“Behind Barbed Wire – Newfoundland POW’s in the Great War”

POW Camp

An estimated 8 million men became prisoners during the Great War. Jessie Chisholm, historian, researcher and archivist recently retired from The Rooms Provincial Archives Division, and Dan Duda, a map librarian with the Queen Elizabeth II Library at Memorial University, are working together to shine some light on this chapter of Newfoundland’s First World War history, as well as share it with a wider audience.

This presentation explores the international legal status of POWs under The Hague Conventions while focusing on the experiences of appromimately 200 Newfoundland POWs, revealed through first-person narratives, family letters, photographs and post-war claims for pensions and reparations. Themes include “reprisal camps“; the diverse experiences of the officers and other ranks (ORs); cultural and linguistic isolation; near-starvation, inadequate medical care, and harsh labour conditions.

Matthew Taylor of Rose Blanche was one of some 200 Nfld POW’s

POWs frequently suffered life-long physical disabilities and emotional trauma (“barbed wire disease“). By incorporating statistical analysis, mapping, and archival sources, hopefully this collaborative work and subsequent discussion will provide new insights into the Great War.

For more information:
Date: Thursday, March 8, 2018
Time: 2:30 pm 
Location: The Rooms Theater 
Included with the price of admission

 

https://www.therooms.ca/programs-events/for-adults/coffee-culture/behind-barbed-wire-newfoundland-pows-in-the-great-war

For information, contact Visitor Services on Level 1 at The Rooms. Call (709) 757-8090. Email information@therooms.ca.

 

Newfoundland proposed to sell Labrador to Quebec.

ARCHIVAL MOMENT

 March 4, 1924

Labrador MapThe modern boundary argument  between Newfoundland and Labrador  over who rightfully owned Labrador (Quebec or Newfoundland) began in 1902, when the Newfoundland government granted a lumber company license to harvest trees on both sides of the Hamilton River (now called the Churchill River). The Quebec government considered the southern part of the river to be part of Quebec, and complained to Canada’s secretary of state. Newfoundland refused to cancel the license.

On March 4, 1924 Prime Minister Walter S. Monroe of Newfoundland proposed to sell Labrador to Quebec for $15 million provided that Newfoundland would retain rights to a three mile wide coastal zone for the use of fishermen.

Quebec’s Premier Taschereau declined Monroe’s offer to sell Newfoundland’s interests in Labrador. The Quebec leader saw no reason to pay for what he believed already rightfully belonged to his province and decided to take his chances with the Privy Council resolution to the dispute.

Deliberations began in October of 1926 with P.T. McGrath from Newfoundland making the case for the province.  In 1927 the Privy Council decided in Newfoundland’s favour, a verdict accepted by Canada.

In the course of our history Newfoundland has made at least four separate attempts to sell Labrador to Canada. The only reason that there was no deal was that Canada would not pay the price Newfoundland asked.

The first offer was made in 1922, during Richard Squires’s first term as prime minister. A year later, in 1923, William Warren, the newly elected Prime Minister of Newfoundland  made another approach to Canada.

Prime Minister, Walter S. Monroe, saw little potential in Labrador, he told the House of Assembly “this country (Newfoundland) will never be able to develop it.”

Sir Richard Squires and his colleagues turned again to Ottawa late in 1931, a formal offer to sell Labrador for $110 million was again rejected.

Imagine if Canada had accepted. No Churchill Falls, or Lower Churchill, the extensive mineral deposits in Western Labrador, Iron Ore, Nickle, Voisey’s Bay. Would Canada have wanted us in 1949 if we were not bringing these resources?

Recommended  Archival Collection: At the Rooms Provincial Archives read MG 8, the papers of Sir. P.T. McGrath  which  consist of textual and cartographic records compiled by P.T. McGrath in preparing the Newfoundland Government’s arguments in the Labrador Boundary Dispute (1906-1926). The fonds is composed of correspondence, transcripts, memoranda, affidavits, research materials, maps and legal proceedings.

 

Have you got a case of “Grenfellitis”

Archival Moment

February 28, 1865

Photo Credit: The Rooms Provincial Archives . IGA 13-62 Sir Wilfred Grenfell

Photo Credit: The Rooms Provincial Archives . IGA 13-62 Sir Wilfred Grenfell

In an interview with a Grenfell worker in St. Anthony in 1934 the worker was asked if she had found Labrador a healthful climate. She replied:

“Yes, BUT there is one thing that we all get, something incurable, which gets into your system and keeps returning , but it is never fatal. It is called “GRENFELLITIS” and its most dangerous symptoms is lasting enthusiasm for the North.”

There has been a number of episodes of “Grenfelltitis” that have overtaken  individuals over the past number of years and the only cure for “Grenfelltitis”   is a good exhibit to speak to the history of the work of Grenfell in our North.

Recommended Archival Collection: The records of the International Grenfell Association (IGA) were donated to the Provincial Archives of Newfoundland and Labrador (PANL) by IGA representatives in June 1985. http://www.exhibits.therooms.ca/panl/exhibits/  

Recommended Reading: The Grenfell Obsession an anthology [edited by] Patricia O’Brien St. John’s, Nfld.  Creative Publishers, 1992.

 

Happy Birthday, Sir Wilfred Grenfell

ARCHIVAL MOMENT

February 28, 1865

Photo Credit: The Rooms Provincial Archives. IGA 13-62 Wilfred Grenfell Painting.

Photo Credit: The Rooms Provincial Archives. IGA 13-62 Wilfred Grenfell Painting.

Sir Wilfred Thomason Grenfell, was born February 28, 1865. He was an English physician and missionary, famous for his work among Labrador fishermen. Dr. Grenfell came to Labrador in 1892.

During more than 40 years of service in Labrador and in Newfoundland, he built hospitals and nursing stations, established cooperative stores, agricultural centers, schools, libraries, and orphanages, and opened the King George V Seamen’s Institute in St. John’s, in 1912. Grenfell cruised annually in the hospital steamer Strathcona II, keeping in touch with his centers of missionary work.

Over the years Grenfell received many awards from universities and other institutions. In 1907 he was appointed a Companion of the Most Distinguished Order of St. Michael and St. George; in that year Oxford University awarded him the first Honorary Doctorate of Medicine ever granted by that University and in 1928 he was chosen as Fifth Honorary Knight for Life of the Loyal Knights of the Round Table.

Grenfell’s health failed during the 1920’s and he suffered a heart attack in 1926 and again in 1929. He retired in Vermont, U.S.A.  in 1935 at the age of 70. He made his last trip to Labrador in 1939 after his wife died from cancer. He brought her ashes to be interred on Fox Farm Hill overlooking St. Anthony. Grenfell died two years later at his home in Vermont and his ashes were brought to Labrador and placed next to his wife’s.

Recommended Archival Collection: The records of the International Grenfell Association (IGA) were donated to the Provincial Archives of Newfoundland and Labrador (PANL) by IGA representatives in June 1985.   More at The Rooms: http://www.exhibits.therooms.ca/panl/exhibits/

Recommended Reading: Grenfell of Labrador: A Biography. Ronald Rompkey. Toronto: University of Toronto Press, 1991.

Archival Moment

February 23, 2018 

Kaetlyn Osmond will be bringing home to Newfoundland and Labrador a bronze medal from the PyeongChang, Winter Olympics and her team gold medal.

Who were some of the Newfoundlander’s and Labradorian’s that participated in earlier Olympics?

Newfoundlanders have  been associated with the Olympics since 1904.

Photo Credit: The Rooms Provincial Archives 1.507.002; Robert (Bob) Fowler, The first Newfoundland-born athlete to compete in the Olympic Games.

Photo Credit: The Rooms Provincial Archives 1.507.002; Robert (Bob) Fowler, The first Newfoundland-born athlete to compete in the Olympic Games.

The first Newfoundland-born athlete to compete in the Olympic Games was Robert Fowler born in Trinity Bay, Newfoundland, in 1882.  Fowler in 1904 was living in Cambridge, Massachusetts, and competed in the marathon for the USA at the Olympics in  St. Louis in 1904. Fowler, failed to finish either race. The marathon was the most bizarre event of the Games. It was run in brutally hot weather, over dusty roads, with horses and automobiles clearing the way and creating dust clouds.  Although he was on the American team,  he did not claim American citizenship until 1906.  At the 1904 Olympics he carried the Dominion of Newfoundland passport.

Photo Credit: The Rooms Provincial Archives: VA 37-35.1; Group of Newfoundland soldiers taking part in athletic events. L-R (Front row): Eric Robertson (Regiment # 497).

Photo Credit: The Rooms Provincial Archives: VA 37-35.1; Group of Newfoundland soldiers taking part in athletic events. L-R (Front row): Eric Robertson (Regiment # 497).

Another Newfoundland athlete to make his way into the Olympic Games was Eric Mackenzie Robertson. He was born on Maxe Street in St. John’s.  Robertson would have been the first Newfoundland “born and bred athlete” to compete in the Olympic Games, in Antwerp in 1920.  Robertson one of the few survivors of the great First World One battle at Beaumont Hamel (1916) was so determined to go to the Olympics that he petitioned the Newfoundland government to release his 30 pound pension that he used to pay for his Olympic fees.  In Antwerp, Roberton found out that he could not represent Newfoundland, since the country of Newfoundland, had no Olympic committee and no athletic association to certify his amateur status.  Even though Newfoundland was a separate Dominion at the time, he competed for Great Britain, the “Empire’s oldest and most loyal colony.”

Harry Watson, of St. John’s can lay claim to being the first Newfoundlander to have participated in  the ‘Winter Olympics.’  The first winter Olympics were held in Chamonix, France and Watson  (known to his friends as Moose ) arrived with a Canadian Hockey team.  Harry “Moose” Watson, and his team were the gold medal winners. The Canadians beat Czechoslovakia 30-0 and Sw .itzerland 33-0, a game in which Watson himself scored 13 goals.

Ferd Hayward of St. John’s had an international race walking career that included a large number of first place finishes. He was the first Newfoundlander to participate in the Olympics Games for Canada in the 1952 games in Helsinki, Finland.

An amazing five appearances in a Canadian uniform as a race walker in the Olympics places Alex Oakley  (originally from St. John’s )  among the finest athletes to come out of Newfoundland and Labrador. With five Oylmpic races to his credit between 1956 and 1976, he has competed in more Olympics than any other Canadian male athlete. He made the decision on his own not to enter the 1968 Olympics. His record includes a disqualification in 1956 in Melbourne, Australia, ninth in the 20 kilometer race in 1960 at Rome, 14th in the 50 kilometer event in 1964 in Tokyo, 31st in the 50 kilometer race in 1972 at Munich, Germany and, at the age of 50, 35th in the 20 kilometer event in 1976 at Montreal.

Weightlifter, Bert Squires of Grand Bank was in the 1984 Olympics in  Los Angels.  He also qualified to compete at the 1980 Summer Olympic Games in Moscow, but a boycott by Canada and several other countries kept him from competing as a weightlifter.

The 1980 boycott  that was spearheaded by the United States, which had taken issue with the Soviet Union’s invasion of Afghanistan in 1979 was devastating for another Newfoundland athlete.  Paula Kelly in 1980 became the only Newfoundlander and youngest swimmer to qualify for the Canadian Olympic Swim Team. Kelly would have been the first Newfoundland swimmer to represent Canada at the Olympics in 1980 but the Canadians boycotted, she missed her opportunity to compete.

The 1988 Olympics in Seoul, Korea featured two Newfoundlanders, Paul McCloy and Frank Humber.

St. John’s athlete Paul McCloy enjoyed an illustrious career competing in athletics and many consider him to be the greatest middle and distance runner that Newfoundland has ever produced. Paul dominated the sport locally, winning the St. John’s Tely 10 road race five times.  In 1988 he represented at the Olympics in Seoul, Korea.

Frank Humber of Corner Brook competed as a relief pitcher for Canada’s baseball team at the 1988 Olympics in Seoul, South Korea. 1988 was an especially important year for international amateur baseball since the sport had been added – on a demonstration basis – to the roster for the Summer Olympic Games. Humber secured his spot as one of eight pitchers on Canada’s Olympic team during a July, 1988 tryout camp.  Canada went 1-2 at Olympics and never made it to the medal round, but that single victory came against the Americans, who would go on to win the gold medal with a starry lineup that included a bevy of future Major Leaguers.

Carl Dwayne Norris from St. John’s  is perhaps best remembered  for scoring the winning goal to help Team Canada beat Czechoslovakia and win the gold medal in the 1990 Junior World Hockey Tournament in Helsinki. In 1994, he  won a silver medal in Ice Hockey with Team Canada at the Lillehammer Winter Olympics.

Maria Maunder  of  Logy Bay found her way on the international stage in the sport  of rowing.  She was on the Canadian rowing crew in the 1996 Summer Olympics in Atlanta winning silver behind the Romanians.

Phil Graham originally from Corner Brook was a member of Canada’s fourth place eights rowing team at the 1996 Olympic Games in Atlanta. He started rowing only at age 21 at Trent University.

The most celebrated  Newfoundlanders at the Olympics were members of the “Brad” Gushue Curling team along with teammates Russ Howard, (Moncton, N.B) Mark Nichols, (Labrador City),  Jamie Korab  (Harbour Grace) and Mike Adam (Labrador City).  They represented Canada in curling at the 2006 Winter Olympics, where they won the gold medal.

At the 2014  Olympics all eyes in Newfoundland and Labrador were on 18-year-old, Kaetlyn Osmond of Marystown at the Sochi, Olympics in Russia. She  brought  home a ‘silver’ medal.

Kaetlyn Osmond in 2018 brought home  a gold  (team event) and bronze  from the PyeongChang, Winter Olympics, South Korea.

Have there been other athletes from Newfoundland and Labrador that have participated in the Olympics. If you know of any others please let me know!!

Recommended Archives:  At the Rooms Provincial Archives there is a huge collection of sports related material.  Take some time to explore the Frank W. Graham fonds, the Sports Hall of Fame fonds, and the SANL museum collection. Search the Archives:  https://www.therooms.ca/collections-research/our-collections

 

 

 

“The Untold Story of the Labrador Court.”

Labrador

The Labrador Court of Civil Jurisdiction was a short-lived experiment in long-distance justice delivery. Each summer, from 1826 to 1833, the Court departed from St. John’s for the Labrador in an ice-reinforced vessel that cruised the Coast for two or three months, stopping at numerous coves and harbours from Blanc Sablon in the South to Rigolet in Esquimaux Bay (now Hamilton Inlet), and occasionally West to Kinnemish in Carter Basin and North West River.

The Court’s Clerk, George Simms, a Justice of the Peace and merchant from Trepassey, kept a journal of these voyages, of which four, from 1830 to 1833, are known to have survived.

This lecture is based on The Journals of George Simms, J.P., and the Records of the Labrador Court, 1826-1833, 2 vols., edited by Augustus G. Lilly and Christopher P. Curran, St. John’s.

The Law Society of Newfoundland and Labrador, 2017, which contains Simms’s Journals, the complete Court Records, and a selection of archival documents, all of which add to our knowledge of legal, commercial, and Indigenous activity in Labrador.

These materials, most of them published for the first time, are supplemented by an Introduction which traces the history of the delivery of justice on the Labrador Coast from 1809 to 1863.

There are identifications for some 225 persons and places mentioned in the publication, extended biographical sketches of the Court’s Judge, Captain William Paterson, and Simms, and contemporary illustrations, showing people and places on the Coast and the politicians, administrators, and lawyers who were instrumental in setting up the Court.

Please join us on Thursday, 22 February 2018, as Rhodes Scholar Augustus G. Lilly, Q.C. presents the Newfoundland and Labrador Historical Society’s  free monthly lecture:

“The Journals of George Simms, J.P., and the Untold Story of the Labrador Court, its Origins, Operations, and Demise.”

Location: Hampton Hall, Marine Institute
Date: Thursday, 22 February 2018
Time: 7:30 pm
Parking: Free parking is available in front and to the west of the building.

“Let me treat you to a drink”

ARCHIVAL MOMENT

February 16, 1909

Lips that touch liquor will never touch mine.

Lips that touch liquor will never touch mine.

On  February 16, 1909 the local St. John’s newspaper the Evening Telegram reported on a sermon given by Archbishop Michael Francis Howley, the Catholic Archbishop of St. John’s.  The newspaper account reported that “Archbishop Howley occupied the pulpit in the Cathedral” and spoke about establishing a League to be called the “Anti Treating League.”

The name chosen for the organization refers to the established practice and “habit of inviting each other to drink which is called “treating.”  We know it today in the expression “let me treat you to a drink.”

It was Archbishop Howley’s hope that this new organization

 “will have the practical effect in preventing excesses in the use of intoxicating drinks and encouraging sobriety and moderation, and the practice of the virtue of Temperance.”

Archbishop Howley proposed that members of the Anti Treating League would pledge themselves “not to take from anyone a drink of intoxicating liquor in a place where such liquors are sold.”

In short you could drink but no treating!!

The attempt by the Archbishop to curb drinking was not the only attempt to address the issue of excessive drink.  At The Rooms Provincial Archives records establish that as early as 1675 the  government  was keeping an account of the names of suppliers of liquor and wines to the inhabitants of Newfoundland.

The  Anti Treating League was established but many were deaf to the message of the Archbishop.  The year following the establishment of the League the number of Roman Catholics confined to the Police Station for being drunk was 430.  The number confined for being drunk and disorderly was 299.  He was not amused!

Recommended Archival Collection: Archives of the R.C. Archdiocese:  Howley’s Circular Letter – December 27, 1908: The Anti Treating League.

Recommended Reading: Rumrunners: The Smugglers from St. Pierre and Miquelon and the Burin Peninsula from Prohibition to Present Day.  J. P. Andrieux; Flanker Press, St. John’s, 2009.

 

 

 

 

A Newfoundland and Labrador geographical romance

ARCHIVAL MOMENT

February 14, 1918

Newfoundland and Labrador a place of romance.

Newfoundland and Labrador a place of romance.

This is a geographical romance that will take you to the many nooks and crannies of Newfoundland and Labrador.  This is a poem for Valentine’s Day!

Each of the bolded words in this poem is a place name in Newfoundland and Labrador. Please note that some of the place names have changed and or have been resettled and may no longer be on the official provincial map.  Take some time with the provincial map and travel with Annie Opsquotch about this province to try and find her true love!!

 A Newfoundland and Labrador  Geographical Romance

Annie Opsquotch just could not make up her mind. She was smitten by two men, Joe Batt  and Sam Hitches.  Little did she know that there was another who was in love with her and was determined to keep her to himself! But her mind was made up, she was determined to find her true love!

Now Annie Opsquotch got a mash,

But wasn’t very sure,

If she loved Old Sam Hitches less

Or Young Joe Batt the Moore

Bad Neighbour when he heard it,

In his Heart’s Ease felt alarm,

And sent Joe Batt to Burying Place;

Gave Sam a Bloody Arm.

Then Annie’s scornful Ha, Ha,

Was Tentamount to snubs,

When Mose Ambrose heard of her Exploit

He felt like Jack O’Clubs

 

Her Beau Bois, she then went in quest,

And traveled day and Knight,

And swore she wouldn’t Stepaside

Till she found her Heart’s Delight.

She took a Gin and Brandy,

Her Bareneed to appease,

She took a stock of Horse Chops,                           

Like wise some Bread and Cheese.                         

She started on Blue Pinions,

With the swiftness of a Hare,

She went to sleep with Heart’s Content,

But woke up in Despair.

Thru Cat’s Cove, Dogs Cove, Hogs Nose,

Thru Bear’s Cove, Lion’s Den,

Past Beaver, Seal and Badger

And Duck and Deer and Clam;

Thru Fox and Goose and Wolf Bay

Rat, Weasel, Turtle, Swan,

Thru, Salmon, Swile and Puffin,

And rested her at Lawn.

Thru Lobster, Loon and Clown Cove                                

With haste she did Pushthrough,

Thru Gouffe, Greeps and Gaggles                                    

Knife Cove and Lance au Lou;                              

Cupid’s message via Pacquet

Put an end to her alarms,

At last she got her Heart’s Desire,

Snug, Safe in Joe Batt’s Arms.

The poem  was written under a pen name, or “nom de plume” by Bald Nap.  It is  possible that the writer  was from Bald Nap  described as an outport on Bay d’Espoir located in the Trinity District.

This  poem makes reference to approximately sixty five place names.

Archival Collection: At the Rooms Provincial Archives explore the Nomenclature Board fonds , Description number GN 157. This collection consists of of incoming correspondence to the secretary, Nomenclature Board (1920-1943; 1950),including petitions about proposed community name changes.

Where in the province are these places located?  WE have found most – but a few  (?)  we have not found. Perhaps you can help.

The Annieopsquotch Mountains are located in the southwestern interior of the island of Newfoundland, east of Bay St. George. Its name is Mi’kmaq and literally translated means ‘terrible rocks.’

Sam Hitches: A small fishing station on Long Island between Despair and Hermitage. Distance from Fortune Bay is nine miles, from Gaultois by boat is seven miles.

Joe Batt: A fishing settlement on north east side of Fogo Island. Distance from Fogo is five miles.

Moore’s Cove, near Shoal Tickle. Shoal Tickle was the smallest of the four communities that were settled outside the Town of Fogo.

“The Bad Neighbour” is about three quarters of a mile off Burgeo.

Heart’s Ease is primarily a shortened name for Heart’s Ease Beach (near Gooseberry Cove, Trinity Bay). The community ceased existence in the 1920s.

Indian Burying Place, Notre Dame Bay is located approximately halfway between Nippers Harbour to the south, and Shoe Cove to the north. It can be reached by boat, walking overland, or by skidoo in the winter from Snook’s Arm.

Bloddy’s Arm: A salmon river, in the Fogo division of the District of Twillingate and Fogo.

Ha Ha: Newfoundland has more than a few hahas, including Ha Ha Bay, Ha Ha Mountain, and The Ha Ha.

Mose Ambrose: Located along Route 363, Mose Ambrose, Harbour Breton area, was originally called Mon Jambe and later became known as Mozambrose. Like most communities along the south coast, Mose Ambrose was first established as fishing rooms for ventures from England.

Exploit’s River: One of the most important inlets in Newfoundland. Distance from Twillingate by boat is 24 miles.

Jack O’ Clubs is now known as Aguathuna, located in the Stephenville Western Region.

Beau Bois on the Burin Peninsula, only a 10-minute drive from Marystown.

Knight’s Cove is a village located southwest of Bonavista and west of Catalina.

Stepaside is located on the south coast of Newfoundland (on the Placentia Bay side of Burin Peninsula).

Heart’s Delight-Islington is a town on the south side of Trinity Bay.

Bear Cove can mean a number of places; there were at least eight in the province.

Lion’s Den: Fogo Island.

Beaver Cove changed its name to Beaverton in 1968.

Badger is a town in north-central on the Exploits River. It supplied pulp and paper for the mills in Grand Falls-Windsor for many years, and was famous for its large spring log drives.

Black Duck Cove, near Ireland’s Eye, Trinity Bay.

Deer: as in Deer Lake, western Newfoundland.

Clam Bank Cove, now known as Lourdes.

Fox Harbour, Placentia Bay.

Goose Bay, Bonavista Bay or Labrador.

Lower Wolf Cove, now Springdale.

Rat (Rattling Brook), now Heatherton.

Weasel Island: Mi’kmaq burial site in Hermitage District.

Turtle: ?

Swan: Swan Island, Bay of Exploits.

Salmon Cove, now called Avondale.

Swile Rock, Trinity Bay.

Puffin: ?

Lawn, Burin Peninsula.

Lobster Harbour, NDB, now Port Anson.

Loons Cove, now called Lewins Cove.

Gin Cove, north side of Smith’s Sound, Trinity Bay

Brandy: ?

Bareneed is located east of Bay Roberts, on the west side of Conception Bay.

Horse Chops is a small island off the coast of Labrador, near the mouth of Sandwich Bay or the cape near the entrance of Engliah Harbour, Trinity Bay.

Bread and Cheese, located south of Bay Bulls.

Blue Pinions: A small fishing settlement on west side of Fortune Bay, district of Fortune Bay. Distance from Bellorem is five miles by road, near St. Jacques.

Hare (Hare Bay) is a natural bay located on the eastern side of the Northern Peninsula.

Heart’s Content, a community nestled along the sea on the Baccalieu Trail.

Despair (Bay d’Espoir). It’s sometimes claimed that the name Bay Despair represents an English corruption of the French.

Cat’s Cove, on the Burin Peninsula.

Dog Cove, on St. Brendan’s Island.

Hog’s Nose: Trinity Harbour, Trinity Bay.

Clown Cove, near Carbonear.

Pushthrough: A resettled fishing community located on Newfoundland’s south coast, about 20 kilometres northwest of Hermitage.

Gouffe: ?

Greeps: ?

Gaggles: a place to which logs are hauled, preparatory to transportation by water or rail.

Knife Cove, Knife Bay (or Baie de Couteau, or Knife Cove) is a natural bay or cove. Cornelius Island is nearby.

L’Anse-au-Loup is located between Forteau and L’Anse-au-Diable.

Cupids: the oldest English colony in Canada and the second oldest English in North America! A place for lovers!

Pacquet (“hideaway” in French) is located in White Bay, on the Baie Verte Peninsula.

Heart’s Desire, south side of Trinity Bay.

Snug Harbour, approximately 30 kilometres northeast of Charlottetown.

Safe Harbour is a resettled fishing community located around a well-sheltered harbour on the north side of Bonavista Bay.

Joe Batt’s Arm, Fogo Island.

Bald Nap is an outport on Bay d’Espoir, located in the Trinity District.

 

Great day for hauling stone

Archival Moment 

February 7, 1864

St. Patrick's Church, St. John's.

St. Patrick’s Church, St. John’s.

On February 7, 1864, work officially began on St. Patrick’s Church, Patrick Street, St. John’s with the hauling of the stone taken from the Southside Hills (at Cudahy’s (also Cuddihy) Quarry) in St. John’s.  The first sleigh of stone was delivered to the site  by the Cathedral (now Basilica)  Fire Brigade.

Typically, in the construction of stone buildings, the stone was hauled during the winter, when the road surfaces were packed with snow allowing the horses to pull the very heavy loads.

It is estimated that 600 tonnes of stone was hauled from Cudahy’s Quarry  by volunteer labor for the construction of the new church.

Construction continued as funds and materials permitted.

Twenty five years later, St. Patrick’s Church was consecrated on August 28, 1881.

The hauling of the stone on sleighs from the South Side Hills to the site of the future St. Patrick’s Church resulted in the death of one child. Children would grab onto the huge mounds of stone on the sleighs as they traveled through the streets. One child was crushed when a stone slab slid from the sleigh as the child tried to grab on for a joy ride.

Most Reverend John Hughes, Archbishop of New York and Bishop John Thomas Mullock of St. John’s laid the cornerstone of St. Patrick’s Church on September 10, 1855.  The church was designed in the late Gothic Revival, also termed Neo-Gothic, style by J.J. McCarthy, a prominent Irish architect, and was built by T. O’Brien, local architect and mason.

Recommended Archival Collection: At the Rooms Provincial Archives: [Collection MG 956] Provincial Archives Special Items collection. Item consists of an address from the parishioners of St. Patrick’s, St. John’s, to their pastor for services rendered over twenty five years. 39 x 53 cm; watercolour floral border and illustration of St. Patrick’s church at bottom centre; main text hand-lettered with watercolour.

Recommended Reading: J.J.McCarthy and the Gothic Revival in Ireland by Jeanne Sheehy., June 1977. Ulster Architectural Heritage Society.

The Sale of Obscene Pencils in Chance Cove

Mr. Samuel ROWE, the Justice of the Peace for Chance Cove, Trinity Bay, was a very unhappy man; it was March 1953 and he had just discovered that the depraved ways of the world had found there way to his home town.

He had discovered that the proprietor of the local shop Levi John SMITH had sold and had in stock several pencils which contained the model figure of a woman in the nude. To add insult to injury the offending pencils were being passed around the Salvation Army School.

The pencils were Eversharp pencils officially known as the Hidden Nude Figure Mechanical Pencil.

Mr. Rowe felt that matter was so serious that the Royal Canadian Mounted Police (RCMP) would have to be called. Within days the RCMP officers from “B” Division, Whitbourne detachment was on the case.

Their first stop was at the business premises of Levi John Smith where they discovered eleven of the Eversharp pencils had been purchased. Eight had been sold, the three that did not sell were immediately confiscated, and the search began for the missing pencils.

They were next to visit the Salvation Army School where they were informed that two of the pencils had been purchased by Garland and Maxwell Brace the children of Gordon and Elizabeth BRACE.

Garland was nowhere to be found but Maxwell met with the officer explaining in his statement on Friday 20th March 1953 “I went to Levi John Smith’s shop and while I was there noticed some Eversharp Pencils he had for sale I paid $1.25. These pencils contained a fluid and in this fluid as was a model of a woman in the nude …”

With the pencils and evidence in hand Levi John Smith was charged under section 207 (2) (a) of the criminal code with knowingly, without jurisdiction or excuse selling an obscene model pencil.

Levi John Smith’ s case made it before a magistrate where he was convicted and fined $50.00 or in default to serve 30 days in Her Majesty’s Penitentiary. He was also ordered to pay costs of the prosecution amount to $62.25 or in default to serve an additional 14 days.

The Eversharp pencils taken from the boys and retained as exhibits were destroyed on 12 October 1953 upon instruction from the presiding Magistrate.

A search for Philip AUBERBACH the travelling salesman who had initially sold the pencils to the shopkeeper in Chance Cove was declared liable to be charged if and when located in Newfoundland. He was never found.

Love to have one of these pens in our collection.

Recommended Archival Collection: The Rooms; Department of Justice GN 13/1/B Box 183 File #60