In the beginning

I was born in Pembroke, May 12, 1915, probably at home, and lived in Pembroke for about a year.  Uncle Billy (Dad’s brother) was running the family farm near Eganville.  After Uncle Billy married, he moved to a farm near Pembroke.  Dad and Mom (and I) moved back to the family farm and took over.  I lived there until I was married on July 17, 1935.  I was the oldest of 11 children, 3 girls and 8 boys.

Early Education

I started to school in Augsburg when I was 8 years old at Easter time. On my first day of school, as I was walking through the bush by myself, I heard a god awful noise.  I was so scared that I ran all the way back home. I told Dad about the noise and he said it was a partridge.  I did not go back to school until Garnet started that fall

We spoke German at home and I could not speak English when I started school. One of the neighbors’ daughters, who was older, would tell me what the teacher had said. After we learned English, Garnet and I would speak English at home and the rest of family learned too.

On the way to school we had to pass through a couple of swamps which had water snake   Garnet and Chris Sell would catch them and chase Edna Sell and me all the way home. I told the teacher and she decided to keep us in to let the lads get a head start home. The lads would wait with the snakes for us, so the teacher kept them instead, and we sure hurried home.