Aunt Sadie: Life on the Farm, Part 1

My Aunt Sadie

My grandparents, David and Edith Crabtree, had 13 children between the years of 1900 and 1928. By 1985, five of them had died: Jesse (1950), Beecher (1964), David, Jr. (1974), Clifford (1981), and Alma (1984). 

My Aunt Sadie (Sarah Norma Crabtree) had been married twice;  her second husband, Joseph Ariale, died in 1977 and her first husband, Joseph Ayotte, in 1987. She never got over burying her beloved son, Dickie Ayotte, who died in a plane crash in 1981 at age 43. She must have been very grateful for her daughter, Jane (we called her Janie), and her grandchildren. I know that Sadie loved Janie's son, Joey, very much and he was very good to her.

Starting in 1993, Sadie grieved again and again as sister after sister died: Hope in 1993, Anna in 1996, Bess in 1997, Elva in 1998, Lois in 1999, Faith in 2001, and Gladys in 2002. Sadie was the last of the Crabtree siblings, and this is what she wrote in her My Memoirs (unpublished, undated manuscript, written sometime between 2002 and 2009, and all typed up by her grandson, Joey):

I thought I was so clever to outlive all my family but I feel like a marionette with all the strings cut. So alone and so lonely. 

I would like to share with you what Sadie wrote about her early days on the family's farm in Beaconsfield, New Brunswick, Canada.

I was born January 14, 1920. The flu epidemic that killed millions after World War I was raging and our household was down with it (except Hope). Mama had just gone through the worst labor of her whole life; I was a breech birth (which today would mean an immediate Cesarean). I was told it lasted three days. The nearest doctor was ten miles away over roads impassable with snow. I weighed 5 pounds and Hope took me in her bedroom and saved my life. Mama would hug me and say, "You were so much trouble, but I love you anyway." 

Sadie and her older sister,
Hope, who saved her life

So, my earliest memories are of Beaconsfield. Our nearest neighbors, the Bartleys, had eleven children, etc. etc. all through the settlement--kids galore. Too bad [President] Bush wasn't around, he might have taught them abstinence. The only known birth control was nursing the baby.  

We each had a counterpart in the Bartley family. Gladys and I had Herman and Austin. 

The mode of travel was horse and wagon or horse and buggy. If a Model T Ford went by, everyone ran out to see it.  

Everyone had an outhouse. The Bartleys felt a little superior because they had a three-holer and ours was only two. The Sears and Roebuck catalog served as toilet tissue but the shiny pages were very popular.  

The neighbors were very good to us. Gladys was very shy so she would nudge me to ask for a cookie. We were never refused. 

Next: A Runaway Horse

Aunt Alma: Memories

Young Alma; she is also the fourth from the left in the
front row of the family photo used as the header for this blog

Alma was my mother's oldest sister, the first child born to their parents. When she was born on August 20, 1900 in Easton, Maine, her father, David, was 25 and her mother, Edith, was 20. 

My mother Elva, born in 1914, says that by the time she was growing up, some of her older brothers and sisters had already left home. When Alma married George McLellan, my mother was only 6 years old, so the oldest of Alma's children weren't that much younger than my mother. 

Because our immediate family lived out in California, far from most of my mother's relatives, I only got to see my Aunt Alma a few times. The time I remember best was when Alma visited our family in 1955. She would have been 55 and I was 11 and in the sixth grade. 

Alma took me to church, because she never missed a Sunday. She found a church close enough for us to walk. It was an Assembly of God, which I see via Wikipedia originated from the Pentecostal revival of the early 20th century that made a huge impact on my mother's family. The service was nothing like the one in the quiet and conservative Presbyterian church I was used to: The praying was loud, and the music was absolutely wonderful. I never forgot that experience. 

Here is another memory of Alma. This one is from my cousin, Cheryl Blakely, daughter of Alma's sister Faith:

I remember back when I was maybe 15 or 16, Alma and I used to write to each other lot. She had such a youthful mindset. It was more like she was a teenager than a woman in her 60's. She told me of how she'd go over to the retirement home across from the assisted living place where she lived and play piano for the "old folks" on Sunday. Heck, half of them were probably younger than she was. Lol. She thought it was such a scandal when she married Guy [Nickerson]. Oooh...she was 72, he was only 69....a younger man.

A third memory comes from Sheila Lafferty, a librarian at the University of Connecticut, who kindly contacted me with information about Alma:

My family came from Aroostook [Maine] Pentecostal roots and knew the Crabtrees very well. Some are in ministry and still have close ties with the family. I knew Alma as a young person and she taught me how to quilt in my early teens. 

Alma was so sweet to the three of us young girls, and we will always remember her kindness. And now, I would like to share a news clipping that Sheila sent to me. It's an amazing story about Alma and her family.

Mother Of Five Veterans Has Two More Enter Service, By Joseph Stofko
The Hartford Courant (1923-1987); Aug 24, 1952;
ProQuest Historical Newspapers: Hartford Courant (1764-1987)
pg. A6A

Plainville [Connecticut], Aug. 23 [1952].When Robert McLellan, 22, and his brother Murray, 20, leave Monday for their joint enlistments in the Marine Corps, their mother, Mrs. Alma McLellan, will say goodbye to the sixth and seventh of her sons to don armed services uniforms. During World War II, her five eldest sons, Russell, John, Lawrence, Eugene and Arnold, all served in various branches of the service.
"And that isn't the end yet," said Mrs. McLellan, "my eighth and ninth sons are already asking when I might sign up for their enlistments. Ivan is 16 and Daryl is 15, so that won't come about too soon." The family lives at 141 Whiting St., and also includes two daughters, Audrey and Jane. 

Five Run Garage Speaking of the older boys' service, Mrs. McLellan explained that Russell and John both served in the Army during World War II. Although they did not travel together, one followed the other through campaigns in North Africa, Italy, Belgium, and Germany. Lawrence was a member of the Seabees and saw duty in the Pacific Theatre. Eugene served as a member of the occupation army in Germany, and Arnold, a member of the National Guard, returned July 1 from service in Germany. These five boys, she said, have banded together and now operate the Highway Service Co., Main St., New Britain. 

Raised Family Alone Mrs. McLellan, who is also the grandmother of five children, has had the sole responsibility of rearing her family for the past seven years, [since] just before the youngest, Jane, was born. Few mothers in the country have seen so many sons in the service. 

Caption for accompanying photo [not included here for copyright reasons]: Left to right above are Lawrence, 27; Eugene, 25; Ivan, 16; Arnold, 24; Daryl, 15; John, 29; Murray, 20; Mrs. Alma McLellan; Robert, 21; and Russell, 30. Murray and Robert are joining the Marines; Ivan and Daryl, high school students, assist part-time in the service station. 

One last note: Alma's boys were handsome, at least if they were anything like Murray. He stopped by to visit my family in San Francisco when he was on leave and he stole my [7-year old] heart!