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The Victoria Community Development Corporation

Cyril Whyte, Sr.

"There were good weather, hard work, rough grub, and no rest."

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There were eleven boys and one girl in my family. My parents were Bennett and John Martin Whyte. My mother kept the house clean and cooked. My father worked in Sydney, Nova Scotia, in the coal mine. My grandfather was Noah Whyte and my grandmothers were Annie Whyte and Kate Cole.

I worked in the mine for six or seven years. I also did some labour work in Argentia and for Mr. John Clarke of Victoria. I went on to the Labrador coast with Max Powell for three or four years fishing. There were good weather, hard work, rough grub, and no rest because we stayed up all night and day. Back then women stayed home because there was no work for women to do. My wife was a housewife.

My parents had a two-story house with a flat roof. There was no plumbing but there was a well. There were some lights but mostly candles and outhouses. Uncle Art Clarke had the first radio. There were no televisions so everyone would crowd into his house to listen to the radio. For chores I had to cut and clean the wood. Then haul it home. I also had to make sure the wood box was always full.

We planted vegetables such as turnip, cabbage, potatoes, carrots, and everything else. They grew way bigger then what they are now and it had a nice taste on it, not like today. We didn't buy fertilizer because it would burn and rot the vegetables. We would use manure from the horses and cows. We raised goats, hens, ducks, and rabbits. We would kill the goats and eat them for fresh meat.

We would play hockey on the pond, and ball and the girls played hopscotch. Walt Clarke had a jukebox and we played songs on it. There was no music to play so we never had any musical instruments. We used to go to church Sunday nights and on Sunday school picnics. We had garden parties at Steve Baldwin's.

During Christmas we would go jannying for twelve days. You had to knock on the door to get in and yo would get cake or whatever that had to give you. We would go to Flatrock, Salmon Cove and Freshwater. We would get gifts but not many. The Christmas tree would be on the table decorated with apples and oranges. We would be down to Salmon Cove every night jannying, getting apples, cakes and buns.

For transportation we used a horse and cart. There were no paved roads. My mother went on a train to go down the shore or out to Carbonear.

If people were sick, they would go to the doctor to get the medicine they needed. He was located in Carbonear. When a woman went into labour they called a midwife.

Click here for a PDF version of Victoria: Recalling Our Heritage.

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