Phil Egan
A woman in St. Louis, Missouri has something of value that once belonged to Angus McLeod, and she wants to give it back.
And if McLeod, a famed cyclist of yesteryear, is one of your ancestors, you’ve reason to be proud.
Angus McLeod was the Canadian cycling champion of the late 19th century, dominating what was a wildly popular sport during the Gilded Age. He set three national speed records and was famous across North America and Europe.
In the 1890s, the mass production of bicycles with chain drives and pneumatic tires had made the sport vastly popular with men and women in all social classes.
McLeod and fellow Sarnia cyclists Fred Lougheed and T.B. McCarthy were members of the “Tunnel Town Racers,” which had on an oval in Bayview Park – lost today beneath Highway 402 near the Blue Water Bridge to Michigan.
Together with the opening of the St. Clair Tunnel, the prowess of Sarnia’s cyclists brought much attention to the town. McLeod alone held the Canadian record in the half-mile, the mile and five-mile race.
In 1897, Angus McLeod also apparently won the 25-mile Canadian cycling championship, for which he was awarded a 14K gold locket. Today, the locket is in the possession of Mrs. Joy Bell Kierns, an 88-year-old retired antique dealer in St. Louis.
Mrs. Kierns values family and appreciates the sentimental value of cherished family heirlooms. She thought it would be a nice gesture to return the locket to McLeod’s surviving family – if such survivors exist.
Her daughter-in-law, Cindy Callahan, asked Dr. Google what he knew about Angus McLeod and up popped a Sarnia Journal story from October of 2017 entitled: “Tunnel City bicycle club once brought Sarnia fame.”
Later that same day, Cindy and I were chatting.
Cindy says her mother-in-law’s memory is fading, and she has no recollection of how she acquired Angus McLeod’s championship locket. She has never been to Canada – Niagara Falls, New York is the closest she ever came to the Great White North.
Cindy believes it’s even possible Mrs. Kierns’ own ancestors acquired the locket.
The Journal would like to help Cindy and husband Mike Callahan fulfil Mrs. Kierns’ wish. If Canadian cycling champion Angus McLeod was a member of your family, and you can prove it, then Mrs. Kierns wants to reunite your family with a memento of Sarnia and Canada’s proud sporting history.
It’s a golden reminder of a time when cycling was more popular than hockey and curling.
Contact Phil Egan at [email protected]