Shirley Jacobs Story

Shirley Jacobs, was born October 14, 1934, was born in a house in Kanatakon, raised on Cornwall Island, and later returned to Kanatakon. Most of Shirley’s close relatives have passed on and she remains. The only ones left are her cousins.

Her father was Alex Roundpoint and her Mother was Annie Jocko. Shirley’s father had one brother, Frank Roundpoint, and two sisters who were Hatti Herne and Julia Roundpoint.  Her Mother Annie Jocko had five sisters and five brothers. Shirley had one brother Benny Roundpoint from Cornwall Island. “My brother had nine children and I have ten children in all. I’m happy about the way our children turned out.” Shirley’s father’s mother was Josephine Melvina Roundpoint. Her maiden name was Gereau and her family came from England. Shirley had the opportunity to travel to England as well as many other places. During her stay in England, she researched and discovered her grandmother’s family name including a picture of her and her great grandmother. Her grandfather was Mitchell Roundpoint.

Growing up… “My mother worked very hard because my father died young. We were raised with a mother who worked at many things to give us a good life.  One of her jobs was to string lacrosse sticks. My father and his brothers were the original founders of the lacrosse stick factory (MIL), which is well known world wide.  After my father’s passing, my uncle carried on the lacrosse business,” added Shirley. She picked Bitter Sweet and Pussy Willows, and she would go to sell them in Cornwall where someone made decorations from them.

“My Mom would also go to Barnhart Island where she picked Hickory nuts and apples. Many people used to row boats to get anywhere by water. In those days, the Native men were skilled at building boats, not too many motorized boats in sight. My Mom used to gather wood shavings from the lacrosse factory to get our wood stove burning to heat our home. In those days, many of the natural plants were utilized in everyday life. Wild leeks make a delicious soup, but it isn’t heard of now too much. Muskrats were trapped and used to be a favorite among many folk. Eel was chopped and made into soup and was also delicious after being smoked. My maternal grandmother used to use a steel barrel and placed the eel strips on a screen on top to be smoked. Umm…us kids couldn’t wait to eat that smoked eel. It didn’t matter to us if we had dirty faces from eating the eel with oily drippings on us,” said Shirley. “I loved the way my grandmother lived! We would walk for miles on the Island to get to their house and we didn’t mind. My grandfather was Abraham Jocko (over 100 years old upon his passing). Together, they planted big gardens and yielded so many types of vegetables. People ate so healthy in those days. On the west end, we used to see pear and plum trees and even many types of berries that are not seen anymore. There used to be a type of berry that tasted so good and its plant had thorns. The name associated with it was Tsikere mats ti:io. An elder Anna Thompson used to plant this berry on her property.”

“My young years were spent on going to school on Cornwall Island. Eventually, I began going to high school. It was much different than it is today. We had to walk to Cornwall and if I didn’t have a nickel for the bus, I’d have to continue walking right to CCVS. In attending school, we had to buy our textbooks. If you didn’t have the money, you had hard times.” 

 At age 17, Shirley dropped out of school.  This caused disappointment in her mother. She told her Mom that she would go to look for work. Off to the big city she went, Syracuse. On her first day there, she was fortunate in finding work in an industry in sewing curtains. Shirley didn’t mind it because she knew other girls from here working there. “It is such a different generation now and so many young people say “it’s boring.” That wasn’t in our vocabulary back then. We used to make our own toys, go hiking in the woods and we played games outside. When we played, we all got along, no matter who it was. We treated each other good.”

Shirley remembers her young life and being surrounded by all traditional people and remembers how good and kind they were. She remembers Paul David; he was so well liked and pleasant. He was the one who used to build caskets and a lady used to help him as she would line them. “I was so frightened when I saw the first motorcycle on Cornwall Island. I left the roadway and took off for the tall grass and hid there. I didn’t know what it was, and little did I know my cousin was watching me as I hid,” said Shirley. Shirley’s marriage was in 1956 to Freeman Jacobs in the church in St. Regis. Not too many couples get married anymore. Shirley and Freeman are blessed with ten children and nine grandchildren with two great grandchildren. Their children are Alex, Danny, Mike, Cheryl, Clarissa, Dari, Peter, Tamara, Amanda and Paul. “We have a nice family, I would say. We don’t have family meals anymore because everyone seems too busy and they go their own ways. I like how our sons followed in the footsteps of their father and his trade.” Freeman was an ironworker, a fisherman and also a hunter. Shirley mentioned that she was the last surviving person from her immediate family. She commented and asked, “Why am I living so long?”

Shirley said one of her daughters told her it was because of her “faith.” That could be very true. It could very well be possible that she still has a lot of work to complete. When she goes to Kahnawake, she helps her relatives to continue to build and preserve our Kanienkeha language. It is always a happy time for her when she is with other teachers and like minds. Shirley, please continue what you do, because you are in demand.  Niawen, for allowing me to share this time with you, in your home. I wish we had visited before this because you have helped me get going again.

Sesi