with his mind failing,
he often talked about tending to his horses, his car parked out back of the
Retirement Home, or a truck trip he had made that morning. Trucking defined his life. When he was no longer able to drive at the
age of 96, it was a tragedy for him that he was never able to accept,” Reg wrote
from St. Mary’s Ontario.
Maurice married Margaret Dixon on June 11, 1938 at St.
Philip’s Anglican Church in Walter’s Falls.
Margaret was born and raised in Walter’s ‘Falls. Her parents were
Russell and Nellie (MacKay) Dixon.
Russ Dixon operated a garage in Walter’s Falls.
He also did custom threshing with his steam engine and late in life
managed the Grey Lodge in Markdale.
Maurice and Margaret Quinton had seven
children; one girl and six boys. They were: Ellen, Larry, Anthony, David,
Reginald, Dale and Paul. He was a grandfather
of 10 grandchildren and 16 great-grandchildren. “Today, his descendants are
spread all over Canada,”
Norman said.
“Maurice and Margaret were very active in
the community and in St. Philip’s Church, where he served as warden,
secretary-treasurer for forty years and contributed in many other roles over
the years. “He loved to laugh, Reg commented. The humor in a song made famous
by George Formby, When I’m Cleaning
Windows, would always get him chuckling.
Often, he was called upon to act as master of ceremonies at weddings and
other events, where he would tell jokes, recite poems and give Irish
blessings.
On September 24, 2012, at the age of 98, Maurice was laid to
rest beside his wife, Margaret, in the cemetery of the Church he loved so well.
The charming stone church sits atop a knoll at the north end of Walter’s Falls,
so reminiscent of an English
Parish Church
from whence his ancestors came.
Paula Niall
