Interview #76

Name: Victor Marshall

Sex: Male

Age: 64

Place and date of birth: Conne River, December 15, 1934

Education: Grade 5

Religion: Roman Catholic

Occupation: Diesel Mechanic

Number of children: 4

Names of children and where they live:

Leah (St. Alban's) Josephine (Ottawa)

Elizabeth (Alberta) George (Churchill Falls)

Phone: 882-2039

Place of interview: Morrisville

Date of interview: April 21, 1999

Interviewers: Leah Marshall and Trina King

Victor Marshall was born to Luke Marshall, from Conne River, and Josephine Rideout, from Terrenceville, on December 15, 1934. They resided at Conne River and had two children, one boy and one girl. When Victor's mother was twenty-seven years old, she developed TB and passed away. His sister also passed away prior to this. Victor was four years old at the time of his mother's death. When Victor was six years old, his father remarried and settled at Morrisville. Luke and his new wife Hannah Willcott, from Goblin Head, had five children.

Victor said that growing up as child was tough at times. He said, "Food was scarce and there was hardly any clothes to wear. Moccasins was all that I wore on my feet. I had two pairs of them, one for in the woods and the other pair for school. They were cold on your feet during the winter months. We used to drink out of albumin mugs. Half of the time, the mugs would burn your mouth when drinking tea."

For fun, Victor played baseball and card games such as donkey, crazy eights, 500's, 120's, "pushthrough," which was similiar to 120's with a score of 150 and six people playing, and poker, with rocks or matches. He said, "We never had money to play with." Victor also tried to light fires like the Indians did by rubbing sticks together and using white rocks for sparks. He said, "There was not much time for fun or games, we had work to do. When I was seven years old, I went into the woods. Fun time was on your own spare time and we never had much of that."

As a family, Victor's parents took their children trouting and mussel picking around the shores. Every evening at 7:30, the rosary was said. There were also chores that had to be completed. Victor brought wood and water for the household. He brought water in buckets with square hoops on his shoulders for balancing. Not only did Victor bring wood to his parent's house, he also brought wood for John Kendell. He was paid ten cents for every box of wood he filled. The money was used to buy treats for himself.

The house that Victor grew up in was a two-story house with five or six bedrooms. During the winter months, the house was very cold. He said, "It was that cold in the nighttime, you had to put a stick between your teeth to keep them from shivering!"

Victor recalled that church was very important when he was young. He had to go to church every evening either at St. Alban's or Conne River, depending on where the priest was having the service. The priest travelled on the Parish boat. Victor said, "If you did not attend church, the priest would look for you. If he did not punish you then, you would have to answer to your teacher." Victor was not afraid of the priest but he would never speak out in church. The priest made sure everyone kept quiet. Victor recalled one time when he got a couple of words wrong when saying a prayer. Father Hayes took him by the ears and brought him outside the church. Victor said, "Father Hayes noticed every thing. I only got a couple of words mixed up."

Victor attended a one room school at Morrisville. There were sixty or seventy students in the school. Each student took turns bringing splits to light the fire. If someone forgot to bring their firewood, there was no fire. Everyone sat in the cold. One teacher that Victor recalled was Mr. Tapper. He was very strict and, a couple of times, Victor got strapped. The teacher gave Victor and John Kendell a hard time. One time, the teacher strapped Victor and John so hard that they took the strap and hit the teacher.

Some diseases that Victor mentioned were the itch, measles, dypteria, TB, the mumps, and chicken pox. For the itch, Victor ate sulphur and molasses before bedtime. In the morning, he rubbed the mixture over his body. He said, "I did not like the smell of it but it had to be used." The colour was not very pretty. It was bright yellow. For measles, Victor drank sheep manure. For TB, Victor's mother burnt the sulphur mixture in the house to get rid of the germ. For the mumps and chicken pox, there were no cures. The only thing people could do was stay in the house and avoid getting wet or cold.

Victor recalled some holidays celebrated in the past, namely Christmas and St. Anne's Day. Victor enjoyed Christmas very much. He never received many gifts but he loved to attend the dances held during the twelve-day celebration. One year, Victor was given a wooden horse. He kept that gift for the next Christmas because he knew he would not receive a gift the following year. One night, Victor went to someone's house to pick up the soup that they had made for the dance. On the way to the dance, Victor started eating the meat that was in the soup. By the time he arrived at the dance, most of the meat was gone. Victor claimed there was no meat in the soup. He said,"I had a good feast that night." He was never asked to pick up soup after that night. Victor never minded that because it was one less job to do. St. Anne's Day was another big celebration. Everyone attended this holy holiday. All the women wore white dresses and archways were decorated with limbs of spruce trees. Holy communion was every second day and the mission priests came from away.

When dances were held, Victor provided entertainment by playing the comb, the mouth organ, and singing. After Victor learned to play the accordion, he played it at dances as well. Victor learned to play the accordion on his own when he was fifteen years old by listening to the sound of accordion music. He still plays the accordion today and he still loves to entertain.

Victor was twelve years old when he joined the workforce. He started working at John Kendell's sawmill for fifty-two dollars a month. He did not actually get the money. The fifty-two dollars was a credit at the store and provided food for his family. At the age of fifteen, Victor worked in the lumber woods at Glenwood. It took a six or seven day trip to get to Glenwood. Victor travelled for five days on the coastal boat to Port aux Basques. Then, he went on a train for another eighteen hours before reaching Glenwood. His pay depended on the wood that he cut. He said, "If good wood was cut, pay would be three hundred to four hundred dollars. Shortly after this, Victor went herring fishing with his father, Fred Day, and Reg Strickland. The pay averaged one thousand dollars a month. Victor said that collectors came from Harbour Breton to buy the fish. The fish was sold in barrels. A full barrel of fish was sold for three dollars and a half barrel of fish was sold for one dollar and fifty cents. The fish was only allowed to be kept for seven days. If the fish were not sold after seven days, they were no good and had to be wasted. The fish was usually kept in nets until they got word that the collectors were on their way.

In 1960, Victor worked on a dragger for four years. Ross Line was the name of the dragger he worked on. He started as a second engineer but later, he became the chief of the boat. The dragger went on ten to twelve day fishing trips. His pay depended on the amount of fish caught. His average pay was two hundred and fifty dollars plus six dollars a day in wages for being the chief. Victor loved being on the dragger. The food was good and the crew was friendly. Some cooks that he recalled were Ed Bennett, Eli Gaulton, and Bert King. Many times, they got stormbound but it did not bother them. Victor said that even in the 1960's, there were no fish. He did not know why the fishery was not stopped earlier.

In 1964, Victor started working with Hydro. He was the first person to operate the power house in Bay d'Espoir at Path End in Swanger's Cove. Victor also trained workers such as Dave Fever, Ted Hillier, and Lloyd Diamond.

In 1967 or 1968, Victor went to Goose Bay to repair engines that were down. He liked Goose Bay but he found it very cold. Shortly after that, Victor went to work on the road with Hydro as a diesel mechanic. He travelled to every place on the island operated by diesel. At first, he was stationed out of Bay d'Espoir. He was later transferred to Bishop Falls and he worked there until his retirement in January of 1995.

Victor had some interesting stories and he was a great help in preserving the past.