For Sale at a Bargain.
No cash required - That beautiful Brick Residence, “Ernecliffe” on Kempenfelt Bay, fifteen minutes’ walk from the post office. Must be sold, as the owner is desirous of leaving town.
Such read a notice in the 1896 newspaper.
The anxious seller was William Henry Myers, owner of W.H. Myers and Son, a shoe store, located at 38 Dunlop Street.
W.H. had been born in Burlington Quay, Yorkshire, in 1834. He left the UK as a young boy, along with his mother and sister, to join his father Dr. William Sheppard Myers who had moved to Canada earlier to set up a practice in Thornhill.
Sadly, both parents died when William was only 10 years old, but he was fortunate that family friends were there to raise him. As an adult, W.H. started a shoe business in Richmond Hill, later moving his family to Barrie in 1873.
His son, Henry Bellarde took over the business likely in the 1880’s as it was known as H.B. Myers’ by then. In addition to his successful shoe store, W.H. held a seat on the Barrie Council Board for many years.
Then in 1901, another notice:
The entire household effects and contents of Ernecliffe, the residence of Mr. W.H. Myers, adjoining St. Vincent Park, will be sold by auction Wednesday May 8, 1901. Sale commences at one o’clock pm. See hand bills.
Henry Stotesbury, originally of Savanna, Ga., purchased the Myers home in 1901 for $2,400. W.H. Myers passed away in 1903.
Stanley and Lulu Purvis owned the Kempenfelt Drive home at the time our ‘then’ photo, which was taken about 1935.
Lulu Pearsall, born in Norwood, moved with her family to Watertown, N.Y. about 1900, when she was around 17 years old. It was while in the U.S. that Lulu, her mother and her sister trained in millinery. Back in Canada a year later and settling in Kingston, the Pearsall ladies opened a millinery shop on the main street. Stanley met Lulu in Kingston, while studying civil engineering at Queen’s University. The couple married in 1910 and had four children.
Stanley’s work as a surveyor and engineer meant plenty of travel across Canada as well as the many positions he held around Ontario. Often during these work absences, Lulu and their children stayed with her parents. Lulu, in addition to her millinery skills, was also a philosopher and a religious writer, with work, Jesus Only, published in 1924. Records indicate that the Purvis’ acquired the house at 144 Kempenfelt Drive in 1928. During the Depression, Stanley was a work crew boss at C.F.B. Borden, but before the Depression was over, the Purvis family would leave Ernecliffe and move to 123 Worsley Street.
But the Purvis’ would not disappear from the beautiful lakeside neighbourhood entirely. Stanley and Lulu’s eldest daughter Zelda would marry Harold Tordiff in 1934 and live just down the street at number 33. Harold was a projectionist at the local theatres - check out some of the Tordiff movie memorabilia in the Archive: photos of the Capitol and Roxy theatres, vintage projectors, as well as pages from the movie bookings log from 1941-1972, theatre schedule and Harold’s vacation entitlement! The Tordiff family lived for many years on Kempenfelt Drive and there are still a few Barrie residents who remember the dog that belonged to the Tordiff boys Bob and Bill: Ted the Wonder Dog.
With Remembrance Day on many hearts and minds this week, we also invite you to take a look at our featured photos from Gerry Bourne Tordiff’s family’s collection. While they represent a period at Camp Borden that was between the two World Wars, those times were not without their own tragedies. Such as the fatal crash of 31-year-old Flying Officer G.H. Stafford. An experienced pilot who had served in the first World War and who received a distinguished flying medal from the Spanish government for his efforts on the Moroccan front, F.O. Stafford encountered trouble on an early morning test flight in August of 1929.
During a forced landing, Stafford tried to avoid pine trees around a cottage on the base, about a mile from the landing strip, belonging to Major Earnshaw. His engine failed and the plane crashed nose first into the house. Thankfully, none of the three people in the cottage at the time were hurt and the airman in the plane with Stafford had only minor injuries. But the life of the young flight instructor ended far too soon that day.
Following a service at Trinity Anglican Church, the Last Post was played at the graveside of Flying Officer G.H. Stafford and he was laid to rest in Barrie Union Cemetery.
Back on Kempenfelt Drive, Harold and Zelda’s home is long gone, but handsome Ernecliffe continues to stand, serenely overlooking Kempenfelt Bay.
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.
