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Escarpment Magaz ine Summer 2012
Of all
the Canadian historical figures that I can think of, Tom Thomson’s life is the one that
seems most filled with mystery, intrigue and tall tales. Tom Thomson, has a close connection to
our area, especially the village of Leith, where he spent his boyhood years. Since I live nearby,
I decided to check out some of these stories.
Tom was born near Pickering in the village of Claremont, Ontario on August 5
th
in 1877, but his
family moved to Rose Hill Farm near Leith when Tom was only two months old. Tom’s parents,
John and Margaret Thomson, came from an affluent, old Scottish background. Current owner
of Rose Hill, JimGray, told me that the Thomsons were more “Gentlemen Farmers” then the type
who plowed fields and raised cattle. Jim said they were a musical, well-educated family.
According to documents from the “Auld Kirk” website (Leith United Church), Tom attended serv-
ices there, sang in the choir and used hymnbooks to draw caricatures of the congregation when
his interest in the sermon waned. An early Thomson piece that is still around today is a pen and
ink drawing of the house across the road from Rose Hill. The McKeen family owned the house
at the time and descendents of the family still live there. Looking at the house I can see Tom was
an excellent draughtsman, though he took a few liberties to simplify the drawing. One of the
people who reportedly identified Thomson’s body when it was returned to Leith in 1917 was
the neighbour from across the road, JohnMcKeen. Tom is apparently buried in the Leith cemetery
that surrounds the old church. According to writer, Roy Macgregor, Tom’s final resting place is
yet another mystery. Macgregor speculates in his recent best selling book, Northern Light, that
Tom’s remains are still at the Mowat Cemetery in Algonquin Park. Most locals maintain that
Thomson’s remains are resting in Leith.
Many of the anecdotes of Thomson’s life can be attributed to conjecture or the vivid imaginations
of writers and historians, according to David Huff, Manager of Public Programs at the Tom Thom-
son Art Gallery in Owen Sound. The fact that the legends persist, reveals an enduring interest
in this famous painter.
Biking through Leith, I often wonder what life was like in the village back in Thomson’s time. Cer-
tainly things moved more slowly, but the village was a bustling community and as a boy, Tom
would have taken it all in. Throughout his brief life Tom was known to love fishing and there are
numerous stories of him fishing off the town dock. His life may have ended at the bottom of Canoe
Lake in Algonquin Park while on a fishing trip. Today all that is left of the Leith dock are a few rot-
ting pylons that flag the channel at the mouth of Bothwell’s Creek. When I sit on the point where
the dock was and look out over the bay, I can understand how Thomson would have been in-
spired by the churning emerald blue waves and the shoreline of ragged pines and cedars.
Tom’s education is also clouded in mystery. He did go to the old Leith School, but records show
that he missed at least a year because of either a chest infection or some type of foot ailment.
David Huff told me that stories persist indicating that Thomson finished high school at the Owen
Sound Collegiate and Vocational Institute, but school records during that period are incomplete.
Huff so far has not been able to document whether Tom attended OSCVI or not.
FEATURE
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looking for tom thomson
Photo - Tom Thomson and friend at Lake Scugog.
Collection of the Tom Thomson Art Gallery,
Owen Sound, gift of Margaret Murch
Take
everything
as it comes;
the wave
passes,
deal with
the next
one.
~Tom Thomson