Two immigrants, one from Italy, one from Scotland, are trying to better themselves in the great ethnic mosaic of Canada. In order to find work, the menfolk must go down the mines of Alberta and B.C.; a mining job was the great leveller for immigrants.
That’s the premise of Halfmoon Bay author Jim Elliot’s new book, Belly of Blackness: Coal Dust in My Genes, a family history that reads like a novel.
Elliot’s father, also named Jim, left Scotland in 1928 and didn’t go back to visit his parents until he served in Europe in the Second World War. Elliot’s mother Ida grew up in Canada after her father Franceso moved there in 1908, returning to the old country once more to fetch his Friulan (northern Italian) bride, Angelina.
While in Canada both men were determined to get ahead so their sons would not have to live a life of constant uprooting from one mining town to another and the boys would never have to go down into the dark, dirty mines.
But the story is not just about the men — life was very hard for the women who lived in isolation in remote areas of Alberta. Just doing the family’s laundry was a major all-day operation, cooking and taking care of the children kept them in the home, and they coped without nearby medical attention, without company to break the loneliness and sometimes without much food in the pantry. The feisty Ida and the hard-working Jim coped better than most.
Elliot started his book as a family history intended for his grandchildren. But then he joined a writing group with author Rebecca Hendry, publisher Vici Johnstone and mentor/editor Betty Keller.
“They kept pushing me,” he said. “They said, ‘Stop telling us about it and show us!’”
The result is a lively, human account of the immigrant journey that should resonate with everyone whose grandparents came from other lands.
Belly of Blackness (Gran-ville Island Publishing) is available for $19.95 at Talewind Books in Sechelt and Chapters in Alberta. Because it is a valuable historical account, it will also be available at some museum bookstores.
