Cantley 1889 Articles
The following article first appeared in The Echo of Cantley Volume 35 no 8 March 2024. This article is made available for the enjoyment of others with the express permission of the Echo of Cantley.
For International Women’s Day (March 8), we highlight a defining moment in the life of Alice Power McGlashan.
Alice Power McGlashan
Mary Holmes
Alice Power (1902 – 1987) came to Cantley from Ontario as a teacher in 1924. There she met G. Maynard McGlashan and they married in Ottawa in July 1925. Alice devoted her life to raising their family while helping to run their thriving business – G.M. McGlashan General Store and Post Office at Wilson’s Corners at the northern boundary of Cantley.
Alice’s strength was truly tested in January 1938. With her husband, Maynard, and younger son, Peter, both extremely ill and staying with Maynard’s sister, Arma, in Ottawa, she had to contend with the complete destruction of their family home and livelihood due to fire.
The extent of the loss is described in the Ottawa Citizen, January 22, 1938:
“One of the oldest buildings in the Cantley district, a two-storey wooden building housing a general store, residence and post office at Wilson’s Corners, was completely destroyed by fire at an early hour this morning. ...
The fire was first noticed at five o’clock this morning by Allan Kilby, who immediately awakened the occupants of the house. Sleeping on the second floor of the building at the time of the outbreak were Mrs. McGlashan, their eight-year-old son, Murray, Miss Mary Krepp, a niece, and Ross Ardell.
Villagers formed a bucket brigade but to no avail, although they managed to stop the blaze from spreading to the nearby telephone exchange of the East Wakefield Telephone Company, operated by Mrs. Henry Easy (Dinah Ramberg).
All the stock in the store was destroyed and only part of the furniture was saved.”
Over fifty years later, Reverend Murray McGlashan, remembered the fire vividly in his memoir:
“I remember how it was snowing and the roads were blocked solidly. Teams of horses were in the Lawlis stable. One was the team of Allan Kilby, who sounded the alarm. The men were boarding with widow Mrs. Thomas Lawlis (Elizabeth Crilly) across the road from the store.
Everything was lost except lives, we were safe.
However, with such wonderful friends and neighbours as we had, Alice (my mother) and Mary Krepps (Alice’s niece) and I started up the store and post office within a couple of days. Mother and I were housed by Mrs. Lawlis in the front part of the house, facing east. One of the window panes was broken and missing. We woke up in the morning with 6” of snow on the bed.
Within a few days we established a store in the little house on our property. There was no foundation under the house which had originally been built by Peter Sr. (my grandfather) for the blacksmith in the late 1800s while he had his shop making sleighs, buggies, wagons, etc. Space was cramped so we stored boxes and other supplies under the beds.
During the summer of 1938 a new store and house was built by Emerson Faulkner. One of my fondest memories of the generosity of the people was of James McGarry coming with his horse and earth scoop and spending a whole week digging the basement. This was done gratis.”
Alice and Maynard persevered through this family crisis, much to the gratitude of the surrounding neighbourhood. They raised two sons who also served their respective communities. Elder son, Murray, started his career as an OTC bus driver. In 1965 he and his young family moved to Kingston to study at Queen’s University. He was ordained a United Church of Canada minister in 1969 and served in Ontario until his retirement in 1995. Younger son Peter began his career in construction then in retail where he worked for 15 years at Canadian Tire on Kent Street in Ottawa. When the health of his aging parents began to deteriorate, Peter returned to join the family business at Wilson’s Corners until it closed in 1992.
In 2018 Alice Power McGlashan was selected for Fairbairn House Heritage Centre’s online exhibit, “Notable Women of the Gatineau Valley”
