(below) Former residence of Emil and Katherine Becker.
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“George Becker, and his brother, John, farmed, framed barns and moved buildings. They used a capstan that was like a winch to move buildings. A horse walked in a circle winding up a rope and the building was pulled forward. George owned a 100 acre farm on Lot 7, Con. 12. In 1912, he built a farm kitchen of cement with a two storey brick house in front of the kitchen. After he married Mary Rarich of the Zurich area, custom work became his main occupation. On butchering days, George and Mary would arrive with all their presses and grinders to butcher hogs weighing 300 pounds or more. Summer sausage, frying sausage and head cheese were made after the meat was cut up. Lard was rendered and Mary is remembered for the delicious big doughnuts she would make. They also made cider and apple butter. George also did cement contracting and grain and bean threshing.
George and Mary had a son, Emil (1917), and a daughter, Hilda (1924). In 1944, they bought Charles Stephen’s house, at 147 Fried Street south, Dashwood. Emil married Katherine Fraser, a teacher from the Mount Pleasant area. They built a house on the south three quarters of the lot where his parents lived. Before this, it had been a gravel pit and the Dashwood dump. Emil extended Fried Street and built up the trail that was blocked by hydro poles and wood. The material for their house came from an old frame house in Mount Pleasant, purchased for $500. The material for Emil’s shop, built west of their house, came from Jake Ortwein’s old house.
During Emil’s lifetime, he assembled his first car using parts from many cars and did blacksmith work. He got his first radio from Rev. Graupner and rebuilt it. Many neighbours came at night to listen. He built his first hydro plant, powered by wind or gasoline engine. He built machinery – swathers, corn dryers, gravel conveyors and a drag line shovel. He converted a lathe into a spindle machine and built a heavy duty tractor known as Big Blue. Also Emil has built and remodelled homes for his family and has moved many houses and other buildings in the Dashwood area. The farthest distance he moved a building was from London to Bayfield.
Emil joined the Dashwood Volunteer Fire Department in the late 40’s, serving as Fire Chief for several years. He received a plaque for over 30 years of service in 1981. The next year, Emil made a steel tower for the church bell at Zion Lutheran Church. A son, Peter (1957), a cabinet maker, made the pulpit, lectern, baptismal font and church railing for the new Lutheran church that replaced the one which burned in 1979. […] Katherine taught in area schools until she retired after 34 years in the classroom. Hilda, Emil’s sister married Clarence Kimpel of Kitchener, in 1946.[…] Hilda is a dressmaker.
extracted from “Hay Township Highlights: 150 years of Diversified Progress, 1846 – 1996”, published by the Hay Township Book Committee under the auspices of Hay Township Council, Alice Gibb ed.; pg. 296 ISBN : 0-919939-43-0