Campbell family photo

Notes written by Rita Chisholm Hilder about her Grandmother; my Great Grandmother. "My mother’s mother, Mary Campbell, was left a widow with 5 daughters under the age of 10. Her husband, Dan, died of Tuberculosis in his forties. Granma had very little money. Owned a small farm near Antigonish, Nova Scotia. The community was called Clovervale. It was an enormous struggle for her. She tried to survive with the help of a very inefficient hired man. Two of her daughters died of Diphtheria. I think of her hitching up the horse and wagon to drive into town with butter, cheese and eggs. She would deliver these to the ladies in their kitchens, worrying all the time about the make-shift child care arrangements she had made for her little girls. Then catastrophe struck. The cows in the county started dying one by one. I can imagine how desperate my grandmother must have been, but she was strong and not one to give up. She approached the University in Antigonish and persuaded them to set up a research team on her farm to study the problem. Many times during her long life I heard her talk of Dr. Pettick, a veterinarian and his wife who headed up the team. They all lived in Granma’s farm house where she provided room and board for some years. A new barn was built and a herd of cattle imported from the West were housed there separate from Granma’s cattle. They were fed different hay and other feed. It was discovered that a weed, nicknamed “The Stinking Willie” was the culprit and steps were taken to irradicate it. When the research was completed, Gramma decided to sell out and move into town. She bought a large house and made it into a boarding house. As Gramma was always somewhat of a snob, she restricted her clientele to “College boys and bank boys”. Her three daughters had excellent educational opportunities because of the nuns ladie's college and the university. As time went on Gramma bought the lot next door and had another large boarding house built. Among other things she developed the first ice cream parlor in Antigonish on the front lawn under the trees. On Summer evenings it was the thing to do. Stroll over to Mrs. Campbell’s where twinkling lights beckoned and delicious home-made ice cream was served while Aunt Betty entertained at the piano in the open windowed living room. When Gramma was 55 years old, she decided to retire, sold her business and became a lad of leisure. By that time her daughters were grown up and settled. My mother, May, was married and lived in Antigonish. Aunt Betty had returned from Nursing in the First World War in France to become a pioneer Public Health Nurse in Hood River, Oregon. While Charlena, also a Boston trained nurse was married and settled in Somerville Mass. Gramma enjoyed travelling so would take turns visiting her daughters for 6 months to a year each. Her train trips across the country were legend. She’d settle in the Pullman car before the train started, take out a deck of cards and begin to play solitaire. By the time they were on the road an hour, Gramma would have a bridge game going. They’d have their meals brought in from the dining car and she would make life-long friends. Her last trip to the west coast was made after she was 90 years old. She felt quite important at Aunt Betty’s. Betty, being the only public health nurse in the area, was a prominent person who enjoyed public speaking. Gramma accompanied her on her visits, sat on the stage while Betty delivered her lectures and got to know all the important people in each town. They accepted invitations and were wined and dined and Gramma had no difficulty fitting into this roll. However, she and Aunt Betty were both strong opinionated people and I think at a certain point Gramma was glad to get back to Nova Scotia to our gentle kind mother where she could be the boss! Her visits to us seemed to become longer as time went on. She was formidable! We braced ourselves for her arrival. She got us on to Cod liver oil twice a day, cut down on our candies and took us to open bank accounts. So that all allowances, money, gifts, etc. could be deposited. She didn’t approve of my friends, they were “of no account”. I learned to stand up for myself! Although we had our spats, and she could make me very angry, I was still proud of her. In the last years of her life she lived with my mother, played bridge till the week before she died, had loads of friends, was highly respected and died of old age at 97 years. On her death bed she announced “Well! If the next world is half as good as this world I’ll be very well satisfied.”"