Silk Sails (10 page)

Though the
Conception Bay Plantation Book
was compiled in 1805, most of the transactions have to do with the 1700s so it seems more fitting to consider it and the other plantation books under the eighteenth century rather than the nineteenth. See Appendix B for more details on these plantations or rooms.

There are about 147 women named as owners of about 156 plantations or referred to in bequests to their children or grandchildren
or other relatives in the
Conception Bay Plantation Book
. Depending on how you figure it, about 13% of the owners were women, or about 15% of the plantations were either owned by women or bequeathed by them to existing owners. As a measure of involvement in the economic activity of the colony, the large percentage of plantations owned by women is quite remarkable.

Women came into possession of these plantations by various means: by purchase, by inheritance, by deed of gift, by exchange, with permission of the governor, by claim of its lying void, by cutting it out of the woods with permission of the king, and so on. Most of the purchases were by amounts that ranged between 20 pounds and 40 pounds sterling, a few were bought for about 90 pounds, and there were at least three that were bought for amounts ranging between 120 and 150 pounds.

Inheritance was a common way to acquire property, as would be expected. Women inherited from husbands, mothers, fathers, grandmothers, grandfathers, fathers-in-law, brothers-in-law, uncles, and even mothers-in-law. Apart from legal inheritance, property was also acquired by deed of gift from family members. It is not surprising that, because of inheritance through the patriarchal line, 16 cases were found in which men received property from their fathers-in-law or their wives' uncles.

Two very enterprising women acquired land by exchange. While some pieces of property occasionally sold for very small amounts (e.g. 2 pounds or 5 pounds), one woman acquired property in 1774 in exchange for a pair of shoes, and another purchased property in Carbonear in 1787 for a whipsaw worth 45 shillings, a very astute deal indeed! Two women acquired their plantations by permission of the governor, and a large number of women acquired property that they had “cut and cleared agreeable to the Act of William III chap. 25 Sec. 7.” Four women claimed property “in consequence of it lying void.”

There were also several cases of joint ownership, usually husband and wife, e.g., John and Sarah Wells of Lower Island Cove;
Edward and Mary Merrigan of Collier's Dock; and Mary and William Balding of Harbour Grace. Mary's name appears first in this entry. However, there were other instances of joint ownership: John, James, Richard and Thomas English owned property together with the widow of William English at Devil's Cove; Mary Wheaton, James Cole, John Cole, Mary Cullin and Mary Cole in Colliers; William Mugford and two sisters (unnamed) at Port de Grave; Ann, Catherine and William Narrowcot at Colliers; Edward (or Edwina?) Nugent, Charity Noseworthy and Patience Dwyer at Port de Grave; William Antle and Widow Antle at Brigus; William, Jno., Peter and Ann (Toque) Howell at Carbonear (Ann Toque appears later as a shipowner); and the descendants of Joseph Martin and Widow Mary Martin at Harbour Grace. There were two cases in which women held a plantation in joint ownership: Catherine Bryan and Mary Lee of Colliers in 1793, and Mary and Ann Moore of Harbour Grace in 1805. In both cases they were leasing the property to others. In another instance Ann Wells was occupying property at Carbonear in 1786 which was owned jointly by her and G. & S. Kemp & Co.

There is a most interesting case at Port de Grave in which a husband and wife team held two distinct properties. Both properties had been in possession of the Anthony family for 105 years, i.e., since 1700. Matthew Anthony bequeathed one piece of property to his daughter Ann Coveduck and the other piece to his son-in-law John Coveduck, Ann's husband. Matthew's obvious intention was that his daughter and her husband would operate the two plantations in concert.

At Port de Grave, George Dawe, Sr., came into possession of a plantation through his mother's will in 1755, and the record notes that the plantation was “possessed by his ancestors for 160 years,” i.e., since 1645 (taking 1805 as the date from which it should be calculated backwards, though earlier dates are given in other entries from which it may have been backdated). Several other properties are noted to have been in possession of certain families for terms that range from 30 to 150 years.

There are a few instances in which women had formalized the title of the family business, undoubtedly for the purpose of dealing with the merchant or supplier, e.g., Widow King & Sons of Brigus occupied a plantation which had been in their possession since 1784; Mary Dalton & Sons owned property at Broad Cove which she was renting to Morgan Hingay in 1777 for 10 shillings per annum (Mary also owned shoreline property at Western Bay in 1784 which consisted of one stage, one flake, three houses, two gardens and one meadow); Widow French owned “French's Plantation” at Harbour Grace; and the firm of Ruth Collins & Sons is mentioned in the court records of Placentia in 1802 and 1806 when Patrick and Dennis Murphy are ordered by the court to leave 12 feet of space between their new stage and the existing stage of Ruth Collins & Sons. Sean Cadigan, in his thesis, also mentions Elizabeth Webber & Sons at Harbour Grace, probably in the 1760s.

In his carefully researched book
The Settling of Spaniard's Bay
, Eric Martin Gosse makes a very strong argument for regarding the families listed in the 1805
Plantation Book
as “founding families” of the area. He proves his point for Spaniard's Bay, and we can extrapolate his argument to cover Conception Bay in general. Many of the women listed in the
Conception Bay Plantation Book
operated pioneer fishing plantations and were significantly involved in the early economy of the colony. A great deal of weight must be given to Eric Gosse's arguments because of the perspective from which he speaks. After graduating from college, he was employed with the family firm of G. & M. Gosse and was manager of the firm both at Spaniard's Bay and Emily Harbour, Labrador. In 1937 he was employed with the Newfoundland Fisheries Board. After serving in World War II, he became a trade representative of the Fisheries Board, and later, the Canadian government, in the West Indies. In 1956 he was appointed Deputy Minister of Fisheries for Newfoundland and retained this position until he retired in 1973. I interviewed him at his home in Spaniard's Bay in 1994, and we corresponded for about two years after that date.

The
Register of Fishing Rooms in Bonavista Bay 1805-1806
reflects a similar picture to that of the
Conception Bay Plantation Book
but
the numbers are much smaller. On Pond Island, at the eastern end of the harbour of Greenspond, was Mary Hutchin's room, which she had gained by inheritance and which had been built up originally by her family. Hannah Pladwell owned Pladwell's room at Bayley's Cove, Bonavista, by inheritance from her husband, and was renting it to William Pladwell. Sarah Abbott owned Stephen Abbott's room at Bayley's Cove and was renting it. Brown's room at Bonavista was owned by Jos. Brown & Co. and the brothers and sisters, and John Ward was leasing it. The Browns also owned a second plantation in the town by right of inheritance.

The situation is similar in the
Register of Fishing Rooms, Twillingate and Places Adjacent, 1806
. Benjamin Brooks' room at Back Harbour, Twillingate, was acquired by marriage with the Widow Ridout. Joseph Thomas came into possession of his room by marrying the Widow Ware. William Banks married the Widow Bide and thus acquired a room at Twillingate. Widow Smith at Riverhead, Twillingate, had inherited her room from her late husband, and then married John Vincent so the room was listed in his name in 1806. Mrs. Parsons' room at Jenkins Cove, Twillingate, was occupied by Widow Parsons and she, apparently, was carrying on a fishing venture.

There are also references to “Independent” women in the John Slade & Co. ledgers covering the period 1783 to 1792. In an unpublished article in 2001, Don Bennett described “Independent” as “independent schooner men, often with Slade financing.” At least two women are so characterized in the Slade ledgers. Susannah Thomes, widow of Jacob, who was a servant of Slade from 1783 to 1789, is listed as “Independent” from 1789 to 1792. John Symes & Co. was an associate of Slade from 1783 to 1788, “has a separate English account, used to bolster the Newfoundland venture”; John apparently died in 1788, and Mary, his widow, “took over management until liquidation” in 1789. In 1789, William Towler appears as a representative for Mary Symes, obviously her attorney. Hanna Davis was a boarding house keeper, probably in Fogo, from 1787 to 1791. Dorothy Burton did “doctoring” in her home from 1782 to 1786, until Dr. Stotesbury
arrived. And Mrs. John Primer, wife of a planter, picked 84 gallons of berries for Slade in 1791 and 127 gallons in 1792. That would be in addition to other duties at their fishing room. From such planters Slade collected furs, salmon, seals, codfish and berries to trade at Poole, Waterford, Ireland, and in Spain, Portugal and Italy.

It is not until the beginning of the nineteenth century that we can discover the specifics about women owning ships or shares in ships. It was very late in the eighteenth century or early in the nineteenth century before registrars of shipping were appointed in what are now the Atlantic provinces of Canada and Quebec. Before this, ships were registered in European ports. Before we look at the ship registers in the New World, there are a few references early in the nineteenth century that are worthy of our attention.

First, there is the remarkable story of Mrs. Anne Huelen (or Hulan), a farmer/trader/shipowner in the Codroy Valley of Newfoundland's west coast. It is hard to know where to place Mrs. Huelen because she seems to have lived from about 1740 to 1840. She had two distinguished visitors, in 1822 and 1835, and it is from them that we have information about her. She remembered Capt. James Cook who was doing survey work for Britain on the Newfoundland coasts from 1763 to 1767. William Epps Cormack visited her as he completed his walk across Newfoundland in 1822, the first white man to do so. Cormack comments: “…the farm of my hostess Mrs. Hulan at the second Barachois River…her stock consists of 6 milch cows, beside other cattle. The dairy could not be surpassed for neatness and cleanliness, and the butter and cheese were excellent. Butter…was sold, part to residents of other places in the Bay and part to trading vessels coming to the coast in summer. The cellar was full of potatoes and other vegetables for winter use. She was also an experimental farmer, and exhibited eight different kinds of potatoes, all possessing different qualities to recommend them…Of domestic poultry there
was an ample stock. Mrs. Hulan, although not a native, had lived in St. George's Bay upwards of 60 years…She is indefatigably industrious and useful, and immediately or remotely to, or connected with, the whole population of the bay, over whom she commands a remarkable degree of material influence and respect.”

Mrs. Huelen's second distinguished visitor was Archdeacon Edward Wix, a Church of England missionary from Great Britain, who was making a visit by boat to communities of the southwest and west coast of the island. On June 6, 1835, he records in his diary that Mrs. Huelen (how he spells her name) was “a cheerful old lady,” “the mother of the settlement” and “a native” of the country. He then records an amazing experience that Mrs. Huelen had in 1814. She was then a widow and she and her daughter and the crew were taking her schooner with a load of cured salmon to St. John's and for the “arrangement of her affairs,” when the ship was captured by an American privateer and taken to New York. Her cargo was confiscated and sold there under a writ of “Venditioni expanos,” and her “pass papers” were signed by none other than James Monroe, Secretary to the President of the United States, who would three years later become president. A number of benevolent Americans in New York came to her aid, especially Sophia and Elihu Doty, and helped her provision her ship for the return trip to Newfoundland. On the way back she stopped at St. John's to put her business affairs in order. Out of gratitude she later arranged to have two of her grandchildren named after Mr. and Mrs. Doty. Don Morris, writing about Mrs. Huelen many years later remarked: “The lady had no renown in the U.S., but on the west coast of this island she was hailed as a super active, successful trader, a sparkplug of a woman who got things done.”

Widows who were apparently carrying on a business are identified in the manuscript
Number of Inhabitants in the Harbours of Brigus, Cupids, Bareneed, Port de Grave for 1817
. The fact that these widows had male servants, female servants, were supplied by merchants, and are designated as being “well off” or “very well off” may be taken as proof that they were in business. These are: Mrs. Noreman and Mrs. Best of Brigus; Mrs. Hussey, Mrs. Furneaux,
Mrs. Grenley and Mrs. Kenedy of Bareneed/Port de Grave. There are ten widows listed for these latter two places and Cupids who are designated as “distressed.” An unpublished manuscript entitled
Fishermen of Fogo, Twillingate and Change Islands
, compiled by Angus and Verna Elliott from “various sources,” purports to list several women who were involved in early fishing ventures. The version I saw had a listing only for the A's and B's and included the following names: Dinah Adams, Joe Batt's Arm, 1821; Ann Brown, Joe Batt's Arm, 1821; Maria Burges, Twillingate, 1821; Mary Ann Braseel, Fogo, 1823 (Mi'kmaq); Mary (Kilkenny) Aylward, Ragged Harbour, married, 1829; Mary Brennan, Joe Batt's Arm, 1831; Rachel Brown, Herring Neck, 1857; Mary Boone, Twillingate, 1870; Julia Ann Banks, Back Cove, Fogo, 1879; Elizabeth Barnes, Fogo, born 1866, married 1882; Maria Blandford, Fogo, 1892. I cannot vouch for the authenticity of these records.

The lucrative salmon fishery on the Campbellton River had attracted the firm of Garland, Read & Co. at least by the early 1800s, and in 1823 they sold these rights to John Genge. Genge sold these to Joseph Hornett, and during the period 1861 to 1875, it was stated that “the river is now claimed and occupied by a widow of that name.” This may have been Ann Hornett or possibly Sarah Hornett who appeared in the church records for Change Islands with her husband Joseph for the baptism of their daughter Nancy in 1821. Her son William Hornett would eventually take over the salmon business on the Campbellton River.