One Woman's Journey – Angeline Hogue (1912-1996)

Angeline at age 8 (white dress), c.1920

The following excerpts are drawn from the 1994 book Nootsie, The Life of Ernest Emile Roy (1914-1992) written by J. Paul-Emile Roy, CA. This is Part One. Read more in Part Two.

On May 12, 1912, Marie Marguerite Angeline Hogue was born in the village of Beauharnois, Quebec. She was the 12th child of seventeen children of Palmyre Hogue (a carpenter) and Antoinette Daoust (a teacher). There were nine daughters and eight sons in the family.

To find work, the Hogue family moved to Montreal, Quebec and then Windsor, Ontario. When work was no longer available, they moved to Jogues, which is about 12 miles from Hearst in Northern Ontario. Not far by today’s standards, but it was a long way to go by horse and buggy. It was even farther to go by foot, because few could afford the luxury of horses. Clearing the land of tree stumps and cultivating the soil was done with oxen - a very slow process indeed. Antoinette didn’t want to go, especially when she had to leave behind some of her prized possessions - a set of beautiful antique dishes she inherited from her mother.

When the Hogues moved to Jogues in 1932, Angeline hated it. There was nothing but bush and mosquitoes. She wondered many times why she hadn’t stayed in Montreal, where things were civilized. Everywhere there was black, swampy soil and the mud was like quicksand. But, the alternative to being a “pioneer” was staying in the city, where there was no work, and facing the worst of the depression.

Angeline at age 20, c. 1932

In Montreal, Angeline had worked with the nuns on church matters, fixing the altar, preparing for masses and other religious events. When the family moved to Jogues, Angeline was about 20 years old. She worked for a while as a secretary in a hardware store in Hearst. She had mastered secretarial skills at business school in Windsor at the age of 15. Since it was not possible to commute from Jogues, she obtained room and board in Hearst for about $30 a month.

Angeline also worked at the post office and at the hospital in Hearst as a nurse’s aid and interpreter for the doctors. There were only a few nurses, so Angeline was often called on to help in the maternity ward. It was not all work, though. There were times when a little fun was in order. Once, Angeline played the part of a “fine gentleman” in a play put on by the hospital staff. Afterwards, there was a parade through the streets in a two wheel cart drawn by a bull. So as not to hold up the others in the parade, Angeline's brother tied two carrots at the end of a long pole and dangled them in front of the bull. It worked!

 

Angeline on cart with tophat, c. 1934

Angeline was asked, “How did you survive the depression in the bush?” She replied, “Times were not easy. You could say that the depression became a way of life.” Often, a meal consisted of bread and gravy. That was supplemented, when possible, with game such as deer, moose, rabbit and partridge. There were a lot of wild partridges in those days. Water had to be carried by hand from the nearby river and heated on a campfire. Everything was done by hand without the aid of machines. Washboards were used to do the laundry outside - including the long underwear and bedding sheets. Fighting off the mosquitoes was part of the washday drudgery. She was quick to add, “The darned mosquitoes and black flies never quit!”