George Bucciarelli decided to do something for Chapleau children and 'Bucciarelli's Picnic' was born in 1931

One day, George Bucciarelli, who had arrived in Chapleau in 1910 and established a grocery store on Lorne Street, decided that he wanted to do something for the less fortunate children of the community.

According to the Chapleau Post, it was exactly August 22, 1931, just as the effects of the Great Depression were beginning to be felt.

Mr. Bucciarelli made a decision, which was to become one of the most popular events for children for many years to come when he decided unfortunate children of the town needed a treat -- in the beginning he was thinking about those who were in town year in and year out without so much as a trip down the lake or highway,

"The more he pondered, the more his desire to give kids something grew," the Post reported.

Finally, he had a "brilliant idea" and at that moment, Bucciarelli's Picnic "without a doubt the biggest event" of the years for children was born.

Mr. Bucciarelli saw a group of children playing on the street in front of his store and called them aside and asked if they would like to go on a picnic down the road the next day.

"You bet your life they would," was the response.

He told them to be in front of his store at one p.m. the next day, August 23, 1931, and they would go on a picnic. He added that "Tell all your friends I'm going to make a picnic and bring them along".

All well and good but Mr. Bucciarelli didn't know what he had started.

The next day, at 12:40 p.m., he looked out the window of his store, "rubbed his eyes, looked again" and instead of the 30 to 40 expected, there were over 200 children assembled. More were arriving every moment.

He called Angelo, his son and other employees, asking "What are we going to do?", he asked. They had only prepared enough treats for a much smaller group. As a matter of interest, the Post reported that the other employees present were Frank Principe and Leslie Perfetto.

At 12:50 p.m., Mr. Bucciarellei bellowed, "OK! Fix them up!" and one headed into the candy department, another was downstairs getting more crates of oranges and extra cases of soft drinks, while Leslie managed to find a couple of nice watermelon.

By this time, the crowd has reached 275 children.

And, Mr. Bucciarelli? He was "sitting in a corner, ringing the telephone hot in a valiant last minute effort to get sufficient cars."

The result? Enough vehicles were found to accommodate all the children (quite an accomplishment in itself in 1931 Chapleau when there were not that many motor vehicles) and the procession left the store at 1:15 p.m., just 15 minutes late. The kids had a whale of a good time at his farm at Mileage 17, the Post reported.

George Bucciarelli decided that the children should have a yearly event of this kind. "I like to see the kids playing and having lost of fun."

Thus began Bucciarelli's Picnic which continued for years and evolved into Bucciarelli's Beach where many events, including the annual Chapleau High School wiener roast was held each September.

More to come on Mr. Bucciarelli in future columns. Thanks to Doug Greig for providing information.

Just another friendly reminder that you are invited to become part of the public library online history project by providing photos and stories about your family and/or community events. Please contact Doug or the library for more details. My email is mj.morris@live.ca

Philias (Felix) Fortin family lived in old Canadian Pacific Railway boxcar after arriving in Chapleau in 1909

When Philias (Felix) Fortin and his wife Arthamise, along with their growing family arrived in Chapleau on May 16, 1909, there were few places to rent so their first home was in an old Canadian Pacific Railway boxcar by the river near the old pumphouse.

Writing about her family to mark the centennial of Sacred Heart Roman Catholic Parish, their daughter Jeanne (Fortin) Morin said the boxcar had no running water or electricity, but they fixed it up and it became a comfortable place to live until they built a house at 25 Grey St, North a bit later.

Mr. Fortin was born on August 17, 1874 in St, Fabien, Quebec, while Arthamise Courturier, who was to become his wife was born on August 9, 1879.

At an early age Arthamise left home to work in a cotton factory in Fall River, Massachusetts, United States. Mrs. Morin wrote that "Mom and Dad were sweethearts before Mom decided to leave home for the States so he was not going to stay in the province of Quebec without her". He went to the United States and they were married on April 28, 1898.

Several children were born there including Emile (the oldest), Amanda (Mrs. Zenon Rioux), Alfred (Tarzan), Eugene (Froggie), Emma (Mrs. J. E. Michaud). They decided to return to Bic, Quebec where two more children Willie and Rosanna (Mrs. Tom Butler) were born.

As Mr. Fortin could not find steady work they decided to move to Ontario and on May 16,1909, he was hired by the Canadian Pacific Railway Bridge and Building department at Chapleau. Later he became a brakeman.

Mrs. Morin also noted that they wanted their children to be fluent in French and English.

Raymond Morin, Louis Fortin, Marcel Morin are grandchildren

After settling in Chapleau the family continued to grow with the births of Edgar (Mick), Romeo (the cook), Jeanne (Mrs, Tony Morin), Bernadette (Mrs. Dome Brillant), Delia (Mrs. Harvey Fortunato),  Cecile, (Mrs. R. Martin), Lydia and Zita (Mrs. R. Mackay)

During the Great Depression of the 1930s, Mr. Fortin was laid off from the CPR, so he decided to go into the cord wood business and his three eldest sons worked with him in the beginning. They built a sawing machine to cut the wood.

"They managed but it was hard work," Mrs. Morin wrote.

"Mother had her share of courage with a big family," Mrs. Morin noted but the older daughters helped. "Mom was a good cook. She kept us clean, healthy and happy even though we did not have money."

Mrs. Fortin died on November 23, 1953, and her husband on July 17, 1956.

We moved to Grey Street in 1945 and the house was heated by a giant wood stove, (or at least it seemed real big to me). My grandmother, Edythe Hunt did the cooking on it, and it was also used to heat the water for washing and baths on a Saturday night.

Each Fall for several years Mr. Fortin and his sons would bring us a load of cordwood that was piled in the backyard, and was about six feet high -- a great place to play with my friends.

Then they would come with the sawing machine and saw it into stove wood lengths, which my grandfather George Hunt and I, often assisted by my mother, Muriel (Hunt) Morris,carried into the "back shed" where it was neatly piled before Winter set in.

In 1961, after my first year at university I was working for the Department of Lands and Forests at Missanabie, and on a Friday it was common to catch a ride on a freight train into Chapleau for the weekend.  On one occasion, Eugene (Froggie) Fortin was the conductor on one, and I approached him and asked if I could get a ride on his train.

He glared at me and sternly said, "Why should I give you a ride on my train?" I turned to leave, but before I could, Mr. Fortin said, "You are Jim Morris' son," and I nodded that I was.

"You can have a ride on my train any time you want," he smiled, and proceeded to tell me a story I have never forgotten.

During the depression, Mr. Fortin had caught a freight out of Chapleau, heading for the Prairies in the hope of finding work helping with the wheat harvest. My father was a CPR Police Officer at Fort William, now Thunder Bay, and part of his job was to remove transients from freight trains. On that day he saw Mr. Fortin who of course he knew, and gave him a one train head start on the others, by removing them and as Mr. Fortin told me, giving him "my private train west."

Chapleau folks cared about and helped each other. 

Doug Greig and the public library are working on a huge project to create a web site with the stories of all Chapleau families, and the life and times of the community since its founding. They invite you to participate by making available photos, stories, etc.about your family. Contact Doug or the library for more information. 

I will continue to remind you in Chapleau Moments and on Michael J Morris Reports  that your family is important to the success of the project. They all add to the Chapleau story and bring back  memories like this one about the Fortin family has done for me. 

I also became friends with grandchildren of Philias and Arthamise Fortin -- and in Chapleau, you never really knew who was related. My cousin Leslie Zufelt married Richard Morin, the son of Jeanne (Fortin) Morin and her husband Tony. My email is mj.morris@live.ca

Richard Brownlee quiet and unassuming citizen but staunch believer in future of Chapleau starting in 1886

Richard Brownlee

Despite being a quiet and unassuming person, Richard 'Dick' Brownlee, who was one of Chapleau's first citizens, was always a staunch worker for anything progressive in the community.

Mr. Brownlee arrived in Chapleau on February 4, 1886, and two days later, established a barber shop in a tent on the site where the Lady Minto Hospital would be located in 1914, at the corner of Elm and Queen Streets. 

Writing in his book "Pioneering in Northern Ontario", Vince Crichton noted that in early 1886 was "nothing more than a large camp" on the Canadian Pacific Railway, and that Mr. Brownlee's barber shop was in the vicinity of the original townsite.

Born in 1868, Mr. Brownlee had worked at several jobs as a young man, then decided to become a barber, setting up shop first in Biscotasing which  was a busy and important place on the CPR in the early 1880s.

In 1887, he married and he brought his wife Ellen to Chapleau. She was one of the few women there at the time. Both were 19.

First shop in the lean to

Around the end of 1886, T.A. Austin Co. who had established a store on the site which later became Smith and Chapple Ltd, now Village Shops, built a lean to shop on the east end of their store which became known as Dick's Barber Shop.

Vince wrote that he did a "roaring business, trimming the bushy beards, large moustaches and many a lock of unruly hair."

From his earliest days in Chapleau Mr. Brownlee gained a reputation as a person who helped many in trouble, and supported projects that benefited many not just a few.

But, "a quiet and unassuming person, the hand was more often hidden than seen".

Like so many of Chapleau's earliest citizens, Mr Brownlee was involved in many aspects of community life. Apparently he was a good lacrosse player and played on a Chapleau team as early as 1890. He became a member of the Chapleau Volunteer Fire Brigade and was made an honourary member in 1931. He was also treasurer of the Chapleau Town Band for 13 years.

He became a charter member of Lodge 266 of the Independent Order of Oddfellows when it was established in the community.

A faithful worker for St. John's Anglican Church, he served as Rector's Warden for 12 years when Rev. P.R. Soanes was at the parish.

Brownlee Block

 In 1907, Mr. Brownlee purchased property at 22 and 24 Birch Street East which came to be known as the Brownlee Block. He established his new barber shop there and lived in an apartment upstairs.

Arriving in Chapleau in 1911, at the age of 17 from Thouars, France, Alf Comte became the Chapleau boys' best friend from childhood up, joining Mr. Brownlee in the barber shop. 

Alf Comte

He decided to stay. "It was young, it was colourful, it was growing," he said of Chapleau. It became known as the Four Chair Union Barber Shop -- but I only remember three chairs?

Mr. Comte became Mr. Brownlee's business partner and in 1928 they petitioned for a liquor store. Citizens voted in favour and in later 1928, the Liquor Control Board of Ontario opened store at 24 Beech Street. Robert McEwen was the first vendor (manager) and George Hunt, my grandfather, the assistant vendor.

Mr. Brownlee retired in 1931 and Mr. Comte took over the business, retiring in 1961.

He built the first real summer home at Mulligan's Bay on what came to be known as Brownlee Island, later Card Island. He also had the first steam powered boat to cruise the two rivers, going down the lake to a bay. He always enjoyed hunting and fishing.

In 1936, Mr. Brownlee's wife Ellen died, and in her memory he built the Brownlee Chapel and Vault at the Chapleau Municipal Cemetery. He had been a member of the cemetery board too.

In 1938, Mr. Brownlee married Marie Jeanne Leclerc.

Richard Brownlee died at age 83 on August 8, 1951, and his funeral service was conducted by Rev. E. Roy Haddon at St. John's Church. 

He had seen Chapleau grow from its earliest days to the opening of its boom years in the !950s.

He was most impressed with the first diesel engine to arrive in December 1949, pulling CPR passenger train Number 3. In 1950 upon hearing the news that Chapleau was to be on the Trans Canada Highway, he commented "If only G.B. Nicholson (Chapleau's first reeve and his friend) was alive to hear this."

Mr. Brownlee, along with other pioneer citizens were strong believers in the future of Chapleau.

As I was researching this column about Mr. Brownlee, it struck me that outside of family, he was my first real friend.Let me explain. After my father Jim Morris went overseas in World War II, my mother, Muriel (Hunt) Morris and I stayed with my aunt and uncle, Elsie (Mom's sister) and B.W. Zufelt at their home on Beech street.

For a time before returning to teach at Chapleau Public School, Mom worked in the liquor store and I would wander over to Main Street, and join the 'oldtimers" including Mr. Brownlee where they met daily to chat in front of the barber shop.

In due course, Mr. Brownlee started taking me for car rides around town and even down the highway to the diversion. Quite a thrill for a little boy as there were not many cars in Chapleau in the mid 1940s. And after we moved to Grey Street in 1945, I was able to chat with my friend each Sunday at St. John's.

My most sincere thanks to Michael McMullen, Doug Greig, and to the late Vince Crichton for writing "Pioneering in Northern Ontario". My email is mj.morris@live.ca

Photo credits Chapleau Post, Comte family collection, Vince Crichton collection courtesy of Dr Vince Crichton