I have often thought I’d try to paint a word picture of my old home town Bruce Mines
for my children and grandchildren and perhaps great grandchildren to read. My parents,
John Andrews and Louisa Hotten, came to this village direct from England - mother having come with her mother and
rest of family across the ocean in a sailing ship and took about four months to arrive. They set
sail from Plymouth but their home town was called Camborne. Father’s home town was
Redruth and I am not sure when he arrived in Bruce Mines, but a number of Cornish miners were brought out to work in
the newly opened copper mines and I fancy father was among this number.
Mother (Louisa Hotten) was about 12 years old and her twin sister
Jane Hotten, also a brother John who was the oldest of the Hotten family.
Grandfather Hotten was killed (in a mine I think) and later Grandmother Hotten, whose maiden name
was Jane Trevillion married an Irishman called
Michael Sullivan.
John Trevillion, a brother of Grandmother, and Michael Sullivan and others came to Bruce Mines in advance of their families.
This little village is situated in an almost land locked harbor on the Saint Mary’s river which
connects Lake Superior and Lake Huron. From Bruce Mines the river widens out into the Lake Huron and
in close proximity is a large island called St. Joseph’s. Then, lower down, is the much larger
island called Manitoulin. Sault. Ste. Marie at the junction of Lake Superior and the river of the
same name was about 50 miles N.W. of Bruce Mines.
In this country we were practically frozen in for five months of the year and no mail could come
through until the river froze over and then it is brought by dog team from the “Soo” where the mail
often got through much earlier on the American side. There are large rapids at this point and to
overcome which, canals have been built. It is an interesting experience to go through the canal on a
large boat called a cigar boat, which I did, and to watch the water boil up until the canal was on
the level of the upper lake, when the large gates would open and the ship sail out and on into Lake Superior.
At Bruce Mines there was a very long dock to go over to get to the boat and in this harbor there was
a gap, some islands, and then open space and then another island to be rounded before the boat
turned into the harbor. The first boat was joyfully received by the natives. Sometimes she would
plough through considerable honeycomb ice before she could dock and sometimes she could not get
through. As a child I remember the coming of the first boat best as she brought oranges and so the
first boat meant every child got an orange.
Those were the days when householders provided food for winter: half a carcass of beef, a hog or
two, a kig (sic) or two of Lake Superior whitefish salted down.
Several barrels of apples would be in the cellar and of course potatoes and vegetables. Every
household had a cow and some chickens. My earliest remembrance was when I had licked (with finger
and thumb I suppose) the clotted cream off a pan of milk in the cupboard - my father having tried to
shame me for doing so.
I have not many remembrances of my father, being only ten years old when he died. He was ill for
three years - was able to walk - took good long walks with his big cane to support him and a big
Hudson Bay overcoat to keep him warm. He died of miner’s consumption.
There were four children younger than myself. I can remember when
Joe was born and old Granny Harris
was the midwife as I think she was with most of us. Later the Harris family moved to the Soo where
she died, but I think the rest of the family are still living there.
I can well remember sitting up with my father when he was ill in bed. I would sit up until 10
o’clock and then mother until morning. Father was a local preacher and I have been told he was a
fine speaker. He taught me to read and write and I don’t think I went to school much before I was
ten years old. I can actually see my father’s hands and finger nails now - many ridges on the nails.
There was a fairly large round faced clock hanging on the wall at the foot of his bed and one night
he said, “Minnie, that is to be your clock, you have been a good girl to sit up with me.” I am sure
I must have dozed off to sleep very often.
Father had many good friends who regularly visited him in his illness. Mr. J. B. Dobie,
Uncle Tommy Collins, Editor Biggings of “The Pioneer” (Soo
paper) etc. Also the Ableson family were old friends. It was from Tom Ableson I heard considerably
about my father. Mr. Ableson’s son Vern was a pharmacist in Victoria, B.C. later on.
I well remember the day my father passed away It was in the month of May (perhaps 1878). I was lying
on the couch and he said to a friend who was visiting him: “Mark the perfect man and behold the upright
for the end of that man is peace”. He said this a few minutes before he passed away. He did not
want mother to spend any money to get a headstone for his grave as he thought she would need all the
money to raise the family. She was left with seven children, the youngest (Joe) not two years old
and the oldest not yet 20. John, the oldest soon went over to
the “States” to get work, after some years Tom also
followed. There was no work for the boys in the village so they went to the U.S.
A few words about Mother. She was not very strict with the family and I fear they often caused her
much worry. She worked hard, went out to wash for a few families - knit mitts for the shanty men -
loggers we call them now. She used to have an income from her invested money which Uncle Collins
managed for her. She had a cow, chickens and a pig so as children we were well fed. I used to knit
mitts too. These were made of two color yarns such as red and black, or, red and gray and they were
very warm. They were sold in the general store run by George Marks and taken in trade for groceries.
When I was about 12 I used to go to work at my grandmother’s for 25¢ for two Saturdays - all of
the things I had to do - scrub the floors, sweep and dust and clean (polish) grandfather’s shoes for
Sunday. The men kept their shoes for Sunday wear and so as every man walked up the aisle in church
his shoes made a pleasant squeaking sound.
I am beginning to grow up now and thought my work at grandmother’s was worth 25¢ for one
Saturday and of course she had to pay me that. They both were very niggardly, or should I say careful.
About 15 years of age I decided I wanted to be a school teacher, so I was able to apply myself
diligently and my class went up for examination for to get a teacher’s certificate. There were only
four of us, Martha McDowell, Albert Hodgson, Will Hodgson and myself, Minnie Andrews. The Hodgson
boys came out to B.C. as also Martha after teaching a couple of years at her old home in Ottertail -
then she came West and eventually married and settled in Vernon, B. C.
I taught one year at Hilton on St. Joseph’s Island, two years at Ansoina, one year at McEwans Corner
and three years at Bruce Mines. My certificate was only issued for three years. at the end of that
time I went up for exam again and got another one for three years. Then I wanted a change and went
to Toronto to a business college. Ethlene Row went with me, she studied music.
We moved from the Bruce to Sault Ste. Marie when I was about 23. Forgot to say I began to teach when
I was only 17. After coming back from Toronto I got a job in a store as a bookkeeper. In the
meantime I had been pursued by a dear man I married in June 1892. We rented for a time but soon
bought a nice large lot in the heart of Sault Ste. Marie on Brock Street and there we built a nice
home. As we got nicely settled - new carpet, new furniture, etc. it seemed everyone had the bug “Go
west young man” so accordingly, Frank went out to Manitoba but he came home in six months. Later he
went to Alberta and started a blacksmith shop in Vegreville and I followed. The little town was to
move to the railroad as soon as it got thru (the C.N.R.) so we were thankful to have a log house,
sod roof and until the town moved to the new town. I think it was two years.
We surely had a good time in this little town called Vegreville and made many good friends, the
Clement family in particular. Frank had a blacksmith shop there and worked very hard. Lots of horse
shoeing, plough shares to sharpen, wagon tires to be put on. He worked early and late and eventually
his health broke, heart overworked. On advice from our doctor we moved to the coast for a lower
altitude, settled in Victoria, B.C., but I must go back in my history to say the two oldest
children, Myrtle Theodora and
Edgar Andrewartha were born in the 800 in 1893 and
1899, and Olive Evelyn and
Frances Eileen were born in Vegreville in 1907 and 1910.
We lived in Victoria on Avesbury Avenue until February 1927 when we followed our eldest daughter and
moved to Portland, Oregon.
Victoria is a beautiful city but not much that Frank could find to do in his line so twice he went
back to Alberta and finally we came to Portland to make our home. Here Frank passed away on 3rd
February 1941. He had been struck down by an auto and six ribs broken. The shock of this affected
his nervous system and he never really got over the effect of it.
When Frances was six months old we moved to Victoria B.C. and times were good. Frank got work but
after a few years there was a big change - World War I was responsible. My son Edgar was a bugler
and joined up with the Ammunitions Column (at 16 years). In the meantime Frank went overseas with
the Mechanical Contingent, was taken sick in England and returned home the next year; but Edgar was
over until the end of the war. He came home and bought a motorcycle by which he later met a terrible
accident and had his leg broken (compound fracture) and later he broke the other leg by a backfire
of the cycle.
Frank could not find work in Victoria in his line so he went back to the prairie - Tuthbridge - and
so it kept up that he had to be away from home to get work.
Myrtle, our oldest, married W.H. Pollard 18th December 1920 and moved to Portland and we decided to
leave Canada and live in the U.S. Edgar took up radio and got a job on a coastguard ship. Olive at
the age of 16 went to St. Joseph’s Hospital to train for a nurse where she remained for four years,
we having moved to Portland.
Frances went to business college and then got work with Western Union as an operator. She was married
15th September 1930 to Donald Bradley Evans when only 20 years old.
Olive came over after she graduated and got employment in North Pacific College where she remained
for several years. Wanting a change she went to San Diego, California and got work in a doctor’s
office. Later (11th December 1935) she married Gilbert Burns Doster. At the time of writing she has
a wee daughter called Alenna (Mia).
I want to add a few lines about
Grandmother
Sullivan and her relatives. John Trevillion, a brother, a big burly man with a voice like thunder, her sister
Elizabeth came from England to live with them and married a man called Jackson. She had two girls,
Fanny and
Minnie. Her husband was a drunkard and led her a hard life. A brother of hers,
Stephen Trevillion was a captain in a mine in Cornwall.
A sister called Vosper went to Australia and en-route was shipwrecked and had to
live for some time on breadfruit (am not able to follow the case - I was only a child at the time
but able to write letters to my grandmother). Her first husband was killed in the mine. Later she
married Michael Sullivan by whom she had three children. She had an uncle called Wm. Carvossa
who was a very great worker for the Lord.
Written by Mary Jane Andrews Morrison - 1945