Bras D'Or

Dennis Jessome
The Boy From Bras D'Or

A Tribute to the Slade Family

Most of the people in the Bras D'Or Shacks came from large families. And looking back, you wonder where they all slept.

The Shacks were built all alike. They had only two small bedrooms on them when they were built unless someone added an extra room on them.

When Dave Burchell built the shacks he must have thought there would be an average of only two children per family. Boy did he ever misjudge his assumption.

The average family that lived in the Shacks had from five to ump-teen children.

There were eight children in our family. Many of the other families had twelve to fourteen children. Some families like Uncle Loius and Aunt Sadie (Pentz) Carey had twenty children.

But the size of the shacks remained the same or with the added on room.

Considering all those people living under the same roof, we were healthy most of the time. Dr Alexander Gouthro, who lived up at Bras D'Or Corner, wasn't called to the shacks too often for sickness. Outside of a common cold or flu you went to his office, to get some of his cough medicine.

I think we were the healthiest people around. Most of the good Doctor's patients were newborn babies.

Sometimes there were two births in one night. When the doctor couldn't make it, the midwives were called in to help out.

There were two midwives in our area:
1) Mama, Ellen Regis (Carey) who was married to my father Clifton (Darby)Jessome
2) Deans Caffiers who was married to Joe Caffiers.

The Family I'd like to talk about today is Bob and Ethel Slade's family who lived on top of the other shack hill.

Bob was a hard worker and he provided for a large family. Ethel did all the cooking and washing and there were lots in those days.

With no running water, you had to carry the water you needed during the day. No washing machines in those days, you had to wash the clothes with a scrubbing board in a washtub.

Bob had a garage in which he made a kind of gym out of it and we all used it. There was a big punching bag and weights. Bob made us feel right at home when we were there and showed us a few things about boxing.

I loved watching Bob and Ethel's son Thorney punch the speed bag. It would ring in your ears all night long when you went home. Clickety click, clickety click, he was some fast.

When I came out of there I felt like I was John L. Sullivan in training. Or it seemed that way. Bob's daughter Berneice, used to stand on a chair to hit the speed bag.

Lawerence, Ya-Ya and Ligey built a wooden tent behind the garage every year. And throughout the winter, they would start the day by taking off a slab each morning to start the coal stoves. By the time the winter was over the tent was gone.

The tent had two good uses, we used to sleep in it in the summer time and burn the wood for fuel in the winter.

Bob also had hole under the pit fence, just as John Thomas Jessome's Hole and Jack Penny's Hole as I mentioned in earlier stories. The holes in the fence made it easier to get to the mines. We used to get the slabs and two by fours to make the tent from the sawmill at the mines.

Bob and Ethel's children:
1- Molly (m.) Gerry Arsenault from Port Hope, Ontario;
2- George(m.) Margaret White from Montreal;
3- Sheldon "Shelly" (m.) Sheila ___from Chatam Ontario;

4- Margaret (m.) a Cormier from Liverpool N.S;
5- Ethel May (m.) Carmaen Demarco from Sydney Mines;
5- Florence (m.) a man from Sydney;
6- Lawerence "Thorney" (m.) Sydney Mae from Port Hope, Ontario;
7- Rayfield "Ya-Ya" (m.) his long time sweetheart, Beatrice Jessome from the Shacks daughter of John Thomas Jessome;
8- Berniece (m.) Franklin Devoe from Alder Point son of Harold Devoes;
9- Ruby (m.) Frankie MacDougall from Sydney Mines,
10- Eligah "Ligey" (m.) Fran Fernage from Port Hope,Ontario;
11- Major (m.) Lucielle ____from St.Catharines Ontario;
12- Carolyn (m.) John Farrel/Farell from Port Morien Cape Breton;
I was only young when I saw George swim under water from the Big Creek across to Will Campbell's Point. Will Campbell (m.) Mary O'Connel; A lot of the fellows couldn't swim that far on top of the water, never mind underwater.

Sometimes when we weren't at the gym, I would call for Ya-Ya (pronounced Yay-Yay) and Ligey to go for a swim down at the piers when there was a boat loading coal.

All in all, Bob and Ethel had a fair size family and they were all very close as were most of the people living in the Bras D'Or Shacks.

We were all one big happy family. I spent a lot of my younger days at the Slade's home, Ya-Ya, Thorney, Lige and Major were just like brothers to me.

When I went over to their house I'd hear, "That you Dennis? Get the Geeses in here and close that porch door. You are freezing us out". It seemed that Ethel was always standing by the stove every time I went there. Having twelve kids, I guess Ethel spent most of her day cooking. Finish one meal and start on the next.

One night when we were in Bob's garage, Tootie Chisholm, Jack and Margaret (Jessome) Chisholm's son from across the road, got a hold of a blasting cap and was playing with.
Somehow Tootie fired off the blasting cap and lost a thumb and half a finger. Tootie was a great fellow and funny too. He always hung around with Ya-Ya Slade. They were very close friends.

The Miners use these caps to set off monobel (Dynomite) in the coal mine.

Bob and Ethel Salde were like family to me and even to this day I consider all of them as family. Thanks Bob and Ethel for the kindness you and your family have shown me as a boy growing up in the Bras D'Or Shacks.

You will be In my Memory forever.

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