One evening at Piper's Dam - Glimpses of the Past with Karen Webster

Early settlers looked to the Maitland River as a source of transportation and for power to drive the many mills needed to sustain life as they knew it. Researchers John Hazlitt and Ted Turner discovered evidence of at least 78 dams and mills along the Maitland and chronicled them in their 2011 book, entitled Power of the Maitland.

 

To augment the natural flow of the river, areas adjacent to the river would have been dammed and then the water channeled towards the millwheels to power the workings in the mill. The water flow around these dams were much more rapid than that of the river itself.

 

The focus of this column is a spot just east of Goderich known as Piper’s Dam, which is found at the end of Mill Road and can also be seen from the Maitland Cemetery Trail.

 

This property was first purchased from the Canada Company in 1842 by Sheriff John MacDonald and it was here that his brother-in-law, William Piper, constructed a dam to facilitate a flour mill. Various industries sprung up in the area over the years, including another flour mill, a saw mill, a carding mill for wool and a brewery.

 

Hidden in the annals of history is the reason for a gathering of local men at the mill pond of Piper’s Dam on the evening of April 19, 1845. Perhaps it was their custom to meet after a week’s hard labour to relax and enjoy companionship. It could have been one of those unusually mild spring days or it could have been an occasion to have a drinking party. We will never know, but it was there, on that date, that a tragedy occurred.

 

Pioneer men including John Ross, John Peacock, George Clendenning, Isaac Clendenning, John McHardy, Matthew Donnelly, and possibly a few others, were taking turns rowing around in the mill pond in a small skiff (a shallow boat with a square back suitable for fishing).

 

At some point, when Peacock and the two Clendennings were in the skiff, they ventured too close to the race of the dam and they were drawn into the flow and went over the apron of it. Unfortunately Peacock did not survive.

 

As was the custom of the times, an inquest was called immediately and it convened on Sunday, April 20, at which time coroner George Fraser empanelled 13 area men to review the testimonies of those who had been present and to come to a verdict.
Matthew Donnelly testified that the parties in the boat were not the “best of witnesses of opinion being the worse of liquor”. All witnesses agreed that the occupants of the boat were warned that they were getting too close to danger and to row away from the dam, but that their admonishments went unheeded.

 

After the skiff went over the dam, Donnelly was able to grab hold of Robert Clendenning and to pull him to safety. The other Clendenning, Isaac, was seen to be standing in breast-high water for about 10 minutes, waving his right arm at his would-be rescuers, but they were unable to get to him before the current had swept him off his feet several times. It is unclear what his fate was that day, as one account indicates that he drowned, while the inquest that ensued was only for the death of John Peacock, indicating that Isaac Clendenning survived. McHardy testified that he lost sight of Peacock after the craft went over the dam. A search of the riverbank was conducted and Peacock’s body was found downstream from Piper’s Dam by Goderich resident Joseph Williamson.

 

The findings of the inquest were that John Peacock, aged 40 years old, perished by “being in a certain skiff, the property of William Piper, and was accidentally (a) casualty and by misfortune cast and thrown into the waters of the River Maitland, and in the waters of said river was then and there drowned.”

 

John Peacock, an Irish emigrant, was married to Rebecca Cunningham in York in 1829 and their first two children had been born there as well. He purchased Lots 18, 19 and 20 on the Third Concession of Goderich Township from the Canada Company in 1832. There, seven more children were born; the youngest, Andrew, on April 5, 1845, just 14 days before his father’s untimely death. Rebecca was left with nine children, the eldest, Elizabeth, being 14 years old. The eldest son was John Jr., who was 13 at the time.

 

Even though all of the early settlers of our area underwent trying times, there were some folks who faced even greater challenges to just live and survive. The Peacock family would certainly number among those. It was a custom of the time to publish, in the local newspaper, all the legal proceedings when suits against other individuals brought to court became public knowledge. At least three instances of this reporting involved Rebecca and two of her sons for “debt”. How difficult it must have been for Rebecca to survive with such a large family of dependents!

 

In 1860, Rebecca Peacock became the owner of Lot 22 N ½ Conc. 14 in West Wawanosh and farmed there with her younger sons Joseph and Robert. This property was sold in 1863 and, by 1870, she and most of the family had moved on to Polk, Minnesota, though some members remained in Huron County.

 

Time and time again, history repeats itself as a few moments of inattention or folly can affect the lives and wellbeing of many people.