I met Arthur Jo-Jo Nadeau in Rye while giving a presentation on the Berlin Mills. He told me this story. And may I say, at the end, we both had tears in our eyes:
Arthur Jo-Jo Nadeau went to Doucetteville, Nova Scotia, to chase down his genealogy. As a child, Jo-Jo went to Nova Scotia when his parents vacationed there. He has gone now for the last 15 years or so as an adult. His grandmother Eliza Robichaud is from Doucettevile. His grandfather Walter Robichaud was raised in Weymouth. Walter was raised by his mother Ida and his stepdad Gus Bell. Gus's home was on the Sissiboo road in Weymouth, a seven- or eight-mile walk between the homes where Walter and Eliza were raised. Walter would tell Jo-Jo how he would walk to visit Eliza when they were dating.
On one visit, Jo-Jo found the house where his great-grandparents (Gus Bell's home) had lived, told the owners who he was, and they invited him in.
At that time in the late 1990s, the new owners were remodeling Gus and Ida's old house. When the plaster and lath were pulled down in the kitchen, all kinds of paperwork were on the topside of it. They surmised that some children took the paperwork (from trunks in the attic) and pushed it in between the spruce boards and the paperwork ended up on the topside of the lathes. This probably happened in the mid 1930s or so.
So all of this interesting paperwork shows up when the ceiling comes down, including a record that Jo-Jo’s grandfather had cut and hand-hewn 110 ties for which he received $0.10 a piece. A lot of hard work for $0.10 each.
Two other interesting items. Eliza had written Christmas cards to her in-laws. One card was signed Walter and Eliza. The second card was signed Walter, Eliza and Alice in a little kids scribble: Alice. Jo-Jo’s own mother.
The new owners asked Jo-Jo if he knew the people. At the time, Jo-Jo's mother Alice had been deceased 15 or 20 years. He had a hard time holding back the emotion trying to tell them that Alice was his mother and Walter and Eliza were his grandparents. Jo-Jo was very close to his mother and his grandparents.
Those two postcards, especially the one signed Alice, connect Jo-Jo to the ones who came before.
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