by Calvin Evans
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.
The Nineteenth and Twentieth Centuries
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 A
nn 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.
An interesting instance of joint ownership occurred at Trinity where Joseph Purchase and his wife Amelia (nee Newell) sold their plantation in 1848 to Patrick Fowlow. In 1837 Thomas Newell, Sr., had bequeathed the plantation to his daughter Amelia, and it consisted of “a certain Room or Plantation called Newell’s Point at the entrance of Gat’s Cove in the N. W. Arm of Trinity.” The bill of sale to Patrick Fowlow reads: “Know all men that I Joseph Purchase Husband of Amelia Purchase she consenting thereto, as witness her signature to these presents, for and in consideration of the sum of 23 pounds currency…sell to Patrick Fowlow planter and dealer of Trinity…” The plantation which was Amelia’s was vested in the name of her husband, but it is interesting to note the references to her “consenting” and to her “signature.” One wonders if she had insisted on this, for she no doubt possessed the moral authority to do so. She probably kept the accounts and ran the business end of the family venture, for she signed her name, but her husband simply made his mark on the bill of sale. Later, in 1885, after Patrick Fowlow’s death, land was granted to Widow Mary Fowlow and her sons John, Thomas, Philip and Martin, all of whom are called planters. In the Newfoundland Crown Lands Grant, the widow’s name preceded those of her sons in the five times these occur. Three acres, three roods and thirty perchas were added to their holdings by this grant.
Canadian ship registers from the late-eighteenth century to the mid-twentieth century clearly indicate that widows, single women and married women owned ships and shares in ships on a fairly regular basis. Their numbers were never great, but they were a presence, and their involvement in the business of shipowning is worthy of the closest study. Their actions anticipated legal changes and, indeed, inculcated a climate of change that would influence future legal and social decisions.
The more than 400 women whose names appear as shipowners in the Newfoundland ship registers and other records were scattered all over the island in about 130 communities along the coast. By way of a rough summary, there were 80-plus women in St. John’s, 15-plus on the Southern Shore of the Avalon Peninsula, 5 in Placentia Bay East, about 70 in Placentia Bay West and the Burin Peninsula, about 45 in Conception Bay, about 25 in Trinity Bay and the same in Bonavista Bay, 30-plus in Notre Dame Bay and White Bay, about 25 on the West Coast, 40-plus on the South-West Coast, about 30 on the South Central Coast, and one in Labrador. The largest concentrations were in St. John’s (about 80), Grand Bank (20), Carbonear and Rose Blanche (17 each), and Burin (12). Twillingate and Harbour Grace had 8 women shipowners; Harbour Breton, Wesleyville and Harbour Le Cou had 6; Brigus, Fortune, Ramea and Belleoram had 5; most of the other communities had 1 or 2 women, and a few had 3 or 4.
Without naming every individual woman in the records, perhaps the best way to deal with the wealth of information about them is to describe a few representative women by ownership patterns, i.e., whether they were sole owners, joint owners, co-partners in trade, managing owners, purchasers of shares, whether they were mortgagees or took mortgages themselves, whether they inherited ships and sold them quickly or remained active in the business, and so forth. The main focus will be on the earlier period and up to the early 1920s, although I searched the records up to 1990.
The two favoured ownership patterns emerging in the records were sole ownership by a woman and joint ownership with men or other women. The term “sole ownership” as used in the ship registers usually means that there was one or two or three or more exclusive owners, but it is here taken to mean exclusive ownership by one woman. Again, by way of rough summary, there were more than 220 instances of women being sole owners of ships, about 150 instances of joint ownership (including about 40 cases in which a woman owned jointly with her husband and other men and about 10 cases in which a woman owned jointly with another woman), 3 cases in which women were designated “co-partners in trade,” 2 cases in which men appointed women as managing owners, more than 30 cases in which women were designated managing owners, about 25 cases in which women appointed men as managing owners, more than 30 cases in which women were mortgagees, almost 50 cases in which women took mortgages on their ships, at least 13 cases in which women did not hold a mortgage but the man to whom they sold had to take one, 6 cases in which women sold their ships to other women, 2 cases in which couples sold directly to other couples, about 40 cases of husbands “selling” to wives and 5 cases of wives selling to husbands, about 80 cases in which a woman inherited a ship and sold it within one or two years, about 50 cases in which a woman inherited a ship and remained active in the business, almost 20 cases in which a woman apparently “staked” a planter to build her ship or hired a shipbuilder for that purpose, and at least 3 cases in which a woman’s ship was engaged in the seal hunt. Of additional interest is the fact that there were only 2 instances in which a woman shipowner died with a will and over 40 cases in which the woman died intestate; also there were at least 21 cases in which a woman named her ship after herself, 13 hints of scandal in connection with a woman’s ship, and 5 cases of minors inheriting shares in ships. There were almost 50 cases of a woman being appointed sole executrix of a will, about 25 cases in which a woman was appointed as an executrix along with one or two male executors, and 2 cases in which two women were appointed as the only executors for an estate settlement.
Ownership by Women
Sole Ownership
Sole ownership by women was pioneered by widows who opted to remain active in a family fishing venture with which they were familiar and over which they exercised control. This pattern was followed early on by spinsters and then by married women, including a few even before the Married Women’s Property Act was passed in Newfoundland in 1876. The first instance in the ship registers of a widow owning a ship was Ann McCarthy of Crocker’s Cove, Conception Bay. She appears to have had the ship Susan built for her purposes by Richard Horwood of Moreton’s Harbour in 1822. The ship was re-registered by Ann McCarthy in 1825. Her role in the registration may be ascertained from the wording of the original registration: “…having taken and subscribed the Oath required by this Act and having sworn that she is sole owner of the ship…Susan.” The Act referred to is “An Act for the further Increase and Encouragement of Shipping and Navigation…passed in the 26th year of the Reign of King George the Third.” The wording suggests that Ann McCarthy was physically present for the registration of her ship. The vessel was lost at Labrador, time unknown, and the ship register noted that the registry was closed on January 19, 1869. It is unlikely that the ship was involved in the Labrador fishery for all those years since registry of a ship was never closed until hard information was received, often many years after the loss or break-up.
The situation was similar with Catherine McGrath of Harbour Grace, widow, who as sole owner registered her ship Success in 1825. The ship had been built at Placentia as an open boat and “was raised on and decked in 1814.” It was re-registered in 1830, which means that extensive rebuilding work had been done. James Fox was master of Catherine’s ship.
Mary Woodley, widow (of Samuel?) of St. John’s, was sole owner of the ship Hope when it was registered there in 1831. The ship had been built at Blandford, Nova Scotia, in 1825, and it was “rebuilt and enlarged” in 1831, the year that Mary registered it. From 1831 to 1841, when it was re-registere
d, the ship had 14 different masters. Did they resent working for a woman or was Mary a hard taskmaster? Mary also registered the ship Two Brothers in St. John’s in 1831; it had been “built at Bareneed as an open boat in 1825 and never before registered.” Samuel Woodley had been fishing out of St. John’s since at least 1814, and Mary had opted to carry on the business alone after Samuel’s death. According to manuscript records, Samuel probably died about 1830.
Nathaniel Woodley, Samuel’s brother (?), died in 1833 and left his business to his wife Elizabeth, including “vessels, stages, wharves, etc.” There is a manuscript record at the Newfoundland Provincial Archives of Elizabeth’s business transactions from 1833 to 1857. Since Samuel had called one of his ships Elizabeth and Nathaniel had called one of his ships Mary, it is likely that this is a case of two brothers having married two sisters, or of an otherwise very close personal relationship. Elizabeth loaned money, borrowed money – including 546 pounds sterling and 100 pounds from Newman & Co. – rented her properties, bought land, paid insurance on two houses, bought sails, ropes, anchors, and tarpaulins for her ships, paid for “curing fish,” and exported fish on three foreign-going vessels. Strangely, Elizabeth’s name does not appear in the ship registers as a shipowner, but her husband Nathaniel had owned four ships: Hero, Felicity, Brazilian Patriot, and Mary, all registered between 1820 and 1831. Elizabeth must have held on to them in her deceased husband’s name as a family company, though she sold the Hero in 1825 and the Brazilian Patriot in 1835.
