Mom and Her Family by Pauline Morrill 2007
A History of Mom and Family, Waneta Huskue Knight
From daughter, Pauline Morrill
Written to Peter Lagasse, her half brother, in 2007 by emails.
ONE Date: Sat, 27 Jan 2007 08:49:30 -0800 (PST)
I tried again last night and I went somewhere so I will do a little at a time and send them, then do more. Maybe my computer doesn't want to work so hard. I don't really know why I was born at Grammie Knight’s *house. I assume that we must have been living there at the time. As you probably know, it was not unusual for women to have their children at home in that era. I've heard the story that it was a Sunday AM and all Grammie Knight’s children were at church. Dr. Spaulding was dressed in his Panama suit getting ready for a day with his family when he was alerted that I was coming. I started out ruining people's day, not a very good start.
We moved a lot of times and I am not sure in what order. We lived on Bracket Street in Gorham, Maine, with a man called Uncle Woodbery for a while. As I don't remember any of that it must have been when I was very little. It was the house that Dick and Alice Hodgkin live in now. The story was that if Mom and Dad lived there to take care of the uncle (Woodbury Dale Strout was Grammie Mains brother) that when he died they would get the house. Of course Dad, being a jerk, couldn't be nice so they were asked to leave. I think he died very shortly after we left (1941). We probably went down to the apartment above Grammie Morrill next. The reason I think that was next place was because of hearing that I had taken my first step downstairs. I thought for years I had walked down the stairs but was told that I was down stairs visiting Grammie Mains when I took my first step.
TWO Date: Sat, 27 Jan 2007 09:08:06 -0800 (PST)
We also lived upstairs over Arthur and Erdine Quints. It was across the street (Brackett Street, Gorham, ME) from Grammie Mains. I may be dreaming about it but I think that Mom and Dad had a small hot dog stand there. I must have been young there also. I remember after moving out, the people that took over the apartment were from away. Everyone in town thought they were Russians over here to ear drop. That must have been soon after the war started. Forgot that while we were over Grammie Mains house I had whooping cough. Mom, Uncle Kenneth Morrill and Grammie Morrill rocked me around the clock so my Dad (Leroy S Morrill II) wouldn't get mad hearing me cry. I don't know if he worked or not but I know that he did a lot of little jobs. Dad and Uncle Kenneth had the rabbits. We raised them for eating, also angora that was sold to be spun into yarn. *Junior (Leroy S Morrill III, Pauline’s brother) had a sweater made out of it.
Leroy S Morrill Jr. when in the Navy and as a young child
During the war (WWII) there were lots of jobs at the Bath Iron Works so we moved down there. I believe we stayed with Aunt Ruth (Ruth Morrill sister to Leroy S Morrill II) and Uncle Everett Rice in Woolwich, Maine, when we got there. Later Mom took a job babysitting two boys that lived across the street from Aunt Ruth. They were Mary and Alex St. Pierre. I went the day that they got us a *small trailer and we stayed in it on their property. Left there for some reason. I'm sure it was something Dad did. Dad then bought a piece of land in Wiscassett, Maine, and had a small trailer put on it. When I say small, I mean it. My bed was bolted to the wall over the foot of Mom and Dad's bed. The table was folded in when not in use.
Had a horse black with a star on her brow. I would sit on her and Dad would walk me with her. He abused her so much that she got wild and we had to get rid of her. (as you see, my Dad was no more fun living with than yours) Dad was running around with someone he worked with so Mom left and I believe we moved back to Grammie Mains. Dad had put a foundation in but that is as far as he went. After a while Dad came up and talked Mom into letting him back. I don't remember going back to Woolwich but I remember Mom and Dad would go down and fish for smelts. Sometimes I would go with them. They would tie me on a barrel so I wouldn't fall in the hole. They sold them at the stores so I don't know if Dad was doing anything else.
THREE Date: Sat, 27 Jan 2007 12:10:28 -0800 (PST)
At some time, we lived on a farm in White Rock. It was a cow farm and Dad worked taking care of the cows. We must have moved back to Grammie Mains again as we were there when I started school at *Frederick Robie.
Junior was also born in 1944 when we lived at Grammie Mains. I went to the school there until the third grade I think. I do remember a cold morning when I was a little late to walk to school and everyone else had left. I asked Dad if he would take me and he was not pleased. He went out in the cold with only his pants and an undershirt with no arms. All the way over he raved about having to take me. His last thing he told me was that he was probably going to catch pneumonia and die and it would be my fault. I have never forgotten that. I was scared to death that he would get sick. Dad bought a farm house in North Gorham and we moved there. I went to *Levi Hall School there. It was the typical Little House on the Prairie school. The teacher got to school early to light the wood stove in the middle of the room. It was only one room and the number of pupils was around 16. This was from the primary up through the ninth grade. I learned a lot listening to the other classes as well as mine. We had a play and I was the Princess of good food. Mom, Dad, Uncle Ken and I went in our car. It was snowing hard and the snow coming towards us looked like a large flower. I remember that night every time I am driving in a heavy snow storm. I almost did not make the play because I had started to have spells of not being able to catch my breath. I imagine now that it was because of the stress that would be in the house as it was near to the time Mom left Dad. I don't know, after all the years of abuse, what gave her the strength to leave him. We went back to Grammie Knight’s house. Dad used to come to the house and we would hide in the upstairs and was not allowed to speak to Dad. That was very stressful for me, I loved my Dad. I didn't understand at the time. He would have taken me and Mom would not have known where I was for Dad would do anything to hurt her. My Dad was a very mean person. I don't ever know of him hitting Mom but he was certainly mentally abusive. Mom got a divorce and stayed with Grammie Knight until we moved up to your father’s home in 1954 after Mom married him. (Roland Paul Lagasse)
* Levi Hall grew up in North Gorham, went to Bowdoin College and John Hopkins University, and became a famous physicist. He taught at Harvard University. He discovered what is known in physics as the Hall effect. He died in 1861, but during his life he participated in many community activities. The Levi Hall School was built in 1895 in North Gorham and named after him. It still stands today and is a church. In 1828 Col. Levi Hall furnished and opened the first school at Great Falls where he taught until 1843 when the little red schoolhouse was built. The red schoolhouse burned on April 26, 1877, and school facilities were transferred to the Alonzo Moses' coat shop that was built a few years earlier. This building served as a schoolhouse until 1895 when the Levi Hall School was built at a cost of $4000. The grandsons of Levi Hall gave $500 which paid for the belfry and bell. Dr. Charles Mayberry, a professor of chemistry in the Case School of Applied Science in Cleveland, Ohio, delivered an address on Applied Science at the dedication on September 14, 1896. This school became a two-year high school and was large enough to accommodate the scholars of the Nason School which was discontinued at this time White Rock School ceased to be a two-year high school and the scholars were transported to Levi Hall until 1904 when Levi Hall School ceased to be a high school. The school had many able teachers, two of whom distinguished themselves later in life: Admiral Donald B. MacMillan, the Arctic explorer; and Professor Frederick H. Dole, Principal of the Boston Latin School and the author of the latest history of Windham. The school was closed permanently in 1956. Since that time, the schoolhouse has been acquired by the North Gorham Church. Address: 4 Standish Neck Rd, Gorham, ME 04038
FOUR Date: Sat, 27 Jan 2007
Mom had told me that Dad (Leroy S Morrill II) had given David's father money to get Mom pregnant. I wish that she could remember the name of the man for David's sake. (David was given up for adoption at his birth in Jan. 1949. We met him for the first time in 1999.) It must be terrible not to know your relatives, especially your father. (His father’s family was discovered in 2017.) Sometimes I wished Mom had told me that someone else was mine. I could write a book about how he treated me. He loved to abuse me as well as the girls that belonged to his other wives. He didn't touch the boys. I thought that he had gotten a thrill from spanking us and then making us go to him and sit in his lap because he was sorry. It got old fast. Oh well, I guess everyone has a story. I will continue the rest of the answers to your questions as soon as I can. Want to get down soon, if a day comes without any flurries, rain, or snow. I really don't like driving alone.
FIVE Date: 29 Jan 2007
Mom's working: I know jobs that Mom had but do not know in what order. Mom worked at the corn shop in Gorham, Maine where they canned vegetables and blueberries. She also worked in Portland in the freezer plant checking the frozen blueberries as they passed by on a belt. It was summer and Mom did not have a car so I remember her waiting for her ride carrying her winter clothing because she worked at a freezer plant. About the rabbits, we raised them for eating and selling. Also had angora when the fur was pulled off and it was made into yarn. Junior had a jacket and hat, when he was a baby, that someone gave Mom from our rabbits’ fir. She worked for the *Daigles (a wealthy family just below the Knight homestead in Gorham) housekeeping and babysitting.
She also cut potatoes for seed and picked potatoes. too. She went to work at *SD Warren (a paper mill in Westbrook, Maine) and went in with Uncle Charlie. After a while she got her license and then she worked different shifts at times. She worked there when she was carrying David. She didn't look as if she was pregnant but was told to me by my father (Leroy S Morrill II). She worked there until she was carrying you (Peter Lagasse). She might have done some other jobs when I was too small to remember.
SIX Date: 4 Feb 2007
When your father, Roland Paul Lagasse, and Mom got married (29 Jan 1954) it was great for a while. In fact, I think I had my birthday party the August after the wedding. The birthday party was as great as I can remember. Had a bunch of my friends and we ate food from the restaurant. Real Cool.
It wasn't long before we clashed. He wouldn't let Ma and I be in the same room alone. He did not like the idea that he was supporting us kids (Mom was working at SD Warrens) and we were not conceived by him. (not said in that language) When Pat and Ann (from Paul Lagasse’s previous marriage) came in the summer from New York City it was even worse. I was taking care of them and all three, Junior included, tortured me all day long. Would lock me in the bathroom for most of the day, Junior shot me with his BB gun, and they schemed together and got me in trouble by telling Paul, your father, that I had done things I hadn't. I remember one night I had company, a boy from school, and Paul (your father) had been drinking and came out to the car in his underwear and put on a show. I was quite embarrassed. I don't remember ever having a friend over again as you never knew what would happen. It wasn't long before I left and went to live with Grammie Mains. (our mother’s paternal grandmother) Between your Dad and mine I had nowhere else to go except there. My Dad (Leroy S Morrill II) very seldom showed up on week-ends. One weekend I went roller skating with some friends and he showed up to get us. Mom told him where I was and he came to the rink and hauled me out. I got a good whipping from him. Grammie Mains was a very sweet person to her kids. She could be rough with outsiders. She was not pleased when Ronnie (my boyfriend) came up to visit. I dropped out of school and got a job in Portland, Maine, at a five and ten store. It had a small food court and I cooked hamburgers etc. Since I had to take the bus I moved in with *Aunt Rose (my father’s mother’s sister seen in above wedding picture). It didn't cost as much to get to Portland from her house. I stayed there until I ran off with Ronnie Jordan and got married. That is a book in itself.
SEVEN Date: 7 Feb 2007
Grammie Knight (Nina Anderson) did not have a very good home life while growing up. She and Uncle Dave both had to quit school so they could do the work around the house. Grammie York (Anderson at the time) (in Boston) had a boarding house where men stayed there so they could work in the city. Grammie Knight had to do most of the work at home. She was so young that she had to stand on a box to do the laundry. She also did most of the house work. I don't know what Grammie York did but I know that Grammie Knight did all the work and Uncle Dave (Anderson) sold newspapers I think. *Grammie Knight grew up loving to dance and that is where she met *Grandpa Frank Knight. He played the mandolin in the band.
Her growing up did one thing for her. She was an excellent housekeeper and a great baker. I do not remember Grammie Knight ever hugging or kissing any of us. When we got older if we tried to kiss her she would turn her head and not give one back, not even on the cheek. Grammie York (Marie Eva Demars) was married more than once.
*1. David O Anderson BIRTH 1863 in Chester, Lunenburg, Nova Scotia, Canada DEATH 28 APR 1897 in Aylesford Station, Kings, Nova Scotia, Canada Married 24 Dec 1890 in Everett, Middlesex, Massachusetts, USA. Death has been shared by family that it was due because he had a bet he could carry a half beef critter with his teeth home. He hemorrhaged to death.
2. Frank Spicer died 1901?? Married 26 Mar 1898 in Berwick, Kings, Nova Scotia, Canada
3. Charles H Gerry BIRTH 1876 in Kennebunkport, York, Maine, USA DEATH 13 NOV 1907 in Casco Bay, Maine, USA (drowned as a fisherman) Married 13 May 1904 in Boston, Middlesex, Massachusetts, USA
*4. Edward Joseph York BIRTH 1 APR 1878 in Sanford, York, Maine, USA DEATH 9 MAR 1942 in Gorham, Cumberland, Maine, USA Married 1 Jun 1918 • Westbrook, Cumberland, Maine, USA
Grammie York's maiden name was Demars. Jason Demers was the son of her brother, John Demars. Jason went into the Second World War and his papers spelled his last name as Demers. He kept that spelling. The family lived in Waterboro, Maine. There was quite a clan. One of John’s wives was Aunt Addie I believe (Celine Vannese). Her house was very clean. Then Uncle John married Laura M Connely. She had the dirtiest house I had ever seen. There were children with both wives I think. Jason Demers married Jean Rice. Jean was my Aunt Ruth and Uncle Everett's daughter. Jason was related to me on Mom's side and Jean was on Dad's side although they were not related. Jean died a few years ago and Jason was with Hazel but died in 2009. I don't know if they are married or not. They went to Florida every winter. I heard from them at Christmas. I have no idea where he got your number unless he called directory assistance. I will try to get back on track with the other family members tomorrow. SIS
EIGHT Date: 8 Feb 2007
Grampa Knight (Frank Eugene Knight) was a great person. He was not well so he did not work when we were there after Mom divorced my Dad. He kept busy by having a garden, in the summer, sawing wood in the winter and making things for the kids. I think that is where Charlie (your brother) gets his building know-how. In the winter Grampa would come in and lay down in the dining area when he got tired. In the summer he laid on the hammock under the pine trees. He had strawberries that he sold to pay taxes on the house. The other vegetables he grew were what we ate. Grammie Knight used to can vegetables for the winter. Grampa also raised a pig every year. I can remember Mr. Mains (no relation) the man at the end of Stevens Road in Gorham, Maine, butchered the meat and Grampa dressed it out for meals. I don't know, I asked Mom once and she didn't either, how we kept the meat. Grampa smoked rolled his own cigarettes. He never smoked anywhere except with his foot on the place where you cleaned the stove out (kitchen cooking wood stove). He had his ashtray on top of the warming oven. He would also have a cup of tea. It sat on the stove all day just adding more water and tea as needed. I loved going with Grampa, in his truck, to go over to Phinney's to get slabs for starting the fires in the winter. I went with him and helped (ha ha) put the slabs in the back of the truck. We would bring it home and stack it in cords. We usually had quite a few trips to get what we would need. I'm sure he couldn't have done it with my help. He always made me feel as if I was helping. I would have been around 7 or 8. I never heard Grampa talk bad about anyone. He was respected by anyone that knew him. There was a man that lived on the road across from Daigles. He used to walk down to the village and buy his beer. He must have drunk it on the way home because he would be found by the side of the road and passed out. Grampa seemed to know when he was down in the village as he would find him, take him home and make sure he was in his bed and needed nothing. It must have been across the bridge into Windham where he went as the Gorham side was dry. (The word Dry was used to mean a place where liquor was not allowed to be sold.) As I told you, Grammie Knight was a great baker. She made donuts which we all enjoyed. Grampa told us not to eat the holes as it would give us a belly ache. He had a gallon jar with a screw top in the pantry that always had a round piece of a donut that was close to the hole. Grampa ate them with his tea I imagine but I don't remember seeing him do it. Grampa was in the living room in bed for quite a while before he died in 1957. Grammie used to give him bed baths every morning. One morning she noticed that the nicotine stains were gone on his fingers. It wasn't long (maybe even that day) Mom and *Aunt Helen I think had been outside. (Below is Helen Knight)
When they came in Grammie Knight told them to stop their singing, Pa, as she called Grampa, was very sick. The music was beautiful, much more than Mom and Aunt Helen could make. They went into his room and he was gone. Seems that he was taken away by the angels choir. The Pastor said that when the nicotine went, Grampa was too close to being perfect so he was taken. If you knew him, you’d believe it. (I was almost 2 when he died) Grampa had been called into the ministry and felt that he couldn't make enough to feed all of the children. He thought that his sickness was because he said no to God. He never had a job that came easy keeping food on the table and clothes on their back. He worked hard to make it happen. I think of that truck I used to ride with him in. Joceil has it now. I know she doesn't know how precious it is. (she does) (Joceil is the daughter of Eugene Ricker Knight, brother to our mother, Waneta.)
NINE Date: 9 Feb 2007
I remember little about Grammie York (Eva Marie Demars) and Grampa York (Edward Joseph York her 4th and last husband) when they lived in their *house where the garage is at Grammie Knight's house. I have heard things that happened at that time and I do remember what the house looked like. I used to go over and visit, when I was at Grammie Knight's. I have been told that I would go around the house and look at everything but I would not touch. Grampa York called me his little angel. They both were very short people. I remember seeing them going off in their old car, which might have been new at that time. *Grammie York was a very strange woman.
After Grampa York died, she lived with Uncle Dave Anderson (her son in Blaine, Maine) in the winter and came down in the summer to Grammie Knight. I remember going into the train station in Portland to pick her up. I don't know if it was Grampa Knight or my Dad that drove in for her. She was hunch backed making her even smaller than she was. I was not too old and she could stand under my arm if I held it out straight. She loved to play cards. Grammie Knight did not like cards in the house so Grammie York used to hide them and when Grammie Knight was out she would bring them out. She had me believe that she could tell us our future by reading the cards. She also entertained us by singing a song about the "Animal Fair." Grammie Knight did not appreciate it as the monkey got drunk. You didn't use those words in Grammie Knight’s house. After living in Mars Hill she moved to Bridgton, Maine, again with Uncle Dave. When she was down in the summer she sat in the rocking chair, by the stove, she had a fly swatter and would slap all the flies that came in. As *Uncle Gene had cows there were quite a few.
She would kill the fly and then take the swatter and pull them into a pile that Grammie Knight would sweep up. Every time she got a fly she would laugh in a high pitched laugh. Kay was afraid of her, she thought she was a witch. She certainly sounded like one. I know you didn't ask about Grammie Mains but I will give you what I remember. She was one of the normal ones in the family.
TEN Date: 10 Feb 2007
*Grammie Mains was Grampa Knight's mother. She (Mary Strout) was married I believe three times. (It was 4 times) She was married to Charles Eugene Knight in 1883 and has Grace Knight 1885-1952, Roy Moody Knight 1889-1944 and Frank Eugene Knight 1893-1957 (who was our grandfather). Charles Eugene Knight, our great grandfather, died in 1895. Then she married Melvin M Frank 1896 but divorced in Apr 1902. Next she married a George C Hanson in Nov 1902 who died in 1918 and she finally married George Loyalist Mains in 1926. George died in 1937.
Grammie Mains lived on Bracket Street. Aunt Grace lived with Grammie for a lot of years. Aunt Grace was married to Frank Horace McQuarrie who died in 1911. Aunt Grace was then married to Frank Wilburt Adjutant but will divorce before 1933. Uncle Roy Knight lived on Bracket street also. He was married to Aunt Annie. He was a very large man with beautiful white hair. I only remember Aunt Annie with an apron on cooking. Grammie Mains was a wonderful lady. She was a Christian and probably was the one that brought Grampa Knight and Grammie Knight to the Lord. Grammie Mains went to the Little Falls Baptist Church in So. Windham. The kids that lived on Bracket Street (my age) all remember Grammie Mains. She cooked cookies for all of the kids on the street. If anyone had a button off she would call them in and sew one on. She also knitted mittens for all the kids on Bracket Street and beyond. Everyone loved her. Grampa Knight must have taken after her. When she got older she developed what now would be most likely Alzheimer's. She used to come up to Grampa Knight’s (when she could slip out) looking for her children. I remember the adults made Junior and I go upstairs so she wouldn't get upset. Grampa would take her home. She ended up in the state hospital in Augusta. Grampa hated to go up to see her as she had the mouth of a sailor. It broke his heart hearing his Christian Mother talking like that. She died at Augusta Mental Health Institute 15 Aug 1953 but was brought to Grammie and Grampa Knight's house and placed in the parlor for the funeral. I believe she was the first person I had seen dead. She had a navy or dark dress on with a rose at her shoulder. I wish that I had had more time to get to know her. I don't know if Aunt Grace had any children but I think she did. (yes she did have one child) Uncle Roy had the boys that had the oil company in So. Windham. The name of the fuel company was Knight and Gale. I don't know if Gale was any relation.
ELEVEN Date: 11 Mar 2007
I have seen miracles most of my life. Grammie and Grampa Knight as well as Grammie Morrill. *Grammie Morrill lost her husband, Leroy S Morrill I, when my father was five years old. She had three young children to take care of. It had to be her belief in God that kept her going. She did not believe in getting help from the town but she always had a big garden and did a lot of canning. She kept the garden by herself even after I was old enough to help.
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