Interview #1
Name : Luke Marshall
Sex : Male
Age : 91
Place and date of birth : Conne River, September 19, 1907
Education : N/A
Religion : Roman Catholic
Occupation : Trapper, Woodsman and Hydro Steel Worker
Number of children : 6
Names of children and where They Live :
Susie - Morrisville) Victor - Morrisville
Yvonne - St. Alban's Luke Samual- Fortune
Cecil - St. John's Albert - Morrisville
Phone : N/A
Place of interview: St. Alban's (K.M. Homes)
Date of interview: January 6, 1999
Interviewers : Leah Marshall and Pam Organ
Luke Marshall was on born September 19, 1907 in Conne River. He claims to be older than the date given on his birth certificate. Luke says that he is 96 years old, not 91. He thinks a mistake was made on his birth certificate. There are no documents to prove this because many records were destroyed through the passage of time.
Luke was known as a love child; his mother was not married when he was born. She could not afford to raise Luke. Because of this, he was given to Frank MacDonald, a relative of Luke's mother, to raise. Up until the time that Luke discovered his birth father Albert Marshall, he went by the MacDonald surname. Upon meeting his birth father, Luke took the Marshall name. He now goes by the name of Luke MacDonald Marshall.
Some of Luke's buddies were Albert MacDonald, Fred Day, Steve Jeddore, Alex Willcott, Steve John and John Joe Drew. For fun, Luke and Albert would chase girls when they were out walking. They would follow girls in different paths to see where they were going. Sometimes Luke and Albert would jump out of the woods and scare them. Luke and John Joe Drew were famous for knocking people down with sticks. They used to put sticks across paths at night where people walked. It was so dark they could not see the sticks. People would trip up in them every time. Luke is a man with a good sense of humour. Some other fun activities Luke participated in were football and card games such as 120's which he still loves to play.
The most part of Luke's life was taken up by work. For 30 years, he was a well known trapper in Bay d' Espoir. Some of the animals he trapped consisted of foxes, lynx and otters. He recalled how one time he caught a silver tipfox and was payed $700.00 for it. For one lynx, he would get up to $60.00 or more. During the Tidal Wave of 1929, Luke recalled how he caught more foxes that day than he ever did before. Luke would walk to Fox Ridge to do his trapping. It would take him two days of walking with supplies averaging 155 pounds on his back. When he had enough fur to sell, he would walk to St. John's from Mount Sylvester. It took him an average of four days to walk to St. John's. Sometimes he stayed there for Christmas holidays. He would return home by steamer.
From 1964 to 1969, Luke worked with Hydro. He would transport steel rods to the power site. He was paid around $8.00 per hour. He said that around 2000 people worked with Hydro at the time of construction.
Besides Hydro, Luke and his friend Fred Day fished for herring for seven years. They used "bar seines" to catch the herring. They used to get paid $3.00 a barrel and $1.50 a tub (half a barrel). This job started in the spring and ended in June.
Luke also worked in the woods. He recalled a time he cut his arm really bad. In order to stop the bleeding, he applied gum (turpentine) from a tree on the cut. He still has the scar today. "You had to cure your own cuts back then because there was no doctors in the Bay. One used to come from up the coast now and then to treat the ill." To Luke, it seemed like the doctor only came once a year.
During the Second World War, Luke went overseas to Scotland for five years along with thirty-three hundred other Newfoundlanders to work in the sawmills. The lumber was needed to build hospitals, bunkhouses, and other buildings for the war effort. "Work was long and hard. You had no choice. You had to go. If your name was picked, you went." In order to get to Scotland, Luke went by boat to Argentia. He then boarded a train to Port Aux Basques and got on the ferry to Nova Scotia. In Nova Scotia, he boarded a bigger boat, The SS Caribou, that held approximately 2500 passengers. It took about a month to travel to Scotland.
Luke recalled some special events. At Christmas, Luke would attend many dances that
were held at a common house or school. For St. Anne's Day, people would parade from the
church to Sandy Point and back again for ceremonies with the Mission Priests. St. Anne's Day is
still celebrated today. Besides celebrating this event, Luke attended church once a month.