Interview #13

Name: Harold Skinner

Sex: Male

Age: 81

Place and date of birth: New Harbour April 16, 1917

Education: Grade four

Religion: Anglican

Occupation: Fisherman

Number of children: 17

Names of children and where they live:

Pearl - Labrador City Hattie - Head Bay D'Espoir

Peggy - Red Deer Tom - Milltown

Harold - Deceased Delorse - Alberta

Jean - Milltown Steward - Bolton

Shawna - Milltown Mildred - Burgeo

Ralph - Milltown Everett - St. Alban's

Matthew - St. Alban's Gerald - Deceased

Jim - Walbush Betty - Burego

Steven - New Jersey

Phone: 882-2828

Place of interview: Milltown

Date of interview: February 3, 1999

Interviewers: Sheri Peters and Trina King

Harold Skinner was born in Partridge Harbour, on April 16, 1917. When Harold was two years old, he remembered his father arriving home after working on the schooners for forty-five days. He would run and jump into his father's arms. Harold remembered playing a few games for fun such as; tiddley, hide and seek, and card games. At Christmas time, Harold's parents could not give their children what they wanted, because they could not afford to do so. Harold told us about one Christmas. His godmother gave him an apple, orange, and a candy called Charm Rock. He was a very happy boy to receive these items.

He cannot recall having any birthday parties when he was young because his family could not afford it. He does recall a time when he shot two sea gulls. His mother was very happy to have something to serve for Christmas dinner.

When Harold was a young boy, his family ate mostly fish and bread, with nothing to spread on the bread. The only clothes they had to wear were mainly rags and their bed clothes. He shared a bed with his two brothers and they would fight over the same blanket. He remembered wearing knitted mittens and wool socks. "You would have to get the wool from sheep because you couldn't buy it in the stores like you can today." Harold said.

"Women had to work very hard, back in the old days." Harold said. They had to do daily chores such as scrubbing floors on their hands and knees, chop up wood and tend to the children's daily needs. For fertilizer, they would use fish guts in the garden to grow vegetables.

Kerosene lamps were used to light their homes. Wood stoves were also used to heat their homes and for cooking. Women would use a scrub-board and a beef bucket to wash clothes. They would make their own soap by taking cod oil and fat from meat, boil it on a stove, let it harden and then cut it into blocks. For their own personal use they would use sunlight soap.

There was only one teacher from primary to grade eight. "Teachers didn't have the kind of education we have today." Harold said. Every evening after school, he would work in a store weighing fish. He worked there for fifty cents a week. He also worked there during the summer holidays. He remembered going to a dance and buying a meal for ten cents, and a bowl of soup for five cents.

Harold recalled John Kendall having a store and a sawmill in Morrisville. Mr. Garland had a store and sawmill. There were no can foods available back then, but he remembers material things such as robes and fishing hooks. John Kendall always had a case of milk on hand, but would only sell a can to someone if they were really sick.. J.P. Lake and sons started up a store in Milltown. Olive Kendall started up a store in her living room. She sold small items such as candy.

When the tidal wave occurred, a man noticed the water was higher than usually. He recalled he and another fellow sawing wood and thinking the cliff behind them was going to fall on them because of the loud noise they heard. They could feel the earth shaking underneath their feet. Harold cut his hand from being scared. He remembered some houses being washed out to sea, but no damage was done around here.

Emily Crosser was the midwife back then. People said she was just as good as a doctor. She would use a lot of her own home remedies, which were very successful. For example, if someone had a burn, she would put cod oil on the area and wrap it in birch rind. For cuts she would use turpentine, which would heal the wound without leaving a scar. They were only one doctor for the South Coast area that was Dr. Parsons. He lived in Hermitage and would travel once a year to other areas. He would travel to wherever he was needed.

Harold remembered leaving Morrisville in a dory to go to St. Alban's for St. Annes Day. There was a dance in the hall, where the old school was. A fight broke out and Father St. Croix showed up and everyone scattered because they were scared of him, "He was a very strict man." Harold said. Father St. Croix once pulled out eighteen of Harold's teeth without being put to sleep.

When a wedding was held, only immediate family went to the church and for lunch. They would have a house party later in the day. Harold remembered one particular wedding where everyone was dancing and all of a sudden people fell through the floor. They then moved to another house for the party and came back the next day to help repair the floor.

At the age of twelve, he left school, to fish with his father. When he was fifteen, he went to work at Round Counter for three months, three miles from Partridge Harbour. At the age of seventeen he went to Coxes Cove and worked in the woods. After he worked in Coxes Cove, he went to St. Georges to work in the woods. When they worked in the woods, a friend of his George Harris, put snow in his boots to keep his feet warm and it actually worked. He was a foreman in Glenwood for three years. When he turned twenty, he settled in Milltown. He started working with Bloaters in 1948, and continued working with them for fourteen years. He recalled getting paid $178.00 a month. He told us that Bowaters was the best thing that happened to Bay d'Espoir because it employed a lot of people. Tractors came into the bay in 1949, they started building the road in camp one and worked their way up. After Bowaters shut down, Harold started up a small store in 1963 to 1986. After he closed the store, he began building things out of wood to sell until he retired.

Harold told us that Morgan Marshall had the first truck in Milltown. Everest, Ron, and Ralph Kendall came over from Morrisville to Milltown on a tractor for the first time. As you can see from this interview no one had any free time on their hands like we do today.