Family happenings in Missisquoi county

8/9/2019 Family happenings in Missisquoi county

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By

RUBY LADUKE MOORE

I wish to Dedicate this book to my Mother,

Pruella Bertha Kennedy

1975


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FOREWORD

A foreword should tell the reader something about what to

expect in the book, and then decide if they wish to read it.

It seems easier for me to write in the first person, so perhaps

that is the way 1 shall continue as I attempt to put down on paper

the story of my family who have been connected with the life of

Missisquoi County since the late 1700’s, and up to 1975. For some

time I have had a great longing to tell what I havefound out about

my ancestors. Trying to trace all the twigs on my family tree has

given me many knots, some of which I have not been able to

untangle; but I have decided to put down what! do have before my

memory and my body get any weaker. There will be many

omissions, not intentional, just that I have not been able to find the

necessary information.

My efforts are unskilled but determined and honest. I have

used many sources to gain what information I now have. Unfor

tunately I did not become interested in family and local history until

I joined the Women’s Institute at Fordyce, Que. in 1946. Lady

Tweedsmuir, the wife of our Govemor-General urged W.I.members

to write VillageHistories, and I became very interested in helping to

write the Histonr of Fordyce. Then the Classesin Eastern Townships

History were organized at Community School in Cowansvilleand led

to the re-organization of the Missisquoi Co. Historical Society.

In this little book I have attempted to tellyou about “A Way

of Life” among the pioneer folk; some of my own “Memories,Past

and Present” and short sketches about the areas in which my

parents, grandparents and great-grandparents lived at one time in this

County. The genealogy will not prove very interesting to the casual

reader. This has been done to help my young relatives to trace their

background if they so desire.

ohn Marquand has said: “It is worthwhile for anyone to have

behind him a few generations of honest, hard-workingancestry.”

Charles Dickens: “It is a melancholy truth that even great men

have their poor relations”. . .


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These farmers are using a one-horse power instead of a two—horse

one as some did.


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all Trades” was certainly applicable to the early pioneers. The social

part of their lives naturally was very limited, but they succeeded in

having plenty of fun along with their work. Among the most popular

gatherings of those days were the “bees”, barn raisings, corn

huskings, and an evening of apple~paring. Com-huskings always

proved to be hilarious affairs, as it was the custom whenever a red

ear of corn was found among the yellow ones, that was the signal for

the boys to kiss the girls, we suspect the red ear was rediscovered

quite often. After the corn was all husked the crowd went to the

house for a real feed, consisting of baked beans, pies, cakes,

doughnuts, apple cider, etc. This made a fitting climax to a

successful evenings work. At the “barn raisings” the timbers which

had all been placed in their proper positions by the carpenter, were

raised into place, and pegged securely. A dinner followed this.

The scythe and the sickle gave away to the mower and the

reaper and the flail to the threshing machine. The first powered

machines to thresh and cut wood with, were known as “Horses

Powers”, as they got their power from two horses which were

hitched side by side in an enclosed frame, and they walked on

wooden slats or lags, their heads were raised high, and as they

walked on these lags they turned all the time, something along the

principal of the escalators used to-day, and there was a large wheel

fastened on the side of the horse-power, and a belt run from this

pulley to the saw or threshing-machine. The higher the horses

elevated the more power they supplied. This was a tiring job for

horses, plodding all day long on those moving lags. Smaller ones

were invented to use dogs on, and they supplied power for churning

butter, and turning milk separators. When the gasoline engine and

the steam ones were invented, men felt that nothing more could be

done to make their work easier. These are a far cry from the huge

Combines that move through the grain fields today.

Another cold weather job was the butchering before Christ

mas. Everyone wanted to get their winter’s supply of meat ready.

Sausage, ham and bacon were prepared from the pigs, and a barrel of

salt pork was put in the cellar for spring and summer. The fat was

cooked on the stove in iron kettles, until it became liquid, and was

then strained and put in crocks or pails for cooking purposes, this

was pure Lard. The beef was cut up and when it became frozen

solid, it was packed away in clean cotton bags and buried in the oat

bin, which was a great insulator. Meat packed like this would remain

frozen until March. Tallow was obtained from the beef fat, this was

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made into candles, every housewife had a candle mould, usually this

mould would make a dozen candles at a time. Tallow was also used

for greasing leather boots_to keep them soft. In the spring when the

fish were “running” in Lake Champlain and Pike River, many

farmers drove there, and could use seines in those days, and would

catch a wagon load of fish. Many people salted these in barrels, they

were very tasty, when freshened in milk overnight, and then stuffed

and baked. Meals that our grand-parents and their parents prepared

were very hearty and substantial. They had never heard of calories

and vitamins, many of them kept their own teeth until their death, a

very rare thing today. They had their own wheat for bread,

corn-meal for “ ohnny-Cake” and buckwheat flour for griddle cakes.

One old lady tells of when she was a child, and living with her

grand-parents that on a bitter cold, and stormy day in anuary, her

grandmother said to her, “It is a terrible day out, not fit for a dog to

be out, no one will be coming in to-day I think we had better pick

over some of the dirty wool”. This was a messy job, and just as they

got the floor covered with wool from the sheep, they heard the dog

bark, and looking out they discovered a large sled load of people

driving in. At the door they recognized their neighbor, who shouts

out, “It was too cold to work outside to-day, so thought we would

come and see you”.

Under her breath, Grandma says, “Wouldn’t you know, the

best cook in the country, and me without a thing to eat in the

house”.

They bustled about and cleaned up the wool, and Grandma

says, “I will try and find something in the house for dinner, you

must be half-frozen, set near the stove and warm up”. Out to the

cold room she went, and returned with a slab of head-cheese, some

pork sausage, two mince-pies, some fruit cake and cheese. “Run out

to the barn, Luke, and cut the head off that rooster” she said. By

the time the rooster was on cooking, there were turnips, squash,

cabbage and carrots cooking. Grandma stirred up a batch of “riz”

biscuits, these were split in two, and covered with thick creamy

chicken gravy, and along with some dried-apple sauce for the

sausage, and baked “taters”, we managed to get quite a respectable

dinner on for the company, in spite of Grandma’s lament, “Not a

thing in the house to eat”. . .

Fashions a hundred years ago certainly required a great

amount of material. A lady was not properly dressed without three

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or four petticoats on, they knit their own long woollen hose and

mitts. They wove cloth for skirts and dresses, their skirts were lined

if the material was thin, as were their waists. Nearly everyone had

fur muffs, caps, coats and short jackets to ride in sleighs in winter.

Heavy fur robes in the sleighs helped to keep them warm.

Apple-paring bees were held in the evening, the men would

visit, and the women pare and slice the apples very thin, these were

spread on slatted wooden racks suspended over the kitchen stove,

wire from each corner reaching to a hook in the ceiling to hold them

securely. After many years an apple-paring machine was invented,

the apple was fastened on a pronged fork, and turning the handle of

the machine, a knife pared off the skin, and then cored the apple, so

it only had to be sliced. Dryed apples used to provide a little source

of income for the house-wife, she only received about 5c per lb. for

them. The wood-cutting bees were very common, gave the neighbors

a chance to see each other and visit, and work at the same time.

Sometimes the fun reached a high pitch with the help of the old

brown cider jug. We heard of an amusing incident at one of these

“bees”. One of the men who was very small in stature, but he was

wearing a huge pair of pants made from horne-spun material, he sat

down on a stump to rest, there was a great deal of surplus trouser

seat hanging over the edge of the stump, and a man walked up

behind him, and grasping a handful of trouser-seat cut it off with a

blow from his axe. Needless to tell, he had to leave the bee in a

hurry. The men would go home and do their chores and return with

their wives and families, someone would play the fiddle and

mouth-organ, and a great time was had by all, with square-dancing

and singing old songs. Family gatherings were another pleasant

old-time custom which should be practised more today.

Nearly every farm has a large sugar-bush, and the farmers have

derived a great deal of extra money each spring from sugar-making.

The Indians were the first to learn the art of sugar making from the

maples. The settlers had a very crude process of obtaining sugar, but

as time went on, this improved as other methods did. They at first

made a slash in the tree, and had short logs dug out to form a cavity,

and these were set on the ground to catch the sap. It was boiled

down in large iron kettles hung over open fires. Later on, they

learned to whittle wooden spouts and drive them into the trees, into

holes which they had bored out. Then wooden buckets were made

to hang over these spouts, and these were used for many years

before tin buckets were invented, and tin pans known as evaporators

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’sEarliest Product

anada

Our Sugar—Houseat Pearceton.

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were used to boil away the sap speedily. These could be bought in

various lengths, according to the size needed. To-day the modern

sugar—campis convenient and sanitary. Sap is speedily boiled down

to syrup, which must weight 13 lbs. 2 oz. to the gallon, to meet

standard requirements. In the early days, nearly all the syrup was

boiled down to hard sugar. This job usually fell to the housewife,

and she did this on her kitchen stove. A pan was made to fit the top

of the range, and the sugar was judged hard enough to remove from

the fire, when it was poured over a dish of packed snow, and when

you hit it with a fork it snapped in two. It was then stirred until

quite cool, and poured into moulds made of wood at first, later on,

of tin. These were of different sizes, some weighed 5 lbs., others

only 1 lb. This sugar was packed away in a dry, cool spot, and during

the year many a cake of sugar went to the local grocer in return for

other staples needed. In the early days there was no white sugar as

now, so the women made what was called stirred sugar. It was boiled

down very thick, and stirred constantly while it was cooling, it broke

up into fine grains when cold, and when rolled out, made a very

good light colored sugar, was stored in cotton bags in a dry place.

The amount of syrup obtained from a given number of trees

varied considerably, depending on the soil in which the trees were

located. Low land trees usually produce more sap, but not of such a

good quality as high land. Sap from 2,500 buckets has produced

6,500 lbs. of standard syrup in a season. Syrup prices have been

varied over the years. It was as low as .75c per gallon in 1930, and as

high as $10 per gallon in 1974. The best sugar season calls for sunny

days, with a cool breeze, and frosts at night. The early sugar seasons

lasted much longer than they do now, many times sugar was made

for five or six weeks. Now it seems as if ten days or two weeks is the

longest season we ever get.- The younger generation of farmers do

not seem to enjoy sugar making as their grandfathers did, and many

of the fine maples are being cut down and sold for timber.

Conservation is not practised enough, and in another generation,

there will be a great scarcity of fine old maples. The Eastern

Townships has always been known as the highest sugar producing

section in the world, in 1954 the World Championship in sugar and

syrup was won by a farmer in the Eastern Townships. Unless this

practise of cutting down maples is halted before too long the future

generation will never know the joys of the maple sugar season, or the

fun of raking the colorful leaves that fall in the autumn. We feel

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The type of gathering-tub used by the early farmers. Made of wood.

Have one like this in Missisquoi Museum in Stanbridge East.

This picture taken in 1974 just after fresh wood wasput on the fire

under the evaporator. Note all the black smoke from the stack. The

sugar—houseof the Boomhower Bros. near Beartown

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there is no other tree that can surpass the beauty and usefulness of

the maple, it should be preserved, not destroyed.

Making maple sugar in 1975 is far different from the iron

kettle and flat-bottom evaporator of many years ago. Many farmers

who have a large number of trees, especially in the hilly areas of the

Province are now using the plastic tubing method. First, the holes

are bored in the trees and a pill is inserted in the hole before the

spout is driven in. The purpose of the pill is to keep the sap from

souring when the season gets well advanced. The tubing runs from

the trees to designated gathering tanks, and from there runs directly

to the sugar-house. The old method of boiling the sap was done with

wood, but now, some have gas burners placed under the evaporators,

this method insures an even heat at all times. Years ago when nearly

all farms had a great amount of wood and plenty of help to cut it, it

was more economical to use the wood; but with the price of labor

today it makes it increasingly difficult for the farmer if he does not

have his own labor force.

During the winter of 1975 in the Lake Megantic area of

Quebec, the farmers are being shown how this new system works,

and they are being urged to produce other products than just syrup,

as has been the case for the past twenty years. Some of the products

would include maple butter, soft and hard cake sugar and coarse

grain sugar to be used on cereals, muffins, etc. In the early l920’s

there was very little syrup made. It was nearly all made into cake

sugar, mostly one pound cakes. The pint and quart syrup tins of the

past few years are very convenient. I well remember when one gallon

tins were all that was available.

POTASH

During the past year many young people have asked me how

the pioneers made potash, which was really their only cash crop. The

following description is taken from the “HISTORY OF CHAZY,

N.Y., CLINTON COUNTY, N.Y.” and was written by Mrs. Nell

Barnett Sullivan, published in 1970.

“Our first industry developed from the confrontation of the

first settlers with the wilderness which covered most of the land. The

settlers’ first job was to clear the land, and they soon discovered that

while doing it they could turn a profit from lumber and potash made

from the trees they were so anxious to get rid of.

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During the early period after the Revolution, there was a great

demand for potash in England, where it was used in the cloth

industry to clean wool and in the dyeing process. It was also used at

that time in the manufacture of glass, soap and explosives. As a

result, almost every early settler made “black salts” or crude potash,

which he sold to the asheries, where it was burned in brick kilns at a

high temperature to consume the carbon and produce an ash, of

much purer quality and lighter, bluish white color, known as “pearl

ash”.

The crude ash was made by felling trees, mostly elm and ash,

also maple, to form large heaps. The loggers would choose two of

the largest trees which inclined toward each other and whose tops

would probably touch each other when the trees were felled. If this

arrangement could not be found, the woodsmen forced the trees

together by putting long ash poles to the back of the trees and

springing them when the tree was about ready to fall. The settlers

then cleared the land around in a circle, rolling the trees towards the

original pair and jacking them into a heap. Often the trees were cut

into lengths convenient for moving. The mass, limbs and brush

included, was then fired and reduced to ashes, which were raked into

a pile and covered with elm bark to protect them from the rain. A

sudden heavy shower would leach the ashes before they could be

gathered and cause the total loss of a week’s work. These ashes

could be sold to a commercial ashery, but a farmer made more profit

if he first turned them into “black salts”.

To make “black salts” a leach was made from slives of elm

bark into which the ashes were dumped, and the whole had water

poured over it. The lye thus formed was boiled down in large, open

iron kettles to produce the crude ash. The kettle bottoms were cast

especially thick to withstand the strain of the evaporation of this

lye.

There was considerable difference in the potash values of the

various types of trees. Water elm was felt to be the best, and

evergreens were of no value at all.

The potash had to be taken to Montreal to be sold. It was

transported by sled in the winter which was much easier than

summer travelling. In 1819 the price of a barrel of potash was $5.00.

Between 1843 and 1861 the production of potash from

mineral salts found in mines was developed in Germany, and the

market for potash burned from timber fell off.

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MEMORIES —PAST AND PRESENT

My first memories are of our life at the Butter Factory at

Hawke’s Corners, at the south end of the Stanbury Road, about

1-1/2 miles east of North Stanbridge, or as it is known now, St.

Ignace de Stanbridge, in the County of Missisquoi.

My brothers Alton and Percy went to school sometimes at

Stanbury, and for some time at North Stanbridge. I remember one

year when my brother Gordon was attending school at Pearceton, he

and his chum, Frank Clough, hitched our big old Collie dog to a

small handsled, and he pulled them to school in the winter. He was

rather lazy going in the a.m., but coming home he just flew over the

road as he knew he had a hot supper waiting for him.

The greatest tragedy of our lives came when our brother

Clifton drank sulphuric acid in mistake for cider which my father

had been making that day in the factory. I can still remember how

the white foam poured from his mouth. Mother took him to a

Montreal hospital but they could do nothing for him and sent him

home. He suffered so much, and really starved to death. He wanted

to live to see his birthday; he enjoyed his gifts, and died the next

day, October 30, 1912. I can remember the white horse and the

white hearse that our undertaker, Mr. Morrison from Famham

Centre, used for the funeral. He had a lovely little white casket, and

was buried beside our sister Marion in the Stanbury Cemetery. I

missed him so much as a playmate —he was only nine years old.

I do not remember my only sister, Marion. She had always

been frail (born a “blue” baby) and died before she was ten years

old. A “blue” baby is one born with a defective heart. They slowly

strangle because the blue or used blood from the body is not

directed in the heart and cannot get to the lungs, and the “pink”

blood from the lungs cannot get to the body. The first operation to

save a blue baby was not performed until 1945. The problem is a

hole between the two pumping chambers of the heart. The blue

blood escapes through the hole, and instead of fresh blood, the blue

blood is pumped to the body and the artery to the lungs is blocked.

Now, in 1973, when a child reaches the age of five and is suffering

from this condition, the surgeon performs open heart surgery, which

enables the child to live a normal life.

It seems rather strange to me at the age of sixty-five that I

remember incidents of my early childhood so much better than

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something that happened last year. The morning Lloyd, my young

est brother, was born remains as clear to me as though it only

happened last week. A curly-haired old French Canadian, Fred

Goyette, was working for my father and he came to my room and

said, “I have something to show you downstairs”. I really got into

my clothes in a hurry and rushed down to the parlor-bedroom where

Mother was sleeping with the baby on her arm. Her bright red hair

showed a marked contrast to his black head of hair. That was a very

exciting moment in my life.

Another vivid and frightening memory I have is when our

house and the butter factory burned. Mother and I were out in the

factory when we noticed flames coming through the wooden ceiling.

Mother rushed upstairs but everything was in flames there, and she

had to rush outdoors. The neighbors came as fast as they could, but

very few things were saved. The men carried out the old sideboard

from the kitchen, as Dad had the payroll all made up and put into

the envelopes for the farmers for the next day. He always kept these

in the sideboard. We had a neighbor, Dennis Taylor, who knew

where these envelopes were usually kept, and father always suspect

ed that he took them, as in a very short time he went away for a

long holiday. Payment was always made in cash in those days

(1912), so it was a complete loss which father had to make up to his

patrons. Retribution was slow, but it came for Dennis. He was found

dead in a ditch in Vermont and was buried in a pauper’s grave there.

His was a wasted life; he had received a very good education and was

really a very clever man, but he hated work in any form.

How well I remember all the neighbors and relatives gathering

up clothes for us. They had a kitchen dance and gave Father and

Mother a purse of money. Mrs. Blanchette and her daughter from St.

Ignace were dressmakers. They came and sewed for mother and all

of us kids. We moved in with Grandpa Laduke until Father bought

the Allan Gage farm in Pearceton, and after we moved there, I

started school.

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PIERCETON

Following is copied from County of Missisquoi Directory for 1879.

“A small village in the Parish of St. Ignace, Township of

Stanbridge. Pike River, on the north branch of which it is situated,

affords good water power. Among the first settlers in this vicinity

were members of the Pierce, Briggs and Gage families, the first

settlement being made about 1825. Distance from Stanbridge East

about five miles north. Mails semi-weekly. Population of village and

immediate area about 200.”

Postmaster at that time was ames Briggs. Alva and Sylvester

Corey were listed as sawyers.

There were two saw-mills and a rake factory located here. The

picture shows the type of wooden hay rakes made at this factory.

The man at left is Forrest Laduke.

Moses Gage was one of the early owners of this factory.

Charles ones was the last owner. It burned in 1888.

Robert Burnett, the grandfather of Ruth Laduke ohnson sold

these rakes throughout parts of the Eastern Townships. He would go

out with a wagon load of them and travel until he sold them.

Moses M. Gage, 1831-1872

His wife

Orcelia Burnett, 1838-1904

(Sister of Rob. Burnett)

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Before mentioning a few things about my early school days,

other memories flood my mind about things we enjoyed while living

at the “Factory”, as everyone called it.

We did so love to watch the “red coats”, as we called them,

each year as they went off to summer training camp at Famham,

and sometimes at St. ohns. Each man provided his own horse, and

the uniforms were bright red with red caps. One of these uniforms is

now in the Museum in Stanbridge East — it had been worn by

Leland Martindale. I expect the pay was very small, but it made

something of a holiday for rural men who seldom had any other

holiday.

Pearceton School as I remember it. We are indebted to Lorena

Wright Davitt for this fine picture, both she and her sister Mary

Snyder had taught school here. Looking past the porch you can see

one end of the horse sheds, these were long, and would hold many

horses, as this school was used as a place of worship as well. The

wood shed at the south end had huge hand—hewnbeams in it, and

the boys W.C was in one end The girls had a little more elaborate

“powder-room” which you can see at the end of the shed. I can

remember when this was built, gave us girls quite a status symbol to

have such a modern room to ourselves. The boys, out of jealously I

presume, were always locking us inside our quarters.

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The “pack peddlers” were a joy for the kiddies. I have fond

memories of a very tall, powerfully built man. They were always

ews, and they had a great deal of patience. They would undo their

pack and spread it out on the floor so that we could always enjoy

everything he was carrying. Mother was not too popular with us at

these times as we could not see why she wanted to buy bits of cloth,

needles, pins, etc., when she could have had the choice of such

fabulous pieces of sparkling jewelry as he displayed. I can never

remember that we were ever able to buy any of these treasures, for

the simple reason that we had no money for such folderol, but the

peddler knew how we enjoyed looking at everything and he never

lost patience with us. We believe that many of these men became

quite wealthy in their later years, as they were able to buy stores and

go into business for themselves. Some of these men fell prey to

robbers, and history related that some were murdered and their

bodies never found.

In the summer and fall, many gypsies travelled through the

countryside. They usually wore bright colors with rings on their

fingers, flashing earrings and beads of every hue. Usually two horses

were pulling a large wagon; sometimes it was covered with canvas.

The men were known to be very shrewd horse traders, and many a

farmer who thought he had made a good deal with them found to

his sorrow that the gypsies had come off much better in the

transaction than he had. I remember they always camped on the

M Birthplace

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__....._._....

_rg§IflLl!lx§iiiEii::§IIIHIIIW

1

Our Home at Pearceton —Former Allan Gage Home

Left to Right.‘ Lloyd, Ruby and Marion and Alton Laduke.

Gordon Laduke. Taken at Fac

tory.

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E’ /01 13 Otig-3;‘

H15

« I var ' .~. 1

.:,.‘:s-“ ' >2. :‘ . .- ‘ ‘ "E

..¢n, -‘ .». w. ,. , . /(.

_Topographical Map showing location of Pearceton, Stanbury and

StoneCemeteries.

o marks my birthplace at Hawke’s Corners.

marks Stone Station.

/1. marks Kennedy and Orcutt Farms.

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north side of the Pike River at Bedford in a large field there at the

time of the Fair. Here they did a good business trading horses, selling

baskets, etc. Many of the farmers did not like to have them camping

too near their buildings, as they were known to help themselves to

whatever was available. They enjoyed the life of wandering through

the countryside; hard and steady work did not appeal to them. As I

think of it now, they were the “hippies” of that era. The women

were noted for their fortune-telling. Many a young girl visited these

ladies to see if they could learn something of what the future held in

store for them. I believe there are still certain areas in Europe where

the gypies travel about as they once did here.

When we lived at Hawke’s Corner we did our “trading” at B. S.

Lavoie’s store at North Stanbridge. Today we say we go to do our

shopping, but then the expression was always “do our trading”.

There was a good reason for this. The housewife took her eggs,

maple sugar, beans, vinegar, etc., and traded them for supplies from

the store. I can remember my mother taking a thirty-dozen crate of

eggs to Mr. Lavoie, and he said, “All I can give you today is 8c per

dozen. I have too many eggs.”

This store held a great fascination for my brothers and me. Mr.

Lavoie always gave the boys plugs and little pipes oflic0rice;it was

very easy to trail them when there was snow on the ground, as they

left a black path. I was always given some candy. General stores at

that time were far removed from our supermarkets of today.

Farmers brought in calfskins which were apt to be lying in close

proximity to the cakes of maple sugar. The housewife would

hand-pick beans and as late as 1932 received only 1-1/2c per pound

for them in trade. These same varieties of beans are now 48c per

pound (1973).

Summertime memories bring thoughts of the “banana man”.

He drove a horse on a small express-type wagon, and the huge

bunches of bananas were covered with straw. I remember once in the

haying season our father bought a large bunch, and for once we had

all the bananas that we wanted.

The meat carts were regular weekly visitors. The meat was

hung on hooks around the sides of the covered wagon, and lying on

the bottom. The butcher always gave you a bit of liver — never

charged for such items as kidneys. As late as 1930, the housewife

would buy three pounds of home-made pork sausage for 25c, and a

huge beef heart for the same price.

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My first school-teacher at

Pearceton School, Zina Mary

Addie ones. Picture was taken

October 10th, 1908 when she

was twenty years old.

Charles and Ida ones in their

Gray—Dort, une 1920. Ida

would never ride in front for

fear of the engine exploding.

Home of her father Charles ones and his wife Ida Sargent at

Pearceton. X marks where Post-Office was located for many years. 0

marks Pearceton Cemetery. In its early days it was called “Pierce

ville” named after Mr. Pierce who operated a mill on the banks of

the North Branch of the Pike River. Note the bridge that spans the

river here.

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The large green flies that buzzed around the cart, both inside

and outside, rather dampened one’s spirits, but after a long diet of

salt pork, one’s palate was ready for a change, and we never heard of

anyone being sick after eating this meat. Balanced diets, vitamins

and calories had never been heard of.

While we are on the topic of food, I might mention the custom

among farm people of seeing how many eggs they could eat at

Easter. I remember one Easter Sunday when Harry Goyette’s parents

had gone away for the week—endand Mother invited Harry to have

dinner with us. Dozens and dozens of eggs were eaten; she fried pans

of them. A large blue platter which I can still see in my mind was

piled high with them. A large white ironstone bowl held about three

dozen hardboiled ones. The boys had a real competition at times like

this to see who could eat the most. As I think of it now, I believe

Mother did not have to cook eggs in any form for a few days after

one of these gorging spells.

After we moved to Pearceton we had a sugar bush, and never a

meal without the syrup jug on the table. Our father would put syrup

on his custard pie! We ate grated maple sugar on our porridge and

hot cakes — never heard of anyone in our family suffering from

sugar diabetes, either.

I was able to start school after we moved from the “factory”.

Having had polio when quite young, I had not been able to walk as

far as the boys did to go to school. My first teacher was Zina Mary

Addie ones, only child of Charles and Ida Sargent ones, who lived

near the school. Miss ones was a gifted teacher; could excel in art

and music, in both of which I was a “wash-out”. Other teachers I

remember were Blanch Cooke, who lived on the road from Riceburg

to Bedford, and Minnie Capsey Pharo of Mystic. She was a

wonderful teacher, so patient and understanding with small children

who were frightened their first days at school. Children did not get

very far away from home in those days. I can still see Gladys

Wightman the first day she came to school. She had on a red sweater

and a cream-colored straw hat, and was clutching her lunch pail (a

three-pound red lard pail) with both hands. Her mother said to Mrs.

Pharo, “If she is not a good girl you whip her, and I will giveher one

when she gets home.” With this gruesome prospect in front of her,

Gladys burst into tears, but the teacher gathered her up in her arms

and said, “No one is going to get whipped. You can sit with Ruby if

you like”, and so the tragedy of the first day of school was avoided,

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Some of the gang at Pearceton School.

Back row, left to right: Gladys Wightman, Ruby Laduke, Iola

Veysey.

2nd row: Lloyd Laduke, Ronald ones - our teacher, Georgia

Woodburn, Lloyd Wightman.

Front row: Cyril Gardner, Ruth Veysey, Agnes Wightman, Eva

Veysey and Clair Gardner.

ma

Left to right: Edith Wheeler,our teacher at Pearceton with her sister

Gertrude, sitting on the back bumper of our Gray-Dort. Their

mother standing at the side of the car.

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and it proved to be a sunny one for us all. Mrs. Pharo played the

organ every morning, and we did enjoy our music.

Georgia Woodbum was a pretty young girl teaching on a

permit. She came from Lisgar, Quebec. I had my first train ride with

Georgia. She wanted to go to Famham to buy a hat for Easter. I was

thrilled with the prospect of a train ride, and my brother Gordon

jumped at the chance to drive the teacher to the station, as he was

rather “sweet” on her. We took the train at “Stone” station. What a

train! When I think of the Streamliners today! That old coach

creaked and groaned in all its joints, and the oil lamps in the centre

chandelier swayed back and forth, making one wonder if they were

going to stay upright. This railroad was called the Montreal, Portland

and Boston Railroad and started from Farnham. The little stations

were built about the 1870’s. The first one south of Famham was

called “Durocher” after the farmer who owned the land where the

station was built, and the next one was “Stone”. The foundation of

this station can still be seen just east a short distance from St.

Ignace de Stanbridge. Then came the “Riceburg” station, Stanbridge

East, and the last one at Frelighsburg. Plans had been made to

extend this railroad into Vermont, but it never was built.

Let me get back to my school days. Another of my teachers

was Edith Wheeler, of Venice, Quebec. She, like most of our

teachers, must have been blessed with a great deal of patience to put

up with our nonsense, but I never remember seeing her what we kids

called “fighting mad”. I know she tried to instill in us the desire to

make something of ourselves. I well remember one of her pupils,

when she asked what his aim in life was, saying, “To save my money

so that I can buy a thressing machine and travel around the

country.” You can imagine her disgust at such an answer. My

brother Lloyd and I used to be real happy when we could go with

our father to her home in Venice, as it was a great treat to wade in

Lake Champlain, and to sit on the then lovely beach. At that time

there were but a very few cottages there. Now it is a nightmare of

pollution and dense population.

Rev. M. S. Lehigh, who had been the Methodist minister in

Stanbridge East, left the ministry and came to live near “Beartown”

in the home which is now owned by Howard Wright. He was hired to

teach the Pearceton school, adding his own family of six boys and

girls to the number of pupils. He was a man of higher education than

our usual teachers, and he gave us extra attention along the lines of

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drama. Many entertainments were planned to which the parents

were invited. I well remember a debate ——expect it was the first

one ever held in the old schoolhouse. The topic was “Which is the

Greater Evil, Alcohol or War? ” Gerald Corey and Ruth Laduke

fought on the side of alcohol as being the greater evil, and Donald

Laduke and I told of the horrors of war. I do not imagine that our

performance would have given the members of the McGill Debating

Team any new insight into the method of debating, but we had fun

and it did giveus practice in speaking before the public.

ack Watts, an Ontario boy (and a stepson of our local

Bedford Bank of Montreal manager, Mr. King), taught the school

one year and boarded at our place. He taught Lloyd and I in Grade

8, and when our school closed the first week of May, we attended

the old Academy in Stanbridge East where we had the privilege and

enjoyment of having Mrs. Bertha Fortin as our teacher. I will never

forget her kindness. Never by word or action did she ever make us

feel that we were “countrified pupils”, as we certainly were.

I well remember the day Mrs. Fortin asked us in French to put

away our books and prepare for written French text. We didn’t have

the faintest notion what she was talking about. ack Watts, being

from Ontario and having no French, had taught us Latin instead.

However, we prepared our notebooks as we saw the others do. What

followed was a complete disaster! George Bullard sat behind me and

he was granted the privilege and honor of “correcting” my paper. He

tried to be diplomatic about it, and said there were over ten

mistakes. I never think of George but what I remember that

charitable answer of his. For the balance of the term I memorized

my French dictation, but as you can imagine, that did not help my

pronunciation. Both Lloyd and I managed to pass the Quebec

exams, and no one was more surprised than us at this small miracle.

Every time I go into a modern schoolroom I cannot help but

think of our little old red school at Pearceton which is still standing,

and has been made into a home. This was the second school built in

Pearceton, but I have no idea of the date. I am sure the architect

must have come from a warm climate where they needed high

ceilings for coolness —the ceilings were at least fifteen feet high. If

there was ever any warm spot in that room in the winter it was up

near the ceiling. My brother Gordon built the fires for many years,

receiving the munificent sum of $5.00 per year! He had to supply

his own kindling wood and start the fire at 7:30 a.m. Even then, the

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chill was hardly taken off the frigid interior. I always had a very

severe attack of chilblains in my leg which would last all winter, and

become a sore before spring, until my mother asked the teacher for

permission to let me use a padded stool for my foot. Permission was

granted, and I brought the stool to school and sat like Miss Muffet

the rest of the cold weather. You see, I did not have normal

circulation in my “polio” leg, but how I did hate having to be

different from the other kids.

Sometimes if our teacher boarded close by, while she was

home for lunch the games became so hilarious that the stovepipes

came down, and with the chimney at one end of the room and the

stove at the opposite end, it meant a long string of pipes. However,

everyone pitched in and helped, and they were soon back in place. I

can never remember that we were ever punished for this escapade, as

I think in her own mind the teacher realized we were only being so

rambunctious to keep our blood circulating.

Woe betide the pupil who forgot to empty the water pail

before going home —it would be frozen like a rock in the morning,

and it would be noon before we could loosen the ice and go to the

house next door for a pail of fresh water. Everyone drank from a

common cup, and as there was no cover for the pail, the water was

usually by mid-aftemoon covered with a light film of chalk dust. We

sure thought we were highly modernized when we got a closed

galvanized water tank with a faucet on it.

The schoolhouse at Pearceton also served as a church for many

years, the minister coming from Frelighsburg or Stanbridge East. It

was under the Methodist Charge. Long before my time, so older

people told me, huge crowds would gather there for Salvation Army

meetings. They always liad a good band. In the summertime, Lawn

Socials were held there, and I remember a Sugar Social in the spring.

If a funeral was planned, we had a day off from school.

I remember one day we were taken unawares by Mr. Wescott,

our undertaker, driving into the schoolyard with the hearse. The

teacher had understood that there was to be just a burial service, but

the family wanted a funeral. What a mad scramble! I grabbed the

broom and swept up the ashes and wood dirt around the stove; the

boys tore to the organ cupboard and rolled out the organ; we got the

books off the teacher’s desk and covered it with a black broadcloth

cover which reached the floor on all sides; put the Bible in the center

—and we were ready and open for business! The best part of all was

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that we were allowed to stay. The choir took its place, Dana and

Hattie Gardner, Mrs. Wescott and her son Ari (the undertaker), with

Mrs. Amos Laduke at the organ. The casket sat upon little wooden

trestles near the front of the room. Caskets were always black for

adults and white for children.

A moment of awe and dread came when Mr. Wescott asked if

any of the friends would like to look upon the beloved. We never

dared go, but many felt it their duty to take one last look at the

departed. It was not unusual for the minister to preach a funeral

service lasting one hour. Perhaps if the departed had been able to

hear all the praise heaped upon them, they would not have

recognized themselves. It was more than most of them had received

while living. But enough of these sad episodes in the schoolhouse,

and on to the happier moments.

As you can readily imagine, our social life was rather limited,

and small entertainments provided us with a lot of fun. The

Christmas Tree entertainments were a joy for old and young alike. I

remember one year when Alton was in charge of the programme.

What fun we had making large evergreen wreaths which were

fastened on barrel hoops to keep them round. We made artificial

flowers, berries, etc., to trim them. We strung popcorn and cran

berries for the tree, cut out silver stars from the lead which came

from the tea packages. Tea came loose then in one-half and

one-pound packages; no tea bags in those days. An orange was

always a treat for us to find on the tree. Each of us had small bags

made from white or green netting and these were filled with

popcorn, peanuts and hard candy; and oh, what a treat if we had a

few walnuts in the shell! We never realized that we would be

considered under—privilegedchildren by today’s standards.

Revival meetings were another great crowd-gatherer, not from

any sense of real religious fervor but because it was something to go

to —to see your neighbors and to get what fun you could from it.

At least that is how the youngsters felt, but probably our elders had

different ideas. The music was really lovely at these meetings. We

seemed to have had many people who could sing well. The

Stanbridge congregation used to come out some nights with two

horses pulling the double sleds, and with fifteen or twenty people

gathered under warm robes. I can still hear them singing as the

horses headed for home with the bells ringing out merrily. The poor

horses had been standing under an open shed for about three hours,

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and even though they were covered with wool blankets and fur

robes, they must have been chilled and were only too willing to get

home to their warm barns as soon as possible.

At these revival meetings, we usually had speakers from a

distance, and to a man they were noted for their lengthy sermons.

Men had to keep getting up and refueling the old box stove, or

everyone would have been frozen. Gordon had a peculiar way of

cutting off some of these long-winded orators. He took his pea

shooter with him, and when he began to feel that everyone had

reached the limit of their endurance, he began to shoot peas into the

blackboard in back of the speaker. Usually after a short barrage of

this hard ammunition, he took the hint and brought the meeting to a

close. Of course our Mother knew that Gordon was the culprit, and

he usually received some pretty hard blows once she got him safely

home. They did not make too much of an impression on him, for

the next winter he would be at it again.

Magic Iantem Show! That was a great time for us. Mr.

William Shaw came each year, I think from Stanstead County, but

I’m not sure. It might as well have been Timbuctoo as far as we were

concerned, for we knew nothing of the country beyond a fifty-mile

radius. Gordon and I got free tickets to the show for pasting up the

notices, etc. We had never heard of Public Relations, but we sure

told everyone far and wide about the wonderful show coming to the

schoolhouse. I think Mr. Shaw used carbide in his lantern; the fumes

were really terrific with all the windows closed. Our mother would

be deathly sick but would come right back the second night. Mr.

Shaw put the words of a song on the screen, but said he did not

know the air. Fred Veysey promptly told him if he would open a

window, the air could come in that way.

There never seemed to have been any money for toys from the

store, but we never missed them as we had home-made toys. Our

father made hockey sticks and sleds for the boys. One winter my

father spent many hours making a toboggan. This was quite a long

procedure as he had to soak the lumber in order to get it to bend for

the curve. It was then placed in a vise to hold it in the correct

position. Lloyd and I were quite thrilled the first night we took it

out. The moon was shining brightly, and we went sailing down the

hill at a great rate, but as you know, “Pride goeth before a fall”, and

we crashed into a tree that seemed to have jumped into our path. We

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broke the front of our toboggan but it was mended and we used it

for many years.

I never had a doll from the store. My mother saved the

wrappers from the bars of “Comfort” soap and sent away for dolls

that were printed on cotton. She filled them with dry bran or

sawdust and I loved to play with them as much as though they had

been beauties from Paris.

Of course we enjoyed the animals on the farm, and we always

had a dog and several cats. The latter had to live at the barn, as my

mother did not approve of cats in the house. I have already told you

about my Grandmother Kennedy’s parrot, Polly. One summer we

had a mud turtle. Father put a small hole in the edge of his shell and

we put a wire through that to hold him. We kept a large pan of water

nearby for him to play in, but one morning when we got up we

discovered the wire broken, and he had gone back to the river where

he belonged. In the early 1900’s there were many very large mud

turtles in this area; heard my father tell of one he found while

hoeing corn that was strong enough to hold him standing on its

back.

All farm boys had to work very hard. My brothers, Alton and

Percy were out gathering cream for the factory when they were only

in their early teens. Alton drove a two horse wagon, and Percy a one

horse outfit. I can remember riding with Alton down to the Gilmore

farm at Riceburg. Percy went as far east as the 10th Range of

Dunham road where Amos and Ethel lived.

The hard work continued after moving to the Allan Gage farm

in Pearceton. Hundreds of cords of wood were cut, the boys sawed

down the trees by hand with a cross-cut saw. I can remember the

huge maple trees in a small grove on the west side of our road near

the house, they were two and three feet on the stump, but had

become too old for sap. The best of the logs were drawn to the

saw-mill run by ohn Perry, near the farm now owned by George

Larocque, north of Stanbridge East and were cut into lumber. The

rest went for wood. My father had his own saw rigs, both circular

and drag-saw. The circular was used to cut up the limbs into stove

wood lengths, and the drag cut the large logs into whatever length

was wanted, usually about 16 inches. Perhaps I should explain that

these saws were run by gasoline engine power. The circular saw was

round as its name tells you, perhaps about thirty inches across; the

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drag-saw was about five feet in length and instead of running round,

it moved back and forth, and the operator had to regulate it as he

wished. I have seen Alton split the blocks into smaller pieces nearly

as fast as they came from the machine. These would be hard wood

blocks, such as maple and birch.

I suppose the lack of water in so many of the small brooks and

rivers account for the loss of animal life. Muskrats were more than

plentiful in the north branch of the Pike, which ran through our

land, and the boys trapped many of them. As late as 1920, the water

was deep enough in this river to float to the sawmill near Stanbridge

East hundreds of great logs which my father and brothers had cut.

They were sawed into lumber for our new barn which was built that

summer. This saved a great amount of work in loading and unloading

the logs, and also gave all the boys in the neighborhood an

opportunity to show off their prowess as lumberjacks. Mother put in

a terrible day of worrying, as she was quite positive that someone

would drown. ‘

Lloyd and I spent many happy days fishing in this river. He

and Ronald ones also enjoyed catching large bullfrogs, the legs of

which were keenly enjoyed by Ronald’s mother; we were very

willing that she should have them. When I now see these delicacies

included among the most popular of gourmet foods, my mind goes

back to the time when the boys strung a number of frogs on a piece

of a small limb and hung them in our cellarway to keep them cool.

Mother reached in to get a cloth off the wall and put her hand on

those cold slimy creatures, and how she did shriek!

Trapping was about the only means that farm boys had to get

a bit of spending money. Gordon and Alton chose one of the most

malodorous of all the small animals as the victim in their hunting

expeditions. If I remember correctly, they took a lantern with them,

as skunks would follow a light, and once they got them away from

their holes, they dispatched them quite readily by hitting them over

the head. Sometimes it meant many hours of hard labor if they had

to dig them out of their holes. I can see them coming down the road,

walking single file, carrying a long white birch pole with five or six

skunks hanging from it. Mother would groan when she smelled them

coming — no need to look. The most money was made from

rendering the oil from the skunk, which was done out in the

woodshed. A large black iron kettle was put on the old “Diamond

Rock” stove, and when the fat was all clear, they put it into glass

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Rev. Ernest Manley Taylor, at My teacher at Stanbridge East,

age eighty-four. Knowlton, Que. 1925. Bertha Galbraith Fortin.

Mr. Taylor was the school In

spector in Brome and Missisquoi Counties for many years. He

travelled with horse and sleigh, and top bugy in the summer. He

drove the same black horse for many years. He had a marvellous

memory, and would recognize pupils that he had not seen for years,

and tell them what school they had attended, who their parents

were, and often their grandparents.

»|A\

Stanbridge East Model School, I 909

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Main St., Stanbridge East. The building right front was the “Ameri

can House” Hotel, it burned. Last owner was Homer Yeats. The

large white building was the Bank (now Catholic Church} and the

house adjoining was Gilmour Home (now Presbytery ).

In 1920 there was great excitement around Beartown and vicinity,

when a balloon from Akron, Ohio, landed on the barn roof of Alfred

Richer. I do not believe the two men passengers were injured. A

great crowd gathered to see it.

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many rail fences alongside the roads these served to block the snow,

and to make tremendous drifts.

Another good program which we enjoyed was going to

“Laraway Comer” school-house. They had a splendid Christmas

party always. Some of the dialogues that the adults put on were

really original and funny. I can remember seeing Ishmael Corey (a

very large man) soaking his feet in large wooden candy pails, while

his make-believe wife, Ethel Laduke was pouring boiling water with

mustard into these pails and urging him to “soak good, only way to

break up a cold”. He said “It may be good to soak, but Ihad not

planned to be scalded to death”.

Music was one of the most enjoyable parts of rural living. No

radios or televisions. Everyone had to make their own fun, and many

more young people took music lessons then than today. very

neighborhood had their own musician, witl/iout training but ots of

rhythm and sweet voices. Lester Williamswithfiis accordion was the

“Burl Ives” of our vicinity, he had a wonderful voice, it was a joy to

listen to him.

Owing to the pain which I have in my right arm and shoulder

from arthritis I cannot hold a pen to write anymore, so these

memories that I have are going to have to be cut short as I am not

able to think very well sitting at my typewriter, and it takes a long

time to write very much (with my two-finger method).

The first of our family to leave the home farm was my brother

Percy. He went to Lowell, Mass. where he lived with our aunt and

uncle Pratt, and he learned the auto mechanic business, which he

worked at most of his life. Lived in Detroit, Mich. and there our

brother Gordon joined him, and they lived there many years

working in the automobile business. From there they went to

California and never moved from there. They became American

citizens. Percy joined the Navy in the last war, and served several

years overseas. After he retired he and his wife moved to Sebastopol,

Calif. where his wife died in 1963. He lived alone after that, andl

spent many happy months with him there. He died in 1973.

Gordon became a fruit farmer in the Napa Valley, and though

he is now retired they live in Calistoga, Calif. They have two sons

and two grandchildren. Have spent some time in Hawaii when their

son was living there. He and his family are now in Nevada, but their

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son Lloyd lives nearby, is married, and he and his wife Randy live in

Santa Rosa.

Alton was married in 1923 and he and his wife Melvina went

to Detroit, Mich. where my other brothers lived with them. Their

daughter Ilene was born in Detroit. Alton worked as a carpenter

while there. The beautiful Masonic Temple is one of the buildings he

worked on. They returned to Pearceton when Ilene was a baby, and

they took up farming. Their son Clifton was born in 1930. After a

few years they moved to Stanbridge East, and Alton again took up

carpenter work, and became a contractor with several employees.

Melvina went to work at Torrington Shops in Bedford, where she has

been retired from for some time. Alton also retired. They celebrated

their Golden Wedding in 1973. They live near their son and

grand-daughter ohanne, whose two sons give their great-grand

parents lots of joy. Their daughter Ilene and granddaughter anet

live in New Mexico.

Lloyd (the baby of our family) served in the Air Force, before

that he worked in Asbestos for the ohns-Manville Co. He went to

California and returned to marry a Stanbridge East girl, and they

have lived in California since. They have two sons and one daughter,

which you can learn all about in the Laduke Genealogy. In 1974

Lloyd and Frances retired from the restaurant business, and arrived

in Stanbridge East at end of May, and were able to stay until the end

of October when they moved south to Florida where they stayed

until the end of anuary when they started on their return trip to

California.

Our father sold the farm at Pearceton in 1947 and he and my

mother moved to Stanbridge East. Our mother was never very happy

after she left the farm. It was difficult for her to make new friends.

She died in 1949, just a few days after the twins were born to Lloyd

and Frances, she was delighted over this event. Our father went to

live with Alton and Vina, where he died in 1959.

I have left the memories of my own life to the last. Have never

done anything very outstanding, but have had my share of joy and

bitter sorrow.

I lived at home helping on the farm and in the house until I

was married in 1930. My husband, ames Moore lived at Fordyce

Comer, near Cowansville with his uncle Michael Hearne, who had

been a father to him and his twin brother ohn, as their own father

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died shortly before they were born. Their mother and sister

Kathleen brought them from their home in Cowansville to live with

her brother Michael who was a bachelor. I have such happy

memories of “Mike” as everyone called him. A gentle man, with a

sense of humor, who had accepted hard work very early in life as his

father had died when he was very young, and as he was the oldest

boy he became his mothers mainstay throughout her life. For a

bachelor he had a great gift with boys, he was very handy with tools.

He made them sleds, wagons, hockey sticks, etc. Taught them all the

chores that boys on a farm had to learn. Made small axe handles for

them so they could learn to chop. Made scythe snathes, and cut off

scythe blades short enough for them to use. There was lots of hand

mowing on his farm as it was rocky. All the comers of the fields had

to be mown out by hand. Did not leave weeds and brush to grow up.

He loved horses, it was said that at one time he had more

horses than cows. His kindness extended to his animals as well as to

boys.

He once told me that “two boys was pretty good, but three

boys usually meant trouble, and four boys was just too much to

handle”. We know he really did not mean this as all the boys at

Fordyce liked Mike, and always came to see him after they had been

away for many years. He never really had any pleasure in life, as we

think of pleasure today. Never owned an automobile, a radio or ever

travelled. He enjoyed his daily paper, and read it well, and knew

what was going on in the world. He died in the old stone house

where he was born, and which his father had built. He is buried in

the Chapel Comer Cemetery with his parents and brothers.

My husband and I bought a farm in Brome Centre and moved

there in November 1930, where we spent twelve happy but hard

working years on a farm that did not giveus much in return for our

work. The l930’s were tough years, but we were happy, made many

friends. I enjoyed our work in the little church at Brome Centre, and

our Red Cross work during the War years. It was here that I became

interested in Temperance Work with the Young People, and with the

W.C.T.U. later on. I became Provincial President and had the

privilege of visiting other Provinces at Dominion Conventions.

In 1943 we bought the old homestead at Fordyce from my

sister—in-law,Kathleen Moore, and my husband returned to his job as

a printer at Bruck Mills which he had previously held in the 1920’s.

His health started to fail, and he had to leave his work. Wehad the

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old house restored, and enjoyed our life there until 1962 when he

suddenly passed away on September 22nd. In 1951 we made a trip

by train to California and spent three wonderful months there, and

in Oregon, and returned home across Canada. This was the only real

holiday im had ever had, and he enjoyed it immensely.

I flew to California in December 1963, and stayed until April,

returned by plane to Vancouver, and then to Regina where I visited

Ruth Dryden Tabin and family, then on to Moose aw, where I had

a grand time with Alfred and ean Sargent, and Roy Vaughan. He

drove me to Regina to visit the Museum there.

I also visited Oregon twice, was given a grand welcome at the

Sargent and Neville homes, and driven hundreds of miles to visit

lovely Oregon. I especially enjoyed the area around The Dalles, and

the ohn Day River, where the early fur traders under leadership of

Peter Ogden travelled through.

In uly, 1964 I had the barns taken down at the farm in

Fordyce as I was afraid of fire as empty barns were an attraction for

“Weary Willie’s”. I continued working in the Museum at Stanbridge,

and have always been very grateful to Kate Blinn for taking me back

and forth to work. My husband and I became interested in the

Museum when it was at Dunham in the school there. How much we

enjoyed working with Mr. and Mrs. Spencer. He was intensely

interested in obtaining exhibits for the Museum, and did outstanding

work as President of the Historical Society. In 1967 along with

others in this area we organized the first Branch of the United

Empire Loyalist Association in Quebec Province. In 1968 we were

honored with a visit from Sir ohn and Lady ohnson from England.

As I had suffered a heart attack early that year I was not able to

meet them at the Art Centre in Cowansville.

In 1968 I realized that I could no longer carry on with my

work at the Museum, and keep my home. I sold the dear old stone

house built by my husband’s grandfather at Fordyce Corner, to Mrs.

Karinn Sorensen, who works for CBC in Montreal. In September,

Kathleen and I had an auction sale, and we had to part with many of

our old treasurers for lack of a place to keep them.

In November 1968 Beryl Tremblay and I went by train to

California. Stopped off at Sacramento to do some research on her

family; then on to Santa Rosa where we stayed at by brother

Percy’s, also visited Gordon and Rachel at Calistoga, and Lloyd and

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Frances at Santa Rosa. Beryl flew home and I stayed on until May.

The memory of those happy months will always be with me. I also

visited Bea Baumback at Madera and the oyal’s at Danville. All

these wonderful people drove me many miles to see the country.

In May 1969 I moved into an apartment in the old Comell

Moore home, and am still living there in 1975.

I continued to work at the Museum until fall of 1973 whenl

realized that I could not carry on and do justice to the work. I shall

never, I hope, lose interest in this work which has given me so much

pleasure in my life.

Somewhere I read as a challenge for 1975 that we might “Do

something new; do something different; do something extra”. This is

also designated as “International Women’s Year” so I am trying to

get a few extras in. The something new for me was a wonderful

afternoon spent riding through woods and fields with a kind friend

on a ski-doo. I am convinced this is a grand way to enjoy the winter

when properly used.

Church work has always presented a challenge to me, and, in

the past I have enjoyed it so much; but during my years at the

museum I had to neglect it, but now, I hope to participate in a more

active way. At present I am helping with the History of our United

Church here in Stanbridge East as part of our 50th Anniversary

celebration. Our Unified Board is involved in many projects, one of

which is restoring the “Hillside” cemetery here, and I am serving on

that committee. Am on the Board for the “District of Bedford

Association for the Mentally Retarded”. I am intensely interested in

the work of the Association.

As my three score years and ten loom ever closer I have had to

curtail many physical enjoyments, but of one thing I am assured, I

will never become bored with what life has to offer me.

Au Revoir.

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ALL WITHIN OUR FAMILY CIRCLE

FORDYCE

P~\*\’S

NC“

LeDUCADUKE

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$17

the L a me can of Anusm usm ted lm us arm by a n her al dic umst fr an

Inianllltioll officially recordedin ancient heraldic archives. Docunlentlliovl

for the L I Dui ll [nu t OVAnlvsdesign cm he fnund iVlR le tsu Amori li General .

ueraldleArtistsofolddevelopedheirourunique uageo am e un

imi iv id ln l Cal l o f Arms. In the ir I ll lgulgr . the Armsish ie ld) i s IS fol lows:

" D‘| rg. a la oand ede gu .. ch. d 'lmeaufi ' Ir g gami z

, ..'o .

HhenCrlllsllted the AMSdescription is:

" si lver : a :16 dlagona l handchargednl th a s ilver sword ,

..

m 5 .

Abovethe shifld andhelm! i s the crest men is descr ibed ; s:

"an ores. ml. aunat .. t enant oneeoee d 'urg . gurnie d 'or. "

Atranslatlon ol the crest deserlptlon is:

“In an-ored in natural . holding a silver suord. gnld handle."

r-l ly raottos are oelleyed to haveorlglnated as battle cries in medievaltimes.

A no ne w as n ot r ec or de d - lt h t he LA mor e c oa t M A nu s.

lndmdual surnanes orlglnated tor the purpose ovmoresoeeme idehtliicatiovl.

The four primary sources Var second nameswere: oecupatlon, location. father‘ :

nameand personal characterisucs. Thesurnlnl Lanukeapcurs to be chmctermle

i n o ri gi n. and i s bel ieved t o hens socl at ed nu. on Fr ench . neunng . “oneuno

possessed goodleadership.‘ the suupleonentarysheet included with this report

l s des lgned to gm you more information to fur ther your understanding of the

origin uf nll ll es . i li ii lmll t Spe ihll gs of t il ! s ome or iginal s ur nlnl e I 7! I Cnnll lorl

occurrvhce. Dictionaries 0' surnamesindicate probalfle spelling variations.

he mus t pmmineht var ia ti ons of LI Duke Ir e Leduc . Le Duchll a nd Duc he t.

census records avallaale disclose the Inc! there are aopmxlmately 500heads

of households in the uni ted sun: with the o ld and dls tlnguished to Dukename.

in: Unitedstates censusBuruu ast lnatos then aonroxlrnately1.2 persons

per house hold 1:: her ic a today which y s a n I nproll ll ll ll e t ot al o1 loc o people

1n the unl ta d s ta te s c er rylng the La Duh name. Although the f igur e s ee ms

relatively law. it does not signily the manyimportant contributions trlnl individuals

bearing the L aDukenamehue made to h ls to ry .

Noganuloglt al npresenul ion 1: intendedor mul led byms reaor t and l l

doesnot Nansen: individual l ineage or your family tree.


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3) Le 11-1-1837: mariage de LEDUC ean osephet HEM

ROULLE Marie Catherine fils de ean Pierre LEDUC et de

Catherine HOBEN.

4) Le 20-4—l838: mariage »de Quoirin oseph LEDUC et

HEMROULLE Marie Elisabeth fils de ean Pierre LEDUC et

de Catherine HOBEN.

I have heard that several men of our country settled for Canada in

the 19th. century: alas! the oldest of our inhabitants can not

remember their names or their ancestors.

Two men named LEDUC still dwell in our village: LEDUC Roger

and his father ulien LEDUC, Lavaux street 110 WANNE par

Trois-Ponts.

The son told me he has heard of an ancestor: LEDUC in Canada, but

nothing more.

Very helpfully yours.

Le secrétaire communal:

I) In the birth records (1800-1812) it reads:

1) The eleventh year of the French Republic, the 4 “vende

miaire” 1802*, was born at Logbiermé, town of Wanne: ean

oseph Leduc, son of ean Pierre Leduc and eanne Catherine

Hoben of Logbiermé, Wanne.

2) The twelfth year of the French Republic, the 19 “Floréal”

1803 was born at Wanne, Pierre oseph Leduc, son of ean

Pierre Leduc and Catherine Hoben residing at Logbiermé,

Wanne.

3) In 1812, March 2, was born at Wanne, Urbain oseph

Leduc, son of ean Pierre Leduc and Anne Marie Micha

residing at Wanne.

4) In 1812, March 21 was born at Wanne ean Pierre Leduc,

son of ean Pierre Leduc and eanne Catherine Hoben residing

at Wanne.

II) Marriage records:

1) February 2, 1833 were married ean—ServaisLeduc, 27, son

of ean Francois Leduc and Marie Catherine Plumeisher, with

Marette Madeleine.

2) une 3, 1835 was married Pierre oseph Leduc (born 19

Floréal, 1803) son of ean Pierre Leduc and Catherine Hoben.

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3) anuary 11, 1837 were married ean oseph Leduc, son of

ean Pierre Leduc and Catherine Hoben with Marie Catherine

Hemroulle.

4) April 20, 1838 were married Quoirin oseph Leduc, son of

ean Pierre Leduc and Catherine Hoben, with Marie Elisabeth

Hemroulle.

* This refers to a different calendar instituted during the

French Revolution.

4 Vendémiaire : September 26 or 27

19 Floréal : May 9

This was translated by one of our engineers, a Frenchman who was

born in Paris. He verified the dates through the librarian at

Hartford Public Library. That calendar existed for about 12 years,

during the reign of Napoleon.

We believe that Great-grandfather oseph settled near lake

Champlain. He married Clarissa Mandigo on October 3, 1833, and

the Mandigo’s had the first log cabin near where Venice is now

located. He was mentioned in 1837 at Noyan in a Commissioner’s

Court case.

When he left that area we do not know. He was supposed to

have operated a saw-mill on Morpion Creek, between Famham and

Sand Hill Corner, and from there, we believe he moved just west of

Fordyce Corner. It was the first place on the south road off of the

present Highway 40, first road to the left. This is a cul-de-sac now.

People in the district remember the log house on the west side of the

road —it has long ago disappeared but the wild pink roses still grow

there. His name is marked on Walling’s Map of 1864. Here is where

he died very suddenly one day while he and his son Henry were

skidding logs in the woods.

None of the family seems to know anything about how

Great—grandmother got along on the farm after he died. Their

youngest child, onathan (named after her father, onathan Man

digo) was only eleven years old when his father died. I expect the

older boys helped out what they could. She seemed to have lived on

several rented farms in Dunham Township, and at the time of her

death in 1885 was living in a small house at the north end of the

10th range road of Dunham, just a short distance from Famham

Centre.

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Her grandchildren remember that she had a very strong

personality; her way was usually the right way, or so she thought.

Perhaps that is why Great-grandfather left the Catholic Church in

which he had always been a member, and in which he was married

and their first child, William, was baptized. I suspect that she was

one of those people who perhaps did not have a very stable faith of

her own, and was suspicious of other people’s beliefs. Perhaps that is

one of the reasons why we do not know anything about his brothers

and sister; they spoke French, and I expect she did not wish to

communicate. How surprised she would be today if she knew that

her great-grandchildren were not very happy over the fact that they

were unilingual with a name like “Laduke” in a bilingual province

like Quebec, but after all, she is not to blame if we were just too

stupid to learn it ourselves!

I expect Great-grandmother was the one who changed the

spelling of the name “l_educ” to “Laduke”. Anyway, Great-grand

father lies buried beside her in the little Protestant cemetery just a

stone’s throw from Farnham Centre, where the little Methodist

Chapel used to have quite a large congregation; it stood close to the

cemetery. His name is spelled “Laduke” on his monument.

I am going to attempt to follow the lives of these ten children

of oseph and Clarissa —seven sons and three daughters.

Edward, the only child not to marry, died when only thirty

nine. Henry and Clarissa were the only ones who ever got very far

away from Quebec. Great-uncle Henry went to Saskatchewan with

his family in 1912 and died there.

How well I remember our Great-aunt Delia telling us about her

sister Clarissa who, 1-think, went to Kansas. She married a man by

the name of Tryon. Clarissa was a “medium”. We were rather vague

as to what a medium was, but thought it must be something rather

glamorous, as her pictures showed her as a very lovely lady with

most gorgeous clothes (or so we thought). She had beautiful large

dark eyes, which we like to think came from the Mandigo side of the

house. They were of Italian descent. Many of the laduke family had

these eyes, and many a very swarthy complexion —especially our

father.

I have very fond memories of Aunt Delia. She lived near us at

Pearceton, and it was a second home for Lloyd and 1. Nearly every

evening after our lessons were finished, my brother and I went to

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many years. He had a nice brown horse and a top buggy that was

kept covered with a huge white sheet to keep the dust off. He lived

with my Uncle Henry Laduke and Aunt Ella for some time, and

when they went to Lowell to live, he came to live with us at

Pearceton.

He became quite childish in many ways. He took enough

patent medicine to float a boat, and Epsom Salts by the tablespoon

ful. This latter dosage caused some quite hectic moments, since there

was no indoor toilet facilities, and there were some very rushed trips

to meet the deadline, some ending quite disastrously. I seemed to

have been the one always chosen to act on the “clean-up” squad.

He would sleep most of the day, then complain because he

could not sleep about 14 hours a night, so Dr. Mitchell of Bedford

gave my father some soda mints or something along that line, and

said to tell Grandpa they were morphine. It worked like a charm!

He would tell people, ‘‘I would never shut my eyes at night if it

wasn’t for those morphine tablets”.

He always seemed to want people to think he was being badly

abused. One nice sunny day he went outside the gate about ten feet

and put up this huge old black “bumbershoot” (umbrella) and sat

down under a tree. Mr. Brault from laraway’s Corner came along

and thinking he was a tramp, offered him a ride. This rather insulted

Grandpa and he told Mother, “That scoundrel thought I was a

tramp”.

\§

Grandpa Laduke, and two of his Wilfrid Corey, his mother Aunt

granddaughters, Geraldine and Delia, and her brother, onathan

Evelyn Laduke. Laduke.

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EDITH MEDORA:

Born: Nov. 15, 1867. Died: uly, 1870.

CHARLES HENRY:

Born: May 1, 1870. Died: Sept. 2, 1965.

MAUD MARY:

Born: Feb. 21, 1872. Died: May 5, 1916.

PHILO LAFAYETTE:

Born: Sept. 4, 1874. Died: une 25, 1931.

SUSAN AUGUSTA:

Born: Aug. 20, 1876. Died: an. 3, 1953.

ESSIE MAY:

Born: April 20, 1887. Died: Dec. 26, 1932.

Starting with Stanton and his family I will list these brothers and

sisters and their families in chronological order.

3 THIRD GENERATION

STANTON WILLIAM

Son of William and Mary Ellison Laduke.

Born: Aug. 5, 1864.

Died: Sept. 2, 1924.

Married: September to

Myrtie Burnet, daughter of

Robert and Phebe Casey Burnet.

Born: Aug. 21, 1872. Died: Nov., 1960.

Both buried in Pearceton Cemetery.

4_ THEIR CHILDREN

Son —Died in infancy.

RUTH ALENE:

Born: Aug. 10, 1908.

Married: Aug., 1943 to

Charles ohnston, son of

Frank and Amy Tittemore ohnson.

Bom: Sept. 29, 1915.

5 THEIR CHILDREN

GERALD BRUCE:

Born: une 1, 1944.

Married: uly 18, 1970 to

Margaret Mason, daughter of

Murray and Esther Cowhard Mason.

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6.

DAVID CHARLES:

Their son.

Born: Oct. 18, 1971. Live in Montreal.

5.

LINDA

Born: an. 9, 1950.

Married: Aug. 4, 1973 to

Derek Robertson.

Born: May 11, 1952. Live in Montreal.

3

FRANCES ALCESTA:

Daughter of William and Mary Ellison Laduke.

Born: an. 1, 1866.

Died: uly 9, 1941.

Married: an. 18, 1886 to

ames W. Corey, son of

Wilbur Corey and ane Saxe Corey.

Born: Aug. 4, 1848.

Died: uly 18, 1926.

Buried in Pearceton Cemetery.

4 THEIR CHILDREN 3

ETHEL MAY:

Born: May 1, 1889.

Married: Dec. 1, 1915 to

Amos . Iaduke, son of

onathan and Louise Mandigo.

Born: Sept. 25, 1886.

Died: Dec. 12, 1969.

No Children. Buried Pearceton.

4.

ARTHUR STANTON:

Born: Dec. 25, 1891.

Died: Sept. 26, 1938. Never married.

Buried Pearceton.

3

EDITH MEDORA:

Daughter of William and Mary Laduke.

Born: Nov. 15, 1867.

Died: uly, 1870.

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3.

CHARLES HENRY:

Son of William and Mary Laduke.

Born: May 1, 1870.

Died: Sept. 2, 1965.

Married: First to Florence Corey, Nov., 1929.

Born: une 6, 1874.

Died: Feb. 16, 1935. No children.

Both buried in Pearceton Cemetery.

Married: Second to Lizzie Cheney Currier.

Born: March 12, 1885.

3.

MAUD MARY:


Born: Feb. 21, 1872.

Died: May 5, 1916. Never married.

Buried at Pearceton.

3

PHILO LAFAYETTE:

Son of William and Mary Laduke.

Born: Sept. 4, 1874.

Died: une 25, 1931. Never married.

Buried at Pearceton.

3.

SUSAN AUGUSTA:


Born: Aug. 20, 1876.

Died: an. 3, 1953.

Married: May 11, 1899 to

Azro Callaghan of Stanbridge East.

Born: 1864. Died: March, 1941.

One son.

4.

ARNOLD:

Born: April, 1906.

Died: September, 1909.

3.

ESSIE MAY:


Born: April 20, 1887.

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Married: May 24, 1910 to

Fred W. Clough, son of

Pharoah and Alice Clough.

Born: May 31st, 1888.

Died: May 23, 1971. Buried at Pearceton.

4 THEIR CHILDREN

IRENE MAUD:

Born: March 22, 1911.

Died: April 19, 1920.

4.

WILBUR ROYCE:

Born: Sept., 1920.

Married: an. 17, 1948 to

El

Documents

Family happenings in Missisquoi county