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| Etc. -- Wallace Wm. Walsh Profile |
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A
transcription of a 9 Mar 1939 Simcoe Reformer
article. W. W. Walsh
in Business Rounding out a career of 21 years as furniture dealer and undertaker, Wallace W. Walsh, senior member of the firm W. W. Walsh & Son, has carved for himself a place among those who have made valuable contributions to the commercial life of Simcoe. There are few persons who can boast of so varied a list of occupations as can Mr. Walsh. Born a farmer's son, he spent the years of his adolescence on the farm of his father, Mr. William Walsh, at Walsh, Charlotteville Township, which village owes its name to Mr. Walsh's forebears. Coming to Simcoe in the late nineties, he was employed by the late Frank Smith, who had a grocery just south of the Sovereen store of the day, now the Walker store. Then he spent a year or two with George W. Lea, veteran caterer and grocer, and afterwards, along with Mr. Albert Christmas, now of Walsingham, was in the employ of Mr. H. S. Falls in the store now occupied by Martin Brothers. Oldtimers will remember that this business bore the name of Mr. Christmas, and later Walter S. McCall, upon his return from the Boer War, opened a business there. Next came five years spent as clerk of the Battersby House, then carried on by the late W. D. Battersby. At the end of this period, Mr. Walsh purchased a livery and feed barn, located in the present Chevrolet garage building. At the same time he conducted the poolroom now in the hands of Alfred Benwell. After three years Mr. Walsh and R. W. Wallace purchased the furniture stock of E. F. Best, then housed in the present King block. After a few months the firm removed to the old H. S. Falls building, now the premises of the F. W. Woolworth Company. In 1922 Mr. Walsh purchased his partner's interest. The next step forward came in 1924, when on September 1, Mr. Walsh opened his present store on the corner of Norfolk and Argyle streets, which he had re-modified after purchasing the old Bank of Hamilton premises. In 1927 Mr. Walsh was joined by his son, Mr. Floyd Walsh, and in 1938 a new warehouse was built on Water Street as an auxiliary salesplace, an enterprise that has been receiving increasing patronage. In the previous year the old Farrar home on Norfolk St. South was made over into a Funeral Home. For more than a quarter of a century, until about five years ago, Mr. Walsh was one of the busiest men on the roster of the County's auctioneers. As an instance of his activities in this line, he conducted in one year 153 sales. Mr. Walsh is a descendant of Thomas Welch, Norfolk's first Registrar of Deeds and land surveyor, through his second son Aquilla Mitchell Walsh. The latter's son, Duncan, was the grandfather of the subject of this sketch. Both members of the firm of W. W.
Walsh and Son have been active members of the Simcoe Business Men's
Association with Floyd Walsh being immediate Past President. |
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