Fairfields at Eversley ~ then and now

Photo by Barry Wallace

A little north of the hamlet of Eversley, on the east side of Bathurst Street and opposite Seneca College's King Campus, is the estate subdivision of Fairfields, where dozens and dozens of multi-million-dollar homes grace the rolling hills of King Township.   One of those homes, pictured immediately above, sits on the site of the home that appears in the old photograph at the top.   In the early 1900s, William Cairns and Catherine Shanks, the paternal grandparents of my wife Linda, took up residence on this 50-acre farm and in addition to being hard-working farmers, set about raising a family of 11 children.   Sadly, William Cairns died at the relatively young age of 52, and his wife Catherine was left with seven children at home and a farm to run.   Some of the four older children, who had already left the farm, returned to assist their mother with work on the farm and the raising of their younger siblings.   Catherine (pictured at left) was able to purchase the farm that she and her fatherless children lived on, but as the children grew to be adults, she decided to sell the farm.   She spent the rest of her days living happily with her children on a rotational basis: a few months here, a year there, and so on, until her death in 1957, at the age of 90, in the home of her daughter, Olive, in Snowball.   I have been told that some remnants of the ancient house (logs and stone fireplace) have been retained in the newer versions of the house, but I do not know that this is true.
Please comment if you wish.
Barry Wallace