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HISTORY OF LOT 16 - N.E. 1/4 OF LEFROY TOWNSHIP OCCUPIED IN 1975 BY THE ELWOOD SEABROOK FAMILY In the fall of 1937 the winds of change were blowing over Ansonia school. A new teacher, Edward Howie, had arrived late in August to open the school in September. He was the first of an influx of Toronto teachers to come to Ansonia. But he was Algoma born having spent his early childhood in Alma Heights. Mr. Howie was qualified to teach at a secondary school level but as now there were too many teachers for too few positions. In order to keep up with his study of French, he subscribed to a French language magazine and amused his pupils during the noon hour by reading the "funnies" to them in French. A new teacher was not the only change that fall. There was a relaxation in discipline in the educational system and a change from classes to grades. This was not as dramatic a change as the metric system will be but it took most of the year to make the transition. New topics were coming into the course of study as well. One section of the Grade VII course in History called for "a study of the local history of the community". Grade VII or Jr. IV as we had formerly been called, launched into their research early in the fall term. This class was made up of Lillian Pike, Jessie Owens, and Mabel McCrea (the writer). Only one fact really sticks in my mind about that study. When Lillian Pike interviewed her grandfather, Mr. Wesley King, he revealed, among other interesting facts, that the first land cleared in Ansonia was on the farm occupied at that time, 1937, by my father, Mr. Matthew McCrea. Mr. Sid King, an uncle of Wesley King's had cleared that land. Four members of the King family had taken up land in Ansonia. Addison King, an early school teacher, resided on the Lundy farm, a sister and her husband Mr. & Mrs. Jim King, where Arthur Mills' now live, Chancey King, who after one winter moved to Kirkwood, and the forementioned, Sid King. Mr. King received his land from the government, July 29, 1881 and his deed was registered January 19th the following year. My grandparents, John B. McCrea and Margaret Brandon were served their wedding dinner in the old log house on December 12, 1883. Mrs. Sid King was John B. McCrea's sister. This first log home was a two story structure built to the northeast of where the present buildings stand. The house was torn down in the early 1940's and its timbers used for an implement shed but the depression still remains in the ground where the basement was situated. Each year the rhubarb shoots up on either side of where the front door opened and the old crab tree, a tradition on many pioneer farms, still yields its fruit for jelly in the fall. The first well which was used only a short time is filled with stones but the second well is still the main supplier for the farm to-day. The first road from Cloudslee ran directly in front of this house and just to the north of the present buildings, having wound through the bush, and angled eastward across the fields to Ansonia. Six of the evergreen trees which graced this route still stand to the northeast of the present buildings. As the land was cleared, a road was built on the line to the south of the farm. But