General Chat

Sorry! but I have to keep this from falling off for a little while. Lindy:-)

nudge:-))

This is fascinating reading Lindy. When can we expect some more please? Norah

Hi Lindzy, Thank you for posting this , I have just printed a copy off. I am very interested in these articles. Best wishes Terri

Hi Terri, I thought that maybe more people would be interested in the early days. However, if not I shall email the rest to you. I am posting this just as I received it. Lindyxx Dear All, I will write this just as I received it , hope you enjoy. Love Anne Wellman.. LOOKING BACK by Les Williams In my book " To Talk Of Many Things "I endeavored to write my Memoirs. This was at the request of my Daughter Nola who lives in Australia. Having left home at an early age to travel; she always felt there were grey areas in her life that she wanted filled . My first work succeeded to a certain extent but a new approach has become necessary through the request from an email correspondent in Australia. Anne contacted me to say that she could appreciate the time and effort that went into preparing a detailed Genealogical Chart but when studying such a chart would it not be so much more edifying if one had an account of the lives , the habits and the way of life of those portrayed before you. Names, dates, locations of births, marriages and deaths are all necessary to the Genealogist....but how did folks live? With this in mind I felt that by writing the story of my young life Anne would have a deeper appreciation of my chart....Anne was now reading me and my Chart. Now however a problem arises ....Where to begin....How far back to go....How much do you trust to memory for now after eighty years there are no notes to which I can refer....unless the story is true it is valueless and it brooks no exaggeration or embroidery. The answer is a true record including matters however trivial , for it will be those little tidbits that will flavor the scenes and atmosphere ....like going to bed and finding your way with the aid of a candle stuck into a tin candle stick holder. It is important to remember to roll over and blow the candle out before going to sleep. This was after you had risen from your knees when you said your prayers. This is when you asked God to bless Mommy, Daddy, Owen my brother, Trixie the terrier, and Bushman the cat and not forgetting dear old Mrs. Brown who only had one leg . Now dear Reader , having made my purpose clear let me press on and Anne will have the joy I hope of being with me as she pores over my Chart. It is necessary at this introductory stage to tell you that was born in Port Elizabeth on the 23rd of May 1916....My memory which allows me to tell my story , recalls events from 1923 so for the period 1916 until 1923 I am dependant on the tales my mother taught me I came into the world in the back bedroom of my grandparents home No 13 Sherlock St. ....my 23 year old mother was assisted during this event by my Great Grand mother. One must realize that in those days there was no practicing Gynecologists...no Maternity Homes it was common practice to have ones babies at home......so the eleven pound ten ounces boy arrived, survived and lived to tell this tale. This is now an opportune moment to introduce my Parents.....My mother was a gracious lady ...a hard worker who loved her family dearly. In appreciation of Vivian I dedicated this poem... VIVIAN MAY WILLIAMS 1893-1953 In her quiet demeanor her reticence in a crowd the reserve that was her Nature lay the character of Dear Vivian. I came into her life so many years ago that mists of time have hidden the childish joys we knew. Even then her very nature Shielded us from lives problems, Though we were poor ''twas not in love or Spirit. Her strength came from her God in Him she never faltered Her love, her patience and God given strength saw her loved ones through. Even the depression saw her head unbowed Through all these troubled times she treasured her family and nurtured her man She brought us through these years unscathed and through her we grew in stature. This caring Soul, imbued with love was more than our Anchor She was my MOM \Now to introduce my father....Henry Edward Williams who was born in Johannesburg in 1889....He was a farrier by trade and was employed on the South African Railways. There was no motor transport in those days and all merchandise was conveyed by animal drawn wagon...this applied particularly to goods off loaded from ships on the jetties and then distributed to the warehouses or to the Goods Sheds for transferring to railway trucks for travelling inland At this time the railways employed about 250 horses and mules to draw their wagons and it was the job of Billy Williams to shoe these animals. Dwell now with me for a short while in the Farriers Shop Horse shoes were not prefabricated . Long lines of iron were delivered to the Farrier Shop and it was the farriers job to know what length of iron to cut off and form the horse shoe. This was done with the aid of the forge ....the anvil....and the farriers art in shaping, grooving, punching the seven nail holes, forming the clips and trimming of the heated shoe to the hoof of the animal being shod. For this Billy Williams received a wage of three pounds per week. This is the wage on which he reared his family and turned his sons into an Automobile Engineer and a Civil Engineer.....I was Borough Engineer of King Williams Town prior to taking my pension. From what I have written you have gathered that the farriers work was extremely physical which made my father ,a very powerful man. It was for this reason that he promised my mother that he would never beat his boys for fear of injuring them. Here I must recall how his love and interest in his family grew as he engouraged us in all spheres and all on three pounds per week. Now my dear friend , I invite you to spend a while with me at 26 Gladstone Street, South Ends Port Elizabeth, This is the house in which I lived from 1916 until 1948 when I left to marry Isabel who after 54 years is still spoiling me. As the older of the two boys it was my duty to take the rent money to the landlord and I recall that at first I would be entrusted with the princely sum of eighteen shillings. This was the rent for our wood and corrugated iron cottage of three bedrooms ,dining room and kitchen....no bathroom. No waterborne flush sanitation , no electricity . When I left home the rent had climbed to three pounds per month ....but now we had all the amenities....These services we now take for granted but for us when they came they made our house a piece of heaven. Stay with me at the old home and let us spend Friday afternoon together during my schooldays. After lunch my job was to clean the paraffin chandelier that hung in the dining room.The first operation was to refill the glass paraffin bowl, this was done by by using a chair to mount the dining room table which I had previously covered with newspapers. The removed bowl was cleaned and refilled with paraffin ....The glass funnel was then cleaned of soot and the wick trimmed with the use of curved scissors, Now filled bowl, funnel, ans shade replaced and the whole contrivance adjusted for height through its counterweights. Be it noted that all this could only be effected by me standing on the table because of my height. Now came the kitchen. my brother scrubbed the table using the brush with the grain of the wood , this he followed by scrubbing the linoleum covered floor. At the same time it was my job to polish the huge coal stove and this included polishing the brass rail that adorned the full length of its front. With no hot water supply it was then my job to place two half filled four gallon tins of water on the stove and make the fire for now I had to heat the water for Friday night.... bathnight......At five p.m. I would bring in that unmanageable galvanized metal bath from the back yard to the back spare room and