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This comes from a genealogy friend from my Martin
line out of England but she has been interested in Sinclair things as pertains
to the Mi'maqs as she lives in Maine.
Laurel
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Subject: Scottish customs Hi, Laurel: Hope you are
well. Recently I received some information which I thought might warm the
cockles of your (Scottish) heart. My husband has a relation living in New
Bedford, Mass., who is now 106. She had a brilliant mind and wrote down
all her memories of her childhood in Yorkshire, where her Scottish families
lived at that time. Some of it is amazing, and we wonder if any of
it sounds familiar to you.
Rhoda (Mc)Gill was
born in 1894. Between 1894 and 1903 when she came to America to take
complete care of sick family members (at age 9) in New Bedford, these are some
of her memories: It was accepted in her family that all children would
leave school and go to work as early as possible to help support the
parents. When that happened the mother would "retire," and the children
would cook, clean, and do all the work.
When the McGill man
married into the Nelson-McIntosh family he was shocked by this attitude.
The "retired" mother-in-law would not cook supper for her husband or the new
son-in-law; and they had to wait for the girls to come home from the mill to
cook a meagre supper. When they complained she said: "You get out
there, now, and pick your daisies and buttercups, and no more from you!"
Then she would "stay up all night by the fireplace with her cronies, gossiping
until morning, until she went to bed." She slept most of the day, until
her supper was ready.
Rhoda remembers
seeing her coming over a little curved bridge over the stream, wearing her
bonnet and little cape, on her way to their house. It all sounds
like something from Mother Goose.
Rhoda took over the
complete care of the Barry family (my husband's grandfather), as the father was
dying of Bright's disease, the mother worked cleaning houses in New Bedford, and
there were babies at home. She was only 9. A brilliant student, she
was encouraged to further her education, but it was the policy of the Gill
family for the children to WORK, so that was what she did, and she went to the
factory to spin cotton. Her brother was artistically gifted, but his life
was spoiled for the same reason.
Maybe this was the
lot of only the poor, but I doubt it. The parents invested their
children's earnings in a nice farm, and lived well the rest of their
lives. The "Mc" on Gill came and went during their lifetime, as political
situations changed. I thought you might enjoy this.
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