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George Snooks

"Sometimes the teacher would hit me ‘cause I was a hard ticket."

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In my family there was seven of us. I had two sisters Elsie and Louise and two brothers Edward and Elihu. My father was John Snooks and he marries my mother Elizabeth (Vaters). My grandparents were Henry and Elizabeth Snooks and Moses and Dorcas Vaters. My grandmother, Lizzie Snooks, was a midwife and she born me. I was the first baby she born.

I worked at most everything from a pick and shovel to heavy equipment. My mother mostly stayed home and my father was always away. He worked in the mine in Buchans for 37 years.

I lived in a two-story house with three bedrooms, no running water, no electricity and no indoor plumbing. I can't remember the date but I know we were the first ones to get a TV on Snook's Hill.

Everyone helped with the chores, but I had to go in the woods, cutting the wood, and lugging the wood home. We also had to plant potatoes, carrot, turnip, beet and I can remember my grandmother growing peas. We also kept animals such as cows, goats, sheep and horses and pigs.

For entertainment we would play checkers, snakes and ladders, tiddly, cricket, whip the top and horse shoes. We also had the scattered fight.

Years ago in Victoria, the Orangemen had a brass band my grandfather played the big drum. I can remember when Orangemen's Day was always held on New Year's Day and it would be the coldest day of the year. We would always go jannying during Christmas. We would go from house to house, but today nobody visits. "When the carpet came in your friends went out."

The school was a big building with a pot belly stove. Years ago when I was a small feller I went to a one-room school, The Church of England School. Then that closed down and the United Church rented the building. There was big classes then, about 30 people. I used slate and chalk and a bottle of water along with a rag to erase the work. Sometimes the teacher would have to hit me over the head with the slate ‘cause I was a hard ticket. I would have to bring a junk of wood to pay school fees.

Back then if you wanted to go anywhere you walked.

The nearest hospital was in St. John's. There was only one doctor for Carbonear, Freshwater, Victoria, Salmon Cove and Perry's Cove.

For a cold back then we used to steep our senna tea and chewing tobacco was for a cut. And for a sore throat you would take Minard's lineament, molasses and pepper boiled on the stove.

LOST ON THE BARRENS

Five women lost on Heart's Content Barrens in the year 1901, they got lost, two was found: one on Heart's Content Barrens and another down in Western Bay. The other three was never found or it was a mystery. They were bakeapple picking. I think, I'm not quite sure, but I think three or four were Coles, but not the one family now, I think it was four and the other one was White. That's the story, and that's facts.

THREE GENERATIONS OF THE SNOOK FAMILY

My great-grandfather came from England in 1797 and he was fishing on Labrador all of his life. I don't know quite how many sons he had, but he had I think it was two sons and two daughters. They all fished on the Labrador. My Grandfather used to come up from the Labrador most every winter, stay the winter and go back to go fishing in the spring. And he had one daughter, Nora and four sons: John, Henry, Leonard and Israel. That hill in here is called Snook's Hill, that's where they settled and they used to go on the Labrador for probably they wouldn't come up probably two or three years down in Battle Harbour. They used to live in Battle Harbour, but they finished in Fox Harbour.

My father was born in Fox Harbour. He was nine years old when they came back to Victoria and wasn't christened till he came back. There was no Church down in Labrador, no minister and when he went to get christened he could tell the minister here his name.

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