Grimsby historian launches latest book

By Tristan Marks
NewsNow

Grimsby’s intrepid historian Dorothy Turcotte has launched her latest book, More Gleanings from Grimsby.

This work is the venerable author’s 14th book and a follow-up to 2007’s Gleanings from Grimsby. Like its predecessor, More Gleanings compiles short stories, accounts and other tidbits submitted by community members to the Grimsby Historical Society (GHS) into a collection of little-known history.

Turcotte said this volume was a long time coming.

“This book actually started 10 years ago,” Turcotte said.

“As we got more and more and more info coming into the archives I began to put it into book form and it grew from there.”

Among the book’s chapters is the story of how three prominent Grimsbonians invested in a gold mine up in Rat Portage (modern day Kenora, Ont.) back in 1897.

James Livingston, John Kerman and T.J. Noble bought into the operation expecting to make a fortune. Livingston, who owned The Grimsby Independent newspaper even displayed a nugget of gold from the site at his news office.

“They didn’t seem to make anything of it,” Turcotte said.

“We don’t have any records of what happened to the mine afterwards.”

The book also includes everything from local ghost stories to the stories behind Grimsby street names to the history of the Grimsby Gas Company.

Many stories are also accompanied by historical photos right from the GHS Archives.

As with the previous volume, More Gleanings from Grimsby is published by the GHS, and can purchased on their website, grimsbyhistoricalsociety.com.

The book is also currently available at Cocoon and Objects of Desire, two local Grimsby retailers.

With this manuscript published, Turcotte said she and the GHS plan to have more to come.

“This is not the end. There’s still a lot more stories out there,” Turcotte said.

“It’s really important that we continue to do this. Without the Archives, all this history would be lost.”