Cape Breton's Magazine

going. He told him North Sydney. And he had the--when he arrived there he had the sheriff down there and he seized the ship. And he got paid for the boat. [/larie Thurgood Williams Recorded August 19,1992, in IVi. Williams' Idtchen, Sydney River. Ranald Thurgood: Marie Williams is my aunt, and the daughter of Dolena MacDonald Thurgood • daughter of Murdoch MacDonald. Marie mentions two Ranald MacDonalds: Doiena's younger brother and "Big Ranald," their cousin. As this excerpt begins, Marie is discussing her mother. She used to talk about when her father was drowned. She'd say there were such sad days. Everybody would be walking the beaches. And she said everything was sad? ness around. As a matter of fact, I think one time when we were out in Lousbourg, you were with us. You wanted to see the fortress. And I said, "Come on, Mama, we'll go down and see the ocean." "Oh," she said, "I saw enough of the ocean." She was about sixteen, I guess, when she came into Sydney to work. I don't know what family she worked for--Morrisons, I think. The children of the family--the son became a lawyer, don't know if he became a judge afterwards. And the daughter became a nurse, and she was head matron at the Marie and Donnie Williams Sydney Hospital when your grandfather used to be--my father used to be in the hospi? tal. And she was there; she was an awfully nice person. Isobel was her name. And Mama always used to say how nice they were to her. You know, they were real nice people to work with. (So she was doing domestic work there, was she?) Yeah, just domestic work. Looking 1'1 Fisheries and Oceans Peches et Oceans Canada Canada Etes- vous pret? Canadian Coast Guard Safe Boating Information 1-800-267-6687 Garde Cotiere Canadienne Renseignements Nautiques Canada