Notes |
- In 1901, at age 6, Andrew was residing in Puslinch, Wellington, Ontario, Canada, on his parents' farm with his siblings.
On 22 Mar 1918, Andrew was drafted to serve in the Canadian Expeditionary Force in WWI. He served as a Gunner, 64th Depot Battery, Canadian Field Artillery (Army). Andrew was employed as a farmer at the time (presumably on the family farm.)
In 1921, Andrew was residing in Puslinch, Wellington, Ontario, Canada, living independantly as a farmer, owning his own farm. 67 year old James Black was working as a servant in his house.
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(This article was originally published in the Puslinch Pioneer, sometime in 1979.)
Andrew Ord of Morriston
By Cleo Melzer
One day that Andrew and Mary Ord (nee Maltby) will never forget is December 17, 1930. That was the day Andrew was trapped in a well on the John R. Dickson farm. It is hard to know who suffered more, Andrew, who hung over the black void that yawned forty feet below, with his right arm pinned by rocks, or Mary, who waited anxiously above.
The Ords had been staying with the Dicksons while Andrew did repairs and worked on the stable. On that December day, forty-nine years ago, Andrew began working on the well around mid-afternoon. After he cleaned up the bottom of the well, he climbed back up by carefully finding toeholds in the rock cribbing. Twelve feet from the top he decided to brace the pipe from the pump. As he was putting in one of the last stakes, a rock came loose, starting a chain reaction, which resulted in a cave-in. The brace he had just put in saved him from being crushed to death, as it caught the boulders and locked them in an arch formation, three feet thick, just inches from his head.
John Dickson, who had gone for some bolts to assist in the work, came back a few minutes later and found the wll mouth caved in. Frantically, he called out, and heard a weak cry from beneath the mass of rock. Andrew was alive!
John immediately called in a rescue party. John Elliot, a Puslinch well digger, and William Blair, a neighbour, supervised the two hundred volunteers who came to help in the rescue. Mary was amazed at the number of people who came, and said the highway was lined with cars.
They were able to give Andrew some nourishment by lowering a flask tied with string through the rocks. Andrew’s right arm was painful and he found the cold unbearable as he was wearing only a smock and shirt and no gloves. Yet, he was in constant communication with the men and even directed some of the rescue work.
The bitter cold also hampered the rescuers who had to work in relays digging a deep lateral shaft, three feet in diameter, to the well where Andrew was trapped. The Guelph Public Works Department contributed a load of equipment and cribbing to support the tunnel.
At ten o'clock that night, six long hours after the cave-in, Andrew was dragged through the tunnel. Although he was numb from the cold, he was able to walk with assistance to the Dickson home. He was put to bed, surrounded with hot water bottles and piled high with heavy blankets. The newspapers called him brave and courageous. His rescuers felt it was his incredible stamina that pulled him through the ordeal.
The Ords have two children - Ken, of Freelton, an employee of the MTC, and Ruth Bishop, President of the Hamilton Conference [UCW] Presbyterial. The couple attend Morriston United Church where Andrew has been an elder for the past fifty-four years.
Andrew has had many trying experiences in his long life, but feels the well episode was the worst. Because of his remarkable faith, he has been able to overcome them all. The Ords feel they have much to be thankful for.
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