One of Puppa’s Cakes
Image by bill barber
One of my grandfather’s baking specialties was wedding cakes which he decorated. He was a baker her learned his craft in his parents’ bakeries in Grand Valley and Acton Ontario. For a while in the twenties, he owned a bakery in Streetsville. He returned to Grand Valley and opened a bakery at the top of Main Street
From my set entitled "William Henry Watson: My Grandfather"
farm2.static.flickr.com/1316/534927961_4c766e9334_s.jpg
In my collection entitled "The Watsons"
www.flickr.com/photos/21861018@N00/collections/7215760034…
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wedding_cake
A wedding cake is the traditional cake served to the guests at a wedding reception (or in parts of England, at a wedding breakfast) after a wedding. In modern Western culture, it is usually a large cake, multi-layered or tiered, and heavily decorated with icing, occasionally over a layer of marzipan or fondant, topped with a small statue representing the couple. Other common motifs include doves, gold rings and horseshoes, the latter symbolising good luck. Achieving a dense, strong cake that can support the decorations while remaining edible can be considered the epitome of the baker’s art and skill. The average cost of a wedding cake in the U.S. in 2005 was 3.
Tradition generally requires that the first cut of the cake be performed by bride and groom together. An older, archaic tradition had the bride serve all portions to the groom’s family as a symbolic transfer of her household labor from her family to the groom’s family.
A portion may be stored, and eaten by the couple at their first wedding anniversary, or at the christening of their first child. Sometimes this portion is the top tier, and sometimes a portion of the piece from which the bride and groom fed each other, depending on the local customs. The portion of the cake may be frozen for this purpose; the top tier of the cake may sometimes consist of fruitcake, which could be stored for a great length of time.
Recently some Western weddings have started to use cupcakes or other individually sized dessert items in place of a larger tiered cake. These individual cakes are often arranged in tiers to represent the shape of the traditional tiered cake.
Wedding cake toppers are small models that sit on top of the cake, normally a representation of a bride and groom in formal wedding attire. This custom was dominant in US wedding in the 1950s where it represented togetherness.[2] Modern weddings have embraced more variety in design and significance. Wedding toppers today are often figures that indicate shared hobbies or other passions.[2]
Watson Family History
Thomas Watson (born 1798, died 1875) and Jane Collier (born 1807, died 1896) were raised in County Armagh, Ireland, and came to Canada in early 1843. Their son, from whom we are descended, was William Watson, who was sixteen when the family emigrated. William’s brother, Richard, and his sister, Rachel, were older.
The family first settled in Gananoque, and came later to Reading Corner, where they farmed on the fourteenth line, lot six. Richard Watson had a son named Nelson, who died young, and a daughter named Jane, who lived in the Okanogan Valley in British Columbia. Rachel married John Byrne of Hillsburg, who owned a carriage works. The Byrnes had sons: William and John, who remined bachelors.
William, married Sarah Jane Donaldson, a young widow (Mrs. J. Moody) with a daughter: Sarah Jane Moody, who married George Lindsay in 1886, having met him in Cookstown while visiting her father’s family.
The Lindsays had one son, William Donaldson Lindsay., born August 11, 1886. They first lived in London, Ontario; then moved to Kendries, Idaho, and finally settled near Los Angeles, California.
My great grandfather, Thomas Watson, was next in this family.
He married Adeline East, and had two children, Hazel and Bill (my grandfather).
After Thomas came James Donaldson Watson (1872-1944). He married Belle McGee (1880-1958). They had two sons: James Ivan and Glen.
Next came Rachel (1874-1952). On March 6, 1895, she married John Scott at her home in Reading Garafraxa. They had four sons: Thomas Howard, Cecil, George and James
Next in the Watson Family was William George, (1880-1943). His wife was Mabel Patterson (1880). Their daughter was Sarlizabeth.
The youngest of the family was Letitia (1887-1931) In 1910, she married Russell Thurston. The children were: Donaldson, Donna, Robert Russell, Pauline, Roland, Bernice, Mel and Pat.
William Watson’s wife, Jane Collier Watson, was one of six sisters and one brother (Robert). Three of the Collier sisters were: Mrs. William Manley (Shelburne area), Mrs. Henderson and Mrs. Leeson. Two young Leeson boys were drowned one Christmas day when they broke through the ice while sliding and skating.