This ongoing series from Barrie Historical Archive curator Deb Exel shows old photos from the collection and one from the present day, as well as the story behind them.
The Raikes - Walter Raikes (Part One)
Monday Jan 4, 1858 – Splendid warm day. Went to Oro town meeting. Snowing all day.
Monday Feb 22, 1858 – Thermom 6, fine day, killed pig in the morning, went to Barrie after dinner.
Friday Feb 26, 1858 – Thermom 7. Beautiful morning. Got new cow home to be called Cherry.
Earnest and relevant, these entries in the diary of one of Oro’s earliest pioneers, authentically capture the important highlights in the daily life of a farmer: Walter Raikes.
Walter Raikes was born at the height of summer in Felbridge, in the County of Surrey, England, in 1823. His father, George Raikes, was a financier and a member of the East India Company. George and Marianne Raikes had 12 children and Walter was the 10th. He attended private school before graduating from Exeter College, Oxford, in the spring of 1843.
Arriving in Canada in 1845, Raikes settled first in Orillia, where he learned to farm, before moving to Shanty Bay. In 1850, he purchased 450 acres of land previously owned by Captain Robert Oliver, which included a large log home.
In 1852, Walter married Jane Pass. Jane’s father, Captain William Pass, was born in 1775 in Manchester, England. He and his wife Catherine MacMillan, had 10 children who were born across England, Scotland, Ireland and Portugal, postings along the path of William’s career in the army and navy.
The family moved to Canada in 1835, settling in Rama. When her father passed away in 1837, Jane moved to Barrie to live with her brother, Dr. Archibald Pass, who had settled there in 1835.
Dr. Pass, one of Barrie’s pioneers, made significant contributions to the new community. A first in many ways, Dr. Pass was Barrie’s first doctor and opened the town’s first drugstore in 1847, with his brother Alexander.
The brothers sold the Dunlop Street shop to A.S. Thornton in 1858. Dr. Pass became the County coroner and in 1854, was elected to the town council. His political leanings were conservative and he supported these views by founding 2 newspapers in the 1850’s: The Herald and Spirit of the Age. He was a trustee of the Simcoe Academy, and in 1855, became president of the newly formed Simcoe Medical Association.
Even more importantly, in 1851, he repurchased property he had sold to his mother in 1845, and in 1856, converted the home she had built to Barrie’s first hospital: a 4-bed infirmary located at what is 105 Duckworth St. today.
When Dr. Pass died at the young age of 54, an enormous crowd of both local residents and folks from Tiny, Tay, Medonte and Flos townships gathered at his frame house and office at the corner of Dunlop and Poyntz Streets, hours before his funeral.
The streets from the Pass home to Trinity Anglican Church were lined with citizens from all walks of life, wanting to pay their respects to the doctor who chose to live, work and care for so many in the Barrie community and beyond. The procession following the hearse was impressive, led by the pall bearers, the Hon. James Patton, Edmund Lally, Moses Hayter, Charles Partridge, Edward O’Brien and Sidney Sanford, early pioneer themselves.
Behind them, Captain McKenzie’s Rifle Corp formed the guard and Dr. Pass’s relatives came next, followed by Masons, Orangemen, firemen and school children in rows 8 wide, moving as a solemn mass to a church which could never hold all the mourners. Rev. Canon Morgan and Rector Samuel Ardagh conducted the burial service and Dr. Archibald Pass was laid to rest in St. Thomas’ cemetery in Shanty Bay.
Dr. Edward Morgan purchased the Pass property from the doctor’s mother Catherine and sister Ann, building the beautiful structure best known today as the Morton-Turnbull home.
Walter and Jane Raikes lived in the Oliver’s log home while they built their grand Georgian-style home on the hill facing the bay. The property was cleared and cultivated for Raikes’ interest in stock raising. Walter’s specialty was breeding short horn cattle, although he also raised sheep and swine. His knowledge and experience branded him an authority on stock of all kinds.
For many years, Walter Raikes was president of the Simcoe County Agricultural Society and a regular exhibitor at the Barrie and Oro fairs.
Tues Mar 23, 1858 – Thermometer 32. Beautiful day, kind of windy. Shot a few pigeons. Hired a man Robert Thompson for ½ a month at the rate of 6$ a month.
Wed, April 14, 1858 – Thermon 38. Damp and foggy in morning but fine day afterwards, Mr. Johnson ploughing in the morning. Went to station for notions, brought home 2 barrels of Plaister, 27 ewes, 33 lambs last ewe lambed.
Even with the busyness of farm life, Walter Raikes found time for recreation such as bowling and quoits, and, as an active cricketer, was said to have been the father of cricket in Barrie.
Saturday, Sept 4, 1858 – Finished ploughing for fall wheat. Robert and Bill working at stones. Went to Barrie in the morning and again after dinner played cricket.
Sunday July 6, 1862 – Awful hot day, went to Capt. Woodward’s funeral, and didn’t get to church
Friday May 14, 1869 – Ill in bed all day
Walter and Jane raised 6 children on their farm: George, Francis, Richard, Georgina, Henry and Mary Louise. The family attended St. Thomas church in Shanty Bay where Walter was said to be a staunch member. Raikes, a Conservative in his politics, never sought public office.
Sunday July 4, 1869 – Dull day but cool and fine, went to church with Mrs. and children. Harry laid up with measles, quite red – took a walk through the fields in evening, killed an enormous ground hog.
Friday July 16 1869 – Dull morning but turned out fine, had to send for Dr. to see children, got in four loads of hay.
Saturday July 17, 1869 – Fine dry day, busy at hay all day got it all raked in and carried by night 8 loads good job. Weather looking doubtful at night. Fanny still very sick Mr. Morgan came out to see her.
Sunday August 1, 1869 – Fine dry day, children on the mend, went to church with Mrs. and young ones. Weather turned cloudy at night. Jime Hubbard kind of sick.
Rosemary Raikes Dunsmore, Walter’s great granddaughter and family historian, is keeper of the stories of the Raikes farm life in the early years.
According to Rosemary, the house sat on the hill above Ridge Road, which at the time, wove closer to Kempenfelt Bay on what is now Trafalgar Drive, then curved back in front of the farm.
The jog in the road avoided a gravel hill, later used for the construction of the railway and Thunder Bridge, which was built to replace level crossings at Raikes Crossing and Concession 1, where fatalities had occurred.
Down at the lake in Raikes Cove, originally called Trafalgar Bay after Lord Nelson’s victory, were several natural springs, the source of water for the Raikes family.
Over time, “a water wheel and pump house were built at the edge of the lake and water was pumped to a tank in the attic. This provided water pressure for the house. It was later replaced with two hydraulic rams. Cold spring water was pumped up with the overflow running to water the cattle. This gave an endless supply of water as long as the ram kept working.”
Rosemary says this water system remained in use in other homes on the old Raikes property, until the mid-1960s.
Friday August 27, 1869 – Fine day, came home from Penetanguishene left there at 9, reached home at 8.
Tuesday Aug 31, 1869 – Fine day again but very cold, men finished far field of peas and went on with back field both capital crops. I went to Barrie before dinner and to Shanty Bay afterwards called on the (illegible).
Saturday October 23, 18969 – Awful wet day, cutting up beef all morning. Drove to Barrie in afternoon sold hide.
The right of way for a rail line through Oro Township was purchased 1869. The train tracks would cut through the Raikes property, blocking access to the lake and their source of water.
Their solution, rather than just having a culvert for runoff water, was an impressive arched walkway of quarried limestone, built under the railway, giving the family and cattle a route to the bay.
Saturday October 24 – Cold day many showers of snow, all the party walked to church, sharp frost at night, dogs went away and got lost.
Thursday Nov 18, 1869 – Rough morning, snow frozen quite a crust, doing chores Goodzer went after filly, I sawed wood and drove to Barrie in afternoon – took Fan for a drive – had to bring up ewes on account of the snow.
Walter and Jane lived out their years in their handsome home overlooking the Ridge Road. Jane passed away in 1897 and was laid to rest in the churchyard of St. Thomas Anglican Church in Shanty Bay. Two years later, Walter joined his beloved wife.
While leased, their splendid home burned in 1909. It’s believed that servants set fire to the property after robbing the occupants.
Although the stately home of pioneer Walter Raikes’ no longer stands, signs of his life and times still remain: the farm’s rock fence and the gigantic Norway spruce trees on the Dunsmore property, and the skillfully constructed limestone water course leading to the bay.
The Walter Raikes’ diaries can be found at the Simcoe County Archives: collection number PC-0335 Raikes Family Collection.
To be continued.
