Obituary of Rose Anne Nevin | Ettinger Funeral Home

Project: Native Dance Project, Carleton University CIRClE Institute

The following interview is with Rose Anne Barlow Nevin in Sɨkɨpne’katik (Shubenacadie) First Nation, Nova Scotia. It was conducted by Gary Joseph for Trudy Sable for the Native Dance Project led and funded by Carleton University’s CIRCLE Institute on which Dr. Sable was a partner (native-dance.ca).

The archiving of this interview was sponsored through the Mi’kmaw Native Friendship Centre with funding from the Department of Canadian Heritage, Aboriginal Language Initiatives Program. 

GJ:        First, introduce yourself and say your name, and where you were born, and go from there.           

RN:      My name is Rose Anne Barlow Nevin. I was born in Indian Island, Chebucto, New Brunswick. I was one of the 11 children, my brothers and sisters, and I was born in the year 1922, June 22^nd.

GJ:        Were you born on a reserve?

RN:      I was born on Indian reserve, yes, and was 11 of us in the family. When I was 12 years old, that’s when my father died, and my mother brought us up, ‘til we were all brought up. She was a very, very good mother. She made us come in right time, and if we don’t come in right time, we were punished. And I’m glad about that. So I brought my children up the same way she brought me up.

I left home when I was about 17. I went to St. John, New Brunswick, and that’s when I met my husband. And when I was 19, I got married. And we lived together and we got along really, really good. I don’t know what it’s like to get hit by a man, because he never hit me, and I never hit him. He died in 1982 and that was really sad, sad to lose him, and I’ve been alone ever since. And I live here, but I go back to Indian Island to see my sisters and my brother(s), and sometimes we talk about how what we used to do, and we used to go on that island. We used to see the place where long, long time ago, before I was born, the Indian people where they used to dance, the great big round where you can see where they were dancing. Today they go there and they clean it up, but no one ever goes there and dance like they used to, I guess.

I never seen anybody dance, but when I was, after my husband died… Before my husband died, we were talkin’ about going out west somewhere because he was there before, but I was never there. So we were plannin’ on goin’ there, we were savin’ our money up. Then he got sick, and he left me, and I was all alone then. Then about a year after, my son called me up. William, he said, “Mum, would you like to go out west?” I said, “Oh my God, what made you think of that?”. He said, “I just thought, we’re goin’, and I thought you would want to come”. And I went out west with him and a bunch of us. It was a caravan goin’ from Big Cove.

We went out west and that was the first time in my life I have seen Indians sing and dance, ‘cause I never, never seen them before, and I was really surprised, and I liked it, and people were really good to us, my God, and you know…

GJ:       Was that the powwows or the Sun Dance?

RN:      It was a powwow. When we got to Winnipeg, there was a powwow. Then when we went further, when we got to (Indistinct: Mooseman), they had a Sundance. And that was the first time I ever seen anything like that, and I thought it was beautiful. I really, really liked it. I wished I could go back again, but I never did. I said, “Maybe someday my son goes back there again, maybe he’ll ask me to go with him.” And that was really nice. You know, I traveled quite a bit, but I never seen no… When we went to Toronto one year, they had a powwow and we went there, we went with my daughter and her husband. Every time there’s a powwow I’d go, because I love watching them dance. I think they’re beautiful dancers. I wish I was young, maybe I would try, but I’m too old for that. I just go and watch them.

GJ:        Do you remember watching any dances, or any stories that your grandparents might have told you about?

RN:      We used to listen to our grandfather, he’d say, “You guys come tonight, all of you.” So we’d all go there and we’d all sit around in a circle, and he would sit there and he would tell us stories, all kinds of stories about… Well, we were little, we weren’t very big. When our dad was alive, our dad would take us there and he would tell us about Kluskap, and we were so surprised to hear that.

And we always thought about Kluskap, maybe someday we’d see him. And we used to run around by the shore, and we’d stop, my sisters and I, “I wonder, what should we do if we run into Kluskap?” (laughing) We thought he was everywheres. But we never did, I don’t know what we would have done if we did. (laughing) 

But you know, all them stories our grandfather used to tell us… My daddy used to tell us too, told us all kinds of little stories about kids and everything, and we’d all sit around him and we’d listen to him. I never forgot them, the times when my dad was alive. And my mother died, must’ve been about 38 years I think, my mother’s been dead. My father’s been dead a long time.

GJ:        Do you ever remember any old Mi’kmaw outfits or regalia?

RN:      Well, I don’t know … regalia, but my grandmother was dressed like… I look at, sometimes I see people the way they dress, she had a long skirt on all the time, and had a shirt buttoned in the front, and on the cuffs here (indicating on her shirt), buttoned, and a high collar. That’s the way she was dressed all the time, she had all kinds. Even before she died, she’d walk around with all that, and I used to tell my mom, “Why does Grammy dress like that all the time?” She says, “Because that’s the way she likes dressing.” And that was the kind of clothes she wore all the time, no matter. If she went to town, she put clean clothes on and it’ll be all same, same made, it wasn’t any different. I think she made them herself.

GJ:        Did you ever see what they call that Mi’kmaw cap or hood or…

RN:      I never seen it. The first time I seen it was when Dr. Granny wore one, and that’s the only time I seen that. I never seen, but I heard them talk about them. I didn’t know what they were like, when I seen Granny wear them…

GJ:       Your sisters talk about this dress, or this outfit, and they said they took it apart or something like that?

RN:      Gee, I don’t know

GJ:        Annie and Evangeline, they said they took it apart, they said there’s a story in it… Maybe that was after you left

RN:      It must’ve been, because I left a long time ago. I went to residential school when I was fourteen and I stayed there two years. When I came home, I got a job right away, I started working. I was sixteen. I worked for one year. One year after that I left for St. John’s, and that’s where I met my husband.

GJ:        That was Shubenacadie residential school? Was the reserve here already?

RN:       Yeah. There was a reserve here, but there wasn’t too many people livin’ in them. Martin Sacks and Pauls and like Andrew Paul and Joe Paul and them were livin’ here. There must’ve been about 12… houses, but I never seen them ‘til they were re-instated about 1942, I think, and that’s when all the people started movin’ back, comin’ back to the reserve. They were really livin’ out in Enfield somewheres.   

GJ:       That was that Centralization policy.

RN:      Yeah. When they re-instated them, they all came back here.

GJ:        … would you talk about your mother?

RN:      Yeah. My mother wasn’t dressed with long skirts on like my grandmother, ‘cause my grandma had long skirts on. My grandfather used to wear moccasins all the time. The only time he would put different kind of shoes on was when he goes to town.

GJ:        Do you remember, was there a kind of design that they would’ve made on the shoe or moccasin?

RN:      I remember they used to have a beading on the front of the moccasins here (indicating on her foot). I don’t know if my mother made them, I think my grandmother did. I’m not sure, because she used to do a lot of things. She used to make baskets, all kinds of baskets. Same way with my Aunt Susan. She can sit down and make a basket; she would make a teapot by using this basket stuff.  She would make a teapot, two cups and sugar bowl and a creamer. She done all that, and we used to love that. I don’t know, I think my sister Margaret has them. I don’t know what she did with them.

GJ:        These are homemade?

RN:      They were homemade.

GJ:        Do you remember any kind of designs that were on the moccasins?

RN:      The moccasins, they used to have… The only thing I remember about them is they had flowers on them, but I don’t know what kind. I think my grandmother done that, she made all that stuff for my grandfather.

GJ:        When you guys moved to Shubie, how long was ‘til you, did you moved to Indian Brook?

RN:      Here? Shirley was about three years old, and she’s 63.

GJ:        In the forties, eh?

RN:      Yeah. She’s 63. ‘Cause Eleanor is 60. She was a baby when we moved there. I had Shirley, Frankie and Eleanor when we moved here, so we’ve been here quite awhile. We got along good here. We really got along good here, but we were never on welfare. We were never on welfare, my husband always worked. And after he died, they put me on welfare. They gave me $55 every two weeks, and I looked at my son David who was working, and I said, “Dave, $55 dollars! That’s not going to do much, but you know, everything is cheap, we can buy stuff”. He said, “Don’t worry, mom, I’ll help you”. So he paid for my lights and he paid for my fuel. And one day, Frankie came in. I said, “I’m short ten bucks on my fuel. You wouldn’t have ten bucks on you?”. And he said, “Mom, are you paying for your lights and your fuel?”. I said, “Yes”. He said, “My God, you know they’re paying the lights and fuel for seniors”. And I was in my sixties. So he went up and he, this was with Michael, he said, “Michael is paying for her fuel and lights“. He said, “Well, tell her to bring her bills up”.   So I took my bills up and she reimbursed me, anyway, and she paid for my lights and my fuel. I thought that was really nice of her to do that. But there was only three of us home, all the rest were in Boston. Me and David and Frank, uh, Jim.

GJ:        What do you remember about Grand Council?

RN:      First time I ever heard of Grand Council, when Frankie told me, that was the first time. I never heard of Grand Council before, and I didn’t know what he was talkin’ about, but I listened anyway. He said he was Grand Council, and I was really surprised…

GJ;        He was a Captain (Keptin) .

RN:      Yeah. So I really don’t know too much about it.

GJ:        Did your husband ever attend any meetings or any Grand Council gatherings?

RN:      They never had no meetings here, not that I know of. He became a Chief, he was Chief for seven years and he was a Council for about two…, I think it was four years. So that’s all I know about it. I don’t know too much about being a Chief and Council. Seems to me now, I learn more now by listening to what they’re talkin’ about and everything. I never known all this here, about a Chief. He’s got to have his Council, if he don’t have his Council, he got no strength.

GJ:       How about the St. Anne’s gatherings?

RN:      Oh, we used to have a wonderful time.

GJ;        Was it here, or in Cape Breton?

RN:      (inaudible) They used to have their picnics every 26^th of July, called ‘em St. Anne’s picnics, every year, ‘til about fifteen years ago, they just slacked down and they never had anymore. I don’t know whatever happened, why they stopped or…

GJ:        Did you guys ever go down to Cape Breton?

RN:      I never, yes, I went to Barra Head once, a long time ago. That was the only time I went to Cape Breton to watch

GJ:        St. Anne’s?

RN:     St. Anne’s. There was a lot of places that I never been. But I did a lot of traveling after he died.

GJ:        Tell me about the game of Waltes.

RN:      Waltes. I seen people play it, but I don’t know how.

GJ:       What does the word mean? What does it sound like?

RN:     Gee, I don’t know. Waltes, that’s all I know. I never asked. It’s a round wood, and I used to wonder why everybody want to play this game, Waltes. And I say to myself, “My God, I wonder, what’s that?”. And one night I told my husband, “Simon, I’m goin’ over to that place (Inaudible) and watch them play that Waltes, I never seen that before.” And they sit there all evening, they bang these on the floor, and they hit them back and forth like that. Oh my God, I never seen that happen before, you know. First time I’d ever seen that.

GJ:        Did they sing?

RN:      And they sing.

GJ:        While they were playing, did they sing? Or did they have people singing on…?

RN:      They used to sing, you know. It seems the Indian people like singing. They sing all the time.

GJ:        Do they sing in Mi’kmaw?

RN:      Yeah, sometimes the old Indian people, they sing in Mi’kmaw, but the younger generation will sing in English.

GJ:        While they were playing this game?

RN:      Yeah.

GJ:        Have you ever seen any other kind of musical instruments or any other instruments they used to help them sing?

RN:      During the Waltes game?

GJ:        Yeah.

RN:     No, I never seen that.

GJ:        What’s the first time you’ve seen a drum? Hand drum, or what is it, that big one?

RN:      A drum, first time I seen a hand drum, is when I went with William to a …out west. I never seen the drums. I never seen people all dressed up and dance and people used to beat them drums, and my God, I thought that was so nice. I stood there for hours and I watched them. When we left, I told him, “You know, William, that’s the first time in my life I seen that. Your father and I were gonna come here, but he didn’t tell me he was sick, and when I found out he was sick, it was too late.” He had cancer.

GJ:        Any other place or any other reserves that you’ve been to, like maybe in Maine? I heard you guys traveled to Maine every year.

RN:      When we went on the Indian reserves, we used to go potato pickin’, blueberry pickin’. We traveled by car, we always had car. That’s one thing, we always had car. And sometimes he would take the people over, and go back and forth. That’s where he made money, takin’ them back and forth. And then the last trip he’d make, he would take us, me and the kids, we’d all go there.

GJ:        That was for potato pickin’ and blueberries?

RN:      Blueberry pickin’, and from blueberry pickin’ in Washington County, we’d go over to (inaudible) and from there we’d go potato pickin’ in Bristol County. And we’d stay there ‘til about October 20^th or 21^st.

GJ:        Was that near the (Inaudible) area?

RN:     We were in (Bridgewater and Marsdale Maine (Inaudible)

GJ:        Did you ever go visit the Passamaquoddy?

RN:     Maybe we did…There was Indians there, but we didn’t know who they were. There were a lot of Indians pickin’ blueberries and potatoes, but we never asked them who they were. But they were really nice, you know, they talked to us and everything. They were nice people.

GJ;       When was the first time you’d seen a gathering or a Mawiomi or a powwow around Shubie?

RN:      I don’t know. They just started lately. They had one… there was a man that came from…he died, I forgot his name. He was an old man.

GJ:        He was a Cree from out west? Lightning?

RN:      Yeah, Albert Lightning. He used to come up and he’d be there. And he’d talk to people, he was really good. And if you were sick, you’d go to him and he’d cure you. He’d tell you what to take, even give you medicine himself, and I thought that was really nice of him. And I believe in Indian medicine, because that’s what we were brought up on when we were little. My mother never went to a doctor, always went in the woods, would bring the medicine home, wash it, and then hold our mouths open and give it to us, and we’d drink it. Strong, oh my God. And often, I told my mother and she’d start laughin’, I said, “Boy, that was terrible, that medicine you made.” She would laugh at us.

GJ:        They said they used to hear… While you were on Indian Island, did you ever hear anybody say that they could hear people singin’ on the island, or hear any noise or…?

RN:      One night a long, long time ago, when my father was still alive, he went out at night… He’d go eeling(?) fish at night and the next day he’d take ‘em to town, and they would sell them. My mother would make a bonfire outside and we’d all sit out there, and then he’d say, “Shhhh, don’t make no noise.” And we’d all sit still, we wouldn’t make no… and he said, “Just listen.” And we sat there and we listened, and you can hear them drums, and people singing and dancing, you can hear them. And he said, and he looked at us, he said, “That’s our ancestors.” And we often wondered what that was. When I’d go up, I wouldn’t go on that island. I said I’m not going up on that island, I don’t know what’s there (laughing)

GJ:        It’s pretty close, eh? The island.        

RN:      Yeah, it was closer than that, the ground has…, the water has (moved?) the land away. He said he told them they had it fixed up. They were walkin’ (Inaudible) right across, to get to the island. That’s how close it was.

GJ

RN:       How about Big Cove? Did you guys ever go to any celebrations at Big Cove?

RN:      The only celebrations they used to have was St. Anne’s, every year. I think they

still do, I’m pretty sure they still do.

GJ:        Do you remember if Grand Council ever met during those times, or was that separate?  

RN:      I don’t remember, I don’t remember about that. Like I told you, first time I heard about … Grand Council, when Frankie got in there as Grand Council, and he came home and he says, “Mom, I’m a Grand Council now.” And gee, I really didn’t know what it was until he showed me all his stuff, and I was really surprised.

GJ:        Did you ever see a feather headdress, one that Mi’kmaw people might have wore a long time ago?

RN:      I don’t think so, I don’t think I ever seen it.

GJ:      How about within the residential school?

RN:      No, I never seen any at residential school, they never had no… I don’t think the nuns and the priests would… about that.

GJ:       Did they ever show the kids how to dance, or anything?

RN:      No.

GJ:        One last question… What advice do you have for the younger generation? What would you tell them?

RN:      I don’t know, I always say… I really feel bad about the young generation, for them to take dope and pills. And that’s what’s gonna kill our children. I said my kids, I’m not braggin’ about them or anything, but I made sure that they never took anything like that, they never even smoked. The only one that smoked I think is Anthony, and all the other ones, they don’t smoke and they don’t drink. I always made sure of that…I was always scared… like when they’d go out, and I’d warn them when they go out, “I don’t want to see anybody comin’ in with a cigarette in their hand. I don’t want to see anybody comin’ in appearing high on anything. ‘Cause if you do, you’re gonna be punished.” And I scared them. I scared them, so that when they left, I said, “Remember, if you drink, you’ll get yourself in trouble and you’ll go to jail”. That’s one thing, I always warned them about everything, and they never…  So,  I thank God they never went to jail.

But I’m not sayin’ my children are better than the other ones, because they’re not. I think all the kids are alike, but it’s the way our children are, is because of parents don’t tell them what’s right and wrong. If the parents only tell them that, maybe they would listen, ‘cause when my kids went out, I told them, “If you do anything wrong, remember, you’re gonna be punished and you won’t be allowed to go out”. ‘Cause one time when (name deleted) and (name deleted) were sniffing gas, (name deleted) came in and told me, he said, “Mom, (name deleted) and (name deleted) are up there sniffing gas.” I said, “Go and get them”. When they come in, I could smell that gas on them. “What, mom? We didn’t do anything wrong!”. I said, “I could smell off you guys. You guys are grounded, you are grounded for a whole month.” And, I told my husband when he came in, “I grounded the boys for a whole month.” And he looked at me and said, “And how are you gonna do it?” I said, “You know, Simon, I grounded my two boys, and I grounded myself. I’m grounded for a whole 30 days, I said.  “Let them”. And I did stay home, I never went anywhere; for a whole 30 days I stayed home with them.

Then when they grew up, they went to Boston. And we went there, and said, “Let’s go see our boys, how they doin.’” I said, “Ok,” so we went. (Name deleted) was standing right there, and (name deleted) and (name deleted) and name deleted) and (name deleted). So, (name deleted) came over and he said, “Mom, come here. Look down there.” I looked down and there was a bunch of young kids, they were all smokin’ up. You could see, they were sniffin’ and everything. And he came, turned around and looked at me and he said, “Mom, thank you very much for grounding me that time”.  And he said, “Me too, Mom, I thank you, because if you didn’t stop us, we would be down there with them. And Simon looked at me. I said, “I thank myself, too. I grounded myself.” And he’d started laughing. Because you know, you have to do it yourself, because if you don’t, if you go out and leave them, they go out. They did go out when I’d go to bingo and I liked going to bingo, but they never smoked and they never drank. 

But they used to go by the church, and they sat around there, and when they see the car coming, they all run home, and when we got home, they’re all home. And I never knew that they were …, when they told me. He said, “You didn’t know that, Mom, did you.” I said, “No”. He said, “We didn’t do anything wrong. We just sat out there, and sometimes the priest would come out there and talk to us. And then, when we see your car coming, we’d say, ‘Mom and dad are comin’ home,’ and boy, we’d run like, and we’d go home, and we’d run in the house.” They had the house all cleaned up and everything before they’d go out. They were really good at that.

If I had anything to say, and I look at them and I feel sorry for them. I said, if they were my children, I would do the same thing. I would tell them, “If you guys come in, if I smell anything on you, I’m going to ground you guys. And if you guys don’t listen, I’m going to put you away somewhere. I’ll put you guys in a home somewhere.” I would’ve. I love my children, and I wanted them to listen to me. And they did listen. Now they’re all growed up. Like I said, (name deleted) will drink maybe New Year’s and Christmas, and his birthday. Even his birthday the other day, he never had nothin’. I was really surprised, he never even drank or anything. So, I don’t have anyone who drinks in the family now that I know of, anyway, unless they’re hiding. (laughs)

GJ:        If you’re talking to the grandchildren, what do you tell your great-grandchildren?

RN:      I tell my grandchildren the same thing I told my kids,

GJ:       Ok. Well, I think that will be all for now. Thank you very much.

RN:      Well, you’re welcome. I don’t know if I did a good job or not (laughs).

GJ:        I’ll show the kids later on.

End of tape