Miss Catherine Black - a Blanshard Spinster

 This blog post follows the last one about Laura Delamater chronicling the life of an unmarried lady from the former RM of Blanshard who had a remarkable life story that I wanted to share.  It is being told due to the generous help of her family -  nieces and nephews and their children who fondly remember Aunt Kate for who she was and what she over came in her life. 

Catherine Isabella Black (better known as Katie or Kate) was born March 18, 1905 on the family farm south of Oak River, MB to James and Mary Black.  She was raised with two older brothers Alex and Archie and a younger sister Florence.  An older brother Elwood was born in 1906 and died 4 months later. 

Kate on her Dad's knee, Archie and Alex in the middle and Florence on her Mom's knee in about 1910

James had come from Bruce County Ontario with his father Alex in 1879 and they were two of the very early pioneers in Blanshard, Manitoba.   You can listen to a very interesting oral history here https://wmrl.ca/files/Oral%20Histories/Black%2CAlex-Oak%20River%20pioneer/  as told by James and Mar's son Alex in the 1980's. Just click on the mp3 file beside the music note to listen. James' wife, the former Mary Ann McLean joined him later and they settled on SE 16-13-22 W1 to begin their family and carve out their future from the prairie. Kate, born in 1905 and her younger sister Florence in 1908 were both born deaf, with poor eyesight and unsteadiness.  Such a blow to those parents but I wonder if they took solace in the facts their girls had each other.  The support from their parents is so evident in the fact that both Kate and Florence attended The School for the Deaf in Winnipeg, Kate from 1913 to 1923.  

The logistics and expense for 10 years close to 300 kilometres away from home must have been a real challenge.  The C.P.R. did offer reduced fare on train tickets to students,  beginning in 1891.  There was no tuition for the deaf school, the same as any other school, but there was a charge for room and board. For it to continue, their education must have been deemed a real success and important to the family.  

Exercising on the lawn - Sherbrooke and Portage Ave

New school opened in 1921 at 500 Shaftsbury Blvd

Beside academics, the Black girls learned sign language, took dance lessons and made life long friends.  The 1916 Canadian Census shows Kate as an 11 year old 'inmate' in the dormitory of the Deaf and Dumb Institute of Tuxedo Park.  42 other girls and 57 boys are listed with birthplaces all over Canada and beyond.  Other students came from the city of Winnipeg for day school.  Most were teenagers but some were as young as 7.  Teachers hired were often deaf themselves and were in charge of formal academic education as well as vocational education such as homemaking skills and carpentry. Students who lived in residence were given daily chores to help run the institution.  The Principal at this time was Howard McDermid who had taken over from his father, the previous principal.  Life in residence for the girls would have been a huge contrast from life at home on the farm.  Living in close quarters was a risk during the Spanish flu epidemic of 1919 and in fact the school closed for a time.  Chicken pox and diphtheria outbreaks also happened and sick children were attended to in the medical ward. 

Not only were the Black girls students, they became teachers at home in instructing many of their relatives to use sign language so they could communicate with them.  For those that didn't sign, they communicated by writing. Following along with being teachers, spelling errors in what was written to her were always corrected by striking the word out and putting the proper spelling above it. Kate was also really frugal to use every last bit of space on the paper. Once the sheet was full she would flip it on its side and write there until it was full.

Kate and Florence made many friends at school and always kept in touch through letters. Her nephew remembers there weren't many days they didn't get a letter or two in the mail. He also remembers friends coming to visit and he would look in the parlour where they were visiting and the fingers were going so fast he didn't know how they knew what was being said! Kate could also sit down and write a letter and have it ready to mail in a few minutes.  Besides friends Katie kept in touch with many relatives and never forgot a birthday.  She was proof that social and family connections did not rely on the spoken word.

Katie was also an artist, a trait that has carried down in her family.  She would draw little animals and again with her teacher skills, showed her nieces and nephews how to draw them.

Younger sister Florence loved animals and preferred outside jobs on the farm while Kate  liked to cook and do the housework. This led to a few disagreements when Florence would bring animals in the house and Kate would shoo them out! Brother Alex and his wife Blanche and their 4 children lived in another house in the same yard. Every Sunday night the family would gather at Alex and Blanche's for supper. 

Sad days were ahead for the Black family that would change the habits of the past. Kate's dad, 95 year old James passed away in 1949 and sadly Florence passed away suddenly in 1950 at the age of 42. I cannot imagine how difficult that must have been on Kate.  More change came however and in 1951, Kate and her mother Mary moved into a little house on Limit Street in Oak River.  Daughter was the main caretaker for her mother until she passed away in 1955 at 91 years old.  Change happened again in 1956, when Kate took a solo trip to Toronto to visit relatives.  Imagine her bravery to manage the train and strange busy places on her own.  After returning to Oak River, Kate must have been happy with that taste of the world outside her hometown so that she journeyed  to Edmonton to visit relatives.  Knowing what a gem she would have been, they asked her to stay and work at their rooming house at 12320 104th Ave near the downtown which she did for the next 13 years.

Kate sitting in the center, surrounded by family at a Christmas gathering.

In 1970 at the age of 65, Katie moved back east to her house in Oak River. These were the years I remember Katie from. A friend of mine was her great niece and I would occasionally accompany her to take or get something from Kate’s little house. Visiting to collect Halloween treats or share Christmas carols and dainties with our youth group are two things I recall. Katie's expression lit up like a Christmas tree when she saw my friend Arlene. I have to admit I was afraid of Kate with her utterances I didn't understand. Arlene recalls that she always enjoyed T.V. and seemed to understand the programs even though she couldn't hear and there was no closed captioning in those days. She kept up to date on local and world news reading the Brandon Sun and other papers. Kate took a keen interest in politics and always voted Liberal. She was a big fan of Pierre Trudeau. At one family gathering, someone stuck a big picture of John Diefenbaker on her wall and she got a big laugh out of that.  

Kate holding one of the third generation of Blacks to live in Blanshard. 

She was a good cook and had some big family gatherings at her little house. It was crowded, spilling into the outdoors but lots of fun. Her growing family of great nieces and nephews were a joy to her.  Her family got groceries, mail and checked in on her so she could be independent as she wanted. Unfortunately, for the last few years of her life Katie was blind. She could still write to her family but they had no way of communicating back to her. She still never forgot a birthday and always made sure she got out to vote for the Liberal party. Despite all her hardships she always remained in good spirits. Kate lived on her own until her death in 1993.  

What an inspiration and I'm proud to be able to share the details of her life, well lived.