Glencoe

Articles about Glencoe and district.

A Treasured Family Archive Finds Its New Home

A Treasured Family Archive Finds Its New Home

Mary Simpson

By Mary Simpson and Caroline Gough, November 8, 2025.

The Glencoe & District Historical Society is absolutely buzzing this week. A remarkable gift has just arrived at The Archives: the enormous scrapbook collection lovingly created over a lifetime by Mrs. John Alberta (Bertie) MUNSON McFarlane. Her daughter Caroline and granddaughter Betty Ann have generously entrusted this treasure trove to our care.

Bertie was one of those extraordinary rural women who quietly carried the heartbeat of a community. She clipped everything. Births, marriages, deaths, retirements, accidents, reunions, graduations, memorable storms, championship teams, church news, farm sales… you name it, she saved it. 

A portion of her scrapbook fonds: Mrs. John “Alberta” McFarlane of R.R. #4, Appin, ON

This collection is enormous. What you see in the photo is perhaps one-fifth of the total “fonds” . The rest fills an entire wall of boxes.  In archival science, a fonds is a group of documents that share the same origin and have occurred naturally as an outgrowth of the daily workings of an individual, or organization

Caroline Gough, Bertie’s daughter, told us that as a girl she never quite understood her mother’s hobby. Caroline loved horses and dance, while her mother spent evenings with scissors, glue, newspapers, and her other talent, fine needlework. But now she sees the magnitude of what her mother created: a family and community archive of extraordinary depth and love.

This is exactly why our Middlesex County so urgently needs a proper county archives system.

Collections in attics, closets, basements, and cedar chests across Middlesex are at risk. Families, genealogists, and volunteer-run museums can’t always preserve these materials safely or make them accessible. We need help to preserve the originals and then we can hopefully digitize important selections so future generations can search, learn, and piece together their histories.  But we have to preserve the originals. 

So consider this a gentle encouragement to everyone: take a look through your own family papers. Add your memories. Label the photographs. Write down the stories. And tell the stories to your grandchildren.  We are the storykeepers.  Preserve them, and pass them on to the next generation of storytellers.

Mrs. John “Alberta” McFarlane of R.R. #4, Appin

By Caroline Gough

She was born Dec. 7, 1903. She lived her entire life on the farm where she was born. Sometimes she was called Bertie. Her parents were Edgar & Ida Munson. They sold their farm to John McFarlane, the boy from over the line from next farm and they moved to Glencoe. John & Alberta were married on June 23, 1926 when they went to Hamilton to her uncle Rev. Hewitt who married them.

Alberta had a sister Ruby Munson who was a school teacher. Ruby married Herb Neeb of Zurich. John had 3 sisters & 3 brothers. Alberta & John were members of the Appin Presbyterian Church and she was president several years of the Appin Presbyterian Busy Bees. John was an elder of the church.

Being a busy farm wife she saved papers and magazines that she could use later for her favorite hobby of “scrapbooking.” They had a daughter Caroline and a son Wilfred and 4 grandchildren and several great grandchildren.

She died Sept. 9, 1989 at age 85 and was buried in Kilmartin Cemetery. Now we are sharing some of the many scrapbooks to the Glencoe & District Historical Society.

But why the name Bertie – Alberta?

Caroline always wondered why her mother was named Alberta. A quick search revealed the answer—she was likely named for Princess Louise Caroline Alberta, (18 March 1848 – 3 December 1939) daughter of Queen Victoria. The province of Alberta, in fact, was named after the Princess just 18 months after Bertie was born—a fitting historical echo for a woman whose life’s work was preserving the stories of others. And that’s maybe why her daughter was named Caroline. Caroline’s not sure… she forgot to ask her Mom. That makes me think of all the questions I didn’t ask my Mom.

This generous donation reminds us how essential it is to care for our family archives. These homegrown collections deserve professional preservation, cataloguing, and digitization so that families, genealogists, and historians alike can continue to piece together the stories that define who we are.

Shared with gratitude by the Glencoe & District Historical Society, November 2025.

So, we invite everyone: go through your family papers, label your photos, add your stories, and pass them on when the next generation is ready to be the storytellers and caretakers.

The Archives

Come to the Archives and spend an afternoon

As I flipped through just one small volume, up popped a handwritten transcription of my Aunt Dorothy SIMPSON Parker’s wedding to  Rev. Harvey Parker, Sept. 20, 1947.” This handwritten announcement – (why was it hand written? Did she borrow the local paper and have to give it back to someone?) fits perfectly with the video I have of Uncle Harvey, telling the story of meeting Dorothy at a young people’s gathering in London. Harvey was serving graduated as an Anglican minister at the end of the war.  We filmed him telling stories not long before his Dorothy died.  Here is a clip:

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.

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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Yoshio Shimizu, a prisoner in Glencoe during WWII

Glencoe & District Historical Society
Yoshio Shimuzu: “You have to remember that we had been driven from our homes by racial prejudice in British Columbia, reviled and despised by the bulk of the population, and here in the farmlands of southwestern Ontario, we were welcomed as equals and saviours by the farming population.”
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Glencoe Masons Lodge Goes Dark After 152 Years

Glencoe Masons Lodge Goes Dark After 152 Years

Glencoe & District Historical Society

Written by Harold Carruthers, No. 282 Lorne Lodge Mason historian, July 2024.

If one were to trace the history of any one Lodge, it might be compared with that of trying to determine the very origin of humanity.  I am talking about the meeting places of the members of the organization called Free Masonry. The history of our local chapter, Lorne Lodge No. 282 Glencoe, can be traced back to 1872  and ended this year 2024 when our Lodge went dark after 152 years.

Last meeting of #282 Lorne Lodge: back row L-R: Keith Dickie, Alex McLean, Ron Livingston, Harold Carruthers, Doug Reycraft. Front L-R: Bob Munroe, John Mitchell, Ryan Brubacher, Bev Whitlock, Jim May, Terry Plant. Missing: Allan Mayhew, Brad Walker, Chris Yates.

Meetings were held in some of the most historical buildings in the village of Glencoe, Middlesex County. 

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