As a blacksmith, George Shering was a hard-working, modest man who went about his work with little fanfare. He’d likely be someone bemused to know Innisfil has named a street, Shering Crescent, in his honour.
Edgar George Shering was born Dec. 5, 1882, in England to Mark Shering and Fanny Emma Lewis. He arrived in Canada with his parents in 1896 and began apprenticing as a blacksmith. Hammering red-hot metal on the forge all day was hard, hot work, but George excelled.
In 1910, he married Laura Isabelle Pringle and, three years later, the couple welcomed their first child, Montague Earl. A daughter, Isabella, arrived in 1915. During this period, George was working first at an Orangeville blacksmith shop and livery, and then smithing in a quarry in Terra Cotta. It was honest work, but George wanted more. He wanted to be his own boss. He wanted his own blacksmith shop.
In 1918, he got that chance when the home and shop of blacksmith Fred Mathers went up for sale in Stroud. George jumped at the opportunity and moved his family to Innisfil. Laura gave birth to a daughter, Olive, shortly after the move, and two more children soon followed (Edna, born in 1922, and Gordon in 1924).
As Innisfil was still a largely rural township, George had a thriving business serving local farmers — shoeing their horses, rimming wagon wheels, and mending broken tools. But he also recognized times were changing. The era of the automobile had arisen. George adapted to the new reality easily. Equally bright and good with his hands, he began to repair cars as well.
George opened first a single-bay garage, and then a larger one with several bays. Business was brisk as he had developed such a reputation for excellence at affordable prices that many cottagers would call on him to repair their vehicles rather than leave them with Toronto mechanics. George was joined in the business by his son, Monty.
More than just a businessman, George served the public as a constable for several decades. For many of these years, he was the only lawman between Bradford and Barrie. And yet, he would later laugh, he had never had to make a single arrest.
A fire destroyed the Sherings’ larger garage, leaving father and son to continue from the original, smaller facility. By then, George was slowing with age. He focused on tire repairs and operating the gas pumps. Monty did the service work.
Both George and Laura Shering died in 1974. Their home and the original one-bay garage still stand.
