- James Singleton's parents William Singleton and Catherine (Coad) Singleton emmigrated, to Eastern Canada in the early 1800's.
James was born on Jan 28, 1850 at Kitley, Leeds County, Ontario. He grew up there and became a farmer like other folks in the area.
He married Susanna Pattison on Dec 25, 1876 at Wingham, Ontario, Canada.
James and Susanna had seven children:
1878 - William Amos Singleton
1881 - James Emerson Singleton
1883 - John Wesley Singleton
1885 - Mrs. Angeline Dixon
1886 - Roy Leonard Singleton
1889 - Secord Singleton
1891 - Mrs. Pearl Ethel Ricketts
James' brother Abraham coincidentally married Susanna's sister, Ellen, which made their children cousins on both sides of the family.
James died on Dec 12, 1913 at Dunn's Valley, Ontario, Canada, and he is buried at Rock Lake Cemetery, Rock Lake, Ontario.
His wife Susanna followed her children to Duluth, Minnesota and she is buried at Forest Hill Cemetary, Duluth, Saint Louis, Minnesota.
While they were married and raising their family, James and Susanna had homesteaded on land and at Dunn's Valley, Algoma District, Ontario, Canada. The property had a lakeshore (Skookum Lake) where the children could swim to cool off in the summer.
James' brother Abraham also came to Dunn's Valley, homesteaded and raised his family on adjoining land.
They lived in a log house that James built. There was an out building that housed a pump and stored some food for winter. The house had an inside pump just inside the door and a wash basin in the kitchen. The kitchen had a large cook stove fired by wood, used for cooking all their meals. They raised all their own food such as pigs, cows and chickens, and stored it in the root cellar(a dug out place in the side of a hill with a door on it), vegetables were always stored there for the winter. They slaughtered their own animals, stored the meat in crocks, and salted it down so it would keep during winter.
Meals were often stew, potatoes, and homemade bread or rolls. Dessert was usually canned fruit like a large bowl of blue berries, raspberries, gooseberries, apples, and/or carrots. Small individual bowls were set beside the big bowl and it was dished with a spoon. When they were done with their meal, everyone would would have a dish of sauce.
Laundry was done in the out building. Water for washing was heated in big wash tubs and carried to the out building. They used kerosene lamps for light, and they had no television or radio.
Their days in summer were spent tending crops. The vegetables were usually tended by the women, and the hay and oat fields were taken care of by the men. In the summer the children went to the woods and pick berries to be canned, they also helped make hay stacks and filled the barn for the animals winter feed. They also had to feed the pigs and water the horses.
The school was one room, and also used for the church. A teacher, usually a young woman, came out to teach from Sault Sainte Marie, Ontario. She was usually single, and would board and room during the school year with whatever farmer had room for her.
On Sundays, everyone went to the one roomed church. Usually the minister was a circuit rider. He would be provided a room and board by some farmer. He would come and stay, sometimes just a week, and sometimes longer. The local families would take turns feeding him his meals, and after he was done he would move on to the next town.
Their evenings were usually short. After they were done with their chores and their schoolwork was done, it was bedtime. Sometimes in the evening, the mother or someone else in the family would play the pump organ in the parlor, and the family would sing hymns together.
Susanna sewed clothes for the children. When the kids were out of school, vacations were sought for some of them. They would go to Sault Sainte Marie, and work as a milliner's helper. They would work for their room and board while attending school. Others were apprenticed as dressmakers. Most of the married went to quilting bees and made their own blankets and bedding from flour and feed sacks.
Occasionally things were ordered from Sears Roebuck catalogs. If they were lucky, once a month or once in three months, they would all be able to go to town in the horse and wagon for supplies. It was a long trip and if they were coming back late, they would have a neighbor take care of their evening chores, and then they would return the favor.
In the fall it was threshing time. One family owned the thresher and they would all move from farm to farm to do the threshing. Then the family would cook meals for the threshers until it was all done. Then all the threshers would move to the next farm. This was a very cooperative thing.
Saturday nights, dances were held in the schoolhouse or the church. The men would play fiddles for music. The women would bring clothes baskets filled with sandwiches for lunch. The whole family gathered. If there were babies they came to and they slept in the clothes baskets in the kitchen while the music played and the adults and children danced. Coffee was made at mid evening and the dance floor was cleaned. The men put up saw horses and table on tops on top of them, and lunch was served on them. After eating, the men took down the tables, put the benches against the walls and swept all the mud that they tracked in. Then it was time to dance again. Young, old, and all who could walk would dance.
In the winter they went to church by sleigh and cutter, keeping warm by covering up with wool blankets. Sometimes they were snowed in and unable to get mail for weeks at a time, so it was important to load in the supplies, like flour and sugar, before the snow came in. The highlight of the evening on cold days was the kitchen. The kitchen stove burned most of the time during the night. The fire wood was piled up in the stove, but burned out quite often. The family gathered in their winter underwear in the kitchen trying to keep warm while dressing by the stove which was started early in the a.m. by mom or dad.
Thus was life on a farm during the early 1800's in Canada.
Records Citation: James Singleton, died 12 Dec 1913, 63 yrs 9 mths, died at Galbraith, mail carrier, s/o William Singleton & Catherine Sinclair, cause-pneumonia, inf: Roy Singleton of Dunns Valley, Unorganized Territory, Algoma District. The doctor was from Bruce Mines.
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1850 - 1913 (63 years)
