Trains

Sylvie loves trains. She saw a train on a tv show and that was it. Sylvie has a Lego train set that she loves to assemble, making intricate systems of tracks with elevations. She plays 'train' on the floor of her room but sometimes on the floor of the family room where there is much more space to work. 

             Sylvie's Rail Line

Her favourite time to play 'train' is when her one year old sister, Caitlin, is having her afternoon nap. Then Sylvie can play free from the interruptions of 'Caitzilla,' who swoops in like her fantasy namesake and lifts pieces of the construction recklessly out of place only to fling them around the room. You can imagine this doesn't go over too well with Sylvie.

                                           Caitzilla's Destruction

How much of Sylvie's interest in trains is genetic? On my father's side of the family, the Prettys, there was a family of five railway workers, including two engineers and a conductor. My grandfather, Sam, and his brother, Fred, were engineers, while their brother, Cyril, was a conductor. On Rick's side of the family, Joe Lawrence, his great grandfather, was a conductor as well. His great uncle, Jim Lawrence, was a brakeman. 

Meanwhile, in Prince Edward Island today, Sylvie is interested in 'ballerina moves,' (as she calls them), princesses, dresses, tutus and trains. Some would say she's a reincarnation of one of these ancestors. 

I wonder!

Monkeys

Our granddaughter, Sylvie, loves to jump on a bed. Like any child, she loves that bounce you get from the mattress, as you make your way over the surface, getting ever closer to the edge and the danger unseen by a child. Her little sister isn't big enough yet to partake in the ritual jump and bounce, so Sylvie has any mattress to herself these days.

That's not the only danger of the ritual jumping however. When Frank and I were young, we loved to jump on our twin beds, often individually but sometimes, the two of us jumped on the same bed. This was particularly hazardous we discovered one day because as I came down, he was going up next to me. The back of Frank's head and my nose collided with great force. Blood gushed out of my nose for a long time. Eventually, after various attempts to stop the bleeding, Mom and Dad took me to the hospital. There they packed my nose and eventually it stopped bleeding. However, jumping on the bed lost its appeal after that experience.

Today Sylvie knows the children's nursery rhyme No More Monkeys Jumping On The Bed. Except in our case "one got a bloody nose and had to go to the hospital" doesn't quite have the same ring to it.

The Pew

Many of my grandmother O'Brien's sayings have stayed with me my whole life.

One of her common sayings was, "That one/fella would face a pew."

When I was young, I knew it wasn't a good pronouncement about someone. I took it at face value at first and over time surmised that someone was saucy (brazen). You certainly didn't want to be considered saucy enough to face a pew.

As I got older, I couldn't get past the literal "pew." A pew full of people shouldn't be that threatening to face, surely. They were in Church after all. Eventually I asked Nan about it.

I was surprised to learn that a pew is a fish fork. It's a pole with a single long tine on one end, used to hook into the fish in the boat so you could throw them up onto the wharf. Now that was something to face!

In the many years since, every now and then I see some brazen interaction and think 'that one/fella would face a pew.' Nan's words are just second nature I guess. You can take the woman out of Newfoundland but...

Lunch and Coppers

Lunch in most of the western world is the midday meal. When we were growing up in Newfoundland, Rick and I didn't know lunch in that way. One of the things we did know, however, was 'lunch goin' to bed.' This was the fourth meal for many Newfoundlanders, the milk, or tea you had with bread/toast or whatever was available. Mainly it was bread/toast and tea.

In my family when you had a 'little lunch' it was an afternoon snack, as it was at my great grandmother Hearn's house. She always had something for her visitors. Mary Hearn always busied herself getting a little lunch for Mom and me whenever we visited her.

My mother always remembered her the same way when she and her brothers visited Maa Hearn, as they called her. In addition, she always had coppers (pennies) saved for them as well.They always looked forward to their visits after which they went to the shop nearby and bought candies with their coppers.

What is now called lunch was dinner to us. Even today we call the midday meal dinner and need to be very specific of the meal time for our midday meal guests.

In this twenty-first century, our granddaughters have snacks during the day, lunch at noon and they won't know about coppers because they are no longer in circulation. Change!

Sense Memory

During the first two and a half years of my life, my parents and I lived with my grandfather in St. John's, Newfoundland. I have some great memories from that time. One involves playing with my grandfather when he came home from work in the morning after a night shift. I climbed over him, laughed to tickles and jumped on the bed. I loved that time and so did he. The most vivid memory however happened when I was alone in my bedroom.

My grandfather's house had four bedrooms and a huge bathroom on the second floor. My bedroom was in the middle of the second floor, opposite the stairs. It was a narrow room and my crib was at the back near the window. There was a chest of drawers near the crib. I can still picture that room.

I had a cold and was very congested. My mother put a mentholated rub on my chest. (Claire uses the same rub today with Sylvie and Caitlin when they have colds.) When she was finished, Mom put the container on top of the chest of drawers and tucked me in my crib. Curious I guess and able to reach it, I grabbed the jar and opened it somehow. I proceeded to rub it in my eyes, hair, nose and mouth. I distinctly remember the burning sensation, the smell and taste of that stuff. Screaming ensued. Mom cleaned me up but it took some time for the burning in my eyes to stop. Mom swore that I wasn't congested the next morning.

Even today, the smell of that rub brings me back to that night in the crib on Old Topsail Road.

Mary Walsh Stewart

I know very little about my great grandmother Stewart. I know she was born about 1860 and married my great grandfather, Thomas Stewart, in the 1880s. Mary and Thomas had their first daughter Mary, who was called Min by her family, in May 1886. Later that same year she had twin girls, Anne Joseph and Sarah Margaret. They both died. 

In 1889 Mary and Tom had a boy who they named Alexander Francis. I think he died early as well because there wasn't any reference to a brother among the three surviving sisters. Then in the latter part of the 1890s, the Stewarts had two girls, Ida and Bella.

The godparents for Anne Joseph, were Samuel Jan and Ann Walsh. I suspect this Ann Walsh was related to Mary, her sister, or cousin. As well, the second names of the children Joseph for Ann and Francis for Alexander may be clues to Mary's parentage as well. 

I found one Francis Walsh, listed among the St. John's house/sign painters in the Rochfort Directory of 1877. While Walsh was a common name in St. John's at the time, there aren't any Joseph Walshs listed in the St. John's area. Mary may have been from St. John's, another part of the island or a first generation immigrant and I may never know the truth.

Mary died in 1924.This was during the time when Sam, Ida and the children lived with Tom and Mary on Water Street. Ida and Mary were in the  kitchen, Mary sat holding baby Angela in her lap. Mary died, dropping Angela on the floor. Angela was unhurt. Having witnessed my own mother's sudden death, I can imagine Ida's thoughts and feelings about the incident.

My great grandmother was buried in Belvedere Cemetery in the plot with James Healey, Min's first husband. Mary's grandson Albert was buried in that same plot in 1921. Later, her grandsons Jackie and Robert, husband, Tom and daughter Ida would be buried there too. For years when I was young, my father, grandfather, my brother, Frank, and I tended that grave at Belvedere. I know a little more about Mary now than I did at that time, but there are certainly more questions than answers. However Mary now has her place in our family history.

Great Aunt Mary (Min) Stewart Healey Grills

She was an unconventional woman of her time.  Mary (Min) Stewart was a woman who worked as a machinist in the Newfoundland Tannery around 1900. She boarded with her parents while she worked prior to marrying James Healey.

                          Min Healey

There is a James Healey listed as a shoemaker on the South Side Road in 1904. I suspect this was her husband. He and Min married but he died in 1911. They didn't have any children. He was the first president of the People's Club in St. John's. The club erected a headstone in his honor after his death. Members of the Stewart family are buried there with him, Thomas. Mary, their grandchildren Albert, Robert and Mins's child by her second husband, eight year old Jackie Grills.

After James Healey's death, Min worked as a stewardess on the SS Meigle, which sailed between St. John's and North Sydney. In 1915, she married John (Jack) Grills who was eight years older than Min. The wedding announcement was published in the newspaper.

Evening Telegram, Tuesday, May 18, 1915

Wedding Bells:  The wedding of Mr. John Grills, chief steward of the SS Bruce and Mrs. M. Healey, both of St. John's, Nf. took place in North Sydney.  The bride was assisted by her sister, Miss Ida Stewart, the groom was attended by Mr. Barnes, chief engineer of the SS Bruce.

                           John (Jack) Grills

Their first child, Charlie Stewart Grills was born the next year.  Charlie died in Saanich, British Columbia in 1973. Jackie was born in 1920 and died in 1928. 

                                   Charlie Grills

Min stopped working when she married both times, however she worked prior to her marriages. This wasn't that unusual but most women worked as domestics one hundred years ago. Min worked as a machinist, certainly an uncommon occupation at that time. Her father worked at the tannery as an engineer, so I imagine this helped pave the way for Min. She was ahead of her time for certain.

Min's son Charlie worked as a firefighter in St. John's. My Aunt Angela Pretty Woodford said that every time the fire trucks went down the roads or the alarms sounded, Min was upset and worried about Charlie. After she died, he moved to the mainland.

My Aunt Muriel was very close to Aunt Min. She lived with Min and her family for many years and Charlie was like a brother to her. She had fond and loving memories of Aunt Min and Uncle Jack. 

           Charlie Grills and Muriel Pretty