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| | LOUISE VAN WYCK LAUGHTON (1892 - 1985)
Louise was the sole surviving daughter of John Hugh Laughton
and Louis Estelle Van Wyck and the initial member of the female clan to carry the Van
Wyck name.
As a child I remember the visits to Terra Cotta, often a
meeting place for Laughton's from Grand Bend or Exeter to meet our grandparents
from Toronto. I have fond memories of playing in Aunty Tot's spacious back
yard along the Credit River, as "Gummie" Laughton (George
Van Wyck Laughton) would help us assemble and fly balsam wood toy
planes. In the later years, Olga and I returned to Terra Cotta to visit
Great "Aunty Tot" on occasion and I recall that our eldest daughter Melissa also made a
trip or two, but not the triplets.
One of the oldest documents found in the files of Paul
Laughton in February 2009 was the Vehicle Permit for Louise's ("Tot's")
car in 1914. In the "Laughton/Milley
Family History", Paul tells of your George taking Tot's car for
an "unauthorized" drive.
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Aunty Tot was well know for her famous
applesauce (mashed and jarred, skins and all), great spring luncheons,
and the lack of running water or toilet facilities in the house.
The
house, an early 1900's way station, was protected under the Credit River
Conservation Authority so our one time plans to renovate and upgrade the
facility were dismissed. However, the building still stands today
and appears to have been upgraded considerably (photo prior to upgrade).
Additional modern photographs are shown at the bottom
of this page.
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In his letter of April 6, 2004, Uncle Paul (Paul
MacDonell Laughton) provided this insight into the somewhat mysterious
"Aunty Tot", to which we have added some pictures found in the
family history files:
Louise Van Wyck Laughton &
Richard Van Wyck Laughton (me)
Christmas 1952
Louise Van Wyck
(circa 1930) |
Louise and Mary Buckley
(Harry's Wife) |
Great Uncle Fred and sister Louise
April 7, 1944
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On the advice of Fred & Harry, Tot went to Business
College. Tot worshipped her mother & cut her father dead for the rest of
his life. I have the love letters of John Hugh to Louella when he was
struggling in Walkerton to make a life to which he could bring her. He wrote
long loving letters about his work, his church & the youth groups he was
helping. Her replies were single pages filled in a huge script with complaints
that he was taking too long!
Because of the rift, I rarely saw my grandfather,
except a couple of times at Grand Bend when Tot wasn't there. I was quite
surprised to read the glowing obituaries collected by Ivan Laughton in Nelson,
BC, with encomia from the Gideons, the Travellers, school boards & other
groups which he had helped. Tot worked for a bit at the Canadian Bank of
Commerce [before the merger with Imperial], then as Harry's secretary when Harry
was estate manager at National Trust [later senior VP]. She left to travel
around the world with a friend, Aileen McDougall. They stopped in Vancouver to
earn some money, & Tot worked as secretary for the Men's Credit
Association, met Pearl Hopper at a Chautauqua Settlement House & became
interested in welfare work.
I have a letter to Tot at the Settlement from Harry advising
her not to take all the cares of the world on her shoulders (written on 12 Dec
1920, the day of Van's christening - (was proud of Van's perfect behaviour.)
When she returned to TO (Toronto), she took a certificate (1923) & diploma (1924) in
social work, but got so involved with the girls in a home for wayward girls
that she had to quit, & retired to Terra Cotta with a canning factory job,
at Brampton if I remember correctly.
Her Terra Cotta home had been a way
station for drivers taking supplies to Niagara during the war of 1812. My
mother said she was an occupational physiotherapist, A gal who was on the
governing board of the physiotherapists visited Van
& Maureen at Grand Bend, saw the pair of pictures of Beth
& GVL in their WW I uniforms, & exclaimed "That's the
original physiotherapy uniform; I've read about it but never seen it
before." I don't know when the occupational & physio were separated.
I have many unlabelled pictures of soldiers in what seems to be a hospital
setting, some with Beth in them. |
In her later years, Aunty Tot was moved to the Parkhill
Nursing Home where we visited her on occasion during our trips to visit my
parents in Grand Bend. If my memory serves me, those trips were prior to
our wedding (Olga and Richard Laughton) in 1976.
I presumed that Aunty Tot was laid to rest in the family plot
at the Parkhill Union Cemetery, a fact that was confirmed during my visit to the
family plot in September 2004 (see cemeteries). That information was not listed on the Ontario
Cemetery Finding Aid.
In we went back to Terra Cotta, as we have on many occasions
in the past, to see how Aunty Tot's property had changed over time. We
understood that the house and property could never be habitable, as it was in
the Credit River Flood Plain and under the jurisdiction of the Conservation
Authority. However, it appears to still be a home and has undergone considerable
renovations.
Terra Cotta East 2009 |
Terra Cotta Centre 2009 |
Terra Cotta West 2009 |
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