TRANSCRIPTHiriam: First of all Ms. Hiscock, would you mind telling us how old you are?
Florence: In my 93rd year.
Hiriam: That's a great age isn't it?
Florence: I suppose so.
Hiriam: And you're so well
Florence: That's right
Hiriam: And you're so active
Florence: That's right
Hiriam: You're fortunate
Florence: I suppose so.
Hiriam: It must be the Trinity upbringing?
Florence: I quite believe that
Hiriam: All the lovely fresh air and
Florence: That's right. Lots of fog and
Hiriam: Yes
Florence: And everything
Hiriam: And you worked hard?
Florence: Very. There's nothing like work to make one happy. Nothing.
Hiriam: You say nothing of being well off?
Florence: Well, that eh wasn't really in our minds. We had to work.
Hiriam: Yes, to survive in those days
Florence: That's right. We had to work.
Hiriam: So Ms. Hiscock you are of an old Trinity family from your father's side and your mother's side as well?
Florence: Yes.
Hiriam: Both were born there. Where do the Hiscock's come from?
Florence: eh, what
Hiriam: Your, your grandfather say? Your grandfather came from England?
Florence: Yes
Hiriam: And your mother was a Pittman?
Florence: Yes. Really, all the people even the…lived in Trinity came from England
Hiriam: um-hum
Florence: Devon. Devonshire.
Hiriam: The Pittman's were an old Trinity family weren't they?
Florence: Yes
Hiriam: Older than your father's ah family coming over?
Florence: Well, ah, I really don't know.
Hiriam: Your mother lived to be quite an old lady didn't she?
Florence: No, she only lived to be 78
Hiriam: 78. haha
Florence: And that's not old
Hiriam: No. haha
Florence: She was only 78. We thought her very young.
Hiriam: Now you told me your father drowned when you were quite small
Florence: Umm, my father was canvassing for Sir Robert Bond in Clarenville and the boat tipped over and he was drowned at the age of 39
Hiriam: Wow.
Florence: He left a family of six children and one not born.
Hiriam: How did your mother survive? How did she keep the family together?
Florence: Her spirit and willpower. She had plenty of that.
Hiriam: Lots of hard work
Florence: And lots of hard work. She.. Sir Robert made her postmistress shortly after Pop's death
Hiriam: Yes
Florence: And from that on she kept us all together, and of course we worked for her
Hiriam: She had a boarding house you say?
Florence: Yeah, we had two boarders
Hiriam: Uh-hum
Florence: We had a store and animals, and when the cabins came to Trinity we served meals. They would let us know how many they would want dinner for and we would have it for them.
Hiriam: How much would a meal cost then Ms. Hiscock?
Florence: Ahh, first when we started it was about a dollar twenty-five.
Hiriam: For a meal?
Florence: For a dinner. Then
Hiriam: I bet it was a dinner too wasn't it?
Florence: Yes, it was a dinner because they all thought that we didn't charge enough. Such a beautiful dinner.
Hiriam: How long ago was that?
Florence: Oh, my mother died of thirty-six. It was after that.
Hiriam: She died in 1936?
Florence: Yes. Perhaps about a couple of years after that.
Hiriam: Yup
Florence: When the cabins came to Trinity.
Hiriam: So the people would come down for their meal?
Florence: Mr. Bart...Mr. Morris would let us know how many would be out for dinner.
Hiriam: That in itself was a lot of work wasn't it?
Florence: Yes. It was a lot of work
Hiriam: I suppose you had all ah your own produce didn't you?
Florence: Yes.
Hiriam: Potatoes, and
Florence: Everything
Hiriam: Yeah
Florence: If not, we'd get it.
Hiriam: Your fresh milk?
Florence: Yes. Lots of milk
Hiriam: Uh-hum
Florence: Lots of cream. Fresh butter
Hiriam: Trinity had a good social life didn't it?
Florence: Oh, lovely social life
Hiriam: Uh-hum
Florence: People today don't know what a social life is.
Hiriam: What was that strawberry fair they use to have?
Florence: I really don't know.
Hiriam: Well it was a summer thing they, they'd have a gar..oh..the garden party I'm thinking of
Florence: Oh the garden party?
Hiriam: Yes
Florence: Yes, they had that in a place called Penguin Cove that my Grandmother owned
Hiriam: Penguin Cove?
Florence: Penguin Cove.
Hiriam: Where was that now? I mean
Florence: In by the Station. But, it's…gone now because when my Grandmother died, she left it to her four daughters
Hiriam: Uh-hum
Florence: Mrs. Gent, Mrs. Eriksen, and Mrs. Mews and my mother.
Hiriam: Why would they have it in there rather than in town?
Florence: It's the nicest place. Gun Hill was too high up.
Hiriam: Uh-hum. So what would you bring your food in there?
Florence: Yes. Garden party
Hiriam: Yup. Would they have games and things?
Florence: And everything. All games
Hiriam: Remember
Florence: Oh yes, I remember. All my thoughts are in Trinity
Hiriam: I suppose the people would come from all around the different surrounding facilities?
Florence: Not so many from outsiders. Mostly from Trinity the garden party
Hiriam: And there were enough people then in Trinity to have a good garden party
Florence: A good garden party. T'was lovely
Hiriam: It must be sad for you to see the decline in Trinity though?
Florence: Well I think so much about Trinity I don't see that. You understand what I mean?
Hiriam: Yes, uh-hum.
Florence: Trinity is Trinity to me
Hiriam: Because it was so important wasn't it?
Florence: That's right
Hiriam: In the 19th century?
Florence: And I grew up there
Hiriam: Yeah.
Florence: And the people that are there they remember me when I go back. They all remember me. Those people that used to come to my store.
Hiriam: Uh-hum
Florence: Shop then
Hiriam: Yes. You and your sister kept that shop?
Florence: Yes
Hiriam: And didn't you have the Post Office in your house?
Florence: Yes. We had the Post Office. My mother did.
Hiriam: Uh-hum
Florence: My mother had the Post Office in her house and we had the bank. Post Office one end and the bank the other. And the shop was in the middle
Hiriam: So it was a busy part of the town wasn't it?
Florence: Very busy. Busy part. Then my mother was retired and my sister took the Post Office. And then I was home alone and my brother came home for holiday and found it was a little bit too hard work so
Hiriam: He worked in the Post Office?
Florence: He paid my sister to come home with me. He gave her the cheque she was earning
Hiriam: Uh-hum
Florence: from the Government to come home with me and we both worked together, after that
Hiriam: Your brother died at 90?
Florence: 4
Hiriam: at 94?
Florence: At the towers
Hiriam: Here in ah St. John's?
Florence: We lived 5 years at the towers
Hiriam: Uh-hum. And your sister died recently?
Florence: Umm, 3 years
Hiriam: 3 years?
Florence: In January.
Hiriam: And she was in her 8?
Florence: 91st
Hiriam: 91st year?
Florence: Yes
Hiriam: So you are a long lived family aren't you?
Florence: Long lived family
Hiriam: But you say your father drowned when he was thirty?
Florence: 39 and my mother was a widow at 34
Hiriam: That's sad
Florence: That's sad isn't it?
Hiriam: Yes, indeed.
Florence: It was as we got old enough, my brother was a captain, my ah brother came to St John's here at the Post Office and worked up to be inspector and my ah other brother was umm Assistant Manager with Goodyear and House in Corner Brook. One sister got married and two stayed home
Hiriam: So you had a good education in Trinity?
Florence: Well we came here to St. John's to Spencer because the Mason's educated us. My father was a Mason. So we came here for a couple of years after we left Trinity. Trinity had as good a school as...because the teacher that was at Trinity came up to Spencer and taught me at Spencer. So you see we had a good school in Trinity.
Hiriam: I knew you had a good school, yes.
Florence: Yes, we had a good school.
Hiriam: What's the school used for now? That's been closed
Florence: Oh that was a store. It's all closed
Hiriam: The one on the hill isn't it?
Florence: There isn't a school in Trinity now. It's at Port Rexton.
Hiriam: Who would ever think that eh?
Florence: Yes, who would ever think that.
Hiriam: You have a magnificent church in Trinity
Florence: Oh, we have the best church in the world I think.
Hiriam: It is a beautiful church.
Florence: Beautiful, the beautiful font
Hiriam: Uh-hum
Florence: And pulpit, reading desk, communion table
Hiriam: Everything is of such good taste there isn't it?
Florence: Yes, and it holds
Hiriam: completely appointed
Florence: about 600 people
Hiriam: Is that right?
Florence: And I've seen it filled. Yes. I've seen it filled
Hiriam: That's the 3rd church eh St. Paul's church on that site is it?
Florence: That's the 3rd.
Hiriam: 3rd one yes.
Florence: I was christened in the Mortuary Chapel because the church wasn't finished.
Hiriam: That's the one out near the cemetery isn't it?
Florence: That's right
Hiriam: Uh-hum
Florence: That's where I was christened.
Hiriam: Mrs. Hiscock, the eh the hymn "We Love the Place O God" was written at Trinity wasn't it?
Florence: Yes.
Hiriam: What
Florence: 1827, by the Rev. Bullock. Especially for the consecration of the 2nd Church of England, eh
Hiriam: Your great grandmother
Florence: My great grandmother sang the hymn in the choir of the church from the original script written by Rev. Bullock.
Hiriam: Isn't that something eh that's a very popular hymn isn't it?
Florence: Yes, and I wanted to get it right particularly for you. I couldn't quite remember the date, but.
Hiriam: Your great grandmother
Florence: Yes, that's right. That's worth knowing isn't it?
Hiriam: Certainly is. When you sing that hymn now I suppose it all comes back to you?
Florence: Well. Takes me back to Trinity but of course I wasn't around
Hiriam: No, hardly, 1827
Florence: haha No
Hiriam: You were lucky in the parish you had great men there didn't you
Florence: We had a lot of clergymen in Trinity
Hiriam: Rev. Clinch?
Florence: Yes, he was there
Hiriam: He was a missionary, a clergyman as well as a doctor, a medical doctor
Florence: Yes he was. Ya know he was a vac a…
Hiriam: He was the first to use the vaccination of SmallPox
Florence: That's right. On his nephew
Hiriam: Uh-hum
Florence: He ran the risk of that boy dying
Hiriam: Wow
Florence: But he survived.
Hiriam: So that's a historic church isn't it?
Florence: Oh yes, it's a beautiful church. Beautiful church
Hiriam: I remember seeing a water color in your house that eh of that church
Florence: I probably
Hiriam: I wonder who painted that? Do you have any idea?
Florence: No. Funny thing ya know when you grow up don't ask the questions that you should ask
Hiriam: Your mother's sister, Mrs. Gent, had quite a lovely home didn't she?
Florence: Yes and she used to paint and my eh niece paints. She's in Grand Falls
Hiriam: Uh-hum
Florence: Joyce
Hiriam: So, it could have been your grandmother's eh sister, Mrs. Gent's
Florence: That's right
Hiriam: Painting?
Florence: Painted quite a lot
Hiriam: Uh-hum
Florence: Yes, she could have painted it.
Hiriam: I remember someone saying that she had the most beautiful antiques that they'd ever seen anywhere
Florence: Yes, she had lovely antiques
Hiriam: Who were the Gents'?
Florence: They came from Perlican.
Hiriam: Mmm, an old merchant family?
Florence: Ah, I would expect so
Hiriam: Uh-hum
Florence: No, the Gents…that was the Bannister's. Uncle George's sister came from Perlican. The Gents came from Trinity. Came from Trinity.
Hiriam: Did they? Yes. I remember your house too. You had a lot of lovely antiques.
Florence: Oh yes. We had lovely lot of antiques.
Hiriam: Beautiful things.
Florence: Didn't really know we had so many until
Hiriam: You had lovely books, you had lovely furniture
Florence: Oh yes, we had a lot of books. Our house was filled with books.
Hiriam: Your house has been sold to the Historic Trust hasn't it?
Florence: Yes.
Hiriam: And did you sell the contents as well or just?
Florence: Well, not all to the Historic Trust. Mr. O'Dea bought some.
Hiriam: Uh-hum
Florence: And we gave my cousins some valuable things, such as the little organ my mother learned her notes on and we all learned our notes on
Hiriam: Where did eh, where did your mother get all those things? Was it handed down in your families?
Florence: Oh yes from the Hiscock's. I have some beautiful things from the Hiscock's. You see that silver bowl over there?
Hiriam: Yes, that's beautiful
Florence: I mean the little bowl
Hiriam: This one?
Florence: Yes.
Hiriam: Yes, that is lovely.
Florence: That, my Aunt Mary, Pop's sister, was married to a clergyman in the states and they presented her with that from the Trinity church.
Hiriam: Made in 94? 95, it is yes.
Florence: Yes, 1895
Hiriam: Uh-hum
Florence: It's written on it.
Hiriam: From Trinity church. Where?
Florence: Umm, New York
Hiriam: In New York?
Florence: That's right
Hiriam: Uh-hum. That's a lovely one.
Florence: She married a clergyman, Rev. Guilham
Hiriam: Uh-hum
Florence: See I only had two aunts on the Hiscock side. And the other married a Coffin who taught at the model school, Augustus Coffin
Hiriam: Who lived in at Trinity the yellow stone house
Florence: Oh yes, Spender's old house
Hiriam: You've been in that have you?
Florence: Oh yes, I was in it when the McGrath's lived there
Hiriam: That was a gracious house wasn't it?
Florence: Oh, beautiful staircase
Hiriam: Should never have been torn down?
Florence: No, it should never have been but and I asked why it was torn down and they said the Government didn't have the money to restore it to keep it up and it was a fire trap
Hiriam: What a pity
Florence: Pity. Pity. All that beautiful brick
Hiriam: Mmm
Florence: It was a brick house.
Hiriam: Was it furnished when you ah use to go there?
Florence: Yes, by the people that lived there.
Hiriam: Who built it originally? Do you remember?
Florence: Oh, I really don't know.
Hiriam: But built in seventeen something I know. In the seventeen sixties I believe
Florence: I don't know. Can't go back that far
Hiriam: haha
Florence: haha
Hiriam: Did you ever go there as a girl to have parties there?
Florence: No, my mother did.
Hiriam: Your mother, yeah
Florence: My mother and grandmother went there for parties. Lovely parties. I can hear them telling us now. You ah you remember Mr. and Mrs. Herrington? The Methodist College?
Hiriam: Uh-hum
Florence: Lived with us for a couple of summers. So she brought her tatting and my mother did tatting so they were invited over to Ada Green's grandmother. To afternoon tea, and they took their tatting. So, when they were gone we made up our minds to learn tatting. So that's how I learned.
Hiriam: And you're still tatting?
Florence: And um I spent two beautiful holidays with Mrs. Herrington. Two lovely holidays. They both retired then and went to England to live.
Hiriam: Uh-hum
Florence: Had two sons. One, Jack, was a doctor and Dick was a farmer and she corresponded with me. Sending me embroidering books until her death. That's really who taught me to do this craft.
Hiriam: Uh-hum
Florence: We made it but... my sister really taught me because she had more patience and she got it into my head. But it's a great help to me here now
Hiriam: Oh I guess it is
Florence: It would be very lonely not knowing how to do
Hiriam: Yes
Florence: Those things. And we knew Sir Robert Bond quite well. I can see him now in our house and you know when he'd preach, not preach, but speak
Hiriam: Uh-hum
Florence: Politics. They were great politicians.
Hiriam: They are statesman not politicians, weren't they? haha
Florence: haha. Well they were great. I used to enjoy listening to them. I even did in my latter years of my life. My brother was a politician
Hiriam: Was he? Uh-hum.
Florence: He was a very able man too
Hiriam: Trinity was conservative was it?
Florence: Yes.
Hiriam: Yes.
Florence: Yes.
Hiriam: Do you remember when the eh politicians would come around
Florence: Yes, I remember Sir Robert and Mr. Gushue
Hiriam: Would they shoot off the guns?
Florence: Ahh, probably if they were determined they would. It would be nearly darkness when if Sir Robert was returned.
Hiriam: I remember seeing a picture of the Garland Hotel in Trinity down by the wharf
Florence: Oh yes
Hiriam: With a great arch. And I think the Governor General was in there
Florence: Oh my
Hiriam: The Governor General of Canada
Florence: Governor yeah oh that's right. I forget his name
Hiriam: The Duke of Coughnought
Florence: I had a postcard of that.
Hiriam: Queen Victoria's son was visiting
Florence: Yes. And we also had a lovely picture of the Governor that came from Trinity. If you mentioned them up, I'd remember it. Oh its beautiful archway. We had lovely arches for the Government. For the governors
Hiriam: Yes
Florence: When they come
Hiriam: So you had that hotel...the Garland Hotel...that was a
Florence: That was the Garland Hotel. Mrs. Jenkins was a very nice person too. Used to run the hotel
Hiriam: That was a big hotel wasn't it?
Florence: That was a good hotel
Hiriam: A lot of people from St. John's would spend
Florence: Always
Hiriam: Their holidays there
Florence: Would come there for the summer. It was perfect really.
Hiriam: That branch train you had from St. John's to Trinity and on to Bonavista
Florence: Trinity...Trinity didn't want the branch train to come out because would...we didn't like the smoke
Hiriam: haha Is that the reason it didn't come through the town? haha
Florence: haha Oh, I didn't know the reason behind it
Hiriam: That must have made a great difference to Trinity
Florence: Yes
Hiriam: the commerce and
Florence: That's right
Hiriam: And social life. You get a lot of visitors from St. John's
Florence: That's right
Hiriam: And other places
Florence: Yes. Now you see everything is paved right to St. John's. The roads are beautiful now. And electric light everywhere.
Hiriam: Uh-hum
Florence: But, you're no happier with those things. Makes life easy
Hiriam: I remember your little shop you had. You had something of everything there didn't you?
Florence: Something of everything.
Hiriam: Did you make your own ice cream?
Florence: Yes, we made our own ice cream
Hiriam: Your own cows and
Florence: Our own cows and our own cream and ice cream
Hiriam: That's a lot of work isn't it?
Florence: It was a lot of work
Hiriam: How many cows did your sister have at one time you told me?
Florence: My sister had 5 one winter. And she happened to have me not very well for a short while. It wasn't very long and I got better.
Hiriam: Uh-hum. So you had eh I spose pigs and
Florence: We had one pig
Hiriam: One pig?
Florence: and that was ah and that was kind of a pet
Hiriam: mmm
Florence: But we had to kill it
Hiriam: haha
Florence: We had to kill it. We didn't want to but we did and we had lovely fresh pork. Ha...we made our own ham
Hiriam: Uh-hum
Florence: And bacon. Come on, there was no true verbs I don't think around did what my sister. My sister is a wonderful worker
Hiriam: And your sister lived till her, her 91st year?
Florence: Birthday
Hiriam: Wow.
Florence: She's a wonderful worker too
Hiriam: And you were ninety?
Florence: haha I'm going into my 93rd that's all
Hiriam: So hard work didn't?
Florence: Oh no, hard work
Hiriam: Do much harm did it?
Florence: Really, anyone that works, their happy and it eh adds life. Adds to life
Hiriam: Uh-hum
Florence: Yeah. No work doesn't hurt anyone. We were very happy doing what we did in Trinity. I can, I can look back with having a lovely life, but plenty of hard work. Plenty of hard work.
Hiriam: You told me when you eh lived here in St. John's at one time you were a neighbor of Georgina Sterling's, the Opera singer?
Florence: I remember her living about two doors down from me. That was when we were here going to school.
Hiriam: You remember seeing her? Of course you would
Florence: Yes, I can see her now.
Hiriam: Big or small or?
Florence: Yes, tall
Hiriam: mmm
Florence: Tall, big woman
Hiriam: Sometimes tipsy you would say?
Florence: Well, I'd only hear that
Hiriam: haha You didn't hear her sing did ya?
Florence: No, I don't think I did.
Hiriam: You must have known some colorful people in your long life?
Florence: I have. We mixed with nice people in Trinity
Hiriam: Uh-hum
Florence: My, how different the world is today.
Hiriam: Uh-hum
Florence: You see how particular my aunts were. Told me that I was doing very, very rude to tap to anyone and now we were brought up like that all through our life
Hiriam: Uh-hum
Florence: If we sat to the table, we had to stay to the table until everyone was finished. Life is not like that today is it? Oh, I had a nice life, I had a nice life. I had nice aunts
Hiriam: Uh-hum
Florence: And I had a wonderful mother, a wonderful mother
Hiriam: The only blemish in your life was losing your father so, so young eh?
Florence: Well, I didn't remember him, I was only a year old
Hiriam: No, of course
Florence: Just a year
Hiriam: Yup
Florence: My brother was born after
Hiriam: So that house was built for your, for your mother was it? For his wife?
Florence: Ah, yes, she went there as a bride. Twasn't quite finished then. But we went and lived for a short while in a smaller
home and the rent she got she finished our home and we went back there and lived again
Hiriam: I think it's sad though when you go to Trinity and see the old homes being torn down
Florence: Yes
Hiriam: Such beautiful houses
Florence: Yes. Walter White's is still there
Hiriam: Yes. Former Garland Hotel is still lovely…the one on the hill there belonging to
Florence: Fowlow's
Hiriam: Fowlow's. What a magnificent house that was
Florence: Yup. But that's not an old house
Hiriam: No, it's so…it's so beautifully situated isn't it?
Florence: It's lovely up on the hill
Hiriam: Overlooking everything
Florence: Lovely
Hiriam: What about the old rectory? Can you remember that at all?
Florence: Oh, I can remember the rectory. We had, we had rec eh rectory right by our house
Hiriam: I don't mean that one I mean the one
Florence: They should have never taken down that rectory and built it in around the road
Hiriam: On, eh the back of where you lived, where old Dr. Clinch lived?
Florence: Oh yes, I can remember that
Hiriam: Can you?
Florence: Quite well
Hiriam: Big house?
Florence: Yes, yeah, I remember it up on the hill. What a house they built Mom and pop built
Hiriam: How many bedrooms in your house?
Florence: Eh, there was umm one, two, three, four bedrooms on the second floor and four beautiful rooms in the attic. And four on the first floor
Hiriam: Course there was
Florence: We had 12 rooms and then we had the bathroom and up the shop
Hiriam: And it was a good thing because your mother needed that didn't she for keeping the
Florence: Yes
Hiriam: eh, boarders and people who would come there
Florence: Yes, yeah, that's right, yeah, yes. That's a good thing that we had it.
Hiriam: Yes, how did you keep the ah, the place warm? Such a huge house
Florence: Will we had an oil stove
Hiriam: Yeah
Florence: And we had hard coal then. You remember hard coal? Not hard coal. We had a dining room fire always, with the not hard coal, and the hall fire and then we'd have a grate in the dining room with plenty of salt coal
Hiriam: Have you seen your house since you sold it?
Florence: Only I was down there last summer.
Hiriam: How did you feel when you went through it?
Florence: I was delighted to think that it was sold to the Historical because eh there's no one going to buy it from us. So, it'll always be kept up
Hiriam: You must have had mixed feelings though going into the rooms?
Florence: Well, it was very hard. My sister was very sick when I had to clear out the house
Hiriam: Uh-hum
Florence: And it was very hard then but I had to do it
Hiriam: Oh yes
Florence: And probably, probably in having to do it helped me a lot. I didn't have time to think
Hiriam: Through the difficult time
Florence: I didn't have time to think. My sister wasn't able to walk, and I just had...and all she'd say to me was whatever you like Floss. You see she was too sick to give me a decision
Hiriam: Uh-hum So you had to make all the decisions?
Florence: I had to make it all. When she died you know I didn't trouble about anything while we were alive I was one of those
Hiriam: Mmm
Florence: As long as my sister and brother was there
Hiriam: Mmm
Florence: And I couldn't ask her anything when she was sick, I had a hard time
Hiriam: Yeah
Florence: Trying to know how to do and, and look at the bankbook and everything
Hiriam: Yes
Florence: To see that everything
Hiriam: Yes
Florence: Was going alright
Hiriam: Uh-hum So, you think that was a good decision?
Florence: ???? To know, how to do and look at the bankbook and everything
Hiriam: Yes
Florence: To see that everything was going alright
Hiriam: Yes, uh-hum. So you think it was a good decision, selling it to the Historic Trust?
Florence: Oh yes, we were delighted. No one would buy such a big home
Hiriam: No. No, it wouldn't be practical would it?
Florence: No. No.
Hiriam: Nobody builds house like, like that anymore
Florence: No, and it's beautiful
Hiriam: Oh yes.
Florence: My brother use to say what a lovely home. You know the umm the beams
Hiriam: Yup. It was beautifully built
Florence: And a beautiful staircase. The staircase went from the front door right up to the attic
Hiriam: Local craftsman built that?
Florence: yes
Hiriam: mmm
Florence: Yeah. Floss Grant' father was one
Hiriam: Well Mrs. Hiscock thank you very much
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