by Calvin Evans
The Eighteenth Century
From court records and other sources it can be demonstrated that women continued to hold shoreline property (plantations or “rooms”) and pursue an inshore fishery with small boats and hired servants.
In 1701 Thomas and Margaret Lamb were planters in Little Placentia and Great Placentia. In that same year Margaret had brought an action against Simon Honeyburn, agent for Messrs. Joseph and Moses Neave, merchants of Poole, Dorset, and she posted a bond of 40 pounds sterling. Honeyburn was ordered to keep the peace for one year and appear in the next Sessions Court to answer the complaint. (Since this was given as a note in the 1757 court records it is not known how the matter was settled.) In 1757 Margaret, who was now residing in “the City of Waterford in the Kingdom of Ireland,” bequeathed her property through the court to James and Thomas Lamb, children of William and Mary Lamb of Great Placentia. The bequest reads in part: “I do give and grant…the plantation with all the appurtenances thereunto belonging situate and lying and being in the southward part of Great Placentia aforesaid in as large ample and beneficial a manner as the same was conveyed to me by virtue of a Bill of Sale from Mrs. Jane Grossard of Great Placentia…” This is a clear case of property transfer by bill of sale between one woman and another. It may also be inferred from this document that Margaret and her husband operated separate plantations in the two communities. Ann Lake of Placentia, in the late 1700s, petitioned the court after she was beaten by six of her male servants. Her husband George was a planter in nearby Paradise. The court found in favour of Ann Lake and assessed fines to four of the six. Thomas and Catherine (Boudet) Ouldin sold their property in Great Placentia for 30 pounds sterling to Richard Welsh, merchant. The record clearly states that the property belonged to both Thomas and Catherine. Ann Redmond of Placentia took John Kavanaugh to court in 1753 because she had loaned him a boat and it was in damaged condition when it was returned to her; Kavanaugh was ordered to repair the boat. In 1786 Thomas Roach, planter, purchased a plantation from Mrs. Hogan who was the widow of William Hogan, planter at Placentia.
The situation is similar in the court records for Ferryland. There is a most intriguing case in 1758 in which William Ludevig and William Keane, Esq., request the court to divide the property of Mrs. Mary Ludevig, deceased, between her daughter and her son. A party, appointed by the court, met on the premises and made an equal division of the property; the party consisted of John Benger (undoubtedly a son of James Benger whom Mary Kirke had married), Robert Carter, John Walley, J. Carter and Peter Weston. The son is William Ludevig; the daughter must have been a single woman and bears the same name as her mother, Mary Ludevig. The division of property was made in such a way that each of them could carry on an independent fishery, apart from sharing certain facilities. Mary is given the north shore and the bread cott; William is given the south shore by itself. The wharf and the wharf shore are to be jointly used by sister and brother. Mary is then given Mr. Bowles’ house and the hen house, workroom and the house where Doctor Ball lived formerly and the meadow and garden belonging to this house. William is given Doctor Moor’s house with its gardens, woodhouse, the meadow, Collins’ house and garden. Mary is then given the north stage and the vacant spot to build another. William is given the south stage and the leaney (linney) stage. Mary is then given the lower room, and Fanny’s cookroom. William is given the upper room, Wm. Dyer’s cookroom, with the upper park. The flake room, the beach, and the breakas (ers?) are to be divided equally between sister and brother. This division of property occurred in 1754 but was not entered into the court records until 1758. There is a reference in the court records of 1773 to “Mr. Ludwick’s Plantation,” so it is obvious that the family was still there. In his will Peter Weston refers to William Ludevig as his nephew. It is interesting that such an equal division of property is made between son and daughter by five males. It clearly demonstrates the prevailing British practice.
In that same year, 1758, Joseph Seal gave Honea Hunt, whose husband was William Hunt, a house and piece of land in Ferryland Harbour, and the court states that “all…are to give Honea Hunt quiet and peaceable possession of the same.” No mention is made of the reason, or the possible relation between Seal and Hunt, or joint ownership with the husband. Mary Shea in 1773 applied for the use of two small plots of land adjacent to her house on the north-west side of Ferryland, land which had been in her possession for a number of years, and she is instructed to use the land “so long as you shall employ it to the advantage of the Fishery,” and if the governor agrees.
Catherine Clements, widow, was at the centre of a case in 1785 in a dispute over waterfront property. Mrs. Clements was the owner of two boats and a skiff (a small, light fishing boat); she had formerly owned four boats. She probably now had 15 to 20 servants, several of whom testified on her behalf in court. James Rouse had built flakes on disputed ground which Mrs. Clements had used for several years but which she did not claim. Nevertheless she and three of her men pulled down the flakes because Rouse and his men had prevented her from washing her fish in the landwash. She also claimed to have an order to do so from the Fishing Admiral at Renews. The plantation which Mrs. Clements owned had been known 23 years earlier as the Potsbury Plantation, and it had been owned after that by John and David Miland who sold it to the Clementses. Justice Carter confirmed this sale, stating that the property had once belonged to his father. Unfortunately the court record ends in mid-sentence with the words: “…but as the said Clements had dried her fish there before they had given it her, she being last in possession…” which seems to imply that a decision was made in favour of the feisty Mrs. Clements.
A few women at Bay Bulls are known to have owned plantations in the latter part of the eighteenth century. One of these was Betty Pottery of Sidmouth, England. She owned a fishing room in Bay Bulls by at least 1768, but it is not known for how long. Marjorie Clark also owned property and a number of houses in the town.
Farther north along the east coast of Newfoundland the situation was similar. At Bricus (now Brigus) in the 1780s, Edmond Dunfey lodged a complaint in court against James Connoly because he entered without permission on land which had been in possession of his wife, Austis Dunfey, for at least 14 or 15 years, and cutting the grass and carrying off the hay. Connoly was ordered to restore the hay and pay five shillings. Note that it is the wife, not the husband, who owns the separate property.
There are some interesting cases described in Warwick Smith’s manuscript on Trinity, covering the 1700s. Though the total amount of her indebtedness is not revealed, Mrs. Mary Waterman was ordered to pay her creditors annual amounts as follows until her debts were discharged: to Thomas Webb and Isaac Lester, 15 pounds sterling each; to Messrs. Masters and Balard, 2 pounds; and to Joseph White, 1 pound. As long as she kept up her payments, “she was not to be subject to distraint and could go on with the fishery.” After her death an inventory of her effects shows “casting nets, caplin seine, cod seine (and) lance seine.” Her boats must by now have been disposed of, or were considered too large to be covered under the term “effects.” In 1723 the widow of William Harvey had conveyed to her son-in-law, Philip Sweate, by Deed of Gift and for consideration of 40 pounds sterling, property which had come into possession of her husband in 1699. In another case, William Jones was accused of cutting grass on the property of Mrs. Mary Sweet, widow, at Ant Cove. Wm. Jolliffe, through his will of 1759, left a plantation at Trinity Harbour to his daughter-in-law, Ann Jolliffe, and other plantations at Bay de Verde and Fogo to his sons James and Peter.
References in various manuscript collections confirm women’s involvement in ownership and disposition of property throughout the eighteenth century. In a bill of sale dated 1711 at Old Perlican, Mary Carter, widow and “relict” of John Carter, a deceased planter from the Towne and Country of Poole, with her eldest son Roger Carter and John Carter, the younger, disposed of their plantation on the north side of the harbour for 20 pounds sterling by transferring ownership t
o John Barrett. When Anthony Varder retired to England in 1714, he left a plantation at Bay Roberts to his daughter, Ann Rock, and a second plantation at Port de Grave to another daughter, Elizabeth Brady, whose husband was Jacob. In 1737 John Pelley, a planter at Fogo and a native of Winkton, Parish of Christchurch, Twineham, in the County of Southhampton, made his will and left his estate to his wife Mary and his two young children, Mary and James, including the profits from both boats and from a sawing and boatbuilding voyage which had just been sent abroad. He also left his holdings at Winkton to his wife Mary; in the event of her remarriage these holding would go to his daughter Mary, with 20 pounds sterling to his son James.
Catherine Thistle of Harbour Grace requested and got action from the governor against Jersey men who were encroaching on her plantation in 1757. Elizabeth Abbot of Bonavista complained of being defrauded of a plantation that had been her grandfather’s. It had been claimed by Jonas Newell, who stated that he was the closest male relative and therefore had that right. The governor decided against Jonas Newell and in favour of Elizabeth Abbott. William Winsor of Fogo in 1784 to 1786 must have been bankrolled by a Mrs. Jeans of Poole since there is a note in the manuscript record that he made a payment to her in connection with shipping a cargo from Newfoundland. Nicholas Ellis of Woodbury, Devon, and his wife Anne (nee Smith, daughter of William Smith) became owners of property in St. John’s in 1777 through the will of Anne’s grandfather, Christopher Archer. The will states that Anne is his eldest granddaughter. The property is described as follows: “All those Messuages Tenements or Dwellinghouses Rooms Stages Flakes Lands Plantations and Hereditaments with their and every of their Appurtenances…lying and being in the Harbour of St. John’s…” It is not known whether Anne or Nicholas ever visited or occupied this extensive property, but it is known that John Stripling, Esq., was their tenant in 1777. Sarah Richards, widow of Bristol, through her will of 1772, left property in Newfoundland to a number of her sons and daughters. Likewise, Joseph Bower, Jr., of Bristol, in 1793 left his plantations at Harbour Grace to his daughter, Susanna (Heighington) Roberts. Susanna’s name appears in the Conception Bay Plantation Book as purchasing property on the north side of Musketta.
Gordon Handcock identifies an early woman shipowner in the person of Mary Luckem, a widow of St. Nicholas, England. She owned shares during the 1780s in the brig Aurora, along with Thomas Row, merchant, and Capt. William Fox, mariner of Shaldon. The Fox family had a connection with Newfoundland through Capt. Fox’s father, who for some years had been a byeboatkeeper in the cod fishery.
Women also rented property for their own use and leased their own property for others to use. Two enterprising women of St. John’s, Patience Pynn and Elizabeth Pippy, owned plantations in Musketta and leased them in 1765 and 1796. These and others like them were the early business managers. Several women owned more than one piece of property and leasing seems to have been their preferred option. Annual rents ranged from 13 shillings to 13 pounds sterling, and the periods of the leases lasted from one to fourteen years. Richard Burt and his wife Saranna had leased a plantation for their fishery at Old Perlican in 1717. They were originally from Winkton. They later bought this plantation and it was sold by them in 1728 to John Durrell for 70 pounds sterling. Alice Thomas of Ferryland in 1772 petitioned the governor to take back from Samuel Jago two boat rooms which had been owned by her deceased husband, Thomas Thomas, and shared with his partner Jago. She stated that she could get 15 pounds sterling for summer rental but that Jago had given permission to James Shortall to spread his fish in the rooms. Alice stated that she was prepared to seize the fish. Both parties agreed to have the matter settled by Messrs. Sparks and Drew or by a third person, or forfeit 30 pounds sterling each. Anastatia Salmon, widow of George Salmon, rented property in Placentia on a three-year term. Widow Sarah St. Croix was listed as “the Proprietor of a store house” and she had rented it in 1801 to Larkin & Brennan for one year at 10 pounds sterling. It was stated in the court record that she now wished to terminate this lease in order to rent the storehouse to John Power. This was held to be a serious matter and it was referred to the Surrogate Court for a decision.
Aaron Thomas in his journal of 1794 mentions several women of status whom he had met in his travels. At Ferryland he met Mrs. Keane whose husband had come from England about 55 years previously as an “Adventurer” or “green man,” that is, with no experience as a fisherman, and had, through hard work, become “the most affluent Fisherman in Ferryland.” Mrs. Keane was now a widow, lived in a place called The Grove and “was in good circumstances with 14 cows.” Thomas enjoyed her hospitality, but even more the treatment he received from Widow Tree, who lived in “a House of Entertainment” called the London Inn. Her husband, Captain Tree, had been an American Loyalist driven out of Boston in 1783, losing all his property there. Mrs. Tree was then about 50, had “a large and roomy House and Genteel furniture” and served him a meal “on Four Covers.” He remarked: “Had an Epicure been one of the Guests he could not a found fault with a single Dish.” Thomas mentions two other widows, Mrs. Harty of Portugal Cove and Mrs. Skinner.
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 B
rigus; 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.
