Have you had the chance to read through our Founders and Builders series? It’s hard to believe that last July we began our series where we introduced, month by month, eleven individuals who have played an important role in creating or maintaining the CFHA over the years. Our series finished this June, and we’ve gathered together each entry from the series below. We hope you’ve enjoyed the stories and memories of these dedicated members who have all worked towards preserving and communicating the on-going history and faith of Friends in Canada.
In this month’s Founders and Builders Series, we introduce you to Gordon Thompson. Anyone involved with CFHA has undoubtedly worked with Gordon. Gord has invested his time and shepherded the CFHA through the last number of years. He has served as chair for many years, has written countless articles for the Canadian Quaker History Journal and The Meetinghouse, served as The Meethinghouse Editor, singlehandedly organized many Annual General Meeting tours, and remains committed to sharing the story of Quakers in Canadian history. He currently leads the Friendly Fridays sessions, and is serving as co-chair with Jeffrey Dudiak. Gord’s unwavering dedication to the CFHA has ensured its continual growth and success.
Gordon Thompson By Donna Moore
Dedicated. Knowledgeable. Visionary. If you were to sit down over coffee with Gordon Thompson, Co-Chair of the Canadian Friends Historical Association, you would sense these qualities about him.
Photo of Gord Thompson. This photo first appeared in The Meetinghouse, 2011-2.
I did sit down with Gord over coffee linked by a phone line to ask him about his background and what led him to his CFHA involvement. What Gord shared with me included a number of pivotal experiences that contributed to who he is as a person.
Gord was born in Sudbury Ontario, the first child of parents who at that time lived a rather nomadic life due to his father’s work installing telephone switching devices across Canada. Some of Gord’s earliest memories are from when they lived in Calgary, and he learned about dinosaurs at a local park dedicated to the subject. His visit to this park as well as his later adult discovery of many fossils in Alberta cultivated in him a lifelong interest in paleontology and archaeology. Years later, during Grade 8 in Belleville, Ontario, he found a piece of a fossilized Trilobite (extinct marine artiopodan arthropods who lived millions of years before dinosaurs) unearthed by people putting in a telephone pole. Gord was thrilled to find this item. These various experiences contributed to Gord’s early understanding of the historical record and context of our world.
Gord’s family lived close to a Baptist church in Belleville, and his parents decided that this would be a good place to introduce him to the Christian faith. He remembers sensing a link between the Trilobite fossil and church. Gord noted that extinct forms of life he had personally encountered as fossils were not mentioned in the Genesis account. Gord had an appreciation that the book of Genesis could not be a full accounting of the events of the world, but was an attempt to explain, to the best of the ability of those who wrote it, how life came to be, how humans came to be, in a cosmic and spiritual setting. Gord believed the writers of Genesis did not have the whole story, whereas the fossils filled in missing parts of the Genesis story for him, and the fossils did not say anything about God other than there is more to the story.
One summer Gord volunteered with the Royal Ontario Museum (ROM) on a week-long industrial archaeological dig located at Port Ryerse. During this experience, Gord learned excavation skills and received practical experience on a site that included the foundation of a pioneer pottery kiln that the farmer/potter constructed to fire his pots for local sale.
Two years later, Gord again volunteered on another industrial archaeological site: Huron Pottery, located in Egmondville, Ontario. That excursion introduced him for the first time to a Quaker, David Newlands. The manner by which David related to people including the volunteer excavation crew, the local landowners, and curious members of the local population who visited the site made a very positive impression on Gord. Once Gord learned that David was a Quaker, he appreciated how David and his family provided examples of individuals whose lives quite literally did speak.
Another important personal discovery of Gord’s in the 1970s was that of the Bruce Trail. Gord found hiking along it a liberating and spiritually nurturing experience. It removed him from a totally linear experience of life such as roads and sidewalks. The trail wound itself like a river, through many different habitats. Gord’s appreciation of the created world was only enhanced.
So, those early years were highlighted by three pivotal and complementary experiences: archaeology/paleontology, the Bruce Trail, and David Newlands and his family, Quakers.
Gord remembers his first visits to the Yonge Street Meeting House in Newmarket. It was winter, and inside was chilly since the only source of heat was the fire in the large wood-burning stove in a Meeting House which had never been upgraded in the 175 years since it was originally constructed.
It is notable to mention that David undertook an immense project to raise $150,000 for the purpose of jacking up the existing Yonge Street Meetinghouse (YSMH), shifting it so that a basement foundation that had never existed could be constructed and modern conveniences like electricity, central heating, and water could be added. David’s success in this task spoke to his marvellous relationships and organizational skills. Thanks to his work and that of generous donors, the project objectives were realized, and YSMH has enjoyed these benefits ever since.
Through David and other Friends, Gord was introduced to CFHA. At that time, many aspects of Quaker history were under threat of being lost. At that time, it was only twenty years after from the reunification of the three traditional yearly meetings: Hicksite, Conservative, and Orthodox. Gord realized that the spiritual experience of early Friends in Canada found expression in all aspects of the historic records, including built heritage, personal accounts, material artifacts such as clothing, minute books, and other documentation.
During the 1980s, life demands and expanded time spent in the outdoors removed Gord from an active relationship with Friends and CFHA. In the late 1990s, Gord found himself with a renewed interest in Quaker faith and practice and CFHA. The objectives of the CFHA work impressed Gord with its potential and value to existing Friends and the wider community of historians, descendants, and those wishing to broaden their knowledge of Quakers in Canada. He started to read extensively the writings of early Friends, including George Fox’s journal. Gord understood in a deeper sense that these writings formed the essential foundation that informed the Quaker legacy that was of concern to CFHA. Gord told me that he has appreciated the opportunity to work with others of like mind and concern in a spirt of close fellowship and mutual enrichment.
Gord in 2014 at the Quinte Genealogical Centre in the Quinte West Public Library, looking at the Bowerman family history records. Photo by Cheryl Levy.
Gord noted that CFHA provides a model of an organization that is operated by Quaker principles. For example, CFHA meetings are held in the manner of Friends, whereby business decision making is the product of careful discernment which leads to unity on actions to be taken. The important work performed by the volunteers of CFHA is deserving of support.
CFHA’s mission statement is to preserve and communicate the on-going history and faith of Friends in Canada and their contribution to the Canadian experience. There is no other national organization which has identified this preservation and communication as its primary objective, and this makes CFHA rather unique. Nonetheless, it is this very preservation and communication of the faith and spiritual experiences of early Friends which brings a fuller appreciation and life to the historic details available.
Gord strongly believes that the spiritual experiences of the early Friends in Canada speak to our present times. The records of the lived experiences of these Friends reveal the unique manner in which their spiritual faith and practice equipped them to deal with the daunting challenges of pioneer life. The unique perspective and spiritual understandings of these Quakers provide inspiring examples of the human response to the daily realities of human experience then and now. As a result, the historical legacy of Quakers in Canada includes much more than mere historical information. The challenges of our present day may appear different than those encountered by the early Quakers in Canada, but the solutions employed by the early pioneers may prove as inspiring and effective now as they did then.
Photo of Gordon Thompson and CYM Archives Committee Chair Joyce Holwerda in 2018 signing an historic cooperation agreement for the transcription and posting of historical documents held in the CYM Archives. Photo by Heather Somers.
CFHA is a forward looking and positive organization, proud of its achievements over the past fifty years. It has recently sought to incorporate current internet and social media technologies to their best advantage. Exciting opportunities to greatly expand the efforts to preserve and communicate Quaker legacy through digitization and electronic archiving are opening up and are being actively incorporated into our capabilities. We encourage all who have any interest in the important legacy of Quakers in Canada to support our efforts either financially or by sharing information and historic heritage material with us, or both.
During our conversation, Gord then reflected on a personal interest of his. Since high school days, Gord has appreciated the classical Japanese haiku form of poetic expression. Although he sometimes employs the format in his own short expression of insights, we concluded our interview with Gord sharing an example relevant to CFHA:
In this month’s Founders and Builders Series, we introduce you to Sandra Fuller. Sandra served as secretary for a number of years and has written many articles for the Canadian Quaker History Journal and the CFHA Newsletter. Her work has contributed greatly to the success of CFHA.
Sandra Fuller By Ruth Jeffery-Maclean
Sandra McCann was born and raised in Newmarket, Ontario. She is a descendant of early Quaker settlers, Ezekiel & Keziah (Harvey) James, who emigrated from Pennsylvania to Upper Canada in 1803 and settled on Yonge Street, Whitchurch Township. Many Quaker traditions regarding home-making and education for women were passed down to her through her mother and Quaker great-grandmother, Rachael James, born and raised in the Quaker Settlement on Yonge Street. A family jest was to ask, “Did you know that Jesse James is buried in the Quaker yard on Yonge Street?” Of course, it is not the notorious outlaw, but the brother of her great-grandmother who is buried there!
While she was growing up, although her family was no longer in membership with Friends, Sandra spent a great deal of time with Quakers. One of her friends is the granddaughter of William Ira and Martha (Bond) Moore. William Ira Moore (1862-1912), born in St Vincent Twp, Grey County, was one of the Quaker ministers who pioneered Friends Meetings in Western Canada. His daughter, Marjorie, was one of the mainstays of the Newmarket Friends Meeting. Through her friends, Sandra was frequently involved in activities with Young Friends, went to Camp NeeKauNis, and feels at home amongst the Quaker community.
Quaker history has always found a way to seep into Sandra’s life. While Sandra was growing up, Ethel Willson Trewhella, a Quaker writer of early local histories, including the Yonge Street Meeting House (1937), lived at the end of their garden. Wearing her plain dress, pinafore, and frilly cap, Mrs. Trewhella spent many hours standing at the back fence with Sandra’s mother recounting past events which she had learned from her research and often said, “What stories these fence posts could tell.”
After graduation from Grade 13, Newmarket High School, Sandra studied at the University of Toronto where she received a four-year Honours degree, B.A. in Modern History. She went on to acquire a Bachelor of Education, and taught in secondary schools in Orillia and Aurora. After marriage to Paul Fuller whom she met at U of T, they lived in a heritage home in Unionville while raising a family of two children, a girl and a boy. Heritage preservation became a major interest when they organized Unionville Festival in order to save the Historic Main Street of Unionville. Through membership in the University Women’s Club, Sandra became acquainted with women who inspired investigation into topics such as women’s issues, and heritage preservation.
After leaving the teaching field, Sandra began her career as an archivist. She added to her education and training by studying for a M.A. in history, and acquired Certification in Archival Practices. In addition, she took several courses in architectural history. As archivist, she has been employed by the Archives of Ontario, the Art Gallery of Ontario, George Brown College, the University of Toronto, the Anglican Church of Canada, and the Canadian Quaker Archives.
In the 1990s, members of the Records Committee with chair Arnold Ranneris were confronted with the necessity of grappling with the accumulation of Quaker records which were stacked in the vault in Pickering College. With several points of view holding sway, the on-going question of ownership of the records required taking the right direction in thinking. As owners of the records, Canada Yearly Meeting is responsible for their care. In order to preserve and arrange the records, and make them available to researchers with finding aids, Sandra was instrumental in obtaining grants moneys from the Archives Association of Ontario (AAO). As a start, some of the Canadian Friends Service Committee (CFSC) records were processed. To make progress with new procedures, Sandra gave freely of her volunteer hours. Records Committee members, Rosemarie McMechan and Winnifred Tanner, also spent many valued volunteer hours in the vault.
She has been a long-time member of the Newmarket Historical Society. In 1980, Sandra was a founding member of the Local Architectural Conservation Advisory Committee (LACAC), renamed the Heritage Newmarket Advisory Committee. She became involved in a number of quests for preservation of historic buildings and places by means of designation under the Ontario Heritage Act. Among them were the Yonge Street Meeting House, the Hicksite Friends Burying Ground, and the Doan House. For many years, it was thought that the historic Quaker house might be moved from its location on adjoining property directly south of the Yonge Street Friends Burial Ground to be used in conjunction with the Yonge Street Meeting House. Finally, the Town reached an agreement in 2001 to move the building north on Yonge Street to serve the community as Doane House Hospice.
In 1998 Sandra received recognition from the Ontario Heritage Foundation in appreciation of her heritage conservation achievements. For a period of 36 years, she served on the municipal heritage committee until 2016. For her, it was heartbreaking that, after many decades of working to save historic buildings, she was not able to save her own family Quaker house where her mother was born. The James family timber-frame house built c.1825, already transformed into office reception on the main floor and apartment on the second floor, might have been used by Quakers or other local heritage organizations. In 2014, the house was destroyed in order to make way for a parking lot.
Sandra has been involved with the Canadian Friends Historical Association (CFHA) since 1980 and served as secretary for a number of years. Any organization needs people behind the scenes to run to and fro, and Sandra was always one of those “go to” people who was ready to do just what was needed in preparation for the Annual General Meetings. She was often known to be burning the midnight oil, cutting and pasting brochures and creating newsletters, as well as ordering buses, phoning members, and hand-delivering newsletters. She assisted in the publishing and distribution of the Newsletters and Journals. Doing research and drawing attention to little known events in Quaker history by writing and contributing articles to the Canadian Quaker History Journal and the CFHA Newsletter has been a source of satisfaction.
Sandra is grateful for the friendship and encouragement of Jane Zavitz-Bond whose vast knowledge of Quaker history directed her to sources for research and suggestions for writing biographical accounts of many Quakers whose stories needed to be told. For many years, they worked together on many important issues. With others interested in Quaker history, they enjoyed travel to attend biennial meetings of Quaker Historians and Archivists.
When I asked Sandra if there was anything in particular that stood out in her memories of the Canadian Friends Historical Association, she didn’t take long to reply. It was the anniversary year in 2001 – the Canadian Friends Service Committee and Camp NeeKauNis, both established in 1931, were celebrating 70 years, and CFHA established in 1971-72 was about to celebrate thirty years. In order to recognize these milestones in Canadian Quaker history, CFHA decided to hold the Annual General Meeting at Camp. Possibly because the venue at Waubaushene attracted a poor attendance, the meeting was initially a disappointment. In retrospect, however, Sandra describes it as one of the better AGMs because it recognized and valued those who had contributed outstanding services to Quaker causes in the 20th century, and it provided a venue for a wonderful reunion for the honoured guests – Murray Thomson, Kathleen Hertzberg, Jo Vellacott, Doctors Ed and Vivian Abbott, Peter and Rose Mae Harkness – a phenomenal coming together. It was a different level of gathering altogether. Participants enjoyed supper by the fire on a beautiful fall weekend. Moments like these bring us full circle. Sharing and caring and feeling the Light.
In this month’s Founders and Builders Series, we introduce you to Albert Schrauwers, a steadfast member who has contributed greatly to the success of CFHA.
Albert Schrauwers By Ruth Jeffery-Maclean
Albert Schrauwers has been an integral part of the work of CFHA for many years. He has brought an expertise in research and writing, professional development, and a tireless work ethic to the goals of our mission statement.
During his fourth year of undergraduate study in anthropology, Albert was researching for a paper on the Children of Peace. The Sharon Temple National Historic Site was closed for the season and he ended up at the Canadian Quaker Archives in search of material. Albert recognized the Archives as an invaluable resource that existed in relative obscurity. Jane Zavitz as archivist was herself an invaluable resource. Albert gathered his research and continued to attend at the archives assisting Jane with the work of maintaining the collection. He was soon recruited for CFHA.
CFHA was already producing a newsletter but Albert envisioned the publication of a peer-reviewed journal of research articles on the history of Quakers in Canada. The first issue of the Canadian Quaker History Journal was published in 1989 with Albert Schrauwers responsible for production. He continued assisting with production and later as editor for many years.
In addition to time given to the Archives and to CFHA, Albert also contributed endless hours at the Sharon Temple Museum Society and the Children of Peace Burying Ground. The Site Director expressed his involvement this way: “It is not an exaggeration to say that without his vigilant watch over the Sharon Temple, it may not have been preserved to the level of historical integrity that we can enjoy today.”
It’s hard to believe that while giving so much time to the Archives and the Temple, Albert was continuing his studies at the University of Toronto. His master’s thesis was published under the title, “Awaiting the Millennium: The Children of Peace and the Village of Hope 1812-1889.”
Albert earned a PhD in Economic Anthropology from the University of Toronto and lectured at the London School of Economics for two years. When he returned to Canada he assumed a professorship in the Department of Anthropology at York University. And he continued to mine the history of the Children of Peace, authoring his book, ‘Union is Strength’: W.L. Mackenzie, the Children of Peace and the Emergence of Joint Stock Democracy in Upper Canada (Toronto, University of Toronto Press, 2009).
Albert Schrauwers has been unrestrained in his contribution toward the development of CFHA, but he is seldom seen. He avoids the footlights and needs no accolades but for anyone observing the development of the association, there is no doubt that Albert raised the bar for CFHA. He is a Builder.
In this month’s Founders and Builders Series, we introduce you to David L. Newlands, an early member of CFHA and a dedicated advocate for Quaker heritage in Canada. David has held various roles in the CFHA and has contributed numerous publications to the Canadian Quaker History Journal.
David L. Newlands By Gordon Thompson
David Livingstone Newlands was born on 25 July 1938 in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, the second son of Margaret (nee McCutcheon) and David Newlands. Margaret’s family and her older siblings had emigrated from Scotland as had David Newlands Sr. Exposure to gas warfare in the First World War contributed to the premature death of David’s father when David was only three years old. Technically considered an orphan, David was taken into the care of Girard College in Philadelphia. He remained there until his graduation at the age of seventeen.
After finishing University, David, who was a registered conscientious objector, had to find civilian work to fulfil the requirements of conscription. He was sponsored by the Mennonite Central Committee and was sent to Newfoundland as a teacher. In 1961 he taught grades three and four, and in 1962 he taught eighth grade students in a one room school at Kettle Cover, Twillingate, Newfoundland. After his required two years of alternate service, he taught science and math at the Rockway Mennonite School in Kitchener, Ontario. In 1965 he was invited to become General Secretary of the Canadian Friends Service Committee.
David was present at the inaugural meeting and was among the very first organizers of the Canadian Friends Historical Association in 1972. Many of the early issues of the Newsletter were personally typed by David in his office at the Royal Ontario Museum, where he worked in the Canadiana Department. He was also head of the Yonge Street Monthly Meeting committee to renovate the Yonge Street Meetinghouse at that time, and recalls that one of the purposes of creating CFHA was to provide a means to raise awareness of this significant project.
The fledgling CFHA gained strength and, at the second annual general meeting held at the University of Western Ontario in November 1974, David was named as Convenor of Publications Committee. In this role David worked enthusiastically to raise awareness of CFHA. In order to do this David realized that it was first necessary to identify and promote a broader awareness of Quaker history and heritage within the existing community of historians and researchers and beyond. To accomplish this David used the Yonge Street Meeting House renovation project as a focal point to create initial interest and awareness. In 1974 he submitted a detailed article accompanied by beautiful images of the meeting house to Rotunda, the popular member publication of the Royal Ontario Museum. The article “A Meeting House for Friends” was the feature item in Rotunda Volume 7: 4 (1974). This article was quickly followed by “The Yonge Street Friends Meeting House, 1810-1975” which was published in the 1975 issue of The York Pioneer. David made himself available for media interviews and presentations as interest in the project developed.
Photo of David L. Newlands (right) and a student assistant analyzing material excavated from Old Fort York in 1978. Toronto Star Photograph Archive, Courtesy of Toronto Public Library.
David also brought his professional skills to bear on his contributions to CFHA. His training as an archaeologist is reflected in the first CFHA monograph published in 1983. Titled “The Orthodox Friends Burying Ground, Yonge Street, Newmarket, Ontario,” this scholarly and well researched treatment of all aspects of Quaker burial practices as demonstrated in this burying ground was typical of the high standard of publication that was established early on by CFHA.
In the 1980s David was employed as Director of the Museum Studies program at the University of Toronto, and this interest is reflected in the concern advanced on his behalf at the 20th Annual General Meeting as reported in the 1992 Canadian Quaker History Journal 52, page 5:
David Newland’s concern: as David Newlands was not present, Kathleen Hertzberg spoke to his concern. On the model of ”The Meeting Place” of the Mennonites which they have built at St. Jacobs, David would like Friends to consider a similar historic-museum outreach Centre at Yonge Street. This could be a building alongside the Meeting House containing archives, a library and outreach centre, manned by a retired Friend. David thinks that grants could be applied for. A discussion followed. His concern will be brought to the attention of the Yearly Meeting Records Committee, Yonge Street Meeting and the Doane House Committee.
This passage speaks to a very important and very personal aspect of the contribution to CFHA that David Newlands has made and continues to make: an unbounded and inspiring faith in the vision and potential of CFHA to achieve great things. Although this particular concern is yet to be realized David continues to advance awareness and appreciation of CFHA and Quaker heritage.
In 2012, the year which saw CFHA celebrate forty years of activity, David produced with then CFHA Chair Andrew Cresswell the Yonge Street Meeting House Bicentennial Committee publication, “For deeper rest to this still room: The Yonge Street Quaker Meeting House.” At the meeting gathered at the Yonge Street Meetinghouse in October 2012 to commemorate the bicentennial of this building David and his wife Marion and members of his family joined the many in attendance. As the featured speaker of the afternoon program, David delivered an illustrated presentation, “Choose what is Simple and Beautiful.” It is fitting that this contribution by David Newlands would take place in the same cherished meeting house which inspired him to take up the cause of CFHA and appreciation of Quaker traditions and legacy over fifty years earlier.
In this month’s Founders and Builders Series, we introduce you to Jane Zavitz-Bond, a dedicated member who has served in many executive appointments and has been instrumental in every way to CFHA’s success.
Jane Zavitz-Bond By Robynne Rogers Healey
Jane Zavitz-Bond (born Mary Jane Vandervort) has had a lifelong interest in Quakerism and Quaker history. She was born in Columbus, Ohio, on 19 May 1930 and grew up in southwestern Ohio in a Quaker-settled region similar to southwestern Ontario. She earned a BA in History from Earlham College in Richmond, Indiana and teaching credentials from the Ontario College of Education. During her university years, she married Paul Zavitz, a Quaker from Elgin County; the couple planned to settle on Paul’s family farm.
Jane Zavitz-Bond, from Pickering College’s website.
Feeling led to teach in Friends schools, Jane and Paul spent two considerable terms at Olney Friends School (1956 – 1961 and 1963 – 1975) as well as teaching in schools in southern Ontario. During those years the family expanded with the birth of six children: Kit, Pheobe, Martha, Daniel, Louisa, and Jamie. Paul was head of Olney Friends School from 1969 until his tragic death in a bulldozer accident in 1972. Jane remained at Olney for three years after Paul’s death to support the school; in 1975 she returned to Ontario with their children and pursued a master’s degree in library science from the University of Western Ontario.
In 1976 she became teacher-librarian at Pickering College in Newmarket where she remained until her retirement in 1995. In 1978 she completed some graduate courses in archival studies at the University of Maryland. In 1991 she married Everett Bond and the two shared a double life, Everett in St Thomas, Ontario and Jane commuting back and forth between St Thomas and Newmarket. Despite her retirement in 1995, Jane remained on in the library until December 1997 to allow her successor time to get teaching certification. Her ongoing service and commitment to Pickering College was acknowledged when she retired with the Class of 1842 Award.
It was during her MLS studies at University of Western Ontario that Jane became involved with the Canadian Friends Historical Association when it was still in its early years. She edited the newsletter in 1976 and wrote a history of the Sparta Meeting. That same year, she led local tours for visitors at Canadian Yearly Meeting when it was held at Alma College the same year that Friends World Committee for Consultation (FWCC) was being held at McMaster University in Hamilton. As part of her MLS studies, Jane worked to organize Quaker records deposited in the UWO library, connecting her support of CFHA with her love of working with Quaker archival materials. Walter Balderston was chairperson of CFHA at that time; following his unexpected death in 1978, Kathleen Schmitz-Hertzberg became chair and Jane moved into the position of vice chair, one she filled for many years. She, herself, became chair of CFHA in 2003, a position she held until 2007.
Photo of Jane in historical Quaker costume, wearing Elma Starr’s bonnet
Jane’s name has been synonymous with both CFHA and the Canadian Yearly Meeting Archives at Pickering College. The Arthur G. Dorland Friends Historical Research Collection Room (which holds the Rendall Rhodes collection of disciplines purchased by CYM in 1981) was established in the Library at Pickering College in 1983. In December of that year, the Canadian Yearly Meeting began to deposit its archival materials at a vault that Pickering College had constructed specifically for that purpose. Involved in CFHA and serving as the school’s librarian, Jane was appointed as volunteer archivist of CYM Archives in 1984. She continued in this position, commuting back and forth between her home in St Thomas and the archives at Pickering College, for over thirty years. In addition to her work with CFHA and CYM Archives, Jane has been active in the Conference of Quaker Historians and Archivists (CQHA) from its first biennial meeting in 1978; Jane was instrumental in Pickering College playing host to two of those meetings: the sixth biennial conference in 1988 and the nineteenth biennial conference in 2012.
Jane’s ongoing commitment to the CYM Archives and to the researchers who utilize the documents there means that she continues her work as much as she is able. When she is unable to be at the archives in person, she responds to extensive queries over email. There is not a researcher in Canadian Quaker history who has not benefitted from Jane’s encyclopedic knowledge of Quakerism, Quakers in Canada, or the material held in the CYM Archives. Her enthusiastic encouragement and support of researchers is echoed in her support of the work of CFHA over the past thirty-five years. She has worked in almost every aspect of CFHA. In addition to her executive appointments, she was for many years instrumental in the production of the newsletter and journal; depending on the technology of the time, she has written copy, edited, cut, paste, folded and mailed the newsletter and journal. When it was necessary, she personally delivered and collected material to and from the printers and binders. She has assisted in organizing and leading tours at annual general meetings and, no matter the place, seems to know a unique story to accompany every tour. Jane has an uncanny ability to see the way in which seemingly disparate threads are interwoven in the rich tapestry of life. It seems most fitting to let Jane’s own memories of her association with CFHA conclude this tribute to her service for CFHA:
the people who worked with me, and those who came for research have enriched my life. Many became friends, some joined CFHA, and, yes, some became Friends. At present I am still answering queries, and supporting as I can. Now it is time for others to come forward, before the baton is dropped in this special relay to maintain our Quaker history. The race is exciting and we never know what is around the next curve. Winning together brings joy! I am grateful to those who have shared the journey this far.
In this month’s Founders and Builders Series, we introduce you to Norman Jolly, a longtime member and treasurer of the CFHA. His life is remembered here by Sandra McCann Fuller.
Norman Thomas Jolly (1923–2012) By Sandra McCann Fuller
Norman Jolly was born 20 December 1923, in Mossbank, south of Moose Jaw, Saskatchewan, the son of Thomas and May Jolly. Norman’s father, Thomas Gordon Jolly, was born in 1884 in Saskatchewan about the time of the North-West Rebellion. In 1906 he applied for a Homestead Grant. The 1926 Canadian Census records the Jolly family, including Norman (two years) and his older brothers Harold (five years) and Donald (six years), living near Willow Bunch in southern Saskatchewan. Norman remembered that the Jolly family lived in a sod house in the 1920s and 1930s. Life on the prairies was challenging, especially from the harsh winters and the summer droughts. The 1930s brought many dust storms. During theEconomic Depression of the 1930s, frequently called “the Dirty Thirties,” the Jolly family decided that they could no longer endure the hardships of life on the prairies. They loaded their household belongings, as well as some horses and farm animals, onto a number of railway freight cars and moved to a farm near Exeter in southwestern Ontario.
In April 1943, during World War II, Norman, then a young man in his early twenties, joined the Royal Canadian Naval Voluntary Reserve (RCNVR). His first posting was on HMCS Kenogami, which escorted ships from overseas, serving on the triangle run from St John’s, Newfoundland, to Halifax, Nova Scotia, and New York City USA. His next assignment was serving on the North Atlantic run.
Photo from Norman Jolly’s page at dignitymemorial.com
After the war, Norman took advantage of education for veterans and became a student at University of Western Ontario (currently called Western University) in London, Ontario. He decided to become a secondary school teacher. He married Dorothy Fuller from Stratford, Ontario, who was also a teacher. Norman taught at schools in Lively (west of Sudbury), Port Hope, Aurora (Dr. G.W. Williams Secondary School), and Newmarket (Newmarket High School). He retired in the late 1980s.
Norman’s interest in genealogy led him to work at compiling information for several books. With Alvin Mylo Srigley, Norman compiled Robert Srigley 1777–1836 and Jane Heacock Srigley 1787–1867 and Their Descendants to Seven Generations, printed in June 1977. Norman’s keen interest in history was demonstrated by his work with the York Region Branch, Ontario Genealogical Society. Later, after retirement, as a World War II veteran, Norman worked at compiling York County Men & Women who gave their lives in World War I. Volume I: York County, Ontario, excluding the City of Toronto (1995) and Volume II: Toronto City (2002). The books were both published by York Region Genealogy Group of the Ontario Genealogical Society, Toronto Branch.
Norman was a life member of the Newmarket Historical Society and served as its president in 1990, 1991, and 1992. Norman was also a member of the Aurora Historical Society. Norman’s ancestry and knowledge of Quaker history led him to become a member of the Canadian Friends Historical Association (CFHA); he served CFHA as treasurer for a number of years in the early 2000s.
Norman Jolly passed away in his eighty-ninth year, on Saturday, 18 August 2012 at Southlake Regional Health Centre, Newmarket, Ontario. His wife Dorothy predeceased him in 2007. Norman is survived by a daughter, Donna (Martin Blackwell) of England, and a son, Norman William (Bill) of Newmarket. Norman and Dorothy Jolly (1928–2007) are buried at Aurora Cemetery.
For a photo of Norman during his years in the Navy and to listen to his story, visit thememoryproject.com.
In this month’s Founders and Builders Series, we introduce you to Peter Brock, a gracious supporter of the CFHA and later honorary chairman. His legacy is remembered here by Jane Zavitz-Bond.
Peter Brock: World Peace Historian
1920-2006
By Jane Zavitz-Bond
Peter de Beauvoir Brock spent his life in the study, writing and teaching of the history of peace in the world. All his endeavours were interlinked as all aspects of peace, his focus and goal, are tied to one another. Peter understood that education was key to gaining an understanding of the past and bringing peace in the future.
Peter Brock
Peter Brock’s life began 30 January 1920 on the Channel Isle of Guernsey, where he lived until entering Exeter College at Oxford. His family had a long military tradition, including Sir Isaac Brock. Always finding his individual way, as a child he was not militarily minded. Perhaps awareness of World War I and its aftermath as he grew up led Peter to be a conscientious objector in World War II. He was in prison at Wandsworth and Wormwood Scrubs until released for alternative service in hospitals where he met Quaker pacifism with its links to social justice.
As a natural step after the war, Peter joined the Society of Friends Anglo-American Relief Mission in Poland, supported by UNRRA, where the need was great. He became the young head of the transport team with the office in Warsaw. Knowing the language was essential, he began his lifelong pursuit of Eastern European languages to permit fuller understanding of their history and current role as he wrote and taught. He earned two doctoral degrees, one from Oxford, and one from Jagiellonian University in Kraków, Poland, merely the beginning of his carefully researched works covering the beginning to current times in Eastern Europe, and then the world’s peace history for the rest of his productive life. He never ceased learning the language of the area studied.
Although Peter did not join the Society of Friends, he kept his connection to Quakerism. Following his marriage to Carman Williamson in 1958, a Friend from Jamaica, the ties were even stronger. After his 1966 appointment to the Department of History at the University of Toronto, their home was always a welcoming place for f/Friends, refugees, and, of course, students. Sharing over a cup of tea quietly passed the spirit of peace in their daily lives over to those who entered the home. Living their faith made the message of peace authentic.
Peter Brock’s role in the Canadian Friends Historical Association began in 1978 after the passing of Arthur G. Dorland, the original honorary chairman of CFHA. Peter was then invited to accept that role. It was proper recognition for him and right for CFHA as the Peace Testimony is a fundamental block of the association’s mission for both research and outreach. Peter Brock remained quietly supportive for the rest of his life. We were honoured by his generosity.
Peter Brock did not write articles for the Journal, but his books related to peace history were reported in the CFHA Newsletter and the Canadian Quaker History Journal. As the foremost scholar on pacifism, his many books and articles focused on social justice work and fighting oppression. The Brock works continue to assist researchers and provide a valuable resource in the Arthur G. Dorland Friends Historical Research Collection. The bibliography by John Stanley lists the books, essays and articles: “Scholarly Publications by Peter de Beauvoir Brock,” revised in 2006, required twenty nine pages to record.[1] The appointments and honours Professor Peter Brock received always enhanced CFHA’s standing among historical societies by association with the esteemed scholar.
There are a number of books in the Dorland Library Collection which Peter donated after using them for his research. Special treasures are Besse’s Sufferings, in two volumes, rebound in the leather style of the era, which recount the suffering of Friends by imprisonment and confiscation of property for refusal to obey laws they believed were not enacted in the Light of Truth. When required for later research Peter would request books via interlibrary loan. He gave the CYM Archives letters he had written to his mother, a personal insight to his life, always written with care.
He also gave the CYM Archives copies of letters from Peggy Robbins Harrison, an American AFSC Polish Team worker who married and lived in Alberta. Paul Zavitz’s letters also tell of events with the Polish team. They called Peter ‘the student prince,’ aware of his bent, before his future as a scholar could be known. The study of languages was a tool. He began as a young student of Latin and Greek, and continued with the fifteen languages he learned in order to research fully. At the end of his life he was studying Japanese and Hindi.
Peter’s contributions to CFHA were supportive. Quietly done, and simply there; he was present for us. We benefitted from his publications which helped open the field of the history of pacifism. Peter Stanley wrote in his account of Peter Brock’s life, “Scholarship in Action, ” that “his contributions have proven useful to scholars in many countries, drawing attention to figures, movements, events, and even whole people’s that might have been ignored. His lack of prejudice but also sympathy for his subjects was a model to scholars and students.” His hundreds of articles and books reflect a great diversity of interests, “but as a group they reflect a central concern of Prof. Brock: a struggle against injustice and oppression…This concern for justice unified his scholarship as it did his life.”[2] His histories of southeastern Europe are studied after the Yugoslavian break-up and terrible war.
We all are indebted to Peter Brock for his studies in history and the spirit in which he undertook them. May we continue to follow both his methods and spirit.
[1] John Stanley, “Peter de Beauvoir Brock: Scholarship in Action,” The Canadian Quaker History Journal 72 (2007): 3-10. This article by a former student and colleague presents a valuable account of Peter Brock’s life and work.
[2] John Stanley, Scholarly Publications by Peter de Beauvoir Brock, rev. ed., (Toronto: University of Toronto Press, 2006). The preface reads: The listing for the period from 1951 to 1989 appeared earlier in “Essays in Honour of Peter Brock”, edited by John Stanley, Canadian Slavonic Papers, XXXI, no.2, 211-20. The Pacifist Impulse in Historical Perspective, a volume of essays in honour of Peter Brock for his seventy-fifth birthday on 30 January 1995, edited by Harvey L. Dyck. (University of Toronto Press, 1996), also included a bibliography of “Books and Articles on Peace History by Peter Brock (425-428). The present bibliography reflects virtually the whole of Peter Brock’s scholarly endeavours, which began early in 1949 when he started work on his Ph. D. at the Jagiellonian University of Crocow. An earlier edition of the bibliography appeared in the middle of 1999.
In this month’s Founders and Builders Series, we introduce you to an influential Friend and early contributor to the CFHA. Our fourth essay features Fred Haslam and is written by Dorothy Trimble. Dorothy passed in 2014 at the age of 91 but remembers the life of Fred Haslam here in her 2012 essay written for the 40th anniversary of the CFHA.
Remembering Fred Haslam 1897-1979
By Dorothy Trimble
Fred was a vital part of the Toronto Meeting where my family found its spiritual home. We first started attending Meetings for Worship at the end of 1957. Fred had retired the year before from the Canadian Friends Service Committee, and he and his wife Maud were living at Inglewood in the Caledon Hills, about equidistant to the Meetings of Toronto, Newmarket, Hamilton, and Kitchener. They had hoped that it would be of help to Quarterly Meetings, but sadly, Maud died of cancer in 1958. Unable to maintain the home alone, Fred moved to an apartment in Toronto.
I remember Fred as reserved and quiet-spoken, but I soon came to appreciate the depth of thought and wealth of experience behind his well-chosen words. It took me longer to realize how many ways his life spoke of Christian faith.
Fred Haslam’s early years were spent at the Providence School in Middleton, Lancashire, run by the Providence Congregational Chapel where the family attended two services and two Sunday School classes each week. Fred left school right after his thirteenth birthday and took a job at a cotton mill to support his family. He continued his education at night school and read extensively.
Fred first came in contact with the Society of Friends in 1917 during the First World War. After spending three months in detention for refusing to take any part in combat, he was assigned to the Work Centre at Wakefield. One of the men at the centre invited him to go to the Adult School held at the Friends Meeting House. He also started to attend morning and evening meetings there, and to study Quaker literature.
After the war, Fred worked for Friends’ Emergency and War Victims Relief Committee, which was concerned with the repatriation of German citizens who had been interned during the war. Fred also volunteered for service overseas and joined the Friends Relief Mission in Vienna where he was in charge of the twenty-one food depots. While there he was also instrumental in persuading the government to improve conditions for prisoners, many of whom had been incarcerated for stealing food for their families.
In June 1921, Fred heard from his family, who had emigrated earlier, that his father had had an accident that ended his work as a carpenter. Fred came to Canada the next month. By the next year, he was not only helping his family but also serving Toronto Meeting as its treasurer.
One of the letters of introduction that Fred carried to Canada was to Albert S. Rogers. This was the beginning of a deep friendship and collaboration that lasted until Albert’s death in 1932. One of the projects they worked on was the Boys and Girls Clubs, held at Toronto Meeting on Maitland Street, where a bowling alley was installed in the basement for the purpose. Fred directed the Boys Club for many years. In 1930 Albert offered to purchase a property to provide a summer vacation for the children in the clubs and Fred helped find a suitable ten-acre property on Sturgeon Bay. In 1940 Fred purchased the adjacent property to the camp to increase its size. His vision of Camp NeeKauNis as a place for communal education and recreation helped to bring together the three separate yearly meetings in Canada in 1955.
When Albert’s son, Ted, developed “Rogers Batteryless” and started a radio tube company in 1924, Fred was appointed the secretary-treasurer. He resigned in 1940, when, a year after Ted’s death, the products were in demand for war purposes.
Fred served as the treasurer and general secretary of the Canadian Friends Service Committee from its beginnings in 1931 through 1956. During World War II, drawing on his own experiences as a conscientious objector (CO), he was able to counsel and assist COs in Canada. His 1940 letter to the Prime Minister resulted in expanded opportunities for meaningful alternative service, including conservation, road maintenance, social service work, and participation in post-war rehabilitation. He was later instrumental in Canada’s recognition of work in the British Friends Ambulance Unit as a form of alternative service, and he helped organize the first group of twenty Canadians to serve in China. His work included assisting Japanese-Canadian evacuees from the west coast who had moved to Toronto, and providing post World War II relief.
Ellen Johnson, whose parents Margaret and Reg Smith served as Resident Friends, remembers Fred Haslam as “like a grandfather to me. I was born in 1952 and have a sense that he was always around. In fact, a major snowstorm blew across Toronto on the day I was born. Dad was at school and couldn’t get home fast enough, so Fred drove mom to the Women’s College Hospital. It was Fred who taught me my colours sitting at the window of the library and watching the world go by. One day he came to my mom’s rescue when she discovered that I was sitting on the window ledge of what is now the daycare with my legs dangling outside. Fred went outside ready to catch me if I startled when mom approached me from behind.”
When I was serving as Superintendent of the First Day School, Fred would sometimes speak to the older class. One day after Meeting, I was mulling over something related to the First Day School and realized that I needed to speak to Fred. He had already left Friends House, so I dashed out the front door and down Bedford Road, managing to reach him before he stepped on the streetcar. But I was huffing and puffing so much I couldn’t speak. Fred reached out and gave me a big steadying hug, enabling me to catch my breath and relate what was on my mind.
Fred’s compassionate hug is a symbol for me of the many ways that Fred reached out to help those in need. His many efforts included frequent visits to the Toronto Jail, work with the John Howard and Elizabeth Fry Societies, work with the Canadian Council of Churches to abolish capital punishment, and support of relief work and projects of the Right Sharing of Resources, UNESCO, and the Friends Service Council of British Friends. Fred maintained that properly caring for the people of the world is essential for peace.
Fred also reached out to coordinate efforts of a wider circle, serving as full-time treasurer and general secretary for Canadian Yearly Meeting from 1960-1972, representing Friends on the Canadian Council of Churches, and representing Canadian Friends on the board of Friends United Meeting and on the World Committee for Consultation. Through example, he answered the question he posed: “Why try to do the job with a teaspoon when by cooperation you can use a bulldozer?”
Photo of (from left) Fred Haslam, Ralph Eames, and Murray Thompson at the Toronto Meeting, 1963. Photo by Barry Philp, 1963, Baldwin Collection, Toronto Star Archives, courtesy of the Toronto Reference Library.
I am especially grateful for Fred’s selfless service to Toronto Meeting. I have been told that he could be uncompromising at times, but I think we all knew that we were near and dear to him, and he took a real interest in our activities. During the three years that Bill and I spent in Lesotho, Africa, he sent three letters, expressing appreciation for Bill’s Letters from Lesotho book, and for his work in education. He took a special interest in my work with Canadian Save the Children Fund because of his long connection with the organization (which earned him the Canada Medal in 1977).
A letter written in January 1976 included a note on his health:
For me 1975 was a hard year with the discovery of cancer and operations on both eyes. However, the doctors involved agree that progress is being made, and the cancer doctor at Princess Margaret Hospital has now suggested that I take a trip to San Carlos near San Francisco. I had no idea that I would be able to take such a trip at this stage, but the medical people, including personal friends in the meeting, are all encouraging the idea. It has now taken hold of me and I hope to go for a month on February 5th. My sister and all my other immediate relatives are in San Carlos, I am all excited and hope it will be useful in keeping me to a more normal life.
Back in Canada, not long before Fred died in 1979, I visited him at the Salvation Army’s Grace Hospital in Toronto. He was very weak but enjoyed singing some of the hymns of his favourite poet, John Greenleaf Whittier.
Resources:
Dorland, Arthur. The Quakers in Canada, A History. Toronto: Ryerson Press, 1968.
Haslam, Fred. A Record of Experience with Canadian Friends (Quakers) and the Canadian Ecumenical Movement 1921 – 1967. Woodbrooke College, Birmingham, England, 1970.
Muma, Dorothy. “Fred Haslam (1897-1979): “Mr. Canadian Friend” – A Personal View.” Canadian Quaker History Journal 66 (2001): 23 – 34.
Toronto Monthly Meeting of the Religions Society of Friends. “A Testimony to the Grace of God in the Life of Fred Haslam.” March 1980.
Zavitz-Bond, Jane. “CFSC Records.” The Canadian Friend 107, no. 2 (2011): 40.
In this month’s Founders and Builders Series, we introduce you to one of the CFHA’s early supporters. Our third essay features Elma McGrew Starr and is written by David Newlands.
Elma McGrew Starr by David Newlands
Elma McGrew Starr (1890-1985) was a birthright Quaker and well-known member of the Canadian Yearly Meeting. She and her twin sister, Edith McGrew Smith, were born on 21 September 1890 on their parent’s farm near Harrisville, Ohio. Her parents were Gilbert and Eliza (Hall) McGrew. The family was part of the Ohio Yearly Meeting (Conservative).
In 1898 Elma and her sister attended the Friends School near Harrisville Meeting House. She attended the Friends’ Boarding School (now Olney Friends School) in Barnesville, Ohio, graduating in 1909. In 1911 Elma Starr attended the Normal School of Scio, Ohio, where she attained her teacher training. In the fall of the same year she accepted the post of teacher at the Friends School at Norwich, Ontario. Here she boarded a week at a time at each of the pupils’ homes. Her pay was $200 a year. There were fifteen pupils in the school. The school building is now on the grounds of the Norwich Historical Museum.
Elma met her future husband, Elmer Starr, of Newmarket, Ontario during sessions of Canada Yearly Meeting in 1912. In May of the following year they were engaged; they were married in 1915. Elma recalls, “With $30 of my teaching money, I bought a sewing machine and made my wedding clothes, and some for sister Edith.”[1] The couple eventually settled in Newmarket at ‘Starr Elms’, a farm to the east of the town. They attended Yonge Street Meeting regularly throughout the following decades. Although often quietly taking her place in Quaker meetings, she was considered a ‘weighty’ Friend, and other Friends often sought her advice and leadership, both locally and in the Canadian Yearly Meeting.
They had five children: Francis (1916–2000), Gilbert (1918, d. at age 8 ½ days of Spanish influenza), Harriet Starr Cope (1920–1967), Huldah Starr Stanley (b. 1923) and Stuart (b. 1927).
Throughout her long life Elma Starr was an indefatigable supporter of the Woman’s Christian Temperance Union. She attended provincial temperance conventions and participated in Youth Oratorical Contests that encouraged speaking about temperance in schools. She was leader of the contest in schools for eighteen years, until her retirement in 1955. She continued to be active in the York County unit of the Ontario Temperance Federation until the local unit was dissolved in 1971.
Elma Starr was also an ambassador of Friends Peace Testimony, supporting in her dealings with others and encouraging Friends to be faithful to this testimony.
Elma was confident and constant in her Christian faith and testified to this in meetings and her beloved Yonge Street Meeting. She was actively involved in the Sunday School movement and was a teacher of the Intermediate Class at the Pine Orchard Sunday School. In 1941 she became the President of the Whitchurch Sunday School Convention. She gave the Sunderland Gardiner Lecture at the Canadian Yearly Meeting on ‘Why I am A Christian.’
For many Quakers and the people of the Newmarket community, Elma is best remembered for her simple Quaker piety, her faithful Christian witness, and her commitment to simplicity in daily life. In her autobiography, Contented, she writes, “all my life I have truly desired to know and to follow Jesus, and often I have been blest with a small measure of consciousness of his presence and guidance in various situations.”[2]
Learning at an early age how to make traditional Quaker bonnets, she continued to make them for her own use and for the many people who asked her for one. She could be seen at the Yonge Street Meeting or at special Quaker or community events wearing her Quaker bonnet, a witness to her commitment to simplicity.
Elma Starr was always interested in Quaker history. No doubt her family’s connections with Quakers and her love of Quaker traditions encouraged her. In 1936, when convener of the History Committee of the Pine Orchard and Bogarttown Women’s Institutes, she oversaw the production of Pine Orchard History, 1800-1936. At the inauguration of the Canadian Friends Historical Association, Elma was one of the loyal supporters, eager to see the work of the Association prosper. Elma’s involvement with the restoration of the Yonge Street Meetinghouse is also part of her contribution to the preservation of Canadian Quaker history.
Her beloved Elmer Starr died on 7 July 1973 at the age of ninety-two years. They had been married fifty-eight years. In the following years, Elma lived at Walton Home, a retirement residence of the Ohio Yearly Meeting of Friends (Conservative) in Barnesville, Ohio. For a number of years she returned in the summer months to her beloved Yonge Street Meeting.
Elma Starr died peacefully at the Walton Home on 15 June 1985, ending a “life well loved, to the glory of God and her Savior.”[3]
[1] Elma M. Starr, “Contented.” Canadian Quaker History Journal 73 (2008), 69.
[3] This article is based on Elma Starr’s biography, “Contented,” republished in the Canadian Quaker History Journal 73 (2008): 64-79 (This article can be found online at: http://cfha.info/journal73p64.pdf), and Raymond W. Stanley’s memorial, “A Son-in-law’s Memories of Elma McGrew Starr,” 40-41, and the author’s own reminiscences.
