Campbell's Creek In the Forties And Fifties

Florence MacDonald

Florence MacDonald and her husband Mike wrested a good living from the sea and off the land. From early morning to late night, Mrs. MacDonald worked hard to raise her family, keep a good home and help in the gardens. It was a hard but healthy life.

I WAS BORN IN BOSWARLOS in 1919. Florence Janes. I married Mike MacDonald from Campbells Creek. His sister and her husband - a fisherman - had a nice-sized little farm and I used to work there. He used to come and visit his sister and that's how come I met up with him.

They had six milch cows. It was hard work to milk six cows morning and evening, and do housework too. I fed the calves and the pigs. There was a lot of outdoor work to be done.

They made their own hay. I helped at turning the hay over, and then helped in the house. There was a lot of hard work. You worked hard them days for five dollars a month.

Those days, when they were twenty or twenty-five years of age, young people built their own homes. Mike lived with his brother and his mother, so I suppose he figured some day he would move out and get married.

He had the house built ten years. It wasn't quite finished but it was liveable. It was good enough to live in. To build your house, you only needed the nails and your felt, because you cut all your own wood and got it sawed. You had everything, except glass and lime. It had wood shingles on it, and it wasn't painted for a long time.

My husband Mike was a fisherman out of Campbells Creek. He was older than I was. He died about fifteen years ago. He was eighty-three.