“Recording at Seabright with Mr. Edward Deal (centre)”
Paul Rockett, photographer, 1954
NSARM, Helen Creighton fonds, 1987-178, no. 813
In 1749, sixteen year old James Creighton was a passenger on a ship that sailed up Halifax Harbour. He was given a land grant. It was the drumlin which is now called Citadel Hill. James married, and they had a daughter, Lucy Creighton. Lucy eventually married Captain Thomas Maynard, and there is evidence of this union still as Creighton and Maynard are parallel streets in downtown Halifax. Eventually, down the line, Helen was born.
Helen Creighton was born on September 5th. 1899. She was born with a caul, which was considered a very lucky sign. Although the caul was removed at birth, she kept it in a box for her entire life not showing anyone, as it was thought to be unlucky to do so.
Helen had one sister and three brothers. Her sister, Lilian, was just a child when a board fell off a tree and hit her on the head as she was swinging. She received a tragic head injury and became severely epileptic. Helen’s brothers Paul and Terry were businessmen, and her brother Sydney was a civil engineer. Her closest brother Mac was a doctor who attended Queen Elizabeth and Princess Margaret when they were children, at 145 Piccadilly, London.
Helen Creighton encountered her share of difficulties as she was growing up. She had an under bite, and was determined to be rid of it. There were no orthodontists at that time, so to fix this problem. Helen worked her bottom jaw back every night to correct her bite.
When Helen was four she almost died of pneumonia, and after graduating from school, she became uncommonly tired. She was diagnosed with a weak heart and was told that she would have to live a sedentary life. Helen and her family went to the West Indies for a holiday to grieve this news and to settle their minds. Helen felt encouraged upon her return, when a new doctor she visited gave her the empowering advice, “Find something you love to do and rest when you are tired, and then do it again.”
On December 6th, 1917, when Helen was eighteen, she survived the Halifax Explosion which killed 1500 people and wounded 6000 more. Helen remembered that after the disaster, many people’s picture frames were permanently studded with tiny fragments of glass.
Helen soon became employed driving an ambulance for the Royal Flying Corps in Toronto, although she worked mostly as a taxi for officers. She worked for three months and then was let go for flirting with her passengers! Despite Helen’s handsome looks and incredible charm she remained single all her life. She felt love and appreciation towards gentlemen from all walks of life, and she was heart broken a number of times
Helen liked to read. One day while engrossed in a novel, Helen thought, “What am I doing reading about other people’s adventures when I should be having my own?” This was a turning point in her remarkable and productive life.
In 1920, the Red Cross sent two public health caravans through Nova Scotia, and Helen was once again employed as a driver. While in Baddeck, she was invited to Alexander Graham Bell’s home to be shown his great inventions. Helen missed this invitation because she was helping a boy have his tonsils removed (on somebody’s kitchen table). During the same visit she did meet Mrs. Bell on the Main Street and was struck by the robotic quality of her voice. Helen was unaware that Mrs. Bell was a deaf mute and that this challenge had lead indirectly to her husband’s debatable invention of the telephone.
On one occasion while Helen was visiting Toronto with her brother and one of his friends, she went to a fraternity house where initiation was taking place. As part of this initiation, two male students dressed as a mother and baby were to go to the corner of Bloor and Yonge Streets, where the so-called baby was to cry loudly. The baby turned out to be Dr. Best, co-discoverer of insulin!
Helen was also employed as a social worker. She interviewed unmarried mothers and arranged adoptions at the Halifax Infants Home.
When Helen was 22, she joined her brother Mac in Mexico where he was practicing medicine. Helen worked teaching children that were half Mexican and half English. She was paid once a month in silver dollars which were given to her in a square of cotton fabric.
Helen danced a lot in Mexico, but because of her heart murmur she could only dance the first half of every song. Helen was 5 feet tall, and men who were taller than her would playfully joke about her height, playing elevator. “Fourth floor please!” they would say, bending their knees to make themselves shorter. She loved it. Helen wrote about her experiences in Mexico, and The Toronto Daily Star published an article entitled, “Canadian Girl Witnesses Bullfight in Mexico.”
Helen’s friends in Mexico called her ‘Golliwog’ and when she came back to Nova Scotia after her stay in Mexico, she wrote a children’s book called The Tail of the Golliwogs. In 1926 she was hired on CHNS radio station in Halifax as ‘Aunt Helen’. She read from her book, wrote dialogue and played music for her half hour children’s show. In lieu of this creative effort, she was invited to join the Canadian Authors Association. Helen eventually published articles and stories in all the big Canadian magazines.
Helen had many unique and memorable experiences. She attended Emily Carr’s first exciting exhibition! Helen’s habit was that she would go out and have an adventure, and then return home to her family.
Helen was eventually asked to compile a book of Nova Scotia folk songs. Dr. W. Roy MacKenzie had recently published one consisting of folklore from Nova Scotia’s North Shore, and Helen was asked to compile one that included the rest of the Province. Her famous collection of local Folklore and song began!
Helen Creighton is remembered as one of Canada’s best-known folklorists. She was a pioneer researcher, collector and author whose career spanned sixty years, and whose reputation in the field is international.
“It’s not so much what life does to you that matters, but the way you take it.”
Helen Creighton
MAP OF NOVA SCOTIA
We have marked the communities where the songs on ‘Mackerel Skies’ were collected.
1 – Devils Island, Ben Henneberry, “Silvy”
2 – East Chezzetcook, Walter Roast, “Stormy Weather Boys”
3 – East Petpeswick, Freeman Young, “Down in Old Ireland”
4 – Liverpool, William H. Smith, “Homeward Bound”
5 – Louisbourg, Ruth Metcalfe, “My Irish Girl”
6 – Middle River, Nathan Hatt, “The Sea Captain”
7 – Queensland, Porter Brigley, “I Dyed My Petticoat Red”
8 – River John, Greta Heighton, “The Sea Captain”
9 – Sambro, William Gilkie, “Madam You Came Courting”
10 – Seabright, Eddie Deal, “The Eight Famous Fishermen”
10 – Seabright, Otis Hubley, “Let Go Your Bowline”
11 – Woodside, Elizabeth Duncan, “The Twa Brothers”
12 – Yarmouth, Mrs. Chas Kelley, “Sailor Boy”
13 – Dartmouth, Evergreen House, home of Helen Creighton
PEOPLE AND PLACES
For more information on the people and places behind the Helen Creighton Collection and the songs on “Mackerel Skies” please click here
