The annual meeting of the Mapleton Historical Society was held May 9 at the PMD Community Centre.
Members welcomed guests from the community and from neighbouring historical societies.
During a short business meeting the annual reports were presented and approved. Directors Marilyn Cherry, Paul Day, Debbie Oxby and Grant Schieck were re-elected for a three-year term.
Dr. Catherine Wilson spoke about the how important working bees were to pioneer settlers. She has spent considerable time researching the diaries of farmers and other settlers to conclude that working bees were an essential part of creating a sense of community.
The settlers kept a record of who had helped them and when and how they were able to repay the favour. A settler and his family would not have enough tools and labour to clear some land and build his first house. Nor was he likely to have the cash to hire the labour done. The alternative was to ask his neighbours for assistance. Thus working bees, with all the people of the community working together, were how they cut down the forest, pull the stumps, cleared small fields for planting and built log homes and out buildings.
Men in their prime did the heavy physical toil, elders supervised and offered advice. Boys gathered branches or carried water to the labourers. The women and young girls prepared hearty meals for all.
As life became a little easier in the mid-1800s other work bees such as barn raisings to replace the small log one, corn husking, apple peeling and quilting kept the community working together. Many in attendance could remember the threshing and haying bees that were common in this area until the mid-1900s.
Duncan Lamont and his friends played some old time dance tunes on fiddle, guitar and keyboard as people gathered for the meeting and again after while people enjoyed refreshments and mingling. A caller from the crowd led eight agile souls through a lively square dance, while the rest kept time.
submitted by Jean Campbell
