Amelia Brown

Amelia Brown was born in East Preston on May 15, 1903. She is the younger sister of John Crawley whose interview is also recorded in this volume. Her parents were John and Sarah Crawley.

Amelia Brown recalled that her parents owned a farm and that the family helped to run it. Her parents had a large family of twenty three. At the time of the interview in 1982. four sisters and four brothers were alive.

Amelia went to school in East Preston. As she recalled the past, she said:

             "I was only in grade 4 when I left.  I had to 

              be home, on the farm, helping out around home. 

              I looked after the house and then I got to such

              an age I went out to service.  Service is house

              work, cleaning around Halifax and Dartmouth. 

              I worked for white people.  I made three or four

             dollars a day.  Then I had to share it with my parents.'

Amelia's first marriage took place when she was twenty-six years old. Her first husband was Percy Simmonds. They had ten children, eight of whom were alive in 1982, all living in North Preston.

Her Sundays and market days were special days- People made much of religion and what they should do or not do:

           'They tell their children a lot of things not to do.

            Don't do this.  Don't do that.  Have no songs; 

            don't dance on Sundays.  Respect Sundays.'

She respected her Sundays, too. She doesn't remember going out to too many social events. Then there were the market days. The trip would be made by horse and wagon. When berries were available, they had to be picked and then sold. The vegetables grown on the farm were also sold at the market. Peas were sold at 250 a pound. Other items made at home and sold in the market were Christmas wreaths, hand-made quilts and patched rugs.

Amelia Brown acknowledged that she danced well, doing the "waltz, round dance and two step.' The hall in which socials were held in East Preston burned down.

Amelia spent most of her days in East Preston with the occasional trip to Dartmouth and Halifax. She remembers going to Toronto on three occasions only.

At the end of the interview, Amelia got a chance to give a parting message. This she reserved for the youth:

         "The difference today is a lot of them 

           ain't got much respect.  I mean some 

           of them has and some hasn't.  Children 

           were a lot better in the olden days.  

           More manners than anything.  They don't 

           say 'yes, ma'am, no ma'am' now, do they?

           Just 'yes', 'no'."

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