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        18 November 1926  The SIMCOE REFORMER

A LINK WITH THE PIONEERS

Mrs. Anna Hibbard, wife of the late George Hibbard, passed away at Walsingham Centre, on Friday, November 15th. In her 90th year, after a brief illness. She was one of the old pioneers of Norfolk County, and almost represented the last link between the older generation and the new. She was a daughter of the late Benjamin and Hannah Butcher, of the Third Concession of Walsingham. They moved back into the woods on the banks of Big Creek, in what was afterwards known as Cook's Hollow. There they worked and cleared up a farm. At that time there were no railroads, and all the business was conducted by boats along the shores of Lake Erie. When they built their log house at Cook's Hollow, wolves surrounded the house the first night and cleaned up on some rabbits the grandfather had put in a box. The whole of Norfolk was densely wooded with magnificent pine, and Big Creek was the main source of transportation of logs. Two big mills were erected, one at DeBlacquier's Hollow on the Second and Cook's Mill on the Third Concession. Port Royal at that time was a thriving town. For the most part the roads were cut angling through the woods and followed gullies rather than over hills. Money was scarce and trading was resorted to, and weaving, spinning and looms took the place of clothes that are now bought.

Mrs. Hibbard in her later years was fond of relating the old experiences, and the hard times they went through could never quite reconcile herself to the differences in ideas between that day and the present. In those days everyone has to save or go hungry; but now, she could never understand how the spending could go on, with apparently no thought of providing for tomorrow. Perhaps there are a good many people of the same idea.

She attributed her remarkable health and long life to the fact that she had worked hard. She was assured that she deserved a well-earned rest in later years. She was a sister of Nelson R Butcher of Toronto and left behind her, several children whom she had adopted, notably Mrs. Warren Mansfield of Dereham and her brother John Jenny of Battle Creek, Mich. The funeral was largely attended by friends from far and near.

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