| Notes |
- Florence is the daughter of Gertrude Nelles & Frederick Johnston
. 1965 Sep 4, Names of former pupils who registered at the Greenock school Reunion to commemorate the closing of the School.:
Barbara, Doreen, Keith Johnston, Florence Allan Johnston, John & Mrs. Jean Johnston, Mr & Mrs. Bill Johnston, Helen Johnston.
. The Allan Farm
On Lot 7, Con. 3, was one of the earliest to be taken from the Crown; but the Allan family did not come until the spring of 1855. John Allan came from Hamilton, & was a carpenter who had learned his trade in Scotland. He paid 287 pounds for the 200 acres, built a house & barn & a shed for drying hops. He planted hops, & packed them in large bales when dry. On a good year a democrat load would bring $600. The old house was burned in 1889, & replaced by the brick house. From 1860-1862, a lumber company had a mill on this farm, & bought up all the hardwood in the area. It was hauled to Acton by Oxen, & shipped to England & Scotland for ship building. John Allan married Jane Moore. In 1890, the farm was sold to their second son, John Allan, who married Rubina Auld, & there they lived the rest of their lives. Mrs. John Allan sold the farm in 1929, to son Chester & his wife, the former Florence Johnston. They had6 children.
Ref: History of Erin Twp.
. TWEEDSMUIR HISTORY, as recorded by Greenrock Women's Institute:
Recollections of the Local Beef Ring - by Mrs. Chester Allan (Florence Johnston).
I remember when I was a young girl, being wakened very early in the morning to the sound of horses' hooves & buggies coming in & out of our lane which was close to my bedroom win. It was mostly men at that time but some women came a little later as they likely had children & breakfast to be look after first but hey were usually all away before 7 to get the meat home before the heat of the day.
Mr father, Fred Johnston, was the butcher for several years, Mr. Ed. Mann coming early Saturday morning to help him with the cutting up, weighing & putting each person's meat in the right box. I also remember hearing that Albert McKeown & Ro; & Allan took a turn at butchering.
Dad had a building at the back of the barn that had a cement floor with a ring fastened in the floor near the thought leading to a hole in the ground outside. In the same building he had large covered cement cistern that he a reserve of water piped from our well by a windmill, good supply of water was necessary to keep everything clear.
The BEEF RING was in operation just for the summer months. Each farmer was to furnish one beef each summer for a full share which consisted of a roast & a boil & a piece of steak each week. For a small family 2 could go together & each take a half share which would be a roast one week & a boil & steak the alternate week.
Along one wall of the slaughter house was a double row of pen front boxes about the size of a hen's nest with a name tag on each box.
A meeting was held so that everyone knew when it would be their turn to supply the beef. They also had rules as to the approximate weight & age 400 to 600 albs weight & not over 5 years. In any health problems turned up, a health inspector was to be called in. I remember this happening once & the animal was condemned with T.B. There was no meat that week but a low of cleaning up to be done.
The animals were brought to our barn Thursday evening. Friday night was butchering night & very early the next morning it had to be cut up, weighted & put in a cotton flour or sugar bag that each person left the week before. The farmer that supplied the beef received the liver, heart, tail & hide. A large chart was made about 2x # feet marked in squares with each weeks across the top & each man's ahem down the left hand side, the weight to each person's meat was put in the right square so that at the end of the season the columns were added both ways & the total both ways came to the same figure in the right hand corner. A business meeting was held in the school at the close of each seasons & if the beef that a man pout in was heavier than the average he would be paid the difference at a price that was set in the spring, likewise if a light than average weight animal was put in he would pay the difference. Two auditors were appointed each year to check the books. Business meetings were held a Greenock school & sometimes an oyster supper was held in a home for a family get together.
Benefits of the week ring - fresh beef for a few days once a week in summer, a change from cured salted port or the occasional hen. On the other hand I imagine a neck boil would be a challenge for Sunder dinner if that was the day your in-laws or special friends decided to come to dinner. Do not know how many years the beef ring was in operation or the pay received for butchering & cutting up but it is concluded that it must have been the early 1900's when it started. One of the first men who did the butchering was Mr. Simon McGlaughlin, followed by Bert McKeown, Fred Johnston (Mrs. Allan's father & then Roland Allan.
Ref: Wellington Co. Museum & Archives.
. 1924 Nov 13 - Leslie's School. The following report for October for Leslie School, Erin [ S.S. No. 8 Erin] Class V Elva Johnson, Florence Johnston. E C Currie, Teacher.
Ref: Acton Free Press, Page 7.
. 1964-65 Greennock School Pupils Class Photo: Barbara Johnston, small blond girl, kneel in front row of class.
. 1965 Sep 4, Names of former pupils who registered at the Greenock school Reunion to commemorate the closing of the School.:
Barbara, Doreen, Keith Johnston, Florence Allan Johnston, John & Mrs. Jean Johnston, Mr & Mrs. Bill Johnston, Helen Johnston. - - - [1]
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1911 - 