Intreview # 17

Name: Elizabeth Coombs

Date February 9,1999

Interviewer: Trina King & Sheri Peters

Phone: 882-2118

Place: Head Bay D'Espoir

Sex: Female

Age: 93

Education: Grade 4

Place and date of birth: November 25,1905 Patricks Harbour

Occupation: Housekeeping

Religion: Anglican

No. of children: 5

Names of children and where they live:

(1) Charlie Coombs - deceased

(2) Freeman Coombs - deceased

(3) Hubert Coombs - Stephenville

(4) Ralph Coombs - Head Bay D'Espoir

(5) Helen Coombs - Deceased

Interview of Elizabeth Coombs

Elizabeth was five years old when she move to Bay D'Espoir, she moved from Patricks Harbour. Her mother is from Past Island and her father is from Patrick's Harbour. She also got 12 grandchildren, 19 great grandchildren, 2 great great grandchildren.

There was only one room school for all the children and she would have to carry wood to the school to light the fire. She came out of school at ten years old to help her mother with a small baby.

She was a servant girl for the school. She would have to do things such as, scrubbing and washing. She remembers playing games and having dances in peoples houses on their porches with accordion music playing. Also she had a curfew at 11:30. She attended Sunday school every Sunday and they had church service in the morning and at 3:00 in the evening. The minister she remembers is Rev. Courage in Head Bay D'Espoir. Her husband was the first baby to be christian in the church that use to be behind St. Luke's. Uncle Sam Kearley was in charge of building the church in Head Bay D'Espoir along with the community. The ones that were in charge would get paid but everyone else would be free of charge.

Once she was married she would have to do daily chores. She would clean the whole house and sheer the sheep, carve the wool and spin it on the spinning wheel. Also she would take the care of the kids at the same time. She would be doing all of theses chores while her husband was in the woods. She would knit and sew for a pastime.

On pancake day they would make a lot of pancakes for the kids of the community. On Good Friday you would go to church in the morning and the rest of the day was for rest, for example, Elizabeth wouldn't knit on that whole day but some people probably would.

She would wash clothes with a scrub-board and a tub. They would use sunlight soap. Also she recalls having to wash large blankets. The men went into the woods for the winter and bring the blankets back in the Spring to be washed.

She and her husband grew their own vegetables in their garden such as, carrots, turnip, potatoes, and onions. One year they had twenty-four barrels of potatoes and six barrels of turnips at one time. The vegetables would be stored in a cellar for the winter.

In the winter time they could travel by dog and sled and horse and sled, before there was roads. They would travel to Milltown because they had to get their groceries. There were two stores in Milltown, the Lakes and Stricklands stores. Also there was a store in Head Bay which was called the Roberts. At theses stores they sold beef and pork. Back then a sack of flour would cost you three dollars for one hundred pound and it would last for a month.

Aunt Millie Foote (Willmott) was the mid-wife of Head Bay D'Espoir and she help deliver Elizabeth's son Hubert, which was her first deliver. Also aunt Millie Foote would take care of people that would get sick with home remedies. For aches and pains they would drink tea, salt and liniment. They also had Vicks vapour rub for colds back then. They would learn from their ancestors about the home remedies because there wasn't a doctor or nurse around at one point of their lives. If someone would get really ill they would take a boat out of Hermitage because there was no roads back then.

Hydro was the best thing that happened to Bay D'Espoir because it supplied a lot of jobs for the people. When Hydro first started up there was a hospital located in the same area. When the hospital located in the same area. When the hospital opened there was a doctor there. This hospital was opened to the public in 1966.

During the tidal wave, the tide got higher than usually but didn't do any major damage around the Bay. She recalls her baby being in a cradle when the tidal wave hit. The babies cradle shook like someone was rocking it. She had some kind of fever at this time and the doctor gave her some pills for it. This happened 69 years ago. According to Elizabeth, Marg Marshall had the first truck in Milltown and George Perry had the first phone in Head Bay.

Elizabeth had lived a long and prosperous life. She is still involved in organizations such as the ACW for fifty years.