by Lorraine Hynes
Reprinted from The Packet, August 23, 1979
In the small community of Ivany’s Cove, near North West Brook, Abel Churchill was born on November 15, 1897. He was the youngest child of Mr. and Mrs. Thomas Churchill. He had two sisters and two brothers, with only one living brother, Obediah who is 83 and lives in Detroit, Mich. His mother died when he was seven years old, so his father raised him with the help of a housekeeper and his family. Thomas Churchill was a fisherman and a woodsman, summertime he fished and during the winter he cut wood and operated a sawmill.
“Uncle Abe”” had to travel from Ivany’s Cove to Hillview to attend school which was a long walk – about a mile and a half – for a little boy, especially during the winter when even an horse was lucky to be able to venture the storms and deep snow. He managed to get as far as Number One and then he quit. He remembers he was around nine or ten years old when he went with his father in the woods to the lumber camp. They would Ieave Monday morning and stay there all week until Saturday evening. He was so small and the country was so treacherous his father would make a hole in the hay on the sled and he would stay there until they reached the camp. As he became older he began working in the woods with his father.
His father worked on the trading schooner to the Labrador and helped the skipper read charts and maps. Uncle Abe spent three summers in Labrador fishing; as far down as Mugford. At one time the Reid Newfoundland Company came to Clarenville with a load of coal to unload from the train so he and his brother, Obediah went to look for a job. He earned $13.00 for that week, the first money he remembers earning.
In 1916 he went overseas on the S.S. Combella to Winchester, England, to train for active duty. He did active service in France, Belgium and Germany. He returned home in 1918.
He went to work in the lumberwoods in Millertown by paddle-boat which was the only means of transportation there at that time. He earned a salary of $30 a month.
In 1919 he moved to Grand Falls and was employed with the AN.D. Co. at the mill. He stayed there until June 1925 and then he went to Corner Brook to help start the Bowater’s paper mill. There he made his home and on August 27, 1927 he married a girl whom he had courted before going overseas. Mr. Churchill and Alice Rose Pelley were married by Rev. Wylie Clarke at the Gower Street United Church, St. John’s. She was born on March 4, 1895 at Willington’s Point. She had completed grade eleven, attended college and was a Methodist School Teacher. He had met her when she was teaching at Hillview. At that time he used a ”grey mare” to escort her back to her boarding house. Among the places she taught were the Battery School and the Methodist Orphanage in 4t. John’s, Hillview, North West Brook, and three years in Corner Brook. Her family had moved from Chapel Arm to live in Shoal Harbour. Their honeymoon was spent at “”Uncle Abe’s”” home in Ivany’s Cove.
While they lived in Corner Brook, Mr. Churchill’s niece Susanna lived with them while attending school. He continued working with the mill until 1946. He had to resign due to illness as a result of bad nerves from overseas. His work involved night shifts and he was unable to sleep during the day. Since then he hasn’t worked. He purchased the station agent, George Nichol’s house. They have lived there since then. He spent his summers with the fishing rod and the winters in the woods rabbit catching and hunting. He remembers the summers he spent at his father’s home in Ivany’s Cove until he gave up driving in 1958. Now he only visits there occasionally by bus.
Uncle Abe says he’s up every morning around 5:30-6 a.m., sometimes he walks to the shopping centre and arrives there before the stores open for business. It takes him ap- proximately 40 minutes to walk there, this he does twice a week. He brings most of his groceries home in a knapsack. Just last week he was on the roof of his home and repaired a torn shingle. He does all the cooking and most of the work around the home. Mrs. Churchill suffers from arthritis and is unable to work and walk very well.
On Monday of next week The Churchill’s will be celebrating their 52nd wedding anniversary. Congratulations are extended to them for a very happy anniversary.
During the Packet’s visit with them Aunt Rose very willing played the piano (by note) and sang, ‘”How great thou art.” This can be said of them – they are a great couple.
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Transcribed by Wanda Garrett, January 2026
These transcriptions may contain human errors. As always, confirm these as you would any other source material.