Dad's Hometown Memories Podcast

In this episode, Dad talks with Joanne McLaren who has done some exhaustive and detailed work in her book, "Veterans Of West Lincoln WW1". In this book, Joanne has provided amazing details into the lives of 185 veterans from the area, many who returned home after The Great War, some who did not. The book has now been published and is available for $28.00 by contacting Joanne at 905-957-7845 or email her at wlveterans@gmail.com Listen in as Joanne describes the work that went into putting this information together and as she reads the history of 3 local veterans that are detailed in the book.  

This episode is Dad reading a column that was written by Bill Shrum of Smithville and submitted to and published in the Bird's Eye Review. Bill gives a wonderful recitation of his memories and knowledge of the poultry fanciers and breeders in Smithville, in Niagara and in North America. It's an amazing recollection of a once-thriving and very close knit community that few people have reason to consider until you walk into a show at one of the local fall fairs, the Canadian National Exhibition or the Royal Winter Fair. Enjoy!

Welcome back to the Print Shop and another episode of Dad's Hometown Memories. In this, the 21st episode, Dad takes the time to outline the history of all of the buildings in the beautiful mural that was installed on the wall of the Murgatroyd building at the stoplight in town. Some of the information comes from the history books published about Smithville and other stories come from Dad's own memory! We've included a picture of the mural on the Facebook posting for this episode so that you can look at the picture and follow along as Dad narrates the history of each building. We hope you enjoy and if you do, please share this episode with others.

In this last episode before Christmas 2018, Ivan first pays tribute to Harry Smith from Belleville Ontario who passed away recently. Harry was podcasting into his 90's and gave Dad some of the motivation and inspiration to start this podcast. The rest of the episode is dedicated to the Boulter family of Smithville. The Boulter family was involved in the meat and grocery business in the Smithville area for many years and through many generations. We hope you enjoy this trip down memory lane.

Dad wanted to publish another episode before Remembrance Day 2018 to honour the memory of another Smithville veteran, Buck Edwards. I think the episode speaks for itself so I won't describe the content, please enjoy. Dad and his sister Janet Shrum will be laying a wreath this Sunday at the Smithville Legion in Remembrance of their brother William who was killed in action in Holland in 1945, and their mother Mildred Leona Carruthers. Hopefully you get a chance to join everyone for the ceremony and if you do, Dad would love to say hi.

This episode marks the second year of recording Dad's memories in podcast form. Being near to Remembrance Day Dad wanted to pay tribute to a couple of men from Smithville who left home for Europe in the late 30's and early 40's and came back to continue their lives in Smithville. There are many more stories of folks from Smithville who went off to war and you can hopefully find those stories in some of the very good local history books or perhaps in your own family scrapbooks. Dad chose these two men because of the personal relationships that he had with both.  One part that stood out for me from these recollections is that many residents not only lived in town but they worked in town and they wore multiple hats around the village. Things needed to be done and everyone had a hand in making sure everything ran smoothly. We hope you enjoy these stories.

Yup, it's been awhile but what a wonderful summer it has been. In this new episode Ivan provides the history of how West Lincoln was first surveyed. In addition he is looking for some help finding family history for Brad Smith. Brad, a local author, contacted Dad and asked if he had any information on his family tree. Have a listen and maybe you can help Brad. The episode ends with a letter from Rick Frith about his childhood in Smithville and his memories of his dad and life on the TH&B railway. We hope you enjoy this walk down memory lane. Here's a link for you to have a look at Brad's fantastic reads: http://www.bradsmithbooks.com/index.php

Hi, and welcome to Ivan’s 15th podcast. Dad had been doing these podcasts since last November and I can tell you that he loves the response that he gets from each of you who listen and from those of you who contact him or comment on each episode. Almost 1500 of you have downloaded and listened. Please share these episodes with anyone you think might be interested. It’s been shared in many countries around the world but for some reason, in the United States, South Carolina and New Jersey lead the way so thank you to whoever has shared it to friends or family in those states. Outside of Canada and the U.S., the Bahamas leads the way in downloads.  This might be my favourite episode so far. In this episode he talks about his brother-in-law Bill Shrum and the Shrum family. Bill Shrum is my uncle and there are memories in this episode that I haven’t heard before. The Shrum family has a long history not just in Smithville but, as you’ll hear in this episode, in the Ontario agricultural community. In addition to this wonderful family history you’ll hear a bit about a quarry in Smithville that turned into a landfill that turned into a soccer pitch that some of you, or your children, or your grandchildren, may have played on. On top of that you’ll hear a bit about Caistorville baseball. So much packed into one episode, I hope you enjoy it. Thank you so much for listening, sharing and commenting.

Dad is back with some memories about sports in Smithville. Sports history is a topic that is requested quite often when people talk to dad about his podcast. In addition he spends some time detailing the history of the numerous Women's Institutes in and around Smithville. 

It's been awhile but Ivan is back with a new episode,(the delay was totally Greg's fault!). This one covers some of the history of how the waterways contributed to the settlement of some of the areas south of Smithville. You will hear a lot of information about a village you probably know, Wellandport, and a little bit about a village that many of you drive through but may not know of it's history--Middleport. We hope you enjoy!

Ivan recounts the history of the Shepherd family in Smithville starting with William E. Shepherd who settled in Smithville in 1914 after operating a sawmill in Caistor for a number of years. If you follow the "Memories of Smithville" Facebook page, you'll see a number of pictures posted there that go along with this edition of the podcast. Enjoy!

Welcome to the first live,(recorded), edition of Dad's Hometown Memories. Dad was asked to be the guest speaker at the AGM of the West Lincoln Chamber of Commerce on their 70th Anniversary. We were able to capture the speech and turn it into this edition of Dad's Hometown Memories Podcast. We hope you enjoy.

Dad has returned after a short absence from the microphone. He recently attended an event hosted by the Smithville Historical Society at the old Railway Station in town. Murray Lampman delivered a talk on some of the small hamlets in the area where he grew up and that was the inspiration for this podcast. Enjoy!

In Dad's first episode of 2018 he gets a new microphone to step up the quality of his performance! He reminisces about the Board of Trade and the various incarnations of the Chamber of Commerce in Smithville and West Lincoln. In addition you will hear about the Chamber's Citizen of the Year program and a little history of Stan Sheldrake's hot air balloon. Please enjoy and share with others who might like to listen.

Welcome back to the seventh edition of Dad's Hometown Memories. Today Ivan shares his history with the Print Shop in Smithville, how he started in the business and the evolution of Carruthers' Printing and the Smithville Review. Dad also touches on some of the commercial businesses that came to set up shop in town as well as some interesting happenings that come along with being the editor of a small town weekly newspaper. We hope you enjoy this episode, please share it with others who might be interested. Thanks for listening.

Welcome to episode 6 of Dad's Hometown Memories. In this episode Ivan recounts the people behind the book, Memories of Smithville- 1787 to 1950. In addition to honouring those folks, Ivan uses a recent phone conversation with Marjorie Chase as a jumping off point to outline the life of Marjorie's husband Jim. Listen in as Ivan provides a few stories about the railroad in Smithville and also some about how polio affected residents of the village. To end the episode, Ivan pays tribute to his good friend, Joe Belcot. Please enjoy and share.

Ivan is back with Episode 5 in his Memories podcast. Ivan shares the thoughts of Mr. Frank Page who he interviewed regarding the history of Smithville and some of it's early inhabitants and the businesses that lined the streets of the village. There are a lot of names in this episode and we hope some will be familiar to you. A number of the buildings where these businesses operated from still exist today and hopefully in your next walk around town you will recognize some of them.

In this week's episode Ivan begins by reminiscing about his family's arrival in Smithville and then spends the rest of the podcast telling stories and giving thanks to the many people who supported and mentored him as a young man growing up in Smithville.

Episode three from the shop on St Catharines Street has Ivan talking about the beginings of the village, the arrival of electricity and the early years of the fire department. Ivan shares a very personal story about the near drowning of a family member while he was on the fire department. Thanks for tuning in!

Ivan's second episode covers some of the stories of the Carruthers family arrival in Smithville. He covers schooling, cadet corps during the war years at Smithville High School, early jobs that he and Bill Shrum had and the terrifying topic of sinkholes in Smithville! Come on into the shop, sit down and let's have a chat.

In his first episode on the history of his home town of Smithville, Ontario, Canada, Ivan Carruthers talks about a chance meeting with another resident of the town. The meeting leads to a discussion of the bakeries in Smithville, other businesses and some of the families in town.