ELIJAH HUTCHINGS REAL LEEDS PIONEER DIES IN 100TH YEAR March 14th 1923 . Hewed Out Rome From Wilderness of North Crosby. . NATIVE OF SOMERSETSHIRE . Father of Men Well Known in Business Life of the Northwest. . Elijah Hutchings, who died at the old home in the Township North Crosbyon Wednesday, March 14, was born in Somersetshire, England , June 7,1823, and had he lived June 7 1923, would have reached the age of one hundred years. At death his age was 99 years, nine months and seven days. Mr. Hutchings came to Canada in the year 1848 when Brockville was without railroad communication. From Kingston he went up the Rideau Canal to the present site of Bedford Mills and there commenced a life which meant hardship and privation. After some years he commenced to build on the farm where he spent all the remainder of his life. At the time of his arrival in Canada Mr. Hutchings was married and had two children. Afterwards eleven more were born to Mr. and Mrs.Hutchings, making a family of 13, of whom eight are still living Eli, of Ottawa, in his 78th year, the eldest of son of the family; Elisha Hutchings, president of the Great West Saddlery Company limited, Winnipeg; Robert J. Hutchings, vice-present of the Great West Saddlery Company, Limited, Calgary; Arthur Hutchings, Winnipeg; and Herbert Hutchings, on the old homestead in North Crosby; Mrs. Harriet Poole, Vancouver; Mrs. Annie Thompson and Mrs. Emma. Hanna, of Edmonton. Mr. Hutchings was predeceased by his wife and five members of their family. The late Mr. Hutchings was a man of fine physical appearance and was a powerful man, capable in his youth of strength, beyond the ordinary individual and that strength he threw into the work of a nation builder when Canada was scarcely known and North Leeds was a wilderness. With less than two acres of a clearance he chopped and cleaned up what is now one of the best farms in North Crosby and there raised and educated a family the members of which have made a splendid mark for themselves in business. He was a man of very strong convictions and was fearless in his defenseof truth and liberty. In politics be was all his years a staunch Conservative. He possessed a pronounced religious faith with love of God in Christ as his only creed and he was ready when the call came and passed to his eternal home. The funeral took place from the old home on Friday, March 16. and was conducted by Rev. W. G. Bradford of Ashton, a personal friend for four years of the late Mr. Hutchings, and was assisted by Rev. G. Mossop, of Newboro. The bearers were Elijah, Earl and, Borden Hutchings, grandsons; F. L. Hutchings, grandnephew; Asa Pattemore and Lawrence Chant. The floral tributes were many and very, beautiful. . The remains were placed in the vault at Newboro and will in the spring be interred in the family cemetery west of the village of Newboro. . W. G. B. . Burial: March 16, 1923, Hutchings Cemetery, Newboro, Ontario