The Glengarry Telephone Company

acknowledgements

Anonymous (anonymous@undisclosed.example.com) — 2024-03-03T20:18:05+00:00

Acknowledgments This is a collection of other people’s stories, so my debt to those who took the time and effort to reflect on and record their memories of working for Glengarry Telephone is unbounded. 1 must record the universal enthusiasm I encountered as I spoke to and usually visited all the people whose stories are recorded here.

agathe_st_denis_lepage

Anonymous (anonymous@undisclosed.example.com) — 2024-03-03T20:18:05+00:00

Agathe (St. Denis) Lepage July 1959, one week before my birthday, John J. McCormick drove up my parent’s long lane to ask them if I could go work for him. Being the oldest of the family, it wasn’t easy for my parents to say yes. But I wanted to try it. I did, and stayed ’till May 1960, when I left to get married.

appendix1

Anonymous (anonymous@undisclosed.example.com) — 2024-03-03T20:18:05+00:00

Appendix I NOTE: It was indicated in the Introduction that a revised history will be prepared when some additional source documents are located. If any reader has any contribution, including comments or anecdotes, to make to this project the author would be truly grateful.

appendix2

Anonymous (anonymous@undisclosed.example.com) — 2024-03-03T20:18:05+00:00

Appendix II (Letter sent to operators) 2081 Maywood Street Ottawa, Ont. K1G 1E8 tel. (613) 731-3958 (date) (operator’s name and address) Dear (operator): Visible evidence of the existence of The Glengarry Telephone Company Limited has almost completely disappeared. There remains only memories in the minds of people served by the company, and with the people who worked for the company. The archives committee of the Glengarry Historical Society is trying to locate and preserve the records…

brief_history

Anonymous (anonymous@undisclosed.example.com) — 2024-03-03T20:18:05+00:00

Glengarry Telephone: A Brief History (transcribed from notes by Janet McCormick) On July 1, 1966 ownership of the plant and fixtures of the Glengarry Telephone Company Limited passed to The Bell Telephone Company of Canada. One of the first companies to be formed in Glengarry disappeared after more than fifty-nine years of service.

christena_mccormick_macsweyn

Anonymous (anonymous@undisclosed.example.com) — 2024-03-03T20:18:05+00:00

Christena (McCormick) MacSweyn I think it was April or early May 1951, I started to work at Glengarry Telephone Co. I stayed the first few weeks with John J., Janet and Basil McCormick, and Shirley and Helen McDonald, nieces that were staying with John J. and Janet; after this I went to stay with Charlotte MacKinnon who lived in the house with the central switchboard.

claudette_st_denis_quesnel

Anonymous (anonymous@undisclosed.example.com) — 2024-03-03T20:18:05+00:00

Claudette (St Denis) Quesnel Dates worked: I started working for the Glengarry Telephone Company on August 3rd 1960 until December 1969. For the last two and a half years I was working for Bell Canada, first at Lochiel and then in Alexandria when they switched the lines to the switchboard there.

documents_photographs

Anonymous (anonymous@undisclosed.example.com) — 2024-03-03T20:18:05+00:00

Documents and Photographs This is a collection from the era.... Start

dolores_sabourin_cuerrier

Anonymous (anonymous@undisclosed.example.com) — 2024-03-03T20:18:05+00:00

Dolores (Sabourin) Cuerrier As my memory goes back in my life 32 years ago, I was only 17 then. It was late Aug. 1966 when my mom went to a funeral parlour in Alexandria for a cousin of hers who had passed away. She then met my aunt Marie Jeanne Beauchamp and my cousin Jeannine. In their conversation my mom mentioned to them that I was looking for a job. That’s when Jeannine mentioned where she was working, for the Glengarry Telephone Company, and that it had a job opening. There was one person…

frances_chisholm_olsen

Anonymous (anonymous@undisclosed.example.com) — 2024-03-03T20:18:05+00:00

Frances (Chisholm) Olsen I have very few memories of my time at Central office of the Glengarry Telephone Co. and will try to summarize those memories as concisely as possible. - I think we worked 8 A.M. until 8 P.M. - we worked one week on and one week off - I have no memory of what we were paid

georgette_paiment

Anonymous (anonymous@undisclosed.example.com) — 2024-03-03T20:18:05+00:00

Georgette Paiment My History with the Glengarry Telephone Company I worked for the Glengarry Telephone Company for 16 years, from Labour Day, September 1948 to August 1964. The salary at that time was $15.00 for a week of 7 days. We worked for I week and were off for the next week; this was year round and no vacation.

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helene_st_denis_shennett

Anonymous (anonymous@undisclosed.example.com) — 2024-03-03T20:18:05+00:00

Helene (St. Denis) Shennett I worked at “central” as we used to call it for only two months – July and Aug. 1964. It was my first job out of high school and a summer job to make money to enter nursing school. Someone had just left and John J. McCormick, having had my two oldest sisters there, must have figured that I was probably capable of doing the job. I also know he more than hoped that once I started working there, I would forget my nursing career. He certainly tried many times to change m…

helen_mcdonald_macdonell

Anonymous (anonymous@undisclosed.example.com) — 2024-03-03T20:18:05+00:00

Helen (McDonald) MacDonell I started to work for Glengarry Telephone in Aug. ’49 or ’50. 1 worked for two years before going to Bell in Alexandria. When I started I stayed with John J. and Janet McCormick while I trained. After I got the job I stayed at the “central” house. Charlotte MacKinnon ran it and she was the night operator. I was trained by Georgette Paiment. We only worked every second week. The shifts were 8:00 a.m. until 9:00 p.m. with 2:00 p.m. until 4:00 p.m. off. Mrs. MacKinnon re…

inside_job

Anonymous (anonymous@undisclosed.example.com) — 2024-03-03T20:18:05+00:00

An Inside Job: Stories from the Operators Click on the name to see that person's story.... * Jeannine (Beauchamp) Séguin * Yolande (Belair) Séguin * Frances (Chisholm) Olsen * Thelma (Gelineau) McDonald * Lillian (Hay) MacDonald * Margaret (Lacroix) Deschamps * Helen (McDonald) MacDonell * Shirley (MacDonald) Campbell * Marjorie (MacLeod) McCaskill * Jean (MacMillan) Walker * Christena (McCormick) MacSweyn * May (McCrimmon) McCallum * Isabel (McMeekin) Fraser * Geor…

introduction

Anonymous (anonymous@undisclosed.example.com) — 2024-03-03T20:18:05+00:00

Introduction This is part of the story of the Glengarry Telephone Co. Ltd., an independent company which operated from 1907 to 1966, when its plant and fixtures were sold to Bell Canada. At the end of the first year there were 19 telephones connected to the switchboard at Lochiel. By the end of 1966 this had grown to 644 phones covering a territory that included all of the tonwnship of Lochiel except the village of Glen Robertson; much of the northern part of Kenyon: the 6th of Kenyon some dist…

isabel_mcmeekin_fraser

Anonymous (anonymous@undisclosed.example.com) — 2024-03-03T20:18:05+00:00

Isabel (McMeekin) Fraser Looking back over the years, I’m afraid, has become a way of life for me, so recalling the events of my teenage years is a real joy. In the late fall of 1942 John Joseph McCormick came down to see my father and after the usual amount of “horse talk”, a subject dear to both of them, Mr. McCormick asked my father if there was any possibility of one of his girls working at “central” for a while. When my father spoke to us about it I jumped at the chance and so began some …

jeannine_beauchamp_seguin

Anonymous (anonymous@undisclosed.example.com) — 2024-03-03T20:18:05+00:00

Jeannine (Beauchamp) Séguin It is hard to remember everything that happened thirty-four years ago. In 1964 I started working for the Glengarry Telephone Co., until June 1969 when I married and moved to the province of Québec. Mr. J.J. McCormick was my boss. He was a cross man. I still remember his phone number which was 23. When he would ring in you had to answer him fast.

jean_macmillan_walker

Anonymous (anonymous@undisclosed.example.com) — 2024-03-03T20:18:05+00:00

Jean (MacMillan) Walker What an exciting day it was for me when I started my first job as “central” at Lochiel. It was August 1942 – I had just finished grade 13 in Alexandria High School in early May. As it was war time high school students were exempt from writing provincial exams in June if they had obtained a certain average; the idea was that they could work on the farms for ten weeks. I had just completed my term at home in mid-August and I did do farm work.

lillian_hay_macdonald

Anonymous (anonymous@undisclosed.example.com) — 2024-03-03T20:18:05+00:00

Lillian (Hay) MacDonald I didn’t work very long at central. Shortly after I started I got scarlet fever and it took me a long time to get over that. I do remember some things – Janet McCormick would make dinner and take the board while I ate. In those days lots of people would call central to ask what the time was. I remember the day Pearl MacDonald (the daughter of Christy Grant and Alex (Charlie) MacDonald) married John Ross MacLeod. They are Donaldson MacLeod’s parents. Pearl called a coupl…

margaret_lacroix_deschamps

Anonymous (anonymous@undisclosed.example.com) — 2024-03-03T20:18:05+00:00

Margaret (Lacroix) Deschamps I started working at seventeen years old for the Glengarry Telephone Company at Lochiel and I worked there for four years. The girls worked three weeks steady and then went home for one week. The hours we worked were 8 to 4, 4 to 12, and 12 to 8; changing hours with the girls. We were paid $45.00 a week.

marjorie_macleod_mccaskill

Anonymous (anonymous@undisclosed.example.com) — 2024-03-03T20:18:05+00:00

Marjorie (MacLeod) McCaskill I worked at central in 1953, 1954, 1956 and for a while in 1957 after I moved to Lachute. The saddest time that I remember was a Sunday morning when Mrs. Alex (Big Norman) MacLeod died in church at Kirk Hill. Someone went to a phone to call the undertaker, Archie MacRae, from Vankleek Hill. I was the operator and I had a hard time to get him as he was in church at the same time.

may_mccrimmon_mccallum

Anonymous (anonymous@undisclosed.example.com) — 2024-03-03T20:18:05+00:00

May (McCrimmon) McCallum I don’t remember exactly when I went to work at central, but it must have been between 1943 and 1946. 1 was hired to replace Florence (McDonald) Phillips after she was in an accident and broke her leg. She was riding in a horse and buggy with her father, Johnny Walter McDonald (Eigg Road) when they were hit by a car. When I was hired John J. McCormick came to our house and the matter was discussed over the kitchen table with myself and my father. The operator I rotated …

outside_job

Anonymous (anonymous@undisclosed.example.com) — 2024-03-03T20:18:05+00:00

An Outside Job: A Lineman’s Story * Rhéal Fournier

rheal_fournier

Anonymous (anonymous@undisclosed.example.com) — 2024-03-03T20:18:05+00:00

Rhéal Fournier I started working for Glengarry Telephone and John Joseph McCormick in 1943 and I worked off and on until the company was sold to Bell in 1966. When I wasn’t called out I didn’t get paid. The pay back then was 75cents an hour for a 12 hour day.

shirley_macdonald_campbell

Anonymous (anonymous@undisclosed.example.com) — 2024-03-03T20:18:05+00:00

Shirley (MacDonald) Campbell My first job took me all the way from the Eigg Road to Central in Lochiel to work for the Glengarry Telephone Company. This would have been in 1950 or 1951. During for the Glengarry Telephone Company. This would have been in 1950 or 195 1. During my training period I stayed with John J. and Janet McCormick. Then I stayed at central.

sidebar

Anonymous (anonymous@undisclosed.example.com) — 2024-03-03T20:18:05+00:00

Contents Introduction Acknowledgments Glengarry Telephone: A Brief History An Inside Job: Stories from the Operators An Outside Job: A Lineman’s Story Appendix I: List of Employees Appendix II: Letter to Operators Documents and Photographs HOMEPAGE

thelma_gelineau_mcdonald

Anonymous (anonymous@undisclosed.example.com) — 2024-03-03T20:18:05+00:00

Thelma (Gelineau) McDonald As Elsie MacMiIlan says in her book, BUTTERNUTS AND MAPLE SUGAR, p.324 : “…Early in 1915 William A. MacKinnon was approached by Mr. Michael Morris, then living in Alexandria, to ask him if he would take over management of the Glengarry Telephone … The telephone at that time was not long in operation, Mr. Peter Chisholm and Mr. M. Morris having been founders…”

yolande_belair_seguin

Anonymous (anonymous@undisclosed.example.com) — 2024-03-03T20:18:05+00:00

Yolande (Belair) Séguin One day in Sept. 1957 something went wrong with the telephone at my father’s place so my mother phoned to have someone to repair it. John Joe McCormick came over the same day and while repairing the phone he mentioned that he would need an operator at the central because Marjorie McCaskill was moving to Lachute and could no longer work. So I told Mr. McCormick I could apply for the job. I started my training the week after.