Amherstburg: Personal and family details.

Amherstburg: Personal and family details.

The Harrises: Cousin Don and family, Uncle Howard and family, Uncle Chester and family, Grandma and Grampa all lived in their own houses down the street. Lots of Hursts lived on King Street; Stewarts on Park; Wilsons and Handsors lived behind town, McCurdy's all over town. My friends coming up in Amherstburg were Jean, Lana, Donna, Brenda, Diane, Gloria and Emily.

My father pastored a church which was one block over from our house, Mount Zion Church of God in Christ. We walked to church and everywhere else in town: school, downtown, the park, museum etc... My father also was overseer to two other churches outside of the city under the leadership of the late Bishop C.L. Morton Sr. and my mother was a missionary to the Indian Reservations. So you see, they travelled a lot and most times we little ones were with them.

I forgot to mention that one of our friend's (Liz T's) father operated a ferry that he took back and forth to Boblo (an amusement park at that time) and sometimes he would let us ride over for free on his ferry. Lots of Detroiters would go to Boblo on the big boat, so it was very exciting and fun to go ride on the rides.

In the winter, my mother used to have us go outside and get some fresh fallen snow and she would make us snow cones. Most of the towns people were poor and these were the food services that we had in Amherstburg: milkman, iceman, vegetable man and egg lady. My father and his friends would go fishing and hunting to bring in the meats and he raised his own chickens. We would pick dandelions for greens. From time to time in the winter we would go to Bluefront Market (remember Bluefront?) to get some meats. We were flooded in the summer time with fresh fruits, fish and vegetables from the townspeople. You see, they all looked out for each other then. We got free bread and sweets and chips from the bakery. There were twelve in our family and ma would prepare food everyday to feed us, and aside from that she would bake a dessert a few times a week.

The one doctor in town (Dr. Hutchinson) would often make house calls if the patient could not come to the office.

I am once again requesting old photos: maybe of Bluefront, the Library, the theater, Park, Waterfront, Post Office, summertime photos of flowering trees, the church, high school, elementray school, family photos. Whatever you can contribute to this web will give viewers a picture of what a beautiful place Amherstburg was. Not only photos, but give descriptions of the photos and your input. Maybe you remember some things that I don't.

By mejamison