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Chester Keen and Marjorie Marshall Wedding picture23 December 1936
Marshalltown, Digby County, Nova Scotia
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Interviewer: Genevieve KeenInterviewee: Chester Keen
Date: November 2004
Introduction: I am Genevieve Keen and I am interviewing my father Chester Keen.
Question: Dad, where were you born?
Answer: In Digby
Question: When were you born?
Answer: My grandfather's place.
Question: When were you born?
Answer: April 14, 1913
Question: Where in Digby did you live?
Answer:
Question: You were born in your grandfather's house?
Answer: Yeah.
Question: You didn't go to the hospital in those days to have your babies.
Answer: There wasn't any hospital.
Question: There weren't any hospitals in thoses days! I guess we're spoiled now-a-days.
Answer:
Question: Where exactually did your grandfather live?
Answer: Carleton Street. I don't remember the number.
Question: It was the corner of Carleton and ah...
Answer: The corner of Carleton and King.
Question: The corner of Carleton and King Street. And then didn't your father own a house right in back of that?
Answer: He built one. He built the house the next year after I was born.
Question: He built the house the next year, and that is the house right in back of your grandfather's.
Answer: It was further up.
Question: And which street was your father's house on?
Answer: On King Street.
Question: So your father's house is on King Street.
Answer: Yeah.
Question: And your grandfather's house was on the corner of King and Carleton.
Answer: Well close to it.
Question: Close to it and your father's house was right above it?
Answer:
Question: With Christmas coming on, what did you do for Christmas? Did you have trees and celebrate the way we do?
Answer: Oh yes, yes we did have Christmas trees. We had very little it was depression time, we had very little gifts.
Question: Did your mother make her own?
Answer: Most of them, yes.
Question: Did you have turkey for Christmas dinner?
Answer: I think so.
Question: Did you raise your own?
Answer: No.
Question: You bought them?
Answer: We liked to have had......
Question: You probably had hens?
Answer: Yeah, because we kept hens.
Questions: Oh, so rather than have a turkey you would have had hen?
Answer: Yeah.
Question: Did your father have animals as well? Besides the hens?
Answer: Yes, we had a cow or two and sometimes a young steer, and then later years we had the ox.
Question: Oh, you had an ox?
Answer: Yeah.
Question: What did you use the ox for?
Answer: Hauling wood and hauling manure from the barn basement to the garden.
Question: Did you ever put in a large garden?
Answer: Yes, quite big, yeah.
Question: Did you grow a lot of your owns vegetables?
Answer: Most of them, especially potatoes.
Question: Did your mother can or how did she preserve the vegetables for the winter?
Answer: They were stored in the basement.
Question: In the basement?
Answer: Yeah.
Question: Did they keep all winter?
Answer: Oh yes, they would keep. We had beets and carrotts and eh pototes, and we had raspberries which would be preserved.
Question: Into jams?
Answer: Yeah.
Question: What did you use the cows for?
Answer: Milk.
Question: Where did you pasture the cows during the day?
Answer: In the summer they would pasture out at Letteny's pasture that's back on Victoria Street.
Question: Back on Victoria Street there was a pasture?
Answer: Yeah.
Question: Were there several people who had cows that would pasture there?
Answer: Yes, some I think would tie them out.
Question: Rather than putting them in the pasture?
Answer: Yeah.
Question: Did you have to go and get the cows at night?
Answer: Oh yes, to milk them. Sure.
Question: Did your dad ever slaughter the cows for food?
Answer: No!
Question: No, you just had them for milk cows?
Answer: We slaughtered the pig.
Question: So you had pigs too?
Answer: Yes, we had one.....and we slaughtered the pig.
Unable to hear this section!!!
Question: Did many people in Digby raise cvattle at that time?
Answer: Oh, there were farms they were just indepentant.
Question: Just for your own benefit?
Answer: Our own ues, yes.
Question: Can you think of any traditions you had in your family. Outing, vacations, things like that that you did?
Answer: We didn't do much of that. We didn't have the money to travel.
Question: You didn't travel an awful lot?
Answer: No. I used to suppliment our meat with... get a bucket of clams, and I used to do that quite often on Saturday morning of when the tide was down.
Question: Where would you get the clams from?
Answer: Down at the Racquette.
Question: You soled some I think didn't you?
Answer: Oh yes, I would dig two buckets, sell one for a quarter and keep the other one.
Question: Dad, you told me about your skiing experience. Tell me about that again.
Answer: Well to begin with I made the skiies myself, then we used to go skiing on some hill we had that was nearby, and eh, the last one was down on eh, Mount Street, I believe. I came down, made a jump and landed on my back on Queen Street. So that was my last jump!
Question: That was your experience with skiing, down hill skiing? You made your own skies?
Answer: Yup, out of ash.
Question: You made them out of ash?
Answer: Yeah.
Question: Did many people ski in town?
Answer: Oh, quite a few.
Question: Did you.
Answer: Actually, young people.
Question: Where would you ski mostly, what part?
Answer: Any pasrt, as long as there is snow.
Question: As long as you could find a hill?
Answer: Yeah.
Question: So you didn't travel very far for your skiing like we do now days?
Answer: Oh no!
Question: No?
Answer: They weren't made then.
Question: Did your mother make her own butter?
Answer: Yes, quite a bit.
Question: Cheese or just butter?
Answer: Just butter.
Question: She churned her own butter?
Answer: Yeah.
Question: What was the tipical meal like in your family?
Answer: Very good, cause we were hungry in those days.
Question: Would she have the meat and pototoes?
Answer: Yes, we had a roast of beef every Saturday and the rest of the time it would be fish or clams or something like that.
Question: Did you have a lot of salads back in those days?
Answer: A lot of what?
Question: Salads or mostly cooked fish?
Answer: No, salads was for cows!
Question: (LAUGHTER) Salads was for cows, (LAUGHTER) ok.
Question: Anything else you can think of about growing up in Digby? What was school like when you went to school?
Answer: Well I enjoyed school life, just had behave yourself that's all
Question: What was the disaplin like?
Answer: Well, the teacher could punish you with the strap or their hand or whatever.
Question: Were you ever expelled from school, or they didn't do that for punishment?
Answer: No! No!
Question: What time would you start school in the morning?
Answer: 9:00 o'clock
Question: What time would you finish?
Answer: 3
Question: Did you have an hour lunch
Answer: Yeah.
Question: Did you go home for lunch?
Answer: Yes, usually we did.
Question: What was your favourite subject?
Answer: Well, it wasn't English that's for sure. I umm, I used to be quite a scrapper earlier, and they said that I scrapped with the fellows that were going to home to eat dinner and then I scraped with the fellows coming back to school.
Question: Did a lot of kids scrap together at that time?
Answer: Oh no! Not too many.
Question: When did you leave Digby? Actuall how long did you live in Digby itself?
Answer: Until I was twenty something, twenty I believe.
Question: Is that when you got married?
Answer: Yeah, shortly after that.
Question: Okay, and then you moved to ...
Answer: Marshalltown. We had moved out there to board. We were doing a survey for the highways,a nd the engineer stayed at the same place I did which was Marshall's, Ralph Marshall's. Their daughter was a school teacher and she was away. When she came home well we started dating and ehh, and that's how I married her.
Question: How long did you life in Marshalltown?
Answer: Until the War started.
Question: Then you went to work on the Base didn't you? When the War started?
Answer: Yeah.
Question: You weren't doing surveying then were you?
Answer: No I was doing some.
Question: You were doing some?
Answer: That's what I was hired for.
Question: For surveying?
Anwer: Yeah.
Question: Where did you move to after that?
Answer: Well first we had a place in Marshalltown, we lived there for several years.
Question: After the War?
Answer: No before the War. Then we moved up near the Base because my father-in-law was working there too so we rented up there and after the War I stayed there for.... I worked at Cornwallis until '45 when the War was over and then I got back on the highway and I worked there until I was 60.
Question: Then you had to move away didn't you, with the Highways?
Answer: Oh yes, yeah. When I was working with them I had to.
Question: Cause I remember going to the one-room school in Marshalltown when I was a little girl. Starting there.
Answer: Yeah.
Question: And I can remember moving to Sandy Cove and then it just semed to be moving from then on every two or three years.
Answer: Every year. And I sold our place in Marshalltown after awhile.
Question: And you owned the Wagoner house up on the eh... Not to far from the church in Marshalltown . The St. Paul's church up on hill.
Answer: Yeah.
Question: You were what, one, two, three houses down going from the St. Paul's Church.
Answer: I sold it to Clarence Wagoner, I believe his name is.
Question: Or no, that would be his son, it would be the dad I think you sold it to. Nevens, Nevens Wagoner.
Answer: Yeah, yeah that's right.
Question: Then I can remember coming back home and staying on weekends and holidays staying with my grandparents, Ralph and Geneva Marshall
Answer: Yeah.
Question: Have you, you must have noticed quite a bit of change in Digby in the last few years? Or the last number of years.
Answer: Yes, the old people, lot of them had cows and they had their gardens and things, but now they do. Very few do that now.
Question: Out along the Range they used to have a lot of farms. Most of those are gone now.
Answer: Yeah. John Roope is probably the last of the old farmers and most of the fellers down by the eh...where Alice used to life.
Question: Oh, uhhh, I know who you mean. I'm drawing a total blank here right now. Ummm, Bruce, Bruce, are you talking about Bruce.
Answer: Yeah! Bruce what...
Question: Cause he's farming
Answer: Yeah, well he took up apart Josie Nicholas farm.
Question: He took over quite a bit of that area.
Answer: Yeah!
Question: Bruce Gillis. Bruce and Arth Gillis.
Answer: Yeah, that's right.
Question: Are you happy with the changes that are taking place in Digby, the growth of the town and that?
Answer: Oh, I think so, people life better. We lived there during the Depression times and we had to work or starve, and eh...Then I belonged to the Scout Troop there for quite a number of years.
Question: Did they have an active scout troop there when you were a boy?
Answer: Oh yeah, yeah.
Question: Do you remamber who the scout troop was at that time?
Answer: Oswell, Oswell Wright. Osee Wright.
Question: He was the Scout leader?
Answer: Yeah,
Question: And then you became a lea....
Answer: Then Jabez Appleby, he was the feller on the...he kept the books. In other words he was the secretary.
Question: Then you joined Masons in the area didn't you?
Answer: Yeah, but that was during the War.
Question: That was during the War that you joined the Masonic Lodge?
Answer: In '43.
Question: In '43. So you joined the Lodge in Bear River.
Answer: Yeah.
Question; Did they have a Lodge in Digby at that time?
Answer: Yes. We were living in Annapolis County at that time.
Question: Okay.
Answer: And there was three, two other fellers who went through that I knew so the three of use went together.
Question: Okay. Did they have a rink in Digby when you were a boy?
Answer: A rink? Yeah, oh Yeah!
Question: They did?
Answer: The rink burned later on. And they had a good Hockey Team too.
Question: In Digby?
Answer: Yeah.
Question; Would they travell to play? Would they go over to St. John or anything, or?
Answer: They travelled around Nova Scotia. Yeah, I don't think they ever went over to St. John.
Question: Where did you do most of your shopping? Like where did your mother do most of here shopping?
Answer: Well, we didn't have to go out for, for eh.. meat of any kind because they delivered it right to the door in those days, and most of the time we dealt with Melbury Store down in the Racquette.
Question: What did they sell?
Answer: Groceries
Question: Groceries! Where would your mom get her clothing.
Answer: I don't know!
Question: Did she make a lot of her own?
Answer: Yeah! Yeah, that's how she, she.... how dad met he. She worked at Muise's. And Muise's used to make the clothing in thoses days.
Question: And your mother was working with Muise?
Answer: Yeah.
Question; She was the seamstress?
Answer: Yeah.
Question: And your mother was Demetrie Gaudet?
Answer: Yeah.
Question: So she was French Acadian?
Answer: That's right.
Question: Good Acadian heritage here. What was your dads name?
Answer: George.
Question: George Keen
Answer: Yeah.
Question: What did your dad do?
Answer: Well he was carpenter by trade but during the Depression there wasn't much work then, and ehh, so it was pretty hard.
Question: So there is a long tradition in your family with your father. Your grandfather, was he a carpenter as well?
Answer: Yeah, and great-grandfather too.
Question: Yeah, and the original fellow who came to Nova Scotia, the Loyalist he was a carpenter?
Answer: Yeah.
Question: Jesse Keen.
Answer: I don't know where he fits in there, I never seen the family tree.
Question: Oh, he's back there a few greats! A few great-grandfathers.
Answer: Yeah.
Question: Anything else you can think of about Digby? That you can remember that is sort of different then now a-days.
Answer: No, customs has changed alot you know. We don't have a rink, oh...yes we do have a rink, yeah.
Question: Yeah, we have a rink.
Answer: Yeah, and we have a new school now. We had the old eight room school when I was going to school, and eh.... What's next?
Question: Well, I think that's it dad. Unless there's anything else we can think of.
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Interview: Fred Adams (age 95 years)Interviewer:
Interviewer: Where did Jim Adams come from?
Fred: He come from English I suppose, and he come here as a immigrant I guess, he was a ----- done all the law business in Digby, and so on. You want to know more about it? I can tell ya. He took a fella by the name of Secord; he was a fella had left his discharge in Halifax, but he gave it to a little girl; didn't know the value of it. And Adams says, after he took him to his property on the Culloden Road, towards Broad cove, he said, " We'll go and see about that." And that had been years then you know, so there was no line through then, only a trail form Digby to Halifax. So they walked all the way to Halifax, him and this here……what was his name again?
Harry: Secord.
Fred: And I suppose they stopped in some kind of tavern in some places, I don't know how long it took 'em but however they found that girl that he gave it to. She was a married woman and had children and he got the uh, uh….
Interviewer: Discharge papers.
Fred: Yeah, so I don't know, I guess he got quite a lot of money out of it somehow.
Interviewer: suppose he'd need that to prove that grant should come to him and so on.
Fred: You see, his time run out when the warship was in Halifax and got his discharge. He didn't know about it or anything.
Interviewer: Now tell me about the Indians around here, that you say you practically grew up with.
Fred: Now, they come from Bear River, and they first goin' off they'd stream drive. You ever heard tell of the stream drivin'?
Interviewer: I've heard tell of stream driving but not the association of these Indians with it.
Fred: Well, the Indians were the best drivers, they had these corks in their boots, they'd turn 'em over like that, you know. And they had these big blocks of timber, and they float them down the river, ya know in the spring, when the freshets was on, to the mills. There was a lot of mills out back of Bear River ya know. One of the big things there at that time. Bear River was doing more business in one day than would do in a month, all kinds of big ships was there, but I'm off the course now. Anyway, the Indians would come down here after the stream drive was over, and that was about in the last of June maybe, and July and August was the months that they porpoised. You know what porpoises are?
Interviewer: yes
Fred: ya seen'em
Interviewer: Yes:
Fred: well, the Indians called them "papa feet" (?). Anyway they would ___________ warm blooded, and they shoot them you know. When they round up like that, come up to blow, that's the time they fire, you got to be as quick as lightning to shoot 'em and you can't fire-------- they used them big muzzle loaders, big barrels on 'em long as that and fill 'em full with powder and buckshot those porpoise. You couldn't fire from the side of the canoe over, it's kick so they'd have to fire straight on, the head of the canoe or on the back because-----
Interviewer: Bow or stern, yes.
Fred: Now I tell ya a little experience that happened to me. One day, they all was having some kind of a religious performance of Ste. Anne's they called it, out to Bear River and they all left here and went to Bear River all but Sim Pictou, he was the only one, he was building a canoe down here and he stayed here and the rest all left him, no one to go in his canoe to shoot the porpoise. In come a lot of porpoise. He says to me, "Fred, can't you come out with me and street the canoe." He says, "Ain't got nobody and he say them porpoise there, I'd like to get a hold of them." I said I would go in the canoe, yes, but you're 250lbs and me 135lbs it's gonna be pretty hard to keep offa the whirls here and one thing and another. So we started and instead of him putting ballast in the stern where I was sitting, to trim her he did a silly thing, he just jumped in the canoe and we went off after her. They were coming up all directions and them whirl things in the flood tide and I couldn't keep her straight to save my soul, she'd go round about 16 feet long, ya know, a canoe and uh, and he was holding out this gun right over my head and focusing on the throng. By and by one fella come up. "Duck your head." he said, Duck your head." Why I put my head down, I thought my brains was blowed out. Oh boy: I'll never forget that.
Interviewer: Did he get the porpoise?
Fred: Oh yes, we got him. They weighed about 200 pounds. Sometimes we'd run out you know and get a size nine porpoise in those canoes and bring 'em in.
Interviewer: Did they tow them in?
Fred: Oh no, they put 'em right in the canoe, and the way they done it, they balanced the weight over this way and they'd get hold of the fin there and they'd pull 'em right in and they wouldn't move that canoe at all. They'd balance theirselves. And them canoe was of birch bark and they would carry an awful load. Very buoyant.
Interviewer: well, I hope they put that porpoise in the stern with you, eh?
Fred: They put 'em all along; but I wasn't out with a big load, they go out all day there. They had to have still weather, ya know. You wouldn't shoot 'em in rough weather you know, and you had to be mighty quick when blow; come up and puffed ya know and it's just a second----like that---ya know. And that's the time they rounded up, they shot 'em. And then they had a harpoon about 15 feet long and they'd spear 'em. They sink very quick and they had to dig in as quick as they could to the spot where they shot them, you know. Lots of times they lost 'em, they're sink right quick. Other times they'd float, I suppose that air or something.
Interviewer: They would extract the oil from the porpoises and sell the oil, it that the idea?
Fred: Oh yeah. Then thay brought them ashore and then that had to take the pelt off 'em you see. The carcass, they had spare ribs there, they used to eat that. Let it stand under the fireplace for two to three days 'til it got fly bloat kind of poke up, a lot of Indians would come down and they'd eat that stuff. They made a business of it you know, they'd leave them on the poles, and pull strips out----with two cross pieces to hold 'em up and then let them dry in the sun for days before they tried them out. And then they'd cut 'em up in inch pieces --- like that--- and a pot there would hold a barrel full and they'd try it out, ell the oil.
Interviewer: So there were quite a few Indians who spent part of the year over on the side of the island, then they'd go back to Bear River would they?
Fred: Oh they'd keep on going, wasn't all after porpoises ya know, some come down to make baskets and canoes and different things. Go back and forth. But there was about 25 or 30 of 'em. I seen about twenty canoes out there firing all ways, you'd think they'd shoot one another and that old Gut was aroaring with their guns! And there never was an accident. I can tell you another story about two Indians got upset with a sea porpoise. They're a different type of porpoise. Ever seen 'em?
Interviewer: well, I didn't know there was a difference.
Fred: Oh, they weigh about 500 pounds, ya can't take them in a canoe, ya have to pull 'em in, if you get 'em. Well, they went off, my Dad was out there fishin', him and his brother they was out not too far from where these Indians was shooting these porpoises, or gonna shoot, He fired at the porpoise, it come up, and they jump up a lot further, they jump ahead kind of, make a big splash. He fired at him and the porpoise went down, they saw blood in the water and they thought they'd shot him and they sat there waiting for him to see what was gonna happen. Up came the porpoise and went down on the canoe in two the middle. And my father and his brother they cut their anchor out and pulled for dear life and they rescued the fell as, and they had an awful time to get 'em in the boat, the boat was small, and they each weighed 250 pounds, the Pictou's did, every one of them. And Matt Pictou, he was one of the fellows that shot the porpoise, he saved his gun, he had that gun, he held that gun. Why they had to take 'em in over the stern of the boat, couldn't was only about 12 feet long and they had quite a time at that.
Interviewer: What's the difference between what you call a sea porpoise and the ones they were shooting inside, just a matter of size?
Fred: Just a matter of size, yeah. And they come in schools, quite big school, and they'd go scooting way off in the water, ya know. When they get started they go like everything. And that thing came right up and right down over the canoe. Boom! They never seen it after. It probably died after that.
Harry: and there was another experience----an accident.
Fred: That's the only two that the Indians ever had that I recollect.
Harry: The time that the Indian was drowned.
Fred: I know, they went for ahs. They used to make baskets and went up to Latch Cove, ten miles below Point Prim up the Bay, and they were paddling up the shore and up come a shark, come right up through, turned it all bottom up, that was Louis Pictou, brother to this Matt Pictou and he was the only Indian they saud couldn't swim. And it scare him so, that he either---oh, I don't know, he fired the gun at it----of the fella that was saved, swim ashore, young fella he was only a teenager. I don't know his name. he swum ashore and he's the only one who told the tale. Well they took that canoe up for exhibition there for the tourists in Digby for a while, but that's the only time I ever knew that a shark attacked a canoe or boat or anything like that. Whether it was a shark or not it not known, but they supposed it was a maneater.
Interviewer: did they find his body at low tide?
Fred: They found his body at low tide. So he was pretty close to the shore you see. And they brought him home, brought him here to the beach and there was a great pow wow that night, all night, singing these here songs. Indians, you know awful dreary songs.
Interviewer; Yes, I suppose songs of morning.
Fred: Like a wake. Well, I was to it, well I was into everything Indian back then. I used to go in the canoes along with the young Indians, you know. We put sails on too. It's a wonder I haven't been drowned.
Interviewer: Did you use any kind of side boards or anything, or just the sail?
Fred: No, no we didn't have even a sail. We take a salt bag_________ take the canoe----Indians still had 'em with them still_______ couldn't get 'em you know. Sometimes we'd come stealing porpoise and they'd make an awful time if you had the canoe. They'd give us awful going over for taking it you'd be chased halfway to town by some of them. And we sometimes just took a bush, just a bush, a little tree and out it stuck up and the winds were blowing so why the canoe'd scoot like that. We had great fun, but they'd never take any white fella on, I was the only one because they'd always get in trouble then.
Interviewer: How'd you get to know the Indians?
Fred: Oh, walked right up to them----- about my age, a lot of 'em you know and right handy to where I lived here, on the beach,, I was there on the shore all the time and fishing and everything.
Interviewer: So they didn't consider you just another white fella, they……
Fred: Oh, they thought I was a Micmac too. All my friends was Indian you know. So the other boys didn't get a chance you know, and the Indians was great friends, you know, to ya. Best friends I know, they'd do anything for you, if you use 'em well. Of course when they get firewater in 'em.
Interviewer: Oh, yes.
Fred: They used to get that occasionally, they'd get pretty wild then you know, fighting among themselves sometimes. Ain't supposed to sell Indians liquor but they'd get into it. They used to have great time with these porpoise all the time, shooting 'em, trying the oil. And that smelt so bad, no skunk could compete with it, eh? And that flavour last, boys oh boys. Fer winters after they left where they'd tried it out--- the fireplaces where they'd tried it out and it would spill a little I suppose, you could still smell it foryears after the Indians left. Always had a smell. Terrible.
Interviewer: who'd buy the oil from them?
Fred: well, there's two women bought it from them for a long while, two sisters, I forget their names. They bought the oil. I think it was lubricating oil for them, was about all they had before this oil-----
Interviewer: Before they got petroleum products.
Fred: Jaw oil, they took the jaw oil, it was a different oil from the other oil, it was very pure, just a white, you know and specially good for lubricating. I guess that's all they had then: that's what they sold it for. After this sell it.
Interviewer: What else did the Indians used to do around here except get the porpoise.
Fred: well, they used to make axe handles and baskets and pushum baskets and all kinds of stuff like that.
Harry: Even build lean-to's for the summer.
Fred: Well, they made camps you know, then they went into the woods, the trees then was big as barrels, spruce trees, and girdles them round and this land here and just take that rig off in great rolls. They'd make the camps with little poles so they could place that right over it, lap it over to keep the water out, you know, it was great. But they ruined to trees. They claimed they own this country anyway; I guess we ought to give it back to 'em now again. So different things, they built canoes too, down here. Birch bark, ya know, there's big birch trees then. I had two canoes myself. I ----Solomaon---he was an old Indian, he was a little different from the rest, he kept by himself. He didn't porpoise or anything, but he built canoes and done other work, hunted wildcats. Walked all the way form Bear River on day, my mother was getting breakfast when he come.
"Where's the old man?"
She says, "Well he ain't up yet, he was up late last night fishin' 'till 12 o'clock and they're sleeping in a bit."
"I wanna get across the gut. I walked all the way from Bear River," he says.
"Well, "she said, " I get you some breakfast, Solomon."
"I don't want no breakfast. All I want is tea."
"Oh," she says, "you want something besides tea." So she they'd be up in a little while. "You set down." He kept walking back and forth, he wouldn't even set down after walking all the way from Bear River, he wanted to get across. I says to him, I came down first and T say, "Solomon, where you going this time of the morning?"
"I wanna go across after a wildcat," he says, 'I wanna go see if I can trap 'em.'
"Well, you get your breakfast, we'll take you over," Mother said. I think she said she poured him out seven or eight cups of tea and every time and each time she out in a lot more, so it was fairly, oh she said it was some strong.
"Now," he said, "I'm good 'till tonight and I don't want nothing else." He wouldn't eat anything else. So ----Great hands for tea. Oh, I suppose I could think of things what happened but I guess there's nothing much more important that---they'd---- at that job, ya know, 'till about September and then they'd go back to Bear River again and then they'd go back hunting-----guides------that was their trade then. Going in the woods for moose, bear and all. They tell some good bear stories too, ya know. Old Mr.Justice, American, out to Pennsylvania Railway had built a house down here and he used to say Matt Pictou was s msn, he would be all right for President of the United States if he'd had the education, he had a great head. Smart. He could judge events and we'd go down there every night to listen to him tell these stories. Now Solomon told me one time that a bear usually won't bother you in the woods, unless they have young. So, he was after a wildcats, he just had small loads in his gun, not heavy enough to shoot a bear or moose or anything like that; so he was walking along and accidentally got into a den, bear den or the mouth of it, and this bear had a cub and she come right at him. Well, he said he thought his time had come. So he held the gun like that, he let her came almost up to the muzzle before he pulled it, aimed right above where his heart was, he fixed him. But he said if he'd fired any distance, he'd just wounded him, made things worse. So, they would tell truths ya know, you could depend on an Indian. I don't they'd tell you much that wasn't true. They could tell a lot where they been through the woods. So much. But I always found 'em pretty good. They'll go Back after the porpoise season was over, and some of 'em'd go guide________ they knew the woods pretty well, ya know. Gilpin was a man from England who lived about six or eight Pictou's and they were about the same size and some of 'em lived to be a hundred years old. Paul died at a hundred. I was up to see him in Bear River when he was a hundred years old, he was blind, he couldn't see me, but he could tell my voice. Mighty fine fella. And there's Sim, he was a great big fella, Abalan, Louis, and Simon .Oh, I don't know, another fella, I forgot his name.
Interviewer: Well, good. Why don't we turn it off now for a little while, David? We've got the story about the Indians, and we'll have a little rest and maybe we can talk a little about some of the other things you remember. __________ You're right on this morning.
Fred: Oh, I guess I made a mess of it, I guess.
Interviewer: No, that's wonderful.
Muddled Tape
Fred: Well, they didn't have a building then, they had a temporary place there rigged up 'til the building was built. Had the boat moored al the time. We hauled it up in the building. We had to keep her afloat 'til we had the boat house fixed so we could have a haul-up, ya know. First one we pulled inside when we used her.
Interviewer: Was the purpose of the lifeboat?
Fred: Well, for these here fishermen that was out, ya know, these scallop draggers mostly, we had to tend to. Go out there and they'd get these drags in their wheels. Helpless, couldn't move ya know, off here, half the Bay sometimes different places and the worst of it was we didn't have anything to go by. They had no ship-ashore radio to tell us what direction they were in, or anything, we had to go out by dead reckoning. Perhaps a fella would call us up from the other side and say, well there's a boat overdue, hasn't got in, two hours overdue and you'd better go out and look see if you can locate 'em. We'd ask where, if they had any idea where they was fishing. No they could be on Yankee Bank, or they could be on the snow Ground or they could be all over the Bay of Fundy. So, we'd have to take our own judgement, and go to a certain place. If he wasn't there, go to another place and they had a long time 'fore we'd locate 'em sometimes, and then it'd be blowing hard or snowing hard, was always a nasty trip. It wasn't like it was since Harry took over because the most of these boats is equipped with rader and all sorts of things where you can go right to 'em. But we had to go by dead reckoning, and then what made me so mad, that when they'd get in they wouldn't let us know, by telephone, land telephone. Ya think the least they would do would be that, ----- we'd be out there perhaps three or four hours and then have to go to the place where they went out to find out whether they're in or not.
Interviewer: they were all in their nice, warm, cozy, homes and you were out…
Fred: Soaking wet and we didn't have the equipment to wear like they have now. We didn't have the rubber suits. Them there oilskins and the water beat through it and the boat was not equipped with any cabin on it at all, no wheelhouse or anything and oh, anybody with eyes said I could build a boat better with both eyes knocked out of my head. They had a spray hood, it would come right where you was steerin'. I had to be lashed into the wheel or else the full_______ of the water'd come in with such a force on that spray hood it would come back in your face. No wonder me eyes is gone and strike with such a force, ya know, and that cold. My gosh! Instead of having a wheelhouse or something built on, I don't know what brains that would have had, some of them----- putting their heads in. whoever designed her, she was built in Bayon, New Jersey. Come on a flat car to Saint John and I was over there a week to bring her over. John Wassain(?) was coxswain then and uh----James Does (?) over here was engineer. Three of us went over to get it, there was eight of us on at that time.
Interviewer: Are there any special trips that you remember more than any other?
Fred: Well, we went after a fella there that got blowed across the Bay and then the nor'wester brought him back and he landed, come in an awful breeze the wind when it come back and over here in Moose Hollow, that's the entrance to the Gut, he was almost on the shore and he'd been smashed up. There was a great crowed on the shore watching him. And we went in there, took a chance went in there and fired him a line and made it fast, and we went ahead---- the boat dissolved. Took him out and brought her in here, but I tell ya, there was a wild sea on that and she was helpless ya know. Just going right on. Time they seen her, that they telephoned from the lighthouse that they seen her, that drifting she was coming fast--- with a nor'west wind, and as soon as we got it ready, soon as we got her off, anything to stop five minutes why we wouldn't have shored it. We had to go easy on it because we was afraid that the line might part too ya know, a sea like that. Had to use your judgement. And then we used to see these south-easters, they blow so hard, my graciours, it was terrible getting off sometimes almost take your life away to get off and the tender you see. Small boat, dory, had to be mighty careful, and then there's boats going adrift here they'd be yachts and pleasure boats going out here, this gale wind, ya know. And these twisters, blowing trees right up. Why that was blowing so hard when we got off there and got ahold of one of them boats the water was as flat as that floor there, but when that died out, you talk about a sea, it was blowing so hard. Gosh it could stop that boat; she wouldn't make and headway at all. I never saw it blow so. I don't know how many boats we towed in that time. One fellow lost a boat that went adrift, couldn't get his engine to start and he was going out, it was blowing heavy one night, we went after that. Ya couldn't tell where they was, dark as Egypt, ain't even have a light or anything on 'em so careless, some of 'em wouldn't even take an oar in their boat or anything; or a light that you could find 'em. So they depend on us.
End of Side one
Interviewer: How did you finally find this one you were just telling us about/
Fred: Oh, we ran right into her, for some reason. More of good luck than good management, I guess. There was an old fella I was alone at the time, just had one or two, the engineer was off, the coxswain. I had charge of her, most of the time. He got his arm broke, by doing a foolish trick going aboard a boat that went adrift from the mooring out in the rip here in the Gut; and she was bobbing down into this here mooring area. I was gonna do the work but this stupid thing instead of tending to the wheel, steering the boat where it should belong, he must interfere with me, and put his arm down through there, it came up and smashed his arm up. Just carelessness, foolishness.
Interviewer: Between the boat and the______
Fred: Yeah, and then he was three of four months off duty, and I had charge. Didn't make much difference to me 'cause he never was around when there was anything going on, didn't stay around too long.
Interviewer: How far a field did you have to got?
Fred: Well, we's supposed to go, I guess the boundary line was about up to Parker's Cove, that's about fifteen miles. I struck a rock off Parker's Cove one night. I know what was happening, didn't hurt anything, just turned------ there's rock-----Do you know about it Harry? I guess Perhaps you do.
Harry: Ya.
Fred: It's right at the entrance. I should think they'd have a buoy there. I don't know much about it then, because I never heard anyone say anything about it. It was nighttime when we had to go up there and I was going into breakwater and going out of the breakwater and I felt it just touch ya know. I said, " I guess that's a rock or something there." But that's the only time ever I done any harm to her. But now they put a hole through her----this new one, four inches wide on rocks and I guess they like it in Ottawa.
Interviewer: Down at the new station: Westport. You were telling yesterday about finding a man out there struck by lightning.
Fred: Oh yes. Yes, we went out there one time. There's a fella out there running the trolleys from Deep Brooks, I think he was, and he went around Green Point, that is at the entrance here, outside the Friday building(?). It was a nice day out, come this thunderstorms, heavy, we used to have theses awful heavy thunderstorms. He was a hauling his trawl right along---all at once sees that he wasn't moving. Didn't see him moving at all in the boat, thought there must be something wrong. Of course we didn't have no message from him or anybody, but went off to see; happened to be looking. There he was, bent right over the trawl tub, dead as a herring. The lightning had struck him, burnt him all up. See, he just had a ----he didn't have a rubber suit on, if he'd had a rubber suit probably wouldn't have done him too much just. It's a bad place to be, on the water, that lifeboat when she was just ablaze, she had a lot of copper all over her. The wheel and everything you'd take hold of was just full of fire. I never saw such raining as up off of Hillsburn one night. The water was blowing up 'bout that high with it coming down, where it was slashing in ----- The thunder and lightning was terrific, I never seen such a storm in my life. I expected to be struck any minute. It seems that output went round on all this copper, ya know. It seemed to hang on that, I don't know whether it had any way out, any way out, any protection from that, I don't know. Surge certainly followed it all over.
End of Tape
4
Interviewed: Freeman BartonBorn in Yarmouth in 1896, moved to Digby when he was three months old. He never went to school, but does remember the little school house. For two or three winters in a row, a teacher was a teenager, Mr.Barton left for Halifax to stay with a cousin. He used to pick mayflowers and blueberries to see to tourists at the wharf. Blueberries sold for $0.05 a quart and mayflowers for $0.05 a bunch. He can't recall there being any organized sports around when he was young. Remembers the grist mill in the Acacia Valley. The mill owner would keep half of the load of flour as payment for the use of the mill. Most people had a garden and some livestock. Most of the livestock (of which cattle was the mainstay) was for the farmer's own use. A common practice for the men was to get tighter and cut up each man's winter supply of wood.
A lot of the children would not go to school because they had to help support the family. The girls helped around the house, while the boys worked as labourers. In many families both parents were working. Mr.Barton began working at the age of nine. His mother was cook at Cecil Jone's father's Hotel in Bear River.
When he came back from Halifax, Mr.Barton worked for Mckeens Co. loading lumber at the ferry wharf. He also worked for the Arcadia and Pursesky Construction companies as a mixer man Victoria Bridge to the Pines. Bill Franklin was the superintendent of roads at the time. Other work included working on a "Rosser" (a machine that takes the back of pulpwood). A temporary asphalt plant was established in Jordantown in 1953. It was owned by a Mr.Jarvis. Freeman Barton worked with this outfit until he was 75 years old. He worked at Tupper Warnes Mill for two weeks. A boy by the name of Allan Woods was fired by Tupper Warne for buying one at the Mill's store.
He believe that Fred Guy was the first person from Jordantown to have a car. There was no electricity or telephones in Jordantown when he was a boy. Any fires had to be put out by bucket brigade. The home of his Grandfather, George Baron, burned down when he was seven or eight years old.
The only clubs or organization in Jordantown were those run by the Church. He used to attend Sunday school and Church picnics. During the thirties work was pretty scarce. He can remember doing errands for a week for a payment of a single egg! He can remember there being a law whereby children had to be off the streets by nine o'clock. In his grandfathers day black were not allowed in town after sunset. His grandparents are buried on the property of Harold Miller (formerly the property of his grandparents).
5
Interviewed: Mrs. Mary BordenWent to the little Conway school which was on the site of the present community centre. This school taught Grades kinder-garden to eight. Following this Mrs. Borden went to St. Pat's (the red school) where she went as far as Grade ten.
In her day, Mrs. Borden was one of the few children from Jordantown that ever attended St, Pat's. She felt that part of the reason for this was that in many families both parents had to work and thus the children had help around the house or work themselves. The girls would take care of the younger children while the boys would either help on the farm or work in town.
Mrs. Borden's father was a farmer and labourer. He kept several heads of cattle and other livestock. Most farming in Jordantown was on a small scale and was done mainly to feed the farmers family. Her father did, however, sell some cattle to the Pines Hotel. Mrs.Borden's mother worked at the Pines Hotel until she died in 1934. Like Freeman Barton, she can remember picking blueberries and mayflowers to sell to tourists coming off the old Ferry boat.
Mrs.Borden started teaching in 1946, at New Road, North Preston. She had found out about the job while attending an African Baptist Association meeting in North Preston. At this time she did not have a teachers license. At one time, before she was born, blacks in Jordantown were Anglican, while the blacks of Francistown, Rice's Corner and up Hillgrove way, were Baptists.
The black of Jordantown eventually split away from the Marshalltown Anglican Church, and joined the Francistown Baptist Church. The only clubs or organization in Jordantown were those run by the Baptist Churchy. For example, the Ladies Auxillary, the Baptist Young People's youth group. The latter group would hold rallys. She felt that there was an "understanding" between the White's of Digby and the Black's of Jordantown that the blacks would not join any clubs in town.
A Reverend Anderson served the Baptist Church for 44 years. Reverend Anderson came to Digby from Hammonds Plains. The Nova Scotian restaurant once refused to serve Reverend Anderson.
Mrs. Bordan feels that there was a feeling among many of the whites in Digby that the Blacks should stay in their place, that they (the Blacks) should do the white people's domestic and manual labour, but thats all. One has only to listen to the responses of many of the white people interviewer, to confirm Mrs.Borden's feelings.
Although she can't remember ever going on a real vacation, Mrs. Borden remembers attending the yearly meeting of the African Baptist Association.
When she was a girl there were up no telephones in Jordantown. Wayne Woodman was probably the first to have a phone there. Jordantown did not get electricity until Mrs.Borden was away teaching. She remember people from Jordantown petitioning to get this service. She can't remember anybody from Jordantown ever being on town council. The first time she was asked to vote in town council election was when a candidate from Marshalltown asked her to do so. That was only eight years ago.
The Baptist minister and several other members from the African Baptist Church used to hold Sunday services at the Poor House in Marshalltown. There was a curfew in town whereby anyone who was 16 or under could not be on the streets after 9;00 P.M. unless accompanied by an adult. Fred Thibeau was the lone town Policeman: He operated out of the old Town Hall. Many people in Jordantown buried family members on their own property. Many of Mrs.Borden's relatives are buried on a section of her property, including her Father's Mother, Martha Barton.
Mrs.Bordens mother used to keep a small store in her house. The goods were obtained from Digby Wholesalers. Quite a number of people from Jordantown worked as cooks in the towns Hotels.
A man by the name of Henry Trask used to fun a black- smith shop located at the corner of King and Warwick Streets (site of the present barbershop.)
At Tupper Warnes Mill worker were not paid in cash, but in groceries. For Example, one week's work would entitle a worker to a certain amount of groceries from Tupper Warnes' store. It cost 25 cents to see a picture at the Bijou: 15 cent for the matinee. A train station used to be located……..
A man from Marshalltown was in charge of the station. He would put the flag out if someone wanted to board the train. The train would arrive at eleven in the moring and depart from Digby at three. This allowed enough time for shopping. It cost $0.10 to go into town: $0.15 cent after the Dayliner was out on.
Her Father fought in the first World War. During the second World War her Father was the overseer of the Air force Barracks at the site of the old Cannonbanks.
6
Hilda (Barns) Bremner1947
Digby, Nova Scotia
7
Interview: Mrs. Hilda BremnerSept 27,1979
Subject: Nursing
Question: "when did you begin Nursing?"
Answer: "Thirty-two years ago."
Question: "Was that here in Digby?"
Answer: "Oh, yes. In the old hospital."
Question: "Do you know when that was first built?"
Answer: "I can't remember, I'm sorry."
Question: "Were you an R.N. when you first began?"
Answer: "No, I Was a C.N.A."
Question: "And what were your duties when you first started there?"
Answer: "Maternity."
Question: "Did you do any others or just maternity?"
Answer: "No, wherever they placed me. You know, Medicine, Surgical."
Question: "Did you have one shift a week?"
Answer: "We took all shifts & at that time we worked 12 hours shifts."
Question: "That must have been quite tiring, was it?"
Answer: "Yes, it was & some of the nurses couldn't get in, therefore, I had taken the duty of 24 hours, before going off. And I walked. I had no car."
Question: "and haw far was that?"
Answer: "Three Miles."
Question: "In the winter?"
Answer: "Yes, in the winter, blizzards, storms, electrical storms."
Question: "What education or training did you have?"
Answer: "Grade nine. I went in Grade 10, but I didn't get it because I got sick & had to have surgery."
Question: "So did you have to go in the hospital & say, do practice work first, before you began working?"
Answer: "Oh, Yes.'
Question: "How long was that?"
Answer: "Two or three months, supervised by an R.N."
Question: "By a Doctor too?"
Answer: "Oh, Yes."
Question: "What things did they usually look for? Did they pick up on how you were with patients, or what you knew or you personality?"
Answer: "Oh, Yes. Beside manner portrayed an awful lot. I Always treated my patients the best."
Question: "When you first started, do you know how many patients the hospital could hold?"
Answer: "In the old hospital, it only held 24 beds."
Question: "How many floors were there?"
Answer: "Just the two & the X-Ray Dept, was down below."
Question: "How many Doctors were there than?"
Answer: "Oh, about five or six."
Question: "Do you remember who they were?"
Answer: "Well, at that time there was Dr.__________, who was a very old Doctor & Dr.________ from down in Weymouth. Then there was Dr.Malmors came in later & then there was Dr. McCleave of course. Dr. McCleave was the head of staff of the hospital."
Question: "Were there any ambulance there when you first began Nursing?"
Answer: "The odd one they could call in, you know."
Question: "Was there & emergency centre than or & out-patients?"
Answer: "No. You always take them in where X-ray was or something like that."
Question: "What were of the major improvements in your duties in the hospital throughout the years?"
Answer: "Well, I Had many improvements as far as things like medications & drugs that have come out since which is amazing to think what we use to have to do with, up to this time now, is really wonderful. It's hard to believe, the things they to today, the medications they give that can help people. I find it wonderful."
Question: "What about the shifts? Did you ever get on the 8 hour shift?"
Answer: "Oh, Yes. In the new hospital."
Question: "Did you like them?"
Answer: " They day we moved over form old hospital to new one, I helped move them. We moved the beds & everything & our patients right in the beds. Those who couldn't go in wheelchairs & those who could walk, and we took them through the old hospital, up the ramp, took them in the elevator & took them it to the new hospital. That was a very hard day. All our legs were some tried. When we moved into the new hospital we had a mother in labour & we tried to rush her up ramp, through the hospital, on the elevator to the case room, where she delivered & Mr.Warner was with us. He was the nurse, Dr.Lewis & myself, but we got her in there just in time when the baby was born."
Question: "Why did they not leave her in the old hospital if she was in labour?"
Answer: "Dr.Lewis wanted this first baby in the new hospital, and this is why we just ran."
Question: "Do you remember when the new hospital was built?"
Answer: "It must have been 14 or 15 year age."
Question: "How many nurses would there be on the one shift?"
Answer: "In the old hospital, there'd probably be two on each shift, especially night shift. You know, many times there were storms & no one could get in, & then there'd be one downstairs & one upstairs."
Question: "Is there still a nurses' & Doctors' residence there?"
Answer: "No, there isn't, not now.
Question: "what were you're uniforms like in the beginning?"
Answer: "They were just plain white uniforms."
Question: "Did they have to be starched?"
Answer: "Oh, Yes."
Question: "Were the hats the same as they are now?"
Answer: "No, they were different. They were little tiny ones. Of course, there'd be other hospitals with different caps."
Question: "Now were the dresses always below the knee?"
Answer: "Oh, Yes, absolutely."
Question: "When did you become an R.N.?"
Answer: "I didn't. No, I went & wrote my C.N.A.'S. It was during the was, when nurse's were very scarce because so many had signed up already. So they took us in & trained us & if anyone was smart you'd pick up very quickly. I had no problems at all."
Question: "Did you have to write tests or exams?"
Answer: "I did later."
Question: "And that was your C.N.A.'S?"
Answer: "Yes."
Question: "Were they difficult?"
Answer: "No, Just common sense. Not if you had been around the patients & the hospital."
Question: "Do you think the hospital was large enough for the size of the population than? Did you find it over crowed?
Answer: "We were over crowed. Oh, Yes. Especially if someone came in for an emergency. There were people in the corridor, but it couldn't be helped."
Question: "What about the maternity? Was that usually pretty well full?"
Answer: "Oh, Yes. Because, when I first nursed many of the mothers had their babies in the home, you see, then of course it came to the time when the Doctors would them to come to the hospital to have their babies, which was much nicer."
Question: "Did you ever deliver a baby outside the hospital?"
Answer: "Yes, I did. In a car. The Doctor called & he said, is Bremner on duty, and could I speak to her?" He said, I'm coming in with a maternity case but there's no hurry." Her husband brought her in & when I got down to the hospital doors there was no time to get her on a stretcher & up to the case room, therefore, I had other nurses that were standing, but it was such a little car the big nurse couldn't get in, so I had to get in & get warm & deliver the baby in the back seat."
Question: "You must have been proud though, to deliver a baby in the back seat?"
Answer: "Oh, Yes. We sat there & wrapped the baby up & listened to it cry."
Question: "Then I suppose they were rushed up to maternity?"
Answer: "yes, they brought a stretcher down & we got her up to the Case room to do the rst of the work."
Question: "Were there any common illnesses than? What seemed to be the most common illness than?"
Answer: "No, well, there was a lot of pneumonia in these days, which are treated today with penicillin & antibiotics which subsides it, but we didn't have these. Accidents were very common."
Question: "Can you think of any special machines that you would have used when you first started nursing? What about an incubator?"
Answer: "Well, this man. People would probably laugh if they heard this, but this man, Paul Vidito, who was our janitor in the old hospital. We had no incubator in those days, & he made a long box & it was slanted like, and he out glass in the top of it& I think it was a 60 watt bulb stuck in the bottom of it & that's how we'd keep our premature babies, in that."
Question: "Did you have oxygen hooked up to it?"
Answer: "No, But there'd be a way if you needed it, that you could use it. They use wheel around the oxygen tanks, & all had to do was plug it in & turn it on, either by mask or whatever, of course the babies, you would get the tanks to the nursery, wheel them in & you could give oxygen to the babies. You could pipe it in to the box. That was a real old handmade one. It was the first start of an incubator. Now we have incubators, nice big ones with oxygen, all well equipped."
Question: "Do you remember any other instruments that really seemed to stand out? The stretchers, were they always the same?"
Answer: "Yes, they were too bug really but some were smaller."
Question: "What about the Doctors?"
Answer: "The poor Doctors. They were going night & day. When we called them in, they never ever let us down. They were wonderful. They'd always help us & tell us what to do, what would be the best way for the patients sake, they were all very lovely Dr.__________. He was the surgeon, you see."
Question: "Was he the only surgeon?"
Answer: "He was the only surgeon than, yes."
Question: "What floor of the hospital did you like the most?"
Answer: "Oh, maternity. I loved the case room. I loved to watch the mothers, I watched them in labour, I'd take them to the case room & be with them while the babies were being born, & I loved the nursery too. I loved the little babies."
Question: "Did you ever get to go in to the operating room?"
Answer: "Oh, Yes. They'd come & ask me if I'd go in, when there was an emergency or they were short & I would circulate around the hospital. Float they called it."
Question: "And what did you do in there?"
Answer: They'd ask for different things, instruments and so on. Then if there was mother having a section when I was on duty, I'd go in to the O.R. I'd have to watch the baby very closely. Make sure that pink colour came in his face, put drops in it's eyes right away to prevent blindness."
Question: "How many patients would the new hospital hold?"
Answer: "Well. it's suppose to be a 95 bed hospital.'
Question: "It has, what, four floor."
Answer: "Well, if you count from the X-ray Dept. up. Yes it would be four I guess. They also have the lad & the morgue on what they call the ground floor."
Question: "Now I suppose, back than, they didn't have such things as physiotherapists & so on?"
Answer: "No."
Question: "Well, I can't think of any other questions. Is there anything that you can think of that might have happened?"
Answer: One time I was needed very much on the maternity floor & the roads were all blocked & I couldn't get there, but I said if there was a way, I would get there. Then I thought of Herbie Deley & he had his ski-doo & he took me all the way to the hospital, through fields & everything. I've never been so scared in all my life. I was scared to death. First ski-doo ride I've ever had, but I hung on with tears running down my face & the wind was blowing. It was a blizzard, but Herbie got me there safe & sound. I guess you've got to be on your toes & you don't dare say no if there is any way you can get there. One time I was called out & the snowplow had take me in to a house which would be Mrs. Wongs & the snowplow was ahead of us plowing & I Took her in to the hospital. We were only there ½ hour before her baby was born. I've had an awful lot of experiences. Then there were some cases that were sad & would make you cry but I'd keep up. These are some of the things you have to expect when you chose a nursing career.
8
Family Remembrances:Demille Dakin remembered visiting his mother's family, Thomas and Katherine Ross, in Rossway, when he was
just a little fellow wearing short pants and a bloused shirt. Grandmother Ross had chickens. Demille wanted to
take his mother a present. He put a little "chickie" in his blouse; sadly the chick didn't survive the trip down the
Neck to Centreville.
As a young man, Demille began dental college on the French shore. His two brothers, twins Tom and Charlie,
slept in the same bed and died of tuberculosis the same year. Their mother was devastated by this double loss, so
Demille quit college. He came back to live at home and worked in the fish plant. He drank quarts of cod liver oil
and always felt that this had saved him from the disease that took his brothers.
The Sandy Cove Store, owned and operated by Demille Dakin, used to be a Morehouse store. It was a general
store and sold or bartered, among other things, yard goods, flour, nails, food, barrels of apples, pencils, candy and
cookies. Phyllis remembers, as a small child, noticing the location of the items important to her; the tin of loose
cookies was located to the left of the door, and above it candy such as lollipops and barley candy.
Demille had a very kind heart. While some people, like the Cartys, bartered eggs for other goods, Demille
supplied others, less fortunate, with basic needs like flour. One recipient of his generosity was a lady so old that
she frightened Phyllis. Her name was Adeline Griffith and she lived in a rickety old house beside the store. She
was very grateful and loved "Demilley", as she called him. Another person Demille helped out was George
"Coll", who lived with his little dog in a tiny house near the Bay of Fundy. People could hear him mixing his
flour for pancakes, which he cooked on his cast iron stove and saying, "No little dog. You cannae eat it." George
was very fond of the little dog and wouldn't let him eat the pancakes if they were too hot. Demille also had a soft
spot for children. Nora Saunders remembers going to his house where he was having a nap after lunch and
saying, "Please, Mr. Demille, I need to buy a pencil". He went down and opened the store just for her so she
could buy a single pencil for school that afternoon. It cost one cent.
Some people might say that because of his generosity Demille wasn't much of a businessman, but he was nobody's
fool. In 1911 he and his brother-in-law, Guy Morehouse, jointly had the mail contract for Digby Neck. They
worked it out so that Demille voted Tory and Guy voted Liberal; this way no matter which party was in power
they were assured of the contract.
While he was a natural storekeeper, Demille wasn't much of a farmer. In 1910, the Rosses, his mother's family,
gave Demille and Norma a Jersey cow in honour of the birth of their first child, Thornton. Dr. Rice, who lived
one house away, and Demille got up a "pig competition" to see who could raise the largest pig. No one
remembers which man won, but the pigs undoubtedly lost either way. Demille's pig was so fat it couldn't walk.
Norma accused him of feeding his pig pure Jersey cream. The cow fared better. She had a good long life;
Thornton remembered having the chore of bringing in the cow from the pasture up the hill, by the McKay's house.
In 1914 Demille's new house was completed and the family moved in. The house was built by the Spates from
Weymouth and was the first house with electricity in the Cove. Next door was Reg and Gwennie Sypher's house,
Demille and Norma's friends, then Dr. Rice's house and then Demille's store.
In 1920 the family moved to Digby where Demille and Guy Morehouse, Norma's brother, built the Universal
Garage. Their dealership had the franchise for Fords and Buick-MacLaughlin cars. Their competitor was Carl
Eldridge. They were ruined when the garage was destroyed by fire just after they had received a new shipment of
cars, but before Guy had had time to take out insurance on them. Demille moved the family to Massachusetts
shortly after the disaster. Norma always suspected that the fire had been set on purpose.
Phyllis remembers a ride with her father in one of the Fords. She and her sister Florence were sitting in the back
of the car with the top down. As Demille was driving down Church Hill in Sandy Cove, the brakes failed.
Florence and Phyllis, with assorted tools, tire irons and jacks, went flying into the air as the car left the road and
came bouncing to a stop in a field. Fortunately the girls and the tools landed safely back in the car.
Going for a drive with their mother, Norma, was exciting, too. The girls wore white pique dresses with eyelet
edging to visit their mother's relatives in Little River. Norma enjoyed driving but kept an eye out for a convenient
field. She had no problem with forward, but had never mastered reverse gear on the car, so a field was needed for
her to circle around in to get back home.
9
Interview: Olive DimockInterviewer: Melua Pineau
Question: What is your full name?
Answer: My full name is Olive Merle Russell Wheatley Dimock
Question: What is your date of birth?
Answer: January 20
Question: What year were you born?
Answer: 1917
Question: Where were you born?
Answer: In Aldersville, Lunenburg County, Nova Scotia
Question: Were you born at home or in the hospital?
Answer: I was born at home! There was no hospital except the one in Kentville. It took three days to plow out to see if we were alive. I had a twin brother born that same day and they named him Oliver.
Question: What were your parents' names?
Answer: My mother was Lottie Matilda Meister Russell and my father's was Oscar Elijah Russell.
Question: What did they do for a living?
Answer: My father was a farmer and a woodsman and a cooper (a barrel maker). My mother was a housewife and with fourteen children, she didn't have much time to do anything except clean and cook and sew and look after babies. Mother did, though, always wash and card and spin the wool from the sheep to make socks, sweaters, mitts, caps, etc. for all us kids. I can remember her sitting at the cradle and busy with her knitting. She was a busy mother.
Question: Where were they from?
Answer: They were both from New Ross.
Question: Did you have any brothers or sisters?
Answer: There were fourteen children, eight girls and seven boys. There are five living at the present time.
Question: Where did you live?
Answer: We lived in Aldersville and then when I was about 9, we moved to Scotch Village.
Question: What was the house like? Did you have your own room?
Answer: There was no running water and no electricity or indoor plumbing and each room was sparsely furnished. I didn't have my own room.
Question: Who did you share your room with?
Answer: Different ones of my sisters.
Question: How did you heat your house?
Answer: With wood stoves. There was one in the kitchen and one in the living room with a chimney going up through the bedroom.
Question: Where did you get your wood?
Answer: We had woodland and men cut the wood and hauled it home with ox sleds. They sawed it and split it, let it dry and stored it in the woodshed or cellar. No child came in without carrying at least two sticks of wood so the woodbox was always kept full.
Question: What was a typical supper at your house?
Answer: A typical supper? Homemade baked beans, potato hash, homemade bread and molasses and milk was the typical supper.
Question: What did your family do at Christmas?
Answer: We always had a tree. We hung stockings and wished for a lot of things we never got but always got an orange and candy in your sock. Your main gift would be clothes - always something that your mother made. And for Christmas dinner we had chicken or roast pork. We made decorations for the Christmas tree from coloured paper. The coloured paper was from free wallpaper sample blocks from Eaton's Catalogue Sales. I doubt we had tissue paper in those days. We made paper chains and dolls. We'd consider ourselves very well off if we got new sleds to go coasting or snowshoes and larrigans. These were all made by the men in the family. Larrigans were a sort of moccasin or boot of oiled leather (usually cured moose hide). We wore them with lots of homemade wool socks when we went snow shoeing.
Question: Did you have any family traditions?
Answer: Well we always tried to make something special for our grandmother.
Question: Did you have any special toys?
Answer: No, we didn't but whatever we had we shared with the other kids. We got more games than toys, really. Like, we got checkers and snakes and ladders or maybe a rag doll if your mother had time to make them.
Question: Did you have any pets?
Answer: We had cats and rabbits. Well, it was a farm that we lived on, so there was a barn, so there were dozens of cats. But if there was a special cat; a double-pawed cat or a bob-tailed cat or a really pretty cat, we always managed to get one in the house at least.
Question: Were you responsible for specific chores?
Answer: Oh, yes. We had to help with the dishes, set the table and help make beds. If you were big enough you'd get water from the well and gather eggs at the hen house and various other things like shake the mats and sweep the floors.
Question: Where did you go to school?
Answer: I started school in Aldersville in a one-roomed schoolhouse and then in Scotch Village. I still went to a one-roomed schoolhouse.
Question: Did you play any sports?
Answer: No.
Question: What was the school like? Was it anything like school is today?
Answer: No, it wasn't like schools today. It was one-roomed with a stove in the middle that heated it. A water bucket just inside the door where you could get water. Two people sat together at a desk and we used slates and slate pencils.
Question: How many kids were in a class?
Answer: There weren't many children that went to the school. Maybe 40, between beginners and grade 11. But only one teacher. I liked my teacher, though.
Question: How much homework did you get everyday?
Answer: In the smaller grades, we didn't get homework. By the time you got in grade 5 you had spelling and some arithmetic and English. Sometimes we had to memorize a verse and that was about it.
Question: What did you do everyday after school?
Answer: Some chores that we didn't do in the morning before we left for school.
Question: Did you and your brothers and sisters have many disagreements?
Answer: We had a few disagreements especially with at least 7 or 8 kids living at the house at one time.
Question: What grade of education did you complete?
Answer: I completed right up to grade 11 which was the last grade.
Question: Did you marry? What was his name?
Answer: Yes, to William Wheatley in 1939.
Question: What was your occupation once you were married?
Answer: I was a seamstress.
Question: How many children did you have and what were their names?
Answer: Three…George Douglas Wheatley, Joan Evelyn Wheatley and William Michael Wheatley.
Question: Did all of your children get married and have kids of their own?
Answer: George died in 1952, but Joan married Ronald Donnelly.
Question: How many grandchildren do you have now?
Answer: I have four grandchildren; Kathy Burton; Cheryl Pineau; Ronnie Donnelly, Jr. and Keigan Wheatley.
Question: When did you retire?
Answer: 1992, when I was 75 years old.
Question: When did you move to Digby and why?
Answer: in 1957 because I had a one-year old child and was a widow. So I came down here to leave my children with my sister so I could return to Halifax and work because there was no employment in this area.
Question: Did you have a choice as to where you were going to go?
Answer: No, not really. I had to work to make a living and I had to find someone who would keep the kids.
Question: If you could leave Digby now, would you?
Answer: No, not at this age. I did leave once and came back.
Question: Do you enjoy your community?
Answer: Yes, because it is small and quiet.
Question: Is there something specific about Digby that you like?
Answer: I'm not sure. It's just a comfortable environment to live in and up until this year we haven't had any hurricanes or record-breaking snowstorms.
Question: What sort of things do you enjoy doing now?
Answer: I still do a little sewing and play card games with my grandchildren and my great-grandchildren and I do cryptoquotes from the newspaper and puzzles and bake. Oh…and I also like to entertain my great-grandchildren with tall tales.
Question: Are there any fond memories or funny stories from your childhood that you would like to share?
Answer: There's too many to name. But here's the story of when I moved away from Digby and got married a second time. In 1992, I re-married to Arthur Grant Dimock and moved to Oakville, Ontario. Then we moved to Summerville in Hants County, Nova Scotia. Unfortunately, he passed away in August of 1992 and I moved back to Digby.
10
Interview: Clifford Edward DugasInterviewer: Emily Dugas
February 2004
Question: What is your name?
Answer: Clifford Edward Dugas
Question: When and wherre were you born?
Answer: August 13, 1932, here in Bear River.
Question: So there were nine (9) of you in the family?
Answer: Yes.
Question: What was your job when you were working?
Answer: Utility man for Nova Scotia Power Company (NSPC)
Question: Was the company always a Union?
Answer: No.
Question: No?
Answer: It was supposed to be but it wasn't active.
Question: What effect did it have on the company when it switched to working, on the working conditions when it switched to the Union?
Answer: They just raised the wages a little more, and uhh, I think that it was better in a way and in a way it wasn't. Some ways it improved, other ways it did not!
Question: When you were dressing for the winter, what was the clothes like then compared to what it is now? Like as a child growing up, when you were going to school?
Answer: Oh, we had to wear warm clothes in the winter and light clothes in the summer it depended on the temperatures. Spring and winter different temperatures.
Question: Was there much more snow?
Answer: Oh, it seemed like there was cause today we have snowplows who go open the roads and you can go where you wanna. Years ago if you was going alot of places you wanted snowshoes or you didn't go at all.
Question: What was your first vehicle?
Answer: Uh!
Question: Can you remember?
Answer: 1930 GMC half ton.
Question: Do you have a relative price of how much that was?
Answer: I don't remember what it was then Emily. It was old when I had it. I didn't get it till, what, 1950, I think. I only paid what $425.00 for it
Question: Was it very safe, like, the safety precautions like they take now, today, was it...?
Answer: Yeah, it was just as safe as trucks are today, other than you didn't have to have them expected every year. You had brakes and lights and you know all that. Horn, lights everyone kept them up too. You know if a light burned out you replaced it yourself. You didn't have someone to tell you to do it. You had a cracked windshield you had to go have it fixed yourself. There was know one come along and say "Get that fixed now".
Question: How long have you lived in the area? Have you lived here all your life?
Answer: All my life. Yup!
Question: When you were longer in school, did you like to play sports or did you have a favourite sport you liked to watch?
Answer: No, no I was never a sports fan!
Question: Are there any funny things that happended at your school that you went to?
Answer: Not that I can recall, no.
Question: No? Where did you go to school?
Answer: On the crossroads where Elizabeth Chisholm lives now.
Question: What was a regular meal like on Sundays'?
Answer: Hmmm!
Question: What was a regular meal on Sunday like?
Answer: Well, same as meals are today, roast beef, roast pork, chicken, never turkey,cause turkey wasn't the thing in those days. They was hard to raise around here cause people weren't geared up for them.
Question: What influence did religion have on your life in your family?
Answer: What influence?
Question: Yeah! Like was there any influence that religion did have?
Answer: I suppose they were all like now, somehow or another, somehow you got through it.
Question: Getting back to your work, what did a typical day include?
Answer: Oh my, that was a multitude of jobs. You had to do everything that was asked of you. You could be working on the power lines, pipe lines, plants, dams, roads, canals, river. Hard to say, wherever the boss wanted you, whatever he wanted you to do.
Question: So it would differ from day to day?
Answer: Oh yeah!
Question: Was it very dangerous?
Answer: Sometimes! Looking for downed power lines in the middle of the night wasn't nice.
Question: What was the wage that you would make?
Answer: Depends on what year! Cause they change, the wages would change. Not every year, but every four or five years, I don't know when I first went out to work I got seventy cents ($0.70) an hour.
Question: Did your family approve of working and going out?
Answer: What?
Question: Did your family approve of going out and working?
Answer: Oh yeah!
Question: How old were you when you started?
Answer: I believe I was..., I had my fifteenth birthday working in the woods, when I was the age that I was. That's when I, when I, just kept going from there.
Question: What was your favourite subject in school?
Answer: I don't recall.
Question: What would be one of the earliest memories you can remember?
Answer: Hmmm!
Question: What would be one of the earliest memories you can remember?
Answer: Oh my, (LAUGHTER) I don't have a clue, Emily!! (LAUGHTER) I wouldn't have a clue what it was. I imagine it would be back when I was seven, eight, ten years, going to the Cherry Carnival.
Question: What would it used to be like?
Answer: Hmmm.
Question: What would the Cherry Carnival be like back then?
AnsweR: Same as now, just about!
Question: Would they be bigger?
Answer: Yeah, I would say they was. They was done with horses instead of cars and trucks, and stuff. floats were all pulled with horses when I was a kid.
Question: When grampie was farming what kind of things would he produce? What kind of things would he plant?
Answer: All kinds of vegetables
Question: All the common ones that you would
Answer: Yeah, nothing uhh, nothing like, you know there's alot of things you can't grow. There's alot of stuff you can buy in the stroes now that you couldn't grow here.
Question: Did you have many animals when you were younger?
Answer: No, we used to keep a cow, and an ox, or a cow and a horse. I guess years ago before my time they kept horses. When I was a small boy but I can't remember anything [...inaudible...]
Question: Are there any like, uh, stories you can tell me or anything that really...?
Answer: I can tell you lots of stories but you wouldn't find them interesting in.
Question: Go right ahead!
Answer: No, you wouldn't be interested.
Question: Yes.
Answer: Cause they are not interesting.
Question: It doesn't matter?
Answer: Well, it just the working ones that all.
Question: Yeah.
Answer: When I was, it was just a working life, that's all. It was a working life. We went to work in the morning and came home and worked some more. We went into town and that was about it. I took a trip to Toronto. [...inaudible...]
Question: What did you do in Toronto?
Answer: I was just up there visiting my sister.
Question: Would that be Sharon?
Answer: Yes, I went to Saulte St. Marie to see Irene too.
Question: When you were in school, like, was it a one room school house?
Answer: Yes
Question: What was the discipline like then?
Answer: What?
Question: What was the discipline like?
Answer: Strict! We all done!
Question: Could be, unless there is anything else you would like to tell me? Well like any thing that happened in your life that you can remember?
Answer: Well, I don't know what to say, nothing else to say.
Question: Well what you think isn't important may be important to me.
Answer: [...inaudible...]
Question: Well, your experiences, anything you liked to do when you weren't working?
Answer: I can't do a lot of things but I might make a few handles for picks, shovels , axes, hammers and stuff. Fix some shelves. Sleigh bells, made a few of them! They didn't turn out so much. (LAUGHTER)
Question: Something about when you were younger at the school when the teacher at rescess went sledding?
Answer: Oh yeah! Sometimes, not very often she with the younger kids, she'd get on the toboggan or something and go down across the field. The teachers then, they had quite a few kids. Hard time to get to school lots of times. I've seen the snow deep like it is out there now (holds up his hand to show me how high the snow was) like there were no snowplows. Transportation was the thing for us, it was almost like you were landlocked, you couldn't go know where, you know, or get went where someones team went or you didn't go at all. Then they got truck plows, they used to throw alot of snow off [...inaudible...] if they could get through with the truck and when the drifts were bad they shoveled them by hand. You over over in front of Aunt Tress's house. See where that old Lilac bush is [yeah] they used to have to shovel to get through there and even the teams couldn't get through there. There was a lot more land cleard than there is now. Alot more trees down there then when I was kid. All these fields and the stuff like that, I let it grow up cause I had no use for it. Cost too much to keep it upfor nothing. Because, well I don't know what it cost to produce at least a 100 bales of hay to cut. ...you couldn't use a tractor. You never heard tell of a car around here, in my time, without at least a hundred thousand miles on it, you know, the old,, old automobiles were better jobs. Cornwallis was the thing that built us in this area. See it was all, it was all woods, around here. Digby was just fish, Bear River was [...inaudible...]. The only thing in Bear River for work that I can remember was the Lincoln Pulp Company. They cut pulp wood and hauled it to Maine. There was two mills here in Bear River, one for sawing lumber and one for sawing staves, barrell stavesfor nail kegs. They cut lumber for somebody building a house, timber, people would but it all on a piece of paper and take it to the mill and give it to the boss and he'd tell you so many pieces of 2x4, so many sticks of 2x5, 2x8, or 2x10 or whatever for floor joist and all that, he'd saw the whole thing for you! He always sawed as a rule, he'd saw an order like, say he'd saw an order for a house you, you'd just him what size house you want. He would saw you one stick more of everything. See they don't do that now! If you took an order, say to the Home Hardware, they would take your order and they'd look at your plans, look at the size of your home and they would figure out how many pieces you need of everything and probably all the pieces of lumber you would need.
LAUGHTER from Emily!
11
Interview: Carman FranklandInterviewer: Shawn Oliver
Question: What is your name?
Answer: Carman Frankland
Question: How old are you?
Answer: 81
Question: What did you do for chores as a child?
Answer: I had to carry water in buckets from the well, chop kindling wood, carry the wood in to keep the woodbox full. We had a garden and I helped with planting, hoeing and weeding. I had to milk the cows too.
Question: What did you do in your free time for fun?
Answer: My favourite game would have to been hide and go seek. I played that until grade 5 and 6.
Question: What was your favourite subject in school?
Answer: Reading.
Question: Did you have a lot of homework?
Answer: No, we didn't have work to do, we studied from books though. We studied grammar, math, from our speller and our reader.
Question: What do you like most about Digby?
Answer: Digby is so clean, little, friendly and nice. It had a lot of stores and nice scenery. I like being near the water.
Question: What did you value most in life?
Answer: I valued life, family, everything to do with family and friendship.
Question: What were your favourite memories?
Answer: Growing up in a lovely family and teenage years spent with friends. I was much involved in the church, we had youth group on Friday and prayer meeting on Wednesday. When I was older I remember working at my brother's fish plant when I had days off. I liked being with family. Audrey and I were very close, growing up we did chores together. The family had all pleasant memories. I enjoyed good health and memory over 80 years. I liked my family very much, it was nice and respectable.
Question: Do you remember any funny stories from your childhood?
Answer: We had a chicken that couldn't lay eggs so we put duck eggs under it because the duck wouldn't sit on them. The chicken hatched the eggs and thought they were chickens. When the ducks got older they went to the beach in the water. We had a long driveway and we lived near the beach so the ducks would waddle to the beach and go for a swim. The chicken would follow them and she would go in until the feathers on her legs touched the water and she would run around and cluck if she got wet. When the ducks were done swimming they went home and the chicken was happy then.
Question: What was it like on the farm?
Answer: We had all kinds of animals; cows, ducks, chickens, horses and we made pets of them. The ducks would hold on to your pant legs and would get a ride around the farm. The cats we had were like people, they had the run of the house.
Question: What was your job?
Answer: I spent five years on a fish dragger but I got seasick too easily. My wife got me a job at the lighthouse as an assistant lighthouse keeper. Eventually, I became the main keeper and I was the last keeper before it became automated. I met many tourists while I worked at the lighthouse. I had a guestbook with signatures from all over Europe and I had the signature of one lady from India. I used to take a truck full of clams out of the shell on the boat and drive to East Machias, Maine. I would leave on the early boat. Sometimes I would bring clams in the shell back with me. We used them at the fish plant. I did small jobs there in my free time. I used to clean the freezers, and did small machinery repair. I worked at many other things. I built my house and did all the wiring, under supervision. I lived there on the last of my job as a keeper and have been there for 20 years.
Question: What was Digby like when you were young compared to now?
Answer: I lived 5 or 6 miles out of Digby most of my life. It hasn't grown a lot in size. There was not much for waterfront, there wasn't anything like a marina. Digby has been modernized a lot. We got a mall and new stores. The road to Bayview was dirt and many homes were built. The ferry moved from the wharf downtown to Shore Road. My family had changed a lot too.
Question: Do you remember any major events?
Answer: There was a ship that went ashore that was loaded with certified potato seeds and potatoes. It had to be unloaded to make it light enough to float off shore. People took their cows to the shore and they used their horns to open the crates to get the seeds and potatoes, the cows ate potatoes all day. My father had a boat, "Old Faithful" that he used to get potatoes. He salvaged things from other wrecks too.
12
Interview: Kenneth Eugene GerhardtInterviewer: Shaun Gerhardt, Grade 9
Question: What is your full name?
Answer: Kenneth Eugene Gerhardt
Question: How old are you?
Answer: 51
Question: What is your mother's maiden name?
Answer: Weagle
Question: Where have you lived up to this point in your life?
Answer: I have lived in Liverpool, Halifax, New Minas, Digby, Liverpool a second time, Bridgewater, Bridgetown and Digby a second time.
Question: How are you relationships with your family?
Answer: Good, with the occasional conflict because of different points of view.
Question: What are your religious beliefs?
Answer: Christian
Question: What were some of your favourite pastimes when you were a kid?
Answer: I liked to play cowboys, Hide and Seek, play with toy army soldiers and dinky toys. I also enjoyed biking, baseball, and road hockey. As I got older I enjoyed hanging around at the pool hall, music and girls.
Question: What are some of your values?
Answer: A traditional family, a good enjoyable job, happiness, recreation, hard work, pride of ownership, respect for others, and helpfulness.
Question: What are some of your social patterns?
Answer: Family, days in the work place, member of an organization, attend sports events, recreational vehicle, camping and traveling.
Question: What was your childhood like?
Answer: I grew up an only child in a traditional family that stayed home most of the time. We occasionally visited family. When I was very young I went to a nursery school and played with kids that lived near my home.
Question: Were you involved in the community at all?
Answer: I was in Boy Scouts.
Question: What type of jobs have you had?
Answer: When I was very young, around 8, I delivered milk from door to door by horse and wagon with my uncle. In my teen years, I cleaned automobiles, delivered furniture for a local furniture store, worked at a scale house weighing trucks carrying asphalt, crushed rock, and gravel, pilled lumber at a sawmill, and I played the drums in a rock and roll band. Now I work at the bank.
Question: Of all the jobs you have had which did you stick with the longest and how long did you stick with it?
Answer: I have worked at the bank for 28 years.
Question: Where did you go to school? University?
Answer: I went to school in Liverpool, Liverpool Regional High School and I attended Saint Mary's University in Halifax where I obtained a Bachelor of Commerce degree.
Question: When you went to school did you ever get the strap and if you did how many times?
Answer: I only got the strap once.
Question: Did you like all your teachers going to school?
Answer: Yes, but some more than others. There were none I didn't like.
Question: When did you get your first girlfriend?
Answer: Grade three. Her name was Janet and she was in grade two. I remember a couple of teachers found out and teased me about it. We only ever met at school.
Question: Were you a collector of anything and if so, what did you collect?
Answer: I collected hockey and baseball cards. Canadian coins, airplane tokens out of Jello boxes, bottle-caps of hockey players off bottles of coke, and I once had a dinky toy collection but the garbage man accidentally took it away.
Question: What was the first car you ever owned?
Answer; A 1967 Chevrolet Bel Air, 4 door sedan
Question: What is the favourite car you have ever owned?
Answer: A 1975 Cutless Supreme. It was a 2 door, white in colour with a red interior. It was comfortable, stylish, sporty with swivel bucket seats, and fast. My dad gave it to me when I graduated from University. It was the car I owned when I met my wife.
Question: What is the least favourite car you have ever owned? Why?
Answer: An early 80's Cavalier. It was a cheap, ugly, gutless, and I had a scary accident with it. A dump truck rear ended me on the A Murray Mackay Bridge in Halifax one morning on my way to work. I was not hurt, just shaken up a bit.
Question: What is your biggest accomplishment in life?
Answer: Lasting 28 years at the same job.
Question: When did your family get their first T.V.?
Answer: We got it in the late 50's or early 60's. It had a black and white picture as there was no colour picture TV's at that time and there was only one channel, CBC, to watch. It was a surprise when it arrived as my dad did not tell us ahead of time.
Question: What is your favourite show of all time?
Answer: I have two. I liked Gilligan's Island and the Beverly Hillbillies.
Question: What is the one thing you have most wanted but have never got?
Answer: A motorcycle. In my teen years I wanted a Honda 300 Superhawk. That was a big Honda in those days as a 450 was the biggest. Of course a Honda was not a big as a Harley. My buddy's family operated a local hunting and fishing store and also sold Hondas. I use to hang out there a lot and got to help put the small 50cc scooters away at night.
13
Interview: James GrahamInterviewer: Antony Kelly
I interviewed my Great Uncle Jim
Question: Where were you born?
Answer: Lake Midway
Question: Where did you grow up?
Answer: Ah, Lake Midway
Question: Where do you live now?
Answer: Little River
Question: Where are your parents from?
Answer: From Centreville, Digby County
Question: Did you go to school?
Answer: Yes
Question: Where?
Answer: In Little... ah, in Lake Midway
Question: Did you finish school?
Answer: No
Question: How far did you get?
Answer: Grade nine
Question: How many children were in your family?
Answer: Ten
Question: Were there other family members in the community?
Answer: Yes
Question: How many?
Answer: How many? Ah, probably...ten house. They went to that school
Question: What were your pastimes indoors?
Answer: Indoors, we played a few games. Snakes and Ladders, percheeza, and after we got large enough we played a few cards.
Question: What were your pastimes outdoors?
Answer: We lived near a lake so we swam in the summer and skated in the winter and we had lots of hills for riding with the sleds that most of the time we made ourselves out of barrel staves. When I got older I went hunting and grew a potatoe garden.
Question: Did you go to church as a child?
Answer: Yes
Question: Do you still go to church?
Answer: No
Question: What did your parents do for a living?
Answer: My mother was a full time house keeper of course and my father fished
Question: Did you work?
Answer: Yes, as soon as I was large enough we had to help with the chores and then I went to work in the fish plant and went scallop fishing with my father when I was 17
Question: Did you get married?
Answer: Yes
Question: How old were you when you got married?
Answer: Ah, 27
Question: How old were your parents when they got married?
Answer: I think they were 18
Question: Did you have children?
Answer: Yes, our daughter had two children
Question: Did your children finish school?
Answer: Yes
Question: Did they continue after they were finished?
Answer: Yes, Marty had a college education, had his masters. And Pam teaches school in Horton, Kings County.
Question: How old were they when they got married?
Answer: Um, Pam was 22 or 23. About 23 I think. Marty never married and Pam was 23 I think.
14
Interview: Florence GrimmerInterviewer: Erica Grimmer
Name: Florence Grimmer
Date of Birth: April 26, 1926
Question: What kind of jobs did you have?
Answer: Worked in a grocery store, Imperial Oil, Eaton's, Sears
Question: Where were you born?
Answer: Ashmore (Digby County)
Education:
Question: Where did you go to school?
Answer: I went to Ashmore School; then went to Weymouth for grade 11
Question: What grade did you go until in school?
Answer: I went to school until grade 11
Question: What were your favourite memories about school?
Answer: My favourite memories about school were friends
Family:
Question: How many people were in your family?
Answer: Family consisted of three siblings and two parents
Question: What were your parent's occupations?
Answer: My mother worked at home and my father worked on the highway and had a small farm
Question: What were some of your family traditions?
Answer: One of my family traditions was family getting together at Christmas time.
Spare Time:
Question: What were some of the things you did in your spare time?
Answer: Some of the things we did in our spare time were walking a ways and going skating on an outdoor pond, going sliding, going to picnics on the seashore, playing baseball, and going to a young people's church group (BYPU: Baptist Young PeoplesUnion).
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