A - Z Challenge 2018 - H

The Blogging from A to Z Challenge is to post everyday (except Sunday) in the month of April 2018 starting with the letter A and going all the way to Z. The theme I chose is...
My Family Tree Places.

HEMMINGFORD, QC

Hemmingford is a historic village and township in the Montérégie region of Quebec, south of Montreal near the New York State border. 

Village of Hemmingford 1877 at BaNQ

I chose Hemmingford for the letter H to pay homage to my father. He wanted to be a carpenter, but chose to work for the telephone company for the security for his family.

In 1972 my father, Thomas Seale, fulfilled his life-long dream to renovate an old house.  My parents sold the house they built west of Montreal and bought this old stone house built by Colonel John Scriver (pg 107) in 1815.  

Scriver house June 1972

  

The house was built in two parts, the main first part (left of the white door, which led to upstairs right) built in 1815 and the part on the right added c1846.  The walls were 18" of stone on three sides, and 24" of stone on the windy side. My parents had their work cut out for them, as I was getting married in the house at the end of September, barely four months away!! We spent weekends tearing down ceilings, Dad stripped and sanded all the plank floors and Mom painted and wallpapered. He got it presentable for the wedding, but there was lots more work to do. Dad pointed all the stone work outside, put in all new windows, and closed off two door ways.

He thought about having it declared a heritage house and getting grants to pay for some of the work, but he decided against that idea. When you do that you have to follow strict guide lines and do the renovations the way dictated, and even the colours for paint etc. have to be what they say. Dad wanted to renovate it like he envisioned it in his mind, with no restrictions. 

Before...

After....

Google Street View - smaller left side, 2 story, built 1815

Dad brought 2 blue spruce saplings from the property of our old house and planted one on either side of the front door (see how tall they are now!), then had the rest of the landscaping done. The carriage house in the back served as garage and workshop, with upstairs storage.

Behind the house Dad had a pool put in, and beyond that was a huge vegetable garden.  My grandfather was rototilling the garden one spring, and later he discovered his false teeth were missing... he usually kept them in his shirt pocket, handy for when he was going to eat.  I can just imagine one of these years someone will be making a garden and unearth Grampa's teeth.  What a hoot!