Interview #14

Name: Abraham King

Sex: Male

Age: 91

Place and date of birth: McCallum, January 15, 1908

Education: Grade four

Religion: Anglican

Occupation:

Number of children: four

Names of children and where they live:

Gerry - Morrisville

Redmond - Morrisville

Mary - Morrisville

Linda - Morrisville

Phone: 882-2655

Place of interview: Morrisville

Date of interview: February 3, 1999

Interviewers: Sheri Peters and Trina King

Abraham was twelve years old, when he first came here, from McCallum, in 1920. He also lived in Great Jervis. My father died in 1919, and my mother brought us to Morrisville. Abraham's sister, Ellesa Kendell, is eighty-nine years old. "I wonder sometimes, why people live so long, because some people don't live half as long as I have. Why should we worry about our age, some people want to live a few more years, but don't get the chance to because they die too young? So I think we shouldn't grumble about our age." Abraham said.

The land he lives on now, was wooden land when he first came here. He and his brother cleared the land and everyone helped build his house. There are about fifty families in Morrisville now. In the 1920's, there were nine families, and a lot of older people.

Abraham spent four years overseas in World War II. He was thirty-three years old, when he went overseas, he was married and had two children. "I was never a cowered." Abraham said. He worked in the forestry, serving on the bark for three years. He worked in sawmills for seventeen years. He also worked on a schooner for six months. "My mother and brother would wonder where I was, because I was always coming and going. I was happy as a lark." Abraham said.

Abraham started working at the age of thirteen. He did a man's job, but got a boys pay. He worked for two or three years cutting wood, before he went overseas. "Wasn't bad in the woods stayed all day and come out when the evening came." Abraham said. During the time of the war, Bowaters came to the bay. They were here for fifteen years, and he worked with them for thirteen years. He also worked on the foundation for the powerhouse in camp boggy. He retired when he was sixty years old. He received a pension from the forestry. When he turned sixty-five, he got an old age pension and has been receiving it ever since.

Abraham went overseas, in the second draft in 1941, there were eighty-five of them that went over from the bay, at the time. "That was a lot of men for this bay. The bay wasn't populated like it is now, you know." Abraham said. The men left here in a boat, and went to St.Pierre and then to Montreal. They left Montreal, and went across to Liver Pool. "Went on that trip, came back safely, that is the main thing. The weather wasn't too bad, good time of year, I guess. I came back in April, was good then you know. I was familiar with the seas and didn't mind the bad seas. Jack Peters, he was over there, I didn't know him very well. But knew his brother Frank, he got married over there and never came back." Abraham said.

In the army, they trained you, to do whatever you had to do. Every weekend you had to work, only a scatter weekend here and there, you would get free, it was tough going. Well, but our country is better for it, anyway.

"The British did not care about Newfoundland, so we hardly got anything. Joey got Newfoundland up a little bit, we got the baby bonus, wages were higher a little back then. People are leaving Newfoundland, because they are forced out of work. I do not think, anybody should have to leave their families, and go to the mainland, to look for work. The only thing Bay d'Espoir ever got was when Hydro came here in 1964 and they can't employ everyone. They also got the fisheries in St. Alban's, and that doesn't look promising." Abraham said.

"I don't like talking about the war, since I came back. I wish, that old Henry fellow never started it. Nevertheless, it was something you had to do, because if you didn't defend your country, what would you have today. We would probably be a lot worse off." Abraham said.

Some home remedy's Abraham mentioned were if you had a cut you would put turpentine on it and after five or six days it would heal up. For the flu you would drink everything off which you get a hold. If you had a bad cough, you use liniment and molasses. You would put the molasses on a spoon and a little bit of liniment, stir it up, and then swallow it. "I still use it today when I get a cough." Abraham said. If you lost your appetite, you would take Cherry Bark. You would seep it out and drink it.

They built the road from Milltown to Morrisvillle in the 1950's. They built it when Bowaters was here.

Abraham recalled his sister Ellesa having the first radio. Roy Kendell had the first TV, and Ron Kendell owned the first vechical, he had a pick up truck.

Abraham lived in Great Jervis for eight years. He got his education at a Roman Catholic school. He spent one day in school in Milltown. They went to McCallum for the winter after his father past away. Abraham joined the work force when he turned thirteen years old.

The tidal wave that hit, never did much destruction in the bay. There was a lot of destruction done around the Burin Peninsula. In Morrisville the waves came in and out for three hours on the level. The bridge in Morrisville got covered by the water. Abraham could hear the water roar as it was coming in. Every half an hour the water came in and out. He recalled that it happened around six o'clock in the evening until eleven o'clock. That is when they got the shock if it. He was only home an hour or so, he had just arrived from Raymond's Point. That was where my sister lived. The house started to shake and everything.

On August 27, 1927, a big gale wind called the August Steel occurred. A lot of men got lost and drowned. There was a lot of destruction around Burin and Lamoline. We only got high winds here in the Bay d'Espoir area.

Many people died back in the 1920's and nobody knew why they died. There were no doctors and no way of getting to a hospital. The nearest hospital was in Grand Bank. If someone was sick, they would have to wait a week to get to a hospital by boat. Sometimes people would die by the time they got there. They had a doctor in Hermitage for years. If you wanted a doctor in the winter, you could get a doctor because the bay would be frozen over.

Growing up as a young boy was hard. There were no roads, there were few motor boats and you had to walk if wanted to go somewhere around the bay. The ponds would freeze over from here to Head of the Bay in the winter time.

Abraham once rowed from Morrisville to the Pushthrough, twenty-five miles, in a dory. Abraham is the oldest person in Morrisville and my sister Clare Domie, is eighty-seven years old. When Abraham first came to Bay d'Espoir, there were six or seven sawmills. "That was big sawmills you know, not like the ones you got around today." Abraham said.

The best thing that ever happened to Bay d'Espoir and for Newfoundland was when we joined Confederation. "Joey put her on the map. That was the best thing that happened when I grew up. Many people don't think about Confederation, but I do because Newfoundland was living very poorly before that." Abraham said "You worked for nothing, fishermen didn't get anything for their fish. When my father was fishing, he got half a cent a pound for the fish. I know the cost of living was low at the time but that was only a small amount too live on if you had a family." The price went from half a cent to one cent, and then crawled up to five cents, today it is only ninety-five cents a pound.

Abraham can remember that March was a long, cold, hungry month. They would build up their supplies in the fall. By the first of March, supplies would be getting low. The coastal boat would not come in until the ice broke up. Some people would go in the country and shoot a caribou, partridges, rabbits, whatever they could get. They would share it with other families.

"I guess all mothers are the same," said Abraham. "My wife and I had four children, she died in 1994, but we all did the same. We always wondered where our children were and what they were doing."

Abraham lived through two wars. He spent seventeen years overseas. He saw many changes especially in Bay d'Espoir.