Go to...
Index
Summary
page 1
page 2
page 3
page 4
page 5
page 6
page 7
page 8
page 9
page 10
page 11
page 12
page 13
page 14
page 15
page 16
page 17
page 18
page 19
page 20
page 21
page 22
page 23
page 24
page 25
page 26
page 27
page 28
page 29
page 30
page 31
page 32
page 33
page 34
|
1.
1877 to 1957
or
MY EIGHTY YEARS
Four miles out from the quiet little town of Norwood, Ontario, early in the
morning of May 7th, 1877, little Jim McConnell first looked out into the big busy
world.
No uniformed nurse or doctor was there to greet his coming. But as it
was, in the days of Moses, the midwife acted as nurse and doctor. And Jim was
first handled by his Irish Grandmother, who wrapped him in the clothes his mother
had previously prepared for him. And when he was nursed he was quietly tucked in
bed beside his mother and went to sleep.
His father, who maintained the family by tilling his rough, hilly and stoney
farm, only had time to have a look at his little baby boy and then it was business
as usual -- to keep up with the work on the farm.
Already little Jim had an older brother and sister, and as time rolled on
there were added to the family, two more brothers and two more sisters, making
Jim three brothers and three sisters, all to grow up together with him. There
were also two younger brothers and a sister who each lived only a few months.
If the father and mother of this little boy had eve r tried to look forward into the
future (which was as yet screened from their eye ) they would have seen
that the age of power had begun. From, the days of the reaping hook and the scythe
to the reaper and the mower; then the self binder, and later the combine that cuts
and thrashes the grain, dumping it into a truck to be delivered right to the elevator.
One morning in early May, about 1883, you might ha ve seen three children
walking down the road -- a crooked cedar rail fence on each side of them; this
was Jim's first day at school with his older brother and sister. They carried a
school lunch in a small basket made by the Indians who lived nearby. The lunch
usually consisted of bread and butter sandwiches and sometimes a piece of cake
each or an apple each by way of dessert.
And now let us take a look at this little country school, set on a corner with
a road going by it each way. The school was about thirty feet wide and forty feet
long, built of wood, with six-inch siding on the outside. Three windows on each
side and one door in the west end facing the road. In those days, paint was not
considered necessary on the outside. There were two rows of rough seats and
desks along each side which would accommodate two girls or two boys each. Then
a wide hall up the centre where the classes were called. Down near the door sat a
large box stove with a large door in the end to take blocks of wood up to three feet
long.
At the front there was a raised platform, about ten feet wide, on which the
teacher's desk sat. Behind the teacher, on the end wall, was the blackboard.
Over the entrance door, was a porch, eight feet by eight feet with a door in the side.
A broom usually stood there in the corner, so the children, as they entered could,
in winter, sweep the snow from their boots. This same broom was used to sweep
the floor. The older children took their turn at the sweeping. In cold weather the
wood for the first fire and some cedar, split fine or made into shavings, was left
ready. The first one to arrive in the morning lit the fire to warm the school. One
thing that impressed itself on my mind in those early school days was a bank of
loose earth built up and extending out from the bank toward the road and levelled
off like a railroad. Perhaps this was patterned by some of the o lder boys from the
C.P.R. who, about that time, built their railroad grade through the country and on
West to Toronto.
>next
Read more about Jim McConnell's family in Rootsweb Genealogy pages.
|