Friday, November 27, 2009

Remarkable ladies

As you all must know, there have been very remarkable ladies who have made impressions on the world. Earlier I was reading a french book called Acadian Silhouettes and I found a story about this remarkable lady that I would like to share with you.
Who was she? Well her name was Venerante Doiron . She was born in 1867 daughter of Pierre Doiron and Marie Michon of Lower Caraquet. She was one of ten children. And oddly enough ,she married and had ten children of her own. She went to school until she was twelve years of age and left because she had to work. She worked as a maid for a lady named Emelie and her husband Narcisse. In 1889 Emilie began having labor pains and knowing that the midwife Phebee was not available she sent Venerente for the passing missionary. He taught Venerante to become a midwife. It is said that after the birth of the triplets,the missionary made Venerante kneel and made he see her marvellous work and assured her that everything would be all right. He blessed her and thus she became a midwife in the Acadian Peninsula. One half century later she had assisted close to 800 births,and she cured many patients with her ointments and her medecin made with herbs.
She travelled by sleigh,by dog sled, by ox cart or by horse. She travelled as far as St Simon,Pokemouche,Inkerman and Miscou to offer her serviced. She also acted as a vetenarian.
This was not all she did, she had a family of ten children,she weaved,she sewed,she knitted,made blankets,worked in the field, split wood. She even took in orphans under her roof. She died of pneumonia at the age of 74. What a remarkable lady.
Now another remarkable lady I would just like to say a few words about. This lady was and still is someone to be proud of. She lived with her family in the country. At the age of 12 she could hunt,she could fish, she helped her Mom carry water, she helped take care of her siblings.
When she was nearly 14 she got married. Before she married ,she did not want for anything, in other words she had it pretty good, but when she got married the hard times began. They built a log cabin her and her husband and their two dogs. Her husband would go to the woods, cut down the trees and have the dogs pull the logs home one by one, she would remove the logs and send the dogs back for more. She did not have wallpaper, so she took some old Eatons Magazines or any magazines she could find, she made a paste with flour and pasted the paper on the wall. Her floors were did not have linoleum, they were wood so she would scrub that floor on her hands and knees with Gillis Lye to make them white. She had eight children,lost her first one. That must have been heartbreaking for her. They moved to town and she was very young and she began helping others deliver babies when the doctor could not make it. She assisted quite a few births so she also was a midwife.She told me once, that some of the deliveries were awful hard.
Now besides raising her children,cooking,sewing,knitting,being a midwife.She also took in foster children. I also remember seeing her out in the cold weather, with an ax chopping wood. Making some kidlings to start a fire. Oh yes she too is a remarkable woman. Who is she?
She is my wonderful Mom,and a truly remarkable lady.
Thanks for the visit do stop by when you have time.
Have a great day

Aline

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