Growing Up on Spence's Island

There were so many Spences living on Aberdeen Street in Springhill that everyone called it Spence's Island.   Someone even put up a street sign.  I knew that, but I didn't get the pun:  I just recently found out - "Look!  There's a real place called Spencer's Island!"  Yeah, everybody knew that but me. (see Spence Pedigree Chart)

Phoebe and Bill Spence's house at the end of Aberdeen Street

Most of these stories are from Bessie and Connie, the oldest and the youngest.  They were 17 years apart, and by the time Connie was born, Bessie had moved permanently to the States.  But these are some glimpses of their life as children in their Mumma and Puppa's house.

Junction Road School was a kilometer uphill from Aberdeen Street, and you had to walk it twice, in the morning, home for lunch, and back again.   They didn't get a break from walking uphill on Sundays either; church was morning and afternoon.

Christmas 1947

Junction Road, Easter 1967

Bessie loved school; Connie hated it.  Bessie was sad that she wasn't allowed to go to school on Mondays.  Monday was wash day, and as the oldest girl, Bessie had to help her mother do the wash.  One of the things Bessie enjoyed was multiplication problems like 535,432 x 394,768.  For exercise, Bessie's class did calisthenics standing behind their desks every day.   At times, Bessie got piano lessons, but there usually wasn't enough money for that.  Connie especially despised history.  "They all told me, 'Just think of it as a story,' but I knew it was history."  She even shuddered to say the word. 

  Connie was no stranger to getting her knuckles rapped, but the worst day was when she was assigned a composition about the king.  Connie had little knowledge about the king and even less interest in him.  She dutifully titled her composition "The King"  and began, but after the first sentence, there was nothing left to say.  While playing with their dog, she came up with an idea!  She knew lots about the dog, so she wrote a long detailed composition titled "Our Dog, the King."  Proud that she had solved the problem with ingenuity, she turned her work in next morning.  The teacher was not amused.   She announced to the class that she had received the worst composition she had ever seen and called Connie up to the front of the class to read it.  When Connie read the title, the class burst out laughing.  She had to read the whole thing while the class laughed.  After that humiliation, the teacher told her to hold out her hands and gave her several raps with the ruler, not on the knuckles, but on the soft palms.  Connie's hatred for the teacher was intense.   

Springhill School, about 1900, either Bessie or Anna is the child 2nd row from top, 4th child from left, with hair pulled up at the top but loose on the sides

Bessie had a problem with a teacher too.  In third grade, Bessie's teacher insisted that Bessie was not her real name but had to be a nickname.  She made Bessie walk all the way home and back to ask her parents, who, of course, confirmed that yes, that was her real name.

Bessie was the first baby, and when she was born, her father said he wanted her called Bessie, Jessie, or Flossie, all nicknames.  Her mother chose Bessie.  Phoebe was a strict Baptist and two things that weren't allowed were nicknames and reading the funny papers.  Apparently that was tossed by the time Connie came along.  The forbidden acts I associate with strict Baptists are drinking alcohol and playing cards, and we know the Spences enthusiastically enjoyed those!                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                       

1900 Eclipse Stanhope

Eclipse Automobile Co. South  Easton, Ma.
1899-1903, a possible model that might have been in Springhill 

 When Bessie was 7 in 1900, she saw her first car drive down the road.  Her father told her not to go anywhere near it.  

 Puppa had also expressly forbidden the kids to go near the newly built skating rink.  But the allure of a big artificial frozen surface was too tempting, and they did anyway, often, just like all the other kids in town. One day, Puppa found them there.  They took one look at him and took off running.  When the other kids saw the Spences run away, they ran too.  The rink manager said to Puppa, "Mister, I don't know who you are, but I wish you would come here every day!"

When I was a kid, I never asked my grandmother why they weren't allowed to go to the skating rink.  After all, parents are always telling their kids they can't do things for no reason.  And I didn't understand why the rink man didn't want kids there; there are tons of kids at skating rinks!  But last year, when talking with Howie about the skating rink, he explained that the town kids were always trying to sneak onto the rink without paying.  Needless to say, my saintly grandmother never mentioned that part!

Somewhere uptown or near the skating rink there was a steam vent.  The kids would go there and put their mittened hands over the vent to warm them.  They knew that after they left, their mittens would be wet, making their hands colder than before, but they just couldn't resist the warm feeling!

Connie says that Mumma "wanted to kiss us and caress us, but she didn't have time."  There was a lot of work to do with a house and 11 children and no running water.  Mumma took a 15-minute nap after every meal.  The main meal was at midday.  The evening meal, supper, was small, often bread and molasses or peas, beans, and potatoes combined in a bowl.  One of the cabinet drawers, about 3 feet high and 1 foot wide,  opened at a tilt; that's where the flour was kept for bread-baking several times a week.  The tea kettle sat on the wood stove all day; the stove was, of course, burning all day for heat, so the kettle sang softly all day, a sweet and comforting sound for Bessie.  

                                                                 Phoebe and Bill's house, around 1910 - 1920s on top, 1947 on bottom. Notice the front left has been built out and now has a big set of windows.  Helena and Bud's son Billy Lynster

When Connie was little, all the children had to line up so Mumma could give them their daily teaspoon of the horrible-tasting cod liver oil.  That was their vitamin to prevent illness.  Today we know it as Omega-3 fish oil tablets.

Phoebe had a superstition about rocking chairs - rocking one when you weren't sitting in it meant someone was going to die.  It comes from the idea that if you see a chair rocking by itself, that's because a ghost is sitting in it, especially the ghost of the person who the rocking chair belonged to.  That evolved to the person who usually sits in that chair is going to die.   So you certainly wouldn't want to bring death on your family by rocking a chair with your hand or foot.  Later Bessie considered it bad luck, but by the time it passed down to Bessie's daughter Jean, Jean only knew that she wasn't allowed to do it.

Phoebe had a rocking chair as all women did; I imagine her sitting in it knitting.  One amazing talent Bessie remembers her mother having was the ability to knit without looking.  She also made quilts; clothes that were so worn they had become rags could be cut and sewn into pretty patterns, and quilts were heavy, so they kept sleepers warm at night.  

After a mattress had been slept on a while, it sagged in the middle, so the sleepers, and there were 2 or 3 in a bed, rolled toward the middle; it was hard to keep yourself on the edge.  The upstairs had 4 bedrooms with a center hall; at the opposite of the head of the stairs was an enclosed space called the pea field.  That's where Connie slept, at other times, boarders would sleep there.

Phoebe and Bill's backyard, Dec 1947   from left, Grampa Bill, Bud Lynster (Helena's husband), Anne Robertson (Bessie and Joe's daughter), Billy Lynster (Helena and Bud's son)

There is no day or night in a mine.  If you work during the day, you will never see the sun.  So Puppa worked at night.  During the day he maintained a large garden behind the house, growing, I think, cabbage, brussels sprouts, carrots, beans, but mainly, potatoes.

1921 -  These cute potato pickers are Spence grandchildren - Evelyn in skirt and Junior in overalls Spence (children of Harmon and Mary), Junior in coat and Anne in sweater Robertson (children of Bessie and Joe). Below, Frank Robertson, son of Bessie and Joe.  Evelyn is 5, Junior Robertson is 4, Junior Spence and Anne are 3, and Frank is 2.

Grampa Bill's potato field and barn, 1921

Connie was always getting in trouble at home, too.  One day she was sitting around the barn, which her father was painting.  Just for fun, she put some paint on her arm.  That was all right, so when the dog came by, she put some paint on the dog, too.  He didn't seem to mind, so she painted him all over.  Then her father saw it.  The lead paint was poisoning the dog.  Puppa had to shoot it.

But Connie felt sorry for one of the barn cats when the boys put socks on its paws.  The cat slowly pranced around, holding each paw up high, taking one step at a time with the unfamiliar feeling.  But it let the boys do it, she said, because it got so little attention, and that made her sad for the cat.

By the barn, Jean Robertson (Bessie and Joe's daughter) on left and Anna Jean Spence ( Howard and Nellie's daughter), mid-1930s

Helena, Helen's twin, was an anxious child afraid of everything.  One fear was thunderstorms.  As Mumma stood at the top of the stairs looking out the front window, she and Helen watched a thunderstorm approach.  Mumma patted the twin's head, repeating, "Don't tell Helena.  Don't tell Helena."  That didn't work out.  It turned out the head she was patting was Helena's!

Helen on left, Connie, Helena, 1921

One year, somewhere between 1899 and 1907, they had so little money, the family moved to River Hebert so Bill could find work.  River Hebert was a boomtown where anyone could earn a living.  They only had to stay less than a year before they were able to return to Aberdeen Street.  No babies were born at River Hebert.

Since Bessie loved school so much, she would have liked to go to high school, but that wasn't an option.  The family needed everyone's earnings.  Bessie and Eva worked as maids in Maine;  Anna worked in a blueberry factory.  The boys entered the mines when they were 14.  By the time Helena and Connie were teenagers, it wasn't necessary for them to send home their pay.  But they still left home to live with Bessie in the States and help with her children.  Helena attended high school in Newton, Mass.

Helena at Newton High School, 2nd row from top, on right in tie

Arthur's first day in the mine began when he was 14 and he was scared.  The scariest thing was going down the shaft after all his gear was put on him.

                                                     Phoebe and Bill in front of their house, 1940s ; Bill in woods

By the time 8th child Howard was born, Phoebe was 37 and Bill was 33.  Bill felt they had enough children.  Every time Phoebe got pregnant, Bill was so mad he went to the woods and lived there for a few days until he felt he was ready to face having another mouth to feed.

This picture shows he loved them once they arrived.  Spring 1913 - Helen on left and Helena on right, age 4, Connie on Bill's lap, about 9 months old.

Houses on Aberdeen Street

                      Frank Lynster,                                                                                          son of Helena and Bud, Aberdeen St.,  Dec 1947

Jackie Spence, son of Harmon and Mary, on Aberdeen St.,  June 1939

Dec. 1947, Howard and Nellie's house with car in front ;     Anne Robertson in front of Uncle Sam and Aunt Mary Ann's house;        Harmon Junior Spence in front of Harmon and Mary's house

References:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Springhill,_Nova_Scotia

http://www.ccgsns.com/local-resources/news-articles-2/river-hebert-news-articles/

https://www.tripadvisor.com/Attraction_Review-g7083474-d8563888-Reviews-Heritage_Models_Museum-River_Hebert_Southwest_Nova_Scotia_Nova_Scotia.html#REVIEWS

https://www.earlyamericanautomobiles.com/1900.htm