Charles Goodrich TILDEN
Sex: M
Individual Information
Birth: 9 Jul 1807 - , Compton, Quebec
Christening:
Death: Jun 1895 - Ingersoll, Oxford, Ontario
Burial:
Cause of Death:
AFN #:
Parents
Father: Stephen TILDEN (1766- ) 3
Mother: Dorothy GOODRICH ( - ) 3
Spouses and Children
1. *Lois HAGLE (1815 - 23 Apr 1845) 1
Marriage:
Children:
1. Charles Newton Duncan TILDEN (1835-1932) 1
2. Mary Frances TILDEN (1837- ) 1
3. Sarah Dorothy TILDEN (Abt 1839- ) 1
4. Stephen Jarvis Eurd TILDEN (1845-1906) 1
Notes
General:
MAKING PUMPS AT KOMOKA FOR ABOUT 70 YEARS
Charles N. D. Tilden, In 94th year, Tells of Early Manufacturing
CONTENDS WOODEN PUMP BETTER THAN METAL ONE
Recalls Father Having Aided Rebel Leader To Escape At Detroit
BY MYRTLE E. HOME
As we drove up to the trim, white frame house, pleasantly facing the south and companioned by flowers and a well kept lawn with graceful trees, an old gentleman appeared in the doorway. We inquired for Mr. Tilden, the pump maker. With an inclination of the head he intimated that he himself was Mr. Tilden. We then proceeded to inform him that we represented The Free Press and…
"No, no, I already take one London newspaper, a farm magazine and several other periodicals."
Upon reassuring him that we did not wish him to subscribe to any more papers, but simply, but simply to give us some of his early memories of the community, we were invited in, and this young old man, now in his 94th year, began the recounting of many interesting tales of pioneer days.
"Were you born at Komoka, Mr. Tilden?"
"No, indeed. I first saw the light of day at Ingersoll. My mother was Miss Lois Hagle, whose forbear's originally came from Pennsylvania. Often have I heard my mother tell of her father riding on a horse seated in front of his mother all the way from their old home in the States to the Niagara District. Later they moved to Ingersoll, which was mostly a name at that time, and took up farming there. My father came from Compton, Quebec Province, and fate led him to the Hagle home, where he lived for some time. Soon he and Miss Lois, the young and pretty daughter of the household, became very enamored with one another. Having obtained the Parent's consent they were married and lived in Ingersoll, and there we a family of five, were born. When I was 10 years old my mother died and our home was broken up, my brothers and sisters being sent to different people to be brought up, I was taken by an English gentleman living in Arkona. He had to his credit 21 years experience in the East India service and I was treated as he had doubtless treated so many natives-whipped and starved until I ran away, going back to my Uncle's at Ingersoll."
RESIDENT 70 YEARS
"And how long have lived here, Mr. Tilden?"
"Oh, it must be 70 years since I came here to live. Of course, this is not the same house that was here then. Some years ago the old home was destroyed by fire and this one was built almost on the same site."
"It would be all woods then?"
"Yes, one of the finest pieces of pine forest one could wish to see."
"And when did you start your pump factory and what gave you the idea of such work?"
" Well you see, I was drawing these fine pine logs, 20 feet long and 10 to a load, to Mr. Cousins, a pump maker in London, or "The Forks", as it was then called, and getting $6 for my load, so I decided that I could do better than that if I made the pumps myself."
"It would be all hand work then?"
"Well, we used horsepower for a long time before we got a steam engine. Yes, and I could accomplish more with the horsepower than the steam. Why, I could take a two-and-one-half inch core of a six foot log in three minutes." He proudly exclaimed, "But the machinery for the steam power was not geared so high."
"Did you sell many pumps, Mr. Tilden?"
"One year I sold 140. I've sold as many as four a day, but, of course, the iron pump is replacing the wooden ones. But they are not so good," he loyally claimed. "They are bound to rust, and if they get out of order it is very hard getting them apart, as the joints will be almost solid with rust. Why, I know one of my pumps that has been in constant use for 34 years."
"Everything would be much cheaper in those days than in more recent years?"
"Oh yes, Lumber sold for $4 per thousand. Well do I remember the old plank highway from London to St. Thomas and Port Stanley. Acres of the very best timber were cut down by the settlers and burned in order to get it out of the way so that the ground could be tilled. And other things were equally cheap. I recall drawing the potatoes from seven acres to London one fall, 50 bushels to the load, and getting 45 cents a bag. Yes, I bought a 200 pound pig that had been fattened on peas, which we used to think made the very finest pork, for $5. And beef-one could get any quantity from the hindquarters for two and a half cents a pound."
MONEY NOT PLENTIFUL
We lamented the fact that we had not lived earlier.
"But money wasn't plentiful in those days. Often have I walked from my uncle's at Ingersoll to my home here, breaking the trip by resting with friends and completing the journey in less than a day and a half. There were no trains at that time, and although there was the stage coach, I didn't have the money for such a luxurious mode of travel, so I walked. But I couldn't do it now, for I occasionally feel a bit of rheumatism." But judging from the alacrity with which he moved from his chair and went to his room to bring his grandfathers big family bible; we knew that it was still not seriously affecting him. Without the aid of spectacles he turned the pages and showed us the family record, beginning in 1787. "This one, "pointing to 'Joel Tilden, born in 1800' is the great-grandfather of the famous tennis champion-or so we believe."
Bringing another big family bible for us to see, he explained how he acquired it.
A book agent called one day and tried to sell it to me. However, I had not the money to pay for it and refused to buy it.
"You take the Bible and I'll take a pump," said the salesman, and I immediately said "I'll take the bible."
Turning the pages he showed us his own family record, beautifully printed and decorated.
"This is all the work of a tramp."
We exclaimed over the excellence of the lettering and he told us of being in Mount Brydges one day and there meeting a man who was dead broke. He showed a sample of his printing and Mr. Tilden at once asked him to get in the buggy and drive home with him. There, after he had eaten a good dinner, he did this work for him, "and he only charged a dollar, too."
"Now you must come out and see the pump factory."
HELPED REBEL ESCAPE
And while the old gentleman went for his hat, his daughter-in-law, Mrs. George Tilden, gave us further information of Mr. Tilden's family. He was named for Dr. Duncombe, one of the Leaders of the Rebellion of 1837- Charles Newton Duncombe Tilden, and was born April 23, 1835. It was his father who drove Dr. Duncombe in a cutter to London to Detroit, resting overnight with a sister of Mr. Tilden's at Yarmouth, that the doctor might escape when the rebellion failed. Having reached their destination in safety, Dr. Duncombe was bound he would pay Mr. Tilden for his great help and also for the risk that he had run in helping a rebel leader to escape. However, Mr. Tilden said he was under no obligation whatever to him and would accept nothing.
"Well, then," said the doctor, "I shall give you the deed to my farm and it shall be for your baby boy, whom you already named for me." And thus this tract of beautiful pine forest of 200 acres came into the possession of Charles Newton Duncombe Tilden, who was at the time two years old. This land is on the second concession and about two and a half miles west of the Komoka side road, and it is also about the same distance from Mount Brydges. In 1860 Mr. Tilden married Miss Mary Burgess, Of Woodstock, and the day after they were married the saw the late King Edward in Woodstock. There were 11 children of this union, but only six survive. George, the eldest son, now lives with his father and helps him in the pump industry. Stephen, of Bothwell; Charles, of London; William, of Harriston; **Edgar, in Saskatchewan, and the only daughter, May, Mrs. Lockwood, of Vancouver.
By this time the hat was found and Mr. Tilden led us out to his workshop. On the way the conversation turned to England and Mr. Tilden said: "You know, I think England is the greatest country in the world,"
"Excepting Scotland," we hastened to remind him.
"Oh well, when I said England I really meant the British Isles," he conceded.
"It may seem strange that I should think so when I tell you that my grandfather fought in an American regiment against the British in the Revolution of'76, and that my father was mixed up in the Rebellion of '37, but I'm British to the backbone."
THE PUMP SHOP
We had now reached the shop and were shown into a large room, where we saw pumps in every stage of construction-the huge pine log, the squared timber, the round cylinder, suckers of different sizes, and porcelain lined cylinders for these. There were several assembled pumps also, resplendent in their new coats of bright green and red paint. Huge augurs, which take out the large core from the cylinder, and tiny ones, which take out a core that would make an ideal fishing rod, were suspended at convenient height. These, as well as all the other machinery in the shop, are operated by steam engine in an adjoining room.
"Do you know, I used to get the leather that I use," showing us a sucker fitted up with its band of heavy leather, "for 15 cents a pound, but during the war I paid as high as $1.50 for leather of the same quality." Everything was clearly and kindly explained to us. And here in the workshop, sweet with the fragrance of pine chips and shavings and surrounded by the tools of his trade, this bright old gentleman spends a large part of his day, just as he has done for over half a century. Surely a shining example, of a useful, well spent life.
As we came away from the factory we greatly admired the beautiful woods which form a wonderful background for the buildings. We can easily imagine that these ancient giants of the forest are quite reconciled to being cut down, knowing that they will be fashioned by loving and skilled hands into a daily necessity. A tragedy, indeed, it would be to them were they to be ruthlessly burned as were so many in the early days, but what finer end could be a beautiful tree wish for than to be made into something that shall be a boon and blessing to mankind?
Circa/1929/Free Press, Myrtle E. Home
(Probably the London, Ontario Free Press)