Top floats win Keene prizes
The annual Keene Lions Christmas parade has come and gone, and it was a dandy. The marching band of the H.M.S Sea Cadets set the tone with their lively Christmas music. Little doggies paraded in their Christmas duds, vintage cars and tractors trundled by, majestic horses awed the crowd and a gentle snowfall added to the ambience. There were smiles and laughter all along the parade route as spectators, young and old, dashed after tossed candy, waved at the floats and hollered for Santa’s attention.
The three prize-winning floats were the Otonabee-South Monaghan Food Cupboard for the Judges Award, OSM Figure Skating Club for Best Junior Float and Keene United Church for Best Theme Float. The Grand Prize went to the Keene Lions for their amusing rendition of a Charlie Brown Christmas.
Public skating
Burn off some energy over the holidays at the rink at OtonabeeSouth Monaghan Community Centre in Keene. Skating is free Tuesdays from 10 to 11 a.m., Thursdays from 3 to 4:30 p.m. and Sundays 3 to 4 p.m. There is one Saturday with free skating, Dec. 30 from 1 to 2 p.m.
Hopefully the Indian River will freeze as smoothly as it did last year, providing free skating compliments of Mother Nature.
Christmas Eve
Lovely old St. Mark’s Anglican Church will have a Christmas Eve service Dec. 24 at 2 p.m. and everyone is welcome. The century-andand-half old church at the corner of Baseline and Keene Roads is used only a few times a year and this is one of those special occasions. Rev. Doug Woods will officiate.
A Farmer’s Diary
John Graham Weir was born in Otonabee in 1844 to parents from Fermanagh, Ireland. He married Lovina Victoria Tennyson Jan. 1, 1967, making this year their 150th anniversary. Their properties were located on Keene Road and Crowley Line. The TransCanada trail, built on railbeds of the Grand Junction and Cobourg Peterborough railroads, runs through their properties.
Weir kept daily journals from 1880 until his death in 1925. He recorded business and social life, the weather, the conditions of the roads and the work done by his employees that day. His proximity to town was good for business and the hard-working man often took loads of produce, grain or firewood to town three times a day.
Lovina died in 1924 and was buried in Little Lake Cemetery, near their retirement home on Romaine Street. John put a bench at her grave and spent hours grieving and tending the flowers he planted. He died nine months after Lovina.
John left almost everything to his nephew George Mitchell. The treasured journals eventually passed-down-to-great-great-nephew William Mitchell of Stoney Creek, whose wife Juanita Mitchell was a family historian and early user of ancestry.com. They donated the journals to Trent Valley Archives. Volunteers including Clifford Couch and Anne Nighswander transcribed the neatly written journals to computer.
Weir kept accounts in the back pages of his journals, but they have not been transcribed yet. This is fascinating material for anyone interested in volunteering to do it. Contact TVA at 705-745-4404 or drop in at 567 Carnegie Ave. TVA will be closed over the holidays, but is open the rest of the year from Tuesday to Saturday, 10 a.m. to 4 p.m.
1891 January 1
Twenty four years ago today at twelve o’clock we were married by the Rev. J.D. Johnston in Mr. John Lang’s house in Peterboro, and our lives since then have passed as merry as a marriage bell.
1892 December 16
This forenoon Lovina and I went to John Elliott’s for dinner and in the evening we went from there to Omemee to visit Mr. Orr. We had a nice drive. The roads are in fine condition for wheels and we intend to stay at Orr’s until Monday. We left Smiley at home to do the chores.
1892 December 17
This afternoon Fred Weir came to Orr’s and he and Orr and I went to the mill pond to skate. When we got there, there were about fifty or sixty men, boys and girls there. The men and boys were playing hockey. We spent most of the afternoon there and had good sport. Very fine weather clear and cold.
1892 December 19
Yesterday Robert Weir and wife came to Omemee to Mr. Orr’s and we all went to church. After breakfast this morning we started for home and we got there about noon and found everything all right. Clear and cold, about 14 above zero. After dinner we were threshing timothy.