Talk:Pakesley, Ontario
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I am David Fleming, son of George and Yvonne, raised in Lively, Ontario. In this year of 2007, I will turn 58 and wish to offer this information regarding Pakesly and the Loring area. I have learned much of my family but I'll only offer this bit of following information that I am certain of:
My father George's parents were Willam and Alice Fleming. There is much to be said of Bill and his ventures. He owned a hotel and store in Ardbeg, Ontario and a hunting lodge on Miners lake (Lower Mag). He also has a point named after him on Harris lake, in front of a still standing hunt camp that he erected (one of many in varied lakes in the region). He lived his life as a businessman but mainly a guide and trapper for what was then, best described as well to do industrialists (before tourism sprang forth) that came north from Toronto, Buffalo, Detroit, Pittsburgh etc and he catered to their fishing and hunting interests.
Bill Fleming's parents were Robert and Suzannah Fleming (buried in the old cemetary in Loring, Ontario.) These are my great grand parents and they were married in Tweed, Ontario in 1888 as I recall, migrating north to Loring for reasons of economy, I am sure. We have an old crossing on the upper Pickerel River, just west of Port Loring which is to this day, called Fleming's landing, named after them both. Suzannah at one time operated a small "half way house" feeding and boarding the lumbermen as they pulled their lumber by sled, across Fleming's landing towards Drocourt. Robert owned a farm just north of the landing, once known as Fleming's farm. I saw it in the 1960's...the land that is but it was just bush at the time. I do not have any perspective of which of their business ventures preceded the other; nor which if any were considered successful. Robert died at my granfather's store in Ardbeg, on in years and Suzannah followed him some years later in the late 40's as I recall, from stories shared with me.
Somewhere in their history, Robert and Suzannah also owned an operated a boarding house/hotel at the junction of the CPR & Key Valley railways (Pakesley). When I was a boy in the 1950's, early 1960's, dad (George) took me into the thickening brush where that hotel once stood and we identified much of the remainder of the main floor. Little else was in the vicinity to show any hint of the past, relative to that hotel's existance. Dad was a toddler when my grandmother recalled clearly, her visits to that hotel and to visit friends in the Lost Channel lumber village (mainly known as the ghost town these days).
My mother and father built a cottage (we called it a camp in the 60's) right across from the old ghost town and I ventured through the many buildings as a boy, gleaning through newpapers printed in the 1930s and picking up 5 cent candy (chocolate) bar wrappers that were somewhere around 8" to 10" in length. At that point in my life, the same sweets were 2/3 the size or less and selling for 10 cents !!! I found an old pair of reading glasses still in their owner's lost case and perused the chamber pots, cast iron pumps and varied porcelain wash basins etc..... long picked over by errant visitors.
Aubrey Bruce still lived in an old hunting lodge with his wife, up on the hill. He and she were old timers when I was in my early teens. They both eventually parted and passed and a nifty lodge was demolished. It was said that he maintained a 99 year lease or the remnants of one, back when I visited them both fairly often and they were both charming and kind to me. I thought it a great loss when there dwelling was bulldozed. Concrete buildings aside, as far as I am concerned, the only living remnants of the village from the 20's and 30's are the dwindling, untended apple trees that once flourished on the hills. Some of their progeny grow wild along the roads and you'd have to be clueless as a new visitor to not wonder why apple trees grow in, what seems to be wild and forgotten bush. Remnants of history grows out of the old village earth, even today; the legacy of tough days in the lumbering business.
I have had the good fortune to be exposed to much information and lore from my past ancestors. We talked more in my early days, as there were fewer distractions fostering the disinterest in families, so prevalent today. My boys are also hungry for information but I don't trust myself to meld the myriad experiences and real life tales together, mainly passed on to me from Alice Fleming and less so my father, George.
There is much more detail to weave my memories together but I figure it will fade with time. After all, how many people ever visit an internet site for Pakesley, Ontario in this day and age. All that really knew it for what it once was, are now gone.
Dave Fleming Simpsonville, South Carolina navy-aip@mindspring.com
864-962-0210
