by Frank Galgay
MICHAEL J. McCARTHY (1932-2005) was born in St. Jacques, Fortune Bay, and moved to Terrenceville when he was five years old. After completing grade eleven, he attended both Memorial University and the University of Ottawa where he obtained an M. A. in Literature. He had a distinguished career in education as a teacher, principal, Superintendent of Education, and Director of Public Exams for Newfoundland and Labrador. McCarthy was a distinguished author who wrote for several magazines as well as radio and television. He wrote for the Sunday edition of the Telegram for a number of years reviewing Newfoundland and Labrador books. He also produced sixteen books relating to Newfoundland and Labrador history, culture, and folklore.
JESSIE B. MIFFLEN (1906-1994) was born in Bonavista and graduated from Memorial College (now Memorial University) and Mount Allison University in Nova Scotia. She then worked with the provincial Department of Education before joining the Women’s Division of the Royal Canadian Air Force in 1944. After receiving a Bachelor of Library Science degree from the University of Toronto, she became Regional Director for the provincial library service in 1951 charged with visiting and establishing regional libraries in various parts of the province. She was also a prolific writer who wrote a number of articles in provincial and national magazines. Mifflen was awarded honorary degrees and other awards. She published four books: The Development of Public Library Services in Newfoundland 1934-1972; Be You a Library Missionary, Miss?; Journey to Yesterday in the Out-harbours of Newfoundland; and A Collection of Memories.
FATHER MICHAEL MORRIS (1852-1889) was born in St. John’s and educated at St. Bonaventure’s College and All Hallows Seminary, Ireland. After his ordination in 1873 he was appointed priest at Oderin, Placentia Bay. His next assignment was at Topsail, where he founded the Orphanage of St. Thomas of Villa Nova at Manuels. Morris passed away in 1889, a victim of typhoid fever. The orphanage was closed a few years later. A monument to his memory was erected in Bannerman Park in recognition of his contribution to the less fortunate youth of the Colony. He was the brother of Prime Minister of Newfoundland Sir Edward P. Morris and prominent lawyer, politician, and judge Francis J. Morris.
ALEX A. PARSONS (1948-1932) was Editor of the Evening Telegram (1882-1904) and Superintendent of H. M. Penitentiary (1905-1925). A brief noted in the Bay Roberts Guardian, one of the magazines he wrote for was the Newfoundland Quarterly edition of 1915 with an article entitled “Our Great Sealing Industry.” Friday, April 1, 1932, noted: “Mr. Alex A Parsons, ex-editor of the Evening Telegram and ex-superintendent of H. M. Penitentiary passed away this morning at the General Hospital in St. John’s. He was a native of Harbour Grace, aged 84 years.”
HELEN FOGWILL PORTER was born in St. John’s in 1930 and after her education worked as a shorthand typist with the Provincial Department of Justice. Porter began to write in the 1960s and by 1973 her short stories, plays, and reviews were published throughout Canada and abroad. Several of her works received awards in the Newfoundland and Labrador Arts and Letters Competitions. She has a number of books to her credit. In 1977 she collaborated with Bernice Morgan and Geraldine Rubia on From this Place, an anthology from women writers of Newfoundland and Labrador. Below the Bridge, a memoir of Porter’s childhood days on the Southside, was published in 1980. She won the Young Adult Canadian Book Award from the Canadian Library Association in 1989 for her first novel january, february, june or july. She published A Long and Lonely Ride, a collection of short stories, in 1991. Porter taught creative writing with Memorial University from 1976 to 1990 and also with the Division of Continuing Studies from 1991 and was a member of the Newfoundland Writers’ Guild throughout her career. She was a founding member of the Newfoundland Status of Women and has been actively involved in the New Democratic Party.
CARRIE POWER (1908-1999) was born in St. Joseph’s, Placentia Bay, and moved to Marystown when she was six weeks old. She graduated from the All-Grade School, Marystown South, and then attended St. Bride’s College, Littledale, St. John’s. Power spent thirty-eight years as a teacher and was actively involved in community affairs. She was one of the first two women to be elected to the Marystown Town Council on November 16, 1965. Later in life she wrote a book, A Testament to Faith, which depicted the history of Sacred Heart Parish, Marystown, from 1909 to 1984.
HESKETH PRICHARD (1876-1922) was born in Jhanse, India, and died at Gorhambury, Hertfordshire, United Kingdom. A British national, he was known as a hunter, explorer, writer, and soldier. His father, Hesketh Brodrick Prichard, an officer in the King’s Own Scottish Borderers, passed away six weeks before he was born. He and his mother returned to Great Britain, where the young Prichard won a scholarship to Fettes College, Edinburg, and later privately studied law in Horsham, West Sussex, where he passed the initial exam. However, he never practised. Prichard wrote numerous articles for a number of magazines. He first visited Canada in 1903 and travelled up the coasts of Newfoundland and Labrador. President Theodore Roosevelt, a writer, explorer, and hunter, wrote Prichard and congratulated him for publishing a book and expressed a desire to meet him. Among the books Prichard wrote was Through Trackless Labrador in 1911.
A native Newfoundlander, JIM ROCKWOOD had the advantage of growing up both in the city (in the winters) and in the outports (in the summer). Jim attended St. Thomas’ School, Model School, and Bishops College before attending Memorial University. His working career started with several years in banking (CIBC, 205 Water St., St. John’s), after which he went to work with CJON as a news reporter and then on to the St. John’s Evening Telegram, before joining Canada Mortgage and Housing Corporation, first as Information Officer for the Newfoundland region and subsequently moving to more senior positions in program planning, delivery, and administration in the CMHC offices in Newfoundland, New Brunswick, and Nova Scotia. Even when no longer involved in the media, Jim maintained his keen interest in the “news” and did some occasional writing. While at the Telegram his prime area of responsibility was municipal government as well as a special interest in aviation. It was while at the Telegram Jim wrote this article about Christmas in the outports. Jim is married to the former Donna Oldford of Burnside and they have three sons. In retirement Donna and Jim reside in Burnside.
HANS J. ROLLMANN, born in Adenau, Germany, was educated in Germany, U. S. A., and Canada. He received a Ph. D. in Religious Studies from McMaster University, Hamilton, Ontario, and has been teaching since 1981 in the Department of Religious Studies at Memorial University of Newfoundland. He is also an Adjunct Professor at Queen’s College, St. John’s, and has published widely in intellectual and religious history and the religious history of Newfoundland and Labrador, notably the Moravians in Labrador. In 2002 he was seconded by the provincial government as an adviser for the Moravian component of the Labrador heritage celebrations. Most recently he edited a symposium volume titled Moravian Beginnings in Labrador (St. John’s: Faculty of Arts Publications, 2009).
CANON WALTER SMITH was the son of Canon Benjamin Smith and served for four months in Trinity in 1882. He was ordained a deacon on May 26, 1869, and a priest of the Church of England on June 13, 1871. He was later made a Canon. His father, Canon Benjamin Smith, was born at Knottingley, Yorkshire, England, on June 20, 1814, and was the Minister from 1853-1875 in Trinity. He was made Rural Dean of Trinity on November 28, 1853. The story “Reminiscenses of 1854” reflects the memories of Canon Walter Smith as a child when his father served in Trinity.
JAMES R. THOMS (1928-2000) was born in St. Anthony and educated in Garnish and Port aux Basques before moving on to study at Memorial University of Newfoundland. After a brief teaching career, he spent fifteen years with CJON radio and television. He worked for a time with Newfoundland Light and Power as a communications officer and from 1968-1971 was an information officer with the provincial government. In 1971 Thoms and Bill Callahan took over the Daily News, where he became an Editor-in-Chief until it terminated in 1984. He then returned to CJON (NTV) covering the legislature. He was also a prolific writer and ed
itor. Thoms was an editor of volumes three to six of the Book of Newfoundland. He compiled Who’s Who in 1967 and 1975 and was a contributing editor of the third edition of D. W. Prowse’s History of Newfoundland (1972). His other publications include: Just Call Me Joey; God is our Guide; Born to Serve: The Story of Nonia; and 100 Years of Masonic History.
DR. OTTO TUCKER was born in Winterton in 1923 and educated there. He also attended the Salvation Army College, St. John’s; Salvation Army Training College for Officers, St. John’s; Memorial University of Newfoundland: University of Alberta: and the University of Toronto. He served as a Salvation Army officer, teacher, and school principal in a number of Newfoundland communities. His educational career led him to the Northwest Territories, the University of Toronto, and Acadia University. He taught in the Faculty of Education at Memorial University from 1971-1988. Tucker was a very popular lecturer and after-dinner speaker and was known for his humorous commentaries on Newfoundland life. He has a number of humorous articles and two books to his credit: From the Heart of a Bayman; and A Collection of Stories. He portrayed Grandpa Walcott in the CBC series Yarns from Pigeon Inlet and was featured with the late Aly O’Brien in the national CBC program Land of Fish on Newfoundland’s origins in Dorset and Ireland. He was also founding president of the Wessex Society of Newfoundland, an association promoting awareness of Newfoundland’s ties with the West Country of England. He has also received a number of awards.
REVEREND ARTHUR C. WAGHORNE (1851-1900) was a Church of England missionary and naturalist born in London, England. He came to Newfoundland in 1875. After being ordained a Deacon, he became a missionary for the Society for the Propagation of the Gospel and served in a number of parishes. He was ordained a Church of England priest in 1878 by Bishop Llewellyn Jones and assigned to New Harbour until 1893. Waghorne was an amateur botanist and collected a significant number of specimens of plant life in Newfoundland. He was a prolific writer who contributed to numerous magazines and newspapers on flora from various parts of Newfoundland and southern Labrador. He was also interested in Newfoundland Christmas traditions and folklore, having published three articles in the Journal of American Folklore, along with contributing to the Evening Herald. He died in Jamaica, where he resided for health reasons, on April 11, 1900.
STELLA MEANEY WHELAN (1910-1998) was born in St. John’s and educated at Presentation Convent School, graduating in 1927. She then enrolled at Memorial University College and completed a two-year diploma program in 1930. After graduating from Memorial University College, she began a career in the Newfoundland civil service as a stenographer in the Pensions Division of the Department of Health and Welfare. However, in 1946 she took a position as a stenographer with the National Convention and was part of the support staff who accompanied the Newfoundland delegates to Ottawa in the fall of 1948 to negotiate Terms of Union between Newfoundland and Canada after the people decided to accept the Confederation of Canada option. She worked as a secretary in the Department of Provincial Affairs after Confederation and later became secretary at Government House until her retirement in 1970. Whelan wrote throughout her life and her poetry and prose appeared in the Summer-Autumn edition of Newfoundland Stories and Ballads (Vol. 8: 1). Her writings are found in the Roman Catholic newspapers the Monitor and the Catholic Register. They are also found in the Evening Telegram during the 1970s and 1980s. Whelan received awards for her poetry submitted in the Newfoundland government’s Arts and Letters Competition for “The Christmas Tree, ” “After the Funeral, ” and honorable mention in 1977 for “Rituals” and “A Community of Firs” in 1987.
Sources
“The New Schoolmaster of Punch Bowl: A Newfoundland Christmas Tale” by Rev. Moses Harvery, reprinted from Maritime Monthly 1, no. 2 (February 1873): 159–65. (Source: Library and Archives Canada/The Maritime Monthly/AMICUS 1092729/February, 1873, Vol. 1, No. 2, pages 159–165.)
“Reminiscenses of 1854” by Canon Smith, R. D., reprinted from Christmas Bells, 1906.
“Christmas 70 Years Ago! How the Festive Season Was Spent in the Outports in the ’70’s” by P. K. Devine, reprinted from Trinity Enterprise Christmas Number, December 1941.
“Memories of Christmas Concerts in a Newfoundland Outport” by James R. Thoms, reprinted with permission of the Monitor, from Christmas supplement, The Monitor 49, no. 12 (December 1981): 35–39.
“A Child’s Christmas in the Long Ago” by Mike McCarthy, reprinted with permission of the Monitor, Christmas supplement, The Monitor 49, no. 12 (December 1981): 13.
“Memories of Christmas Past” by Jessie B. Mifflen, reprinted with permission of the author’s family, Newfoundland Quarterly 67, no. 1 (Christmas 1968): 27–28.
“Christmas Celebrations Changing in the Outports” by Jim Rockwood, reprinted with permission of TC-Media, Evening Telegram, December 22, 1975.
“Quaint Christmas Customs” by P. K. Devine, reprinted from Christmas Bells, December 1901.
“Christmas Reminiscences” by Rev. Charles Lench, reprinted from Newfoundland Quarterly 5, no. 3 (December 1905): 13.
“Remembering Christmases of Yesteryear in Marystown” by Carrie Power, reprinted with permission of the Monitor, Christmas supplement, The Monitor 49, no. 12 (December 1981) 19, 21.
“Christmas Memories of the Days of the Gas Light” by P. K. Devine, reprinted from Public Bureau Christmas Number, December 1933, 41–44.
“Dear Mr. Santa” by P. J. Kinsella, reprinted from Yuletide Bells, December 1923.
“Memories of Christmas Past” by Stella Whelan, reprinted with permission of the Monitor, Christmas supplement, The Monitor 49, no. 12 (December 1981): 29, 31.
“A Bouquet of Christmas Memories” by Helen Fogwill Porter, reprinted with permission of the author, Newfoundland Quarterly 63, no. 4 (Winter 1964): 26–29.
“Looking Back at Christmas 50 Years Ago” by Kevin Jardine, reprinted with permission of TC-Media, Evening Telegram, December 22, 1975.
“My First Xmas Dinner in Terra Nova, ” reprinted from Parsons’ Xmas Annual (December 1900): 6.
“An Exile’s Memories of Home” by John M. Byrnes, reprinted from Trade Review, December 1893.
“The Magic and Memories of Christmas” by Otto Tucker, reprinted with permission of the author, Newfoundland Quarterly 86, no. 2 (December 1990): 17–19.
“How Mary O’Connor Saved the Town: A Tradition of Old St. John’s” by W. J. Carroll, reprinted from Christmas Bells, December 1906.
“Rambling Thoughts About Christmas in Newfoundland Years Ago” by William Whittle, reprinted from Evening Telegram, Christmas Number, 1885.
“Lash’s Annual Cake Raffles in the Old December Days” by James J. Galway, reprinted from Public Bureau Christmas Number, December 1933, 23–41.
“A Look Back at Christmas ’48” by Pat Doyle, reprinted with permission of TC-Media, Evening Telegram, December 23, 1973.
“The Christmas Sausages” by Jim Furlong, reprinted with permission of the author, Newfoundland Herald (December 2004).
“The Ghosts of Christmas Past: An Essay on Christmas” by Jim Furlong, reprinted with permission of the author, Newfoundland Herald (December 2008).
“Christmas in the Far North” by L. A. W., reprinted from Evening Telegram, Christmas Number, 1887.
“Christmas in Labrador” by W. T. Grenfell, reprinted from The Quiver 48, no. 2 (December 1912): 201–4.
“How Santa Claus Came to Cape St. Anthony” by Wilfred T. Grenfell, reprinted from Putnam’s Monthly 1 (December 1906): 331–6.
“The First Christmas” by Hans Rollmann, originally published as “Finding Warmth in a Cold Christmas, ” reprinted with permission of the author, Telegram, December 24, 1999.
“Christmas at Zoar, Labrador” by Hans Rollmann, originally published as “First Christmas at Zoar, ” reprinted with permission of the author, Telegram, December 16, 2001.
“Christmas in Labrador” by one of the teachers at Makkovik School, reprinted from Moravian Missions 32, no. 12 (December 1934):
1, 90.
“A Christmas in Labrador” by Hesketh Prichard, reprinted from Moravian Missions 4, no. 1 (January 1906): 9–10.
“Around the Christmas Fireside” by Nadie, reprinted from Christmas Bells, Christmas 1910.
“Wreck of the ‘Sea Nymph’: A Thrilling Christmas Tale” by Alex A. Parsons, reprinted from Christmas Bells, Christmas 1909.
