IMAGE EVALUATION TEST TARGET (MT-3) 1.0 I.I l£i|28 |25 j^ U^ Ira Ills 11.25 '; ; I. %. V .»' ^ '/ Hiotograpliic Sdaices Corporation ¥j^ ■ (meaning "CON- TINUED"), or the symbol V (meaning "END"), whichever applies. Un des symbolas suivants apparaftra sur ia dernlAre image de cheque microfiche, selon le cas: le symbols — »» signlfle "A SUIVRE", le symbols y signlfle "FIN", Maps, plates, charts, etc., may be filmed at different reduction ratios. Those too large to be entirely Included In one exposure are filmed beginning in the upper left hand corner, left to right and top to bottom, as many frames as required. The following diagrams illustrate the method: Les cartes, planches, tableaux, etc., peuvent Atre filmAs A des taux de reduction diff Arents. Lorsque le document est trop graiid pour Atre reproduit en un seul cllchA, II est fllmA A partir de I'angle supArieur gauche, de gauche A drolte, et de haut en bas, en prenant le nombre d'Images nAcessalre. Les dia grammes suivants illustrent la m6thude. 1 2 3 1 2 3 4 5 6 r^arM .J Con . /'<.v.v, the Toronto Patriot and the E.xnniith'f, all o{ which journals have lonj^' since disappeared. This document is somewhat t>f a curiosity, judj^ed by the busi- ness methods i>f ti)-day, and begins by thrmxinj;^ some li^'ht on the somewhat mysterii>us chanj^^e friMn Hamilton to Hrantford. It ex- plains that nothin}^ fuiihcr havinj; been done by the promoters at Hamilton after obtaininj^ the names of certain j^enllemen as pro- posed insurers, a Hrantford i^entleman (name not ^iven) p»'ocured the list thereof and secured sulViciont additional Hrantford names to start the Company ; that all preliminaries required by the Provin- cial Insurance Act had been complied with ; and that the Company was now in operation and ready lor business. Mr. Walker, the Secretary, whose name is appended, was evidently determined that the "Gore" shtnild have its full >liare of the insurance business of the district, for he closes with the followinj;- stirrinj;' appeal :— " Having goiu; tlintugli -ill tin* iitceHHaiy pn^liininary stagCK re(|niro(l by tiie said Act f»f Incorporatinii, the Dijcctors art' now |)ifi)aiLMl to receive ai)|ilica tioiis for insurance, and feel cf)ntident that the inlial>itanl.s of the " (i(»ie " dintrict will Hhow to the Province that in no othci' district is the principle of saving nn)ney better understood tiiau in this, and let oiir motto lie : '' Atm <>/ (fori' .' hr iiiiitnl, ki'ij) your moiuy nf homi ami hi//) oiu' aiiuthir ! " (Laughter, ) But all was not smooth sailinjj;- yet. The August meeting of the Directors appears to have been "thrown into yLITfi A FLUTTER on learning that the Hamilton people had called another meeting for the 9th instant, to form a Company. Thus loomed up what might become a dangerous rival, and the Secretary was authorized to attend the meeting at Hamilton and make explanations. It looks a little at this time of day as if the Brantfordians had been smart enough to run ofT with the Hamilton plum. But " all's well that ends well," and their action was doubtless legitimate enough, inasmuch as the Hamilton meeting, over which the Hon. Adam P'erguson presided, and Mr. Geo. S. Tiffany acted as Sec- retary, came to this sensible decision : " That as it appeared that a Mutual Fire Insurance Company had already been started in the Gore District, the Board of Directors be requested to open Agency Offices in the principal towns of the district as soon as possible." Thus was the Gore District Mutual Fire Insurance Company, now generally known as the " old Gore," started on its career. For several years Mr. Walker seems to have comprised the whole office staff, and the numerous and eHkient insurance employees of the Province may be interested in knowing that his first salary as Sec- retary and Treasurer was $300, and that when he was appointed Travelling Agent, the Directors, in a rather reckless spirit of liber- 8 ality, decided that "the policy and survey fees should be consid- ered the remuneration for his services!" It was not until 1846 that Mr. Thomas Rich, of Gait, so long afterwards connected with the Company, was appointed Travelling Agent, and the following circumstances connected therewith are worth noting, as showing the substantial business methods of those pioneer days. Before Mr. Rich entered upon his duties he had to furnish bonds himse. in ;^'iooo, and two sureties of ;^iooo each, and he had to subscribe to a formidable list of instructions, one of which was that in no case was he to insure more than ;;^2C)00 in one risk ! He was also to balance his books with the Treasurer once a month, and if any neglect occurred in this, it was stated in blunt Anglo-Saxon "that you must expect the action of the Board speedily to follow such neglect." Some of the instructions appear rather antiquated now, but were mostly wise and good. From its 'nception the " Gore " made steady progress for those early times, especially in vvliat are now the counties of Wentworth, Brant and Waterloo, and their chief towns, HAMILTON, BRANTFORD AND GALF. It evidently s-ipplied a long felt want. Five years after starting, the Directors reported the total amount at risk to be ;^265,26o, the annual receipts ;^'2i62, and the losses ;^i788. The success of the Company was considered to be assured, and a seat on the Board of Directors began to be esteemed quite an honor. This and other leasons led to a very brisk contest for seats on the Board at the annual meeting held on the 13th June, 1844. There was a large assemblage of the members of the Company from far and near, and a lively time in the then little town of Brantford when the voting was going on. As throwing light upon the men and the times, I append the names of and votes recorded for the Directors on this occasion : — Mr. Edward Jackson, Hamilton fil2 " Allan Good, Brantford 493 '* Daniel Totten, Paris 377 •• Charles Watt, Hrantford 364 " James Coleman, Diindas 364 " Abraham Cook, Mount Pleasant .363 " John A. Wilkes, Brantford .3,59 " James Keith, Brantfon: ,354 " Andrew Elliott, Gait .354 . " George Douglass ,352 " James K. Andrews, Gait 3,30 " William Walker, Brantford 330 Mr. Andrews and Mr. Walker being a tie, a seconJ* ballot elected the fo-mer, and the official record informs us, without throwing any light upon the cause, that at the first meeting of the new Board, Mr. John A. Wilkes, who had been President since : consid- so long- ravelling with are of those e had to X) each, , one of ,2000 in reasurer tated in e Board i appear 3r those tworth, 5 after c to be . The a seat nor. ats on There )m far I when nd the ectors I allot hout f the ince 1839, resigned his Directorship, and that Mr. Abraham Cook was thereupon unanimously elected President in his place. Three years afterwards, in 1847, Mr. Walker was replaced as Secretary by Mr. Allan Good, and the Company continued to be thus officered (the year 1862 excepted) with Mr. Cook as President, Mr. Good as Secretary, and Mr. Rich, Travelling Agent, until the removal of the Head Office from Brantford in 1863, a period of sixteen years. For many years after this the business ot the Company con- tinued to advance, and its popularity for a considerable period is attested by the number of influential business men in the towns and villages of Western Ontario who were at various times either Di- rectors or members and insurers. Among gentlemen not already mentioned, who in early days acted for longer or shorter periods on the Board of Directors, were the following : Galt — Absalom Shade anil .Tolin Fleming. Hamilton — Judge O'Reilly and the Hon. Samuel Mills. Pakis —Norman Hamilton and Hiram C'apron. Braxtford— James Wilkes, Andrew Higinbotham, John \V. Downs and Alex. Hunnell. Flamboro'— George Corbet t, SiMCOK— Nathan C Fonl. Dundas — John Quarrie. Hamilton — William Turnbull. The prominent business patrons of the Company throughout the Province, ABOUT HALF A CENTURY AGO, were numerous. Among them are to be found such well remem- bered names — honored landmarks in their several localities — as the following : Dundas — Robert Holt, John (iartshore, Robert Spence, Bernard Collins, J. B. Kwart, Thomas H. McKenzic. Paris — Hugh Finlayson, Robert MoCosh, John Irving. Hamilton — Samuel B. Freeman; Buchanan, Harris & Co. ; Dennis Moore, Daniel Dewey, C. & A. Magill, James Osborne, Ebenezer Stimson, A. & T. C. Kerr. London — Bishop Cronyn, H. C. R. Beecher. Brantford — I. & T. Cockshutt, (Jeorge Bal)cock, Dr. Alfred Digby. WooDiiiLL— Hon. Adam Ferguson Flamboro' — Dr. James Hamilton, Andrew T. Kirby, William Miller. Stratford— John C. Daly, Thos. M. Daly. Haldimand— David Thompson. Oakville — Smith & Chisholm. Woodstock — John Douglass, H. Finkle. C\LEDONiA — Ronald McKinnon. Ancaster— James Walker. The '* Gore " was popular in Gait from its comn>encement, and after Mr. Rich's appointment, who resided in the village, most of our earlier business men insured in it. Among the first to take out 10 policies in the Company were the followinj^- gentlemen, whose names will recall to our older citizens many pleasing- and sad recollections: T. S. Treadwell, Thos (i. Chapniiin, (Jeorgo Leu, Tlios. Blacklock, Francis Mcllroy, Henry McCruni, James Cmvan. Oliver 1*. Knox, John Uavidson. Atlani Ainslie, ("lias. 15rown, Alex. Addison, Dr. Robert Miller, James Harris, Walter H. IJenn, Duncan Shepherd, Ro))ert Wyllie, John Young, James Fraser, John Barraclough, Robert Wallace ami Nathan Coy. No apologj' is necessary for recording the names, and thus helping to preserve the memory of these early patrons of the "Gore.' I was a lad at school when most of them were in the prime of their vigorous manhood, but I was afterwards privileged to see or know many of them in Hamilton, Brantford and other places, as well as Gait, AND A GRANDER LOT OF MEN than they and the other early pioneers of this section of Ontario, physi- cally and intellectually, I have never known and never expect to see. They are, alas ! nearly all silent now, but Ontario would not be the splendid province it is to-day, but for the heroic courage, industry, enterprise and perseverance which they displayed in the days of its early settlement. (Applause.) It would take too long and lead us too far afield, to follow closely the vicissitudes which attended the Company until the re- moval to Gait. The annual report of 1859, twenty years after starting business, gives the amount of property at risk at $2,018,281, and the value ot the premium notes held as $181,947. The receipts for the same year, less discounted paper, were $17,162, and the payments $13,324. For several years, however, the Company had sustained very heavy losses, and had gradually drifted into a very unsatisfactory position. It would serve no good purpose to raise the curtain at this late date, now over thirty years since the circum- stances took place. Suffice it to say that dark clouds had appeared on the Company's horizon, which threatened its future. These steadily grew more ominous until 1863, when a crisis occurred in its affairs, which ended in the members deciding upon a complete change in the Board of Directors and management. This occurred at the annual meeting held at Brantford on the I St June, 11^03. For at least the first ten years, Hamilton was the principal d itre of the Company's business, Brantford being second, and Gait third. But Gait and neighborhood had gradually attained to the foremost place, and when the difficulties of the Company be- came aggravated and long continued, a movement was started to solve them by remodelling the Board of Directors and removing the Head Office to Gait. It was completely successful, and the annual meeting of 1863, after a somewhat stormy and excited dis- 11 se names llections: k, Francis son. Adam s, Walter tser, Jolin nd thus of the in the ivileged d other cussiotj, resulted in the election of u new Board, composed of the followinj^ gfentlemen : », physi- to see. t be the dustry, ^s of its follow the re- s after 18,281, eceipts md the ny had a very raise ircum- peared These red in nplete 3n the as the scond, :ained ly be- ted to oving d the 1 dis- Hamilton — Milton Davis, R. Mc^akins. (iALT — -lohn Davidson, Janu's Cronil)it!, Hiiliaril Morris C. Lutz, John Flcmini,', Kicluud I'lliiin liUANTFOKi) — Charles Watt, .Jolm (.'oiufrford. DuNDAS — James Coleman. Strong, Immediately after the meeliiii^^ Icrminatcd, the Directors met for ori^anization. This was done by olcctinj;- Jolin Davidson, Esq., of Gait, as President, and Mr. Thomas Rich, the Travellini,'- Aijent, as Secretary and Treasurer, pro /on. At the next meotini^, held in Brantford on .the 15th June, a By-Law was passed in accordance with the Consolidated Statutes of Upper Canada, chapter 52, changing the Head Office to Gait, and providing for its removal on the 1st of July ensuing. The first office occupied in Gait was in the second story of the Cotnmercial Buildings, immediately above the lower Hat jusi vacat- ed, one or other of which was occupied for over thirty-otie years. There the new Board, which was strong in business talent and linan- cial strength, went to work with CHARACTERISTIC ENKRGV AND ENTLRl'lMSE to extricate the Company from its difficulties and restore it to a sound financial basis. The President, Mr. Davidson, and Messrs. Fleming and Strong, may be mentioned as having given especial attention to its affairs, and with the aid of the other Di- rectors promptly introduced sound business methods, which gradu- ally secured a return of the confidence of the insuring public. Two years later, in 1865, important changes took place in the management. Mr. Rich resigred, having served nineteen years, and Mr. Thomas M. Simons, of Hamilton, was appointed Secre- tary and Treasurer in his place. Shortly afterwards Mr. Robert McLean, for many years past the respected Secretary of the Toron- to Fire Underwriters Association, became Inspector of the "Gore," and in this capacity got his first pointers in the Insurance business. In 1866 the Board for the first time elected a Vice-President in the person of Mr. Strong. But after this the business management underwent very little change till 1877 —a period of 11 years— except that in 1869 Mr. Fleming was elected President in place of Mr. Davidson, who requested to be relieved. During this period many valuable changes were made in the mode of assessment and the conditions aii