Christening of Jo’Anne Henry (Henry Gown)
In 1945 we lived on Guelph Line across from the Pet Escarpment Kennels. This home was owned by my paternal grandparents. Sometime during that year my parents purchased a farm in Kilbride on McNiven Road from Chap Erwin.
This was a 30 acre parcel in the park lot between the villages of Cumminsville and Kilbride.( Lot 8, Concession 2, Nelson, Town of Burlington) There were two more parcels attached to the property. One being on 8 Sideroad off of Cedar Springs Road. On top of the hill were two parcels on each side of the road of approx. 6 acres each. Then the final parcel was on McNiven, across the road from the NW end of the property. This was a 50 acre bush lot. Eventually all the property was sold leaving only the part where the original house stood.
In the beginning the original house was built behind the barn on a rise. Until a few years ago the foundation was still evident and the fireplace and chimney were still standing. I understand that it has since been knocked down for safety reasons. There was an orchard near the original house.
Water was obtained from a spring that came out of the ground on the property. It was piped into the barn and then ran away outside from an outside trough. When the main property was sold to Robert Yamamoto, a well was drilled close to the house.
Circa 1961 my father was renovating the dining room. They found newspapers pasted to the inside of the outside walls talking about Confederation. This probably dates the move of the house to around 1865. A tin type photo was found with the men on the roof building the chimneys. This house was built in the “salt box style”.
My father farmed the arable land on the property and we had cows, pigs, chickens and horses. One of my best memories was raising a pair of pet crows. They were very entertaining but also got into so much trouble. One of them was very fond of waiting till my girlfriend came to visit. She would get out of her car and make a dash for the house. Joe the Crow was always waiting and would fly over her head and drag his claws in her hair with her screaming all the time. My father was a finish carpenter by trade. He worked for Austin Tufford in Milton. He also worked at PL Robertson for a period and also for Trio Construction in Milton until his retirement.
Photo courtesy of Jo’Anne Schilling (nee Henry) 
Father of Jo’Anne Schilling (nee Henry) with Joe, the crow.
As a small child I was always interested in the work horses on the farm. I was often caught leading one to a fence and climbing aboard. Around the time I turned 16, my father purchased a riding horse for me and I spent many hours riding with Edna Nicholson. Then we purchased some Western game horses and my dad and I attended many horse shows and rodeos in the area. The last time I rode was in the mid 2000’s. We were visiting friends in Kelowna, BC. One of their friends invited me to her ranch to go riding. We spent the day in the mountains of BC. Quite an experience. I rode with her every time we were in BC after that.
Cedar Valley Riders, Jo’Anne Shilling and the Bay Lady 
Dad and I, circa 1945
My mother was an amateur artist and a painting still hangs in the Church building today. She was also an accomplished baker. For many years she made pies for the Cedar Spring Summer Resort every summer and also baked pies for the Mountain View Restaurant which was on Bronte Street across from Milton District Hospital. I also remember quilting bees at our home with some of the village ladies coming to quilt. My mother’s early profession was a teacher and there is a school picture available when she taught at Kilbride School prior to her marriage in 1940. I heard a funny story the other day from my oldest friend, Donna McMullen. My mother taught her mother. I guess the boys in the class decided to write on the black board “JOE LOVES DOLL” (that was the name my mother’s family called her by). The boys didn’t get it rubbed off the blackboard and my mother saw it. I guess they got in trouble.
I still have great memories of Kilbride Public School. We all remembered Freddy Davis who was a great teacher. Friday at lunch time we all played baseball and it was a great trick of the boys to get Mr. Davis so involved that he forgot the time and we played into the afternoon.
I was a member of the Kilbride Girl Guides and went to several Girl Guide Camps in Dunville and Dear Lake. I just recently passed all my badges on to a friend who was hoping to get them into the Girl Guide Archives.
My father passed in l974. Both of my parents are buried in Evergreen Cemetary in Milton.
My mother sold the property in 1985 and went to live in Halton Centennial Manor in Milton where she lived until she passed away in 1988.
I was born in 1941. Started school in Kilbride in 1947 and went to high school for 2 years at Burlington Central, then 2 years at Nelson and then back to Burlington for 1 more year.
I married Robert Schilling from Port Colborne in 1961. We lived in the house behind the water trough in Kilbride until we built a new house on the NE corner of my parents farm (6464 Cedar Springs Road). Our son Aaron was born in 1966. He also went to the new school in Kilbride and high school at Pearson in Burlington.
I went to Sunday School at the church in Kilbride and was confirmed there. Bob and I were married there in September of 1962. Aaron was christened there in 1966 in the Henry family christening gown which I still have. I believe it to be over 200 years old now.
In 1996 we sold the property to Gary and Nancy Coulson, our neighbors, and moved to our present home at 3154 Derry Road.
Contributing Author: Jo’Anne Schilling (nee Henry)
Kilbride History Group 