Ingersoll.

Ex-Mayor Thomas Brown may be considered the father of the town, he projected the first roads and bridges.

        The Thames and tributary rills,
        Here they do drive numerous mills,
        Enabling millers to compete
        To pay high price for oats and wheat.
        Here streams do drive many a wheel
        For to grind both flour and oatmeal,
        And town will extend its boundaries
        With its enterprising foundries.
        For fine pianos town is famed
        And highest rank for them is claimed,
        And brighter days for it yet dawns
        With its grand mansions and fine lawns,
        And it has now the title grand
        The capital of dairyland.

James McIntyre

James McIntyre was a Canadian poet, most notable for his poetry concerning cheese, cheese-making, dairying, and dairy products. Often referred to as 'The Cheese Poet,' McIntyre's work is celebrated for its earnestness and unintentional humor, making him both a beloved and an infamous figure in literary circles. He emigrated from Scotland to Canada in 1851 and settled in Ingersoll, Ontario, where he became a successful businessman and community leader.

James McIntyre

In Memoriam.

James McIntyre, Simple Poetry

American Poets.

James McIntyre, Simple Poetry

Holland River And Its Tributaries.

James McIntyre, Simple Poetry

Castle Gordon.

James McIntyre, Simple Poetry

English

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Tilsonburg.

        After him who did the mills own,
        This place was called in honor Tilson;
        Bright gleaming like to a beaming star,
        Is clear waters of the Otter.

        And it doth form here a vast pond,
        Which extends for miles beyond,
        A fortune on town it will shower,
        This prodigious water power.

        No other spots to youth appear,
        Like lovely little lakes round here,
        And few small towns have fine roadway
        Lined with brick blocks like your broadway.

James McIntyre

Lines On Thamesford.

        The middle branch of Thames doth flow
        O'er pebble bed and it doth glow
        And sparkle like silver in the sun,
        As it through pasture lands doth run.

        In dam is ample water stored,
        To drive flour mills in Thamesford,
        Besides the power of the stream,
        Saw mills and flax are drove by steam.

        Our mind it doth with pleasure fill,
        To see fine brick church on each hill,
        And that substantial one of stone
        Owned by congregation of St. John.

James McIntyre

Embro.

        O'er various counties of the north,
        When cruel order did go forth,
        For to destroy many a home,
        So that the wild deer free might roam;
        The men of Sutherland and Ross,
        The broad Atlantic they did cross,
        Each seeking for a fertile farm,
        These rolling lands for them had charm;
        They ne'er desired again to roam,
        Each happy in his woodland home,
        Where middle branch of Thames doth flow
        They built the village of Embro,
        And it the hill tops now doth crown
        Like its grand namesake Edina Town,
        And good flour mills you here do find
        And oats also they here do grind.

James McIntyre

St. Thomas, 1884.

At time of Oddfellows Grand Lodge meeting.


        Oddfellows once they had to trudge
        O'er rough stage road to the Grand Lodge,
        But now they town of metal seek
        And find it on the Kettle Creek.

        For industry it here prevails
        As it was built by the steel rails,
        And here the wide expanded bridges
        Do connect the distant ridges.

        No more need to stay at home as
        There's lots of railroads to St. Thomas,
        You pluckily did boldly venture,
        Now you are great railroad centre.

        Your city now it hath high hopes
        From its great railway workshops,
        And higher yet it still will rise,
        This seat of so much enterprise.

        ...

James McIntyre

Great Fire In Ingersoll, May, 1872.

        'Twas on a pleasant eve in May,
        Just as the sun shed its last ray,
        The bell it rang, citizens to warn,
        For lo! a fire appears in barn.

        An ancient barn near hotel stood,
        The joining buildings all were wood,
        This barn a relic of the past,
        There farmers' horses were made fast.

        Our once fair town is now in woe,
        And we have had our Chicago,
        But soon a nobler town will rise,
        For our town is all enterprise.

James McIntyre

St. Catharines.

Lines read at the Welland House, St. Catharines, at a banquet given to the members in attendance at the Oddfellows' Grand Lodge.


        St. Catharines famed for mineral waters
        And for the beauty of her daughters,
        For some do worship at the shrines
        Of the fair St. Catharines.

        St. Catharines your greatness you inherit
        From the genius of a Merritt,
        You still would be a village dreary
        But for this canal from lake Erie.

        For on its bosom there doth float
        Full many a ship and steamboat,
        Brings world's commerce to your doors
        And many gifts on you it pours.

        Among its many great rewards
        It gives you dry docks and ship yards,
        To drive ...

James McIntyre