by Amy Zoethout | Mar 13, 2021 | Artefacts, Blog, Collection highlights, Textile Collection
Above: Herb Wheeler’s Carpentry Shop in Belgrave, ON. Herb is seen standing in front (Photo courtesy of Richard Anderson).
Guest blogger Sharlene Young-Bolen, of Stitch Revival Studio in Blyth, shares more about how a Huron County Museum artifact inspired her to create the Huron Wristers pattern and how her research into the origin of the pattern led her to connect to family of the original owner. The original gloves are currently on display in the Museum Gift Shop where Sharlene’s Huron Wristers kits are also available for purchase.
Was there a Wheeler family tie to either Estonia or the British Isles? The answer would help to identify the glove pattern perhaps. When an Instagram post by Best Dishes, a Goderich business owned by Sarah Anderson, appeared in my feed one day identifying the wristers pattern as based on a family heirloom, chance had dropped the perfect opportunity. It was time to connect. A couple messages back and forth and the story unfolded…
The Charles Wheeler Family circa 1900. Back: Carrie, Herb, Ernest. Centre: Charles, Cecil, Jesse, Lennie, Mary Ann; Front: Lena, Myrtle (Photo courtesy of Richard Anderson).
Sarah, as it turns out, is the daughter of Richard Anderson, great-nephew of Herbert Wheeler, the original owner of the gloves. Richard sent the following information about the history of the Charles Wheeler Family:
Charles Wheeler Sr. was born in Dorsetshire, England and came to Canada in 1846, locating in Tecumseh Township where he spent 18 years. In 1864 he moved with his family to Morris Township where he bought 300 acres which would be the N ½ of Lots 10, 11 and 12, Concession 5, more commonly known as the 4th Line. He married Caroline Lawrence and they raised a family of five sons, Charles, John and Lawrence of Morris Twp., William of Alma, Frank of Belgrave, and a daughter Mrs. Ann Hughes of Escanaba, Michigan.
Charles Wheeler Jr. married Mary Ann Wilkinson and they raised a family of five sons, including Herbert, and three daughters. Charles farmed on Lot 12 and after his death in 1913, his son Jesse took over the home farm. When Jesse married, his mother moved to Belgrave to the house now occupied by Wes and Annie Cook. Jesse continued to farm there until he retired to Belgrave.
The Charles Wheeler Family, standing in birth order; youngest to oldest, L-R Myrtle, Lena, Cecil, Jesse, Lennie, Ernie, Herb, Carrie (Photo courtesy of Richard Anderson).
Herbert married Pearl Procter. They lived in Belgrave and had three children: Goldie, who married Winnie Lane and lived in London; Velma married Wilfred Pickell and lives in Vancouver; Ken married Mabel Coultes and farmed in East Wawanosh before retiring to Belgrave. Herbert had a woodworking shop in Belgrave.
Herbert’s grandson David Pickell, recalls: “When I knew my grandparents, Pearl and Herb, they lived in Belgrave. Herb Wheeler was a carpenter and, as the name suggests, repaired farm equipment such as wooden wheeled carts etc. He was quiet, and had a subtle sense of humour us kids loved.”
The following poem was written about Herbert Wheeler by a family member and gives a wonderful, lasting impression of just who Herbert was and his occupation as a talented woodworker, carpenter and barber. It would have been great to experience just what this writer did so long ago.
Herb Wheeler’s Carpentry Shop & Hair Cutting CIRCA 1932-1945
Whenever Herb was in his shop, I’d like to go and look,
He might be cutting some one’s hair, or be reading some big book,
There were jigs galore hanging all around, some maybe for a sleigh,
There were shavings bright upon the floor, they would soon be swept away.
Herb never left a job undone, if he could finish it that day,
Except of course a larger job, he would maybe stop and say,
“Tomorrow is another day, I’ll hope to get it done,”
“But if I don’t the job will keep, it’s not hurting any one. ”
Sometimes just after Supper, Herb again would be around,
He’d pump up a gas lantern, light it up and settle down.
For Herb, doubled as a barber, he’d cut hair two weekday nights,
Herb, never used power clippers, he did not charge enough by rights.
Somehow, Two bits is what I think, was all a haircut cost,
I really can’t remember, it’s something I have lost.
Herb did not pull your hair at all, as hand clippers often do,
He’d sometimes talk as the clippers clicked, and he’d ask, “does this suit you” ?
Herb was skilled at doing wood work, he could make most anything,
He made a Bob sled for the kids, it nearly did take wing.
The fastest sled around those parts, down the ninth line hill it flew.
Ken would try to give us all a ride, or sometimes maybe two.
I expect that Goldie used the sled, and likely Velma too,
It needed someone that could steer, and knew just what to do.
I’ve seen the times, when snow was hard, and a fast start at the top,
You’d have to turn the corner, at the highway, to get stopped.
Herb made Ken skis, that were Black Ash wood, what a lovely pair,
The skis would take you down a hill, like you were cushioned on some air.
When the skis were waxed and shone and dried, no one ever saw the like,
They would make a run ahead of all, they would go clean out of sight
There were other things of super class, that emerged for that shop door.
A set of kitchen cupboards, like you’d never seen before.
Herb had a little saying, and he practiced it always
“If you measure twice before you cut, it eliminates delays”!
I have seen him make a set of shafts, the wood he’d have to steam
To make a bend for the horse to fit into the cutters beam.
Herb had the kind of patience, that a lot of people lack,
That is what made him extra special, with an extra special knack.
So far, the research has yielded no straight answers as to the gloves’ origin, but the search continues. While a pattern might give you a hint to the origin of a knitted item, you need to identify more, such as the cast-on method, the type of ribbing, how the fringe was made, and how the strands (or floats) were carried across the back of the knitting. A full reproduction of Herbert’s gloves would help to answer the remaining questions.
In conclusion, there really isn’t a conclusion… But what I can say is that taking the time to explore knitting traditions and a local family’s history has been a fascinating, rewarding experience. I’m so grateful for Herbert’s relatives who have answered my questions and sent so many wonderful images to be shared here with everyone. They went to a lot of work to compile the info and family photographs and I can’t thank them enough for all their time and effort.
I’ve come to think that the original knitter may have incorporated features that he liked into these gloves, perhaps not following one certain pattern, but rather combining different elements into one. A full recreation of the gloves is planned for late fall 2021 and right now I’m testing a local wool I may be using for the reproduction. Stay tuned to the website for further updates as we move forward.
Learn more:
by Amy Zoethout | Mar 11, 2021 | Collection highlights, Textile Collection
Guest blogger Sharlene Young-Bolen, of Stitch Revival Studio in Blyth, shares more about how a Huron County Museum artifact inspired her to create the Huron Wristers pattern and how her research into the origin of the pattern led her to connect to family of the original owner. Sharlene will be joining us March 25 when she will lead a virtual workshop to teach participants to make the Huron Wristers. The original gloves are currently on display in the Museum Gift Shop where Sharlene’s Huron Wristers kits are also available for purchase.
The knitted glove once owned by Herbert Wheeler.
The story of the creation of the Huron Wristers is a story of connections: the connection of past to present, of generation to generation.
Back in 1972, Pearl Wheeler donated a pair of knitted gloves that once belonged to her husband Herbert to the Huron County Museum and Historic Gaol. The museum’s record notes that at the time the gloves were thought to date from 1870 and were knit by a man.
Herbert and Pearl lived in Belgrave, ON. Herbert had seven siblings, four brothers and three sisters. His parents were Charles Wheeler and Mary Ann Wilkinson. Herbert was a carpenter and apparently also the local barber. How long the gloves were in Herb’s possession no one knows.
While visiting the museum to research women’s headcoverings – I had an idea to recreate a head scarf worn by one of my ancestors – I happened upon an image of Herb’s gloves. There was something very intriguing about the gloves. First, the colours – the pink is very bold and the contrast between the pink and black is quite striking. Secondly, the colourwork pattern – it seems familiar, but yet different somehow. It looks Fair Isle-inspired, but there’s something else there. And the fringe of the cuff, so interesting.
The Huron Wristers, inspired by the colourwork in Herbert’s knitted gloves.
Who made these gloves? There’s no record of that. The gloves may have been knitted for Herbert by an older family member; or purchased at some point earlier on and then Herbert inherited them; or Herbert bought the gloves himself from someone; or given his trade, perhaps they were payment for some work he did. It was time to do research on the pattern and see what could be found.
Herbert’s gloves were knit in the round using the stranded colourwork technique, working two colours of yarn in the same row, carrying the unused yarn across the inside of the work. The 8-stitch motif repeating pattern is similar to both the Shetland Fair Isle knitting pattern, ‘Little Flowers’ as well as an Estonian pattern called, ‘Cat’s Paw’.
The gloves feature a knitted fringe on a short ribbed cuff. Fringing has been used on both Latvian mittens and Estonian gloves, historical and modern versions and not so much in the Fair Isle tradition. The fringe appears to have been done using a loop technique which is done during the construction of the glove. The colourwork may seem close to the Sanquhar tradition, but it’s not a match for the following reasons according to knitters on the Knitting History Forum:
- There are quite a few designs associated with Sanquhar. Possibly the most well-known ones are based on 11 by 11 stitch squares. The squares have strong outlines with alternating patterns within the squares. Herb’s gloves therefore do not fulfill these criteria.
- Some Sanquhar gloves also have an interesting finger construction with little triangular gussets in the finger spaces and triangular finger tips. Also, all Sanquhar have a shaped thumb placed on the palm side rather than on the side of the hand as here.
- Finally, the stitch count, wool and colour are not really in the Sanquhar tradition. Gloves tend to be monochromatic. Wool used is finer, stitch count for the cuff around 80 stitches and modern needle size of around 2mm used.
The Knitting History Forum was invaluble as it connected me with Angharad Thomas, researcher, designer and knitter. Angharad wrote, “The only pattern I could find similar to that used in these gloves was a 4 stitch x 4 row triangle in a Shetland pattern book … but there’s a limit to what can be knitted on a given number of sts in whatever colours are to hand. That’s how I think these patterns came about rather than from one tradition or another. Fringes are now associated with Latvia but there are gloves from the north of England with a fringe…” Angharad then suggested I reach out to Shirley Scott, Canadian knitting designer and author.
Traditional Estonian gloves and mittens showing the beautiful colourwork and fringed cuffs.
Scott immediately suggested the similarity to Estonian mitten patterns and sent a few images of pattern motifs. She then pointed me in the direction of Nancy Bush, an Estonian knitting expert. Shirley also cautioned that there may be no clear and definitive answer as to the pattern name and origins.
“Don’t be surprised if the pattern has no real name. Newfoundland patterns have never had names, for example. We made ours up, as explained in our books. It’s also hard to pinpoint the origins of patterns these days because North America has had so many waves of immigration and so much pattern sharing,” said Scott.
Nancy Bush, a knitting writer, designer and authority on Estonian knitting, wrote:
“I have found a pattern close to the one on your mittens from both Paistu and Helme parishes in Estonia (these are southwest). The difference is that the diamond with cross shapes are offset, as is the example of Sander’s Mittens in Folk Knitting in Estonia. There is another pattern that is like the ones from Helme and Paistu in a pattern book from the Rannarootsi Museum in Haapsalu. This museum tells the story of Swedish/Estonian people who lived in Estonian territory, mostly until the 2nd WW. I don’t know the story of these exact mittens, just that the pattern is close.”
Estonian Mitten Pattern by Nancy Bush. The repeating motifs are almost a match for Herbert’s gloves, but for the fact they are offset, nested within each other, not point to point.
Bush continued, “The fact that the diamond with cross shapes are stacked instead of offset makes me think they were not looking at any of the patterns I have mentioned above, or mittens made like them…
All that being said… this is a very simple pattern, easy to create with knit stitches and could have originated almost anywhere… it is very possible these mittens were made by someone who was remembering a pattern they knew as a child, for instance, and reproduced it as best they could, with the yarn they had…”
So, which was it, Estonian or Fair Isle? It was time to research the Wheeler family and Herbert. Where did their family originate? Was there a family tie to either Estonia or the British Isles? When an instagram post by Best Dishes, a Goderich business owned by Sarah Anderson, appeared in my feed one day identifying the wristers pattern as based on a family heirloom, chance had dropped the opportunity in my lap. It was time to connect. A couple messages back and forth and the story unfolded…
Learn more:
by Amy Zoethout | Jan 27, 2021 | Artefacts, Collection highlights
Take a closer look at the Huron County Museum & Historic Gaol and its collections as staff share stories about some well-known and some not-so-well-known features, artifacts, and more. In the first of this new blog series, Collections Intern Thomas Lang looks at one of the Museum’s most recognizable artifacts, the M4A2E8 Sherman Tank, and shares how an armoured vehicle manufactured in the United States found its way to Goderich.
The M4A2E8 Sherman Tank as seen in 2021 on the grounds of the Huron County Museum.
The M4A2E8 Sherman Tank has been a part of the Huron County Museum’s collection since 1978 and is a popular feature on the Museum grounds. Manufactured by General Motors’ Fisher Tank Arsenal in Grand Blanc, Michigan, at the tail end of the Second World War, it was one of 294 tanks purchased by the Canadian Militia for training purposes in 1946. Between its variants, the Sherman was the most widely used tank among the Allies in the Second World War, and reserve units in Canada continued to operate them until the 1970s. The Museum’s tank was attached to the Ontario Regiment in Oshawa until November, 1973, when it was declared surplus and purchased by the Royal Canadian Legion, Branch 109 Goderich.
After being displayed near the Goderich Airport for five years, the Legion donated the tank to the Huron County Museum and held a Memorial Dedication Service on Aug. 20, 1978. The Legion dedicated the memorial to all the Allied armies who used Sherman tanks in the Second World War and to those who produced these armoured vehicles on the homefront. Lieutenant-Colonel David Currie, recipient of the Victoria Cross for his actions at the Battle of the Falaise Pocket, unveiled the plaque at the Museum and the Legion painted the tank to resemble Currie’s command tank in the 29th Armoured Reconnaissance Regiment (The South Alberta Regiment) to commemorate his service.
Since the ceremony, the tank has remained on public display outside the Museum. In 1996, a group of student volunteers painted the tank as part of the Junior Curators Painting Project. Today, we have repainted and added identification markers to the tank to reflect what it would have looked like while being used by the Ontario Regiment.
A student paints the tank during the Junior Curators Painting Project in the summer of 1996.
While the Museum is temporarily closed to the public, you can still see the Sherman tank, as it is always on display on the north side of the Museum on Trafalgar Street.
Further information about the Sherman Tank:
by Sinead Cox | May 16, 2020 | Collection highlights, Exhibits, For Teachers and Students, Huron Historic Gaol, Uncategorized
Looking for a way to remotely visit the Huron County Museum or the Historic Gaol with your family or class? Here are some activities you can try using our virtual resources! Have questions about what you see and how it was used? Email museum@huroncounty.ca to talk to an expert!
HURON COUNTY MAIN STREET at the Huron County Museum
Click to visit our virtual exhibits, including Huron County Main Street! Can you find everything? Pick a favourite object that isn’t on the list, and ask others to find it!
360 TOUR at the Huron Historic Gaol
Go to the Huron Historic Gaol’s page and scroll to the bottom to find our 360 degree tour! Use the arrows and Level 1, Level 2, and Level 3 buttons to explore in all directions. Keep clicking to go inside the rooms, including a cell block. Found everything on the list? Play I spy with my little eye!
by Sinead Cox | Mar 30, 2020 | Artefacts, Collection highlights, Exhibits, For Teachers and Students, Uncategorized
Huron County Museum: Virtual Permanent Galleries
The Huron County Museum’s virtual exhibits grant a close-up glimpse of select artifacts on permanent display in our galleries, as well as information that you can’t guess with just a look. The featured objects represent a small sampling of the thousands of artifacts in the museum’s collection. Updating the online exhibits is an ongoing project; in the future, student employees will be refreshing the images and providing even more information. These exhibits are also available via ipads onsite when the museum is open.
Huron County Main Street
Our Main Street features real storefronts and objects from across the county of Huron.
Click the storefront names to step inside and see artifact highlights!
Military Gallery
Click the titles below to see archival documents and more related to Huron County and the First World War.
Huron County Museum Feature Gallery: Virtual Exhibits
The Huron County Museum rotates exhibits of special interest through the year in our Feature Galleries. Click to explore past temporary exhibits that you may have missed or want to rediscover.
by Erin Samuell | Jun 1, 2018 | Artefacts, Blog, Collection highlights, Uncategorized
Did you know that the Museum has two two-headed calves in our collection? Since the Museum’s earliest days these calves have been a crowd pleasing favourite among visitors – which one do you favour?
The first calf, a female, was born on the farm of William McFadzean, near Walton in 1925 with two heads, two tails, two hearts, two spinal cords and four legs. During birth one of the necks was broken and the calf died shortly after and was buried. Richard Hoy, owner of the store, restaurant, and butcher shop in Walton was also a taxidermist. When he heard the news, he exhumed the calf and preserved it.
M959.0226.001
The second, a male Friesian Holstein calf, was born with two heads, two tails and one set of organs in 1936 on William Long’s farm in Colborne Township. Dr. Meyers of Goderich was the veteranarian. The calf was mounted by a taxidermist from Toronto.
Excerpt from a newspaper clipping in 1936 (newspaper unknown):
“A freak Holstein calf was born on the farm of Mr. William Long, but lived only for a short while. The calf had two heads and two tails. About once in 2500 births there is a calf with two heads, but the veteranarian in attendance had never experienced the birth of a calf with two heads and two tails. Life was noticed in one of the heads for a few minutes, and the body of the calf was quite normal in that it had only four legs, one body, and one set of organs. Mr. Long is thinking of sending the body to a taxidermist to have it mounted.”
M966.114.001
If two headed calves aren’t your thing, how about an 8 legged kitten? This creepy cat (a staff favourite artifact) was born with eight legs and stored in a jar filled with formaldehyde solution.
M958.0096.001
Find even more fascinating artifacts in the Museum’s On-line Collection!
