Nothing prepared Lila and James Sutton for what would happen to their family in the summer of 1911. They just moved into their home on 57 Victoria Avenue, Lindsay where their children could play safely. Unfortunately and sadly for Susanna and Lloyd, their lives were cut way too short.

Phyllis Stone’s family was the last to live amongst the incarcerated at the Gaol. Her father, Henry William Stone (1888 - 1955) was appointed Governor in 1922 and remained until his passing in 1955. Her essay, My Twenty Years Behind Bars, was written in 1998 and reflects on her formative years living with her family in the Victoria County Gaol. Phyllis commends her parents for completing their duties with great respect and kindness for their prisoners, recalls the extraordinary circumstances of growing up with her three siblings and the life lessons she learned from the men and women who served time under her father.

While Hollywood may depict pre-modern conflict with one-on-one, heroic sword fights, the weapon that dominated the battlefield from the ancient until the modern era was the spear. Spears are a ranged weapon that have a much greater reach than a sword.

September 27, 1918 - October 19, 1918

On page seven of the September 27 edition of the Lindsay Post articles included both “Record Attendance on Closing Day of Central Exhibition” and “Spanish Influenza Hits Lindsay, Description of its Symptoms”.

Listed symptoms included “sudden onset with chills, severe headache, pains the in back and elsewhere, general malaise, flushed face, some soreness of the throat, and fever of from 101 deg to 104 deg. F with a rather slow pulse. Usually crisis has occurred after two or three days, with rapid and complete recovery. In many cases there has been a harsh cough with a scanty sputum; occasionally more severe bronchitis and even bronchopneumonia have developed but among the young and healthy there seem to have been no serious consequences, and no definite statements are made as to the death rate, which in any event thus far has been very low.”

This latter statement may have proven most deadly in this area since the majority of local victims were under the age of 30. In fact, what made the 1918 influenza strain different from the regular flu was its choice of victims: the young and healthy.

Adam Hudspeth (1836-1890) was a local Member of Parliament and well-loved citizen of Lindsay. Learn about his life in this exhibit.