Day 5 - Windsor finish and drive to Orillia, Ontario.

We got up before the alarm was set to go off at 6:00 a.m., took showers, got some coffee from downstairs and ate granola for breakfast.  

We packed up our stuff and carted it downstairs and left the Hampton Inn.

Traveled down Huron-Church Road past the access to the Ambassador bridge.

Found the parking lot we had scoped out yesterday afternoon and got to the Leddy Library with 5 minutes to spare.  Time enough to even watch a great blue heron fly over the nearby church. So we spent the next 2 1/2 hours photographing baptisms and marriages of the Mercers, the Ducks, the Elliotts, the McWhinneys, the Richardsons, the Blackwoods and Sparkhall.  

Dr. Brian Owens, University Archivist and I chatted for about a 1/2 an hour about the history of Canada, the Tories coming up from the USA.  He is a Tory transplant also, only he stayed in Canada and we came back to the US through James Turner Church and many others of my great grandparents.  We talked about what life must have been like in the 1780’s and 1790’s and how much life had changed by the 1840’s with cities, universities and steamships.

Found this poster in the Archive and for some reason was drawn to it.  Because it is dark?  Looks like WWI, men marching off to Windmill Point and parts beyond, but for some reason perhaps because a friend Robbie O’Bara talked about Chatham being where his Japanese grandparents were taken to for a camp during WWII, I was thinking of him, I don’t really know, but I took its picture to share with you.

We thanked both Anna Maria and Dr. Brian for their help, left the Archives and left Windsor Ontario for points east and north.  The bridge seems to wrap around forever before it becomes road for all of us to drive on.  I liked that this truck says Churchill from Detroit.

As we drove out of the city to get on the 401, I looked back at Detroit and yes Sandra Leigh, there is still a yellow smog film over Detroit that I didn’t notice while we were there.  No wonder the marble monuments are melting away.

We drove up to Chatham again and found a Home Hardware Building Center so K could pick up a few items to fix her 3 greats Uncle John Mercer’s fence.  

Along the way to the cemetery we stopped again at Sarah’s Farm Market, picked up some more of those yummy Italian plums, more tomatoes, wax beans to snack on, a couple more red peppers and romaine lettuce for veggie wraps and  finally some nectarines to try as well.

We continued toward the cemetery and stopped at the local Low Frills Grocery store and picked up more blue chips, hummus, guacamole, radishes, carrots, cucumbers, some multigrain bread and finally some more wraps.

Also found Mercer Street in Chatham and stopped to get its picture.  Of course what she is saying while smiling is, "take the damn picture I'm smiling like an idiot here...."

We found Maple Leaf Cemetery quickly and moseyed through the cemetery to where Uncle John Mercer and family are laid to rest.  K had picked up some cotter pins to fix the gate.

We worked on it together and got the one gate side in place. The other gate half is missing.  Some times all it takes is a Utility knife and a rock to get a cotter pin to fall into place.

We headed out the 401 towards Orillia and hit rush hour traffic from 4:00 p.m. on.  When we turned on the 400 to head north to Barrie, Ontario it was bumper to bumper.  As it started to clear out this lovely Chevy drove by.

We are in Orillia in the Highwayman Motel.  Ready to go across the street to the St. Andrews and St. James Cemetery to find 2 greats Uncle James M Brennan.  He is one of the brothers of my 2 greats grandmother Elizabeth (Betsy) Brennan.  Along with Uncle James will be both of his wives, Jane Morris and Sophia Harriet Campbell Thayer, and some of their children and grand children.

I found this photo online, it is a copy of a copy of a copy, but it is 2 greats uncle James Brennan and his 2nd wife Sophia Harriet Campbell Thayer.  James Brennan is her 2nd husband and she is his 2nd wife.

I am hoping to find where Eliphalet Augustus Brennan and his wife Martha Tallman are buried and where Elsie Brennan and her husband James Steele are also buried.  We’ll see what I can find.