1
Adeline Fiander, date of birth: August 15, 193723 June 2003
Codroy Valley, Newfoundland and Labrador, Canada
2
Adeline FianderAdeline Fiander was born August 15, 1937, in Codroy, Southwest coast, Newfoundland. At sixty-six years of age, Adeline still resides in Codroy in her own home.
Adeline's parents lived in Codroy all their lives. Her mother, Annie Reid, was a homemaker and her father was a fisherman, farmer and a logger. While her father was away working, Annie would take care of the home, raise their ten children, tend to their vegetable garden and animals as well as helping with haymaking when the time came. Adeline's parents also raised sheep and pigs so her mother would also have wool to card to make clothes for the family.
Adeline's family lived in a bungalow with her grandparents. There were four bedrooms in the house. One bedroom was her grandparent's, one was her parent's, one was the girl's bedroom and one was the boy's. They didn't have many conveniences. They had a woodstove for heat and Adeline remembers sitting around the table learning her lessons by the light of an oil lamp. They had an outhouse for a toilet and a washtub for bathing. Water had to be brought to the house in buckets from a brook. This water was needed for cooking, cleaning, bathing and washing clothes.
Adeline recalls that there was a doctor available in the Codroy Valley area. The nearest hospital was in Stephenville then. Adeline's mother would make bread poultices for things like boils to draw out the infection. "It would be bread and milk, put on the stove and made soft, and put in a cloth. Then it would be put on to boil." Adeline says that poultices did work and she has made them herself.
They always had a post office in Codroy from the time that Adeline can remember. There was a mailman that would bring the mail from Doyles, a nearby community, to the post office in Codroy twice a week.
As a child Adeline didn't really have any chores to do because they lived with her grandparents and because she was the sixth child. "We had to feed the hens and bring in some wood," she says. Adeline says that the older children had to do most of those chores because "number six got off easier."
Adeline attended an Anglican Church in Codroy. The minister would come up from Port aux Basques once a month for services and there would be four church services that Sunday. "Of course we had to go to Church every time. Four times! "
Adeline also went to school in Codroy and graduated from grade eleven. The school that she attended was a two-room school with two teachers, a man and his daughter. The man was a war veteran and Adeline was scared to death of him. She was so afraid of him that she learned all her lessons by heart. He was a very strict teacher. Adeline says that they had to be inside in the evenings by eight p.m. and this teacher would walk around the community to make certain no students were outside. "I can remember one evening in particular he walked around the community and we were having a game of ball and the next day he kept us all after school. I was in grade eleven then. He made us write so many reasons why it was more important to be out playing ball than it was to be learning our lessons. He kept us for a while and we didn't have any reasons so he let us go. He was strict to us!"
Aside from playing ball Adeline played on the seashore, swam and went trout fishing in the brook for fun. They also had an old boy's bike with a crossbar that they took turns on and they would play "Pippy". Pippy was a game where you dug a hole, laid a stick across it and then tried to hook it out with another stick, to see how far you could hook it.
After high school graduation, Adeline went to summer school in St. John's for one summer for teachers training. There wasn't any money to go to college but Adeline's brother, who worked for the Canadian National Railway, gave her enough money to go to St. John's. Adeline taught school for three years. The only other job that she had was as a Census worker. She would go from house to house taking down names of families and asking questions.
Adeline says that she didn't get much for Christmas. "I remember getting a game; that was for one Christmas, a few candies and an apple." Their Christmas dinner was usually fresh pork or lamb as they raised sheep and pigs. Sometimes it would also be beef. She doesn't remember there being any turkey. One of the treats during Christmas was to go mummering.
Although Adeline was too young to really remember the Depression, she does remember her parents telling stories about it. "There wasn't very much in them days. They didn't have much." She was only eight years old when World War II ended so she remembers very little about how the area was affected by that.
When Adeline was twenty-one years old, she married Vincent Fiander. When they were married there was a causeway being built "from the island to the mainland in Codroy," and Vincent worked there driving a truck. After that, he worked as a bus driver for forty-one years until he retired. He also did odd jobs around the community as a handyman and got lots of calls. Adeline would help him out by answering the telephone.
Adeline and Vincent had one child and Adeline says that it wasn't difficult raising a family. "No, not with one child 'cause my husband had a job and we didn't have any problems."
The biggest changes that Adeline saw in this area were the coming of conveniences like telephones and electricity. The decline of the railway and the coming of fish plants also brought about great changes to the Southwest coast of Newfoundland. When a fish plant came to Codroy it was a big change because all the women could work. Before the fish plant the few women that did work, worked as teachers, at the post office, and as store clerks. "When the fish plant come a lot of women went to work."
Adeline believes that women have it easier today then they did when she was young. Today women have all the conveniences like dishwashers, washers, and dryers. "We didn't have any of that. You can even go to the store and buy things that are already cooked. Those days you had to cook from scratch. You had to be smart back then," she says in order to even warm yourself up. You would have to get up in the morning in a cold house and light the woodstove to get warm. "Now when you gets outta bed everything is nice and warm."
Adeline wishes that she could have had more money back then because it would have made life a little easier but other than that given the chance, she would not change anything about her life.
3
Agnes Hilliard, date of birth: March 28,193011 June 2003
Codroy Valley, Newfoundland and Labrador, Canada
4
Agnes HilliardMrs. Agnes Hilliard was born March 28, 1930, in Codroy, Newfoundland. She had eleven other siblings besides herself. Today she is still living in Codroy in her own home.
Agnes's parents, Henry and Annie Collier, lived in the Codroy area for the majority of their lives. For the last ten years they have been living in Gallants. Henry was a fisherman as were many other people in the area at the time. He caught codfish and salmon. He also had cattle as well as working on his own farm. While he was out working Annie was a homemaker who would do anything possible to help her husband out.
When Agnes was a child a game of ball was mostly what she did for fun. They didn't have much time for fun because most of it was spent working. She went to the Holy Trinity Church every third Sunday for all day service when the minister came up from Port aux Basques. Agnes attended a small one-room school until she left in grade eight to help the family. What was known as Sunday school was held on Friday after regular school was over. For Christmas material things weren't the most important things to them. She got an old doll that may have been passed down from someone else, which she was happy to get. The food eaten during Christmas was usually the same as it always was. Maybe some fresh pork or a bit of chicken was eaten. Like everybody else at the time mummering was a favorite holiday tradition. "We did, a lot. We had lots of fun, lots of laughs."
When someone got ill there was a doctor available but it was a fifteen-mile trip up the river. In order to get there they would have to travel by car, horse, or on snowmobile. Home remedies weren't really relied on in her family, when someone got sick they went to see the doctor.
Agnes was married at the age of seventeen to her husband, Thomas Hilliard. Reverend Toupe was the minister who married them. "The reverend that married us was the one that got murdered in Quebec. Teenagers beat him to death." They have now been married for fifty-six years. Thomas was a fisherman, farmer, worked in the woods, and anywhere else he could find work. While he was out working Agnes would get down on her knees and scrub the floors, scrub clothing on a scrubboard with soap, cook the meals, and watch the children. She would also help with the animals. For groceries they would get what they need from a store owned by Johnny Harding. They would get their groceries on credit and wait until they got their paycheck to pay for it. Money theses days weren't easy to come across so Agnes would take hand-me-downs. Telephones didn't make it to Codroy until after she was married. Mail first came by a boat, then came by the train. Once it was here it was distributed by a mail carrier. He brought the mail around in a horse and wagon. Agnes and her husband raised cattle, and sheep. Agnes would also spin her own wool after the sheep was sheared. It was done by spinning it, twisting it, and washing it out. This was a chore that Agnes really hated to do. Agnes would usually look after the animals because her husband was usually busy. They also grew all their own vegetables, but it was a lot of hard work. A horse and plow was used to break the ground, in addition hand tools were used to plant and dig.
While Thomas was fishing he was one of the fortunate people who owned their own boats and equipment. When a family member was a fisherman the family ate a great deal of fish. When the fish was prepared it was dried, fried, or stewed. When Agnes had her children, three out of her eleven were born at home by a midwife and the rest were born in the hospital by a doctor. Water at the time was manually pumped up from a well into the house. Lamps were used in the earlier days until they got electricity in 1963. "I like just plugging in the washer." Their only source of heating at the time was a wood stove. She had to bring wood in for the stove after her husband had undergone lung surgery. There was no running water or a sewage line so there was an outdoor toilet, and the children had to be washed once a week in a big metal washtub. The Second World War was difficult because she had two brothers that were in the war. She also knitted socks and other things to send to the soldiers overseas. The food was also rationed out during the war, which was very difficult.
Agnes has eleven children and she did find it hard raising a family but according to her it was a lot better to raise a family then. Even though it was hard time back then she would not change anything about her life even if she could. "It might have been harder but it was better, because there is to much dope in the world today, it's not fit to raise kids." Agnes's most memorable experiences about growing up on the Southwest coast were about a lot of wind, pain, and snowstorms.
5
Aneitha SheavesAneitha Sheaves was born February 26, 1934, in Port aux Basques, Newfoundland. At sixty-nine years old, she resides in her own home in Port aux Basques. She is currently the mayor of the town of Port aux Basques.
Aneitha's mother, Julia Ayre, came from Isle aux Morts and her father, Alexander Carew, was born and raised on Deer Island, which is close to Ramea on the South coast of Newfoundland. Her mother was a homemaker and her father was a "fisher boy" because he started fishing at a young age. He worked on a schooner and a skiff until he got married. Then he got a job at a fish plant and worked his way up to a foreman.
Her mother did the things all women did back then, in the 1920's and 1930's. She provided good meals. She would make sure that her father had hot meals and that her children we looked after. Women at that time got married and became housewives. Cash was used to pay for groceries, but most stores had charge accounts, because people got paid bi-monthly. All charge accounts were hand written, as there were no cash registers or computers in those days.
The Carew's lived in a four-bedroom house that did not have water or sewer. There was a pail for a toilet and you would throw that down into the landwash. Most people had wells, and quite often in the summer the wells would dry up. Then everyone would take a boat across the harbour to get barrels of water from the brook. They had kerosene lamps, and then graduated to an Aladdin lamp. Aneitha was not sure what the fuel was but the light was almost incandesent. Then they got electricity. Aneitha remembers that the wires ran along the side of the house to get the electricity to the house, unlike today. There was a coal stove for heating. She remembers that she had to shovel the coal. A man with a horse and cart would dump it in front of the door, and they would shovel it into the coalhouse. They didn't own a telephone, but there were a few people who worked in the telegraph office that did have a telephone and they would share if you needed to make a call for an emergency.
When Aneitha was old enough, she and her sister would help their mother with the chores. Each Saturday she would scrub the downstairs and her sister would scrub upstairs. The following Saturday they would switch and Aneitha would clean upstairs and her sister would clean downstairs. "We were expected to work."
As a child she would go to the Anglican Church in Port aux Basques twice on Sunday, once in the morning and once at night. She also attended Sunday school. "It was much stricter then." There was a full time minister in Port aux Basques and he attended services in the Codroy Valley and other communities on the Southwest coast. The minister would walk from Port aux Basques to Isle aux Morts to give a service.
There was no hospital in Port aux Basques until 1952. Aneitha can remember as a young girl going to the doctor's office, which was in his house. She went to get a tooth pulled. The doctor was also the dentist.
Aneitha was the first one in her family to graduate high school. When she was in high school, you only had to go to grade eleven. She did some summer sessions in St. John's and became a teacher. She never worked as a servant girl; most of the girls that worked as servant girls came from other towns. School wasn't considered important for girls, it was said that women would get married, so what was the difference. The attitude changed by the time she reached her teens. It was recognized that everyone needed to be educated. Her father was determined that she get her education. Class size was much bigger than today. Aneitha remembers teaching one class with sixty-six people in it. "I am amazed today when teachers say classes are too big."
Things were much simpler then, there was no television, and the children were left to their own resources, to play outdoors. Playing hopscotch, baseball, catching fish with a stick with string tied to the end of it, and sometimes, "borrow a row boat and go across the harbour, snag a lobster and cook it in a can." These were things to do.
Aneitha can remember one Christmas getting a homemade doll. The thing you looked forward to the most was getting an apple or an orange, and because fresh fruit was hard to get. You would save your apple and orange as long as you could before you ate them. She went mummering once in her life, even though it was the "thing to do." She didn't like having her face covered, as well as not being able to identify the other people.
Aneitha remembers the Second World War. There was rationing because there was only so much sugar and stuff that she could get. They had a radio that was battery powered. The battery had to be conserved for the war news. They did not listen to many fun shows. She lost a brother in the war when she was ten years old. She can remember that there was a lot of knitting and care packages being sent overseas. She can remember the day the Caribou sunk like it was yesterday.
Aneitha was married when she was twenty-one years old. She was married for twenty-seven years. Her husband worked at many things, a hardware store, he worked with construction companies in various positions, he operated a taxi stand, where he was a driver and Aneitha was the dispatcher. He once took a job away from Port aux Basques for a short while. In 1969, he started a construction business. "We started out by building concrete basements, and we are still in business today." Aneitha's seven children were born at the Cottage Hospital by a doctor. She took a sewing class and became very good at sewing, so she made some special outfits for her children.
Aneitha doesn't remember it being hard raising a family; it was just something you did. It was hard at times, but by the time her children grew up, they had a business. Once they had four children in University at the same time without any student loans. Aneitha was very fortunate.
Aneitha wouldn't change anything in her life except that maybe she would have gotten a little more university education, but in those days only really well to do families sent their children to school. Aneitha is proud to say that her family has done very well for themselves. Her best memory has to be when her first daughter was born.
She can remember the old times being much simpler and slower. People seemed to care more, if something was wrong. She went to church a lot and she may have resented it at the time, but when she looks back now, it just seems to be a peaceful time. She enjoyed when the sermon came and her father would put his arm around her. "It felt so good."
She can remember when the streets were paved, when the water went through town, when super ferries like the William Carson replaced the small ferries. The biggest change on the Southwest coast has been all the new technologies. Aneitha remembers when the ATM's first came to Port aux Basques. She said that she would never use one; she wanted to talk to a teller.
"It goes without saying life has changed a great deal since I was a child. Some things I appreciate, some I don't. Sometimes I wish I could go back to a slower way of life. With all the conveniences, we don't seem to have as much leisure time or time to relax."
Aneitha feels that it is easier today when it comes to physical work. She says she didn't work so hard as her mother did, and her children do not work as hard as she did.
6
Angeline Lomond, date of birth: July 1, 193716 June 2003
Port aux Basques, Newfoundland and Labrador, Canada
7
Angeline LomondAngeline Lomond was born on July 1, 1937, in Middle Barchois Point. Her parents were Jack and Roseanna Pearce. There were eleven children in the family besides Angeline. Her father had many jobs throughout his life and was a fisherman, served in the armed forces during World War Two, worked at the lighthouse in Cape Ray and worked as a custodian at the trade school in Port aux Basques. Her mother was a homemaker all of her life.
It was hard times when Angeline was growing up. To help her husband Roseanna cooked his meals, cared for her children, picked berries to sell, knitted clothes, spun wool, and sewed.
Her parents were lifelong residents of the Southwest Coast and moved to Grand Bay after the community of Middle Barchois was resettled. Angeline lived on the Southwest coast of Newfoundland all of her life except for a few years that she lived in New Waterford, Nova Scotia after she was first married.
When Jack was fishing he used a boat that belonged to his father. He caught cod, salmon, halibut and whatever else was available to be caught. The fish was sold for three quarters of a cent for a pound of cod and one and one-half cents for a pound of salmon. Angeline's family grew their own vegetables and kept their own animals. They grew potatoes, carrots, cabbages, turnips, and lettuce. The family had cows, chickens, sheep and horses. Angeline and her siblings helped plant and care for the vegetables. She brought manure to help fertilize them. The family kept their vegetables to help get them through the winter.
After her father returned from the Second World War he helped run the lighthouse in Cape Ray. A boat named the Sorrel used to come from Halifax three times a year to bring him his supplies. The boat brought cheese, molasses, sugar, tea, fruit, kerosene and other staples. In Angeline's words, "We never went hungry despite the crowd of us."
Roseanna had to scrub her family's clothes on a scrubboard. She used to use lye soap that she bought at a local store. Angeline remembered that the soap was good for taking out dirt even though it was hard on the hands. The family home had no canvas on the floor only white boards. The boards used to be scrubbed with a mixture of sand and Gillette's lye until the floors were snow white. The home had five bedrooms in it, a dining room, a kitchen and pantry. The home was heated with a wood stove that would be polished with a brush until a person could see their face in it. Her home was lit with kerosene lamps or a gas lantern. Her family had a Coleman lantern that had to be pumped up and hung from the ceiling. Angeline believed that her family had these lanterns because her father got them at the lighthouse.
Angeline believed that her father had a mixture of homemade and store bought furniture. She remembered a homemade cabinet and a wall clock. The family had a piano. Angeline said that she was lucky because her family never went hungry and never went ragged. Her mother had a sewing machine and would make clothes out of flour sacks. These were boiled in lye to bleach and soften them. The cloth was then taken and dyed to what ever color that was required.
Angeline remembered that a crowd of local women would get together twice a year to have a spin off. This was when they would get together card wool, and spin it into yarn. Angeline remembered they would be at it all night and she would trip over all the yarn.
Her family got their water from a well. The water was brought to the well in buckets. The water was good as she remembered and no animals were allowed near the well. The family bought their groceries at stores in Port aux Basques. Her family would walk to Channel buy their groceries and catch the train back. It cost thirty cents to ride the train from Port aux Basques to Cape Ray. Other times people would go to Port aux Basques in a horse and cart to get groceries.
There was no doctor in the area when Angeline was growing up. If someone became sick a doctor had to come from Port aux Basques. In the winter people would have to go and get him in a horse and sleigh. In the summer and fall they would have to go and get him on a pump car. This was a rail car that propelled by a pumping motion. A midwife delivered the children in Middle Barchois.
When Angeline was a child for fun she used to swim, go to the beach and get scallops and clams or lobsters. The children used to spend a great deal of time trouting in the summer. Angeline feels that there was a lot more to do in those days. All that children do today in her opinion was watch television. Angeline and her siblings had to do their chores. In the summer they were up early and had their chores done by eight in the morning. They had to be in at night by ten or their mom would strap them. Her family would get up in the mornings and had things like eggs, porridge, and beans. Since she made bread every day the family ate fried dough for breakfast. Angeline said that what ever was on the table you ate. If the dishes came off the table and you did not eat then you went hungry.
Her family attended the Anglican Church in Cape Ray every Sunday. The minister, Reverend Martin used to travel to Cape Ray every Sunday for service. She attended the school in Cape Ray until she finished grade eight. It was a one-room school with a screen up separating the room. It was a little hard in school because if the teacher told you top do something and you did not do it you could expect a strap. There was no such thing as missing school in that time. If a student missed school the teacher would be there to find out why. Angeline left school when she was thirteen years old in grade eight. School was something that the children had to do when Angeline was young. There were people who got a good education at that time and people could drop out of school at an early age.
Angeline would get things like apples, oranges, candies or a doll as a child for Christmas gifts. Her family never had a turkey for their Christmas dinner. Her family usually had a big goose or a large piece of seal meat. Angeline ate so much seal meat and turrs as a child that she is sick of it today. Angeline and her family used to mummer a great deal during Christmas. As a teenager she went to local dances.
Angeline can recall a man coming to her home during the Second World War and telling the family not to through away any wire or cans. A truck came to the community to take away all the scrap metal. She can remember the day that her father came home from the war. Her mother had made her a special red dress and she fell in a mud hole. Her father got off the train and walked right past her and Angeline cried to break her heart. She also can remember the planes flying over on the day that the war ended in different formations.
After she left school Angeline worked as a serving girl in Corner Brook. She scrubbed clothes on a board, looked after thirteen children, wash floors, wash dishes, clean the globes on a lamp. In her words, she worked like a slave.
Angeline can remember the sinking of the ferry Caribou. She had friends that went down when the ferry sank. Angeline remembered that her family had a telephone after they moved to Grand Bay. It was a crank model telephone. There were no private lines in Port aux Basques only a party line. Angeline said that you did not say much on the telephone because if you got a call she can remember other people listening in on the conversation.
Angeline got married to her first husband when she was twenty-two years old. She had nine children over the course of her marriage. It did not work out and Angeline got married to George Lomond when she was thirty-eight years old. George was a fisherman with his own boat. He fished swordfish in Nova Scotia and all other species that could be caught. Angeline worked at the fish plant in Port aux Basques for twenty-three years. In her words, "No man can say he kept me."
When asked if it was harder when she grew up Angeline replied, " Yes if you did not look after yourself after you were ten or twelve years old nobody looked after you. It was better though because you had more responsibility."
8
Anne Leamon, date of birth: April 21,193228 May 2003
Codroy Valley, Newfoundland and Labrador, Canada
9
Anne LeamonAnne Leamon was born in St. Andrew's, Newfoundland, on April 21, 1932. At seventy-one years old, she is currently residing in St. Andrew's in her own home on Radio Range Road.
Her parents, Francis and Martin Hynes lived in St. Andrew's all of their life. Her father, Martin, was a fisherman and her mother, Francis, was a homemaker and a seamstress for other people. She even cleaned their homes. Anne's father died when she was ten years old, leaving her mother with two children to care for. Her mother was also left with the small farm. Her mother would take eggs to the store to trade for food when her father died. One of her brothers left home at the age of fifteen to work at a lumber camp, another older brother was married at that time.
Anne had three sisters in North Sydney, and they used to send boxes of clothing over for her to remake into other clothing. Anne's mother would take an old dress, take it apart and make a new dress.
They grew their own food except for the things they had to buy like tea. They would have their own milk, butter and vegetables like carrot, turnip, cabbage, and potatoes. They would store the vegetables in a cellar, which was located below the house. The vegetables were put there for the winter. They also had their own livestock like sheep, cows, chickens, and sometimes turkeys. "No licenses were needed back then; you could go kill an animal when you needed it, no questions asked."
After her father died there was a lot of work to be done. They had a large four-bedroom house, with a big kitchen and pantry downstairs, three bedrooms on the second floor and a bedroom on the first floor. There was a wood stove in the kitchen that her mother would bake bread in. They never would burn bread; they knew how much wood to put in the oven. There was a homemade rocking chair in the kitchen, made from an old barrel hollowed out and rounded out in the back; they would store magazines in the bottom of it. They also had homemade tables, chairs and a couch.
Anne was only ten years old and her brother was fourteen. Their mother would make homemade soap with the fat from an animal mixed with lye. Anne recalled that water would be carried from a nearby stream with buckets to be used at home. They eventually got a well and a hand pump in the back porch that made getting water easier. Her mother would make wool; first they would shear the sheep, wash it and pick the little sprigs out of it, lay it flat and card it with a brush with little teeth on it. After they carded it they would roll it and spin it on the spinning wheel. After that process she had yarn that she could dye and use for knitting. Anne's mother would knit long leg underwear for her father and her brother that had Rumatic fever. Anne use to help her mother with some of the small chores around the house. She was too young to do the big things.
Anne remembers seeing her first car when she was six or seven years old. Jack Gale owned the car. She remembers getting their first radio when she was ten or eleven. The radio ran on a big car battery because there was no electricity. They were only allowed to listen to certain shows. The older generations would come by and listen to Ozzy and Harriet, a family radio comedy. She never had a telephone growing up; only people with money had them. They were the hand crank model telephones.
They had really bad winters; the winter would start in November and wouldn't break until April. There would be snow up to your knees and you had to walk to school in it. When the American's had a Radio Range in St. Andrew's, they used to have huge graders for shoveling snow in the winter. Whenever there was a snowstorm, the graders would come by the next day to clear off the road, and they would go by and pick the children up and give them a ride to school.
Anne said she attended a Catholic Church in St. Andrew's, which had a full time priest. She attended St. Kevin's School until grade ten. St. Kevin's was originally a one-room school until they built another classroom on. Kindergarden to grade five were in one class and grade six to grade eleven was in the other room. They used to use scribblers and rough paper to write on. When Anne first started school she had to use slates. The teachers were tough; they had the strap (a piece of leather) for discipline. Another punishment would be standing in the corner for hours. There was one boy that would steal the straps and put them in a hole in a brick wall. There must have been a hundred straps in it and nobody told on him.
After a fight with one of her teachers at school she quit and started working at home. The summer after she quit school she got a job in Searston, working in a store.
For fun in those days she said she would use a handmade sled to slide and they would skate in the winter months. Her skates at that time were made out of a file attached to a board, which would be strapped onto your boots. Her sister gave her, her first pair of skates when she was eleven years old. In the summer time she would swim, play cards, go to dances, and fish. Anne said, "At any night you could walk into my house and see a crowd of people sitting around playing cards." For Christmas she said she would get an orange, an apple, some grapes, knitted mittens, something made by her mother, and maybe a doll. Anne received her first doll when she was nine years old.
Port aux Basques had the closest doctor and in case of an emergency the doctor would come up from Port aux Basques by speeder. Each year Anne would take cod liver oil and balsam from a tree was used back then as a bandage for cuts.
Anne remembers the Second World War very well. She remembered her family being put on rations during the war. She said, "You were given a certain amount of sugar for one month and if you used it all you would have to wait until next month to get anymore."
During the Second World War the American's had a Radio Range, at the end of St. Andrew's road (where the airstrip in St. Andrew's is now located) and there was at least seven or eight men stationed at the base, some even had their families with them. The American's had parties at the base, and you were allowed to go, and they had pop and chips to give away.
Her strongest memory from the war is when the American's were dropping depth charges (pressure mines that were dropped from planes into the water). From her mother's bedroom window, she could see flares. There was a submarine out there and the planes were trying to get it. "I used to get sick, I wasn't old enough to understand." She would get sick every time she heard an airplane fly by.
Anne was seventeen when she got married and has been married for forty-six and one half years. Together they had five children, her first child was born in Sydney, Nova Scotia. Her other three children were born in the Cottage Hospital located in Channel - Port aux Basques, and they adopted a child.
Her husband, William Leamon was in the Canadian Navy. He was overseas for six and one half years. One of the boats he was on was called the Wolf. During the war he was on the Corvettes, small boats that were used to guard the larger ships. He was in England and India and other places she can't remember.
Anne and William Leamon got married a few years after he came home from the war. He was working in Port aux Basques as a taxi driver with Reg Keeping. Shortly after getting married, they moved to Port aux Basques.
Moving from the Codroy Valley to Port aux Basques was hard for her, there were no trees, she didn't like the foghorn and the houses were spread out more. The electric lights were beginning to be put in; the water line wasn't yet completed. They got water a year after they moved to Port aux Basques. Her husband sold his taxi because they were building a house.
Her husband, William had a job with the Canadian National Railway as a car man, oiling and fixing the wheels. Anne worked as a waitress at Spencer's Restaurant before she got a job at the Legion as a bartender. They were fortunate enough to have a girl working for them who would clean their house while they were at work.
Anne thinks that she was the first female bartender on the Southwest coast. She enjoyed working at the Legion, although she was the only female working there at the time. She remembers that members had to wear a jacket and a tie and that the Legionnaire's could bring someone in, you couldn't just walk in. She had to take care of the cash, inspect the fridges and clean the freezers.
The most popular drink at the Legion was beer, which was sold for seventy-five cents. Blue Star, Red Label, Jockey Club and Black Horse were the most popular. Whiskey, rum and gin were also popular.
The Legion would get the Ducats, a local band, to come in and play and she says that they were fantastic. Women went to dances on Saturday nights with their husbands. She didn't like to start working but when it started to come to a close, she didn't want it to end. As soon as the bar closed, Jordan (a co-worker) would say, "Get out there and dance. I know that is what you are waiting for." So, she would go out and dance for a while, and then go back to work.
Anne remembers once that there was one man that wouldn't let her serve him, but that changed when Mr. Fred Cox, a legion member decided that he would show this man not to mess with them. They waited until he came in, and when he did, he saw these two big men standing in the back of the room, he was as nice as pie.
Anne said, "They worked harder but I believe we were happier. You didn't hear anyone complaining about being bored like you do now." Anne lived in Port aux Basques for forty-seven years before moving back to the Codroy Valley.
10
Margaret Annie Jeans, date of birth: September 15, 193030 May 2003
Cape Ray, Newfoundland and Labrador, Canada
11
Annie JeansAnnie Jeans was born on the fifteenth of September 1930, in Port aux Basques, Newfoundland. Her mother, Annie Elizabeth Osmond, lived in Lapoile, Newfoundland, and moved to Cape Ray after she married Annie's father, Walter R. Osmond. Walter was a worker with the Canadian National Railway. Annie Elizabeth was a homemaker who raised Annie, her five brothers and her three sisters.
Annie says her mother could not do much to help her father; she was too busy with the housework and raising the children. "My mother did all the laundry by hand on the tub and board, scrubbed the floors, we had wood floors then, white floors." Annie attended church at the old Anglican Church that was on top of a hill in Cape Ray at the time. There was not a minister living in the area, but one would always come to give services at the church. "In the really early days, he would come by ski-doo and later on he came by train."
Annie went to school in Cape Ray, up until grade five. She does not recall the school's name and is not even sure if it had one. For fun as a child, Annie says they played hopscotch and a game called "button button, who got the button". This was a game played by placing a button in your hand, and passing the button around the circle. The object of the game was to guess who had the button.
At the age of sixteen, Annie married George W. Jeans, a farmer, who later worked with construction, and then with the Department of Highways. They had four children together. Annie recalls Reverend Toupe married them. Sadly, the Reverend and his wife were murdered in Ontario just a few years ago. Annie and George raised their own cows, sheep, horses, ducks, pigs and chickens. They also grew their own vegetables, but just the staple vegetables, like potatoes, carrots, turnips and cabbage. Other supplies and groceries were bought in Port aux Basques until later, when a store was built in Cape Ray. "Today, though, I still get my groceries in Port aux Basques." Annie never made her own clothes, except for when she sheared the sheep and knitted socks and sweaters out of the yarn. Otherwise, she says she always ordered clothes from the catalogues.
There was a doctor in Port aux Basques, and usually he would come to you, until later, when you went to him by train. Annie does not remember when telephones came in, but she does remember the first car belonging to the lighthouse keeper. The house Annie grew up in was a three-bedroom bungalow with a pantry, kitchen, porch and an outhouse. The post office was located where the courthouse is today, on Main Street in Port aux Basques.
Annie says they never had a Christmas tree up in their house, they only ever had socks on the wall and in it, they would get an apple, an orange and a few candy. Annie says she never found it hard raising a family, but wishes she could give them more. She says it was easier after Confederation to get things and do things. "There's only so much you could get."
Annie says she would help her husband by collecting wood for the fire, making hay with him, keeping the house clean, milking the cows, making the butter, and making the yarn. Annie says the basic menu of the time was chicken, milk, rabbit, fish and vegetables. Annie says she would not change anything about her life, but remembers quite well, how many things in Newfoundland changed after Confederation, and says it is a million times better.
12
Annie Mabel Cousins, date of birth: Febuary 24, 19363 July 2003
Port aux Basques, Newfoundland and Labrador, Canada
13
Annie Mabel CousinsAnnie Mabel Cousins was born in Grand Bay, Port aux Basques, Newfoundland, on February 24th, 1936, to Annie Osmond and Albert Buttery. Annie was one of eight children. She had five brothers and two sisters.
Albert Buttery was a fisherman in Port aux Basques and in 1950 worked for the Canadian National Railway, handling freight. His wife Annie, raised their family, cooked and cleaned their two-story house while Albert worked. Albert owned his own boat and fishing equipment. The fish that he caught were mostly cod. As a little girl Annie Mabel helped to dry the fish. The fish could be prepared in a number of ways including boiling, baking and frying.
Growing up Annie Mabel's family attended the Anglican Church in Grand Bay. There wasn't a minister residing in Grand Bay at that time so the minister would have to come from Channel Port aux Basques for services. There was always a doctor available when someone would get hurt or sick.
Annie Mabel's mother would make all of their clothing from hand-me-downs.She would also spin wool. She and other women in the community would have "spinning frolics". They would go to one another's homes and spin wool together.
Water was brought from the well to the house in buckets. Clothing was washed in tubs with washboards and home made lye soap. For heat they had coal and wood stoves. The coal was brought over from Cape Breton, Nova Scotia. Light was provided by kerosene lamps. They had outdoor toilets and slop pails for inside the house. Annie had to keep her house going by cleaning the dishes, taking in clothes, scrubbing and waxing.
Growing up Annie Mabel remembers always having good food, plenty of fish and vegetables from their own garden where they grew carrots, potatoes and cabbage. They also raised hens, sheep, pigs and horses which Annie Mabel sometimes helped to look after.
Annie Mabel attended Grand Bay School which was a one-room school from "primmer" or kindergarten to grade six and another room for grades seven through eleven. She attended until grade seven.
As a child Annie Mabel remembers playing with dishes and playing "down the cove" for fun. One of her youngest memories is when she was six years old and the tragedy of the old Caribou occurred. She remembers the boats going out with blankets and food for the survivors.
At Christmas time Annie Mabel remembers getting mostly rag dolls. They would also get things like apples, oranges and candy in their stockings. For the Christmas meal they would have ducks but no turkey. Having cake and syrup was a Christmas tradition in her home and most everyone would go mummering. Many people attended soup supper dances at the Grand Bay School.
Annie Mabel was married twice and had five children who were all born by a doctor in the hospital. Her first husband was John Lewis Lomond, to whom she was married for one and one-half years. She had one son, Jerry. She was married a second time for thirty years to Norris Cousins. She had four sons for Norris. Her sons were Albert, Walter, Scott and Freddy. Annie Mabel also raised another child, a girl named Monica Cousins. She was her husbands' niece. She raised Monica since she was two years old. Monica is like a daughter to Annie Mabel.
John worked in construction and while he was working Annie Mabel kept house, mostly washing clothes. "Raising a family was hard in a way, not money wise, just hard in other ways." says Annie Mabel.
Annie Mabel and her husband bought their groceries with cash from John Tom Kettle and Fred Kettle. Mail was picked up at local stores as there was no mail service.
Two of the conveniences that Annie Mabel saw arrive in this area were telephones and automobiles. The telephones were "crank phones" and John Tom Kettle of Grand Bay, had one of the first trucks.
Annie Mabel also saw the ending of the railway which caused there to be a lot less jobs in the area.
In Annie Mabel's opinion women have it a lot easier today compared to her mother. There was no stop to the laundry back then. It was a harder way of life. They never had all the things that we have today, although you could get a lot back then for five cents.
Though it was a harder life Annie Mabel believes that they were content with what they had. Everyone was the same back then, no one had more than anyone else. Everyone was equal.
14
Annie Maud SnowAnnie Maud Snow was born June 16, 1939, in Channel-Port aux Basques, Newfoundland. At sixty-four years old she currently resides in her own home in Port aux Basques.
Her parents Leah and Thomas Strickland lived in Port aux Basques. Her father came from Little Bay, near Petites but when he married Annie's mother he moved to Port aux Basques. Annie's father worked for the Canadian National Railway. His job was calling the men into work. He would go around in all kinds of weather and tell people to go to work. Her mother was a homemaker who looked after her thirteen children. She would scrub and wash everything.
Annie's father did raise some animals. He had horses, hens, ducks, sheep and pigs. Annie never helped to look after the animals. They only used their meat and vegetables for their own use. One day after her father had cleaned the pigs and pulled their bad teeth, her son Johnny went out when his grandfather was in the house and painted the pigs green.
Annie lived in a two-story house. There were four or five rooms, with four or five beds. "I slept in my bed by myself." All the furniture was store bought. Her mother did not make their clothing. She bought it in stores. She would use washtubs to wash the clothes with store bought soap. Later she used a washer. Sometimes they would put lye on the stove and boil the clothes to get the clothes clean. They had a bathroom but they did have a slop pail for her sister who was sick with TB. She was too weak to walk to the bathroom. There is a saying, "A women's work is never done." Before they built the house that they live in now, they would get their water from a well. They would go over to a brook to get water. They would go over to Kurt Strickland's to pick up the water, "I had two little buckets for myself." She would shear the sheep and card the wool, to take the ticks and burrs out of the wool.
There was always a doctor available and the hospital was located in Channel-Port aux Basques. Her mother had a telephone. If she needed the doctor she would call him. Sometimes she would make a poultice made out of bread, salt and butter.
There were telephones, roads and cars in Port aux Basques when Annie was a young girl. Mail would be collected at the old courthouse.
For fun, Annie would go to school. One of her teachers, Ms. Snowball was going out with a Ranger. When they were out walking, they would hide and throw snowballs at them. The next day, Ms. Snowball would ask them who threw snowballs at them. They would never give themselves up.
Annie attended the United Church School until it burned down. After it burned down they would have to bring a chair and desk to the Orange lodge for classes. They would use a slate for writing on and a pen with an exercise book for doing her homework. In grade seven Annie got sick and could only go to school for a half day. She would have to have two to four rest periods a day. Annie considered school important. She tried to get her education. She did manage to get half of her grade eight. However when you have to go take rest periods, you didn't have much time for schooling. Like children today, she didn't like school that much.
Annie was the baby of the family, so there weren't so many chores that she had to do besides washing the dishes. She would run away from the other chores. She attended church every Sunday morning, evening and night. When she got married she would take her children to church.
For Christmas Annie would get clothes. When she was smaller she would get a camera or watch. Christmas dinner consisted of turkey, potatoes, cabbage, turnips, carrots and pudding. There was always a turkey on the table for Christmas dinner. You would get more at Christmas than any other time of the year.
When Annie was about seventeen and eighteen years old she did attend a few dances. She worked at the Chinese restaurant, but only for a few days.
Annie was eighteen when she got married to Obediah Snow. They were married May 1st, 1958. They were married in the United Church in Port aux Basques.
Annie bought her groceries at Coleman's Food Store. She never made her own clothing because she never had much time. Sometimes she would knit. Her husband would say that it took her six months to knit one sock and six months to knit the other. She looked after her children while her husband was at work. She made sure that all their meals were on the table when they got home. She would scrub their clothing on a washboard. She had nine children and although her husband never had a lot of work, they always managed to live a good life. All nine of her children were born at the Cottage Hospital in Port aux Basques.
Annie wouldn't change anything in her life because she had a good life. She finds that today, people have everything. She sometimes thinks that if she had finished her schooling she would maybe had a job and be retired at this moment. She finds that the roles of women have changed. "When they get married, they might only be married for five months. Some is better and some is worst. In my days we did our best, I never went hungry or cold."
 |
 |
 |
 |