As close to four dozen people slowly assemble at the Barrie Union Cemetery to take part in Steve Travers’ latest tour, he warns everyone to watch their footing, “because we don’t want anyone ending up in here.”
Slowly touring through the north-end cemetery Barrie’s official town crier, dressed in 18th-century garb, shares some of the city’s history through the people buried at the north-end cemetery.
Stopping at the grave of George Ball, he tells how the Irish-born man first brought electricity to the area, having done business with other prominent area residents of the 1800s, Samuel Lount and James Burton.
The grave of Robert Simpson was also one of the stopping spots. Simpson, the original namesake for the modern-day Barrie microbrewery now called Flying Monkeys, was the town’s first mayor in 1871, having earlier served as reeve.
Travers tells how Simpson’s first brewery in Kempenfelt burned down but when he rebuilt in Tollendale, it too burned down. Barrie’s structures, as was common at the time, he says, were largely constructed of wood and fires often occurred.
Queen’s Hotel existed on the main street and its second floor was often used for meetings.
“You could have a few beers while you’re having your council meetings,” chuckles Travers.
Travelling further through the cemetery Travers points to the grave of Olive O’Connor and he begins to tell the story of the Albert Johnson known as the Mad Trapper of Rat River in the Northwest Territories and Yukon.
Johnson killed one RCMP officer and wounded another in a dispute over trapping in 1932 launching a huge manhunt.
Frank Hersey, a Canadian Forces major, was part of that posse and managed to tracked down Johnson but was shot and wounded. Travers said when Hersey fired back, he struck Johnson’s backpack which contained ammunition, which then blew up, killing him.
Hersey, who lived in the Barrie area, died in 2006 and his name appears on the stone with his wife.
“But they have no record of him being in here,” Travers tells the group with a haunting tone.
The tour continues with Travers talking about Leighton Alfred ‘Hap’ Emms who played and coached hockey for 60 years, having played in the NHL. As coach, he saw the Barrie Flyers win the Memorial Cup in 1951.
Janet Lindsey King also rests in the Barrie Union Cemetery. The sister of former prime minister William Lyon Mackenzie King found her way to Barrie in 1906 where she married her second husband after having lost her first to drowning during an ice rescue in Ottawa.
The graves of William Wright and his brother-in-law Edward Hargreaves are next to one another.
The two men discovered gold in Northern Ontario and ultimately developed a mine providing vast employment in the 1920s and generating millions.
James Robert Gowan commands a demanding presence marked with a tall structure. He was proclaimed a judge at age 27 and then became a senator.
Travers continues on talking about other notable figures of Barrie’s past but stops to point out a cluster of graves of soldiers as well as an area where young children who fell ill to incurable diseases of the time.
In ending the tour, the town crier rolls out a final proclamation at the cemetery.
“They carved out this jewel of Ontario called Barrie,” he declared.
For 20 years Travers has served as Barrie’s town crier, performing proclamations for special events and holidays while ringing a brass bell. He has also been leading what he delightfully calls the Victorian Barrie Heroes, Heroines Rogues, and Scoundrels tours of the downtown, which he plans to continue next month.
