Historian explores old Victoria County in book
Rae Fleming put together a book featuring history stories from various authors
Biographer and historian Rae Fleming began Looking For Old Victoria County with a shoe.
The Woodville Town Hall Shoe, in fact,. It's the focus of one of 28 pieces by 17 authors who contributed to the independently published compilation released last November.
Fleming, who explored his curiosity in writing about the ballerina slipper-sized footwear for a chapter that commemorates the 1904 opening of the hall, will
be the guest speaker at Trent Valley Archives’ April 19 annual general meeting.
Looking for Old Victoria County includes stories by a California man who researches his Victoria County ancestors, a relative of a man who fought in the American Civil War and son of a couple who wrote letters of courtship.
It explores often-overlooked architectural heritage, forgotten families and even a time when pharmacists prescribed homebrew as medicine.
It’s unique – one piece explores local history through a private collection of post office cancellation marks, for example.
“You get a nice sense of the post offices … that no longer operate,” Fleming said as he thumbed past an example from Bury’s Green, west of Bobcaygeon.
Fleming, 74, lives in Argyle, where his parents ran the general store that he would include in his 2002 book General Stores of Canada: Merchants and Memories. He has also written biographies of Sir William Mackenzie and Peter Gzowski; Looking For Old Victoria County is his latest project.
He edited and compiled the 235-page, colour book that features the turn-of-the-century Fenelon Falls grist mill on its soft cover.
“It’s a view of here and there in the old Victoria County,” Fleming said during a recent interview at the Lindsay branch of the City of Kawartha Lakes Public Library. “It’s quirky.”
He smiled as he recalled taking contributor Bill Morrow to a historic home on Sylvan Crescent in Lindsay, which he helped build as a boy more than 70 years ago. When she learned they were nearby, the current owner rushed out to thank the man.
Looking For Old Victoria County also contains Fleming’s tribute to Archie Tolmie, who penned the Archie Tolmie Papers – one of the earliest fonds at Trent Valley Archives. The documents are loaded with information about the area, including Tolmie's memories of living on Balsam Lake.
That Woodville Town Hall ceramic shoe has a Peterborough connection, too.
Anne Heideman, the first manager of the Centennial Museum and Archives in Peterborough, once told Trent Valley Archives founder-curator Elwood Jones that china painting was carried out at the St. Alphonsus rooms on Simcoe Street, Fleming wrote.
A daily swimmer who in recent years swam across Lake Couchiching for seven straight years for charity, Fleming compared the approximately two-year project to such a crossing. He said had coaches that helped motivate him along the way.
And the best part of project was finishing it, the former teacher joked.
Fleming attributes his curiosity to growing up in his parent’s store, where he was fascinated as he heard tale after tale from visitors. That sparked his desire to see the world – he has travelled from Argentina to Africa to Japan.
He has also travelled across Canada and the United Kingdom for more than three decades for reading and speaking engagements. His other local histories include Eldon Connections (1975) and A Pioneer Village (1976) and picture book The Royal Tour of Canada (2002). He also edited and wrote the introduction for The Wartime Letters of Leslie and Cecil Frost (2007).
Looking for Old Victoria County is available for $34.95 at Trent Valley Archives at 567 Carnegie Ave and Kent Bookstore at 15 William Street N. in Lindsay.
NOTES: Trent Valley Archives’ April 19 annual general meeting is open to the general public at no cost … For more information, call 705-745-4404 or visit www.trentvalleyarchives.com … For more information on Rae Fleming, visit www.rbfleming.net .