Month: April 2025

Stained glass, St. John’s Anglican, Glencoe

Bill Simpson

Windows on the past Part 2 by Bill Simpson

In part 1 of this series, I described the altar window in St John’s Anglican Church, Glencoe. There is another fine stained glass window in St John’s, which is found at the rear of the church to the left of the main door:

The image is titled “Christ Knocking on the door”.

This subject was a very powerful one in the latter half of the 19th century and based on a picture by William Holman Hunt. Per the article in Wikipedia:

“…The Light of the World is an allegorical painting by the English Pre-Raphaelite artist William Holman Hunt (1827–1910) representing the figure of Jesus preparing to knock on an overgrown and long-unopened door, illustrating Revelation 3:20: “Behold, I stand at the door and knock; if any man hear My voice, and open the door, I will come in to him, and will sup with him, and he with Me”….. The door in the painting has no handle, and can therefore be opened only from the inside, representing “the obstinately shut mind”.

This particular version does not show Christ holding a lamp but instead a staff.

The artist and the manufacturer are unknown to me. The style and colors of the picture suggest one of the major stained glass makers – Hobbs or McCausley.

The inscription reads:

In Memory of Thomas Strong who died 1st January 1927 aged 79 years.

He that liveth and believeth in me will never die.

Thomas Strong

From the census of 1891, Thomas Strong was a local farmer. He was married to Sarah Jane Strong. They had a son Frederick born 1881 but there is no local record for him after the 1901 census.

Thomas Strong had emigrated with Sarah from England. From below we can suppose that they both originate in the or near to Southwick, a small town in Sussex next to Brighton.

For Sarah Strong we have several peices of information from the Glencoe Transcript (thanks to Ken Willis for these):

Info from Glencoe Transcript – Wardsville News items.  September 20, 1904 – Mr. and Mrs. Middlekrauff of San Francisco visited her sister Mrs. T. Strong.

September 21, 1906 – Mrs. T. Strong, who has been visiting relatives in Wiltshire England and niece Eva Frances, returned on the steamer “Empress of Britain” Sunday evening.

March 1, 1907 – Death of Sarah Jane Strong, age 57. Born in Southwick, England. Died at her home on Main Street, after a two day illness. Service at St James church by Rev. H.A. Thomas with burial in Wardsville cemetery. Cause of death : diabetes.

Info from Wardsville death records: 1 March 1907, Sarah Jane Strong, age 57 years, 3 months and 23 days, housewife. Residence – Longwoods road, Wardsville. (Main Street and Longwoods Road were one and the same). Cause of death was listed as diabetes.

Thomas became a noted benefactor of the church, loaning it $1000 to purchase the rectory building, and requiring only for interest to be paid, and the loan to be discharged at this death. In his will, he specified the stained glass window to be installed.

It is interesting therefore to speculate how his wife Sarah came to be buried in Wardsville after a funeral service at St James Church in Wardsville. There is also the disappearance of their son Frederick from all public records after 1901.

April 1, 2024 to March 31, 2025 in review

April 1, 2024 to March 31, 2025 in review

Glencoe & District Historical Society

Prepared by the Executive members for the members of G&DHS. For the AGM April 16, 2025.   

Preserving Our Family Histories for Future Generations

Our ancestors—whether Indigenous, settler descendants, newer generations, or recent Canadians—have all contributed to the rich history of our communities. Each of us carries important stories that deserve to be told. Historians seek the truth, striving to understand what really happened and how people have worked together over time. We share a common past, woven together through generations. Consider this: each of us has two grandmothers, four great-grandmothers, eight great-great-grandmothers, and so on—each with their own unique stories waiting to be remembered.

Every family needs both storytellers and story keepers. The Glencoe & District Historical Society encourages families to record their histories—write down stories, label the backs of photographs, and document the details that future generations will cherish. 

Some families are fortunate to collaborate with authors like CJ Frederick, who transform family histories into engaging historical novels. Others use platforms like Remento or StoryWorth to compile family memories into beautifully bound books that can be passed down for generations. Online genealogy tools such as Ancestry.ca have also made it easier than ever to trace our roots.

Many families bring their archives and precious artifacts to the Historical Society for safekeeping. In today’s digital world, we recognize what a treasure trove these collections are. While digitization allows for easy sharing, it does not guarantee long-term preservation. Whether in digital or physical form, historical records are always at risk. By working together to protect and document our shared past, we ensure that future generations will have access to the rich stories that shape our community.

These are our aims for 2024/2026: 

  • Connect with membership and build close, working relationships with all our local groups, our regional heritage groups, and the elected reps and staff people of Southwest Middlesex and County of Middlesex. 
  • Ramp up our outreach and channels. Mobilize an IT circle to support improved communication and decision-making. 
  • Digitize and record our stories, curate, preserve, upload, and share. Figure out better platforms for working together. Facebook groups don’t cut it. 
  • Learn the tools offered by dynamic governance, and the flourishing business canvas 
  • Bring our elders and youth together. Tell all the stories. 10,000 years of local history. Place making. 
  • Build a cultural network to link history with tourism.  Nurture and support the arts in heritage and cultural communities. 
  • Lead the interactive Barn Quilt Trail project, which features an alliance of four organizations plus FedDev Government of Canada, the funder.   Link our cultural assets to local tourism strategies and investments. Work with Middlesex county tourism. 
  • Advocate for county archives. Interpret  history along the Thames river Watershed arts corridor
  • Invite skilled local people and support their history passions. Build teams around peoples’ interest. Assign domains.  Delegate authority. 
  • Update and revise our bylaws. Build a closer working relationship with the Ontario Historical Society. 
  • Build out our organizational structure. We have a great foundation in our bylaws featuring managers. Build a circular hierarchy to support workers, facilitators, leaders, and admin support. 
  • Engage the branding dream team to do an agile branding process for G&DHS, the interactive Barn Quilt Trail, and our various groups and projects that need a brand
  • Figure out how to tell our amazing stories, make sure they are preserved and interpret the amazing history of Ontario Southwest, that we want to share with family, friends, community, travelers, guests, youth, new, Canadians, refugees, children, all of the people that make up our Rural society people.
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Capturing Living Oral Histories – Carrie Jeffery

Capturing Living Oral Histories – Carrie Jeffery

Glencoe & District Historical Society

On April 5, 2025, Carrie Jeffery conducted a workshop on capturing oral histories. We had members of our community, visiting members of other heritage groups, and members of our own historical society in attendance. The engaging and interactive talk was followed by an informative presentation that showcased the various aspects of modern record-keeping that are now accessible for ancestral storytelling. Left to right: Donna Lynam, David Campbell, Carrie Jeffery, Susan McWilliam. Mary Simpson, the president of our historical society, also presented.

L-R: Donna Lynam, David Campbell, Carrie Jeffery, Susan McWilliam.

Imagine for a moment the mystery of your history. 

By Carrie Jeffery. Published in the March 2025 issue of Middlesex Banner’s ‘Archive Alley’

Personal storytelling can be both fun and provide new perspectives on how we came to be. These stories can challenge our understanding of the past and give a voice to people who are often left out of traditional historical records: the everyday people that played a role not just in our own lives but also in the communities we live in that they helped shape.

With the help of today’s technology, we can translate an afternoon visit with our elders into a published collection of stories that honour their lives and their place in history. 

They get to relive their younger days while we either transcribe them ourselves or even utilize voice memo software to transcribe them for us automatically!

In doing this now while this aging generation is still here, we are able to ask questions like “What year would that have been?” and “Why did you do things that way?” before it’s too late. We can learn about the passions and values they may have held that were similar to our own and what shaped their career or other interests. We can witness and capture the changes that have occurred in just one or two generations.

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St. John’s Anglican Church

St. John’s Anglican Church

Bill Simpson
Windows on the past Part 1 by Bill Simpson

All over the world, churches are repositories of local history as well as places of worship, and Glencoe is no different. St John’s Anglican has its share of memorials and markers of personal and public history. This is the first of a series of posts about these. As a recent newcomer to Glencoe, I am likely to be unaware of facts and details about this church, window and Anna Moss which are otherwise common knowledge. Please let me know these so I can add them to this record. – Bill Simpson

There has been a St John’s Anglican Church at the corner of Main Street and Concession Drive since 1869. This building was replaced in 1893 with the current structure, depicted in the postcard shown below, with a current view beside it.

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