A Portrait of McGuigan's Orchard; Cedar Springs, Ontario

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The image shows a group of men and women crouching in a field. Behind them are trees. McGuigan's Orchard in Cedar Springs, Ontario was owned by Virgil McGuigan. Consisting of over 1000 acres, it grew apples, peaches, cherries, plums, onions, carrots, corn, strawberries, and tobacco. There were also fifty beef cattle. The orchard was called the "experimental farm" due to the variety of chemicals used to kill weeds in the carrot field and tomato patch and the chemicals sprayed on the orchard. A dust blower was used on the peaches after it rained to prevent rotting. This photograph was taken in late spring of 1943. From left to right: Mrs Inouye, Kanae Arlene Yamaura, Ritsuko Inouye, Florence Watanabe, Rebecca Terumi Yamaura, Mr Toda, Mr Watanabe, Arthur Watanabe, Bill Hiromu Yamaura, David Tsutomu Yamaura, Thomas Watanabe, Mas Inouye, Tom Yasuyuki Yamaura, Howie Toda, Mrs Toda. Behind them are Kent County MPP and Virgil McGuigan. By the summer of 1944 twelve Japanese-Canadian families worked on the farm.

David Yamaura was born on Townline Road in Port Hammond BC in 1925. His immigrant father, Kinoe Yamaura, was born in Nagano-ken in Japan and his mother, Iwama (nee Iwashita), was Kinoe's second wife. Kinoe had a daughter from his first marriage, and 6 children from his second marriage. David's siblings consist of: Tom (born in 1921), Bill (born in1924), Arlene Kanaye (born in 1926), Rebecca Terumi (born in 1930), and Sumiye (Ebbesen) (born in 1932). Noboko was Kinoe's daughter from his first marriage to a Kitagawa. Kinoe worked as a night fireman at Brown's Brothers Nursery also on Townline Road. His job was to keep the furnace hot for the hot houses.

The digital copies of the records were acquired by the Landscapes of Injustice Research Collective between 2014 and 2018.

This record was digitized in full.