David has taken over his father’s cooperage business in Highgate.  It consists of two components: a lumber mill which makes staves and barrel hoops and the cooper shop where coopers use the components from the mill to make barrels.  In 1896, he joins the bicycle craze sweeping America and is president of his local club. He is also a keen hunter.  In 1908 he is a member of the “Canadian Clay Bird Team” winning a silver medal at the Olympics in London.  In 1911 the family moves to Simcoe County to start up a new mill business.  You can follow David in his son’s diaries.