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Archiver > NS-CAPE-BRETON > 2005-12 > 1133618683


From: rgmcneil <>
Subject: Re: [NS-CB-L] Shacker in 1911 census
Date: Sat, 03 Dec 2005 10:05:37 -0400
References: <000001c5f7a0$d8dfa290$852cfea9@Study><6.2.3.4.0.20051202205828.01e8cd70@pop1.nb.sympatico.ca><BAY16-DAV546DC649FD7A4C2C06820B04F0@phx.gbl>


There was also another use of "Shacks". In the mining area I was familiar
with the parctice of living in shacks in the area where I lived. (New
Waterford) They were used mostly by people from Newfoundland. If a complete
family from Newfoundland established a household in the mining area, they
sometimes built a "Shack" that would be rented to men from their own area of
Newfoundland. These men would live there until they had enough money to move
their family who lived in Newfoundland or until they met a woman and married
in the local area. These peole were usually known as "Shackers" and
sometimes more specifically as "John smith's Shackers". In other words, they
lived in a "Shack" in John Smith's yard. Quite commonly, they might be
related to theowner of the "Shack"

This was still a common practice in the 40's and early 50's.

Robert


----- Original Message -----
From: "George Fraser" <>
To: <>
Sent: Saturday, December 03, 2005 8:42 AM
Subject: Re: [NS-CB-L] Shacker in 1911 census


> Jim:
> I offer this in response to your query but I might be wrong. As a child
growing up in CB I knew of many men who spent many months of the year living
in "shacks" along different shores from where they fished. Some of them
lived all their lives in these shacks. Others just built a shack and lived
there. It was also common practise to name small temporary living quarters
around mines as shacks.
> I can recall many occasions when I would go deer hunting with my father
that he knew some of these men who lived in these shacks in isolation. They
rarely came out to "civilization" and when they did it was for tea, sugar
and maybe a bar of soap. From what I remember of them I doubt they made the
trip for soap.
> Hope this may help.
>
> George T. Fraser
> President
> Fraser's Consulting Agency
> 28 Marina Drive, Brighton ON K0K 1H0
> www3.sympatico.ca/caperfca
<mailto:>
> 613-475-6470/613-475-6471Fax
> ----- Original Message -----
> From: James E. Roberts<mailto:>
> To:
<mailto:>
> Sent: December 2, 2005 8:04 PM
> Subject: Re: [NS-CB-L] Shacker in 1911 census
>
>
> Hello List,
>
> At 08:31 PM 12/2/2005, Wilf wrote:
> >Hi everyone:
> >
> >I thought I had asked this question in this link but I goofed as I
often do.
> >
> >I have come across the term "Shacker" in several pages of the census
that I
> >have been transcribing in the Sydney census. We have lodger, roomer,
> >boarder and of course head and the family relationship.
> >
> >Does shacker have something to do with the steel works or coal
mining?
>
> Two things come to mind. There was a bitter coal miners' strike from
> 1909 to 1913.The `Company' threw many of them out of their `company
> houses' and they were reduced to building and living in shacks.
>
> Secondly, I saw the word `batcher' mis-transcribed as `shacker' at
> least once. I don't know how widespread the word `batcher' is/was,
> but I feel it traces back to Newfoundland. Simply, it is a person,
> usually male, who is fending for himself. A man whose wife is away
> for a few days is said to be `batching it'. Short for bachelor, I
guess.
>
> Cheers, Jim
>
>
> ==== NS-CAPE-BRETON Mailing List ====
> See the Cape Breton Vital Records Index at
>
http://www.rootsweb.com/~nscpbret/cbbmdndx.html<http://www.rootsweb.com/~nscpbret/cbbmdndx.html>;
>
>
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