Thirsa, daughter of Benjamin Hewitt and Catherine Beaul, was born 30 January 1855 at _________________ Ontario. Looking at the 1861 census, it's easy to guess how the two met; they were next door neighbours.
Thirsa was the oldest child, and had to stay home and work. Because of that, she didn't get much education and couldn't read very well. Many years later, her daughter Mary gave her a picture bible - a bible in symbols - for her to read.
Bob was the "interesting one". As the story goes, he was involved in what one could not construe as a "family business"; something like gambling, and rum running. Then a Presbyterian minister came to town, and he became a changed man. The changed man was the one his daughter Carrie remembered.
"I can remember we kids would be all up stairs in the morning, and dad would be singing ... always singing a hymn. Oh it's just dad singing hymns, and we'd turn over and go back to sleep, till he'd get the fire going."
Sometimes Bob would be singing little ditties of a monkey chasing a baboon type song, but mostly he'd be singing Hymns.
Bob was involved with oil wells at the turn of the century. His daughter-in-laws agreed that the Tunks' money was sunk into the ground. It was the male pursuit for the "big one".
Bob had a portable saw mill, that he could move right into the woods and do the cutting on site. Thirsa would go with him and do the cooking for the men; fried onions was a favourite entree.
The Reid's Mill was going strong during WWI, and Bob looked after the machinery. If anything went wrong, 2 short blasts of the steam whistle was the signal to call him from one sawmill to another.
| It was after WWI that Bob started up his basket factory, utilizing the (then) extensive elm and hickory timber nearby. Not too many people living in the Bothwell, Ontario area in the 1920's and into the 1930's can say they didn't work at that factory at one time. Anyone looking for some extra cash - even kids - could work for as little as an hour. They would get paid for whatever they did, and off they would go. Employing up to 40 people, the business enjoyed a large trade. |
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The sawmill cut the logs into veneer, then into splints for the weaving process. Women would be on piece work, weaving mats by hand and there was good money to be earned. From the initial weaving, the mats were then pressed into shape and a rim would be inserted and tacked. The basket was cleaned up by knife, a handle nailed on and then thrown in a heap. From this heap, kids would put them into bundles of four to be loaded onto boxcars and off to Windsor or Erieau, Ontario to be shipped to whatever destination.
Great grandson Joseph Tunks said that "Everything was so simple. That old man
built everything". He could cut circles from planks using a square. "He would
take an old belt or tire ... and one would rub on the other ... just like a clutch ... and
by God ... it would work like a dream." "... hell of a good mechanic."
A quote from Black Gold Built Bothwell, "there was no machine ever built in his day
that Bob couldn't build or better it in some way."
The basket factory had one of the first veneer machines (though not known as
"veneer" at that time), and one of the first boilers. It was that boiler that
started many men to get their Stationary Engineers Certificate.
Before that basket factory was a going concern, there was this car. It was the second one
in Bothwell. It had a 2 cylinder chain drive and 2 small acetylene lights one on each
side. There was a big brass light on the front of the dashboard measuring about 8 or 9
inches across. It had room for 5 passengers with a removable back seat converting it to a
2 passenger truck. The steering wheel was a large handle, and it was an old relic when it
was purchased.
It was bought and sold many times. The Tunks bought it in 1914 for something like $40-$50
just for a play toy. In 1919 it was put to use by taking their business product - baskets
- to the surrounding area to sell.
Once the business started rolling, the car lapsed again into disuse. After several years
it went back to the dealer where it was purchased and given an afterlife; the story goes
that it was shipped to the Ford Museum in Dearborn as its final resting place.
The father was the backbone of the basket factory operation, but lack of good timber, the
invention of cardboard and wire baskets, doomed the factory. However, that occurred during
the second generation ownership of the Tunks basket factory.
Bob and Thirsa had 13 children; Annabel, Elizabeth, William, Mary, Charles, Emma, James,
Robert, Harry, Gladys, Catherine and Carrie
Alva. A thirteenth child was found in the 1901 census, Harriet. Harriet was born 18
April 1893 at ______________ Ontario. What happened to Harriet at this point in time is a
mystery.
With that many children, it's easy to imagine how quickly food disappeared. One day Thirsa
made a nice pie, but Bob was called away before he could have a piece. When he returned,
there was no pie left. With 13 kids to feed, Bob learned to eat his pie first!
Niece Jean (Johnston) Downie recalls Bob as being a small person, compared to the rest of
the family. And one particular incident when Bob came into the kitchen, and aunt Thirsa
mixed up soda and water to soothe Bob's stomach. Jean learned later that that was a common
occurrence.
Daughter Carrie recalled that their grocery list had the basic staples, tea, sugar, and
tobacco. The grocery list grew from there.
Catherine was the only child that didn't marry. Bob told daughter Carrie that Catherine
"was a very quiet girl", and that "she liked to sew". Catherine was
born 19 September 1874 in Mosa Township and died _________ 1893 and was buried in the West
Bothwell Cemetery, at Bothwell.
There were two pictures of the family, one of the men and one of the women. The picture of
the women - six daughters and Thirsa - was published in the Windsor paper in 1931.
Robert Henry died intestate on 19 May 1932 and was buried in the West Bothwell Cemetery at
Bothwell. Thirsa died on 5 June 1938 and was buried with her husband.
