William Penn Jaynes was likely the first coal merchant in Barrie. This was an unlikely path for the young Englishman but he was making the best of a tough situation at the time.
Will Jaynes was the son of wealthy timber baron, Edwin Jaynes, of Gloucestershire, England. Edwin Jaynes groomed his son to take over the family business and sent him to the best of schools.
Will was never very keen on taking over the family lumber and milling operation. In 1870, his father cancelled all of the inheritance plans and cut off Will from the family entirely.
Twenty-four-year-old Will Jaynes had fallen in love with the barmaid at a nearby hotel. When Clara Rhead became pregnant, Will married her in secret. When the secret came out, the young couple saw no other option but to board a ship to Canada.
Will had a cousin living near Barrie and so it was to this area that they came. Soon, the new immigrant with the expanding family found himself employed as a clerk at the foundry at the corner of Bayfield and Ross streets.
Will Jaynes’ timing was excellent. In the early 1870s, most people, if not all, were burning wood to heat their homes and fuel their stoves. Ever so slowly, this new fuel called coal came creeping into the frame and Will Jaynes saw an opportunity.
In 1874, the W.P. Jaynes Coal Office began to operate out of the foundry building. However, the venture was rather short lived.
After scarlet fever took two of his children and fire destroyed his home, Will Jaynes decided that another change was in order. In 1879, Will finally made use of his lumber and milling training and moved his family to Genoa Bay, British Columbia, where the timber trade was booming.
Coal, as a fuel source for heating and cooking, was taking off in a big way at that time so there were plenty of business-minded men in Barrie ready to fill Will Jaynes’ shoes.
James Johnston came from Smiths Falls, Ont. He arrived in Barrie about the same time as Will Jaynes did and worked in the lumber trade. Not long after Jaynes departed the area, the J.S. Johnston Coal Company arose.
“All kinds of coal, hard and soft, the best quality the market affords and direct from the mines by rail, at very low rates, and delivered in any part of the town. “
This Barrie Examiner ad from April 1880 pointed out that Mr. Johnston also supplied finishing lime for the plastering of walls, fire bricks, drain pipes and horse hair for strengthening plaster.
Johnston operated out of an office at Maple Avenue and Dunlop Street West while his coal depot was located at the foot of Maple Avenue next to the railway. By the 1890s, Johnston had partnered with Walter Sarjeant who later took over Johnston’s interests when Johnston retired about 1900.
James Lewis was born in Toronto in 1857 and came to rural Simcoe County as a child. James started out as an ox team driver in his early teenage years but dreamed of having his own land. For seven years, he saved up almost all his wages until he could buy some property.
While clearing his land, James Lewis found that selling his excess timber to the railway was not a bad way to make money. As steam locomotives moved from burning wood to burning coal, as did many private households, James Lewis saw a business niche for himself, much as Jaynes, Johnston and others had done.
By 1900, the Lewis family had moved to Barrie and were living at 43 Maple Ave. The home was in sight of James Lewis’ coal depot which was located at 24 Maple Ave. just north of the present-day bus terminal.
As with the nature of any business, change must come with the times. Wood men became coal men out of necessity. When coal began to lose its appeal as a home heating source in the 1940s, some of those men moved into the oil and gas game and because of that, a few fuel supply companies from those early days still exist out there.
Each week, the Barrie Historical Archive provides BarrieToday readers with a glimpse of the city’s past. This unique column features photos and stories from years gone by and is sure to appeal to the historian in each of us.
