…which I’ve long talked about turning into a book (and maybe a CD, and a stage show, and…) finally became a reality in one form today: I’ve started a new limited column series for CBC Saskatchewan’s Afternoon Edition, hosted by Colin Grewar, with that as its title.
So here’s today’s entry, more or less (these scripts are guidelines, not read, so what we actually say on the air differs; in other words, this is NOT a transcript). I’d still like to turn this into a book. (Any publishers reading this, that’s your cue to give me a call…)
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Two years ago, Ed Willett moved into a house in Regina’s Crescents that belonged to his wife’s parents, and before them to her grandparents. In fact, it’s been in the family for just about seven decades now…and as houses tend to do, it’s collected a lot of stuff during that time.
Ed has been exploring that stuff, and keeps finding fascinating objects that provide a glimpse into the not-so-distant past…and over the next few weeks, he’s going to share some of what he’s discovered with us in this new column.
He calls it “Things I Found in my Mother-in-Law’s House.
So, Ed, give us some of the history of the house.
Well, the house was built in 1926–one of the things I found in the house were the original blueprints from architect F.H. Portnall. My wife’s grandfather, Sampson J. Goodfellow, purchased the house on January 23, 1940 (I’ve also found the original agreement for sale) from Harry B. Lyne for $5,000. He and his wife, Nancy, would live here for more than 30 years.
Tell me a bit about Sam and Nancy Goodfellow.
Sam was born in Scotland in 1892, immigrated to Canada in 1902, and came to Saskatchewan in 1911. He served in the Canadian Army and the Royal Flying Corps in the First World War, and ended the war in a prisoner of war camp after the plane he was navigating was shot down. He met and married Ann Owen (Nancy) Ridgway in England and they moved back to Regina, where he worked in machine engineering and eventually became president of Western Machine and Engineering. He was also an inventor, with several innovations in grain-handling to his name.
Sam and Nancy were patrons of the arts, very involved with Regina Little Theatre–RLT still gives an annual award for most valuable contribution to the organization that’s called the Sammy in his honor–the Regina Symphony Orchestra, the Regina Musical Club and more. They endowed many grants and scholarships in science, music and engineering that are still handed out to this day. Sam received an honorary doctor of laws degree from the U of R. shortly before his death in 1979. Nancy died in 1974.
Did you ever meet them?
No, I never did, but in a way I feel like I’m living with them. They may not be haunting the house, but so many of the things they owned are still here that I kind of feel like I know them.
But the first thing you want to show me down here in the basement wasn’t actually owned by Sammy.
No, this actually belonged to Margaret Anne’s father. It’s a Meccano set from the 1920s. Or, rather, two Meccano sets, one in a cardboard box, the other in a nice wooden box…a box I haven’t been able to open, because it locked with a key I have yet to find!
Meccano was invented by Frank Hornby, who was working for a meat importing company in Liverpool at the turn of the 20th century. He patented the original “Mechanics Made Easy” system in 1901, and registered the Meccano trademark in 1907–it’s supposedly derived from the phrase “make and know.”
The number 6 set, of which “Billy Hodges” of London, Ontario, had two, was the largest set available until the 1930s, when the enormous No. 7 came out. For those who’ve never seen them, they consist of metal strips, plates, rods, wheels, gears, pulleys and other mechanical components found in real machinery. Any number of 20th century engineers first experienced real engineering with Meccano sets, and who knows what inventions it inspired. Now if I can just find the key for the wooden box…
There’s certainly a lot of stuff down here. What else has caught your eye?
Well, since I’m starting this new radio column, I’d be remiss if I didn’t point out this Philco tube radio. The little metal plate on the back says it uses chassis 49-A, which means it dates to 1949. What I find interesting about it is that it has three bands: it could not only pick up CBC, it could pick up shortwave.
When this radio came out, Philco (it started life as the Philadelphia Storage Battery Company; Philco was originally a trademark used on a battery and didn’t become the official name of the company until 1940) was the leading radio manufacturing in the world, partly due to its pioneering work in installing radios in automobiles. It was also a pioneer in television; in fact, in 1949, the year this radio was manufacture, Philco was also marketing a 61-square-inch black-and-white set–that’s about a 7-inch screen in modern terms–that cost $349.50, equivalent to about $2,500 today. It sold 800,000 in 1949 alone and had trouble meeting demand.
Unfortunately, I haven’t found one of those down here.
Right next to the old radio is…something. What is that?
That is a Thor Automagic Gladiron.
A what?
Well, let me quote a magazine ad from 1946 or so, which is when these things appeared: “With the Gladiron you rion sitting down. You iron automagically—using a single knee control to start, stop, open and close it…you actually iron a shirt in 4 1/2 minutes!” Or, as another ad said, “If your husband did the ironing just once, he’d sign up for a Thor Gladiron tomorrow!”
Thor, by the way, still makes appliances–they’re based in L.A.–and has as reputation for innovation. Their 1907 Thor Clothes Washer was the first electric-powered washing machine, and singlehandedly saved (mostly women, at the time) from hundreds of hours of hard labor a year. Thor was also the first company to introduce a combination clothes washer/dishwasher back in the 1950s. Alas, it doesn’t seem to have caught on.
What are some of the other things you’ll be sharing with us over the next few weeks?
I’m planning to organize things by themes: kitchen appliances and utensils, music, knick-knacks, and so on. But there are whole shelves of stuff I’ve never even looked at yet. So who knows? It will be an adventure for me, and I hope for the audience.
In a way, it will be like opening a time capsule: a little glimpse back into everyday life of half a century ago. Lots of people have old houses full of stuff. Maybe this will inspire them to dig into their own collection and see what they can find out about their own family treasures. None of it may be very valuable in a monetary sense, but I think it’s valuable simply as way to make a link back to our own family histories.
It’s also a lot of fun!
2 comments
Every once in a while, I look for information on Nancy Goodfellow. I never met her, but Sampson and Nancy were friends with my grandparents, Harold and Lilian (Booth) Broadberry back in the early 1920’s when they were around Weyburn. My father recalled encountering his first electric light in the Goodfellow’s house (not the one you live in now) as a small child his family visited them in Regina. He was so impressed that the Goodfellows had the moon in their house! My grandparents and my father left Saskatechewan and moved to Wisconsin in 1926, but Nancy and my grandmother kept in touch. In fact, Nancy sent me cards and sometimes gifts for my very early birthdays. I remember one pretty, but rather itchy turtleneck when I was three or four years old. Nancy died when I was about 6 and while my grandmother lived until 1984, she had dementia for many years. I just stumbled across the book of Sampson’s memoirs that you edited and I can’t wait to get a hold of it and read it. Harold, who died before I was born, was also a navigator in the RAF and left England, rather than Scotland as a young man. I anticipate seeing many parallels in their early lives. My dad died in 2007, just short of his 87th birthday, otherwise, I would have loved to share the book with him.
Thank so much for the comment, Ann! I never knew Sam or Nancy, but I almost feel like I do since so many of their belongings remain in our house. Please do get a copy of Sam’s memoirs–I think you’ll enjoy them!