ALEX COUSTIEN
My father's name was Batiste Coustien and my mother was Nancy (Cardinal). I was born in Stettler, Alberta sixty- six years ago into a family of two girls, Julia and Annie. I have no brothers. We lived for a while near Willingdon, north of Vermilion and I went to Mary Lake School which is west of Clandonald. It is hard for me to talk English; I understand most of it but not the big words. When I was about thirteen years old my father moved his family to Frog Lake. We came by team. Dad built a house and barn about three miles southeast of Clearwater Lake in what later became the Acomb district. He made a living for his family by trapping, hunting and fishing.
After I grew up I began to work out. I worked on threshing outfits around Marwayne driving a team and rack for Oscar Tupper. I worked for my neighbors around Frog Lake and Norway Valley. It is a long time ago and I can't remember much, but I know I worked for Frank Franks and George Kinch, picking rocks, cutting and piling brush by hand and in the fall I hired out for stooking. I never got much money as wages were low.
I married Cecille Moyan, daughter of Joe and Justine Moyan of Frog Lake. We had eight children; Leonard, Francis, Ivan, Donald, Agnes, Freda, Linda and Wilford. They went to Acomb and later to Heinsburg School. I separated from Cecille and she is living in Heinsburg now. After this, Marie Anne Faithful, widow of Sam Faithful, became my wife. Her father's name was George Stanley and her mother was Marie (Merasty). We have lived together on the Frog Lake Indian Reserve for twenty-two years. I get the Old Age Pension and my wife has applied for it; she just got her baptismal certificate and it shows she was born in 1909. We live in an old house but I think we will soon be moving into a better one for old people.
