Lifestyles in the 19 th Century

1. Lifestyles in the 19th Century

2. Lifestyle includes: • Housing • Diet • Transportation • Communication • Entertainment

3. Family Life - Housing Saltbox House: a peaked-roof design; the style of most residential architecture in the 1800s.

4. Family Life - Housing Square-roof : A house with a flat roof that was common in the outports in the early 1900s.

5. Family Life - Housing Mansard Roof : Featured a curved slope pointing outward at the bottom

6. Family Life - Tilts Tilts: In the summer, Labrador fishermen lived in these structures made of logs chinked with moss. Used by trappers in trapping season. Trappers often built a number of tilts along their traplines.

7. Family Life - Housing • People’s homes reflected how they earned a living. • Who do you think lived in each type of home? • Houses in outports (and many in St. John’s) did not have running water, electricity or modern bathrooms. • http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ujAURVs84xU

8. Family Life – Food & Diet Aboriginal Peoples in the 1800s • Seal • Caribou • Salmon • Berries • Other foods gathered from the land

9. Family Life – Food & Diet Early Settlers • Variety of game and fish • Fresh and salt cod • Vegetables grown in their own gardens and put in root cellars for storage • Staple foods such as flour, molasses, tea, peas, beans, salt beef and pork were imported from other places • Specialty items like spices and dried fruit were purchased by wealthier families

10. Entertainment & Recreation Social Activities • Storytelling • The telling of legends and fables forms part of a community’s collective memory • Can reflect the social and religious values of a community • Aboriginal peoples and European settlers had many stories that illustrated their origins, beliefs and customs • Storytelling was so popular that we have stories about telling stories..... • The Smokeroom on the Kyle

11. SS Kyle, Harbour Grace

12. Entertainment & Recreation Social Activities • Song, Music & Dance • Fiddling, accordion playing, singing step dancing • Could happen at home (kitchen parties), or at community get-togethers. • Does this still happen today? • Labrador • Because communities were smaller, people made day-long trips to celebrate occasions like weddings and holidays and the end of the trapping season

13. Social Activities • Games and Pastimes • Card playing was a favourite pastime for adults • Community social activities centred around the church • Soup suppers, dances, concerts, garden parties, picnics • Bonfire Night (Guy Fawkes Night) November 5 • This often became a community competition to build the largest fire • “Copying Pans” – jumping from one ice pan to another

14. Social Activities • Games and Pastimes • Christmas • Preparing special food and exchanging gifts • Special Christmas Newspapers • Burning “black junk” a yule log placed at the back of the hearth at sunset on Christmas Eve. At midnight an ember from the burning log was thrown over the house to protect it in the coming year

15. Social Activities • Christmas • Mummering • also known as jannying • Mummer's Video – Simani • Nalujuit • Tradition of “spirit figures” • From Inuit and Moravian customs • Disguised to remind children to begood for the rest of the year

16. Social Activities • Sports • Rowing Regattas (St. John’s, Harbour Grace, Placentia) • Curling • Cricket • Field Hockey • Hockey • Organized teams and outdoor shinny • Shinny on the Ice- Buddy Wasisname • Games • Rounders (similar to baseball) • Survival games • Any/all types of outdoor games (only limited by imagination)

17. Community Life • Life was focused on the family and the community • Role of the Church • Church was the most prominent structure in the community • Was the centre of religious, social and educational life • Volunteer women’s organizations were usually in charge of church social activities • Held fundraisers and did charitable work • Holidays and celebrations were set by the church calendar

18. Role of the Church • Church and Education • Early 19th century schools were run by charitable organizations or missionary groups • Moravian church established schools in northern Labrador • Society for the Propagation of the Gospel in Foreign Parts (SPG) ran some schools on the island • The Newfoundland Schools Society – free education for poor people of all denominations (but staff were Anglican) • With the coming of representative government in 1832, the government became more involved in education. • By 1850s the largest Christian denominations ran their own schools.

19. Health Care • In the 1800s health care was based in the communities • Knowledge of the medicinal use of plants and home remedies were passed down through generations • Women took care of the sick and served as midwives • Health care from outside the community came from visiting clergymen and missionaries, doctors aboard British and French naval ships • No professionally trained nurses in Newfoundland until 1906.

20. Health Care • Surgery and medical care were normally provided in a patient’s home • A hospital was often the last resort for the poor and helpless • Hospitals were meant to protect the public just as to treat the patient – fevers and infections contracted in hospitals could cause death • In the late 1800s there were few doctors in Newfoundland and they were located in the larger towns

21. Sir Wilfred Grenfell (1865-1940) • Came to Labrador in 1892 on a hospital ship sent by an English mission • Raised funds to build hospitals, nursing stations and schools • Dedicated his life to improving the lives of people in northern Newfoundland and Labrador

22. Mary Southcott (1862-1943) • Born in St. John’s and received professional training in England • Appointed Superintendent of Nurses and Nursing at the St. John’sGeneral Hospital • Founded Newfoundland’s firstschool of Nursing in 1906

23. Connecting People & Communities • In the early 1800s people lead relatively isolated lives with limited communication and transportation • Communication • People received news from trading vessels, fishing schooners, visiting clergy • Mail delivery was slow • Communication improved with the telegraph system was developed (used Morse Code) • Newfoundland was connected to the North American telegraph system in the 1850s • First transatlantic cable sent from Valentia, Ireland to Heart’s Content, Newfoundland • Dec 12, 1902 Marconi received the first wireless (radio) signal across the Atlantic

24. Transportation • Few or no roads; in summer travel by boat. In Labrador there was also travel by canoe and sled and dog team and snow shoes in winter. Coastal Steamers • Began in the 1870s • Linked communities, improved postal service and wider distribution of newspapers • Dining service on coastal boats, arrival was significant event in the community Railway • Passengers could travel from St. John’s to Port aux Basques Passenger Steamship • St. John’s to Halifax and St John’s to Liverpool, England