Interview #63

Name: Magdalene Collier

Sex: Female

Age: 70

Place and date of birth: St. Veronica's, October 11, 1928

Education: Grade 8

Occupation: N/A

Religion: Roman Catholic

Number of children: 2

Names of Children and Where they Live:

Levi - St. Alban's

Janice - Ontario

Phone: 538-3606

Place of interview: St. Alban's

Date of interview: April 9, 1999

Interviewers: Kerri-Ann Snook and Pamela Organ

Magdalene was born on October 11, 1928 in St. Veronica's. Her parent's were Albert Organ and Alice Organ (Skinner). Her father's parents are Sam and Susan Organ. Her mother's parents are Eleanor and Andrew Skinner. At the age of twenty-one, in 1949, she left St. Veronica's and moved to St. Alban's. She has been living in St. Alban's for fifty years this coming June. Magdalene had nine sisters and two brothers. Their names are: Susie Allen, Theresa, Mary, Floridalla, Pauline, Veronica, Laura, Marcella, Agnes, Albert and Leo.

Some games' Magdalene would play are: hopscotch, jump rope, Tiddley Winks and chase butterflies. Magdalene went to school in a one room school house. The school was heated with a wood stove. The students would take turns bringing wood to school to light the fire with. The students would wear moccasins on their feet. Some teachers that she remembered are: Stella Snook, Mary Wade, Helena Taylor and Mary Jane Sutton. The first teacher she had was Stella Snook. The church was a small place but it was always filled with people. Father St. Croix and Father Hayes would have mass every three months. Sometimes they would row to St. Alban's for mass. They would leave St. Veronica's at 5:00 a.m. and would arrive at St. Alban's at 8:30 a.m. for mass.

If anyone were to get sick they would go to Father Hayes. She said if anybody wanted their teeth pulled they would also go to Father Hayes. The diseases that were around were T.B., mumps, measles, chicken pox and whooping cough. Some home remedies are: for a bad back, you would steep out some black alders and then drink it, for a sore mouth, you would boil yellow root and then apply it to the infected area, drink molasses and sulfur to get the winter blues out of your body.

Some midwives were: Francis Kearley, Francis Barnes, and Millie Willcott.

While the men were working, the women would have to tend to the children, gardens, animals, housework, and bring water from the brook.

The baby bonus was five dollars a month for each child. Magdalene said everything was cheap but there were no wages. Some prices were: for split peas it was eight cents a pound, tea was thirty-four or forty cents for half pound and bars were three cents.

They would make their own clothing such as socks, sweaters, long johns, mittens and underwear. For Christmas they would have a dinner. She was fourteen years old when she received a thimble, a piece of thread, half an apple, and an orange. That was the last time Santa Clause came to her. Dances were also held in the school at Deep Water Point (Head of Bay) and the school at St. Veronica's. She was fourteen years old before she went to a dance.

Before there were roads in Bay d'Espoir, people would travel by foot or dory. She thinks the roads were built in 1957. Before Hydro came, people would use a woodstove for heat and cooking. They would light their homes with a kerosene lamp, and wash their clothes with a scrub-board and scrub tub. They would also use soap made out of ashes and fat from an animal. They would also use lye to wash their hands, face, and clothes in. She recalled hydro starting in around 1964 or 1965. Before hydro came in they would also use diesel. Ches Cox would collect seven dollars and fifty cents a month from every household for the diesel.

She would have to walk a mile and a half to get to the post office. She recalled Mary Brushett being the post master. She thinks George Collier (William) had the first T.V. and radio. She recalled the first telephone being in the telegraph office. The first tractor went over the Trans Canada Highway on June 26, 1967. Before telephones they would communicate with telegraphs.

At those times, the women would work as either a serving girl or in a store. She went with S.D. Collier as a serving girl at first. Then she worked in his store for two years. She received twenty dollars a month and she worked for twelve to fifteen hours a day. The stores that were around were Sammy D. Colliers, St. Alban's Trade, Hubert Snooks and George Colliers (Gordon's father).

The weather back then was hot and cold. They received a lot of snow in the winter and in the summer time it would be sunshining.

Some disaster that happened in Bay d'Espoir was a fire on Birchy Point. Another disaster that she recalled Garland's Restaurant caught fire. She recalled Gus Hoskins, Johnny, Toosey Howse, and Anne May Hoskins were trapped inside the restaurant. The only one who never made it out was Gus Hoskins. He was burned to death in the blaze.

Magdalene said the best thing that happened to Bay d'Espoir is when Newfoundland joined Confederation. They then received the baby bonus and old age pension. Before Confederation, widow allowance would be $12.00 a month.

Magdalene has been very helpful to us in helping to preserve the community's past.