Thursday, October 1, 2009

Henrietta and Hatfield Point

In the late 19th century, Henrietta Day moved from Hatfield Point to Massachusetts to find work. There she became an operator. This is all that is stated on records of her presence there. I assume that she was a telephone operator.
In Massachusetts she met William Everett Mitchell. They Married in...... They had five children named: Lauretta, Helen, Richard, Everett and Harold. Richard, the youngest was born in the US, so the next episode had to be after 19o8.
In time the family moved to Hatfield Point as Henrietta was very homesick for her home. William was not happy there in Canada, or perhaps there were few opportunities there. In time the marriage soured and William moved back to Massachusetts alone. I assume that he moved to the Malden area. Hatfield Point is on an inland bay called Belleisle Bay northeast of St John, New Brunswick. It is a estuary, though it is certainly a long way from the sea. The land is very open around the bay as I remember it, sloping gently up from the bay on all sides. Some distance from the water, in a wooded area, was a very large field sloping down to the South with a high, wooded hill on the West side and a small road on the East side leading down to the town some distance away, and on beyond the house deeper into the country. A long low Federal Cape style house sat on a crest of the hill about 2/3 of the way from the bottom of the field. This evidently was rented from or purchased from a neighbor. I use the term Federal for lack of a better word as this was Canada. The styles there are somewhat different from the US in appearance as well as name. Along the longer, South side of the house was a porch, enclosed with windows above short walls. There was a distant view of the bay from this porch. In my time there was no paint and as I visited over the years it became more and more dilapidated. This is where Bertha Northrup lived. This was not otherwise a family home. The Northrups, George and Charlie, children of our Aunt Lauretta once took me up to the top of the field and beyond into the encroaching woods. There was the foundation of the older house that I remember them calling the Judge Jones house. This is where the Jones girls lived, and I assume it was where Henrietta's mother as raised. The tradition was that there were five girls, four of whom married Governors of various US states. The truth of that story is completely up in the air. As I understand this, they lived there together till Henrietta's death. The house had burned to the ground many years before I saw it.
As I remember the interior of Bertha's house, it had a center entrance with a steep narrow staircase leading up to the loft past the back of the chimney. I do not remember this being finished space. To the right of the door was an all purpose room with couch and chairs, and a large wood cook stove along the wall to the left as you entered. There was a similar room to the left of the door, but I do not remember it all all.
As the boys grew up, they all moved back to Massachusetts. Richard, My father evidently built a cabin for Lauretta before moving to Littleton, Maine permanently.

2 comments:

  1. Henry Day, Henrietta's father, was my great-great grandfather - dougvalentine77@gmail.com

    ReplyDelete
  2. Henry Day, Henrietta's father, was my great-great grandfather - dougvalentine77@gmail.com

    ReplyDelete