TRANSCRIPT

A - Interviewer
B - Bob Michie

A - I'm speaking with Bob Michie in Lindsay. Bob if you could state your age.

B - Well, I mean I'm 87 about a week ago I guess.

AI - Oh, happy birthday!

B - The 27th of, the 27th of December, 87.

A - Very good. How long has your family lived in Greenbank?

B - Ah, my great grandfather homesteaded in 1850, on a farm in 1850. His son was my grandfather. He bought another farm adjacent more or less to the one my great grandfather had and then my dad took over that one. My grandfather died when he was 42.

A - Oh wow, that was young.

B - And he had four boys and two girls I think, off hand...and he died when he was 42 and the boys took over the farm and eventually three of the boys went out west. My dad stayed home. Now I don't know what year my dad took over the farm. I can't find any recollection of that in any of the diaries or anything. But dad was married in 1909, I know that.

A - And what's your dad's name?

B - John.

A - John.

B - John Michie was my great grandfather, and my dad was John...and, ah, them diaries say was seven John Michies'...one kind and another, one relatives...and one thing or another. My great grandfather was John, he had a son John, and my dad was John...well that was three. Well there was other John Michies' come from Scotland. And they would stay with my great grandfather for a few days and gone again, never hear a word about them. I really don't know about some of them, who the John Michies' are, as far as...John Michie's son he died, he died when he was a young man, pneumatic fever. I think he was around 40 or something like that.

A - And your great grandfather came from England?

B - Scotland.

A - Oh, Scotland...sorry.

B - Puttymuck, Scotland.

A - Very good, very good. What was it like, growing up in Greenbank...for yourself?

B - Well I grew up in Greenbank in the Depression. And I went to school until...I would start school when I was six, that would be 1927. And we used to start school at Easter time, and I would - you had to be six before you could start school - well I was six in December - and then I had to wait until Easter. I went through the - it would be eight years, eight or nine years - that would put me right into the Depression. Well I had no chance of going to High school. We couldn't afford to send me to High school. I didn't want to go to start with - I hated school from the first day I went, and uh...the only time I like school was recess and noon hours. (laughter) And, uh, I think I quit school when I was about 15.

A - Okay.

B - That was the Depression. I worked...Dad was a, he was a barn carpenter, that's what he done before he was married, carpenter work. If anyone wanted something done to their barn or something like that, they'd get dad to go. I was left home with my mother to run the farm when I was 15 or 16 years old.

A - Wow.

B - Lots of times dad would be away. He didn't have a car then and he'd be away. Maybe he drive away Monday morning. We wouldn't see him before the end of the week. He'd be… and he was there haying and harvest but the rest of the work I pretty well done it myself.

A - Did you have lots of siblings as well?

B - Pardon?

A - Did you have lots of siblings?

B - I had four sisters but they were all older than I was. Four years difference between me and my youngest sister and they were all away working. They had to get out to work. They were housekeeping and one thing or another - for other people - and my mother and I had to run things at home.

A - You had to work on the farm.

B - Yeah and I took over the farm in 1952, I guess it was.

A - Whereabouts is the farm, the Lot and Concession, is it...?

B - Lot 10, Concession, Lot 18, Concession 10, 2 miles east of Greenbank. I went to school in Greenbank. We went to church in Greenbank.

A - Did you go to the Methodist....to the United Church in Greenbank?

B - Yeah, the United Church. While we're talking Churches...there were five churches!

A - I know. (laughter)

B - Have you got that? (laughter)

A - Yeah, there were lots. So you attended the United Church?

B - And uh, the other churches, three of them...two of them are dwellings now, houses people live in them.

A - The Presbyterian and the Baptist.

B - Yeah, the Anglican Church is the Town Hall of Greenbank and there's another one up to the North. I can't tell you what denomination it was - it's been so many things since I remember. It's hard to tell you how many. It's a blacksmith shop the first time I remember.

A - Did you have to go to the blacksmith shop when you were a kid?

B - Oh yeah.

A - Really?

B - Used to keep our horses shod then, most of them. Especially the ones that was used on the road and uh...I took a man's place when I was eleven years old. When I'm saying that, I wasn't the only kid doing it.

A - Oh, I know.

B - There was lots of kids doing the same thing. I used to take a team and a wagon and go threshing...eleven years old. A different life back then. Where is there an eleven year old kid today trusted with a team of horses. And I tell you those old shoes by seven o'clock at night were getting heavy...eleven year old kid.

A - So, what do you remember of the blacksmith shop when you were a kid?

B - Oh well, I wasn't there that much.

A - Just every year, every season, to get the horses shoed?

B - Maybe twice a year I go in there to get the horses shod, something like that. But other than that I don't know too much of what went on in the blacksmith shop. I liked being in there, watching the blacksmith work, although. I used to like watching him shoe horses, one thing and another. But I didn't have time.

A - No, I bet you didn't.

B - And, I wasn't like a kid nowadays, that had nothing much to do. I was home working I was. I'll tell you, when my head hit the pillow a lot of nights, I don't remember my head hitting the pillow. I was out, I'd go to sleep that quick.

A - So the depression was a hard time in Greenbank?

B - Yes, it hit people pretty hard. A lot of people hardly knew where their next meal was coming.

A - I bet, I bet.

B - I pitched hay for 25 cents a day when I was about, I don't know, sixteen or seventeen maybe. That's not a very big wage is it?

A - No, no...wow. Do you have any memories of the Beef Ring.?

B - Yes, I can remember it, not that I have too many memories of it. I mean we belonged to it, but other than that...the beef ring was in there. And yes, I didn't mind getting - going every Wednesday morning, I think it was, we had to go to the beef ring.

A - So if you would go get your beef, you would have to contribute a cow as well?

B - Yes, I forget how many shares was in it, the people in it. Why each one during the summer would have to put an animal in. That was the way that would work. It was all right. People didn't have refrigerators, one way or another - that was one way they could get fresh meat.

A - Very good, exactly - sharing. Do you have any memories of Highway 12 before they straightened it? Apparently there were a lot of accidents on Highway 12.

B - In Greenbank? Oh yeah, I can remember that. There was quite a jog in the road. I don't remember when it was a square corner, I don't remember that. I remember coming around there, but in later years. Not too many years ago they cut it off again. Pretty near straightened it. They moved that big stone house I remember. I watched them do that. But I don't remember when it was a square corner, no.

A - No, no. Do you remember any events that took place in Greenbank when you were a kid, anything that happened?

B - Well, we started a Christmas concert, there was always a Christmas concert in the Church. Sunday School had twelve classes. Each class was to put on a number, an entertainment. Sometime it was just somebody singing or a skit of one kind or another. I was secretary of Greenbank Sunday School for fourteen years. So every first of July quite often they would have what they called a play come in from some other community and put a play on. Chances are they'd have a supper at the same time. And that's our entertainment. Ball games…I played a bit of ball when I was younger. 1952 I guess was the last time I played ball.

A - What did the kids do for activities? Did they play hockey, or...

B - Shinny (laughter). No we couldn't afford to go to the rink so we made our own fun there. And, we played at a place east of Greenbank. We used to clean the ice off, we'd half flooded it, one way or the other, and that's what we used for skating...we used to play our shinny games on. We used to get out early some days at school. We were supposed to have an hour at noon. We cut that done to half an hour and the teacher would be kind of generous to us, she'd let us out at 3 o'clock. We'd go skate - before we went home. Maybe five o'clock before we left, I don't know.

A - So did you have to walk to school? That's a long walk.

B - Two miles.

A - Yeah, that's a long walk in the morning.

B - I remember going to school one morning in the winter time. I got to school. There was a note on the door 'no school - too cold'. So I started, I'll just have to turn around and come home. I got about half way home. I had an uncle and aunt who lived close to the road. She was always a good touch for two or three cookies, one thing or another. So I went in there on my way home. She wanted to know if I knew how cold it is. I said no I don't know how cold it is, I knew it was cold. She said at seven o'clock that morning it was 40 below zero. I had walked to school 40 below zero. (laughter)

A - And you didn't even really notice! (laughter)

B - No, I didn't notice it. Of course I was out there every day. We didn't have clothes then like we do now either for being out in the cold. Kids don't know what it is to be...

A - No, no they'd don't know what it's like. So you worked on the farm your whole life then so when you moved away...

B - Up to 1969 I farmed.

A - And that's what your father did as well, and your grandfather?

B - We moved to Little Britain in 1969 and I worked for other farmers, just day work.

A - You must have seen a lot of changes in the farm equipment over the years.

B - Oh yes, I've sure seen a lot of changes. From horses to tractors to combines. I don't know, I don't know if it's for the better or for the worse (laughter). We were happy, although we didn't have two nickels to rub together, but...

A - What did you mostly farm, was it crops?

B - Well, mixed farm. We had a little bit of everything. 1943 we bought, I don't know how to get this through to you so you'll understand it. I think it was 1879. My grandfather bought part of Lot 18, Concession 10. My great grandfather was on the corner of that, his was Lot 17, Concession 10. In 1943 we bought our great grandfather's farm. My great uncle had died and he lived there until his death. We rented the place for quite a few years before that and then we bought it when he died and we kept it until 1956, I think it was, 1956 or 57. And, I got married in 52. Dad and mother moved to Greenbank. Well, that was too much running, too far and neither one was big enough to make, really make much of a living on, so we sold the two and bought up in Little Britain area. So that's the...

A - Did you miss Greenbank when you moved away?

B - Pardon?

A - Did you miss Greenbank?

B - Not too much. No I wasn't...I was a loner. I was the only kid for, I don't know, how many miles around me. There wasn't neighbours. They were all just little kids or else they were adult and gone. I had to make my own fun around. But I didn't have...maybe when I was six or seven I got a dog. That dog and I spent an awful lot of time together, just roaming around, catching woodchucks...one thing or another. And other than that I was milking the cows twice a day when I was seven or eight years old. And I had to get up in the morning and milk cows before I went to school. And then the same think at night when I come home. And then I had to work out in the field when I come home too. I didn't have much...

A - Much of a childhood.

B - No, I didn't have much of a childhood I guess, that's the words to say.

A - Is your wife from Greenbank as well?

B - No, she came from out on 47 Highway. You know where that big hill, this side of Uxbridge? She was out, just out at the bottom of that hill. That's where she comes from.

A - Well, that's all the questions I have for you. If you have any other stories or anything?

B - Well I always said I met my wife in July 1952, we were married in 53, Mary Ann was born in 54 and nothing serious has happened since. (laughter)