Document text
ORIGINAL MSS. OR FT= NOTES (Check one)
PUB. _Livinz _Lore iwNew 4grjaql
(Maine)
TITLE Steve Canaan. Prep& Canadian
WRITER Robert _path!
DATE
WDB. PP. 16
CHECKER
DATE
SOURCES GIVEN (I) -41ter7itriv
COMIIENTS
Maine
Living Lore
Old Town 1
ADDITIONAL PERSONAL HISTORY OF STEVE COMEAU,
FELNCH CANADIAN
93
Steve Comeau, According to my notes Comeau said he left
Canada in 1896, went to Gteenville and worked there in a saw mill
for six months. He then went to Watrville where he worked for
one and a half years in a woolen mill. That brought it up to 1898.
Comeau was 20 years old when he left home. For the next two years
he said he "alternated between Watz;rville and Gre2nville," that is
he worked in the mill in Waterville during 189 and 1900 except
for periods in the winter time that he spent in the woods "around
Greenville." He _lame to Old Town in 1901, when he was 25 years
old and has been here ever since. He worked in a woolen mill here
as a weaver during 1901 and until 1906. From that year until 1910
he worked in Jordan's box mill. He went back as a weaver in the
woolen mill next and worked there until 1912 when he went to work
as an edger in Wing and Enole's box mill. .He stayed there until
1917 when he wont back to work in the woolen mill. Remained there
as a night weaver until 1936 when the mill closed. Hasn't worked
anywhere since, but would like to get a WPA job to last "until I
can set a pension." (That would be in abut three years.) Comeau
worked for about three months in the yard at the Great Works pulp
mill during or around 1916.
Maine
Living Lore
Old Town 1
PERSONAL HisTaffr OF STEVE COMEAU, FRENCH CANADIAN
Steve Comeau, French Canadian, was born in South River,
New Brunswick in 1876. He is 62 years old. When he was very
young his father moved to Kouchidoudouc, which is also in New
Brunswick. With the exception of some time spent in night
school in Old Town, all of Steve's schooling was obtained in
the town with the Indian name. There was only one roam in that
school and there were no grades. Steve went till he was about
eleven or twelve. He left Kouchidoudouc in 1896 when he was
twenty years old and went to Greenville, Maine. After staying
there for six months he went to Waterville where he worked in
a saw mill. For the next few years he worked in the woods near
Greenville in the winter, and in Waterville in the summer. In
1901 When be was twenty-five years old be came to Old Town and
has been here ever since. His wife was born in the same town
that Jo Goodwin came from, Petit Rocher. He has three boys and
four girls. Two of the boys and two of the girls are married.
The youngest girl is taking a commercial course in the high
school.
Maine
Living Lore
Old Town 2
He wierked in the woods and on the drive when he was a
young man, and in saw mills, the box mills, woolen mills, and
gulp mills in later life. He has been unable to get 'pork
since the woolen mill shut down several years ago. He is a
Catholic and belongs to no lodges. Interest in his home and
friends. Is of medium height. Has black hair, slightly gray,
parted in the middle. Wears gold rimmed spectacles and is
never without a pipe. Had all his teeth pulled a few years
ago but the loss doesn't show up much. Has a very pleasant
manner and was always well liked by his fellow workers. Lost
his home through foreclosure several years ago. Is well read
and has decided opinions. Ought to tell a more virile story
than any of the others I've seen so far.
R.F.Grady
80 BruhSwick St,.
Old Town, Maine- Maine'
December 26, 1938 Living Lore
Old Town 1
Extra Comment Regarding
French Canadians in Maine
A study of French Canadians in the eastern part of Maine,
at least, can not be regarded in the same light as a study of
an alien racial group that has occupied a part of a territory
largely inhabited by Americans, or dominated by groups of other
nationalities.. I don't think that the French in Canada regard
eastern Maine exactly as they would foreign soil. There are a
number of reasons why this should be so. Many of the early ex-
plorers who sailed from the old world and travelled through
this region, and many of the early pioneers who settled here
were French. This section once formed a part of the province
of Acadia, and for long periods it was owned and controlled by
Frenchmen. French Jesuits played a prominent part in the early
religious life of the inhabitants, and in many communities
scarcely any language but French was spoken. Even today some
villages are predominantly French, and French Canadians and
French Americans form a varying proportion of the population of
every town.
In those early times there were many French in Canada, but
there were also many in eastern Maine. Part of the time there
was no boundary line between the two lands. The French here
"grew up with the land." They fought in the Revolutionary War
and in the War of 1612. Maine first belonged to the Indians,
and when America established its independence, the French in
Maine did not feel as thoug1 they belonged to an alien race.
The ties between the F nch peoples in eastern Maine and
Canada were further strenghtened by relationship and marriage.
R.F.--Grady
80 Brunswick St.,
Old Town, Maine
December 26, 1938
Maine
Living Lore
Old Town 2
When the province of Acadia existed, a Frenchman who crossed
the St. Croix was not going into foreign territory, but was
merely travelling about in a French possession. The French have
never lost the feeling that they belong here, and have as much
right to be here as any one. They look, dress, and talk wxactly
as do the Yankees. A French Canadian may sometimes be distinguished
by his speech or his accent, but the type which used such express-
ions as "By gar, she's col' won, I tell you :those!" has laxigely
disappeared from this section. It has evaporated as completely
as the Irishman who used to say, "Faith ant Bejabbers, I &tilt
like it at all, at all, so I don't, begorral
Some of the people I questioned seemed to be suspicious
in spite of explanations in regard to the purpose of the work.
They seemed to feel that the government had some hidden reason
for wanting information about them. Maybe some of them objected
_
to being considered as a "race apart", and preferred to be regard-
ed as 4'just folks". A better atmosphere seemed to prevail when
I left the French Canadian part out and told them I was looking
up information for a book that would deal with life in Canada and
Maine during a certain period. Just as much and maybe mare
information was forthcoming.
Steve Comeau lives at 15 Prentis Street. He hasn't worked
anywhere since the woolen mill shut down about two years ago.
R.F.Grady
80 Brunswick St.
Old Town, Maine Maine
December 26, 1938 Living Lore"
Old Town 8
Has been trying to get a WPA job for along time, but said
they wouldn't put him on because his boy gets more than $14.
a week in a plumbing shop. All the information I got from
Steve was obtained before I told him it was for the WPA. He
said if they couldn't give him a job he couldn't be expected
to help them.
Maine
Living Lore
Old Town 1
THE LIFE OF STEVE COMEAU, FRENCH CANADIAN
(As Told By Himself to Robert F. Grady)
I was born in Kauchidoudouc, in 1876. That would make me
sixty two years old. That was lust a little settlement may-
be two hundred people lived there. My father owned a farm of
about 150 acres. Most of the people there owned farms, and
they run from 50 to 200 acres. Some of the folks up that way
run trap lines, and some of them worked in the woods in the
winter and on the drives in the spring. It was pretty much
the same up there then as it was in Maine aPout that time. Some
times people up there would go across the line to work in the
Maine woods in the winter, and go back to -work their farms in
the spring. There was practically no business or industry of
any kind in the place I was brought up in. It was just a vil-
lage of farms. There was a small Catholic church there. All
the folks were French Catholics.
Maine
Living Lore
Old Town 2
The school I went to had only one room and one teacher.
I guess they had a grade system in the bigger places about
like they have here. They always called the high schools
"academies." .1 started going to school when I was about five
or six and kept it up until I was twelve years old. I never
had to carry any lunch because our farm was only about fifteen
minutes walk from the school. The teacher was always a girl
that boarded at one of the farmhouses. A few of the pupils
that lived farther out bad to carry lunches. I can't remem-
ber exactly what they had, but I imagine itAwas something like
a couple of sandwiches made of home made bread and some fish,
meat, or cottage cheese. It wouldn't always be the same, of
course, They might have cake, cookies, or a doughnut to add
to that. There were a lot of things they could carry such as
a tomato, a piece of pie, or an apple. They carried tea or
milk to drink and unless there was a fire in the stove they
had to drink it cold for nobody had any vacuum bottles then.
Living conditions up there when I was a boy were A lot
different than they are now. Of course I'm talking about the
small villages like the one I lived in. They -didn't have any
telephones, bathtubs, washing machines, electric lights, radios,
or a lot of things people think they have to have today. We
used to have dances and parties, but nobody ever thought of a
moving picture show then. I think, though, we enjoyed our-
selves just as much as people do now.
Maine
Living Lore
Old Town 3
The fuel was always wood and there wasn't anything auto-
matic about it. Some people had a pump in the kitchen, but
usually it was out in the. yard. Instead of raising just one
crop the farmers went in for general farming. They raised
about what they needed and. although they generally had plenty
to eat, they never had muclx.money. There were no labor saving
machines on the farms up there then. Nobody sprayed apple
trees, and grain was threshed on the barn floors. I don't
think farmers worked any harder then than they do now. If.
you have tractors or machines that do the vork faster, you
simply go in for farming on a larger scale, so you keep busy
anywhy. The trouble with farmers nowadays is that they want
to get a living without doing any work. If they'd work as
long as people do in the factories they wouldn't be so hard
up. When I was a boy on a farm in Canada I helped as much as
I could with the work. Some of the farmers raised flax. The
women would spin it into yarn and weave the yarn on hand looms
into homespun cloth that was used in suits and overcoats.
Winter stockings, winter caps, and mittens .were always knit.
We always kept, enough sheep to provide wool.
Maine
Living Lore
Old Town 3a
I couldn't say much about the cost of living in Canada
when I was young. About all we had to raise money for was
shoes and clothing that we couldn't make, certain kinds of
foods that we couldn't raise, and maybe a_doctor's bill if we
got sick. A lot of farmers had home remedies that were made
from herbs, to use for minor ailments. We never had to get
*Loney to pay light bills, water rates fuel bAlls, etc. We
could generally raise or grow enough extra to pay for what we
couldn't produce. The more a farmer can raise the better off
he is, for he has to sell his stuff at a wholesale price and
hd has to pay a retail price for what he buy. Sometimes when
a couple of the young folks got married a lot of the people
would get together and help build a home for them. The roads
were alwas pretty bad in the spring, but they were all right
at other times. In the winter people had to travel in sleighs
or pungs and if the day was real cold they had to dress pretty
warm to keep from freezing. Unless you had hot bricks or some-
thing like that to keep your feet warm it was like sitting with
them on a cake of ice.
Maine
Living Lore
Old Town 4
The French Canadians that came to Maine about the time
I did, didn't come from any special section of Canada: they
came from all parts of it. I guess, though, that the most
of them came from Quebec. Quite a few came from Nova Scotia,
New Brunswick, Prince Edwards Island, and the province of
Ontario. The people from New Brunswick Nova Scotia, and
Prince Edward Island could generally speak English pretty
well, but you could tell they came from Canada by the way they
talked. It used to be an awful insult to call anybody a P I.
There were different reason why they left, I suppose.
When a
person
reason why he
leaves one place and goes to another, the main
leaves is because he wasn't satisfied in the first
place, and be thinks he can better himself by going somewhere
else. I know
thought times
a lot of people up
were better in the
Some of the farmers thought they
there were hard up. They
states, and I guess they were.
could do better farther south
(in Maine) where the growing season would be a little longer.
Some of the young fellows, like myself, couldn't see much fu-
ture for themselves on a small village farm where there were
a lot of kids growing up. Some of them wanted a change, or
they wanted to see a little of the world. The ones that left
were generally of the poorer classes, and they thought they
could better across the line.
Maine
Living Lore
Old Town 5
In early days there were no restrictions whatever on im-
migration; that is, there were no laws or regulations to pre-
vent any one from coming to the states from Canada. There may
have been family objections in a few cases, but they were sel-
dome serious. The greatest obstacle was generally a lack of
the necessary cash. Some of those that left were fortunate
enough to have relatives here that they could stay with until
they found work. I think the first immigration laws were passed
soon after the Aroostook War, but for a long time they weren't
strictly enforced. The laws have been changed from time to time
and a head tax has been added.* The laws are strictly enfarced
now, and the quota can't be exceeded.
I left Kouchidouduac in the spring of 1896 .when I was twenty
year old. My folks were in the fifties then. They didn't exact-
ly like to see me leaving, but I had some brothers of near m7
own age who could carry on the work of the farm. My father said
that maybe I could better myself, but that if I couldn't, I could
alwas come back to the farm.
Mr. Arthur LeBlanc, 50, a grocer who lives At 45 Carrol
Street,- Old ToWn,-Saye that when he came from Canada in
1919, he paid a head tax of $8.00.
Maine
Living Lore
Old Town 6
They sold fruit, sandwiches, and candy on the train, but
I didn't buy any for I had a little lunch wrapped up in a news-
paper that I had brought from home. The trains then ran along
pretty fast as they do now. It takes about seven hours to go
from St. John, New Brunswick, to Bangor these days, and they
used to make the trip in about eight hours fifty years ago.
The Railroads charge two cents a mile now, but When I came here
the fare was between three and four cents for that distance.
People going on trips then could save a fraction of a cent on
a mile by getting a mileage book. These books had little tickets
in them: If you travelled fifty miles miles the conductor tore
out fifty tickets. They were supposed to be non -transferable,
but brokers handled them and you could get a book* or part of
one* use as much mileage as you needed, and return the book to
the broker. Pawnshops sold them, too, with various amounts of
mileage left in them. The tickets were no good if they were
detached, and the conductor always took the covers when the last
ticket was used. Brokers stopped handling them about twenty
five years age when fares were reduced so that there was no pro-.
fit for them in selling mileage.
Maine
Living Lore
Old Town 4. 7
I had earned enough swamping in the woods the winter
before to pay my fare to Greenville and leave me about thirty
dollars over.
I din't feel so bad When I left home, but when I got to
Greenville that night and found myself among strangers, I felt
pretty homesick. I worked in Greenville for about three months
and then went to Waterville Where some cousins of mine lived.
For the next five years I worked in Waterville except in the
winters when I went up in the woods near Greenville to work.
In 1901, when I was twenty-five years old; I came to Old Town,
Where I've been ever since.
The French Canadians Who come to Maine either go to some
town where they have relatives, or they start for some place
where they think they can get the kind of work they can do.
The towns that have large French populations are pretty well
known, and they naturally attract the most immigrants.
Maine, or the States, was the logical place for any one
in eastern Canada to come to if they were looking for a better
place to live. It WAS no use going farther north, nobody wanted
to cross the ocean to go to some foreign country, and western
Canada wouldn't have been much of an improvement over the east-
ern part. Just how many came over in any of the last fifty years
would be hard to say. Maybe the immigration people could tell
you. Only a certain number are allowed to come in every year,
and I guess there is always a waiting list.
Maine
Living Lore
Old Town 8
There weren't many went back to Canada, summer or winter
once they got here, I can tell you that. Some of them may have
gone back because they got discouraged or homesick, but they
were exceptions. The majority of the people Who come here in-
tend to stay. They like to go up on vacations sometimes, but
those trips are usually taken in the summer months. When Father
Trudell (a former pastor of St. Josephs Church) was alive he
used to run excursions every year to St. Anne de Beaupre, and.
a lot of French people went up on those. I never went up on
one of those, but they say a lot of people get cured up there.
I've heard there is a big pile of crutches just inside the door
*here they were thrown by people who didn't need them any more.
Maine
Living Lore
Old Town 9
The average age of people who came over would be bard
to say, but I think it would be in the early twenties. MOre
men came over than women. The women were generally unmarried,
and they usually found jobs in hotels or in private families,
unless they had some special skill. Some of them that had ex-
perience in textile mills or shoe factories, got work along
those lines. I know a lot of whole families came over. Look
at the Morins. They came to Old Town about the time I came to
Greenville. Including the old folks there were about twenty-
five in the family, and about all they had was the clothes they
were wearing. They tell me Frank used to go around barefoot be-
cause he didn't have any shoes to wear. Frank and Lawrence start-
ed a little fruit business in a tent about where the Morin store
is now. Lawrence was pretty shrewd and Frank WAS well liked.
He was real polite and he made the customers feel that he was
tickled to death to see them whether they had only one cent to
spend or a couple of dollars. He always managed to look clean
and prosperous even when he was getting started. Before the
chain stores came to town the Morins had a regular monoply of
the fruit and confectionery business in Old Town. They did a
wholesale and retail business. A few years ago they were rated
among the richest people in town, and for a long time Frank was
called the best dressed man in Old Town I guess he is yet.
Lawrence is dead now and Frank has sold out and gone into the
real estate business. People say the fruit business wont last
long now because nobody likes the boys they're too snobish.
I guess the way to get ahead is to have a lot of people going
around telling what a good fellow you are. I wish I!ci known
that fifty years ago.