Low Down Articles
Echoes from the Past
Article 13 of 111
This article first appeared in the "Echoes from the Past" column of the The Low Down to Hull and Back News.
Reprinted with permission. Search complete list of Low Down Articles.
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Cottage at Meech Lake
It seems that when one comes across a new word, learns of a person of new acquaintance, or reads or hears of a new story it is almost inevitable that the word, person or story will crop up again within a reasonably short period. This happened to me once more - recently.
As the story concerns Meech Lake, of fond memory, perhaps readers will be interested. A couple of years ago Betty Davison, wife of the former President of the Historical Society of The Gatineau, Arthur W. Davison, promised some photographs of her grandparents, William James Tilley and Mary Ann (Bellman) Tilley for the society's archival collection. This spring Betty kept her word.
The photos turned out to be Mr. and Mrs. Tilley costumed for a fancy dressed ball at Government House in 1875. The third picture was an overall view of the Ball taking place.
Mr. Tilley was a civil servant with the then Railways and Canals Department situated in the East Block of the Parliament Buildings. Especially on weekends Tilley enjoyed walks in the countryside, one of which took him to Meech Lake, with which he became enchanted; so much so that in time he purchased two farms in the area which were to be had cheaply at the time. It was Tilley who built the first cottage at the lake, thereby setting a fashion.
Now comes the "crop up" mentioned in the first paragraph. I was re-reading this summer, Katharine Fletcher's book Historical Walks - The Gatineau Park Story". There on page 31 is mention of W.J. Tilley's summer residence. To my delight, on page 95 there's a photo of the property.
Tilley so liked the beauty of the lake scenery that he arranged to be buried, upon his death, in a plot across the lovely waters from his property, where his grave was marked by a stone surrounded by a white picket fence. It was a case where father doesn't always know best; his daughters couldn't stand the thought of their father being in a lonely grave out in the country, so father was dug up and transferred to the Beechwood Cemetery in Ottawa where he was reinterred.
The Betty Davison connection is as follows: Her maiden name was Young, her father being Charles Henry Young and her mother was Gertrude May Tilley, a Tilley daughter.
Betty adds to the saga of the Tilleys' venture at Meech Lake.
Apparently part of the acquired property had once belonged to Betty's father's uncle F.A. Dixon - a strange twist.
Her grandmother Mary Ann was greatly loved by all her grandchildren. Mary Ann in her younger days had been sent as an education ploy (?) to lodge in Germany. It was Betty's delight as a child to ask her granny to recite the German alphabet backwards, a feat the worth of which nobody bothered to explain to the amazed child.
Mary Ann Tilley, a staunch Anglican, arranged for a clergyman to conduct services on her summer lawn both for the family and neighbouring cottagers. Travel for the priest was by horseback. No doubt he was well reimbursed for his weekly trips.