Up the Gatineau! Article
This article was first published in Up the Gatineau! Volume 9.
One Hundred Years Ago
$250 per year in wages plus board and washing
Gardner Church replied, under date of 10th April 1883, in a letter in which he said that "I think it high, (the wage requested) but having full con-fidence in your honesty, I accept it".
John Meredith came and "furthered his own interests"' by marrying Gardner's daughter, Minnie.
The first settlers in the Chelsea area were Gardner Church, Sr, and Josephus Hudson, each of whom took up 200 acres in 1819.
John and Minnie Meredith were the parents of Cecil Meredith who mar-ried Helen Gertrude Hudson, the great grand-daughter of Josephus Hudson.
They lived in the house in Chelsea built by Gardner Church, Jr, in 1870. Cecil died in 1974 and Mrs. Meredith still lives in this house. It was she who made available the letters which were exchanged between John Meredith and Gardner Church "one hundred years ago".