Kenzie

(submitted by Alice Kenzie)

Marshall Leslie Kenzie (1874–1968) was born in Plympton Twp., the son of Sylvester Allison Kinsey and Mary Annie Lloyd. He was improperly registered in 1878, when the clerk had written Kenzie, not Kinsey. All of his brothers and sisters were Kinseys. Leslie, known as Les, married Sarah Bertha Hall (1879–1963) in 1902. She was born in Warwick Twp., the daughter of Joseph Hall and Christina Thompson.

Bertha graduated from Watford High School and attended the Conservatory of Music in Toronto and studied art in Toronto. While in Toronto she contracted diphtheria which damaged her throat and ended the musical career. She was a fine painter.

Les worked in a general store and then as a tailor’s apprentice in Forest. For a short period he owned his own tailoring shop. Les and Bertha had six children: Dr. J. Frederick of New York; M. LeVerne, of Forest; Edith Roxy, of New York who married Carleton O. Beck; Franklin Ellis, of Point Edward who married Leah Mae Ellerker; Lloyd, and Ross. Ross died in a logging accident. Lloyd died young.

In 1905 Les Kenzie bought out Tom Crone’s store and post office in Birnam. The business was located on the north-west side of the corner. They erected a cement block in 1909, using brick made from the gravel pit on the farm. The house was large enough for Les’ parents to live with them. Les operated the general store for six years. One year he handled five carloads of cement, selling to farmers for silos and buildings. Four days a week he went on the road visiting farms with his wares. Tom Crone had had this route before him. A stagecoach delivered mail every night at 6 p.m., en route to Arkona.

There was a cheese factory on the north-west side of the road as well, where cheese and butter were made. Les sold cheese from it on the London market.

After his mother’s death, this house and store were sold and the family moved to a “white” brick house on a nearby farm where, for six years, they ran a small grocery store from a second home on the same property. The family had one of the first telephones — one phone line from the Forest company and a different one from the Arkona company, because in 1905, people in the two towns were unable to call one another “long distance”.

In 1918 this store burned to the ground, an oil lantern having ignited the fumes from gasoline being poured into an engine. Then, in 1929, their barn was destroyed by an arsonist. With livestock rescued by his daughter, Edith, Les was able to continue farming. He had ponies and raised a remarkable horse called Toll Gate who quickly became headline news in 1934 and 1935 racing circuits, after being purchased by Heber Sweeney, a trainer in Nova Scotia.

The Kenzies moved to Watford in 1939 and once again Les took up the trade of tailoring, until retirement in 1949. Bertha fell in May, 1963 and broke her back. She was in hospital until she died. Les stayed in their Watford home until his death.

During his long life Les enjoyed many interests, including speed skating as a young man, baseball, hockey, and singing tenor with his son Franklin.

Kenzies at Birnam, c.1910: LaVerne on horse, Fred and Ross in carriage. Courtesy A Kenzie.

Chapter 24 of 25 - Kenzie Family

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