Thistle Ha’

Helen (Barclay) Auld’s mincemeat recipe was another Christmas favourite at Thistle Ha’. One of Christopher’s friends recently helped move some heavy furniture. As I handed him the apple pie that I had baked, he asked if I ever made “mince pie”. So I know what to make next time!

An optional ingredient in this recipe is 1/2 lb. lean chopped or ground meat, but I have not tried it.

Helen Auld’s Mincemeat

• At least 6 quarts of Northern Spy apples
• 2 lb. raisins
• 1 lb. currants
• 1/2 tsp. cloves
• 1/2 tsp. allspice
• 1 T. nutmeg
• 1 lb. suet
• 2/3 lb. mixed peel
• 2 tsp. salt
• 1 1/2 lb. sugar
• fruit juices

Let the mixture stand in a cool place (such as the broad windowsill between the kitchen and the dining room!) for 2-3 days, then freeze or use. Sprinkle a little fresh nutmeg on the filling before baking the pie.

Source: Pickering Township Oral History Project Interviews. Audio Reel
RG-17-44-0-10. Copyright 1972, Archives of Ontario. Used with permission.
As told by: Hugh Miller.

Stan Whiston and David Nasby of the Pickering Township Oral History Project interviewed Hugh Miller on June 21, 1972 about the houses built at Thistle Ha’. This recording is several copies removed from the original reel-to-reel tape, so the sound quality is poor.

It is said that John Miller remembered snow on the bed blankets on a few winter mornings when living in the log house.

Hugh Miller dug a 14-foot hole for the current cistern beside the east wall of the house. Curious about the depth of the stone foundation, he also dug an anchor-post hole beside the wall at the bottom of the excavation. He failed to reach the footings. So the stone wall extends at least 18 feet below ground.

Photo: Thistle Ha’ collection.
Saddle and Sirloin Club history: 100th Anniversary of the Saddle and Sirloin Club, Kentucky State Fair Board, Louisville, 2003.
Revised on March 19, 2011 by Jim: Added George Harding’s name to photo caption.

A gallery of oil portraits, paying homage to livestock industry leaders throughout Europe and the Americas, was established in 1903 in the Saddle and Sirloin Club, near the Union Stock Yards in Chicago. Selected by a committee of their peers, new members had their portraits added to the Club gallery each year.

The photo shows portraits of four Canadian members of the Saddle and Sirloin Club. Handwritten on the back of this photo: “Photograph of portraits in oil of departed friends as they appear on the walls of the Saddle and Sirloin Club. Accept with the compliments of Frank W. Harding, May 8, 1917.” Harding was the brother-in-law of Robert Miller/Burn Brae; both were members of the Club.

The portraits in the photo are of: John Miller/Thistle Ha’ (top left), William Miller/Atha & Storm Lake (top right), Richard Gibson/Belvoir farm in Mount Brydges, Ontario (bottom left), George Harding [Frank W. Harding’s father]/Anoka farm in Waukesha, Wisconsin (bottom centre), and James I. Davidson/Sittyton Grove farm in Balsam (Pickering), Ontario (bottom right).

Of the nearly 350 members in the Saddle and Sirloin Club, eleven are Canadians. Remarkably, the farm homes of six Canadian members were clustered in Pickering (three Millers, Davidson) and adjacent Whitby (Hon. John Dryden and his son Will/Maple Shade farm) townships.

The portraits in the photo no longer exist. Frank Harding Jr, also a member of the club, witnessed the 1934 Chicago Stock Yards fire, which destoyed the original Saddle and Sirloin club, including its gallery of portraits. Club artist Robert Grafton was immediately commissioned to repaint the portraits. He worked at a prodigious pace, replacing 104 portraits, including those in the photo, in 18 months.

The only families with three members are the Millers and Hardings, who became related when Robert Miller/Burn Brae married Frank W. Harding’s sister, Josephine. The Millers also became related to the Drydens when Robert’s niece Margaret (Maggie) married Will Dryden.

By the mid 1970’s, the Chicago Stock Yard facilities were closed, and the building containing the Saddle and Sirloin Club in Chicago faced demolition. Frank Harding Jr found a new home for the portrait collection, which was moved in 1977 to the Kentucky Fair and Exposition Center in Louisville.