Interview #66

Name: George Harding

Sex: Male

Age: 70

Place and date of birth: Conne River, May 21, 1929

Education: None

Religion: Roman Catholic

Occupation: Maintenance

Number of children: 8

Names of children:

Doug Yvonne

Terry Roy

Melvin Alfreda

Owen Doreen

Phone: 538-3803

Place of interview: Bay View Drive (St. Alban's)

Date of interview: April 9, 1999

Interviewers: Carla Collier and Sheri Peters

George Harding was born on May 21, 1929 at Conne River, to Owen and Blanche Harding. His grandparents names were George and Alice. George's father resettled from Little Bay, when he was nine years old. George moved to St. Alban's from Conne River when he was six years old. His mother died when he was five years old. George was raised by George Hoskins from Long Path. He has two sisters named Eileen and Zita.

George did not go to school. He worked in the woods at a sawmill at the age of eight.George worked on a sawmill when he was twenty years old. He made fifty-two dollars per month. The first thing he bought with the money he made was a bike.

George said that Father St. Croix was the priest here when he was growing up. There was a church on the beach in 1935. George said that there were no doctors around and people had to go by steamer or boat to Harbor Breton. The most serious illness back then was TB (tuberculosis). Some home remedies that George recalled were turpentine was used to stick cuts together and epsin salts were used for constipation. Some midwives were Joanne Collier, Cecily Collier, and Eve Collier.

George recalled some special holidays. For Christmas, he said there were dances at a hall and with accordions for entertainment. The men would have a bottle for Christmas cheer. George did not have his first drink until he was twenty-one years old. The only thing that George remembered getting for Christmas was a toothbrush. For Easter, they saved the eggs from all winter and had a feed of eggs Easter morning. There was an Easter dance at the school. For St. Anne's Day, people went to Conne River at six a.m. by boat. They attended Mass and walked through Conne River carrying the statue of St. Anne.

Before roads were constructured, people travelled by boat or walked through foot paths. He said, "You would have to walk on a lot of sticks and slabs because it was muddy." George worked at Camp Boggy as a Crane Operator for twenty-three months when he was thirty-six years old. He also worked at the Tail Race as a crane operator for eleven months.

George said that for getting drinking water, people had to use a pump. For lighting, they used kerosine lamps. George called them "Aladdin Lamps." He said, "It gave great light." To wash clothes, people used a tub and scrubboard.

George said that there was a post office in the past. Steve Andrews was the Post Master. There was also a telegraph office by S.D Collier's house. George said that his family never got a phone until Boggy came here. He also said there was a generator down Path End that gave power. George remembered that the first radio was owned by Jack Walsh. The first radio George had he ordered in a catalogue. It was a second hand one. He had to go to Roti Point to pick it up because the Bay was frozen. This was the sama time he got married.

Goerge recalled that the most work that was around in the past was wood work. When Bowaters left, everyone was on the "dole." He said he cut logs in Conne River. He took over George Hoskins' sawmill when he was fourteen years old. George also worked for twenty years with the parish. He built all the cement curves around the lawn and put the statue and monument on the lawn.

George remembered that some stores were owned by S.D. Collier, George Hoskins, and Mr. Garland. He said, "You could buy work clothes there." George recalled that tobacco had the brand name Bugler and it costed ten cents. A package of ten cigarettes also costed ten cents.

George described the weather as being very cold. He said, "It would be so frosty that trees would split." He recalled that when he was outside once, he had a fire lit and the water in the buckets were frozen.

The only thing George recalled about the tidal wave was that the weddings of Victor Collier and Jack Walsh occurred on that day. George thought that the best thing that happened to Bay D' Espoir was hydro coming. George was a great help in preserving our past.