Memoirs of

Born August 9, 1898, First born

Ste. Croix Co. Lotbiniere, P.Q., Canada

Mother Alvine Ferland, Father Gaudias Bouffard

Grandmother Elizabeth Bergeron, Grandfather Berthelemie Ferland

Grandmother Delina Foucher, Grandfather Elie Bouffard

My Memories of Canada 

        I can see the house where I was brought up to the age of 14 years. Two little bedrooms downstairs, my mother and father's bed against the wall and just enough room at the foot of the bed to go by and go and hide, a window and a little bed in a corner for the next to youngest and a crib for the baby. We would each have our turn to rock the baby by rocking him to sleep and the oldest had that responsibility, Ma had so much to do.

        In the summer we would help our father to plow the fields and I remember many times having walked besides the harrow (chorru) to lead the horse, I did the work of a boy who should have been the first born, and go to the barn to milk the cows and do the barn work, feed the cows, pigs and chickens.

        I remember more than one winter that Mama was alone with the children, it was no joke, big snow storms that would last three days, we couldn't see the barn, but the snow banks didn't stop me from playing outdoors. Our brother Albert would make us sleighs. It was fun.

        Outside of the two little bedrooms downstairs was the kitchen with the big stove. To cook the food, she would use the black stove which had doors that open and close, and Ma would cook her bread. In the uche in the back she would start the rising (levin) with potatoes and in the morning she would mix the dough, to get it to rise it would take all day. And at night she would put it in the oven, it would smell so good, we would eat almost all of it while it was warm, for dessert we would have it with molasses. The kitchen wasn't big, with a big table and a bench on the wall to seat half a dozen children. At all meals we had bread, we couldn't do without, we had to ask "Bread please" even if we didn't want any, anything else we didn't have to say "Please". We had gravy and potatoes, the gravy was made with slices of salt pork fried. With the fat, Mama made the sauce with water and flour. Only Papa could eat the fried pork, and it was good! Ma could make a meal with nothing.

        Upstairs is where the children slept, outside of the two babies who slept downstairs with Ma and Pa, and the other bedroom we didn't use except in the summertime for company, otherwise it was used for the loom to weave wool or bed covers, called catalogue. Talk of my room upstairs, you wouldn't believe it, we were about ten who slept in one room. A little window in the attic, three big beds and a crib, three or four for each bed, I assure you that Papa went upstairs many times to bring peace.

        Papa would come to the States to work at the mill to earn money to buy seeds to grow in the spring and to buy food. One winter it was Ma's turn to come to the States to work. She would stay with her mother, grandmother Ferland.

March 11, 1982 Sitting outside in the sun................

        It was me at the age of thirteen years who was in charge of the house with my sisters Merina, Marie Louise, Alice, and brothers Albert, and Leo; if she had brought the most mischievous Albert and Marie Louise it would have been easier to get along. It was Diana and Wilfred that were chosen because they were the prettiest. Poor Papa, he ate plenty of burned potatoes. It's unbelievable when I think of it, to spend the winter alone. I don't remember if we even went to school.

        In the summer we would go picking strawberries far out in the woods, we were proud to fill our dishes and come back home and clean them and eat them with cream when we had some. With the rest Mama would make pies and jam (confiture de garde) they didn't have time to go to waste. Blueberry time we would go to a neighbor called Boisvert, the land in front of our home, with our pans (Chaudiere). When it was time to come back Mama would hang a red rag and we would bring back what we had picked. To make a steamed pudding, she would use a great big iron pan and would roll pie dough, a row of blueberries and dough and many more rows with sugar, it was good, we had a good appetite!

        We were always glad when we had company (guests). My Uncle Joe Ferland (mother's brother) had the little room in the front and he would bring a large trunk. He was considered wealthy with nice clothes and it always smelled so good. To get back to company . . . In the summer, it was time for company from the United States, no one wanted to leave to stay at Uncle Joe Bouffard (father's brother), it was too strict there.

        One summer our Aunt Belgemire Mercier had the company bedroom, just a bed, my father added a closet outside the door. My aunt had with her Alma, Wilfred, and Evaneau Mercier (cousins) who were my age. Alma was two years older. I was glad to have an older cousin as a model. A nice summer day we were all playing outdoors, something cagey was going on in the house and my sister Marie Louise had discovered sewing and was making doll clothes. I was nine years old and I received a black head porcelain doll for my birthday that night. , we had never seen one, it was a joy (joie). They all wanted it. I had hidden it under Pa's pillow, Pa went to bed and crushed the doll, at my age it was a disaster.

        I don’t know how Mother managed with four more people to feed, we slept on the kitchen floor and our job was to wash dishes. Our cousin used to tell us to hurry so we could go and play outside.

        Summers seemed short, time to return to school and misery of the winter, we were young and didn't know the worries of our parents, no money, just potatoes, salt pork and flour in the cellar. The saddest winter I remember, I guess we had nothing to eat, Dad put up the house for sale with barn and land to be sold at auction. By the grace of God, on the day chosen, we had a big snowstorm and no one came. I don't know how we were saved.

        In the summer we had gypsies with big covered wagons, they used to tell us they collected kids, we would go and hide in the barn or we ran to the fields to our father, especially the ones who misbehaved were told the gypsies would take them. The biggest fear I had was one winter night, Ma and Pa decided to go spend an evening at neighbors Maurice Laliberte. I was in charge, I wanted all the children to go to bed and not make any noise. I wasn't brave, someone knocked at the door in the front of the house, "Who is there?" I asked. A man's voice answered, a voice I didn't know and can't understand, maybe English. I told him to "go to the neighbor's", there was someone there, they knew I was scared, no telephone, neighbor far away, there was no one there. I believe they came back. Believe me there was not much to do for fun, except playing cards with the neighbors (quartre sept was the name).

July 12, 1986

P.S. I want to say a few more words

Papa Gaudias Bouffard and Mama Alvine Ferland were married in Fall River, Mass., May 30, 1897 in Ste-Anne School before the big church was built. A year after, my dad didn't want to work in a mill all his life, went back to Canada to work on the farm and raise a big family.

Eva

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