On Mother's Day I thought back to my Mom and all she did so I saw that a blog post was necessary.
My grandparents were born in the southern part if Britain in a rural area. My grandfather was a farm worker. He went around to farms and was a butcher. If a farmer wanted an animal butchered , my Grandpa was called to do the job. It was not a high paying occupation.
There was a series of recessions in Britain in the early 1900's. A church group in Canada sponsored my grandparents and two children to come to Canada. They were set up in a house and expected to make a living with a market garden.
My mother was born after they came to Canada. Mom dropped out of school at the end of gr nine. She got a part time job baby sitting and house work. The family she worked for were very good to her.
Mom met my Dad about 1937 and they were married in Feb 1938. They Took the train to the small farm. Friends picked them up from the train station. Dad went over to the shack and started fires in the stoves. The next day they moved into the house with a few meagre belongings.
Dad had a small farm which had very dilapidated house. The house was cold and small with no conveniences. Water was hauled by pail from a well. The house was heated by wood. There was no electricity. There was not enough income from the farm to make a living. The odd job got them enough to live on.
Mom had not lived on a farm so she had to quickly learn some farming. She milked cows when Dad was busy with field work. She learned to drive horses as they had no car. She did not like staying alone and fortunately that seldom happened.
Mom had four babies by 1944 in this small house. It was bedlam in the small house with four kids. Three of us slept in one bed. One of us had epilepsy. We took our clothes out to the big room and dressed buy the heater.
By 1948 they were able to build a house so conditions were better. They were still missing some conveniences but the house was much warmer and had some conveniences. There was more space for kids and did I say it was warmer!
As little kids were very active so there was lots of noise in the house
Growing up in the new house was pleasant.
Tragedy happened when her eleven year old daughter passed away.
Things moved quickly some kids moved out and other started farming. Their farming was much more lucrative from the forties to seventies.
They retired in the early seventies. In 1973 Mom passed away from Cancer They enjoyed about three years of retirement.
In spite of all the hardships Mom was cheerful and loving. She looked after us as best she could. Everyone else lived with the same hardships so we didn't know any different.
No comments:
Post a Comment