Crossroads
Peter Teeple's son Pellum tells an anecdote in The Aylmer Express article of December 7, 1933 about the Mabee and Teeple families (see Part 1). In 1825 he went with…
Mabee and Teeple Families
Below is a story about the Mabee and Teeple UEL families of southwestern Ontario. Peter Teeple was the son-in-law of Frederick Mabee and Lavinia Pelham. The author, W. B. Waterbury,…
Trump Predictions
(Guest post by Jim Stewart) Prediction: Buyer's Remorse? By Remembrance Day this year (2025), the US will be experiencing the Mother of All Buyer's Remorse. The Reaganesque question "Are you…
Checkers
When Qatar gave Donald Trump a jet, I started thinking about past gifts to politicians. Checkers came to mind. A Cocker Spaniel pup and a $400 million 747-8, and two…
The Observer
The acknowledgements didn’t make a lot of sense when I read them before starting The Observer by Marina Endicott. Neither did the author photograph on the back jacket flap. Both…
Musk’s Legion
In normal times, this would be a headline only in the Weekly World News, not in pretty much every paper out there: “Inside Musk’s plan to make a ‘legion’ of…
Biscuits and Gravy
A staple of Southern cooking, biscuits and gravy makes for a delicious breakfast. It also can be very easy. A tube of country biscuit dough and leftover pork gravy. Add…
Flag Day
Sixty years ago, the maple leaf was raised for the first time as Canada’s official flag. On February 15, 1965 it replaced the Red Ensign and Union Jack. Not all…
Corrie Street Jan. 12/25
Gail’s Dream Overall, I don’t like dream sequences and the like in Coronation Street. Its trademark is that what you see on screen matches the external world of the story.…
Horse of Iron
I read Lawrence Scanlan’s Little Horse of Iron: A quest for the Canadian Horse after we’d been thinking of getting an elderly Canadian gelding. Knowing little about the breed, other…
Death at Greenway
Death at Greenway (2021) by Lori Rader-Day is a murder mystery set at the time Agatha Christie was writing her murder mysteries. It’s also set in a house she owned…
Apple Fritters
Before I ever went to Tim Hortons, I thought apples fritters were fried apple rings in a light batter. That’s what I had eaten somewhere, sometime long ago. I loved…
McDonald Family 1912 Curdsville
Heavrin McDonald
Ernest Heavrin McDonald, 24 Oct 1884 to 04 Nov 1885 Curdsville, Daviess County, Kentucky. Buried McCain Cemetery, Curdsville. Fifth child of Hiram Columbus and Sarah Clementine (Brogan) McDonald. Sarah wrote…
J. D. Rogers, Newfoundland
Newfoundland by J. D. Rogers is an essential in your library of Newfoundland Mi’kmaq history. Published in 1911, it is part of A Historical Geography of the British Colonies. I…
Polo
Why isn’t polo in the Olympics? Word that Prince Harry is doing a Netfix series about the sport, combined with horse show season and the Paris Olympics made me wonder…
D-Day in 1944 NQ
Newfoundland Quarterly - June 1944 Review of the War - W. J. Browne Allies Invade France On Tuesday morning, June 6th, the Allied forces which had been preparing to invade…
What Trump said
It’s easy to forget things. But some things shouldn't be forgotten. So in case you’ve not been following Donald Trump news, and you’re looking back at his time as president…
Seven Brothers
Seventy years ago, in 1954, seven brothers lived quietly on their family farm near Port Stanley in Elgin County. They shared it with their three sisters. None of them ever…
28 Days
Close to 5 pm, for 28 days, the back doors of the barn, looking to the east. Every day I empty the wheelbarrow, then turn to close the barn doors.…
Photography
I’d like to introduce you to a new photography website - ta-da - jimstewart360.ca. Lots of photographs of places and objects. Also lots of information on farm equipment and astronomy.…
Cranberry Jello
Cranberry sauce with turkey is great. The red berries add a festive splash of colour to a plate of turkey at any time. But you can dress up even your…
West Country Trilogy
I’d heard of the Battle of Jutland, but that’s it. No idea of who, when or where. Now I know, thanks to The Redeemed, third in Tim Pear’s West Country…
In Times of Trouble
This Thanksgiving, I am grateful for our neighbours. This summer and fall have been times of trouble for all of us in this farming area. Way too much rain to…
Fingal Cemetery, Fingal, Elgin County ON Google Maps
Burwell UEL Marker, Fingal
In my clippings file is this St. Thomas Times-Journal article from 2007. It is about a marker in the Fingal Cemetery honouring the Burwell UEL family of Elgin County. UEL…
Frozen Burritos
My husband likes having a supply of frozen burritos. Make rice and veggies or salad, nuke the burritos and there’s a quick meal. But he couldn't find any in our…
One Man’s Journey
Early in my reading of Calvin White’s One Man’s Journey: The Mi'kmaw Revival in Ktaqmkuk, I realized how much I owe Gus White, Calvin’s father. The characteristics that made Calvin…
Coronation on Corrie
“You’re talking about a show that’s named after a coronation, and this is the first coronation ever in its history. What you’re describing sounds as exciting as a bucket of…
Coronation 1937
My mother kept some newspaper clippings about the Coronation of King George VI and Queen Elizabeth in 1937. They’re in what I think is her first scrapbook.
The Wolves of Winter
Novel by Tyrell Johnson, The Wolves of Winter, 2018 Simon & Schuster A young woman and her family had headed north from the United States, ending up in the Yukon.…
Marie Marguerite Benoit
It’s not often an 18th century Cape Breton woman makes the news, but Marie Marguerite Benoit has recently. Earlier in March, she was named on CBC radio in
Gordon Pinsent 1930-2023
Actor Gordon Pinsent died at the age of 92 yesterday, February 25. He was born in Grand Falls, Newfoundland, the youngest of Stephen and Flossie (Cooper) Pinsent’s six children. Like…
Meghan and Harry
(by Jim Stewart) Meghan and Harry: The real story, by Lady Colin Campbell. It's hard to believe that this book came out in 2020. It is remarkably prescient, as if it had been written yesterday. Anyone interested in British history, Hollywood, celebrity and popular culture, the effect of media and social media on our society
Ken Barlow
At the Granada Coronation Street Gift Shop in the 1990s, I dithered over souvenir key rings. Which character did I want? I finally chose Ken Barlow. He was a long…
Vietnam Vets
Canada was part of America’s Vietnam War. Not officially, but in providing men for it and harbouring them from it. Anyone alive in the 1970s probably has had their life…
Lewes Bonfire Night
Remember, remember the Fifth of November The Gunpowder Treason and plot, I see no reason why Gunpowder Treason Should ever be forgot. A bonfire is a great thing to see.…
Beothuks of Newfoundland
Lady Edith Blake did well at what was expected of a governor’s wife in late 19th century Newfoundland. But teas with local society ladies were not her priority. She preferred…
Saint John Harness Races
After 151 years, Saturday October 15th will see the last harness races at Exhibition Park in Saint John NB. The race track has to close. The barns have to empty…
Lymburner Reunion 1936
A reader sent a photo of a Lymburner Family Reunion in 1936. Thanks so very much, Linda. In the detail above, you see the oldest person present. She is #104,…
Elizabeth, 1951 Canada
A page from my mother’s scrapbook. For five weeks in the fall of 1951 Princess Elizabeth and Prince Philip toured Canada. It was her first trip here. My mother kept…
Mac and Cheese Salad
When I first saw macaroni and cheese salad, I thought how odd. Either mac and cheese or pasta salad, but both in one? Eventually, I tried it. I changed my…
Summertime
If you’d asked me two weeks ago who wrote the song Summertime, I’d have said the Gershwins. Music by George, lyrics by Ira. And I’d have been wrong. Well, half…
Hartland Covered Bridge
This weekend, Hartland NB is celebrating the centenary of their 1,282 foot covered bridge. That’s 1/4 mile or 391 metres. An open wooden bridge across the St. John River was…
Prescription Points
As of today, we won’t get a small rebate on prescription drug costs in New Brunswick. The NB College of Pharmacists, in their wisdom, decided it was “unethical” to give…
Pal-o-Mine
June was taken up with taste-testing Pal-o-Mine chocolate bars. It started with an item on Information Morning on Saint John CBC Radio. After an absence of several months, Pal-o-Mine bars…
Royalty on The Street
Coronation Street has not been on the air as long as Queen Elizabeth II has been on the British throne. On December 9, 1960 when Corrie began, she had been…
Farm Aerials
My Anger grandparents and aunts and uncles had large aerial photographs of their properties hanging in their living rooms. Always pride of place. I loved them. We didn’t have one,…
Medina Spirit
Today, Derby Day, I’ll be thinking of Medina Spirit. He won the 2021 Kentucky Derby. Then, after testing positive for a substance banned on race days, he was disqualified in…
Officers and Gentlemen
Commander Ralph Neville was one of several English naval officers living in Bay St. George, Newfoundland in the early 1900s. They shared a love of salmon fishing (see Part 1).…
Salmon Fishing
Salmon fishing has a lure - for the fish and also for the person holding the rod. That lure brought several British naval officers to live in Bay St. George…
Moose and Potatoes
Canned moose meat that a friend in Newfoundland sent us. A pan of potatoes, carrots and turnip slow cooked the way my nephew in Alberta makes them. A coast to…
Library Books
In January, when stricter Covid-19 rules resumed, the Sussex Library was open only for pickup of books ordered online. We had not realized this. So when my husband went there…
Dr. Elliott Leyton
Dr. Elliott Leyton, Professor Emeritus of Anthropology at Memorial University of Newfoundland, died in St. John’s on February 14, 2022 at the age of 82. He leaves a huge hole…
Queens and Consorts
Seventy years ago, in classrooms and public venues in the UK and Commonwealth, people sang God Save the Queen for the first time in 51 years. On February 6, 1952,…
The Ride of Her Life
In the fall of 1954, a woman decided to leave her home in Maine and, with her little dog, go to California. Annie Wilkins was 63, had been ill, had…
Horse Keeping
For Christmas, I got a manure fork. Yippee! It’s a good one for winter barnyard cleanup. Such a necessary tool is way too hard to find. This one came from…
Christmas Song
Eighty years ago my grandfather, Charles Hercules Burwell, wrote this Christmas song. My mother said that, in November 1941, she spent the evening before her wedding getting her dad's copy…
Cold Plates
If you want to get some practice in at making cold plates, American Thanksgiving this Thursday gives you the opportunity. The essential ingredients are there: turkey, ham, dressing and potatoes.…
Veterans on The Street
Britain's wars have been part of Coronation Street throughout its six decades. From the 1960s to 1990s, there were veterans of the World Wars and, in the 2000s, the war…
Hugh Love, St. Stephen NB
From the obituary of Hugh Love, born 24 January 1859 and died 25 June 1936 in St. Stephen, Charlotte County, New Brunswick: St. Stephen lost one of its best known…
The Old Baler
I don't know how old the square baler is. There's no paint left. The name - McCormick - very faint. Old Faithful, I call it. A friend said you can…
Sacred Bear Park
Forty-two years ago, the St. John's Evening Telegram ran a story about a proposed Mi'kmaq park on the west coast of the island. The Sept. 26, 1979 article by Terry…
9/11 Dogs
Twenty years after, the 9/11 dogs are gone. They searched, rescued, comforted. If you remember the day, you also remember the dogs. Bretagne, the last one, died in June 2016…
Cucumber Relish
Green relish isn't expensive or hard to find. So you may not feel it's worth it to make your own. But when I buy a jar, it's not nearly as…
Dr. Gino Strada
Friday on the news, I heard about the death of Dr. Gino Strada, Italian surgeon and founder of the medical NGO Emergency. He was 73. He'd worked in war zones…
Modern Pentathlon
This Olympics, I'm watching the Modern Pentathlon. I heard of it a few months ago, in a novel that mentioned that Gen. George Patton had competed in it in the…
Molly Ann Gell
In 1807 a Wolastoqiyik girl named Molly Ann Gell entered the Sussex Vale Indian Day School in Sussex Corner, New Brunswick. It was run by The Society for the Propagation…
Fish with Chickpeas
Meia-desfeita de bacalhau com grão is salt cod with chickpeas and hard boiled eggs. It is so good. A friend in Newfoundland made it but I didn't write down how…
Mrs. Elizabeth Keckley
Mrs. Elizabeth Keckley was fashion stylist to the stars of Washington DC in the mid-1800s. As dressmaker and companion of Mary Todd Lincoln, she worked in the White House during…
Padstow May Day
Now imagine a still night, the last of April, the first of May. Starlight above the chimney pots. Moon on the harbour. Moonlight shadows of houses on opposite slate walls.…
Prince Philip’s Horses
"If it doesn't fart or eat hay, she isn't interested." That, it is said, is how Prince Philip described his daughter Princess Anne. But if the amount of time he…
Sylvester Joe
Sylvester Joe is one of the best known men in the island of Newfoundland's exploration history. He's also one of the least known. A Mi'kmaq hunter and guide from Bay…
The Sussex Interview
Oprah's interview with Harry and Meghan is on a par with the 1995 BBC interview with Lady Diana. It asked for compassion, and got it. And, like Diana's, did it…
Johnny Briggs
Johnny Briggs died yesterday, February 28th, at the age of 85. For those who knew him as Mike Baldwin on Coronation Street, the world is a bit darker today. Mike…
Pelé
In the late 1980s in Costa Rica, my Spanish language teacher was trying to convey 'juego', or game. She gave what she thought was a huge clue. She tapped…
The Trump Goodbye
Every day there's something on the television screen that you've never seen before. Something that you want to capture for your own historical record. The departure of Donald J. Trump,…
Corrie Street 27 Dec. 2020
Hens' Revenge The stars of the 60th anniversary episodes for me were Yasmeen's hens. Especially the overhead shot of them pecking around Geoff laying splat out on the ground. They…
Corrie Origin Story
Sixty years ago today, on December 9, 1960, the first episode of Coronation Street aired. Since then, its origin story has been told many times, many ways. Here is the…
General Jack and Warrior
Warrior was called "the horse the Germans couldn't kill." He was a war horse. The 15.2 hand Thoroughbred gelding was General Jack Seely's charger. Gen. Seely was a British career…
Canadian Triple Crown
Mighty Heart has a chance today to be the 13th Canadian Triple Crown winner. The three-year-old colt won the Queen's Plate at Woodbine, the Prince of Wales Stakes at Fort…
Glenwood Tannery
37 years ago this month, the Mi'kmaq band council in the central Newfoundland town of Glenwood began operating a smoke tannery. A Gander Beacon article about the official opening is…
After the farm
Final part of Marji Smock Stewart's Finding the Rivers. The years on the farm (1960-1969), the academic years (1968-1982), seven years in Henderson (1985-1992, then ten years moving from place…
Lady Ashburnham Pickle
A mustard relish, Lady Ashburnham pickle originated in New Brunswick. It is also called Lady Ashburn or Lady A relish. Whatever you call it, it's the best mustard pickle that…
Ohio County Farm
By Marji Smock Stewart, from Climbing the Hills and Finding the Rivers. This continues her story on from Just the Three of Us. The weather New Year's day in 1960…
Covid Corrie
Overnight, Covid-19 will hit Weatherfield. People who had been freely walking around Coronation Street without a corona care in the world will be masked and distancing themselves. Tonight in Britain,…
Just The Three Of Us
By Marji Smock Stewart, from Climbing the Hills and Finding the Rivers. This continues her story on from 35 Cent Grilled Cheese. I kept working well into my pregnancy. At…
Egg Foo Young
Not much in the fridge but eggs and bok choy. Egg foo young, maybe? No, you need bean sprouts, the Joy of Cooking and online recipes told me. Can I…
John C. Mabee Stakes
The John C. Mabee Stakes is a 9 furlong Grade II turf race for fillies and mares at the Del Mar track in San Diego County, California. John C. Mabee…
In The Army Now
Bill Stewart received a Bachelor of Business Administration degree from the University of Minnesota on December 18, 1941 (See Pt. 2). That was 11 days after Pearl Harbor was bombed.…
Gerry Penney 1951-2020
From Caul's Funeral Home, St. John's, in part: Passed away at home in St. John's on May 14, 2020. Gerald Penney, Archaeologist and Heritage Consultant. Predeceased by parents Simon and…
Man o’ War
In 1920, the most promising 3 year old horse in the United States did not run in the Kentucky Derby. Later in May, that horse - Man o' War -…
Kentucky to Minnesota
My grandmother Amanda Chappell Stewart died 06 December 1923. She was born on 03 October 1859; thus she lived 64 years. She lived in Ohio County approximately eight miles from…
John Prine
When I hear the name John Prine, I think of Rwanda in the aftermath of the 1994 genocide. Yesterday, John Prine died from Covid-19. Yesterday was also the 26th anniversary…
Pellville, Kentucky
Written by Bill Stewart, my late father-in-law. It's in a life history that he and his wife Marji Smock Stewart wrote. Her part is called Finding the Rivers. His is…
Beef in Brine
I accidentally made Jigg's dinner for St. Patrick's Day. First time ever. Husband comes home with groceries: "look what I found, beef 50% off." Beef in brine, the package said.…
Corrie 10000
I haven't watched Coronation Street since June 2018. But I watched Thursday and Friday's episodes. Episode numbers 10000 and 10001. I figured out that I'd watched regularly since about episode…
Cream Soup
In Joan Clark's novel The Birthday Lunch, Laverne makes asparagus and Stilton cream soup and Coquille St. Jacques for her sister. How delicious! Cream soup makes a warm and hearty…
The Birthday Lunch
Maybe it's because Sussex NB is now my hometown. Or maybe it's because Joan Clark wrote an amazing book about family and place. Whatever, I read her 2015 The Birthday…
Sam Anger, Fiddler
Sam Anger was "the best durn fiddle player in seventeen counties." That's what an ad for Winger's Crescent Park Entertainers called him. He worked as a blacksmith in Ridgeway, just…
Bosco’s New Year
From my St. Thomas Dog Blog, Jan. 31, 2011, about a dog named Bosco. I was in Beaver Creek Animal Hospital about a week ago. A beautiful young black Lab…
Caribou Drive
In his 1969 book Newfoundland, Harold Horwood recounts the story of a caribou drive in western Newfoundland in the late 1800s. He heard it in the Codroy Valley, from "an…