The Story of Jeaner and Old Elmer DeVault
Author: Connie Carson
Connie is a well-known local story-teller and professional who has a passion for the history of the City of Belleville, in particular, the downtown streets.
A Sawdust Flats Trilogy Story
The 1920s was a decade of prosperity and dissipation, and of bootleggers, raccoon coats, bathtub gin and hard working folk just trying to make a buck. Closer to home there was a small cluster of shops near West Bridge and Coleman Street called Sawdust Flats. It’s name came from the close proximity to the sawmill behind Corbin Lock where the Belleville-Quinte Court of Justice at 15 West Bridge Street is now located.
I found this intriguing little story buried in an old ‘Remember When’ Intelligencer article from 1996 and the printing is so faded that I couldn’t make out the reporters name. Here’s how it goes:
Our gal Jean was the stuff legends are made of and although her name was Jean or Jena DeVault the locals called her Jeaner. In 1929 she and and her hubby, who was known only as Old Elmer, arrived in downtown Belleville riding on two mules with all their worldly possessions in tow. They settled in above a convenience store called The Star at 16 West Bridge Street beside Livesey’s Butcher Shop, home of the wooden barrel of dill pickles and Ed Kellaway’s Fruit and Vegetable Stand. This building is now the current location of Vic’s Place and formerly CC’s Putt Around.
The late great Eugene (Jeep) Lang who is fondly known as a true ‘character’ and musical genius described Jeaner as a ‘crusty old gal who wore a big long skirt with an apron and carried all her money in her skirt pockets because she didn’t trust banks.’
Eugene would recall that she was a rather large woman and whenever she made a sale, the money would go right into her skirt pockets. Although the whole neighbourhood knew where she kept her money, no one had the nerve to take it from her—until 1941.
A young scoundrel walked into the store with a gun and said, ‘Alright! Peel off those petticoats ‘cause I know where you keep your money!’
Jeaner pulled out a bigger gun and screamed, ‘You get the hell out of here!’ The guy hightailed it out the door. and the rumour is that he went on to become a police officer. Our gun toting Jeaner may be credited with scaring him straight and locals jokingly started to refer to her skirts as ‘De Vault’.
But Jeaner herself was pretty good at escaping the long arm of the law. Sunday shopping wasn’t allowed back then, but DeVault was not going to let that little detail get in the way of her determination to keep her store open on Sunday! She would pull the blinds down, but everyone knew she was open so they would wander right into the store for their 10¢ loaf of bread and their 36¢ bag of potatoes plus anything else they needed on a Sunday.
Jeaner would get away with opening the store on Sundays by claiming to be operating a lunch counter. Eugene Lang recalled that it was a ‘half assed’ kind of thing because she would keep a couple of cheese sandwiches lying around until closing time and then her and Old Elmer would have them for supper. No one ever admitted to ordering or eating one, but the little store stayed open seven days a week for over 25 years.
Another story is told of when a well-dressed local lady stopped into DeVault’s store after church for a roll of toilet paper (as it was the only place open on Sunday) and when she quietly whispered her order, Jeaner hollered out, ‘So you want some bum wad dear?’
Jeaner had an eclectic taste in fashion, wearing a wide variety of wigs every day and with her man-style shoes and gruff gravelly voice, she was often mistaken for a man in a skirt.
When a customer needed some milk, Old Elmer had a little wagon he carted around that held 30 gallons of milk and would pull his wagon right through the front door of the store. He kept a funnel under the counter to fill up the 1/2 gallon milk bottles, Jeaner would take the 33¢, stuff it in her skirt pocket and away went the customer. The locals said Old Elmer very seldom came out of the back of the store and most customers had never laid eyes on him!
Our friend Harry Burke from Harry Burke’s Hamburgers (who we met in another story) would have lived right across the road from Jean and Old Elmer and I wonder if they ever stopped by for a burger and a visit.
Jeaner and Old Elmer were truly a unique couple according to a generation that either knew them or heard the many stories passed down from the close knit community of Sawdust Flats who, like Eugene, are well known for their mostly true stories.
