Preserving the Memory of Paul May’s Old Barn
(aka: Paul, the father of ‘Farmer Tim’ on Facebook; January 2026)
by Hugh Fraser, President of Ontario Barn Preservation (OBP)
‘Farmer Tim’ has an incredible following on Facebook. His matter-of-fact, story-telling about his seven-days-a-week job as a dairy farmer in Wellington County, Ontario is super fun to read. Tim has diverse followers across the planet, farmers and non-farmers. He posts photos and videos, explaining why farmers do what they do.
I’ve met Tim May a few times on his farm. Growing up on a dairy farm myself, it is clear Tim is passionate about farming and he was born to tell stories. Equally clear is his love of all things ‘old’, including barns! As President of OBP, I never tire of talking about old barns, but if I milked with Tim every day, we’d never come in from chores early, since we’d talk far too much!
OBP’s mandate is to save old barns and of course our preference is to save every barn we can. But the reality is: we can’t save every barn, nor should we. However, if physically saving an old barn is not possible, or practical, we can still save it in the digital world so future barn lovers, historians and researchers can study the important role barns played in making Ontario.
This is where OBP’s ‘Your Old Barn Study’, or ‘YOBS’, comes in. OBP currently defines ‘old’ as barns built pre-1961. Maybe this date will change in future, but for now it is 1961. In 2021, we partnered with the University of Guelph to create a secure and confidential on-line database housed by the University of Guelph. Several students took a one semester, on-line course taught by our U of Guelph partner, Professor Kim Martin of the History Department. Over the course of two years, we slowly created a series of questions that barn owners could answer about their old barns—on their own timeline and online. We believe it is better to have a small army of barn owners collect data about their own barns, because they live and work in them every day. We are lucky to a few devoted Regional Reps who’ve entered many barns on YOBS, but they cannot enter all the barns out there. So far, our experiment has worked, and we have about 200 barns recorded. A data analysis from May 2024 showed: 24% were built 1900 to 1949; 59% built 1850 to 1900; and 6% built 1800 to 1849. There is much more information in the database about building styles, sizes, features and most importantly, photos and stories about them. Check out this link to YOBS on the OBP website. https://www.ontariobarnpreservation.com/barn-study/
As part of our student training, I took two students out to Tim May’s dairy farm and recorded two of his old barns in YOBS. But Tim was sad that his father Paul’s old barn could not have been recorded in YOBS before it disappeared over 50 years ago. ‘Don’t fret’, I said. ‘Maybe we can resurrect your father’s ghost barn—if we can just learn a little about it.’ We call barns no longer standing, ghost barns. How could we not try to resurrect a man’s barn with a smile wider than a 60 ft wide combine head?
Figure 1: Paul May
Tim wanted to help OBP reach a broader audience of old barn owners like you, so we embarked on an ambitious plan. In exchange for resurrecting his Dad’s old barn, Tim agreed to advertise YOBS through his wide Facebook following (Figure 1). We ask you to consider entering your own barns into our database. It is not difficult, it is fun, it is challenging, and we guarantee you’ll learn things about your old barn you never, ever realized before. Make it an intergenerational family event with your kids, your parents and grandparents. You never ‘see’ your barn when you’re in it every day, but you will see it with a new lens with our easy to follow menus on YOBS. Your barn is unique, because after being in 1000s of old barns myself, I can tell you no two old barns are exactly the same out there! Rest assured that whatever information you put on our database, it will be secure and confidential. We are creating protocols about who will have access to this data and at different levels of access. Even as President of OBP, I have no access to the data!
It’s a lot more difficult to resurrect a ghost barn, than one still standing like you may own. So, hang onto your barn hats, because it’s a fun ride to resurrect a ghost barn, and both Tim and I had a hoot. Tim is absolutely sure his Dad would be proud. There are 1,000s of old barns out there just waiting for you— Ontario’s old barn owners—so do this legacy honour to your ancestors, or someone else’s ancestors.
Question #1 to Tim
What was the Lot, Concession and Township of the farm and do you have photos of the inside/outside?
Tim: Here’s the farm deed and 1950s farmstead photo I pulled out of a ‘box of Dad’s stuff’, but no photos.(Figure 2, Figure 3, Figure 4, and Figure 5).
Figure 2: Hugh: This little nugget of information gave me something to search on old registry records, which are available online.
Figure 3: Hugh: This farmstead photo gave me the orientation of the barn with respect to the house, a helpful thing as you will see later. I could tell Paul’s barn was very wide, with a ‘squatty’ gambrel roof. There was a small milk house on the side showing, and a wooden stave silo on one end, also helpful for creating scale, since these silos were often only about 12 ft wide. Snow drifts seem to suggest this photo was taken from south of the farmstead.
Figure 4: Hugh: This online 1858 map shows George May on Lot 10, Concession 10, but it is across the road from Lot 10, Concession 11, which is owned by a Hugh Mason. It is near the old village of Hornby, east of Milton.
https://www.arcgis.com/apps/webappviewer/index.html?id=8cc6be34f6b54992b27da17467492d2
Figure 5: Hugh: This online 1877 map shows John May, but he too is across the road from a Mason family. Something goofy going on. I need another way to find the barn in the farmstead photo and I have an idea.
https://digital.library.mcgill.ca/countyatlas/Images/Maps/TownshipMaps/hal-m-trafalgar-n.jpg
Question #2 to Tim
Can you can confirm George and John May were related to you? I can check them out on Ancestry.ca
Tim: Yes, they were my ancestors, but can you check (Figure 6)? What was your other great idea?
Figure 6: Hugh: George May must have been your Great-Great Grandfather, while John May was your Great-Grandfather. This will help with finding them on the registry records.
Question #3 to Tim
My idea was to find an old aerial photo from the past and compare the orientation of the buildings on the farmstead to buildings on farms near Lot 11, Concession 10, Trafalgar Township. I was able to find an old ca. 1960 black and white aerial photo of the Milton area from McMaster University (Figure 7). Some areas of the province have aerials such as these right online. It is challenging to navigate through them. Have you found anything else in our Dad’s box of stuff that might help us?
Tim: I’ve sent you a photo with the barn in the background, but I doubt if it is helpful.
Figure 7: Hugh: I was able to zoom in on this photo, then overlay and spin the maps from 1858 and 1877 around so roads and creeks were all oriented together. Although the aerial photo gets really grainy when you zoom in, some things popped out which told me we were looking at the wrong farm all along (Figure 8 and Figure 9)!
Figure 8: Hugh: Talk about an ‘ah-ha’ moment! When I looked over the aerial photo, I saw 6 things in the farmstead photo; big barn; long skinny barn; long hedge; house; crook in the road; and a creek. It was Derry Road—now a crazy busy four-lane road that runs across the 407 highway at Mississauga.
Figure 9: Paul was right. The barn was on the west half of Lot 11, Concession 10, but the barn wasn’t built by the May family; it was built by the Mason family, who owned the farm from 1833 to 1917. Tim’s grandfather, Elmer May bought the farm in 1926 with the barn already on it. This discovery made it a whole lot easier to peg with good accuracy exactly where this barn would stand today. See later in this blog.
Question #4 to Tim
That photo is incredibly helpful since it was taken straight on (Figure 10). A photo taken from a distance is actually a good thing, because it reduces distortion of the true barn dimensions. There also is a perfect scale in the photo. Let me get back to you. In the meantime, did you find anything else that was helpful?
Tim: When my Dad was failing in 2024, I asked him to sketch the layout of the old barn because I thought it would make him feel better. I was right. Take a look at what he sketched from memory. Is it helpful?
Figure 10: This photo Tim sent me was the missing link because it showed a relatively new poured concrete silo, with (likely) 2 ft concrete pour lines. This provided a perfect scale to determine many barn dimensions (Figure 11)
Figure 11: When zooming in on this silo, it appeared to have 30 pour lines making it a 60 ft tall silo and 18 ft diameter, typical in the early 70s. From here, other dimensions followed.
Question #5 to Tim
Your Dad did a fantastic job recreating the stable layout, considering he wasn’t in it for over 50 years! There are several details he included that help: location and style of silo; ‘top’ of his schematic faces the road; 8 horse stalls, a lot in those days; location of litter carrier track and manure pile; 11 cows; stairs up to the mow; even the ratio of barn width to length almost matches what I believe were the barn dimensions. I can see your Dad smiling as he put this together. Can you check what I come up with and see if it matches with what your Dad told you about the barn (Figure 12 and Figure 13)?
Tim: My cousin spent a lot of time in the barn with our Grandpa Elmer. I’ll ask her about it.
Figure 12: During the last year of his life, Paul May drew this stable layout from deep within his 50 years ago memory. It is remarkably accurate to scale.
Figure 13: It is tricky to estimate dimensions in a perspective photo, but the old wooden silo was likely about 12 ft diameter and Paul showed it was offset from the barn centre. The gambrel roof appears ‘squatty’ or spread out.
Question #6 to Tim
Well, does this layout make sense to you? And guess what? I found out where your Dad’s barn used to sit in what is now a Mississauga subdivision.
Tim: My cousin said our Grandpa was a ‘horse man’ and he may have taken them to shows. She remembered a black one called ‘Bob’ and the ‘King’ was blonde.
Figure 14: More than likely, Paul May’s barn was never drawn out to scale in its entire lifetime. If Paul’s father Elmer had horses called ‘Bob’ and ‘King’, there is a good chance he, or maybe his father before him were in custom stud services, which was a big deal back in the late 1800s.
Question #7 to Tim
I think we are about done, Tim, and thanks for the feedback on the stable layout. Here is a map showing where your Dad’s barn used to be. You won’t believe it, but I was on your Dad’s farm back in 2000 when visiting my brother-in-law’s family. They owned a house about 700 m straight west of the barn! The farm was on Derry Road; a cow-path in the 1960 aerial photo and now a 4-lane road. The farm is surrounded by a spaghetti mess of highways 401, 407, interchanges and railways. Sad, if you are lover of farmland as we both are. Are you ready to put all this information into YOBS?
Tim: Small world! And yes, I was born ready. Show me how.
Figure 15: Paul May’s farm is outlined on a Google map in Mississauga. The most likely location of the barn is shown with the red marker.
You can find ‘Your Old Barn Study’ on our general Ontario Barn Preservation website address: https://www.ontariobarnpreservation.com/
It is under the ‘Resources’ tab or use this direct link: https://www.ontariobarnpreservation.com/barn-study/
You don’t have to be a member of Ontario Barn Preservation to input your barn, but we would be very happy if you joined us. We are still relatively young at only 7 years old. There is a ‘Membership Information’ tab on our home page. When you reach ‘Your Old Barn Study’ on our website, it is important to read the introductory information on how to gather barn information in a systematic manner and how to take great helpful photos. We encourage you to scroll through the YOBS questions and drop down lists so you see how easy it really is. However, we ask you NOT TO HIT THE SUBMIT BUTTON UNTIL YOU ARE HAPPY WITH YOUR ANSWERS AND EVERYTHING IS COMPLETE! You cannot change answers after you submit.
OK, here we go, Tim! Only answer those questions that makes sense for your Dad’s ghost barn. If you don’t know the answer, just move on.
The first part of YOBS is about where the barn is located. Give as much information as possible so future users of this data can know where your Dad’s barn was. Again, we have to reiterate that this information is not available to just anyone. We are creating strict protocols about how this much information can be disseminated, probably just in aggregate form.
Q3.1 Before continuing, please verify your identity: “I’m not a robot”
Q4.2 Barn owner’s name: Paul May
Q4.7 Town/city/township: Trafalgar (New survey)
Q4.8 Province: Ontario
Q4.10 Location of barn (county): Halton
Q4.11 Historic township name: Trafalgar
Q4.12 Lot: 11 (west half)
Q4.13 Concession: 10 (north side of Derry Road)
Q4.15, 4.16 Barn’s latitude/longitude (off a Google Map): 43.57955,-79.78264
The next section is about physical condition & structural composition of the barn.
Q5.2 I am documenting barn: As it stood before it was demolished
Q5.3 On what kind of land use? Other (specify): …now part of Mississauga!
Q5.4 What year was barn built? Unsure, so skip to next question
Q5.5 Best estimate on years: 1850-1899
Q5.6 Was this barn moved? No, but we don’t really know for sure
Q5.8 Physical condition Roof, walls, floor, foundation, structural members: Removed/down
Q5.9 Which roof shape? Gambrel (additional Qs to follow)
Q5.10 Which gambrel shape out of 6 shown? #5 out of 6
Q5.12 Barn structure/construction: Heavy timber frame, with or without basement/stable
Q5.13 Compass orientation of roof: Northeast-southwest
The next section is barn dimensions. You’ll need a measuring tape or laser tool. See the schematic.
Q5.15 Outside width in feet: 48 ft
Q5.16 Outside length in feet: 64 ft
Q5.17 Wall height in feet: 16 ft
Q5.18 Basement/stable height in feet: 9 ft
Figure 16: These are outside barn measurements.
The next section is about outside photos of the barn; perspective, end & side views. these 3 photos, but not the end view. However, we have a pretty good idea what the end view looks like, so why don’t we put in a schematic of it?
Q6.2 Perspective photo (Figure 19)
Figure 17: This is from the aerial photo from probably in the 1950s
Q6.3 End photo. We don’t have this photo, but why don’t we improvise with a schematic we draw?
Figure 18: Improvised end view photo
Q6.4 Side photo
Figure 19: This the same photo we used to establish dimensions.
There are questions about special features inside and outside. Despite being a ghost barn, there are still things we can add because we can see them on the outside of the barn, and as this once was a dairy barn, we can be 99.9% sure other features were in it:
Q7.3 features on the outside walls: Earthen ramp to mow (at rear of barn); vertical wood cladding
Q7.4 features in the mow: Granary; hayfork & trolley; mortise & tenon joints; manure gutters; manure litter carrier
Q8.1 structural additions Milkhouse; silo (wood stave silo in old photo, poured concrete later
The next section asks to include historical photos & a fun story (< 250 words) about the barn & farm
Q9.1 Barn story
Here are random thoughts from Paul’s son, Tim: “My Dad made that map of the barn’s interior in 2024. His health was declining & I thought it would be a good activity for him to do. I was also curious & so glad I asked! You asked if my Dad’s barn had an earthen ramp to the mow, but around here they call those ‘barn dumps’. Dad milked Holsteins & moved in 1970. Mom’s family name was Wrigglesworth & her family farm is where the Hornby Towers Golf Course is now”.
Note from Hugh Fraser, helping out on this YOBS project. Paul May’s barn was near this 2025 address: 7262 Sandhurst Drive, Mississauga, in a subdivision! Unknowingly, I was on Paul’s farm in about 2000 when visiting my brother-in-law’s family. They lived about 700 m straight west of Paul’s barn on Althorpe Circle! In 1970, Derry Road was a just a cow path along the farm & dead-ended at the May farm. It is a huge road now!
Q9.2: Submit up to four historical photos, with a few details
Photo #1 is taken in the 1950s from high above Derry Road, looking north
Photo #2 is a zoomed in look at a 1960 aerial photo from McMaster University
Photo #3 is Paul May’s 2024 stable drawing. Paul passed away November 30, 2024
Photo #4 is a re-creation of the stable layout by Hugh Fraser in 2025
Q9.10 Names of those assisting in this study Tim May, Hugh Fraser
Q9.12 If you are ready, click the submit button!
Note from Hugh Fraser: On behalf of OBP, thank you Paul & Tim May for letting us demonstrate how to put your ‘ghost’ barn on YOBS! Tim and I had a lot of fun with this and we hope everyone reading this has enjoyed the ride! Please consider putting your barn on YOBS. Don’t wait until it’s also a ‘ghost’ barn though. It’s not difficult, it’s fun, you’ll learn things about your barn you never knew before, and it will be legacy activity you will look back at and be proud. Get the kids involved. Remember, it is a very bad day indeed if you do not learn something new. If you have questions about YOBS, send an email to OBP at YOBS@ontariobarnpreservation.com. Tell us briefly what you’d like to know about YOBS and tell us what part of Ontario (or elsewhere) that you live, so we can re-direct your email to the right OBP volunteer. Yes, we are all volunteers at OBP, so please be patient for a response! Perhaps you too might like to become a member and a volunteer!
Share this:
