Ancestors and relatives

You said you remember my grandmother [Clarice Edna Crooks] before she went away?

That’s right.

What do you remember about her most, when you think about her?

Well, she was a very friendly lady, and was full of fun.  I can hear her laughing yet.  Yes, she was a great person to be with!

Did she live near you?

Well, about a mile away.  And she used to be around my two sisters a lot.  My sisters, who were around her age. Ethel and Kathleen Fanning, they were then.  Of course, they were married after that.  Ethel became, when she married…. She was a Pinkham.  And the other one was married to a Worth.

And I remember Aunt Nita—Shirley’s mother.  I can remember when she was married.  If I remember correctly, I thought they were married at the church in New Harbour, but I can’t be sure of that.

But it was around here; it was local?

Oh yes.  And then they went to Timmons.

She married….

Coleman Latham.  I can see him as plain as anything.  I remember them.  They always wore…in the summertime he always wore high boots and a brown suit.  The things you remember, don’t you?

He was a tall man, from the pictures I’ve seen…

He was, yes.  And he…he got to be quite fat, too.  In his younger days, he was tall and slender.  Nita was such a good cook, I guess!

Do you remember any of Clarice’s brothers or sisters or parents?

Oh yes.  Graham, and Oswald, and John and Bayfield.  I think that’s all of them.

What do you remember about Graham?

Oh, such a beautiful singer.  Oh, could he ever sing!  I never hear that one piece [unclear] but what he stands before me.  I can still hear that.  Oh, could he ever sing!

So, there was Graham, and…

George.

Now, George was Don’s father?

Right.  And could he ever tell silly stories!  Could he ever. For stories, if Uncle George was living, Uncle George Crooks... my dear man, you'd split your sides laughing!  And he'd say, "It's the gospel truth!"  And he'd add a lot to it, you know.

He and his brother John came here one evening, and John was sitting over there (pointing) and George over there.  And George got to work telling a story.  And I looked after a while and John was sitting with a hanky up to his eye.  He said—he couldn’t talk, he was laughing so hard, and crying with it— “Don’t tell any more, George!”

Oh, yes. He was a great storyteller.  He and my husband used to go deer hunting and moose hunting a lot.

There used to be moose around here?

Oh, yes, there were lots of moose.  Yes, they headed back, in back of the house where you’re staying [George Manthorne’s house] and go back in the woods that away.

Do you remember the parents of that family?

Oh, yes.  I remember.  Well, I was a very little girl when Uncle John, as we called him—the father—passed away.  But he gave the place where the cemetery is…the lot of ground where the [Hillside] cemetery is. And he was the first one to be buried there.  I can remember being to his funeral.

Where was that?

At the church up here [Seal Harbour Baptist].  And I think my mother was the next one that was buried in that cemetery.

Who were her parents?

James and Jane Sponagle.

Did Esther have any brothers or sisters?

They adopted a boy, Vernon…when he was just a little boy.  And she had a sister, Lois, and Geneva, and Laura, and Ethel.  But Ethel died very young.

....

What do you remember about Aunt Bess?

Well, she seemed to be a person that was miserable.  She had—her husband’s sister lived with them, and she was a maiden lady.  Her name was Lydia.

Lydia Crooks…she’s buried there with them.

Yes. “Aunt Liv,” we always called her.  I can remember her.  And she did most of the work.  She mended the men’s clothing, and knit the socks and the mitts, and did most of the work.  And Aunt Bess was going to dress up and sit in the back.  She just wasn’t able to work.  And Nita did a lot of work when she got older, until she went away.  And then Nita took her to live with her, in Timmons.

Your father was…

William Fanning.

He married Esther Sponagle…

Yes.  Then, after she passed away, he married her sister.  She was my stepmother.

Did they have children themselves?

Just one boy.

Do you know any farther back, who the parents of William were?

Edward Fanning…and Levinia, she was his wife.  She was a Langley.  She was a sister to Aunt Bess Crooks.

Thinking again of my grandmother, you said you knew her before she went away.  Where did she go, and why did she go?

Well, I think she went to, as we call it, the States, and she took nursing courses.  That’s what she went for, yes.  And she had an aunt, her Aunt Bertha Colburn, which was a very strict and stern lady…

She was?  Do you remember her?

Do I ever remember!  She was always dressing just so. 

My older daughter has a set of doll dishes that her brother, which would be my daughter’s great-grandfather, gave Aunt Bertha.

I never remember seeing Clarice's mother, Bertha.  She went away.  That's right.  And they [John & Elizabeth Crooks] brought her up. 

[Clarice] and Nita were very close.  Also, she seemed to be very close to one of her brothers, I guess, the youngest one...Graham.  George thought an awful lot of Clarice, too.

....

So, William lived here, and so his father, Edward, did he live here before him?

No; Uncle Ed's...

Where?  Aunt Bernice's?

Yes...but they moved from Goldboro down here.  They did live in Goldboro.  Uncle Ned, they called him.  And I had a grandfather, Edward Fanning, and they called him Uncle Ned.  Two Neds, yes.

Barney's father was married three times.  He had three families.  Married the Penny woman, and then Barney's mother.  The first family, there was a boy and a girl.  The second family was three boys.  And then the next one was one, two, three girls and one boy...two boys!  Barney and Luman.