| Notes |
- Nan says there was a story of damage that was so unintentional that it shouldn't be written unless it was anonymous. Bop not having parents scarred him deeply. It left him vulnerable, always searching, never satisfied right to
the day he died.
Picture a little boy between 3 and 4 with his mother dying, no father-- at that time it was so different. Nowadays so many helps are at our fingertips. They had a Xian background which was very real, and not taken lightly. Th
ey were Presbyterians. Read the Bible and prayed every morning.
This little boy was left in this household of two people in their late 70's. Uncle Jamsey (James Alexander) and Aunt May. (Mary Ellen) Aunt May wasn't married and she was in her early forties. Uncle Jamsey was the same age. T
hey were smitten with the grief of losing two or three family members already. Aunt Lucy died with the flu, and Uncle Jamsey just about died, walked with two canes in his 30's for about a year afterwards.
They tried to discipline he and his sister as they grew up. The sister was three or four years older than him. He regarded her as his mother. He needed her all the time and folowed her around. They were dressed adequately an
d fed, but not anything like your own children. No extras or treats. It was rigourous and for the most part rather cold and unfeeling. (Nan says that with a "Lord firgive me kind of attitude). She picks that up from what Ear
l says.
Uncle Jamsey would get the kids something at Xmas. Cut back at the meals. Too much butter or sugar or something.
When he was a teenager, they didn't know which way to turn, no idea. (the aunt and uncle)
Aunt Bea was sent off to shool and got a year at Lorne Park College in Toronto. She learned a lot about common courtesies and dressing and speaking, and stuff. The Wilsons were known for their respectability and refinement. Th
ey tried to raise bop and Bea in that way,
The Abrams were mourning, the woman died at home, Jane, and she brought the family to Uncle Jamseys when the dad died, and so when she died at home, the kids just stayed there.
It may have been a court decision, but in a small community it may have just been done as a convenience. Everyone just knew each other. The Wilsons had more clout than the Abrams. Grandpa Wilson had a BA, so he had a good educa
tion for those days. People came to him for legal advice. Township always involved in township affairs. to do with the laying of the roads. It was remarkable him having that education.
Nan has a picture with both sets of granparents (Both of Earls grandparents and both of Nan's grandparents.) it's at a mill, and they're sitting on logs. It's written on the back.
Didn't get an education. He didn't like School, so he didn't go. If he heard the "chug chug" of the steam engine, he wouldn't be paying any attention to his lessons, he'd be yearning to get out of there and get home. He always
worked at home. Tried to work at other places for a few weeks, but was just wretched.
Married he was 23, couldn't leave Uncle jamsey. Never had, and couldn't. Lived with Nan's parents for 4 years, and this was terrible for both of them. They both felt like bop was a complete failure. Had NO money for weeks on
end. Then nan's dad took sick.
Uncle Jamsey would give him a little money once in a while because he had men working for him. When Earl was about forty he got his feet under him. After Uncle Jamsey died. He started working at the big mines. He hated it bec
ause his dad had been killed in a mine. So poverty stricken, so had to do it.
Married six years before Clair was born. He was named after a cousin of nans.
For the first time in his life he was getting a regular pay check. That meant so much to nan. More than she could ever describe. To try to run a home and be a good wife and supportive and a good mother etc, in such hardship an
d poverty. "God knew all the time."
Hazel's dad gave them some property and they built a cottage and lived there for four years. It was on Sand Lake. Got raw lumber from the mill. No insulation. No furnace, big woodstove in the kitchen. Little box stove in the
living room. Had some help building it. Earl knew so many people who were handy like himself and they'd swap jobs. Uncle Ray may have, neighbor boys helped put the roofing.
It burned down recently in the eighties. Nan has photos.
Nan's grandmother made her wedding dress by candlelight. Elizabeth "Jenny" WIlson.
Moved to little place in April of 42.
Moved to Uncle George Wilson's house in Kinsford Lake on first week of December 45. Nan's sat there in the driveway with Clair and mom-- was an experience: believe me! Reliving it, running in and out doors, hanging clothes, th
ere the apple tree, being a young mother etc.
Left Wilson's house and moved to Verona in Octiber of 54. Rented a house right across from te FM church for 2 months.
Bought a little lot, then a cottage across Brock lake from Sandy Storms (a neighbors name) in 56? moved the cottage across on the ice to the lot and lived there for two years. Wasn't finished at all. Slept in the basement.
In 58 they moved to where I remember. Pine Ridge Drive. It was a muttart Pre-fab house. Package deal. less than 4,000 dollars. Clair sold it later for between $80,000 and $90,000.
The little cottage lot was a two minute walk toward the Southwest of the Muttart house.
Clair bought Clarence Babcock's house for $14,000 in 73 on Deyo's Corners. "It was a steal."
In '76 Bop and Nan swapped with them.
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1914 - 1994 (80 years)
(Age 26 years) 