Why and How I wrote my Newfoundland Family’s History
By John A Munro
(This article was originally done for WORD, the newsletter of the NL Writers Alliance).
Introduction
When Denise Flint asked me to write this article for WORD, she called me an expert (in family history research, I think she meant). I assured her I was no such thing, but agreed to do it anyway, because I believe it is a good cause. I have spent many happy hours at it in recent years.
Why do it? For me it was curiosity and wonder about my immediate family and the uncles and aunts and cousins who often visited us during the 1940’s in Bishop’s Falls. We lived in an apartment over the Goodyear Humber Stores at the Plant (near the pulp mill), where my father Alister was the manager. For example there was my trapper Uncle Jack Munro of Glenwood, who would visit for a few days and sing ‘I Love a Lassie,’ because he had married Alice Mobbs of Croys, Inverness, Scotland while overseas with the Forestry Corps. There was Uncle Bill Munro who would visit from Buchans where he worked for the Royal Stores. Also, my mother Agnes had a brother Charlie Frew in Grand Falls, and his family used to join us on summer picnics to Wigwam Point near Botwood. As well we played with my Uncle Alan and Gwen Frews children, who lived near us. There was a distant relative Alan Cameron, who was a piper with the Canadian Army at Botwood. He would visit and play his bagpipes on the road outside our place for the general amusement of the neighbourhood. Our Munro and Frew and other related families were close and kept in touch and visited when they could.
How I Went About It
It was not planned - I just started researching my immediate family. During my working life I was based mostly in St. John’s, and there was not much time for genealogy. However, when I could, I would look up relatives while on business trips or vacations with the family. For example in 1975 we took a family vacation to Prince Edward Island and while there I looked up Alan Cameron at his farm near Caledonia. He then took us to visit our Munro relatives who lived nearby on Whim Road near Montague. There we met my father’s cousin Malcolm Munro (as well as his wife Janie and sister Anette), who was living on the old farm that had been in the family since 1848. In addition I sometimes corresponded with my Aunt Effie in Nova Scotia and Aunt Georgie in Toronto on family history over the years.
I really got serious about our family history after I retired in 1996. A few years later my wife Lorraine (nee Parsons) gave me a computer program, Family Tree Maker, which is a wonderful tool for the storage, organization and retrieval of a large volume of genealogical data. With it I could keep track of all the personal information on individuals (birth and death dates, etc.) and also produce family charts and reports. There are other programs like Tree Maker, some of which may be available free on the Internet. The computer is wonderful for scanning, storing and organizing family pictures, and inserting them in reports. I was fortunate in having a good collection of old family photos, and also collected many others from relatives.
The Internet is invaluable for retrieving information from web sites, such as The Grand Banks Site (for Newfoundland) and others. There are good genealogy resources in St. John’s, such as the NL Family History Society, the Rooms Archives, the St. John’s City Archives, the Center for Newfoundland Studies and the Maritime History Archive at MUN, The Arts and Culture Centre Library, and various cemeteries. The Island Register site is good for anyone with relatives on PEI. There are National Archival resources as well of course. One of the most valuable resources I had was my cousin, Mary Gill of Charlottetown, PEI, who had already done a lot of research on that part of the tree. We have been working together for years on the larger Munro Family.
Printing and Publishing
In the midst of collecting as much information on the branches of the family as I could, I started drafting up bits and pieces of the story. This finally evolved into a rough draft of, ‘The Munros of Glenwood, Newfoundland’, about 18 months ago. I circulated this to some family members for their feedback, and kept revising, editing and producing more complete copies. I dated each new draft as an Edition. Since I didn’t consider this to be a commercial venture, I decided to publish it myself on my home HP printer. I produce about 4 copies at a time and get them bound at Staples for a nominal fee. So far I have produced and distributed about 50 copies. Most have been given to family members who helped with the research or are especially interested in our history. I have also given complimentary copies to various libraries and Archives that I used. I have sold 11 copies to Memorial University and The Public Libraries Board for $25.00 each, enough to replace my worn out printer and pay for some paper!
Conclusion
It seems to me that many of us don’t think our own lives or families are important enough to write about. But I found that once the subject was raised, most of my relatives, and many others, became interested and were very cooperative in supplying data and stories. The exercise had a lot of benefits for me in renewing old contacts and meeting relatives that I didn’t know. It also gave me a grand excuse to travel around Newfoundland, to Prince Edward Island, the UK (including the Isle of Skye), and France to see the War Memorials at Beaumont Hamel, and other locations.
Genealogy research is never done. The Munros of Glenwood are only one branch of a much larger family tree that had its roots in the misty Isles of Skye, Prince Edward Island, and Newfoundland.
John Munro
Halifax, Nova Scotia
January, 2009
Obituary for Lorraine
Munro, Lorraine (nee Parsons),
Daughter of Anne Parsons and the late Thomas Parsons, passed peacefully away in her home in Halifax, Nova Scotia on May 1, 2007, Lorraine Munro (nee Parsons) in her 66th year. Lorraine was born at Freshwater, Newfoundland on May 26, 1940. Her family later moved to St. John’s where she attended Curtis Academy and MacPherson Academy. In
1962, Lorraine graduated from Memorial University with a Bachelor’s of Arts Degree in
Education. Her teaching career began in 1958 on a part time basis and concluded in
1992 when she retired from Virginia Park Elementary School in St. John’s. She was an inspiring teacher who cultivated a love of learning in her pupils. While they were in High School, Lorraine and John Munro started dating. They were married in June of 1963 in St. James United church in St. John’s. Lorraine was a devoted and loving wife and mother to John and her three children, and took an enthusiastic interest in her four grandchildren. After retiring Lorraine took a Yoga Teacher Training course and at the time of her passing was teaching yoga classes for seniors in Halifax. Lorraine will live on in the hearts and minds of her family and her many dear friends. She leaves to mourn with fond loving memories husband John Munro, daughter Katherine (John Gorman) Munro, sons Ken (Harpreet Aulakh) Munro and Mike (Maxine) Munro, and grandchildren Alex Munro Choiniere, Sara Gorman, Jordan Munro, and Lauren Munro. Also surviving are her mother Anne Parsons, two sisters Margaret Parsons and Jean Perry, and brother Roy Parsons. Cremation has taken place in Halifax. A memorial service will take place at the Halifax Shambhala Centre (1084 Tower Road, Halifax, 902-420-1118) on Saturday May 5, 2007 at 7:30pm. Memorial donations can be made to the charity of your choice.
"What the warrior renounces is anything that is a barrier between himself and others. Warriorship is making yourself more available, more gentle and open to others."
- Chogyam Trungpa Rinpoche
Anne Parsons Obituary
Parsons, Anne, (nee Kirby)
Passed peacefully away on Friday, February 8th, 2008 at Hoyles Home,
Anne Parsons in her 97th year. Predeceased by her husband Thomas
and daughter Lorraine Munro. Leaving to mourn daughters: Margaret
Parsons and Jean Perry of St. John's and son Roy Parsons of St. John's;
8 grandchildren; 8 great-grand children; sisters Mabel Butt of Wilmington
Mass., and Florence Roberts of Oshawa Ont.; brother Donald Kirby of
Wilmington, Mass.; sisters in law: Marjorie Kirby of Carbonear; Minnie
Kirby of Wilmington, Minnie Kirby of Kansas, Millicent Penny of Salmon
Cove and Louise Slade of Clark's Beach.; as well as a large circle of
other relatives and friends. Anne was a school teacher in her early years,
mostly in the Bonavista Bay area. Rowing to work to tutor a student on
one of the islands was one of her duties. Being one of the eldest in her
family she was very helpful to the rest of her siblings. She was a loving
wife and mother and will be very dearly missed. Anne was always
involved in the life and work of her church, she was a life and honorary
member of the St. James United Church Women. Resting at Cauls Funeral
Home, LeMarchant Road. Visitation on Sunday from 2pm- 4pm and 7pm-9pm.
Funeral Service will take place on Monday, February 11th, 2008 at 2 p.m.
from St. James Church. Internment to follow at Mount Pleasant Cemetery. Gifts
in her memory can be made to St. James United Church Restoration Fund.
Janie Cameron Munro
Obituary for Janie Munro,
At the Dr. John M. Gillis Memorial Lodge in Eldon, on Wednesday, August 20, 2008 of Janie Munro (nee Cameron)
in her 102nd year. Wife of the late Malcolm Munro. Dear mother of Mary (Allison) Gill, Charlottetown; Donnie (Marjorie),
Kilmuir; Jena Orphin, Belmont, Massachusetts; Cameron (Josie), Toronto; and Sandy (Margaret), Whim Road. Loving
grandmother of 11 grandchildren and seven great-grandchildren. Predeceased by her daughter-in-law, Linda. Resting at
Fergerson's Montague Funeral Home, . By personal request, a private service will be held in the funeral home chapel
on Saturday. Internment in the Valleyfield Cemetery. Public visitation Friday, 7-9 only. If so desired, memorials to the
Valleyfield Cemetery Fund or St. Andrews Presbyterian Church, Montague, would be appreciated. www.fergusonsfh.com.
This is a Genealogy Report for the Munros of Bernisdale, Skye. Download
The Munros of Glenwood, Newfoundland
First row: Effie, Georgina, William (WD), Jack
Back: Julia (Pelley) Munro, Lillian (Julia's Sister),
Alexander Munro.
(Not yet born in 1889, - Flora 1900 and Alister 1904)
At the time the family was living at Glenwood, Newfoundland.
Brief Sketches of those in the picture.
Effie or Euphemia
Effie was born September 5th 1894 at Apsey Cove, Indian Arm (now Campbellton) in Notre Dame Bay, Newfoundland. She moved to Glenwood with the family about 1899. She married Lee W. McLean of Hubbards, Nova Scotia, in 1919. She and Lee McLean lived in Hubbards and had 3 children - Malcolm, Barbie and Glory. Effie died on October 27, 1975 at Hubbards.
Julia (Pelley) Munro
Julia was born at Black Island, Notre Dame Bay, Newfoundland, on August 23, 1870. Her father was Moses Pelley from Carbonear. She married Alexander Munro in 1892 and they first lived at Apsey Cove, Indian Arm. Julia and Alex had six children - John Alexander, William Daniel, Mary Euphemia, Georgina, Flora and Alister Malcolm. Julia died in 1966 in Glenwood, Newfoundland.
Lillian Pelley
Lillian was Julie's sister. She was born March 8, 1883. She married Andrew Rutherford and they lived at Glenwood and at Ingramport, Nova Scotia.
Georgina
Georgina was born at Indian Arm on January 24, 1897. She married Abe Rowsell in Glenwood in 1913. They had three children, Godfrey Bryson, Shirley and Holly Lillian Emma. She married Stephen G. Howe on March 1, 1960, in Brooklyn, New York, USA. She died May 9, 1990 in Toronto.
Alexander Munro
Alexander Munro was born about 1851 on Whim Road,(near Montague), Prince Edward Island. He listed his occupation in the 1891 PEI Census as 'mining'. However in Newfoundland he worked mainly in the logging industry. He died at Whitbourne, Newfoundland in 1935.
William Daniel (WD)
William was born in 1892 at Indian Arm, NDB and died in Glenwood in 1971. He Married Kitty Yates of New Bay, Notre Dame Bay, at Millertown, in 1917. They had six children - Doris, Jean, Alexander Milton, Vernon Scott, Alister Lloyd, and William Daniel. In 1945 he married Joyce Pearl Morris of Trinity , Trinity Bay, Newfoundland. They had two children, John Alexander Morris, and Sybil.
John Alexander (Jack)
John Alexander was born in Indian Arm in 1891 and died in Glenwood in 1966.
He lived most of his life inGlenwood. He was a trapper in the Gander Lake watershed and also worked for the Government on the Forest Fire Patrol in the 1930's. During WWII he served in Scotland with the Newfoundland Overseas Forestry Unit. He married Alice Mobbs of Moy, Scotland about 1945. After the war they lived in Glenwood, Newfoundland.
(Not in Picture)
Flora
Flora was born in Glenwood March 20, 1900. She died on November 7, 1914 in hospital in St. John's.
Alister Malcolm Munro
Alister was born in Glenwood February 24, 1904. He married Agnes Cameron Frew of Grand Falls, Newfoundland in 1932. They had five children - Peter (died in infancy), Ann McCraw, John Alexander, Gillian Helen, and William Howe. Alister died on October 16, 1965 in Boston, Mass., USA.
John A. Munro
October 26, 2005
(Draft 4, June 17, 2006)
The Munros of Glenwood, Newfoundland
by
John Munro
Alister Munro (1904-1965)
Alister was born Malcolm Alister Monroe in Glenwood, Newfoundland on February 24, 1904. The parents were Alexander Monroe, Lumberman, and Julia Monroe. The Reverend C. R.Blount baptized him on May 19th. The spelling of the family name was later changed to Munro. Alister was the youngest of Alexander and Julia’s five children.
In the early 1900’s, Glenwood was a bustling lumber and railway town. Sawmills operated there, supplied by logs cut from the watersheds of Gander Lake and it’s rivers. Hundreds of loggers, millers and railway workers found employment there. Alister went to school in Glenwood and often spoke fondly of the Royal Reader that was used to teach English Literature. He must have had a lot of respect for this text, because, except for his name, there are very few markings in it. This reader is still in John’s possession. He also spoke of running around barefoot with his friend Howard Crowell in the summer and enjoying warm boots in the winter months.
Alister attended school until he was about 14 or 15, when he was sent to Grand Falls, about 50 miles away by train, to work as an apprentice salesman in the Exploits Valley Royal Stores. This would have been in about 1919. Alister shows up there in the 1921 Newfoundland Census, as a boarder at the home of Cyril Quick. Although Alister couldn’t have gone to school for much more than eight or nine years, he later took courses in mechanizing and was a great reader. He especially enjoyed poetry, and had an interesting collection of books. We were fortunate in growing up in a household with lots of weekly magazines, like Time, Life and the Saturday Evening Post to read. Mother’s sister Helen said that once when Alister came to their house (when he was courting Agnes), he was very impressed with her father’s library. He exclaimed, “Look at all the books”.
Cyril Quick’s house on Carmelite Road was close to the home of William Frew who was the cashier for the Anglo-Newfoundland Development Company (AND Co.) paper mill, which had been operating in Grand Falls since 1909. Alister worked near the entrance to the Royal Stores on High Street, next to the counter for women’s clothing. The girls working there used to tease him by asking him to bring them supplies of ladies clothing and undergarments from upstairs. William Frew’s daughter, Agnes (Aggie), would also sometimes go by with a friend to get a glimpse of Alister who was quite good looking. Agnes graduated from high school in 1920 and then taught school for a year or so in Grand Falls before going on to Nursing School in Massachusetts. She and Alister had become acquainted, and before she left, he asked if he could correspond with her. She agreed and this eventually let to their being married at North Sydney, Nova Scotia, on February 29 th, 1932. Sydney was a place of convenience for the wedding, because Agnes was there taking care of Mrs. Roland Goodyear for a while.
By the time they were married Alister had left the Royal Stores and taken a job with Goodyear Humber Stores, owned by the Goodyear Brothers of Grand Falls. The business was based there but it also had logging and retail operations on the West Coast at Deer Lake. This was where Alister and Agnes lived immediately after their marriage for several months. Alister was then appointed Manager for the Goodyear retail operations and they moved to Bishop’s Falls, where that lived until 1949.
Alister & Agnes , 1932, probably at Sydney.
Alister and Agnes had the following children:
Peter Alexander Munro was born on October 3 rd, 1933 but died the next day, because of brain damage during birth. He is buried in the General Protestant Cemetery in St. John’s. Agnes was very sick after the birth and took some time to recover.
While Aggie was in St. John’s waiting to have Peter, she stayed with Leah and George Perry (probably in their house at 18 Morris Avenue) for a while. Georgia came to town to be with her for a while. Aggie once told me that Leah was a good cook and George, who worked near the waterfront, often brought home a fresh codfish for supper. Leah would then prepare a delicious supper. Aggie and Georgie got along well together.
Ann McCraw Munro was born in St. John’s on October 29, 1935. She and her husband Chesley Blackwood live at Traytown, Newfoundland.
John Alexander Munro was born on July 23, 1938 at Grand Falls. John and Lorraine Munro (nee Parsons) now live in Halifax, Nova Scotia.
Gillian Helen Munro was born on February 26, 1943 at Grand Falls. She and her husband Robert Dickson at Sault Ste. Marie, Ontario.
William Howe Munro was born at Grand Falls on December 10, 1946. He and his wife Diane (nee Cooney) live in Spruce Grove, Alberta.
At Bishop’s Falls, Alister was the Managing Director, responsible for all the Goodyear retail store operations. The largest store was near the AND Co. Pulp Mill at the eastern end of Bishop’s Falls, commonly known as ‘The Plant”. This was a general store that included groceries, hardware and other dry goods, including clothing. There was another Goodyear store at the western end of Bishop’s Falls across from the Railway Station. There were other stores at Grand Falls, Windsor, and Deer Lake. In addition, during the Second World War, Goodyears had a contract to supply messing services to servicemen based at Gander and Argentia.
The main store at ‘The Plant’ at Bishop’s Falls was a large two storey building. The store was on the main floor and we lived in a large apartment on the second floor, which was accessed through an entrance and stairway on the right side of the building. There was also a large grassy garden on this side of the house. The apartment was heated by a wood/coal stove in the kitchen and by oil heaters in the halls. One of my jobs, when I became big enough, was to make kindling and bring coal up the stairs from the basement for the kitchen stove.
Bishop’s was a grand place for children. We had the Exploits River for swimming in and skating on and lots of woods for playing cowboys. There was also an outdoor rink for hockey. On Saturdays we could go to see our favorite heroes in the movies at the Wavell Theater near the Station. The station was a busy place with trains coming and going all the time. Bishop’s Falls was about midway between St. John’s and port aux Basques, and had major repair shops and a round house.
Alister was in mid career during the 1940’s in Bishop’s Falls. From a humble start as an apprentice clerk at 15 in the Royal Stores, at 38 he had become the Managing Director of one of the biggest retail businesses in Newfoundland. It was quite an achievement but it was very demanding and in the end he paid a high price in terms of his health. During the war years he was frequently traveling on business and when he was home there was all the accumulated work to be done. Business guests and Service personnel were often at our house for drinks and meals. Looking back, it seemed to me he hardly ever took a holiday, except for the occasional fishing outing or for day excursions to Exploits Bay for family picnics in the summer. Thus, by the time he left Goodyears to set up his own business, his health was in a precarious condition.
In 1949 we moved to Grand Falls where Alister opened his retail-clothing store on High Street. This was to prove a difficult period for the family. After about a year, Alister developed diabetes and tuberculosis and could not effectively manage the business. He had to spend nine months in the Sanitarium in Corner Brook during 1952-53, plus more time recovering at home. His health was never the same after. Also in the spring of 1952, John broke a leg at school in March and was home for the balance of the year. On completing high school, Ann won a scholarship at McGill University in Montreal in 1952 and was away from home most of the next three years. Gillian and Bill were in elementary school.
John, Alister, Ann
In spite of his best efforts, the business in Grand Falls failed and was wound up in 1953. During this time money had to be managed very carefully but Agnes and Alister held things together as best they could until he got out of hospital. Then it was decided to sell the house on Beaumont Avenue in Grand Falls and move the family to St. John’s, where Alister hoped to start another business. Although the house was sold, Alister still owned the store on High Street. The top floor was rented to the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation for it’s radio station CBT, and the main floor was rented as well.
In St. John’s, although things continued to be difficult financially, we did manage to acquire a family house at 123 Bonaventure Avenue. Mother was a wonderful cook and we always managed to live fairly well. Alister worked when he could, mostly in a grocery business started by his brothers Jack and Will at Glenwood. Agnes managed the household while John, Gillian and Bill completed school. In the 1960’s when she could spare the time, Agnes completed a nursing refresher course and got a job at the Grace Hospital, implementing the hospital sterilization program. She worked there for a number of years retiring about 1970.
In the fall of 1965 Ann and her husband Ches Blackwood were living in Bedford, Nova Scotia with their children George, Penny and Stephen. John and Lorraine were in Toronto for the winter where John was doing postgraduate forestry studies at the University of Toronto. Gillian was working as a laboratory technician and Bill was working for Canadian National in Gander as a telephone installer.
Alister had been with Georgina in New Your for some time, helping with her affairs after her Husband Stephen Howe had passed away. Agnes went to New York for a visit and was shocked when she saw Alister, because he had lost so much weight. After questioning him she discovered that he had not been able to keep food down for quite a while. They went for medical attention to the New England Baptist Hospital, in Boston. There an initial examination found that Alister had cancer of the esophagus, and would need treatment. Alister wanted to visit Ann and her family in Bedford first. Ann remembers that while there, he could only keep down a little soup.
Alister was undecided about undergoing surgery. After a few days he decided to go ahead with it and he and Aggie returned to Boston where he was operated on for the cancer. However the disease had progressed too far. Within a relatively short time after the operation, he passed away at the hospital on October 16 th, 1965, at the age of sixty-one. Agnes and John were with him during these final days and brought his remains to Glenwood for internment at the Pentecostal Cemetery there, next to his mother Julia. Bill was also present at Gander and Glenwood for the funeral services.
Agnes continued working at the Grace Hospital and then retired and came to Vancouver to live with John and Lorraine in 1971-72. She then lived in an apartment at Churchill Square in St. John’s until 1992 when she moved in with Bill and Diane at their house at Gleneyre Street. In 1996 mother moved to Sault Ste. Marie, Ontario, to be near Gillian and her husband Bob. In May 2002, she suffered a broken hip and passed away there on July 12 th.
JM
March 21, 2007
Mary Euphemia (Effie) Munro (1894-1975)
Effie, Julia’s first girl, was born at Campbellton on September 15, 1894. As recounted earlier in the notes on Alexander, she had good memories of their home at Apsey Cove, Campbellton, Notre Dame Bay. Effie would have moved from Campbellton to Glenwood with the family in the late 1890’s. Presumably, she attended school in Glenwood in her early years, but she also attended school in Boston in her teens. A doctor and his wife from the United States were returning to Boston and offered to take Effie back with them for the winter, so she could go to school there. Her parents agreed, so Effie went with them. Apparently, this went on for some years, with Effie returning home in the spring. She also visited the Rutherfords in Ingramport, Nova Scotia. The 1911 census for Nova Scotia lists Effie Munro niece – Nfld., there at the Rutherford household.
Malcolm MacLean told me the story of how Effie met his father, Lee MacLean. While Effie was staying with the Rutherfords at Ingramport, one day she and her aunt Lilly took the horse and buggy and went for a ride. At Hubbards they needed to get turned around in front of the MacLean’s General Store. Lee happened to see them and came to their rescue, turning the team around and pointing back towards Ingramport. After that, Lee and Effie started courting. Effie went back to Glenwood. Lee went over and met her and they eloped. Lee was 30 and Effie was 25. This would have been in 1919.
Lee had been a square dance caller in his teens. He was in the Canadian Army in World War 1 and served in Europe as a motorcycle dispatch rider. He was mentioned in dispatches. He saw service in France for three years. Lee’s father was a county councilor. He was killed when thrown from a wagon.
Lee and Effie settled in Hubbards and had the following children:
Malcolm; born on July 28,1920. He served in the Canadian Forces during World War II. He married Pauline Catherine Robertson and they currently reside in Metcalf, Ontario. They had one child, Leigh.
Barbra Louise; born on ….. Barbie married Jack Noonan and they lived in Hubbards and had four children, Gavin, Gail, Sandra and Jean. Sandra and Jean were killed in a tragic car accident in 1975.
Glory; born on …… She married John Gallager who was a Master Sergeant in the US Air Force, based at Goose Bay. They had two children, April and Patrick, and lived in Klamath Falls, Oregon.
During their early-married years in Hubbards, Lee and Effie were keen bridge players and Effie also took part in some local theater productions. In one role she played a comedy role of someone with a cleft pallet and reportedly ‘brought the house down’.
Effie was a very loving and gentle person. Here is an excerpt from a letter she wrote to me dated June 5, 1975:
Dear John,
Thank you for the ‘snaps’ of your lovely, cheerful children. They are lively looking kiddies and look very capable. I hope you don’t ever scold or spank. I remember slapping Malcolm – just a touch on the cheek, and he looked at me, “ O Mom, you slapped me! How could you?”
I remember one time in the early 1950’s that Euphemia came to visit us in Grand Falls and she looked after us children for a few days while mother went to Corner Brook to visit Alister, who was in the TB Sanatorium there. One day Bill, who would have been about six years old, decided to get up on the piano and walk across the keyboard. Ann or I told him to get down, and expected that Effie would back us up. Instead she said, “Leave the poor child alone, he’s only been in this cruel world six years”.
When we were growing up in Bishop’s Falls in the 1940’s we made a number of trips to Hubbards. The first was in the simmer of 1942, when mother took Ann and I there for several weeks. We took the overnight train from Bishop’s to Port aux Basques and arrived at the dock for the Caribou the afternoon of the next day. The train stopped close to the boat that was waiting. Then we transferred to the boat, which departed for Sydney that evening. The next day in Sydney we boarded another train that took us over the Canso Strait by train ferry, on to Halifax. From there we went by car to Lee and Effie’s place in Hubbards.
Their house was on a short road that went from the main highway to a cove in the ocean and then on along the seashore. This cove was shallow and had a sandy bottom with lots of boulders and rocks for playing around. We spent many hours playing there during those warm summer days. Lee was working as a carpenter and Effie was a wonderful host. Some times we would go out to Queensland Beach where we would play in the big waves. The summer weather, sandy beaches and warm water in Hubbards were a real treat for because we were used to the cooler and more changeable climate of Newfoundland.
While we were at Hubbards that summer I remember mother taking us by taxi to Chester to visit with Andrew Rutherford and Aunt Lilly. Aunt Lilly gave me a model sailboat that I had for quite a while.
We also made trips to Hubbards about 1946, with Gillian this time. Also in 1952, I was at Air Cadet Camp at Greenwood in the Annapolis Valley. Mother was at Hubbards with Ann and Gill and I spent a day off with them at Hubbards.
We did not have a lot of contact with Hubbards and Effie and Lee during the 1960’s, while Lorraine and I were having our family at St. John’s. However in 1975, while we were returning with our children, Katherine, Kenneth and Michael from a summer holiday to Prince Edward Island, we stopped in for a brief visit. They were still in the old house in Hubbards and had aged quite a bit from the last time I had seen them. As I recall at that time Effie was not very well and we didn’t stay long. That was the last time we saw them.
Effie, Lee & Barbie, Hubbards, 1940’s.
Flora Munro (1900-1914)
Jean had talked to Georgie about Flora, and related the following.
Flora was a very beautiful girl. She had blond hair and blue eyes. She used to spend a lot of time playing with the other children in Glenwood, and ‘minding’ them for their mothers. Georgie felt that Flora may have contacted TB Meningitis that way, although she could probably have gotten it from anybody.
Jean doesn’t know if anybody accompanied Flora to St. John’s when she was sick and was sent by train from Glenwood to the Fever Hospital in St. John’s. She knows that Julie was not with her when she died on November 7, 1914. Julie found out from a letter from the hospital. Georgie said that when Flora was dying she was singing a hymn, and they could hear her all over the ward. Holly said that Georgie was also sick at about the same time as Flora, so Julie may have had to stay home to look after her.
Flora was a favorite of her father Alexander Munro. She used to play with him and pull his beard. The other children were afraid of him and wouldn't have done that, but not Flora.
Flora Munro (14 years), Shirley Rowsell( Georgina's daughter of 18 months) and Peter Alex Munro (Alister &Aggie’s son, died in childbirth) are buried in the same plot (Section 11, #216) in the General Protestant Cemetery in St. John’s.
There were a couple of pictures of Flora but they have been lost. One was a big framed one that Jean remembers was in their home in Buchans. It was probably lost when they left to go to Deer Lake. There was another smaller one as well, that was not very clear.
John Munro
January 8, 2007
Leah Georgina Munro (1897-1990)
(Draft November 2/06 – much of this information was supplied by Holly Goodyear)
Georgina (Georgie) was born on January 24, at Apsey Cove, Campbellton. J.J. Durant baptized her on March 27, 1897. By 1900, the family was living at Glenwood and this is where Georgie grew up
Holly says that Georgie had celiac disease, which caused her to have a strong reaction to wheat and bran. In those days allergies were not well understood. She was congested and did not walk until she was about three years old. Georgie always credited her aunt Lillian Pelley with being her savoir and looking after her during this illness.
After the move to Glenwood and with growing older, Georgie was able to cope with the disease better but it was always there and sometimes manifested itself as chronic bronchitis. She lost a great deal of schooling because of this, however she was an avid reader and quite well educated for her time. She taught herself to play the piano and played the organ in church. She said she had no appreciation for beauty until she was given painting lessons during the winter months when she couldn’t go to school.
While growing up in Glenwood, Georgie had to help Julia with the housework as well as attending school. There is one story about an incident where Jack, who had a temper, gave Georgie a hard time because she didn’t have his shirt collars pressed. Family lore also has it that Effie, being the oldest girl, got preferential treatment while Georgie had to do most of the helping out with the housework.
Her older sister Effie, in her teens, was taken to Boston by a doctor and his wife and educated there, returning home in the summer. Georgie was jealous of this because Effie would arrive home with the most elaborate hats. After Effie went to Nova Scotia to live, the doctor and his wife offered the same opportunity for Georgie, but her mother was quoted as saying that she lost one daughter and wasn’t about to lose another. Shortly after this, the youngest sister Flora died and Georgina was left as the only girl. This in a household of four males meant a lot of work fell on her shoulders.
Georgie had an impish side. Jean tells a story that once Julia’s father, Moses Pelley, was staying with the family in Glenwood. During a meal he asked for some pudding and then left the table for a short while. Georgie got the pudding and put in on his chair. When he came back he sat right on it. In spite of this, Georgie liked Moses. In a letter to me in 1976, she said: “When I was a little girl the family took a trip to Campbellton to visit our land. My grandfather was with us, - I loved him very much-
To get away for this onerous life, Georgie, as many daughters did, married early when she was about sixteen. She married Abram (Abe) Rowsell of Glenwood. His family was originally from Exploits Island in Notre Dame Bay, near Twillingate. Abe had completed the available schooling in Glenwood and learned telegraphy. Holly said his early pictures showed a good-looking young man. In those days a job with the Newfoundland Railway was a feather in his cap. Georgie and Abram had the following children:
Godfrey Bryson Munro was born on March 14, 1914 and died in 1989 in Corner Brook. He worked for the Bowaters Newfoundland Pulp and Paper Company in the Woodlands Division at Hawke’s Bay and in Corner Brook. He married Laura Weldon and they had four children; Raymond, Shirley, Judy, and Wayne.
Shirley Rowsell was born about June1924, in Catalina and died in a St. John’s hospital when she was about 18 months. She was buried in the General Protestant Cemetery, Old Topsail Road on December 15, 1925.
Holly Lillian Alma was born on December 25, 1928 in hospital in St. John’s while the family was living at Whitbourne. She is presently living with her husband Ray Goodyear in Renfrew, Ontario. They have two adopted children, Julia and Andrew.
Abe and Georgina were first posted to Crabbe’s River, now known as St. David’s, on the West Coast of the Island. This would have been about 1913/14. Georgie, with her new baby Godfrey, was very lonely there because they lived away from the town and the house was supposed to be haunted. Julia visited her there and helped to alleviate some of the depression that often follows a new birth.
Holly is not sure when they moved to the town of Catalina, on the branch line from Whitbourne to Bonavista, but she remembers it was for quite a long time. Georgie liked it there. They were in the community and had a social life. Abe was in the church choir and Georgie had some friends and could go visiting. Shirley was born there.
The next move was to Whitbourne on the Avalon Peninsula, which was on the main railway line and at the junction of the branch line to Bonavista. It was an important position. Meanwhile Georgina’s parents had aged and needed a new house, so a small one was built for them at Whitbourne, financed by Alister and Georgie. The Depression was now on and everything was hard to come by. Abram, having coal at hand to supply the trains, would supply Alex and Julia with coal to heat their house. He had a great regard for Julia, whom he credited with saving his life after a heart attack he had while they were at St. David’s. During 1935, the business of supplying coal to his relatives got back to the authorities in the Railway office in St. John’s. Abram was accused of stealing and lost his job. Georgie put her pride in her pocket and went to St. John’s to plead his case. His posting was not returned to him but the Railway authorities said they would not leave a black mark on his record.
After a period of looking for a new job, the family found themselves in Grand Falls where Abram landed a position with the Post Office as a telegrapher. As radio was in its infancy in Newfoundland, the telegrapher was an important position. Grand Falls was a closed Company town run by the Anglo-Newfoundland Development Company and the Post Office Telegraph was the means of quick communication with the outside.
Housing was at a premium and permission to build in Grand Falls was seldom given. Some rooms were rented in a small company house on Second Avenue. The depression was on and there was inadequate space, so adjustments had to be made. Godfrey was about sixteen years old at the time. Brother Alister arranged a job for him at Bishop’s Falls, in the general store he was managing there for the Goodyear Brothers. Shortly after this, their Second Avenue accommodations were cancelled and Abram said to Georgina, “I don’t know what you are going to do but I’m going to Mother’s”. Georgie’s reply was, “I will take Holly and go and help my brother William in Buchans.”
Georgie never went back with Abram permanently. For the first couple of years, when school was out, she visited with Holly in the summer for a couple of weeks. Holly remembers going to Abram’s sister’s house where Georgina’s household goods were stored. She would never forget the look on her mother’s face as she surveyed the dishes and utensils she owned strewn about the yard. The children were using them for play toys. Georgie turned on her heel and walked away. After that she never spent any time with Abram alone.
When Georgie and Holly moved to Buchans, they all lived in the same house and Georgie was the boss. At that time there were Doris, Jean, Milton, Vernon, Alister, Bill and Holly.
Jean loved Georgie. She looked after the children and they had lots of fun. WD used to get a bit jealous of the kids liking Georgie so much. She used to make the kids help with the housework.
Georgie stayed in Buchans until Will married Joyce Morris in 1945. Then she took a hairdressing course in St. John’s and planned to operate a salon in Buchans. This was a good location because she would have been the only hairdresser in town. However, about this time it was discovered that Joyce had tuberculosis and had to go into the Sanatorium in St. John’s. Georgie returned to William’s house and along with Jean, ran the household again. Georgie also worked at her hairdressing.
In about 1946 WD retired early from the Royal Stores and moved to Deer Lake to start his new business. Georgie moved along with him and planned to continue her hairdressing business there. However in Deer Lake she was in competition with another hairdresser, who happened to be her cousin Lovelett Pelley, the daughter of Julia’s brother, George.
During 1948, daughter Holy was going out with Ray Goodyear (who had served with the British Navy during the war) and they were making plans for their future. They were going to leave for Toronto, where Ray would try to get a job as an electrician and Holly would also find work. Georgina thought that this was a bad idea because of the gossip it would cause. She told Holly that she was leaving with them. Georgie had been in contact with her friend Amanda Clark who ran nursing homes in Brooklyn, New York. Amanda was vacationing at Hantsport, Nova Scotia. She told Georgie if she could get there, she would get her into the United States, where she could work at a nursing home. So Georgie, Ray and Holly met Amanda in Hantsport in July. Amanda wanted Ray to come to the US and work for her as well. However Holly didn’t agree, so Georgie ended up going with Amanda, and Ray and Holly went to Toronto. Ray was successful in getting a job with Ontario Hydro and he and Holly were married the following year.
In Brooklyn, Georgie worked for Amanda and earned Practical Nursing Degree. She worked for Amanda for seven years. Getting tired of this she decided to go back to hairdressing and attended a school of Cosmetology, where she graduated with honors. Finding that this field did not pay enough she returned to nursing. This time she went into private nursing, which paid much better and gave her opportunities to travel with her patients.
Each summer Georgie took six weeks to return to Newfoundland. Ostensibly, it was to visit Julia and move her from Glenwood to St. John’s where she would receive better care from Alister and Aggie, who had moved there in 1953. However after her return to Brooklyn, Julia would soon go back to Glenwood. After a few years of this, it became apparent that Julia was happier in Glenwood.
In 1959 Georgina met a patient, who after recovering decided that this pretty nurse would make a good wife. Georgie’s first husband, Abram, had died in 1959 – they had never been divorced. This man, Stephen Gilbert Howe, came from an old line of Pilgrims from Connecticut and had never been married. Georgie said yes and they were married in March 1960. Stephen had never traveled outside of New York. Georgie changed that quickly. Stephen saw more of the North American continent in the next few years than he ever could have imagined. With advancing age, Stephen faltered and died five years later. He was buried in South Salem, New York and Georgie had printed on his tombstone, ‘He was a perfect gentleman’.
Georgie lived on in Brooklyn and Long Island until 1977, still taking her trips to Newfoundland, Toronto and California. She went to California to visit Will’s daughter Sybil and her husband, Jim Lentz and their two children. Every winter for years Georgina would be their guest. Jim, on finding out that Sybil was also named Georgina, decided he liked that better and she is now known as Georgina. They treated Georgie royally and she loved them dearly.
In 1977, Georgie moved to Mississauga, Ontario to be near Holly and Ray. She was now about 80 years old. She lived in a three-bedroom apartment until she was hospitalized in December, 1989. She passed away on May 9,1990 at the age of 93. She would have lived longer but decided that, as she no longer had control of her life, she would end it and stopped eating. A strong woman to the end! She is buried beside Stephen in South Salem, New York where she shares a monument the outlines her life’s journeys.
It should be pointed out that one of the most important people in her life was her younger brother Alister. He was her advisor, confidant and comforter and most of all her friend. She grieved deeply for him and his family after his death.
I (John) don’t recall Georgie visiting us in Bishop’s Falls very much while I was growing up, but then I was quite young. I remember her and Stephen visiting us in St. John’s. I always remember her as having a lot of vitality, generosity and affection, and she was always fun to be with. She and Alister were close and she was a good friend with Agnes as well. After Stephen died, Alister went to New York to help Georgie get her affairs straightened out.
In later years when Georgie was in Mississauga I visited her several times and sometimes telephoned when passing through Toronto. When I called, she would say, “Which one are you?” She was always interested in the family news once we had straightened out who I was.
Throughout her life, Georgie was adventurous and she never lost this spirit. She learned to drive a car at the age of 62. She was talented, an excellent organizer, innovative, funny, a loving person and like many of the Munros, very family oriented. I think Georgie had a vivid imagination and was very spiritual. Perhaps she got this from Julia.
JM
Nov 3/06
Georgie c 1913
Jack Munro (1891-1966)
Early Glenwood days
Jack was born in 1891 or ’92 (exact date is a bit uncertain) at Indian Arm (Campbellton) Notre Dame Bay, Newfoundland. Not much is known about his upbringing and early working years. Growing up in Glenwood would have meant playing and working in the woods and helping with chores around the house. He may also have accompanied his father on his hunting and working trips in the woods. Family lore has it that Jack didn’t like school in Glenwood and eventually refused to go. His father sent him to the family farm at Whim Road, Prince Edward Island to go to school there (and perhaps to work on the farm) but that didn’t work and Jack left and reappeared in Glenwood after a while. I imagine they gave up trying to make him go after that. He couldn’t read or write when I knew him in Glenwood in the 1950’s, although he was running a business at the time. He could sign his name with difficulty.
Jack was a trapper and had camps in the upper Gander River Watershed. In the 1921 Newfoundland census data for Glenwood he is shown as the Head of the household, born in 1892, and place of birth was Campbellton. His status was Single; religion was Methodist; and occupation was Trapper.
I have a map which shows his main camp site at the mouth of Southwest Gander River, and another one about 5 miles up the river. Apparently at one time his partner was Essau Gillingham. There is a bog near Dead Wolf Pond known as Gillingham’s Bog. (I got this information from Lester Shea of Glenwood). Gary Saunders told me that his father Brett and Jack both trapped on the upper Gander. Jack once told me that he had walked all the way from Glenwood to Bay D’Espoir on the South Coast of the Island, on the trails the Micmacs used. In September 1946 Jack was part of a rescue crew that assisted the survivors of a Sabena Airlines plane that crashed in the vicinity of Dead Wolf Pond, southwest of Gander Lake, while trying to make a landing at Gander Airport in bad weather.
In the 1930’s Jack was working as a lookout in a Government forest fire tower at Mount Peyton. Edgar Baird was the Chief Fire Warden for the Government at the time and (in a three part newspaper article in the Grand Falls Advertiser, Feb 22, Feb 29 and March 3 1988) he recalled that Jack was involved in the first use of an aircraft in fire fighting in Newfoundland in August of 1937. Jack had reported a fire on the Southwest Gander Wathershed about 20 miles from his lookout. It was in a very remote location in the vicinity of Caribou Pond. Edgar went to Glenwood from Whitbourne by train and arranged to get a Government Fox Moth airplane based at Norris Arm, to check out Jack’s sighting. They verified the presence of the fire as Jack had reported and Edgar then used the plane to ferry men and equipment in from Glenwood to put it out. Here is a quote from Edgar’s article:
Ern Stead met me at Glenwood in the early morning as we had arranged. As soon as it was light enough to see we got in touch by telephone with John Munro on Mount Peyton. In the morning as always, there was not much smoke to be seen, but John told us that along about noon of the two previous days the fire had flared up although there had been very little wind. It was perfectly obvious to him, and to us, that with high winds the fire would become a disaster.
Another story related to Jack’s fire tower days was that he and his depot man in Glenwood had a system arranged so they could play checkers over the phone line. They probably spent a lot of time doing this. The Glenwood History book (in the town Library) also notes that Jack was one of three men working in the fire depot (the big building near the station later used by Howe Crowell as a store) in Glenwood:
“Some years after that the building was used by the Newfoundland Railway as a fire patrol station. Three men were employed there at that time, they were Jack Monroe, looked after the flag staff, Mr. Wall looked after the Mount Peyton area and Mr. Shea looked after the railway track area, operating the speeder”.
In addition to working on the fire patrol, Jack also sometimes worked for the government in the winter as a guide for the Newfoundland Ranger stationed in Glenwood. In his book Rattles and Steadies, Gary Saunders tells a story of Jack and a Ranger on a winter dog team patrol trip visiting Brett Saunders rabbit catching camp on Northwest Gander River in March of 1939. They were checking to see if there was caribou meat in the camp, but didn’t find any.
Newfoundland Overseas Forestry Unit
The next record of Jack is of his service with the Newfoundland Overseas Forestry Unit (NOFU) during WWII. Jack’s identification card indicates that he signed up for the NOFU on November 28, 1939. In a letter dated January 29, 1988, Tom Curran of Glovertown, supplied me with some information relating to Jack’s service with the Unit.
Jack went overseas on January 13, 1940 with a group from the Glenwood/Lewisporte area with Ivan Shea as foreman. They sailed from Bay Bulls on the CPR liner Duchess of Richmond, at that time not yet converted to a troop carrier. Tom Curran was in charge of the contingent of 412 men, the third draft of foresters to go overseas. After they landed at Liverpool they traveled to Glasgow and split into two groups. Jack’s group went to a base camp at Ardentinny named Glenfinart and from there to the Inverness area, where there were a number of camps.
In a letter dated June 2, 1988 from E.F. Brown of the Department of Veteran’s Affairs, I got detailed information on Jack’s time with the NOFU in Scotland. His registration number was 839 and his overall time of enrollment was from January 10, 1940 to his date of discharge on April 26, 1946. His time at various camps in the Inverness area of Scotland was summarized as follows:
Ballindalloch - August 21, 1940- June 30, 1941
Daviot - July 1, 1941 to Dec 12, 1941
Dalcross - Jan 1, 1942 to June 30, 1942
Dalcross - July 8, 1942 to Dec 31, 1942
Duthil - Jan 8 1943 to June 30, 1943
Duthil - July 6, 1943 to Dec 31, 1943
Duthil - Jan 5, 1944 to June 30, 1944
Duthil Aug 1, 1944 to Dec 31, 1944
Deshar - Jan 1, 1945 to June 30, 1945
Whitebridge - July 1, 1945 to March 31, 1946.
The camps were located in wooded areas and appear to have taken their names from the nearest town. Thus the camp at Daviot would have been in the country near the town of that name. Jack was stationed at this camp from July to December 1941 and may have first met Alice Mobbs while there.
Larry Gladney of Clarenville was overseas in the NOFU with Jack. He knew Jack at Duthil camp. (See group picture including Jack at Duthil). Larry remembered that Jack was good at cutting hair and was always ‘dressed up’. He was one of the older men there (Jack would have been about 48 when he enrolled), and had a sort of caretaker role at Duthil. Caretakers looked after the building maintenance and had a camp policeman role. If men came home late and were noisy, Jack would settle them down. Larry was married and lived with his wife on a farm near the camp. Jack used to visit them to get lettuce from their garden.
Jack married Alice Mobbs while he was in Scotland. Alice was from Moy, a small town between Inverness and Navin, near Davoit and Delcross. Mrs. Eldrid Snow of Glenwood knew both Jack and Alice in Scotland. She got to know them through her husband Eldrid who was also from Glenwood. Jack was courting Alice and the four of them would go on picnics sometimes and also to dances and the movies at Inverness by bus. They thought that Jack and Alice made a good match because they were both older. Alice was in her 40’s when she started going out with Jack. Jean Mitchell said that Alice was smart as a child. She won a scholarship when she was 15. She got the measles and wasn’t quite the same after.
Mrs. Snow wasn’t sure what Jack did with the forestry unit. He used to come to their place to play cards. The Snows were living in a farmhouse.
Jack & Alice Wedding, Scotland
Back at Glenwood
A passenger list for the liner Isle de France (taken from the NOFU Web Site) shows J. A. Munro and wife, Glenwood, among the group on the ship departing Southampton for home on April 17, 1946.
Back at Glenwood Jack and Alice had to settle down to a new life. Jack would have been 55 then and no doubt, was looking for an alternative to trapping or woods work. In spite of not being able to read or write he started a business. I think Alister and perhaps others helped him in this. Perhaps as a result of his experiences in Scotland, he started a movie theater with an attached canteen in Glenwood. Initially this was quite successful as there were few other forms of entertainment there at the time. In 1947, Bowaters started a major logging operation in Glenwood and this created a considerable payroll and flow of loggers through the town.
The Glenwood History states the following:
Around 1946 - 1947, Jack Monroe (who was a trapper and also worked on the fire patrol at Mount Peyton) built a new theater. This building was later purchased by Otis Gillingham for use as a garage. Mr. Monroe built a second theater in later years. It was sold to the Anglican church to be used as a hall. After Monroe sold the old theater, he still held matinees in a hangout/canteen which he operated on Main Street. It is said that before Mr. Monroe ever owned a theater he sold home made ice cream and soft drinks from a log cabin located behind his house.
The book has a picture of Jack’s log cabin.
Jack also had a truck and a distribution business for soft drinks. I remember going with him on a trip from Glenwood to Gambo and Hare Bay in the early 1950’s with a load of drinks on a cold June day over the Trans Canada Highway which was unpaved and in pretty rough condition. It was a wonder the drinks made it intact. In addition, his brother Will came to Glenwood with his family in the late 1940‘s or early 1950’s and started a grocery store next to Jack - probably with his help.
Jack would have had help with the bookwork associated with his business, probably from Alice and others. While the business seemed to do very well, Alice had a hard time adjusting to life in Jack’s log cabin in Glenwood. The move from Scotland to Glenwood must have been a major cultural shock for her and she went into depression and stayed in bed for quite a while. Her Mother, Mrs. Alice Emma Mobbs, came over from Scotland about 1948; to help look after her and things became pretty crowded in the cabin. On seeing Glenwood for the first time, Mrs. Mobbs was said to have commented, “On my, such an untidy town!”
Mrs. Mobbs died in Glenwood on March 24, 1954 and is buried in the United Church cemetery there. In the 1950’s Jack built a new house next to the cabin and Alice’s condition gradually improved. Alice was always mentally bright and was a very gentle person. She liked to enter radio quiz contests and often won prizes.
Going up the Lake
During the late 1940’s we were living in Bishops Fall’s, a few hours away from Glenwood by train. I remember Jack used to visit us occasionally, after he returned from overseas. I don’t remember Alice coming with him but she might have. He liked children and used to sing, “I Love A Lassie” to us. I remember a lot better our many trips to Glenwood. Dad took Ann and I there one summer in the late 1940’s and we went down the river salmon fishing, staying at the government cabin, I believe. I don’t think Dad caught any fish. That time we visited with Jack and also saw Cecil Pelley, the famous one-armed river man who was Dad’s cousin through his father's marriage to Julia. Cecil had tuberculosis at the time and later died. He was quite sick, but still tying salmon flies to sell to sports, with a special vice he made. I remember another time during the late 1940’s I went to Glenwood alone on the train from Bishops and stayed at a boarding house, presumably because it was too crowded at Jack’s cabin. I remember it wasn’t a particularly successful trip because I didn’t have much to do. It probably wasn’t a good time a visit given Alice was sick.
When I arrived at Glenwood for a summer holiday I would pester Jack to take me up the lake. He was working of course and would put me off saying he was too busy or it was too windy. However, I usually got him to take me up eventually. I remember one time he took myself, my brother Bill and Alice up to the mouth of Northwest Gander River. We brought a tent but it was such a beautiful calm night we slept on it under the stars. We also caught a lot of small trout and cooked them for breakfast. Jack also got a salmon during the night. Another time I was up the lake with Jack and Alice and we set up a tent in the woods at the sandy point at the mouth of North West Gander River. The weather was threatening thunder and lightening and Jack cut down a couple of large aspen trees and piled the logs on each side of the tent. I asked what he was doing and he explained if any big trees fell on the tent during the night, the logs would protect us.
One summer day in 1954, I was on a fishing trip up the lake with Jack and Alice and their friends Mr. and Mrs. Clark and Howe Crowell. We were on our way down between Careless Cove and Glenwood when a big thunderstorm overtook us, and the lake got quite rough. We were in the riverboat and fairly heavy in the big waves, but Jack got us all safely ashore where we sheltered until the storm blew over. Jack was Alice’s hero that day. She exclaimed, "Jock, I don't know how you managed to get us in to shore!".
As I got older Jack would let me have his riverboat and motor and myself, Cyril Pelley and Doug Thistle, took it on a few trips one summer up the lake and down the river as far as Petrie’s Rock. The shaft of the old Johnson outboard was cracked so we held it together with some telephone wire. Navigating the river was tricky because we didn’t know the runs. Sometimes we would follow other boatmen who knew the way, but otherwise we were on our own. Cyril would get in the bow and give me directions to avoid the rocks. The big thrill was going over Big Chute, which we managed somehow.
I had a reputation for being a big eater, and didn’t mind helping myself to food from the kitchen or a soft drink or ice cream from the canteen. Once, in discussing my eating habits with my father Alister, Jack said, “The one I dreads coming here is John”. In spite of that he was always very patient and treated me very well. I thing he kind of liked to have his nephews and nieces around sometimes, perhaps because he had no children of his own.
As I got older, when I went to Glenwood for a visit, Jack would put me to work serving in the canteen or collecting money at the theater. Once, when I would have been in my early teens, he taught me how to operate a generator and movie projector. He had arranged to show some western movies at the Bowater camps on Southwest Gander River. He put me on the Bowater boat with the equipment and some movies and off I went to the Bowater Depot at the mouth South East Gander River. A foreman from one of the camps (I think it was Camp #3 operated by Ches Ludlow and Obidah Northcott) met me at the Southwest depot and we drove in his truck to the camp. That evening we set up the equipment and showed a western and some cartoons to about 60 men for perhaps $0.75 each. I was pretty nervous expecting the equipment to break down at any time. It didn’t, and after a few days Northcott’s son took over the operation and I returned to Glenwood. I didn’t get any of the profits; I guess as far as Jack was concerned, I was working for my board.
Conclusion
The thing I remember about Jack and Glenwood was that it seemed to be the place where the family met. Georgie and Effie visited there from time to time. We visited from Bishops, Grand Falls and later St. John’s. Will returned there with his family when he left Deer Lake and his older children came to visit. Alister went there to work in the store with Will, when we were living in St. John’s and he couldn’t get anything else. Although he didn’t have much formal education, Jack’s businesses helped keep three families going for a while. Although most of the original family had left Glenwood, they still kept coming back for visits, or when they needed to for financial reasons.
Jack died in 1966. He had been experiencing angina for a while and collapsed one evening after supper while he was working outside the house. He is buried in the Pentecostal Cemetery in Glenwood. After Jack died, Alice sold the house and moved in with Will and Joyce for a while. Then in about 1972 she moved in with Jean and Jack Mitchell in Bonne Bay and later Steady Brook. About 1978 she moved to the Lakeside Home in Gander, but still used to visit Jean in Steady Brook. She died of a heart condition at 81 years of age, in 1981. She is buried with her mother Mrs. Mobbs in the United Church Cemetery in Glenwood.
Holly and Jack, Gander Lake c 1950's
William Daniel Munro (WD or Will) Draft Oct 6/06
Presumably taken in Glenwood c 1900
William was born at Campbellton in August 22, 1982. He would have been about seven years old when the family moved to Glenwood. Not much is known about his early days, but one can imaging the typical activities of a young boy growing up in pioneer towns like Glenwood and Campbellton. There was a school in Glenwood so he would have attended that when it was open. He must have gotten a good basic education because he had a career in business, was well read and had a keen interest in local and world events.
During his school days when he was about 12 years old, William damaged his right hand in an accident. He and some other boys used to take turns lighting the fire in the stove at school. One morning after the fire was in, they threw some explosive caps on the top of the stove. One went off and took off about half of Will’s thumb and the next two fingers of his hand. Julia took him to the Grand Falls Hospital in the railway speeder, where a doctor treated him. In spite of this injury he still wrote well with his right hand.
Bill Munro Junior, remembers his father telling him that he used to go trapping with his father Alex when he was growing up in Glenwood. He said they trapped at Hunts Brook on Gander Lake and took out thousands of dollars worth of fur from that area.
WD worked in Nova Scotia for a while before he was married. He went there with the Rutherfords and probably stayed with them, working in the Lewis Miller Woods operations that were based at Ingramport, St. Margaret’s Bay, in Halifax County. He had a Dutch girl friend while he was there and her father had a farm. They liked each other but perhaps Will was not ready to settle down, because he came back to Newfoundland.
By 1917 he was working at Millertown, which was a logging community in the interior of Newfoundland and the center of harvesting operations for the Anglo-Newfoundland Development Company based in Grand Falls. At the time Will was working as a teamster for the Royal Stores, which had the General Store in the town. That year he married Katherine (Kitty) Yates, who was working in the office of the Royal Stores as the manager’s (Mr. Bartlett) secretary.
Kitty had come to Millertown with her family about 1907, when she was 10 years old from near Cottrells Cove, New Bay, Notre Dame Bay. There is a story that Kitty’s father died of an aneurysm when she was ten years old, (which would have been about 1907) while he was fishing with a crew on the Labrador Coast. The voyage was not finished and they couldn’t leave to come back to the Island so the crew packed the body in salt until they returned. When the schooner was sighted coming into port it’s flag was at half-mast, so the people at home knew that something was wrong. After, Kitty’s brother was working in Millertown, so she and her mother moved there. Kitty died from a brain aneurysm on January 1, 1935.
William and Kitty had the following children:
Flora Doris ; born in 1917 in Millertown. She worked for the Royal Stores in Buchans and later for Gerald S. Doyle in St. John’s before moving on to the United States. She married Homer Rice of Dallas and they had no children. She died in Texas in 1988 and is buried there.
Jean ; born in Millertown in 1920. She went to school in Millertown and Buchans and also worked in the Royal Stores. Later she worked for Gerald S. Doyle in St. John’s, but then came back to Buchans to help at home after Kitty died in 1935. She married Jack Harding Mitchell in Deer Lake on November 11, 1949.
Alexander Milton George ; born in Millertown in 1923. Milton went to school in Buchans and worked for a while with the Buchans Mining Company. After the war broke out he joined the Royal Canadian Air force and served overseas as a Gunner on nighttime missions over Denmark. He was lost on 26 February 1944, when his plane was shot down. His remains are in the Esbjerg (Fourfelt) Cemetery in Denmark.
Vernon Scott Munro ; born August 20, 1925 at Millertown. Vernon went to school in Buchans and after worked for construction companies in Newfoundland. In 1946 he went to Canada and worked in Ontario. Later, he had a career in the Employment Department of the Federal Government. He married Mary Ann Tell in 1947 and they had 7 children. He currently lives in North Bay.
Alister Lloyd ; born December 2, 1928 in Buchans. Alister went to school in Buchans and moved with the family to Deer Lake about 1946. There he worked in his father’s store for a while and also worked for Bowaters on logging operations in Hare Bay, on the Northern Peninsula. He married Jeanetta Marion Watkins in 1955 and they had two children. Alister joined the Air Force in 1950 and later worked as the Director for Safety and Security, for 14 years at the Charles Camsell Hospital in Edmonton, where he still has a home.
William Daniel Jr ; born September 07, 1931 in Buchans. He went to school in Buchans and Deer Lake. After High School he went to Glenwood for a year working for Jack, at the Theater and the canteen, etc. In 1951, Bill went to Baden, Ontario and stayed with Vernon until he got a job with the Arrow Shirt Company in Kitchener, where he worked for 38 years. Then he worked for over eight years as the registrar for the Court House.
In 1956 Bill married Darlene Joan Gueguen and they had four children.
In 1945 William Senior married Joyce Pearl Morris. They had two children:
Sybil ; born in Deer Lake in 1949. Sybil grew up in Glenwood and after High School she took Nursing in St. John’s. Later she moved to California and married James Thomas Lentz in 1973, and they had two children. They live in Chula Vista, California.
John Alexander Morris ; born in Glenwood in 1951. Alex grew up in Glenwood and after high School he took a mechanic’s course and works for Hickman Motors in Gander. Alex is also an experienced Gander River Fishing Guide. In 1972 he married Maxine Matthews and they had three children. Alex and Maxine live in Glenwood.
Millertown and Buchans
Living in Buchans
Jean remembers when the family moved from Millertown to Buchans. Lead, zinc and other minerals had been discovered at Buchans by Mattie Mitchell some years before and in 1927 the American Mining and Smelting Company (ASARCO) opened the mine there. The ore was shipped by rail from Buchans to Botwood and shipped to market. The Royal Stores opened a store in Buchans and Will was transferred there. On the day the family moved they went from Millertown by boat to a landing on the shore of Red Indian Lake and from there they and their belongings were hauled by tractor to Buchans.
In Buchans the family lived in a four-room house on Church Street. This was part of a duplex, the other side being the Staff House. It was adjacent to the new Exploits Valley Royal Stores. Kitty used to play the organ in the Millertown Church. Jean was very proud when the family went to church and she heard her mother play.
The following is taken from an interview by Danette Dooley with Ned Pretty, about his experiences while working in Buchans, which was on page 9 of the ST. John’s Evening Telegram, Sunday April 23, 2000.
“When beer finally got shipped to Buchans, it came in barrels” Pretty recalled.
“I was staying to Munroe’s. He was the assistant manager of the Royal Stores. He come to me one night, it was getting near Christmas, and he was interested in me having a barrel of beer in his house anyway. So he asked me if I wanted to buy a barrel of beer. Now that was about 10 dozen.”
Pretty dabs at his eyes with his handkerchief before continuing his story. His smile is as bright as the sun that, for decades, met his face as he made his way up out of the mines.
“See, Munroe said I could get it cheaper than I could the near-beer – that’s the Haig Ale and what they used to sell in the stores. So, me and the other feller who was staying with him, we bought a barrel each. Had our trunks full, under the beds full. Everywhere we looked was controllers beer,” he says, pausing to laugh and slap his thin leg.
Because of the ASARCO Mine, Buchans was a fairly prosperous place, even during the depression. Will and Kitty and their family were probably lucky to be living there during this time. However Kitty was not well, she was developing an aneurysm that was to eventually take her life.
Kitty was sick about three years before she died on January, 1935. She had bad headaches and was partly paralyzed on her left side. The doctor told Will that she might live from 3 to 10 years. Jean remembers that her left eye was pushed out because of the aneurysm behind it. She wore a frosted glass to cover it. Towards the end, the doctor told WD to have someone stand by her when she stood up. While she and Will were visiting the Moore family, she stood up and fell down. She lived for 3 days after that and she was conscious all the time. She knew she was dying. She said she saw her mother standing in a light at the end of a dark passage. Her mother was calling, "Come on Kitty" to her. She told WD she couldn't believe that he couldn't see her mother also.
Jean helped make the Christmas cake that year because Kitty couldn't do it. Kitty gave her directions. She was lying in the living room because she couldn't go upstairs. She told WD that she could hear bells ringing. She told him that she had a good life with him but she would miss her "little kittens". Kitty told WD that if she could, she would come back after she died, and meet him in the living room. WD sat up for her for months, but she never came.
Georgie came up to Buchans about this time and helped out a lot. Georgie and Kitty were good friends. Julia also came and stayed for a while to help out.
After Kitty died William and the family lived on at Buchans while the children grew up and went to school. During much of this time Georgie and Holly also lived with them and Georgie assumed the role of mother, especially to the younger children, Alister and Bill.
Deer Lake and Glenwood
In 1945 WD married Joyce Morris of Trinity. She had come to Buchans with the Royal Stores as an Interior Decorator and worked on the window displays. Joyce had tuberculosis when they were married but they didn’t know it at the time. She spent a year in the Sanatorium in St. John’s. About this time (1946-47) WD left the Royal Stores in Buchans and started a restaurant in Deer Lake. His son Alister worked for him for a while. The Deer Lake store didn’t work out and closed after a few years. Then WD and Joyce lived with Julia in Whitbourne for a while and finally moved to Glenwood in 1949.
At Glenwood WD started a grocery business next to Jack’s Theater on Main Street, and he and Joyce lived in a house nearby. This was where Sybil and Alex were born and grew up. WD had this store until about the time he passed away in 1971. I remember when we were living in Grand Falls (1949-1953), visiting Glenwood by car over the Trans Canada Highway. We crossed the Exploits River at Bishop’s Falls on Joe Hampton’s famous oil-drum ferry and then drove on to Glenwood over the dusty, bumpy road. We visited for the day and returned to Grand Falls in the evening.
I remember on one or two occasions during summer holidays, I helped out minding WD’s grocery store for short periods, usually over lunchtime. Once in the early 1960’s when Lorraine and I were living in Gander, I brought her there to meet my Uncle Bill. He was very gracious, chatting with us, and as we were leaving, he presented Lorraine with a box of chocolates.
WD loved to talk and was a good storyteller. Bill Munro Jr. supplied the following story, related to him in a letter by WD, about a moose-hunting trip up Gander Lake in the 1950’s, with his friend from Buchans days, Walter Mesh.
I must tell you this one about one of our departed friends, shortly after I came here. I was going to Hunts Cove for a moose.
I asked Walter Mesh if he’d like the trip. OH! yes indeed sez he, so I gave him the date and he arrived on time all smiles, and believe it or not he had a rifle too, and I know he never used a gun in his life. We went up by the Company’s (Bowaters) boat, and we had the key to the cook house, it was nice and comfortable.
First morning there, in getting ready to go to the hunting ground, Walter put on a big Army ¾ coat. I said, Mr. Mesh, are you wearing that coat?
Oh yes Mr. Munro, its cold this AM.
Well, sez I, this is all I’m wearing. I had just a red flannel hunting coat.
My Mr. M, you know you’re going to wear something more than that.
No, sez I, when you get out walking around you’ll wish you did not wear that coat.
Well I’ll wear it and if I get warm, I’ll take it off and carry it on my arm.
Fine, sez I, but going through the woods, especially the alder beds, how are you going to protect your face and with that big coat on one arm and the gun in the other hand?
So when we started out I took him through the worst alder bed I could see. By the time we reached one of the many old logging roads I looked back at him and he was steaming like a horse on a track race.
What, sez he, am I going to do with this damn coat?
I said, there is a nice bunch of dry wood there, put a match to it and put the coat on top of the fire so it won’t burn out too fast.
Oh Mr. Munro, I can’t do that.
Well, sez I, just hang it on that tree there and we’ll pick it up coming home this evening.
But sure we’ll never find it again.
Well, sez I, if we can’t find it, I’ll pay you for it.
O.K. I’ll leave it, and was he happy he left it.
About 11:30 AM, we came on a bog where 3 moose were playing around. They hoofed it off. We took after one that went up an old log road.
Now, sez, I, walk very carefully. Don’t break a stick under your feet. Just creep along, its resting time for Mr. Moose, and we must be very stealthy if we’re not to disturb him.
Well I was some what ahead of Mr. Mesh when I saw Mr. Moose rise up on his hinders. When he was fully erect he looked over his shoulders to ascertain where the sound was coming from that disturbed his midday rest. I put up my rifle and drew a bead on his head and struck just over the right eye. He went around in circles for 3 or 4 times and fell to the ground. I waited for Walter to catch up.
When he did I said, did you see him fall?
What sez he
Did you see him fall
What fall?
The moose of course
No, sez he, did you shoot one?
Yes
Like hell you did, I didn’t even hear a shot.
I looked at him and the perspiration was just pouring down his face.
We paced off the distance. It was 180 paces or about 150-160 yards because we were pacing uphill. It was a 3 year old cow moose.
When we got to it, well sez he, there he is and if he never gets cleaned till I clean him, he’ll rot there for sure.
That so, sez I, did you ever clean a beast of any kind?
No Sir, not even a swile (seal) or a cod fish, sez he.
I took off my coat, rolled up my shirt and started.
What’s the time Walter?
20 past 11:00, sez he.
12:00 we had it all finished. Well now, sez he, how do we get it down to the road?
I had a piece of rope in my bag. I cut two poles and made a barrow and we brought it to the road in 4 trips. One couldn’t carry a quarter, it was too heavy. We took the meat to the road and a fella from PEI who was driving a truck for the company brought it out to the lake side for us. How he got it on the truck by himself I don’t know. But he was a young and very sturdy fellow and most affable with it all.
The meat was one of the finest I’ve had of the many I’ve got since I came here.
The End
Alex drove Will to the hospital when he became sick with an abdominal aneurysm in January, 1971, Will said to him on the way, “Its not very nice having to stare old man death in the face.”
Will died after a short stay in the hospital. Later, Joyce married Albert Jenkins. After Albert passed away, Joyce was suffering from Parkinson’s disease so Alex and Maxine added an apartment to their house in Glenwood and Joyce stayed there until she passed away in 2005.
Will & daughter Doris in Buchans
J. Munro Oct 5/06