Canadian Friends Historical Association

Tag: Christmas

  • 25 Christmases with Hugh Webster Zavitz

    Hugh Webster Zavitz (1854 – 1943) was a member of Coldstream Preparative and Lobo Monthly Meeting. His diaries, held by the Canadian Quaker Archives and Library, detail his life in the community of Coldstream. Jane Zavitz Bond was given Hugh’s diaries by his son, Vincent Zavitz. Jane writes, “We are grateful for Hugh Webster’s care over many years, knowing that he jotted down the key events of the day. Surely there were omissions, but this is a valuable skeletal fossil record.”

    Thanks to Hugh’s records, we have a glimpse into how he and his family spent over twenty-five Christmas days. He commented on his daily chores, the weather, the health of his family, and attending meetings.

    Hugh’s Christmases consisted of chopping wood, threshing peas and oats, visiting family, husking corn, making soap, and splitting wood. He noted oyster suppers, turkey dinners, and plum pudding. Gifts were seldom mentioned, though he recorded receiving mittens, a lantern, and a generous present of $500 from his mother in 1895. As part of the First Day School committee, he also attended a philanthropic meeting on peace and arbitration in 1892, and in 1898 another philanthropic session on peace where “the subject of temperance also claimed a share of our attention.”

    Logging Sleigh in the Woods, c. 1890 Ontario

    Hugh’s records can be read below.

    1874 – Friday, December 25, 1874
    Jonah was drawing saw logs to day he took down 24 logs today Father and I were choping some it was a very fine day for Christmas Mary Elizabeth was here yesterday and today.

    1875 – Saturday, December 25
    This has been a green Christmas as the snow is all gone except some drifts and the frost nearly all out of the ground Grand Mother is some better today.

    1876 – Monday, December 25
    Our folks all went over to uncle Samuels except Joah and I we were threshing peas and this evening us young folks were up to George Zavitz (except Jonah) and had a splendid good time uncle James arrived this evening.

    1877 – Tuesday, December 25
    We were threshing on the Haight place threshed 2 bush oats and Jonah was helping Samuel P. thresh this afternoon Willie and Phebe and a party of little folks here today which was very pleasant Charlie Vail is here this evening so ends a Merry Christmas.

    1878 – Wednesday, December 25
    Went to meeting and us young folks spent the afternoon and evening at Franks Eugene and Libbie Marion & Martha, Ella, Wellington, Laura were there also and had a very pleasant time.

    1879 – Thursday, December 25
    Amelia Mercy Jonah and I went up to uncle Elijahs this P.M. and spent the day and then spent the evening at Edmond Henrys. Dan was choping.

    1880 – Saturday, December 25
    Drew out two loads of wood this morning then we went over to Father’s. Uncle Merritt aunt Emily uncle James, Dellie & uncle Samuel’s there. Called on Lexie in the evening.

    1882 – Monday, December 25
    Carrie & Libbie washed. Husking corn. Edgar called with bills for the next lecture.

    1884 – Thursday, December 25
    Spent Christmas at Fathers. Uncle Zachariahs Tamer Daniel P. Emily and a cousin of theirs Kitty Shotwell were there also.

    1885 – Friday, December 25
    Colder and pleasant. I have been getting wood in the wood house, and spent a very pleasant Christtmas have been burning the big elm top that fell in the corn field in the summer.

    1886 – Saturday, December 25
    Spent Christmas at Fathers. Uncle Samuels and Melvin and Mercy there also and uncle Zacharia & Tamer. Spent a very pleasant day.

    1887 – Sunday, December 25
    Georgia went to meeting with Jonahs and our team. After meeting they came this way and we all went over to Fathers to an Oyster dinner uncle Samuels were there also. had a very pleasant time. Carrie went by covering her head to keep from the wind mild and snowing.

    1888 – Tuesday, December 25
    A rainy Christmas. We took Jonah & Emily over to Father’s Uncle Samuel’s there. Elma came home with us. Aunt Lexy brought over a present for each of us – mittens for self &c

    1889 – 12-24 – 3 rd day
    Helping prepare a Christmas tree to surprise the children. Libbie came this morning. Rainy. Joseph took all the children over to Walters. Walter called. After supper we had a nice little tree with presents on it for all. Frank came at night.

    12-25 – 4 th day. Grand father and Grand mother and Walter Phebe & Rebecca here to dinner. Uncle John called in the P.M. We have spent a very pleasant Christmas. Weather quite mild.

    1890 – Thursday, December 25
    All spent Christmas at Fathers. Uncle Zachariah Tamer Thomas and Emily there also and we had a very pleasant time. Jonahs went over with us. I got 2 pairs of mittens and a lantern for my Christmas.

    1891 – 12-25 Xmas. 6th day
    All over to Fathers to dinner. Uncle Zachariah and family there and Annie McGilvery also, had a very pleasant time. warm and muddy.

    1892 – 12-25 First day
    Christmas, All but Carrie Vincent went to meeting. Father Mother and Phebe took dinner with us and we all but Carrie attended the Philanthropic meeting on Peace and Arbitration in the P.M. in place of the F.D.S. which was good. A very snowy stormy day.

    1893 – 12-25
    Christmas Father and Mother spent the day with us. Lexie & Annie took dinner with us. Father helped clean some more of the clover seed and started to run off the leach to make soap A warm pleasant day.

    1894 – 12-25 3rd day
    All went to Jonahs to spend Christmas Uncle Eli and Aunt Mary were there they came yesterday. Lexie and Annie were there also and Tommy Tompkins. We had a Christmas tree and got a good many presents. Uncle Zachariah & Tamer were there also. Colder today and a little snow flying but the ground is bare.

    1895 — 12-25 4th day
    All went to meeting Lexie going with us, and we all went to Jonahs to a Christmas dinner of turkey. Uncle Ambros Tamer and Katie Shotwell there also. Had a pleasant time. I went to the P.O. and got a letter for Carrie from Mother containing $500 Quite a Christmas present. Warm and pleasant no frost or snow.

    1896 – 12-25 6th day
    Splitting wood in the wood house and choring.

    1897 – 12-25 7th day
    Christmas All went over and spent the day at Fathers Lexie and Annie going along. Tamer did not come back with us, it has been pleasant to have her here with us. A pleasant day but miss the dear one who has passed on.

    1898 – 12-25 First day
    All went to meeting and in the P.M. attended the Philanthropic session on Peace. The subject of temperance also claimed a share of our attention.

    1899 – 12-25 2nd day
    All went out to Ceaf Cissons to spend Xmas The Bond and Cisson families well represented. about 30 there to eat turkey Plumb Pudding &c. Had a very nice time. went in the sleigh.

    1900 – 12-25 3rd day
    Christmas, Sarah Ethel and I went to Amos Wiltons to spend the day. About 30 there of their relatives and a pleasant time had turkey Edward & Bertha went the eve before

    Hugh Webster Zavitz’s diaries are held at the Canadian Quaker Archives and Library. Sheila Harvard transcribed the diaries and Randy Saylor prepared them for posting.

     

  • This Christmas Season and Stories of Christmases Past

    For many of us in Canada and around the world, this holiday season will look a little different from past years. As we prepare to celebrate apart from our loved ones and many of our traditions are put on hold, we look forward to Christmases in the future where we can again gather safely.

    Many of the early Quakers in Canada also faced challenging Christmas seasons. Bad weather, illness, and long distances kept families and friends apart. A glimpse into some of these challenges can be found in the letters and diaries of Deborah Mullet (1804 – 1892). Deborah emigrated from England to Canada in 1821 with her family when she was seventeen years old. Her family settled first in Adolphustown and later Amherst Island. In her article on the Mullet family and the Quaker Atlantic, Robynne Rogers Healey discusses Deborah’s initial struggles to adjust to her new life in Upper Canada and her desire to return home.[1] After four years of living in Canada, Deborah wrote to her grandmother in Bristol about their Christmas. The Mullett family had hosted two young men from Ireland at their table and Deborah stated they enjoyed “two of the fattest geese I have ever seen and a fine large piece of roast beef.”[2] While Deborah wrote to her grandmother that she was thankful for the health of her family that winter, she spoke of how she missed the society she used to keep and their former meeting in Bristol.

    Deborah eventually settled into life in Canada. Her first marriage to Consider Haight gave the couple six children before his death in 1838. Twelve years later, Deborah married Vincent Bowerman at the age of forty-eight. Both Vincent and Deborah were active members of the West Lake Preparative Meeting (Orthodox). Deborah continued to write throughout her life. Though her diary entries are considerably shorter than her letters, they offer important details about her life. Christmas in 1875 brought “thunder and lightening with rain, no sleighing,” though Deborah writes her grandchildren were delighted with their presents.[3] Three years later, she recorded the weather on Christmas day as stormy, with the surrounding roads blocked due to the storm. Christmas 1888 was a quiet affair. At the age of eighty-four, Deborah wrote that her and her daughter Lydia spent the day alone, writing: “not a very pleasant day, hope it may be better next time.” However, her and Lydia did enjoy a large goose for dinner, and days later received cards from her family in England. Though it was a solitary affair, Deborah made note of both life’s misfortunes but also of life’s little joys.

    In a year filled with uncertainty, may we find joy in better days ahead. In light of a busy (and mostly online) end of year, Robynne and I will be taking a short break from the blog this December, but we look forward to coming back in the new year. We wish you a safe and peaceful holiday season. May the roads be clear and the weather bright!

     

    [1] Robynne Rogers Healey, “ ‘I am Getting a Considerable of a Canadian they Tell Me’: Connected Understandings in the Nineteenth-Century Quaker Atlantic,” Quaker Studies 15 (2011): 233.

    [2] This quote comes from Deborah Mullet’s letter to her grandmother on 21 January 1825, the sixth letter in the “William Mullet Family Letters, Canada-England, 1821-1830,” transcribed by Thomas Sylvester and available in the Canadian Quaker History Journal 63 (1998): 27-40.

    [3] Deborah Mullet’s diaries (#1, 1874 – 1882; #2, 1887 – 1892) are at the Prince Edward County Archives. They were transcribed by Lydia Wytenbroek in 2008 and are available on Randy Saylor’s website.