Interview #59
Name: Julian Dollimont
Sex: Male
Age: 73
Place and date of birth: St. Joseph's Cove, July 1, 1926
Education: Grade 6
Religion: Roman Catholic
Occupation: Woodsman
Number of children: 1
Names of children and where they live:
Keith (Alberta)
Phone: 538-3415
Place of interview: St. Joseph's Cove
Date of interview: April 1, 1999
Interviewers: Carla Collier and Kerri-Ann Snook
Julian (Julo) Dollimont was born to Mark and Sarah Dollimont on July 1, 1926. His family consisted of three boys and five girls. They are Julo, Elizabeth, Howard, Evelyn, Margaret, Bridget, Beatrice, and Joseph. His grandparents are Elizabeth and Owen Dollimont and Bill Lambert and Elizabeth Sheppard. His family had a five-bedroom house in St. Joseph's Cove. Julo lived in St. Joseph's Cove all of his life.
Some games that Julo played were football and skating. Some chores he did growing up were cleaning the barn, feeding the animals, and milking the cows. He started doing chores at the age of nine. He also sawed up wood and brought water from the brook before daylight. He brought water about nine to ten times a day in barrels. He also brought water for the cows and sheep.
Julo said that there was a one-room school in St. Joseph's Cove, that was heated by a pot belly stove. He said he really enjoyed school. There were about eight or nine grades all in the one-room school. Some teachers he recalled were Tilly Collier, Stella Snook, Miss Drake, and George LeGrow, which taught Julo in night school. The teachers were really good but they were strict. He said, "You could not talk or do anything wrong without getting the strapper."
Julo said that a church was built in St. Joseph's Cove around 1921. Church was held about once a month. The priest would rotate the communities every week. He remembered that Father St. Croix and Father Hayes said the masses.
Two doctors that Julo recalled were Dr. Rodriguez, who was in St. Alban's, and Dr. Twomey, who was stationed in Harbour Breton. Everyone went to Father Hayes or the midwife if they were sick. The midwives that Julo remembered were Elizabeth Organ and Mary LeRoux. Midwives in those days were just like doctors. They had to deal with whatever came their way in the best way possible with what little they had.
The common diseases back then were TB, mumps, measles, and the itch. Some home remedies used were homemade cough syrup and vicks, turpentine, and liniment. Liniment was used as a lotion on the chest.
Julo recalled that when there was a wedding in the past, everyone was invited. If there was a wedding in St. Joseph's Cove, everyone from St. Joseph's Cove and St.Alban's was invited.
Julo recalled that while the men were away working, the women looked after the gardens in the summer time. They also looked after the animals and chopped up wood for the fire. While doing this, they still had to do their housework, such as knitting and sewing, and raise the children. Julo said he wore moccasins out of cow skins.
Julo said that the prices of food and clothing have changed a great deal from when he was a child. He remembered getting salt beef for ten cents a pound, sugar for two cents a pound, pork for eight cents a pound, and tea for ten cents a pound. He said, "These were the prices when the war was on." His family got their food from Garlands or the co-op store at St. Alban's.
Julo recalled some holidays celebrated in the past. Julo remembered that during the Christmas season, dances were held at people's homes or at the school for twelve consecutive nights. Children received an apple or orange as a Christmas present. On Easter Monday, people went to St. Alban's to the old school for a "time." On St.Anne's Day, people went to Conne River, on a schooner owned by Mick MacDonald, for a dance. After they left Conne River, they went to St. Alban's for a time.
Julo said he did some farming while he was growing up. When he got a little older, he did some trapping. By the age of fifteen, he worked in a sawmill for five cents an hour. If he worked ten hours a day, he got fifty cents a day. The first thing he remembered buying was a suit for fourteen dollars and seventy-five cents. He worked for a month and still did not have enough money to buy the suit. The first time he wore the suit was when he went to Conne River for St.Anne's Day. He said, "On his way back, it started to rain. My brand new suit got soaked and it looked like a bread bag."
Julo stated that before the roads were completed around Bay d'Espoir, people got around by walking. The roads were started in 1957. Julo's family used wood to heat their home and they cooked their food with the wood stove as well. They used kerosene lamps for light. They washed their clothes by using a scrub board and a scrub tub. He said, "It was all done by hand."
Julo recalled that the people of St. Joseph's Cove took their mail to St. Alban's. Around 1968 or 1969, they had a little post office and it was run by Uriel Collier.
Julo remembered some firsts. The first telephone was owned by Jerry Sutton, which was a government telephone. He also recalled that Gordon Long and Zita Dollimont had telephones that were government telephones. Julo's family never had a television when he was growing up but he got his first television in the spring of 1967. The first radio was in the school in 1936. Father St. Croix put the radio in the school.
Julo left home when he was sixteen and went to Glenwood. At age seventeen, he went to Corner Brook and worked with Bowaters for twenty years. After that, he went to White Bay with The Beaver Lumber Company for five years. He also worked in Camp Boggy for three years and in Labrador for a Lumber Company for three years. Julo also fished for some years and he retired after that.
Julo remembered that Leo LeRoux's wife had a store that sold nicknacks and rubber boots for kids. Julo remembered that the weather in the past was really cold and there was much snow. He said, "There is a big change today." Julo said that the best thing that happened to Bay d'Espoir was when Bowaters came and he went to work and made some money.
Julo Dollimont had a lot of information to offer us and he was a great help in preserving the past.