Somewhere between 1865 and 1870, Dr. and Mrs. Francis MacRae emigrated to Canada and settled in Oshawa, Ont. There he became the first medical officer in Oshawa. When he settled in, he changed his name from Mac Rae to Rae.
On Feb. 3, 1886, their daughter Jessie Elaine Rae was born. During her younger years, she took up music and earned three music degrees and participated in the music programs at her church. Jessie came to Bradford from Oshawa to play in an Easter Cantata at Bradford United Church. Performing in the cantata was a young George Gibson Green. George met Jessie, and after she went home to tell his buddies that “he was going to marry that Girl.”
Keeping his word, he did indeed pursue his love and married Jessie in 1909. Now, what did any young groom give his bride in 1909? A house, of course! Soon a basement was dug, and a house began to rise out of the ground. The house still stands today at 123 Church St. in Bradford. A stately brick home with two full stories and an attic with dormers.
The house was graced with a veranda across the whole front of the house. Going through the front door into the foyer, you will see a wide staircase heading to the second floor. To the right is the library and to the left is the ladies' parlour with a fireplace. Behind the foyer is the family room with a wood panel 3/4 of the way up and another fireplace. On the north side of the house, you will find the dining room and at the back of the house is the kitchen with a back staircase to the second floor.
Upstairs you will find the bedrooms and a bathroom. This house was the first home in Bradford to have an inside bathroom! Only the best for his bride.
The Greens raised two daughters, Mary and Rae, at 123 Church St. George ran Green's General store on the north side of Holland Street East, known as the Green Block.
Today part of that building is where Peter Dykie had his first jewellery shop.
Mary told me about the flu fire they had one morning while having breakfast. Someone banged on the door and told them to get out of the house while other men were already up on the roof putting the fire out. Mary refused to go saying that if the house was going to burn, she needed a good breakfast! George was quick to change her mind, and they vacated the house. The fire was out, and they carried on with their day.
Jessie brought her music expertise to Bradford, and for many years she was choir director and organist at Bradford United Church. She also taught piano to many children in Bradford and the surrounding area. One of her last students was twin girls Joyce and Jane Vernon from Holland Landing.
They lived happily in the house until George passed away on July 16, 1937. Unable to live in the house without her beloved George, she moved next door north to her father and mother-in-law's house. The house at 123 was rented for a while, then CTS Evans (Charles and Sunny) bought the place where they raised four boys.
When our family moved to Bradford in 1965, we bought a new home on the north side of Hurd Street. Unable to bring our farm dog to Bradford, I noticed a dog across the road, so I went over to introduce myself, and there I met Mrs. Green. We immediately became good friends.
At the age of 15, I was looking for a summer job, so Mrs. Green had me cut her lawn and walk her dog. Through the years, I ended up cleaning and washing the floors; for now, an old lady did some interior painting and shovelling her snow. I also ended up cutting 32 lawns and three cemeteries in the Bradford area.
I spent a lot of evenings with Mrs. Green, sitting in her den and learning about old Bradford. Stories of Bradford's past and the grand old homes that made up Bradford Society. Storied of lamp-lit Church Street with the lamp lighter, Hurricane Hazel with basements flooded way up on the hill, and parties at 'The Pines' (Mark Scanlon's estate) at the top of Church Street. Now the home of Dan and Susan Kuzmyk. Also, stories of the draining of the Holland Marsh were some of the historical things I learned about Bradford.
I finished high school and was wondering what I should do. At the same time, Mrs. Green's health was deteriorating, and she was going to sell her house. She called me over and asked me if I would take the drapes off the dining room window and cover an occasional small armchair. I liked working with my hands, and I wondered about re-upholstery as a career. I went to Barrie, where I met a young man Lorne Carter who owned Barrie Upholstery. He said he would teach me in a three-year apprenticeship course. I decided to do it and, after four years, opened my own business at the southeast corner of 88 and 400 Highway.
Mrs. Green's house was sold, and she again called me over. She wanted me to pick something out of the house that would remind me of her. I told her I would like the deer head that hung over the fireplace in her den. I told her he had been with us all the evenings we visited. I still have the head. It was killed and mounted by George Green after he killed it in 1932.
She then told me what was for sale and how much she wanted for things. I bought her a parlour table and a couple of chairs, and when she was leaving, she sent a few things over to me. I now have two steel engravings (morning and evening in the highlands), a footstool, a slipper chair and a parlour table that belonged to her parents. She also gave me a picture of the parlour of her parent's home in Oshawa with three of the pieces in the picture.
The house was empty, and she moved to her daughter Mary's in Sarnia. Not liking being away from Bradford, she moved back and moved in with Audrey and Evan Stevens and their son David. David is now married to my sister and lives in Mt Forest.
On Dec. 22, 1969, Mrs. Green was not well, and an ambulance was called. Audrey told me that on the way to the hospital, Mrs. Green looked up and said, “Oh, George,” and expired. She was at last reunited with her beloved George.
When people ask me how long I have been collecting, I tell them since I was 15. Mrs. Green taught me a lot about the appreciation of historical Bradford and of antiques. If it were not for Mrs. Green's kindness, who knows, I may still be cutting lawns in Bradford.
