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Pioneer School DaysOctober, 1987
Near Avonlea, Saskatchewan, Canada
Credits:Mabel Watson
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Donna: When was Sunshine School built?Mabel: Nineteen five.
Donna: Where did you go to school from 19[0]3 til 19[0]5?
Mabel: I didn't go anyplace.
Donna: So, there was no school for anybody to go to?
Mabel: No, I read the reader at home.
Donna: Had you gone to school in Ontario before you came here?
Mabel: Oh, yes, 'til I was nine.
Donna: How many years would you have gone to school?
Mabel: Well, I quit school in [190]8. The fall of [190]8 when Gerty was married, and never went back again.
Donna: Why were you not able to go back to school?
Mabel: Because my mother wanted me home.
Donna: She needed some help.
Mabel: Yes.
Ron: How far was the school away from your home?
Mabel: Oh, a quarter of a mile. It was on the east side of the road here as you go to Stan's. About a quarter of a mile from Dad's house down there.
Ron: How many students would have been in school when you went to school?
Mabel: Oh, I don't know, quite a few. I could show you a picture. There's a picture in the history book there of the Sunshine School. There were quite a few Armstrongs and Reids...
Ron: You mention the words New Warren School. This wasn't called Avonlea then?
Mabel: No, Avonlea wasn't here then.
Ron: There was New Warren District?
Mabel: Yes.
Ron: So, from Rouleau to Sunshine School, there was no town or anything?
Mabel: No. I got five cents a morning for putting on fires at Sunshine School.
Donna: Grandma, you don't remember the name of your teacher, do you?
Mabel: Oh, yes I would. There was a Miss Williams, was the first teacher we had. Miss McLaren, Mrs Van Dine. And this one was teaching when Violet was married in 19[0]6. I think Mrs. Van Dine maybe taught there twice, because I'm pretty sure she was with me when Mother and Dad went east in 1912, because I think we had Grandpa Harris at that time.
Donna: Did the teachers board at your house?
Mabel: Yes. Whether you had room or not. Like George Young boarded a teacher for years up there.
Ron: At Richburg District.
Mabel: Yes.
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Marvin Daniel on his Shetland Pony1945
A farm near Avonlea, Saskatchewan, Canada
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Dale Akins1945
A farm near Avonlea, Saskatchewan, Canada
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Elmer Daniel with his Toy Wagon1930
A farm near Avonlea, Saskatchewan, Canada
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Pioneer Children's ChoresOctober, 1987
A farm near Avonlea, Saskatchewan, Canada
Credits:Mabel Watson
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Donna: You're talking about the first summer you were here, you were living in the house by July and Mother and Johnny took Gerty up to Harris's, because a new baby was expected, and Mother left you to bake bread that she'd already prepared. How old were you then?Mabel: Nine
Donna: You were baking bread?
Mabel: Yes. She had them mixed overnight. You know, they set them overnight.
Donna: Was it in the pans already, or did you...?M
Mabel: Yes.
Donna: That's a pretty good chore for a nine year old. You knew when to take it out of the oven, did you?
Mabel: Yes, yes.
Donna: What other sorts of jobs would you have to do at that time? You were nine years old...
Mabel: I learned to milk cows.
Donna: Nine years old?
Mabel: Yes.
Donna: How many cows would you have had to milk?
Mabel: Well, maybe these ones that Ed Harris gave us. I think Father brought some from Ontario, but there were more heifers or calves or something, that younger stock that I ...
Lawrence: Didn't you tell me one day that you used to haul water from Tommy's place in a churn?
Mabel: Yes, over to Bob Reid's, lived near the dam there.
Lawrence: That'd be about 3 and a half miles, wouldn't it?
Mabel: Yes, well....
Lawrence: Four miles
Donna: You could handle the horses?
Mabel: One horse and a buggy.
Judy: Do you mean you had to go and get all the water?
Mabel: No, not all. But this water down here, it was maybe alright for the stock, but not to drink. There was too much alkali or something in it.
Judy: So, would you use the snow in the winter for your water?
Mabel: Well, but the coulees were full.
Donna: Grandma, I've heard you tell us at sometime or another about hauling wheat in a wagon to Rouleau. Now, why would you go all the way to Rouleau with the wheat?
Mabel: Before Avonlea, there was no railroad here.
Donna: When did the railroad come here [Avonlea]?
Mabel: [19]12
Donna: The railroad didn't come here 'til [19]12
Mabel: Or the fall of [19]11.
Donna: So, for how many years would you have to haul grain to Rouleau?
Mabel: Well, I don't know... We didn't have much [grain] the first year because Father and Johnny and Willy went away up to Lumsden someplace to work in the harvest. Mother and Reggie hauled in all the sheaves with a horse and a stone-boat off of ten acres of oats. I remember hauling wheat for Willy to Rouleau.
Donna: How old would you have been?
Mabel: I was a little older than that then.
Donna: Would you be 12 or 15?
Mabel: Yes.
Donna: How long would it take you to get to Rouleau?
Mabel: Well, it took a day. You'd feed your horses over there. Maybe come home and load up for the next day. Five hours maybe.
Donna: For one wagon box of wheat.
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A Youngster in Training1935
A ranch near Avonlea, Saskatchewan, Canada
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A Pair of Horses Pulling a Sleigh1919
A farm near Avonlea, Saskatchewan, Canada
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A Boy with his Dog and Cat1920
A farm near Avonlea, Saskatchewan, Canada
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A pioneer's early medical remembrancesOctober, 1987
Near Avonlea, Saskatchewan, Canada
Credits:Mabel Watson
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Mabel: Grandma Watson trained for a mid-wife in England. My mother did it just for courtesy or whatever you call it. She didn't like to be without her doctor.Judy: Were there any doctor's in the country then?
Mabel: From Rouleau. There were two at Rouleau, McKean and Singleton.
Judy: Grandma, when you were young, didn't you also go help people when they were sick or stay with them when they were dying?
Mabel: I stayed with Mrs. Holmes about three days when Grandma Holmes died out there on the farm. I went Wednesday after dinner and she died Thursday afternoon and then I stayed with her. They weren't using their car at that time. Dick Clarke and his father was down the day the grandmother died. You see, Mrs. Clarke was a niece of Mrs. Holmes. They were down the day she died. Well. Then they took Mr. Holmes and Bill to Rouleau to see about the casket and the cemetery and I stayed on with Flo, Thursday. And then Harold and I took them to Rouleau to the funeral on Saturday. They weren't using the car at that time. I don't know just what year it was.
Judy: You used to help prepare bodies sometimes, too, when there had been a death?
Mabel: Mrs. Johnson and I washed Ralph Thrower. Died with a heart attack when he was about 22, or something. In them days, the funeral was right at the home. Well then the father, Mrs. Farrell and I got Mr. Thrower ready for burial.
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Dr. Dunnet and Mr. Ratner1942
Avonlea, Saskatchewan, Canada
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Dr. DunnetDr. Henry Waters Dunnet was born in Ottawa on June 3rd 1886 to James and Barbara (Waters) Dunnet of Dunnet Head, Scotland. He attended school in Ottawa, graduated in medicine from McGill University in 1910. He interned at County of Carlton General Hospital and was superintendent of Lady Grey Sanatarium before taking post graduate study in Scotland obtaining LRCP&S in Edinburgh and LRFP&S in Glasgow. He came to practice in Lethbridge, Alberta before coming to Avonlea in 1912. He married Pearl Mills, a nurse who was often on hand to assist when he established his practice and home in Avonlea. They raised their three daughters in Avonlea, Barbara became a dispensing optician, Elsie a nurse, and Henrietta a lab technician.
Dr. Dunnet was the personification of a real country doctor. Personal hands on care to everyone, travelling by horse and buggy to visit town and country patients. He could diagnose, operate in an emergency, pull a tooth, deliver their babies and console the families of those he could not save. He was their friend as well as their doctor. He modernized to the automobile and did his best to keep abreast of medical knowledge.
He was always on call, he made his rounds in town, he checked at his maternity homes and held his office hours in his drugstore office and went to country patients if they could not come to him. He never sent a bill often using his own resources rather than desert the people.
He was a student of nature, a gardener, a bee keeper, a reader, a sports enthusiast, but above all a country doctor.
A picnic in 1947 brought approximately 300 of his 4532 "babies" to celebrate the affection the people of Avonlea and area held for their beloved Doctor.
In 1949, a northern Saskatchewan lake was named after him for his dedication and service. Our local park is named after him. He died in 1957 at age 71. Pearl Dunnet who was a real community activist died in 1980 at age 92.
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