How the Spences and Robertsons Weathered the Great Depression

 Do you have a radio?  What is your house built of?  Did you work yesterday?  The 1931 Canadian census just came out, and I was struck by the meager salaries and months of unemployment our family endured.  I thought I would write about how we made it through. I included a family chart at the bottom to help you keep track of everyone mentioned (go to bottom for family charts; see posts Robertson Family, Spence Family, Rushton Family Pedigree Charts, Descendant Charts)

My grandmother Bessie Spence Robertson often spoke about how she managed a household during the Depression.  Every penny was put to use.  She planned with such precision that "at the end of the week, I didn't even have a nickel left over to buy a Coke."  There was swimming at Valley Stream Lake State Park not far away, but it cost 10 cents after 9 in the morning.  The Robertson kids went swimming, but only before 9 when it was free.  Of course it wasn't hot out that early.

July 5, 1936 at Bessie & Joe's house, 21 Rose Ave., Valley Stream, New York

from left, Jean Robertson Brendel, her parents Bessie & Joe, Leona Spence, Evelyn Spence Dawson, Eva Spence Rushton, her son Denzil Rushton (Bessie and Eva are sisters.  Evelyn is their brother Harmon's daughter.  Leona is the wife of their cousin Basil Spence, son of Uncle Sam & Aunt Mary Ann) In this pic, the only person not a Canadian emigrant is Jean.

The year that my mother Anne was in 9th grade was the worst.  I think it is because her brother Junior was in the tuberculosis sanitarium, which must have been expensive, and then died.  She resented having to work every day after school, as a mother's helper baby-sitting, instead of joining school clubs like her friends.  Her classmates looked down at her for being poor, since she only had one skirt she wore every day and 2 blouses to alternate.  Doing Junior's paper route was not so bad unless it was hot.  One sweltering day, pale Anne looked so red and bedraggled that a lady on the route took pity on her and gave her a dime to buy an ice cream cone.  Of course, Anne brought the dime home along with the rest of the money, as she did with all the money she earned.  As an adult, Anne determined that she would never be poor, so she saved 10% of every paycheck for the rest of her life.

1930 census showing Joe, a schoefer (chauffeur, that is, truck driver), Bessie, their kids, Helena and Connie, operators for NY Tel Co., Bill (Whiliam Weeb instead of Webb), a laborer for Hendrickson, and Anna.  Their arrival dates are given.  Joe and Bessie have PA, filed the first papers towards citizenship, but the others are AL, aliens.  They are all literate except Gean (Jean), who is 2 6/12.  Bessie and Joe are renting their house for $20 a month and have a radio.

But Valley Stream, New York, was really the best place for our family to weather the Depression.  The proof of this is that everyone came to live with Bessie and Joe!  Bessie's sisters Helena and Connie Spence, Anna and her husband Bill Webb, and brother-in-law Wilfred Rushton emigrated from Nova Scotia, writing Mrs. Joseph Robertson - sister, on their arrival papers.  (Bessie's sister Eva and their kids followed Wilfred after a couple of months).  

Arrival card - Aunt Connie, age 16, arrived by train in Vanceboro, Maine on 10/1/1928 enroute to Valley Stream

The American government made this possible for our family in several ways by creating work.  Mainly, the Village of Valley Stream took over garbage pick-up.  Joe used to run his own business on a trash pick-up route, but got a steady job with the Village once his customers could no longer afford him.  The Village also paid the Hendrickson Bros. to build a new and impressive high school, which is what Uncle Bill came to work on (he and Aunt Anna went back home to Springhill after it was done.)  Plus, the State of New York built many new state highways.  Bessie and Joe's house was on land that would become an exit ramp of the Southern State Parkway.  They were only renting their house, but once the state bought it, it was condemned, and they lived there rent-free for about 6 months.  This saving enabled them to buy their own house on 21 Rose Avenue.  Helena and Connie both worked as operators in the new field of telephones.

Havelock Robertson, left, and Bill Webb building Central High School, Valley Stream, 1929

The Great Depression hit on Black Tuesday, October 29, 1929, when the stock market crashed after years of speculators buying everything on credit.   World War I had brought heavy industrialization to Nova Scotia, where all the parts needed for Great Britain's war munitions were made, as Nova Scotia was rich in coal. But all this wasn't home-grown, it was bought on credit by large British and Canadian companies. At the end of the War, there was no need for munitions and everyone was thrown out of work. 

Unfortunately, it wasn't just big companies using borrowed money.  From average guys buying cars to farmers buying harvesters to steel companies opening mills to railroads laying track, all of it was bought with credit.  Our family spent months harvesting out West in Alberta.  Aunt Abby Rushton Shields and her husband and sons went West threshing every year.  Cousins Ellis Smith of Malagash, NS and Robby Wilson of Boston both worked seasonally in Alberta.  But when farmers started using harvesters, the threshers who relied on that seasonal money didn't have it any more.  Big companies had less use for coal, so in 1931, the Spences in Springhill were out of work for 26 weeks due to a temporary layoff. * Most Nova Scotian fishermen worked for big companies, and when they went under, fishermen like Uncle Ike Robertson had no access to vessels or markets.  Ike and Mary supported a family of 7 children in 1921 on the $400 he made that year fishing.

 1931 census - They owned their single-family wooden 8-room house worth $600

                                                                                                                In 1931, Ike only made $200 as a laborer doing odd jobs because he was out of work for 20 weeks.  Their 3 sons of working age, Harry, Bill, and Gordon, earned between $50 and $200 as odd-job laborers because they had no jobs for 16 to 40 weeks that year.  (Bob was unable to work due to polio.)  Throughout Churchover, people who worked for themselves were still earning something; employees had no jobs.  No wonder all the Robertsons (except Harry) ended up moving to Halifax to find work.

                 Farmers kept on farming and farm laborers were still getting paid, so people like Albion (Tuner) Rushton, Aunt Jane's husband and Wilfred's father, left Oxford to continue their sash-and-door woodworking business on the River Philip farm.  (My mother said it was fascinating to watch Tuner's blind brother Peter do household chores as if he had sight.  Strangers weren't able to tell he was blind.  Not only did he keep house, but he also ran a small grocery store.)

1931 census - Here, the abbreviations indicate that Albion Owns his $1200 Single-family Wooden house with 10 rooms.  He can Write and is a Woodworker in a Sash & Door business that he Owns.  Peter cannot Write or read and is a Grocer in his Own Store which he Owns. Elmer, who is a cousin, oops, boarder, can Write and is a Farm Laborer on a General Farm.  He is a Worker (employee), earned $350 that year, and Yes, he worked the previous day.  (Sometimes the census takers write info such as cousin which is not allowed, and they have to change it to the correct entry, boarder.  In this way their mistakes give us more info).

As manufacturing in Nova Scotia declined throughout the 1920s, people left for Ontario or the States.  But in the world-wide Depression, there was nowhere else to go.  Unlike the US, the Canadian government followed a laissez-faire approach to the economy.  They did nothing besides give relief money to the unemployed as the situation worsened, making everyone dispirited and angry.

I always wondered why the Spences left their farms in Halfway River to become miners.  I understand that mining was steady work not dependent on the whims of the weather, and I suppose Springhill wasn't as isolated as a farm, with near neighbors, schools, and churches. I still can't imagine leaving hard back-breaking work in the wide-open fields and fresh air for hard back-breaking work cramped a mile underground in the dark, breathing in coal dust and risking your life every minute in case of explosion or just a plain old collapse.  Looking at these censuses provides an answer - their salaries were much higher than farmers, fishermen, and laborers, and almost everyone owned their homes.

In Springhill, so many Spences lived on Junction Road/Aberdeen Street that it was jokingly called Spence's Island.  Everyone on the street worked in the mines, and they all spent 26 weeks of 1931 in a temporary layoff.  

In addition, my great-grandfather Bill Spence (Grampa English), a repairer, lost 12 weeks of work when he cut his arm in an accident.  It must have been some bad cut!  

• Uncle Arthur and Aunt Jessie owned their 3-room home; he made $750 in the half-year he worked as a coal miner.  
• Uncle Bill and Aunt Anna, newly returned from New York, were boarding with someone; he made $600 as a repairer. 
• Uncle Howard and Aunt Nellie rented a 3-room house for $6 a month; he made $600 as a coal miner.  

1931 census

Uncle Harmon was making bank!  He earned $1500 as a deputy overman and was never unemployed.  He and Aunt Mary needed it to support their 9 children in the 5-room house worth $500 that they owned.  

• Next to them, Uncle Ains owned his 2-room house worth $50; he was a repairer who made $500 that year.  
• Uncle Sam and Aunt Mary Ann owned a 2-family $600 5-room house.  At age 67, he was making $600 as a repairer. 
• They probably rented the other side to their son Percy, who paid $6 a month for 4 rooms for his family, but he was making $750 as a coal miner. 
•  Their daughter Kate Turnbull owned a 7- room house worth $500, and her husband Norman was making $750 as a coal miner. 

Uncle Palmer and Aunt Maggie had a 7-room house worth $200.  He was a rail section man for the steam railway, so he was never out of work.  He made $700 that year.  

Next door, their son William George was not so lucky.  He and wife Mabel owned a $300 3-room house, but he broke his leg and missed 15 additional weeks besides the layoff, so he only made $250 that year coal mining.

Worst of all, John Findlay Spence (Grandpa Scotch) only earned $10 that year!  He was a roadmaker on the main road who was out of work for 47 weeks. 

• Luckily their sons John and Alex made $520 as mine laborers.  Their son Thomas made $600 and owned a 5-room house worth $250. 
• Their daughter Jemima's husband Leslie made $750 as a coal miner, so they owned their $500 4-room house.

1931 census

As you can see, the cost of a house was roughly equal to a year's salary.  Housing was comparatively a lot cheaper than it is today.  Of course, you have to consider that the houses had no central heating or indoor plumbing, and farms had no electricity.  When Bessie and Joe and all those relatives lived "on the parkway," not every room had heat and the only plumbing was a pump providing water to the kitchen sink.  On the flip side, food and clothing were a lot more expensive in comparison than today.  The Canadians had big gardens, their barns held cows and chickens, and they could always go rabbit and deer hunting.  

Leon Lewis (Harmon & Mary's grandson) and me hunting rabbits, 1975.  I'm sure you know which one of us is the actual hunter.

 Our family in the US made it by using every scrap and saving every item, but I don't know how the rest of the Depression went in Canada.  Nobody expected it to last a decade, but it didn't end until World War II began in 1939 with its demand for industrial machinery and military goods.  The people's anger over the government's lack of action led Canada to embrace a strong social safety net in the future. 

     

Bessie & Joe's radio on left      The government also asked who owned a radio.  The younger people did; the older generation apparently thought it was useless.   The same opinion my children and I have about Venmo.

                                                            on right, radio of my grandparents-in-law, Eva & Charlie Ashfolk

*the previous 12 months before June 1931

Selected Members	of	Spence Family	of	Halfway River		and	Springhill
		John W. Spence		& his wife			A. Elmira Pettigrew
		their		children:
1. Sam & wife Mary Ann		2. Palmer & wife Maggie		3. Bill & wife Phoebe			4. Ainsley
		their		grandchildren:
Percy		George William & Mabel		Bessie & Joe Robertson
Kate & Norman Turnbull				Harmon & Mary
Basil & Leona				Eva & Wilfred Rushton
				Anna & Bill Webb
				Arthur & Jessie
				Howard & Helen/Nellie
				Helena
				Connie

 

Selected Members	of	Robertson Family	of	Churchover, Malagash,	Boston	And New York
		Joseph Ellis Robertson		& his wife		Ann E. Acker
		Their		Children:
1. Hattie & husb Ed Smith		2. Ike & wife Mary		3. Grace & husb George Wilson		4. Joe & wife Bessie
		Their		Grandchildren:
Ellis Smith		Harry Robertson		Rob Wilson		Joe Robertson Junior
		George Wilbert/Bill				Ann
		Bob				Frank
		Gordon
		Alden
		Ellis
		Doris

Selected Members	Of	Rushton Family	Of	River Philip	And	Springhill
		Thomas R. Rushton		& his wife		Susan West
		Their		Children:
		1. Abby & husb Patrick Shields		2. Jane & husb Albion/Tuner Rushton		3. Phoebe & husb Bill Spence
		Their		Grandchildren:
				Wilfred  & Eva Spence		Bessie & Joe Robertson
						Harmon & Mary Spence
						Eva & Wilfred Rushton
						Anna & Bill Webb
						Arthur & Jessie
						Howard & Helen/Nellie Spence
						Helena
						Connie

Selected   Members	Of	Spence Family	of	Scotland		&	Springhill
		John Findlay Spence		& his wife			Helen Wilson
		their		children:
1. Mary  & husb Harmon Spence		2. Thomas	3. Jemima  & husb Les Spence	4. Helen/Nellie  & husb Howard Spence	5.John		6.Alex

References:

1921 Census of Canada for Albion Rushton, Nova Scotia, Dist. 55, No. 18, Oxford Town, p. 14 

1921 Census of Canada for Isac Robertson, Nova Scotia, 63 Shelburne Queens, No. 26, Churchover, p. 6

1930 US Census for Joseph E. Robertson, New York, Nassau, Hempstead Town, Enumeration Dist. 30-91, Supervisor's Dist. 36

1931 Census of Canada for Albion Rushton, Nova Scotia, 8 Cumberland, 13 Pugwash, Cumberland Rural Pugwash, p. 10

1931 Census of Canada for Arthur R. Spence, whole page, Nova Scotia, Cumberland 8, No. 62, Town of Springhill, p. 25

1931 Census of Canada for Isaac John Robertson, Nova Scotia, Yarmouth Shelburne, No. 9, Municipality of Shelburne, p. 7

1931 Census of Canada for William Spence, whole page, Nova Scotia, Cumberland 8, No. 62, Town of Springhill, p. 26

Border Crossings from Canada to US 1895-1956, Spence, Constance Lenore

https://opentextbc.ca/postconfederation/chapter/8-5-the-great-depression/

https://vschsd.org/schools/central-high-school/

https://www.canadianmysteries.ca/sites/jerome/contextes/economie/indexen.html

https://www.saltwire.com/nova-scotia/business/great-war-turned-once-booming-nova-scotia-economy-towards-have-not-status-258190/