Acknowledgments and Thank You

The HWT Project is generously sponsored by the Riverview Seniors Social Club, No. 802.  This group started in Westmeath in 1964 and over the past 50 years has continued to provide a congenial gathering spot to socialize and enjoy good fellowship in a fun environment. This group, primarily serving the Westmeath Peninsula rural communities of Westmeath, Perretton, LaPasse and Beachburg, currently has around 100 members from all walks of life and the Club is a member of the United Senior Citizens of Ontario, http://www.uscont.ca.

When approached about possible sponsorship of the HWT Project, the Club members, without hesitation, decided to fund the website; with the sentiment that: “This is exactly the sort of thing we as elders should be doing for our community.”  A sincere Thank You goes to its membership for helping to keep local history alive.

This Project began as a volunteer exercise to make early pioneering days on the Westmeath Peninsula come alive digitally.  Many other area volunteers are also hard at work making sure the story is not forgotten. I  encourage you to use other important, history –preserving, local organizations, – all run by volunteers, – and read one premier historian and author in particular: Evelyn Moore Price.

• Upper Ottawa Valley Genealogy Group   www.uovgg.ca   – Diane Burnett and her colleagues maintain so many key documents for us all.  Her generosity and wide knowledge is very much appreciated.
• Ross Museum,   www.rossmuseum.ca  and the Whitewater Historical Society.
• Champlain Trail Museum,  www.champlaintrailmuseum.com
• The History of the Corporation of Westmeath Township, written in 1984 by Evelyn Moore Price, is still the “hands-down-best” reference.  A frequent go-to volume.

Access to important source documents was made possible by two groups in particular.  The first was the Region of Whitewater Township, www.whitewaterregion.ca, councilors and administrative staff, especially Annette Mantifel, who have been very supportive and allowed the use of the early Westmeath Township Council Minute Books.

Similarly, the North Renfrew District Women’s Institute granted permission for materials from the Westmeath, Beachburg, and Laurentian View Tweedsmuir Books to be used as source materials.  Thanks go out to all the women, who through the years,  compiled these history books with such pride and diligence, – they all deserve our gratitude.  Their work kept their community’s stories alive for later generations in pictures and writings, to fulfill the Institute’s motto “For Home and Country”.

I should note that the Women’s Institute started very early here. The Beachburg W.I. in 1904, and the Westmeath and Forester’s Falls branches in 1905; thus making them some of the oldest in the province.