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I am going to try to write a family history to leave to my children. It will be simply written but hopefully, will give them some idea of the last three generations of the Pierce's.

My Grandfather John Pierce and his brother Sam settled on a few acres of land in Pierce's Crossroad near the head of Smith's Bay. John Pierce then came to the Bayside and bought a farm of 100 acres from Lewis Minaker paying about $17 an acre. John married a Minaker girl. The first house they occupied around 1851, was situated on top of the hill, overlooking the Bay of Quinte and was small built of logs. The fairly large barn was also atop the hill, and their water supply came from wells. The present or original east half of the house was built in 1860 by John Pierce and the newer or west part added on many years later.

I can only remember my great grandfather as an old man walking with two canes. He lived in the east half of the house and was cared for by Sara Anne Pierce, a spinster. She had a home there until John died and then she went to live with the Burley's in Cressy. He was a builder of wagons, sleighs, dog churns, etc. anything that was used in those days. I can remember he had a blacksmith shop in the drive-house along the roadside which still stands, there was a forge with tongs, anvil, all types of woodworking tools, adzes, broad axes which were 10 - 12 inches wide and wooden planes. He built sleighs, one which I used on the farm for many years. He also built large hand sleighs, one which I loaned to the North Marysburg museum, which I hope stays there.

I remember as a little boy trying to push my great grandfather off the verandah. There is a picture of four generations of Pierce men in existence. I recall only slightly his funeral held from the home and my little brother Elmo being warned by my mother, if he was not a good boy they would take him away in the big black hearse.

My grandparents Levi and Fannie Pierce lived in a number of places in North Marysburg. Clarence, my father, was born in Cressy. The first remembrance of them was living in Waupoos at a house now owned by Ray Ostrander. I can remember going with my father to an old mill, originally built for water power, but powered at that time by a gasoline motor to have grists ground.

My grandfather Levi operated this mill. We had the opportunity of visiting this mill in 1983, along with my sister Ruth and her husband. It has been converted into a home by a Toronto journalist, and much of the original stone-work and beams have been retained, it was a real privilege to see it.

Levi owned and operated a threshing-machine, threshing grain for many of the farmers in the area. He also went to Cressy and I have been told he took it over to Waupoos Island to help out the farmers there, one was Alexander Shannon who was married to a Martha Pierce. A woman who came from Waupoos Island originally, told how Levi enjoyed eating there, as there was a large family who sat around a huge table and seemed to have such a wonderful time. He was an agent for Saury Massey threshing-machines and handled parts. I can remember him telling about sending for a blower to be delivered to Picton, Ontario, and it ended up in Pictou, Nova Scotia.

He sold the grist-mill on the Waupoos road and bought a small farm with an apple orchard near Waupoos village. There is a lovely stream flowing through the property, and the pretty white house still stands. I can remember along with Elmo driving a team of horses on a democrat over to Grampa Pierce's place to gather hickory nuts. He had several very tall trees on the farm. I climbed up the tree and knocked the hickory nuts down with a stick, I picked one large one up and dropped it on Morely Weaver's head, he got angry and went home. His wife Fannie was not well at the time and they hired a girl from the north, named Anna. She later married Jimmy Jones, and always said she loved that place, he bought it from Levi and they live there today (1984).

They moved to bayside, back to the Pierce homestead and lived in the east side of the house. At that time he was not able to work very much. I can remember he would drive the buggy when we boys went to get the cows at the rear of the farm. One time when he was driving out I was ploughing with a walking plough, I caught the plough on a flat stone, so I slid it up over the stone and continued with my work. That night Grampa said he wanted to see me, I went around and he told me that was not the right way to plough, I should have backed up the horses and dislodged the stone. Needless to say, I was not too happy with his advice. I can remember helping to clean out a cross-fence on the farm and he was stumbling around trying to help dad and I.

His wife Fannie died on February 7, 1938, and was laid to rest in the living room. She was buried in the Anglican Church cemetery in Waupoos. He lived there by himself and came around to Mother and dad's for a couple of hot meals a day. I can remember he was annoyed about his milk supply, and trying to be independent, he bought a goat and kept it in the drive-house. It really smelled, and when he was the only one who would milk it, he soon disposed of it.

Dad's brother Oscar, in the Marchant calculator business in Toronto, used to come down to see his father quite often and usually stayed with him.

Grampa Pierce gave me a 1928 Wippet car, there were strings attached, I had to drive him to Church at Waupoos every Sunday. I recall along with a group of young guys, driving the Wippet to Toronto, stopping at most of the gas stations along the way. We made quite a picture driving up Bay Street about 5 p.m. with suitcases tied to the side of the car. One of the boys on his first trip to Toronto was amazed at the sparks flying off the electric street cars. I dealt it up there for another car.

Grampa Pierce failed a great deal and developed pneumonia. He was in the Prince Edward County Hospital for some time before he died on March 8, 1944.

My father Clarence Bertram Pierce was born on March 2, 1889. I do not know too much about his boyhood, but expect he helped out on the farm. He had two brothers and three sisters. They were Oscar, Archie, Nellie, Edna and Grace. Oscar went to school and became a school teacher. He taught at the South Bay School and then he became involved very successfully in the Marchant Calculator business in Toronto. Archie was at home on the farm. Nellie married an Anglican minister and lived in Virginia, U.S.A. most of her life. Mother and dad were taken on a nice trip to visit Nellie and her husband several years ago by Evelyn and Elmo. They also visited Nashville and several places of interest in New England. Another sister, Edna Mayes lived in England with her daughter for many years and died there. There was also a younger sister, Grace Darling who died of pneumonia at the age of 15.

As a young man he decided to leave the farm because Archie was able to do the work. He traveled west on an excursion train because it was an inexpensive way to travel. He sent one suitcase with his belongings ahead to Winnipeg and packed another one with newspapers to carry with him. He was supposed to stop off to help with harvest, but instead he went on to Winnipeg. It would have been July or August. He got a job in construction and worked on the Fort Gary Hotel which is still standing. We saw it on our trip out west with Arthur and Ruth in 1968. He worked here until the winter came and it was very cold with lots of snow and decided to find a warmer climate. He traveled to California to work for his uncle in the orange groves and packing house for citrus fruit. He also worked at a hardware store for some time, he asked the owner for a raise and was refused, but the son offered him a substantial increase but dad told him he was leaving, even though they begged him to stay.

Later he found work on the gold dredgers which floated, operating in the inlets and river bottoms. They would dredge up earth and by the water flowing through it some gold might be discovered. He told of one time when he jumped into a row boat, which he used to get himself back and forth to the dredgers, and hearing a noise in the bottom of the boat discovered a rattlesnake. He jumped out of the boat leaving it to his passenger. He also told of being knocked off one of the dredgers into the muddy water. He went from this work to working in the oil fields at Bakersfield, California. He worked there for some time and was a gang foreman. He often said had he stayed there he would have had a much easier life and perhaps been a wealthier man. Bakersfield was the site of the first large oil discovery in the U.S.A., it is about 300 miles from the coast of California. We had the opportunity to stay overnight here on our California trip in 1983, although I suppose it does not resemble the town as he knew it 75 years ago. I imagine he spent from about 1908 to 1915 out there.

With pressure from his parents to come home and take over the farm, he returned to Bongard's. Archie had married a Storms girl and moved to a farm in Greenbush. Dad had known and dated Viola McCornock before he went to California and renewed their friendship when he returned. They were married December 23, 1916 and moved into the west side of the house which had been built several years earlier. The telephone had been installed in 1908, a private system by Cooke and McCaw. Dad told me service was terrible and told them to come and fix it or take it out. As there were so many subscribers on the line they removed it. It was several years later before we had a telephone.

I was born at home, on the farm, on August 25, 1918 and was named Ralph Bertram, followed in a year by my sister Ruth born November 9, 1919. Mother thought she had her family, but John Elmo came along on November 29, 1920. Seven years later another son Norman Levi was born on February 24, 1927.

The barn was built in 1914. A section of the old barn from its original position on top of the hill was moved and added onto. He had a herd of 14 - 16 milch cows, had several horses and raised some colts. There were 12 acres in two apple orchards. These were taken out when my brother and I took over the farm in about 1949.

I can remember dad having a saw for sawing logs powered by the steam-engine that was used for the threshing-machine in the fall. Once a farmer brought a large knotty log which they were unable to saw, and I can remember it just lying there and rotting down. Dad worked very hard and it was the depression years about 1930-1931. I can remember my dad taking a load of hogs to market to ship and received $6.50 per hog. Milk was 40 cents a hundred pounds. Springer cows were selling for $40 a head. We picked tomatoes and delivered them to the factory for 25 cents for a 60 pound crate. We used to hire a man the odd time to help out when he was on the road for $1.00 a day.

Saturday was always a big night for us. Dad always said he had to take us boys to town, but I am sure it was to get himself there. One Saturday night he was supposed to bring a neighbor home and did not think of it until he got to his place and we had to go back to get him.

I can remember when we were quite young, dad drove uptown with the team and sleigh on the bay to Gram and Grampa McCornock's for Christmas, who lived on Jane Street in Picton. I also recall when Norman was born, dad drove an old touring car over Ross Eaton's hill, over the frozen snow banks and on up the bay to Picton to see mother. We came off at the C.S.L. docks in the harbour. I can also remember him telling me about coming home from Picton with a load of lumber on a sleigh, it was late March and there was lots of water on the ice, and it gave way at times. He fastened the halter shank to the draw bolt, in case the sleigh went through, he could get the team of horses free. He finally made it to Ross Eaton's point and the lumber had to be unloaded and brought home later. Another experience with thin ice was on a trip back from Waupoos Island where he went to get seed oats and the man told him there was plenty of ice, but when he started across he realized it was very thin, but he kept going and made it to the other shore.

Dad added to the original hundred acres by buying 100 acres of pasture land, four farms down the road for $1400.00 and securing the adjacent 75 acres known as the Minaker farm for $1200.00

He was a school trustee for several years and a director in the Waupoos cheese factory and attended conventions in Toronto in connection with the latter. Times were tough and money was scarce so when the Reeve, Mr. Alva Bowerman, approached him and asked if he would consider being foreman for a township road gang, who were working on the Rock hill at that time, he accepted. They used drill bars and sledge hammers to drill the holes for the dynamite. Wages at that time were poor, as the foreman, dad got 20 cents an hour and the men got 15 cents. If they could supply a team of horses they received 30 cents. He went on to work for the County Road System. Some of the jobs were building a road at South Bay, a bridge at the Outlet, another at Cressy, road work in Wellington and other areas of the County. I can remember him being home at times, during the war years, he helped to pick tomatoes and apples.

He was township road superintendent at the time of the fire which burned over a large area in Glenora. It burned down along the top of the mountain and was finally put out very close to the property we owned and where we built our new house. You can still see the charred remains of large trees. Men were brought out from Picton and supplied with food from local restaurants. Dad said he was sure fires were purposely set to keep the men working, as it was depression time and there were lots of men unemployed. I can remember my father also saying they found rattlesnakes in the area.

I was married and my brother Norman married Melba Calnan in 1951, so dad and mother bought a nice brick house on Barker Street in Picton for about $4000 and moved into town. The house belonged to Blake Harrison who lived across the bay near Adolphostown. Dad felt it was too soon for him to retire so he worked for Mrs. Mowbray, who owned a large farm and canning factory. He did mostly tractor work on the farm and in the factory he held various jobs, one in particular was processing creamed canned corn. The farm manager was Garfield Ellsbury and he was a hired man on our farm many years ago, so dad knew him well. He worked there 4-5 years.

He then secured a job at the old Prince Edward County Hospital. I feel it was on the recommendation of Mr. Herb Atherton, an engineer at the hospital that dad got this job as maintenance and general handy man. He knew Herb from his farming days, as he was a cheese maker at the Waupoos Cheese factory and they became good friends. His duties were many and varied, he ran errands, got the mail, cashed some of the girls cheques, put out supplies, cut the lawn and no doubt fixed lots of things around the place. They had large bills from Vanduson's for plumbing and boiler work and dad convinced them to hire Clapp and Jackson's, and he did a lot of the maintenance work himself, as a result their bills were much smaller. When the new hospital was built in 1959 he went over there, but he was getting older and nearing retirement age. He was there for a couple of years.

After retirement he still managed to keep busy. He had a large garden at the back of the house and this kept him occupied from spring to fall. He mowed his grass and looked after most of the chores around the property. He did some odd jobs around town along with an old friend of his, Ernie Welbanks. They worked for a couple of older women, Mrs. Wager and Mrs. Welbanks and it is perhaps ironic that I helped these two out after we came to town and still do chores for Mrs. Wager. They liked to play cards, particularly euchre, and had some old friends in every once in awhile for an evening.

He drove his car until he was about 80 years old, although we all felt he really was not capable. In 1971 he was driving to Peterborough and was involved in a small accident in Cobourg. I had to take him up the next day to pick up the car. After that we drove them to see Elmo and his family. We had purchased an apartment building on the corner of King and Ross Street and said there was an apartment for them. At first mother resisted, then they decided to sell their home and come down to live above us. He really liked it there, he was able to walk down street and come downstairs and sit in a big chair outside. There was a balcony off their apartment and he loved to sit out there and enjoy the sun and see the people walk by.

I can only remember him being ill a couple of times. When they lived on Barker Street he had shingles and was a pretty sick man. Dr. Murphy prescribed an ointment to apply and all it managed to do was make them worse. He stopped that treatment and he managed to clear them up, but I am sure he really suffered from the after affects for a long time. He became very ill again and had to have surgery, it was a bowel obstruction and Dr. Murphy scared the heck out of mother because he was sure it was cancer and told her so. He survived the surgery and never had any more problems in that area. I remember seeing him in the hospital with tubes in his nose and intravenous flowing, he was a sick old man.

He was getting more feeble all the time. He was stooped and used canes for awhile, then went to crutches. He slept a lot in the daytime and was awake during the night. He would get up and fall, then we would go up and help him back into bed. For about the last year he was not able to bathe himself, so I undressed him and got him into the bathtub and bathed him, put his pajamas on and put him to bed. If it was warm, as it often was, I have seen the perspiration run off the end of my nose. He was getting more difficult to manage all the time and it was getting to be a strain on mother, so when an opening came up at Picton Manor Nursing Home, where Doris was working at the time, we convinced her to have him admitted there on November 26, 1975. He had a private room for awhile. He was quite disoriented at times and had to be restrained. One night he wriggled out of the restrainer and fell out of bed, cutting his head. They would get him out of bed and sit him in a big chair, or put him in a geriatric chair, to go to the sitting room or dining room. He had to be fed and Doris often did this, as well as, give him his medication. Mother rarely went to see him as she became very reclusive in her later years.

He died on November 11, 1976 and his funeral was held on November 13 from the Whattam Funeral Home in Picton. Reverend Sherwin gave the message. His pallbearers were Kenneth and Stanley Hicks, Arthur McCornock, George Ackerman, all nephews, Percy and Harold Harrison. He was buried in the Cherry Valley Cemetery. I can remember the day, a chilly November wind blew across the knoll, where he was laid to rest. Some of the family came back to our place on King Street for a light lunch and a visit. It seems when families grow up and go their separate ways, the only times we see each other are weddings and funerals, seems a pity, though.

My mother, Edna Viola Pierce, was born on October 10, 1892 in the McCornock homestead, where Clair now lives. Her father, Dave McCornock, was a builder and built it for he and his wife, Annie. He also built barns in several places, he and a gang could erect a barn in a week.

She was a delicate child and spent most of her time indoors. She was not able to work outside, along with her sisters, Gracie and Edith. She was a writer of sorts, sent stories and poems to several country magazines. She also had pen pals and kept up a correspondence with them for several years. She was musical and took piano lessons as a young girl. She went to Toronto for a year to study music, but did not pursue it too far, as her nerves could not stand the city. It certainly must have been quite a change for a young country girl.

She attended high school because I can remember her telling me she got on a passenger boat at Bongard's dock and went into Picton, stayed there for the week and came back on Friday night. I do not know too much about her early years. Her brother, Clair, married Ethel Hicks and they lived on the homestead. Gracie married Harvey Hicks, Ethel's brother, and they lived next door to Pierce's. Edith was several years younger and married Norman Ackerman, moving to a farm on Royal Street, south of Milford.

Mother and dad were married December 23, 1916 and Ralph was born in 1918, Ruth in 1919 and Elmo in 1920. Needless to say, she was busy and I imagine having led such a sheltered life, raising three children, born a year apart, must have been a grueling experience. Another son, Norman, arrived seven years later in February 1927.

She helped at the barn when her family was young and liked flowers and had beds around the house. She liked gardening and had a small vegetable garden behind the house, there was always a raspberry patch and she sold some of the berries. The orchard provided plums and pears and she preserved lots of these for winter use, she also canned meat. We usually butchered two or three large pigs and the meat was pickled in brine and the hams were smoked. Apples were dried on racks over the kitchen stove. I can remember us sitting around the table and peeling them with an apple peeler.

Of course with a family there was always laundry that had to be done, no automatic washers and dryers were used then. Ironing was done by using an old flat iron heated on the stove. Other odd jobs that had to be done were the mending and darning of socks.

In late summer the threshing crews would be making the rounds and she could feed as many as fifteen men for two meals for a couple or three days. This meant a lot of preparation of meat, vegetables and lots of pies.

The farm usually had a flock of two or three hundred hens, the eggs were sold and mother had the egg money, which I suppose went mostly for groceries. We always had a nice fat chicken to eat every so often, not the skinny little things you find today. Their social life consisted mostly of family gatherings, card parties, etc. She belonged to the W.A., the United Church organization, at that time. She was not an experienced sewer, but did make some quilts. She gave most of them away, I know of two she gave Linda, one with a yellow pattern and a log cabin. When Norman and Melba were married in 1951 mother was enthusiastic about moving to town. She did go to Picton Church occasionally and joined one unit of the Women's group. She was hard of hearing and wore two hearing aids and it was difficult for her to hear in groups, so she gradually stopped going where she was unable to hear comfortably. Ruth sent her the batteries for the hearing aids and she used them sparingly, as a result she was always using stale batteries.

When I bought the apartment building and asked them to come down and live with us, she was reluctant to move because she did not think she would have the sleeping accommodation for Ruth and Gerry or Elmo and Evelyn and their families. They did come to King Street and had an upstairs apartment. I guess she realized dad was not able to look after their home on Barker Street. I think she enjoyed it there after they moved in, she did not have the responsibility any more. We helped them out more and more as they grew older. After she was not sure of herself going up and down to the basement, Doris did her laundry for her. At first she would go to get groceries, but later let us do all her shopping. She became more reclusive and only ventured out when she had to go to the Doctor, dentist, optometrist or to have her hair done.

She was an avid reader and really enjoyed her newspaper and kept abreast of world events. She also wrote many letters, she and her daughter Ruth never missed a week exchanging a letter. For many years she kept up with birthdays and always seemed to remember to send a card to her own family and several grandchildren.

She always looked forward to visits from her relatives, especially her sisters and their husbands. They always brought fresh produce from the farm which she enjoyed very much. It was always a special occasion when Ruth and Gerry or any of their family came to visit, they usually got the red carpet treatment.

She suffered from high blood pressure most of her later years and was on medication for it. For years she had "spells", they took the form of blackouts, I can remember her having them as far back as when we were children. Sometimes she knew when she was going to experience one of them and would be able to lie down on the floor, but if not, she had a few nasty falls. The doctors never did diagnose exactly what these blackouts were, but she could have one when she became extremely upset over something. She failed progressively over the years and we had been in the process of building a new house on a property we had bought on Glenora Road. Eric had the adjacent lot. We moved down there on April 18, 1979 and she stayed on at the apartment. A nurse friend of Doris', Olive Shipman, checked on her and we were in often, but I guess she minded not having us downstairs.

The three brothers decided she was not capable of being alone, so they gave her a choice of spending a couple of months with each of us or go into a nursing home. She was lucky enough to get a private room at Hallowell House on August 25, 1979, where I worked. Evelyn and Elmo came down and helped with things. Ruth, Gerry, Norman, Melba, Doris and I picked out things we wanted. Elmo took most of the furniture, all we wanted was a couple of dishes, of course she had slowly given away the greater part of her good things over the years. She adjusted well to life in the nursing home, had a nice room overlooking the parking lot, she could see me when I came to work. She fell and broke her hip and was admitted to Prince Edward County Hospital on September 21, 1979 where she stayed until January 2, 1980. It was only a hair-line fracture so there was no surgery or placing of a pin. She went back to the nursing home and most of the family visited her regularly. I brought her the paper every day and had a visit with her.

Things went along fairly well until mid-April when her breathing became labored and she complained of chest pains. Dr. Norris saw her on April 24, as Dr. Murphy was away, he admitted her to hospital, he suspected an aneurism. She seemed to have great difficulty breathing. We alerted the rest of the family. She passed away on April 26, 1980, in her 89th year. Her funeral was held on April 29, 1980 at the Whattam Funeral Home and she was buried in Cherry Valley beside dad. We all went up to Norman and Melba's for a lunch, her U.C.W. unit catered. She was the last of our parents to pass away, now we are the seniors.

I was born Ralph Bertram Pierce on August 25. 1918, the first son at home on the farm. I can not remember too much of my early childhood. I guess when Ruth and Elmo came along we used to play as most children did. One thing in particular we liked to do was turn all the chairs upside down and put blankets over them making houses to play in. The three of us had a play area at the back of the house. I can remember we dug a huge hole where we played with our little cars and things, had runways and holes to park in, we spent hours out there. We used to like to play in the straw after the threshing-machine had been there, all that lovely fresh, clean straw.

I did not start school until I was seven years old, a bit old according to today's standards, I never really liked school. One little incident I do remember about school was at noon we would run to the top of the side hill on our pasture farm and watch black snakes which had crawled out onto the stones to sun themselves. We would get back to the school yard before the hour was over.

The school was S.S. No. 3 about three-quarters of a mile east of our place. We usually walked to school, but once in awhile we were taken on sleighs in the winter time. It had the old desks and a pot-bellied stove in the centre of the room. The last three or four years I built the fires, then my brother, Elmo took over from me. I can remember my dad telling me when he was younger, he and Harvey Hicks went to the same school, Harvey was building the fires and dad had some gun powder which he had rolled up in some paper and threw in the aisle, Harvey picked it up and threw it in the stove, when it ignited the resulting explosion blew the door off the stove. The teacher strapped Harvey and he said it was not him, it was Pierce, by that time she was too tired to give dad much of a beating.

We used to play keely over, that was throwing a ball over the school roof, grabbing the ball and running around to the other side, touching a player, then he would be on your team. We used to lose a lot of balls in the belfry and it was my job to climb up and retrieve the balls.

One day Elmo had to stay in at recess and I peeked through the window and made a face at him, he threw an ink bottle right through the window, if I had not ducked it would have hit me right in the face.

Teachers that I can remember, one in particular was Cummings' Davern, who lived across the bay. He boarded at our place and hated to get up in the mornings. I have heard my mother say that she would call him three or four times, finally saying that it was 8:45 and he would tear out of the house without any breakfast and head for the school.

One particular incident about this teacher concerns a cold November morning when he was rowing across the bay, the boat was ice covered and when he scraped on the shore finally, it sunk from the sheer weight of the ice. He walked up the hill and telephoned from Os Hicks' to tell his parents he had arrived. When mother could not board him any longer he boarded at Joe Wright's in Rock Crossroad. I can see him yet walking over the snow banks across the fields to the school house.

Another teacher I can remember was Evelyn Herrington, she was from Consecon and when she was teaching here she went with Amos Hicks to more or less make her boy friend from Consecon jealous. One of my school mates was Gordon Norton, who has gone into politics and has been Reeve of North Marysburg for several years.

In the depression years, the spring when I was in my last grade in public school, I quit school to help on the farm as my dad took a job on the County Road. I never did pass my entrance and was 13 years old. I took over much of the responsibility of running the farm at that time. Dad was around at morning chore time and again at night. He always gave me advice, but said if I saw a better way of doing it to go ahead. Dad bought a tractor, plough and cultivator for $900. It was only used for preparing the fields because we could not afford to buy gas for it all year. I sowed all the grain, dragged and rolled all the fields with a team of horses and walked every foot of the way. I can remember the time when my hands would crack open and bleed from holding the lines, especially if I had a spirited team.

We had an apple orchard which we sprayed with an old sprayer, walked around under the trees shooting the spray up through the trees. We always grew six or more acres of tomatoes, planting them all by shovel. One incident I can remember was when I was cultivating tomatoes and I was pretty tired and laid down to have a little rest, I felt the reins being pulled from my hands and I woke to see the horse running away across the tomato patch, dragging the cultivator behind it.

Next comes the hay crop, it was all cut with a horse drawn seven foot mower, raked with a dump rake, coiled and stacked up in hay cocks, then pitched on a wagon drawn to the barn and put in the mow loose. Later on we had a hay loader, it picked hay from a windrow and put it up on a wagon. Then came the hay baler, I'm sure that Eric can remember when he wanted me to buy a stooker, he would do all the stooking, but after about a round of the hay field in all the dust and dirt of the day, he thought you would rather drive the tractor.

Next came the grain harvest. I can remember when I was 13 years old driving the horses, a team of three, on the grain binder cutting the grain. It was then stooked up by hand to dry to await threshing. A lot of the grain was drawn to the barn and put above the hay, then was threshed from there. The threshing machine came, powered by a steam engine and the grain sheaves were thrown from the mow and threshed.

The hardest job in the threshing process was in the straw mow when you had to mow away the straw and tramp it down. I can remember going in there with my dad, you could hardly breathe, you tied a red bandana around your nose and mouth to cut down on breathing the dust. It sure was not a pleasant job.

The grain came out in bushel measures and had to be carried to the granary. It took two men on the grain, four to six men in the mow, and two in the straw mow, an operator for the separator, one man firing the steam engine and one man on the water tank drawing water. There was usually a bunk-house on wheels for the crew. This is quite a contrast to the combine, when one man can cut the grain, and one man draw grain on a truck to the granary.

In the early years I did the ploughing with three horses on a gang plough walking at all times. I ploughed also with one horse on a walking plough. Another method was with a disc plough with two horses.

The manure was pitched on and off a wagon with side boards. We used to have to clean out the calf pens and box stalls by pitching it out the doors or windows.

As a boy our wood was all cut in the winter time. We had to go around the neighborhood and cut wood on shares so bought wood. We used crosscut saws on trees which were four feet through and with a six foot saw it did not leave much room to work with. This was all put on sleighs in sleigh lengths and drawn back to the barn yard to await the buzz-saw in the spring.

The cows were milked by hand. We usually had 12 to 14 when I was a boy. The milk at that time went into 30 gallon milk cans and was drawn to the factory on wagons. The whey was brought back and fed to the hogs. We had to tramp snow in the winter time to drive cows to get a drink of water. We had to haul water out by hand to water them. Later on when we fixed the barn over, we had water bowls, which was quite an improvement.

When we picked the apples they were packed in barrels (three bushel) and drawn to Bongard's dock where they were shipped to other markets. I can remember when dad traded the whole apple crop for a new car. Cheese and other produce were also shipped from here. Grain was shipped from Allison's dock across the bay from us.

Our tomato crop was transported to Cressy to a factory there and canned and I can remember cases of produce being shipped out from the docks. That factory is torn down now. Canned goods were also shipped out from the Canadian Steamship Lines in Picton. Elmo used to go up along with other young guys to load canned goods for shipment in the fall.

I can remember enjoying visiting our cousins, especially going to Royal Street to visit our cousins, the Ackermans. We went on family picnics, one in particular we went to Cobourg on mother's birthday, October 10, which was enjoyable. We saw the Cobourg ferry which drew freight cars and railway cars across Lake Ontario. This ferry also came into Picton and lots of us young fellows went on the excursions across to Oswego. Some of us guys used to go to dances at Allisonville. I can remember in particular one fat gal we used to discuss. In those days there was not much drinking. One of the fellows used to have a mickey and we would all have a little drink.

One nice trip I can remember was with Arthur. His dad brought us to Belleville. We went by train to Toronto, went across on the ferry to Niagara on the Lake to Queenston, came back to Toronto, went to the Exhibition grounds and met a couple of girls, who used to vacation at Bongard's, had a lovely time with them.

Uncle Clair built us our first boat. It was a 16 foot cedar strip boat and the ribs, framework and keel were made from an oak tree cut on our farm. We had a lot of fun with it, rowed around the bay, swam from it and rowed across the bay to Adolphostown one time and around the island. We used to go fishing from it, too. Our next boat was a steel boat with an 18 H.P. motor and we dealt it for a lovely little red aluminum boat with a 35 H.P. motor. I'm sure Eric remembers when he was learning to water-ski and he skied onto Ross Eaton's shore and into the trees.

It was about 1936 when we were at Uncle Norman and Aunt Edith's at Royal Street when I met Doris Pierce, the girl I was to marry. She and her sisters came down to play and we were there. She was still going to high school and we went together for quite awhile and then we got engaged. She decided to go into training to become a nurse and we broke off the engagement because it was difficult to see her after I had completed my chores and there was a 10 o'clock curfew on the students.

It was the war years and Elmo had gone overseas in the spring of 1940. I was working and managing the farm. I was conscripted but exempted because I was needed on the farm. We worked hard and grew a lot of peas and tomatoes for Waupoos canning factory. Sugar was rationed but being a good customer of the canning factory, I was able to pick up an odd 100 pound bag of sugar, which helped mother out with her canning. I drew peas on a two ton truck which I had bought along with dad. We went back to Eldorado and bought the truck from a guy who worked on the road with dad. I brought peas to Waupoos canning factory and pitched them on and off the truck and drew up to eight loads a day for $5.00 for a total of $40.00.

Norman and I cut off the side hill, cedar trees which made fence and brace posts for the county, cedar wood which we sold in Picton for stoves and fireplaces. We cut the trees, slid the poles down the hill to the ice and drew them up to the top of Ross Eaton's hill. Arthur McCornock and I cut cord-wood for $1.00 a cord on Ross Eaton and Herb Bowerman's farm, we had to split it and pile it up. Ross drew it out and sold it. We walked from the road to the woods in those days, carrying our saws and axes.

I had only one chance to get away from farm work during the war years, Massey Ferguson in Hamilton advertised for help. Art McCornock and Gerald Hicks went up early to look over the situation and they came back and discouraged us fellows. George Ackerman and the Keough boys went up and had great jobs for the winter, really enjoyed it and I was always sorry I had not given it a try.

We had lots of horses when we were young and we used to ride them out to the top of the side hill, as fast as they would go. One of them would try to get under this certain cedar tree to try and brush us off.

I met up with Doris again on V.E. Day, May 8, 1945. We had our first date. We went to Belleville and we dated regularly. Sometimes I worked all day and saw her and got so sleepy coming home I would pull off the road and have a little nap. We got engaged again and were married on November 17, 1945 after the work was done that fall. Our wedding took place at Doris's home at Royal Street. It poured rain. We drove to Toronto and stayed at the King Edward for a week, we also went to Niagara Falls.

We returned to the farm and lived in the east side of the house, very plain quarters. We built a few kitchen cupboards, had a cook stove in the kitchen, a space heater in the living room, no refrigerator and no washer. Mom did most of our washing for a couple of years until we bought a washer. We bought a car, a full size Chevrolet sedan, for less then $1600 and sold it for $2100 on the black market. Then we bought a Hudson, Elmo took it to Peterborough to sell after I had dealt it with dad for a Ford.

We had terrible winter storms, Cressy was snowed in so badly, aircraft had to drop feed for August Kaiser's chickens in Cressy. There were two weeks the roads were not open. Bulldozers from McFarland had to open the roads in some places. This was in the winter of 1947. On March 27, 1947 we were storm bound in Picton, could not get home. Doris was pregnant for Linda at the time and she was born on August 11, 1947, 7 pounds 14 ounces. Gram had the threshers that day and really never forgave me for upsetting the routine.

Things went along routinely for years. We were good friends with Ruth and Arthur McCornock and their children, had picnics and the children went to the same school. Eric was born on September 30, 1952 and I was certainly happy to have a boy, we think about passing a farm on to the next generation, but I guess it was not to be.

Norman and Melba were married in 1951 and mother and dad moved to town. Melba still taught school for a couple of years. Norman and I farmed on shares, grew tomatoes, had a flock of hens, and paddled apples down east on a truck.

Norman and Melba decided to go to her grandfather's farm west of Bloomfield. He took the horse drawn machinery, part of the cattle and some of the crop. I bought all new machinery. I had a two ton truck which I dealt for a seed drill, manure spreader and baler. I went into debt a considerable amount. I remember coming home telling Doris we owed $5000 which in those days seemed like a lot of money, we thought we would never get it paid back. I increased my herd of cattle by buying a few cows and raising the heifer calves. Over the years we always grew a few acres of tomatoes, I always managed to hoe them at least once. I grew peas for Waupoos Canning Factory on contract for $60 an acre, by this arrangement I was paid something, if the crop failed. A few years previously Norman and myself had the orchards bulldozed out. They were mostly unpopular varieties of apples and I felt the acreage could be put to producing grain and peas. I had a lot of cross fences cleared out to make larger fields, dug a couple of farm ponds and deepened a couple of wells.

We moved around to the west side of the house when Eric was 13 months old. We felt it was closer to the barn and would have more room. We gradually made improvements in the house. Uncle Clair and I laid hardwood floors in the parlor and dining room. He built cupboards, a sink in the kitchen and a new cement verandah at the front of the house.

We started driving the school children when the old school house east of us, S.S. No. 3, closed. Linda was one of the children and we picked up four or five up the road and took them about three miles to the upper school where Miss Rosa Eaton was the teacher. She was the only public school teacher Linda had, but she retired before Eric was through and he had Mrs. Susan Wright. We were able to buy a new car more often and when the load increased drastically, we bought a nine passenger station wagon.

Every fall, for about thirty years, I picked apples at Uncle Clair and Arthur's orchard. For many years he was fortunate enough to be able to hire local farmers to help.

We did not have a bathroom until Linda was going to high school. We had Cliff Woodley put it in for us, nothing fancy, but certainly an improvement from an outside john. We bought a dryer about this time also and had to put it in the bathroom, it was only used in winter though as we had a great clothes line across the front lawn to a big tree.

In 1957 I decided to make major improvements in the barn. Two or three neighbors and I put on an aluminum roof first. The old straw shed at the front was torn out, as was the old granary at the back, new stables were built along the east side with a couple of box stalls, all new granary in the centre of the barn and to finish it off a new milk house on the east side. side. I dug a trench by hand through the shale rock to the well behind the barn to bring water to supply the water bowls and milker house. Above the stable was a new mow area, a greater area to store all the baled hay. I did not get a conveyer for a few years and used to throw the bales from the wagon with a pitch fork up into the hay mow. That year we had the biggest grain crop ever harvested on the farm, the new boards on the granary bulged, we were afraid they might burst open. Those were long tiring days, with chores morning and night, my farm work and helping Clair when I could, but guess it was worth it, having the convenience for thirteen years. It cost about $5000 and I was always able to borrow money from the Bank of Montreal, I just left my life insurance policy at the bank as collateral. We were saddened in April of 1957 when Doris' father died as a result of an accidental fall in the garage. He had very serious head injuries.

We did not have any trips in those days, took Sunday drives and I remember you kids were really never too thrilled with them. There was a period of fifteen years when I was never away from the farm overnight, guess that is why we enjoy traveling now in my retirement years.

Seeding time, especially for peas was particularly hard, sometimes from 5:00 a.m. to 11:00 p.m. cultivating the land to get ready for sowing, then the sowing, many times watching the threatening clouds, hoping it would not rain. The field then had to be dragged and rolled, usually this was after chores and after dark. I never was a great one for night work, only when it was a necessity.

Eric was getting older and was doing some chores around the farm. One job he and Linda hated was picking stones. Once in a while on a Saturday I would hitch the tractor to the wagon and we would pick some of the larger ones off the field, he would much rather drive the tractor. The kids nearly always brought the cows up from the rear to milk, it was always a hassle to get them across the road and into the lane which led to the barnyard.

When Eric was in his last couple of years of high school, I could see he really was not too interested in the farm, so we began to think of selling. It was listed with a couple of Real Estate people but ended up being sold to two fellows who bought it in a partnership deal. We had a big auction sale April 1969 and the cattle sold well, also the machinery which I kept in good shape.

We bought a large frame house on Centre Street in Picton and moved in April. It had belonged to Miss Thelma Ackerman, a spinster, we knew her brother well and it was through him we were able to buy it. We enjoyed it here and it was a beautiful old home, close to the high school for Eric, but it had one problem, it needed to be painted often as the paint peeled badly. I put 10 gallons of paint on it the first year. The first job I had in town was a carpenter's helper with Harry Clapham, this was just a summer job, then I drove an oil truck for the winter months for Bill Drew. This ended in the spring and I thought I was lucky to get a job as a town workman, driving a truck, but the town foreman seemed to have a great dislike for me, so I only stayed about six months. There was an opening for a night watchman at the H.J. McFarland Construction Company yards and offices, I was lucky enough to get that. I worked from 8:00 p.m. until 6:00 a.m. and had an hour off at midnight when I had my lunch. In the summer I would sleep the forenoon and do lawn work in the afternoon. I had about sixteen customers that I mowed lawns for and other odd jobs. After supper I would have a nap then off to work again, this night watchman's job lasted about seven years. Doris was getting fed up with me doing night work and Eric had gone off to Ryerson. She noticed an ad in the paper for a maintenance man and it happened to be at Hallowell House and I was hired and worked here until my retirement and really enjoyed my association with the Hepburn's.

We bought an apartment building on the corner of King and Ross Street. We enjoyed this place very much, had some great tenants, my father and mother lived above us for nine years. Eric had the bachelor apartment to himself when he was in grade thirteen and really enjoyed having a place of his own. While we were there we improved the place considerably, painted and generally cleaned up the shrubs, hedges and planted a few trees. I also made a nice fenced-in yard for privacy, and put a new roof on the carriage house.

Eric wanted to have a little bit of Prince Edward County, so we bought a large lot on the Glenora Road on May 20, 1976, about one mile this side of the ferry. We had it severed and we decided to build a house, it was a challenge and we had great fun planning it. It took a couple of years to complete. We had sold the apartment building to Paul Boyd and rented from him.

We moved down in April of 1979. It was a lovely house, a Viceroy house, set among the tall trees. We built it with many extras thinking we would live there many years. We heated with two wood stoves, but it was electrically heated also. For a couple of years I had been cutting wood and storing it for future use, guess I had five to six full cords on hand. There was only one fault with the location of the house, for six weeks in the winter there was no sun, the water supply was not the best. There was a long curved driveway up to the house and it certainly could be a problem in the winter. We toyed with the idea of selling and had several people look at it. In the meantime, we bought a house on Bridge Street in Picton on May 31, 1981. During the summer we cleaned and redecorated the place.

We drove out west August 29 - September 20, 1981 to see Linda and Denis and when we came back Bill Rorabeck, our Real Estate agent said he had an offer from Dr. Summers to buy our house. We accepted the offer and had fifteen days to move out. Our house in town was all ready except for the carpeting which was done as soon as possible.

We moved back to Picton on a beautiful day on October 10, 1981. Eric and Isobel helped a lot, although we did not want her lifting much, as she was pregnant. We love this place, it is comfortable, has a lovely view with lots of large trees behind us. There is very little maintenance as the lot is very narrow, I had the driveway paved, built a deck on the west side, had the wiring updated and installed a new electric furnace. We have lots of room and above all, lots of sun!

For a few years we had a large garden at Mrs. Beatrice Wagar's and grew a lot of vegetables, we did a lot of hand work in it the first last year, I said enough of that, and bought a Honda self-propelled rota-tiller.

It is convenient being back in town, the walk up street is good exercise for both of us, although it could pose a problem when we get older, but we will cross that bridge when we get there.

We have done a considerable amount of traveling and are very thankful to have been able to see as much of Canada and the U.S.A. as we have. Our first trip was to British Columbia with Ruth and Arthur in 1968, the year before we sold the farm. We drove a car out and flew back, stayed in Vancouver for five days and had local tours and then on to Vancouver Island. We also had many short trips with Ruth and Arthur, one to Western Ontario, one to New York State, Lake Champlain and White Face Mountain. Arthur enjoyed driving east along the St. Lawrence River to see the big boats, of course, things have changed after the Seaway was built.

Ruth passed away July 21, 1979 after a long battle with heart trouble. We miss being with them very much and have many happy memories of earlier years when the children were young.

We had a circle tour of Florida in 1980. We went with McGinnis Bus Company and had a good time. Our second major trip was to the Maritimes and Newfoundland in 1982. We went with Denure Tours and had great weather. We really enjoyed the ferry ride to Newfoundland. We also visited Nashville for a week end and Washington D.C. at Cherry blossom time.

We flew out for Linda and Denis's wedding in October 1979 and drove out in August 1981, had a marvelous trip, came back to Edmonton and met Eric, he was teaching a course there.

Our next trip was a 29 day bus trip with Denure through the southern states and California. It was a fantastic trip, weather was great, we seem to be lucky on trips, we usually have good weather. On these bus trips we have had experienced drivers and hostesses which makes for great traveling. As long as we have our health we hope to make a few more trips and if we had lots of money we would make more, it is very educational and shows us the vast expanse of Canada and U.S.A.

I enjoyed my work at Halliwell House very much but reached my 65th birthday on August 25, 1983 and felt it was time for me to retire. Mr. Hepburn asked me to stay on for a couple of months because they were in the process of building a new expansion to the Nursing Home. My last day of work was on October 7, 1983. I worked most of the day and of course I had to be dunked in the whirlpool, everyone who leaves Halliwell House expects this treatment and I was no exception. They really had fun dunking me, clothes and all.

This was followed by a nice retirement party when they presented me with a lovely gold watch, which I really treasure, the staff gave me a wallet and carrying cosmetic case, and the residents gave Doris and I a ceramic jardinere and butter dish. Mrs. Hepburn spoke very nicely about my work at Halliwell House, saying I was always very agreeable and never refused any job asked of me. It certainly made me feel good to finish my work knowing I was appreciated. Doris visits a friend of hers, Julie Woodley, every week and the girls often tell her how much I am missed. Sure makes a fellow feel great. I am enjoying my retirement and have adjusted very well. I just hope we have good health for a few years.

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