MIDDLEBROOK MEMORIES

Cardwell school #4: The house that ...Harper...built.	The same school but now used as a house. This picture was taken in 1998, over 100 years after it was built.

The school on the left is the old Cardwell school #4. It was built because there were no schools around at the time and since Harper was about to have 15 children he took it upon himself to build this one. The school, over 100 years later, is still standing and is used as a house today. Cardwell Twp. is in Muskoka between Stisted and Conger townships. It is about 160 miles from Toronto, Ontario.
Life wasn't easy back then, and the work was back breaking at times. Both the men and the women put in a hard days work. When Harper wasn't running his sawmill, he was also a farmer, which kept him busy. Along with having 15 children, Hannah was responsible for preparing 3 big meals a day, scrubbing the floors, churning, washing clothes, doing farm chores and a zillion other things.
When Harper died in 1939, he took the long way to heaven! He died in Hekkla, and his body was taken by team to Rosseau. From there, a car took him to Huntsville but not before passing through Bracebridge and Utterson first. He was then taken by a team and sleigh to Aspdin where they finally buried him!

In a rare break from doing chores, Hannah stops to get her picture taken with her son Frank.	The same barn as it stands 70 years later. Way to build these things Harper.

The SS# 2 Cardwell. The Hekkla school which is now used for social events.	The girls who attended the Hekkla school in the 1940's.

Hannah in her later years making her way back to her house.	This is the same house as it stands today, however Hannah has left the building.

When Hannah's husband Harper was 13 years old and living in Simcoe County, he wrote this poem which was later found inside his bible.
Harper Middlebrook is my name
And Canada is my nation
Glencairn is my dwelling place
And heaven is my expectation
When I am dead and in my grave
And all my bones are rotten
These few lines will tell my name
When I am quite forgotten
The grass is green, the Rose is red
Here lies my name when I am dead
Dated: March 11, 1877

More to come...

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