Daily Life of Louisa Silva and Jane Degnen
Louisa Silva and Jane Degnen were strong-willed women who worked hard to create a life for their families on Gabriola. They bore many children, and performed household tasks like laundry and sewing, as well as basket-making and weaving. They participated in farm labour, the growing of fruits and vegetables, which they preserved and sold, livestock raising and transporting of animals to market in Nanaimo. Both Louisa and Jane had an excellent knowledge of local herbal remedies, becoming their own pharmacists and doctors; as well, Jane was a midwife.
Towards the end of her life, almost blind, Louisa Silva continued to do her own laundry, drawing water from the well, and continued to make clothing for her family with aid to thread the needles. Earlier in her life, Louisa Silva had experienced numerous hardships, from a fifteen-year-old bride’s view of her husband’s home on Mayne Island {1} to Active Pass raiding parties,{2} the drowning death of two children {3} in Plumper Pass and the fierce mosquitoes which drove her from Lulu Island.{4} At first on Gabriola, left alone while her husband fished, returning only on weekends, Louisa Silva struggled. Her strong will and determination allowed her to endure and triumph, and John Silva eventually built her a beautiful home.{5}
According to the memories of her descendents, Jane Degnen had strength of character and discipline; she was a force to be dealt with, a no-nonsense woman who ruled the house with an iron will. Capable, Jane was spoken of as a “good and clever woman.” Lacking a formal education, she could neither read nor write, yet she was ambitious, an excellent cook, a meticulous house keeper and an outstanding weaver. All these qualities allowed her, like Louisa Silva, to meet the challenges of pioneer life and succeed.
{1}“she was really frightened of marriage you know how it would be...and my grandfather was kind and gentle and he took her to his cabin on Mayne Island and my mother said that it was a dirt floor—a log cabin—and mother said that grandpa said,’ well the first thing you have to do Louisa is make a batch of bread because we do not have any bread’—so he got the fire going—you know how they used to have the old brick oven that they put the stuff in the brick oven—a fire of course—haul all out all the coals and be ready to put the bread in—so she knew how to make bread of course—and anyway she was taught from the colony family.”
Dr. Jean Barman, Conversation with Margaret Hall Corbett (granddaughter of Louisa Silva) of Quadra Island, July 29, 1992.
{2}“... the Haida Indians kept coming through the passageway and they’d hoot and they’d holler and away they would come and they were a pretty fearful bunch and my grandfather had sheep and he had goats and he had geese and stuff and these Indians would come through and they’d take about half of his stuff to feed their—I guess they didn’t like to live on fish all the time!—and anyway my grandmother decided ‘I am not living here,’ so she said to my grandfather, ‘I want to get out of here’ and so she talked him into moving to Gabriola Island...”
Dr. Jean Barman, Conversation with Margaret Hall Corbett (granddaughter of Louisa Silva) of Quadra Island, July 29, 1992.
{3}“...two children went out into a boat and got drowned...it was quite rough and you know how the canoe tips over...and grandpa dove down about six or seven times (but) he could not find them—so mum was on the shore on a little ledge with my uncle holding on to him like mad trying to keep him from going overboard. So my grandfather said, ‘You know,’ he says, ‘Louisa I feel so badly I’d just love to go down there myself I just feel as though I can’t live’ and my grandmother who was very practical—a wonderful wonderful woman that she was...she says, ‘now you listen here you have two children over there on the ledge, on the rocks and there doesn’t make much sense to me—and it won’t make any sense to them either if you go drowning yourself’ so he decided not to.
Dr. Jean Barman, Conversation with Margaret Hall Corbett (granddaughter of Louisa Silva) of Quadra Island, July 29, 1992.
{4}“Because of the loss of their children in the Pass and the persistence of fierce raiding parties, John and Louisa decided to pull up stakes...The Fraser River area was familiar to John and they decided to try farming at Lulu Island, where John also fished the Fraser River. The mosquitoes were thick and they bothered Louisa, one problem led to another and they decided Lulu Island was not for them.”
Leo and Gaylia Nelson, “Silva, Blank, Shaw.” Family History Pamphlet, March 1975.
{5}“...he built my grandmother a beautiful home...you know how they used to put plaster on the chicken wire—they put the plaster on—and it was beautifully plastered all painted and they had a fireplace downstairs and upstairs and lovely staircase...he was a good carpenter and he had siding over the top of the logs...and he painted it—it was a beautiful home.”
Dr. Jean Barman, Conversation with Margaret Hall Corbett (granddaughter of Louisa Silva) of Quadra Island, July 29, 1992.