Eddie grew up as Eddie Cosman and faced a life of poverty and hard work from an early age. As I mentioned, he never attended school long enough to learn to read or write, and suffered both hunger and cold on the old farm. The farm house was colder upstairs in winter than it was outdoors, the only heat, a kitchen wood stove. The Old Black River Road was isolated by bad roads, impassable muddy tracks in spring, and there was no electricity, indoor plumbing, store bought food or the like. water, cutting wood, haying and barn work as well as weeding and planting were the order of the day. Toothaches had to be suffered and broken bones had to knit themselves together.

Eddie must have made some trips to town to visit his grandfather Jacob Wood who had a large house and barn on Rothesay Ave. and to Red Head to Jacob's farm. Somehow, he met Muriel Lackie, who lived on Thorne Ave., not to far away from the Wood's place. Muriel's father worked at McAvity's which was right next to the Wood's house. So, Eddie and Muriel met and were married at 15, Eddie one month short of his 16th birthday.

Eddie was a quiet and gentle person, very sensitive and tender, and loved kids and animals.

Eddie and Muriel had 10 children, Marjorie, Jean, Carole, James, Darlene, Patricia, Frederick, Rodney, June and Timothy. The first three were born on the old Lawton farm, before Eddie and family moved into their own little place.

Then, Eddie bought a one acre piece of the farm from his half-brother, Earl, who had inherited the farm, and moved in with his growing family.



Muriel wrote out a list, March 8, 1941, of materials for the planned house, 20'by20', listing everything from the boards, shingles, door, hinges, hammer, nails etc., at a cost of $ 154. 46. The house had 4 rooms, kitchen, front-room as the parlor was called, and 2 bedrooms. There was no insulation, no electricity or plumbing and the partitions were covered with cardboard. But it was theirs, and private, on their own land bought and paid for by themselves.

The following images are taken from Murial's eulogy, and speak about the house that brought up us 10 kids and of Muriel's sorrow when she and Eddie got talked into leaving it for a new one.





Eddie had no education but a way with engines. a born mechanic. He had little chance at jobs though, so when the war came along, he volunteered. Being completely night blind and color blind, possibly the first signs of the multiple sclerosis that was to cripple him, he was not sent overseas. he trained in Saint John and Fredericton, then in North bay, Ontario, became chief army cook and volunteered for danger duty... being a test subject for poison gas, a terrible experience, got measles, mumps and appendicitis, and hepatitis, and generally loved the army.



That's Eddie in the apron, the apron which I still have and use when cooking. You can see Eddie's neat darning in several places and it is still in great shape. He used to wear it at home when he took a notion to cook pies and Irish stew ( with deer meat ) and how the flour flew as he raced about the kitchen. He said he volunteered to be a cook because he was sick of standing on parade for hours while his buddies fainted around him and that no one ate better than the cooks. He used to feed visiting officials in the kitchen where the cooks spared not the good stuff.



EddieEddie with Campcamp dog.
Eddie and me.