Goodhand, Alonzo

(submitted by Lew McGregor)

Alonzo Goodhand (1872–) and his wife Catherine Welsh (1873–) came to 15 Sideroad from near Vienna, Ont. in 1911. They had four children: Myrtle (1893–), Winnie (1895–), Carroll (1897–) and Estella (1906–). Their belongings came by train, with the parents and girls. Carroll, at age 14, drove a team of horses pulling a cutter. He stayed at several places along the route, including the Adelaide Hotel.

Myrtle married Norman Edgar Vance. Winnie married Dean Hagle (1892–) and then Albert Cable (1900–). Estella married William Cable (1879–). All of them stayed in Warwick Twp.

Carroll and his wife Marguerite raised a family of five sons and two daughters. Carroll ventured from the farm to Village, where he rented a garage to the southwest of the bridge. Later he built one of his own to the east of the Maple Leaf Hotel with a lunch counter and gas bar. In the first garage he had a generator that supplied electricity to some places in the Warwick Village and also lights to the skating rink by the bridge. In the mid 1940s the family moved to Forest where he had a job with the Canadian Canners in Forest. When pea harvest was on he was the maintenance man at the pea viners in Warwick Village.

Two of Carroll and Marguerite’s sons, Elmer (Smokey) and Lorne, served in the army during World War II. Their daughter Elda married Lew McGregor.

Alonzo’s grandchildren often tell stories about going from the farm to the Birnam store in his Model T, and of their visits to the farm. Alonzo and Catherine sold the farm in later years and moved to Forest, next door to their son. Many of their descendants still live in the area.

Chapter 24 of 25 - Goodhand, Alonzo

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