Silk Sails (14 page)

Catherine Cummins, widow of St. John's, was a joint owner with Peter Cummins when they registered the ship
Kate Cummins
(named after Catherine) in 1862. Catherine's husband Maurice was a prosperous merchant-planter of St. John's and had died in 1853 at age 66. Their daughter Catherine had married J. B. Sawyer, Esq., in 1853, and a second daughter, Lizzie Agnes, married Alexander Murray, Esq., of the Geological Survey in 1868. The
Kate Cummins
was lost in December 1870 at Cow Bay, Conception Bay.

In 1844, 22 years before the Married Women's Property Act became law, Caroline Winsor, married woman of Aquaforte, owned shares in the ship
Pelter
with her sister-in-law, Jane Winsor, and three Winsor males. In 1866, Elizabeth Pond of Greenspond was a partner with her husband John and his brother Andrew when they registered the
Edward & Lydia
. They held the 64 shares jointly. She had been Elizabeth Wells and had married John on November 4, 1835; they had no children, so she may well have been significantly involved in the fishing venture.

Ellen Roach of Branch, St. Mary's Bay, was designated as a “Trader” in 1887 when she and her two partners registered the ship
Fleetwing
at St. John's. Her partners were Henry Roach, her husband and builder and master of the vessel, and his brother William Roach. They were designated as fishermen. Ellen's birth name was Cantwell and she was born at Torbay in 1852. Perhaps she went to Branch as a school teacher. She married Henry Roach in 1877, and they had nine children. The term trader usually refers to coastal trading of goods and picking up dried cod on these visits to communities. In this case it may refer to the fact that Ellen was the business head of a general store and accompanied her male partners in some of these trading ventures. This was common along the south coast. Ellen died in 1931.

At a somewhat later date, the Tessier women of St. John's became involved with ships. Julia Tessier was a married woman in 1893 when she and Charles Nicholls, a master mariner of St. John's, registered the 207-ton British-built ship
Petunia
. This was a three-masted brigantine-rigged ship designed for foreign-going ventures. Julia held 48 shares; Charles Nicholls, master, held 16 shares. Julia died without a will late in that same year and Letters of Administration were granted by the Supreme Court the next year to James C. Tessier, and he sold the ship to George James Tessier, accountant. Prior to Julia's involvement with the
Petunia
, Ann Catherine Weston Tessier, widow, had owned the ship with Peter Germon Tessier, Lewis R. Tessier, Charles W. Tessier and Weston G. Tessier. They had sold it to Julia and Charles Nicholls. Ann Tessier had owned shares in the
Native
in 1886, in the
Lilac
in 1891, in the
Mistletoe
in 1893, and in the
Brisk
in 1900. Anne C. M. Tessier, spinster and daughter of Peter Germon Tessier, owned 3 shares in the
Mistletoe
in 1893 and bought a further 10 shares in 1895; she owned 9 shares in the
Silver Sea
in 1895 and bought a further 11 shares in the same ship in 1902 and held 7 shares in the
Gladiola
in 1898. Bertha Mary Tessier, married woman, bought 4 shares in the
Silver Sea
in 1893 and 1 additional share in 1895 and 33 shares in 1902. She bought 3 shares in the
Mistletoe
in 1896 from Anne C. M. Tessier. She held 3 shares in the
Gladiola
in 1898. All four Tessier women were speculators in the ship business.

A pattern of speculation emerges even from the earliest records. The Winsor women of Aquaforte both owned shares in the ship
Pelter
as early as 1844. Charlotte Colelough, spinster of St. John's, bought shares along with 15 other people in the ship
Sybil
in 1852. Charlotte is also noted to be a “co-partner in trade.” Ruth Orr Church, married woman of St. John's, purchased 1 share in the
Frances E. Moulton
in 1923, and Meta Boals Orr purchased 5 shares from her husband, John B. Orr, in the same ship in 1926, 3 shares in the
Ena A. Moulton
, 3 shares in the
Catherine M. Moulton
, 1 share in the
Enid E. Legge
, and 1 share in the
Jean Wakely
, all in the same year: 1926. This pattern continued. Eva McIsaac, married woman of Searston, Grand River, bought 1 share in the
Jean Wakely
in 1920 and was still holding it in 1925. Elizabeth Findlater, married
woman of St. John's, bought 1 share in each of the
Ena A. Moulton
, the
Enid A. Legge
, and the
Jean Wakely
in 1921.

Mary A. Rose, merchant of Harbour Breton (a later hand crossed out this occupation and wrote in “married woman”), bought 1 share in the
Gordon E. Moulton
in May 1921 and sold it in August 1922 to John T. Moulton. Mary Stewart was from Burgeo; she married John Rose of Little Bay and they settled in Harbour Breton; Mary was always referred to formally in the community as “Mrs. John Rose”; they had no children. They were the owners of the famous Sunny Cottage (the community museum today), and together they ran a business which consisted of buying and shipping fish, selling groceries and antiques, and coasting – carrying lumber and picking up salmon on the Labrador and taking it to North Sydney. Mary assisted with the business.

Then there were the Grand Bank women who are worthy of note as speculators and joint owners. There was no other place in Newfoundland that saw such a concentration of women buying shares in ships. Women buying shares occurred particularly after 1920 when the large three-masted foreign-going ships were being built in Grand Bank and the surrounding areas. It is apparent that the women of Grand Bank wanted in on the action.

Sarah W. Clarke bought 3 shares in the
Max Horton
, William Forsey's ship, in 1920. Her daughter, Georgina T. Clarke, stenographer, also bought 3 shares. Incidentally, Sarah's husband, Lionel, merchant, also bought 3 shares, and her son Roy, clerk, bought 2 shares. Sarah was a Tucker, originally from Carbonear. She also held 5 shares in the
General Trenchard
in 1923. Georgina later married an Elliott and settled in Corner Brook. Charlotte Pratt Harris bought 5 shares in her husband George Chesley Harris' ship, the
General Woods
in 1921 and another 2 shares in the same ship in 1926. She was still holding these shares in 1938. Charlotte was the sister of E. J. Pratt, famous Newfoundland poet, and the daughter of Rev. John Pratt, Methodist minister, who died during his tenure at Grand Bank. Charlotte was a trained singer, had no children, and died suddenly at age 70 on September 8,
1956. Sophie Knight, spinster, bought 2 shares in the
General Woods
in 1922; she died in 1926. Her brother Archibald was one of the executors of her will.

Emily Dunford, married woman, bought 1 share in the
General Woods
in 1922 (which she was still holding in 1938) and 1 share in the
General Plumer
in 1927. Her husband was George, a salesman. Emily was the daughter of Samuel and Mary Harris and sister of Eleanor Carr and Mary Forsey Harris. She attended Mount Allison University, had two children, and died on October 22, 1948. Mary E. Kelland, widow of Lamaline, (we will consider her here as a Grand Bank woman) purchased 1 share in the
General Smuts
and was still holding it in 1925, the last date of record. Priscilla Noseworthy of Fortune (a Grand Bank neighbour) bought 21 shares in the
Alhambia
in 1930 and sold them two years later. She was obviously a speculator. Mary Forsey Harris, spinster and daughter of Samuel and Mary (Forsey) Harris bought 5 shares in the
General Plumer
after her father, the owner, died in 1926; in 1927 she bought 5 shares in the
General Trenchard
, and she held 1 share in the
General Woods
from 1927 until at least 1938. She also attended Mount Allison University. She died in Toronto in the 1970s.

Harriet Marion Harris, widow of Grand Bank, purchased 5 shares in the
General Gough
in 1927; she was still holding these in 1931. She bought 2 shares in the
General Woods
in 1927 and was still holding these in 1938. Harriet was the daughter of George Harding of Grand Bank and she became the second wife of Samuel Harris after his first wife, Mary, died in 1913. Harriet Marion died on February 25, 1951.

Eleanor Hickman Harris Carr, married woman, bought 1 share in the
General Woods
in 1927 and was still holding it in 1938, and bought 3 shares in the
General Plumer
in 1927. Eleanor Carr graduated from Mount Allison University with a B.A. and then earned her R.N. at the Massachusetts General Hospital. Percival Carr had come to Grand Bank as treasurer and business manager
of Samuel and George Harris' business firm. Eleanor and Percy were married in 1920. They had six children and owned the famous Clawbonnie Estate, midway between Grand Bank and Fortune. When her husband died in 1943 Eleanor moved to Toronto and later worked as a nursing supervisor in an Ottawa hospital. She died in Toronto in 1975.

Jane Forsey, married woman, bought 2 shares in the
General Woods
in 1937 and was still holding these in 1938. Her husband was Capt. Steve Will Forsey. Jane was a Banfield and was born at Garnish. Mary Durey of Marystown inherited 1 share in the
General Woods
when her husband Patrick died in 1937; she was still holding this share in 1938.

There were other Grand Bank women who held shares in ships. Sarah Patten was the daughter of John B. Patten and Elizabeth (Hickman) Patten and was born in 1895. After she matriculated in Grand Bank she attended Shaw's Business School in Toronto. She returned to Grand Bank to take charge of the office work for the Samuel Harris firm. She then became the accountant at her father's business, J. B. Patten & Sons. In 1927 she married George Foote and they had five children. When her father died in 1927, she and her brother were appointed executors. They jointly held the 32 shares which they inherited in the
Lillian M. Richard
and sold them after three years. In 1948 Sarah bought 9 shares in the
Arawana
and re-sold these after four years. Also in 1948 she bought 16 shares in the
A. & R. Martin
; this vessel was lost off Lamaline in 1952. She moved to London, Ontario, with her husband in 1981 and died there in 1982 at the age of 87.

Esther Linda Foote, married woman, bought 10 shares in the
AntonC. Santos
in 1927 and was still holding these in 1939. Esther was the daughter of Simeon and Grace Tibbo; her husband was Ambrose. They had five children and she died in 1968. Emma Louise Foote was the widow of John B. Foote when she bought 9 shares in the
Anton C. Santos
in 1927. She died without a will in 1935 and Letters of Administration were granted to her
brother-in-law, Ambrose Foote, and he sold the shares. Emma was the sister of Charles Forward of the firm of Forward & Tibbo. She and her husband had five children and she died in 1935.

For more women Joint Owners see Appendix A.

There were several varieties of joint ownership and it will be useful to look at some of these.

The Newfoundland ship registers do not make clear the husband-wife relationship when these are joint owners. In many cases, confirmation had to be sought elsewhere; and in several cases it is a best guess. When these cases are a duplication of previous and subsequent references, a concerted effort has been made to give only minimal information.

Caroline Winsor of Aquaforte was a partner with Jane Winsor and four Winsor males in the ship
Pelter
in 1844. It is known that Caroline's husband was Dan Henry Winsor and one of the male owners is Henry Winsor, a master mariner. It is assumed that this is Caroline's husband. On the other hand, it is known that Julia Kelligrew and her husband William, along with John Goodridge, were joint owners of the schooner
Ann
in 1853. The same is true of Elizabeth and John Pond of Greenspond in 1866, as we saw earlier, in their ship
Edward & Lydia
, but the marriage record had to be ascertained from another source.

It is also assumed that Ann J. Tuck of Fortune is the wife of John Tuck, the builder and captain of the
George A. Tuck
in 1886. Ellen Roach, trader of Branch, St. Mary's Bay, was a partner with William and Henry Roach in the ship
Fleetwing
in 1887; Ellen was the wife of Henry, the builder and captain. So also with Emma Wheeler and Symeon Wheeler of Frenchman's Cove, Bay of Islands, in 1896, with their vessel
Spring Bird
. Martha Benson, married woman of
Little Bay Islands, owned the
St. Elmo
with Reuben, Arthur, and Jonathan J. Benson when it was first registered in 1898 and re-registered in 1912. One of these men was almost certainly her husband, probably Jonathan, since Martha's name appears as the second owner, immediately after his in the register. Each of the four held 16 shares. They sold the ship on June 12, 1914.

Margaret Kennedy, married woman of Carbonear, and William John Kennedy, planter, bought the 106-ton
Pioneer
from William A. Munn of St. John's in 1900; it was abandoned at sea on December 18, 1902, off the Labrador coast. That same year Margaret sold her ship
Pride of the North
to Dugald Munn. By March 1913 Margaret was a widow and she bought the
Winnie F. Tuck
from Patrick J. Shea. This vessel was “totally lost” at Emily Harbour, Labrador, on October 1, 1919. It seems safe to assume that William John had been Margaret's husband. It should be noted that even after she was widowed she continued to be involved in the Labrador fishery.

Margaret Stone of Rocky Brook, Trinity Bay, who has already been discussed as a sole owner, must have been an entrepreneur, because in 1906 she bought 6 shares in the
H. W. Stone
and she also owned 11 shares in the
Maggie Stone
, and her husband Emmanuel owned the other 53. Mary Margaret Cooper was born at Bluff Head Cove, Trinity Bay, in 1861. She was the grandmother of Capt. Harry Stone, who described her in 1995 in the following way: “She was all go, she was very involved in everything, a very determined woman; she would take a horse into the woods for a load of wood; in the spring of each year she would walk from Rocky Brook to St. John's; it would take a week; she had little education but she could read.” The walk from Rocky Brook to St. John's must have been in the very early years, because the
Free Press
for 1912 to 1914 indicates that Margaret and her husband were making regular spring and fall trips to St. John's in their schooners to purchase summer and winter supplies, sending their loaded schooners home, and taking a leisurely trip home themselves by the express train. In March 1914 Emmanuel brought Margaret to St. John's for surgery at the General Hospital. She
died in 1918 at age 57. Curiously both she and her husband died without wills.