Standing: Alex Currie, Donald Hector Currie, Dorothy Currie; Seated: May Currie McLauren, May McLean Currie, John Currie, James Currie, Jessie Currie MacDonald
.
Best guess: photo taken around 1885.
Sunday, June 19, 2011
Pictures and Family Trees
Standing: Alex Currie, Donald Hector Currie, Dorothy Currie; Seated: May Currie McLauren, May McLean Currie, John Currie, James Currie, Jessie Currie MacDonald
.
Best guess: photo taken around 1885.
Chapter 3. Voyage to California and settling in
About all I can remember of Aspinwall was the grass-roofed low houses and the natives wearing nothing but very short shorts and peddling baskets of brown sweet bread or cakes which they carried on their heads without touching them with their hands.
After a real dinner at the hotel we took a train across the isthmus to the town of Panama on the Pacific side. The railroad all the way across ran through a regular tropical jungle; palms and ferns so thick you could not see anything except every once in a while we would pass a native village hut where all the men, women and children were dressed "au natural " not a stitch on any of them.
We arrived in Panama some time after dark and unloaded from the train on to "Lighters"- something like a big decked scow and taken out to the STD ship "Montana" which was anchored about a mile from the town.
There was no chance to see anything of Panama, only the lights seen from the ship. The Montana was just the same as the Arizona; about the only difference that they had a big Chinaman in charge of the water tank instead of a white sailor as on the Arizona. If on either vessel you wanted a drink of water you had to go to this tank and ask the man in charge and and he would turn on the tap for just so much, and not always when you asked either. For washing, the ocean water had to do.
Another change was that in place of cattle we had a lot of sea turtles, over two feet across the shell and with flippers instead of legs and claws like our turtles. As they were fenced in there was no disturbance from them.
Four weeks from the day we left New York we arrived in San Francisco and the next day took a steamer up the Sacramento River to Rio Vista where father's father, mother, brothers and two sisters were living on farms about six miles back from the river in what was called the Sacramento Valley. This valley wasn't level but hilly without a tree anywhere. We lived there at grandfather's and uncle Menzies who live nearby had four boys in the family with whom I would often go out hunting Jack Rabbits. There Jack Rabbits were almost as big as sheep with ears that stood straight up and how they could run. We had a big dog that could run them down and catch them for us.
After we settled down Dollie, Jessie and I started going to school again upon which I found that I had forgotten those multiplication tables that I had taken so many bit hinge to learn a few months before. Out teacher in this school was what would today be called a "faddish" as if any of the children showed signs of neglecting their toilets at home she would take a fine comb and comb their hair -if any game was found they would get the rawhide -no switches grew there and glad to say one of our family never had to be examined. She also used to drill us for ten minutes before noon in callisthenics -arms, legs, head and body all had their share of drill which we found the hardest part of our school life.
While here father and his brother-in-law, Dan Stewart, went down to the San Joaquin valley where they each bought a half section of land and put a crop of wheat on it, but as that happened to be a dry year no rain fell in the valley and their crop was a failure.
After a real dinner at the hotel we took a train across the isthmus to the town of Panama on the Pacific side. The railroad all the way across ran through a regular tropical jungle; palms and ferns so thick you could not see anything except every once in a while we would pass a native village hut where all the men, women and children were dressed "au natural " not a stitch on any of them.
We arrived in Panama some time after dark and unloaded from the train on to "Lighters"- something like a big decked scow and taken out to the STD ship "Montana" which was anchored about a mile from the town.
There was no chance to see anything of Panama, only the lights seen from the ship. The Montana was just the same as the Arizona; about the only difference that they had a big Chinaman in charge of the water tank instead of a white sailor as on the Arizona. If on either vessel you wanted a drink of water you had to go to this tank and ask the man in charge and and he would turn on the tap for just so much, and not always when you asked either. For washing, the ocean water had to do.
Another change was that in place of cattle we had a lot of sea turtles, over two feet across the shell and with flippers instead of legs and claws like our turtles. As they were fenced in there was no disturbance from them.
Four weeks from the day we left New York we arrived in San Francisco and the next day took a steamer up the Sacramento River to Rio Vista where father's father, mother, brothers and two sisters were living on farms about six miles back from the river in what was called the Sacramento Valley. This valley wasn't level but hilly without a tree anywhere. We lived there at grandfather's and uncle Menzies who live nearby had four boys in the family with whom I would often go out hunting Jack Rabbits. There Jack Rabbits were almost as big as sheep with ears that stood straight up and how they could run. We had a big dog that could run them down and catch them for us.
After we settled down Dollie, Jessie and I started going to school again upon which I found that I had forgotten those multiplication tables that I had taken so many bit hinge to learn a few months before. Out teacher in this school was what would today be called a "faddish" as if any of the children showed signs of neglecting their toilets at home she would take a fine comb and comb their hair -if any game was found they would get the rawhide -no switches grew there and glad to say one of our family never had to be examined. She also used to drill us for ten minutes before noon in callisthenics -arms, legs, head and body all had their share of drill which we found the hardest part of our school life.
While here father and his brother-in-law, Dan Stewart, went down to the San Joaquin valley where they each bought a half section of land and put a crop of wheat on it, but as that happened to be a dry year no rain fell in the valley and their crop was a failure.
Monday, June 13, 2011
Chapter 2. Moving to California, first stop Panama
About the first of July 1869 we were packed up and off to California, going first to New York and then taking a Steamship for Aspinwall, Isthmus of Panama. Before leaving New York, mother made two canvas belts into which she sewed all our money which had been changed into gold, and father and mother each wore one of these belts inside their clothes.
The steamship "Arizona"upon which we took passage was a big three deck side-wheeler (it was the days before the propeller came into use) and was crowded to the limit by people in search of fortune in Golden California as this was only twenty years after the first discovery of gold in California and the general impression seemed to be that in California gold could be picked up anywhere once you got there.
Through the glowing description of the steamship agents and also influenced by the low cost we went third class or steerage as it really was, so all the women and children were stowed away in the forward end of the vessel in the lower deck which was closed tight at night so that you could neither get in or out and no men were allowed in there. On the middle deck just above the women's quarters were the men's sleeping quarters which were canvas stretched three rows high and which was taken down during the daytime when it was made into a dining room by letting down long tables that at night was hooked up to the ceiling but let down as hanging tables that would not spill when the ship tossed and rolled in the ocean waves.
The forward part of this dining room - without any partitions either - was filled with Cattle ; one day about noon a big long-horned steer got loose and went on a rampage tossing the tables and spilling everything all over the place; as the dishes were all tin none were broken.
Our Bill of Fare was "Hard Jack and Salt Horse". The Hard Jack was sea biscuits about the size of a saucer so hard that it took a hammer to break them. We had to soak them in tea to bite them. The Salt Horse was corned beef (and it was said horse meat too) so dry and salty that boiling it did not take the salt taste out. This without either milk or sugar was the fare for each meal day after day. The children and I think the women also got one slice of white bread once a day - some of us children used to hang around the kitchen where cabin passenger meals were prepared and the cooks would occasionally pass us out a piece of pie or a bun which was a great treat.
The men always ate at the first table - that is the first setting, then the women and children at a second and third setting - there were no seats so everyone had to stand up at the table and they were hung so high that I just could get my head above them - as a result the mothers generally had to feed their flock by handing down to them what there was, mostly Hard Jack that had been softened in tea.
After breakfast everyone had to go up to the upper deck where there were seats and also room to walk around and enjoy the fresh sea breezes. When passing Cape Hatteras there was a regular storm blowing when everyone was kept below with most of them seasick -several hundred women and children crowded into close quarters without any fresh air and sea sick in the bargain - however none died.
A few days after passing Cape Hatteras we got into the Gulf of Mexico, and the suffering from the heat began. At night below decks was just smothering and most of us boys used to stow ourselves away on the upper deck before being ordered below at night, hiding behind the smokestacks or under the life boats, and then pass the nights where it was cool. I think the sailors sympathized with us and they never tried to chase us down although they must have seen us in hiding.
It took about two weeks sailing from New York to Aspinwall, where we landed one morning and stayed until noon.
The steamship "Arizona"upon which we took passage was a big three deck side-wheeler (it was the days before the propeller came into use) and was crowded to the limit by people in search of fortune in Golden California as this was only twenty years after the first discovery of gold in California and the general impression seemed to be that in California gold could be picked up anywhere once you got there.
Through the glowing description of the steamship agents and also influenced by the low cost we went third class or steerage as it really was, so all the women and children were stowed away in the forward end of the vessel in the lower deck which was closed tight at night so that you could neither get in or out and no men were allowed in there. On the middle deck just above the women's quarters were the men's sleeping quarters which were canvas stretched three rows high and which was taken down during the daytime when it was made into a dining room by letting down long tables that at night was hooked up to the ceiling but let down as hanging tables that would not spill when the ship tossed and rolled in the ocean waves.
The forward part of this dining room - without any partitions either - was filled with Cattle ; one day about noon a big long-horned steer got loose and went on a rampage tossing the tables and spilling everything all over the place; as the dishes were all tin none were broken.
Our Bill of Fare was "Hard Jack and Salt Horse". The Hard Jack was sea biscuits about the size of a saucer so hard that it took a hammer to break them. We had to soak them in tea to bite them. The Salt Horse was corned beef (and it was said horse meat too) so dry and salty that boiling it did not take the salt taste out. This without either milk or sugar was the fare for each meal day after day. The children and I think the women also got one slice of white bread once a day - some of us children used to hang around the kitchen where cabin passenger meals were prepared and the cooks would occasionally pass us out a piece of pie or a bun which was a great treat.
The men always ate at the first table - that is the first setting, then the women and children at a second and third setting - there were no seats so everyone had to stand up at the table and they were hung so high that I just could get my head above them - as a result the mothers generally had to feed their flock by handing down to them what there was, mostly Hard Jack that had been softened in tea.
After breakfast everyone had to go up to the upper deck where there were seats and also room to walk around and enjoy the fresh sea breezes. When passing Cape Hatteras there was a regular storm blowing when everyone was kept below with most of them seasick -several hundred women and children crowded into close quarters without any fresh air and sea sick in the bargain - however none died.
A few days after passing Cape Hatteras we got into the Gulf of Mexico, and the suffering from the heat began. At night below decks was just smothering and most of us boys used to stow ourselves away on the upper deck before being ordered below at night, hiding behind the smokestacks or under the life boats, and then pass the nights where it was cool. I think the sailors sympathized with us and they never tried to chase us down although they must have seen us in hiding.
It took about two weeks sailing from New York to Aspinwall, where we landed one morning and stayed until noon.
Friday, June 10, 2011
Chapter 1. Abraham Lincoln has been shot
Introduction: My grandfather, Donald Hector Currie (1860 - 1956), was born on a rural homestead in the Ottawa Valley. Late in life he decided to write his history and has left 55 handwritten pages of his memories from 1860 to 1911. I have left it unedited just as he has written it. It is quite a remarkable story that I will leave you to judge for yourself. This was the era of the horse and buggy and oil lamp. The telephone, the light bulb and phonograph invented in the late 1870's weren't in common use until much later and it was the turn of the century before they arrived in the small towns along with the silver screen.
If you have any insights or comments please make use of the space for comments at the end of each chapter.
As a test of memory and expression of same I have now set out to put down some of those recollections for the entertainment of children and grandchildren who might be interested.
My earliest recollection was that of hearing discussed the assassination of President Lincoln and Johnson succeeding him as President. This was in a conversation between my mother and her Aunt Sally and at the time I thought it referred to some neighbour of hers of that name.
I started going to school when six years old and on the way had to pass a farm where they kept a big flock of geese that always seemed to be on the road and would chase my sister Dolly and myself and scare us nearly to death with their hissing and wing flapping.
The school house was small log building with desks around the two sides and made of boards fastened to the walls like shelves only slanted. The seats were long benches without backs, as I remember well, were too high for my feet to reach the floor. I had a big dog that accompanied us to school and lay under my seat and I would rest my feet on his back. The teacher was an old Scotchman of whom my only recollection is that he talked in Gaelic and Latin and I guess paid but little attention to the small children as I can't remember anything then learned.
At that time we were living on a bush farm at the Western end of the settlement; most of the farm still had to be cleared; that is the trees cut down and burned before any crops could be put in. One time when I was out with my mother picking berries we nearly stepped on a bear when crossing a log. Before I really knew what it was mother had dropped her pail of berries, picked me up and streaked for home. The bear did not follow. I imagine he found the pail of berries more to his liking.
A year or so after this our house caught fire, and as father was away at the time, and no neighbours nearby it burned to the ground with but little clothing and furniture saved.
After the fire we moved down to Grandfather Maclean's** old homestead, a big log house with clapboards over the logs and painted white. It had a big fireplace that took up almost all one end of the house which was all they had for both cooking and heating. In my day this had been built in* and stairs took its place. The heating stove in the living room was a big two story box stove that took three foot long sticks of wood and warmed up the whole house. The windows were large with small panes of glass about 6 inches by 8 inches in each. It was an open house and kept hat way.
In the winter there would always be calls from French beggars who would come with their bag for a dish of flour or oatmeal, or a piece of meat. I remember one day we had an old Scotch bachelor who lived at the other end of the settlement who came for dinner or supper. After the first course of meat and potatoes a big bowl of preserves was passed to him first, the usual thing being that the guest would help himself to as much as he wanted then then pass it along to others. in this case however he our guest said, "this o'er much for me" and set it down in front of him and ate the whole thing - much to our disappointment as we got none that time.
I attended the same school from grandfathers as before but this time had a lady teacher - a second cousin- who boarded with us and made my life miserable at home as well as in school. She would make me learn my multiplication tables at home and hear them before she would let me go to bed. If forgotten when I was called on to say them in school then the birch switch vigorously applied, and to add insult to injury would send me out to get a switch with orders to get a big one.
It was in June 1869 *** that we packed up and left for California and the joy of leaving this teacher was more than the sorrow of parting with others.
* enclosed
** Donald Maclean (1786 - 1879), his grandfather on his mother's side emigrated from Scotland in 1829
*** he was 9 years old when he left for California
If you have any insights or comments please make use of the space for comments at the end of each chapter.
| Abe Lincoln |
My earliest recollection was that of hearing discussed the assassination of President Lincoln and Johnson succeeding him as President. This was in a conversation between my mother and her Aunt Sally and at the time I thought it referred to some neighbour of hers of that name.
I started going to school when six years old and on the way had to pass a farm where they kept a big flock of geese that always seemed to be on the road and would chase my sister Dolly and myself and scare us nearly to death with their hissing and wing flapping.
The school house was small log building with desks around the two sides and made of boards fastened to the walls like shelves only slanted. The seats were long benches without backs, as I remember well, were too high for my feet to reach the floor. I had a big dog that accompanied us to school and lay under my seat and I would rest my feet on his back. The teacher was an old Scotchman of whom my only recollection is that he talked in Gaelic and Latin and I guess paid but little attention to the small children as I can't remember anything then learned.
At that time we were living on a bush farm at the Western end of the settlement; most of the farm still had to be cleared; that is the trees cut down and burned before any crops could be put in. One time when I was out with my mother picking berries we nearly stepped on a bear when crossing a log. Before I really knew what it was mother had dropped her pail of berries, picked me up and streaked for home. The bear did not follow. I imagine he found the pail of berries more to his liking.
A year or so after this our house caught fire, and as father was away at the time, and no neighbours nearby it burned to the ground with but little clothing and furniture saved.
After the fire we moved down to Grandfather Maclean's** old homestead, a big log house with clapboards over the logs and painted white. It had a big fireplace that took up almost all one end of the house which was all they had for both cooking and heating. In my day this had been built in* and stairs took its place. The heating stove in the living room was a big two story box stove that took three foot long sticks of wood and warmed up the whole house. The windows were large with small panes of glass about 6 inches by 8 inches in each. It was an open house and kept hat way.
In the winter there would always be calls from French beggars who would come with their bag for a dish of flour or oatmeal, or a piece of meat. I remember one day we had an old Scotch bachelor who lived at the other end of the settlement who came for dinner or supper. After the first course of meat and potatoes a big bowl of preserves was passed to him first, the usual thing being that the guest would help himself to as much as he wanted then then pass it along to others. in this case however he our guest said, "this o'er much for me" and set it down in front of him and ate the whole thing - much to our disappointment as we got none that time.
I attended the same school from grandfathers as before but this time had a lady teacher - a second cousin- who boarded with us and made my life miserable at home as well as in school. She would make me learn my multiplication tables at home and hear them before she would let me go to bed. If forgotten when I was called on to say them in school then the birch switch vigorously applied, and to add insult to injury would send me out to get a switch with orders to get a big one.
It was in June 1869 *** that we packed up and left for California and the joy of leaving this teacher was more than the sorrow of parting with others.
* enclosed
** Donald Maclean (1786 - 1879), his grandfather on his mother's side emigrated from Scotland in 1829
*** he was 9 years old when he left for California
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