Spelling variants found: Rideout / Ridout

I lucked out with the Rideout family as there has been genealogical work done on them and I had a number of references in my Little Bay database already. The patriarch of 19th century Little Bay’s Rideout clan is Alfred (1840-1897). There is some disagreement among the family’s researchers as to his birthplace. The more detailed tree is found on ancestry.com and traces his lineage back to Nova Scotia. It should be noted that the Nova Scotia birthdate is off the one recorded at his death by three years. A MyHeritage page ran by David Pope puts Alfred Rideout’s birth at Whale’s Gulsh, Newfoundland in 1840. There’s no source offered for this information, however, I’ll note that the location corresponds with a Twillingate Sun article I found that refers to a stage-head at Whale’s Gulsh that was owned by a Mr. Rideout. It was visited by Sergeant Wells on an “iron boat” while pursuing two fugitives on route for Little Bay mines in 1881.

All agree that Alfred Rideout was located in Newfoundland by the late 1860s when the vital statistics places the births of his and his wife Sofia’s children in the island’s Northern mining district. My first reference to Alfred at Little Bay is from 1881, however, I think we can deduce that he was a miner working with the Germans from the start of their operations so his arrival at Little Bay is likely earlier and I would suggest closer to the town’s first year of 1878. He appears alongside Richard, Henry, and William Rideout so I believe it likely that this is another example of family groups travelling together for work. If the Newfoundland origin for them proves true then I’d further guess that they collectively owned a schooner for their traveling along the north coast. This would aid their ability to switch from mining to fishing when work slowed in the mines and is evidenced by their occupation listing as either labourer or fisherman at various times in the differing documents. Alfred Rideout is an important figure in my Little Bay research. He offers a window into the early Salvation Army, the Temperance Movement, and something called the tennis-fires.

The Rideouts were located in an area of Little Bay called Stafford’s Town which was named after the town’s first surgeon. It took on the nickname Chemist Cove (pronounced Chimmy) after Dr. Stafford opened a chain of Newfoundland drugstores. Today the area is called Shimmy Cove. I make the case for this being a rougher area of town in the late 19th century based on the arrest record. This is most highlighted in the infamous McLean bootlegging bust in July of 1886. I have no direct evidence for the Rideout’s involvement with the rum trade, however, there is evidence of some troubles for the family at Little Bay throughout the 1880s. Henry Rideout was twice called to court in cases of debt to local traders. An unwed woman named Mary Rideout issued a complaint of bastardy against Mark Snow. And Alfred’s wife Sofia was assaulted by James Hillyer. Further, the Rideouts cross marry with the notorious McLeans. They are also connected to the Richards family which, as I outlined in my piece about them, show a pattern in town of people coming under pressure from Temperance before converting to the Salvation Army. I propose we consider the Salvation Army as a safe harbour from Temperance to explore this trend. I’ll elaborate in what follows.

If you’ve been following my work you’ll know I’m suspicious about the level of hostility that took place in town regarding Temperance. There is a reference to something called the “tennis-fires” which isn’t given a definition. As I’ve mapped out the fires in town, however, I’ve found a curious pattern where a location associated with drinking such as the Skittle Alley will be burned followed by a location associated with the Temperance Movement such as the Public Hall. Some of these, such as the ones I just mentioned, are documented as the result of incendiary. In the case of the Public Hall fires Sergeant Wells’ diary directly notes the odd behaviour of the town’s tinsmith giving us a potential arsonist. I think it’s fair to suggest that the “tennis-fires” refer to the back-and-forth nature of these arsons and based on my research I think it’s further fair to suggest that this phenomena grew from the increasingly heated debate over Temperance. Hence my desire to know the Rideout position with regards to Temperance. The fact that the lived at Stafford’s Town and had a few encounters with the law is not much for evidence but if you’ll allow me to take that leap it may provide us some insight.

In January of 1888 we witness the first arrival of the Salvation Army as represented by two young female cadets. The choice to send women is cast as suspicious. The newspaper coverage is immediately hostile. This is a new denomination and their practices are unusual when compared to the existing churches. The Salvation Army was ill received by many. They were blatantly unwelcome by some. The mine refused them land for a temple and a number of assaults against the congregation are documented. The hostility toward them, as recorded, is sometimes violent. They were pelted with snowballs and had their window’s smashed. This is in shocking contrast to the town’s public image of being uniquely accepting of multi-denominational worship and with its established history of healthy working relationships among its differing clergy.

I can tell you that the Rideouts were among the first to convert to the Salvation Army after the arrival of those two cadets that New Years. The first site of Salvation Army worship was found inside the Rideout’s home the following month and Mrs. Rideout was Cadet Penny’s aid-de-camp almost immediately. As mentioned, the Rideouts lived away from the main settlement in The Bight at Stafford’s Town. The people who walked back to The Bight from the Rideout’s home after Salvation Army services were hit with snowballs that first winter. The denomination eventually managed to secure an office at Loading Wharf and shockingly somehow later built a temple on a platform on the open harbour itself which required a boat.

I’d like to give some context to Little Bay’s Temperance movement from this time. It was started by the Presbyterian clergy Rev. Fitzpatrick but became increasingly less tolerant of social drinking under the guidance of Sergeant Wells after his arrival in the summer of 1883. Initially there was public discourse about the issue with two accepted positions under Temperance. There were those who accepted responsible social drinking and those supporting total abstinence. Little Bay would host public debates on social issues between intellectuals at the Public Hall. In July of 1888 there was to be a debate between Mr. Burgess the President of Little Bay’s Reading Room and Sergeant Wells. This debate never took place as Mr. Burgess withdrew just before it was suppose to happen. Later in his life, after he left Little Bay, there is documentation of him drinking so his choice to withdraw does not appear to be due to a change in stance. By itself this offers us little, however, at the same time a few other things are happening. There is increasing police pressure applied to the licensed liquor selling establishments. John Lamb of the Skittle Alley experiences a series of legal incidents before his place gets torched. He next pops up at Temperance meetings after changing his position on alcohol to total abstinence. Big Dan Courtney of the Little Bay Hotel likewise sees a series of legal incidents, gets a jug smashed on his head, and in 1887 just up and dies. The next innkeeper is “induced to give up the business” the following year. Big Dan wasn’t the only person on the social drinking side to suddenly die either. Our likely arsonist the tinsmith Robert Malcolm is found dead a few months later. The blacksmith John Conway has a rather threatening letter to the editor published about him next before he also just up and dies. I’ve got a list of these deaths going. Again, there are a number of reasons for young men to die in the 19th century but the pattern I’m noticing is how their positions on social drinking are corresponded. What I have here is a lot of circumstantial evidence but to be fair, if I’m right, and Temperance won with the aid of murder and arson, it’s not something that’s likely to be documented directly.

As I’ve outlined elsewhere Little Bay had a reputation for being unusual in its acceptance of multiple denominations. This is in thanks to the early cultural design work of the German Baron and the first Presbyterian clergy Rev. Gunn. The different church leadership worked and even worshipped together. They were aligned under Temperance but at first taking different positions with regard to social drinking or total abstinence. As an example the first Church of England reverend, Rev. Clift, held church social events at the Skittle Alley. This changed and afterward all town clergy are shifted to a total abstinence position. The only clergyman accused of drinking after this cultural shift is Rev. Turner who has to address the population with a public denial before leaving for a vacation from which he never returned. I read this as him being run-off. Unusually, this divide is an issue of culture not class. Men found on both sides of this debate are business owners and community leaders. Often they are found listed together in other venues while this is going on such as being members of the town’s Masonic Lodge or its Rifle Club. In fact the issue becomes so ingrained with culture that unrelated behaviours get pulled in as evidenced by sources which pin the town’s Reading Room against its Cricket Club by way of the later’s association with after game dances called bonnet-hops which involved drinking.

Now let me tie this all back together with regard to the Salvation Army and the Rideouts. If being identified on the wrong side of the Temperance issue put you at risk of either arson or murder at the extreme than we can deduce that the day-to-day interactions with total abstinencers were uncomfortable. You were not saved by your class or previous social standing and if the leader of your church wasn’t safe it’s a fair guess being a member of its congregation wasn’t either.

My hunch is that the Salvation Army as a novel denomination arrived at an opportune time for recruitment granted them by taking a less overly judgemental view on social drinking. Perhaps they did this after being targeted or perhaps they were targeted because of it. It is noteworthy that it was in Stafford’s Town that they first found refuge. This would have allowed them quick converts by offering their new members a flag under which a previous lack of defence against Temperance could be recast as religious persecution. Perhaps this offers us some explanation for the hostility against the Salvation Army from townsfolk of the other denominations in light of how such behaviour seems to contrast with the accounts of the town being otherwise celebrated for embracing mixed denominational worship practices.

The Temperance issue appears to have become increasingly militant under the guidance of Sergeant Wells after 1883. The divide was not an issue of class but one of culture with representatives on both sides coming from the owning class. What starts off with public debate under their well established practice of such escalates into an arson war which is practiced back-and-forth by both sides and comes to be known as the tennis-fires. I suspect things may have escalated even further, however. I suspect foul play. As the tide turned towards the side of total abstinence under Temperance there were a series of unexplained deaths from the social drinking side including Innkeeper Big Dan Courtney, blacksmith John Conway, and the tinsmith Robert Malcolm. The last of which was an arson suspect after the Public Hall fires. I think the Salvation Army may have entered the town at a time when they were in a unique position to offer a tribe to those under threat by their own congregations. If I’m right the Rideouts played a big part in Little Bay’s history by wholeheartedly and immediately throwing in with a new-to-town Salvation Army – giving themselves a place of refuge from Temperance and the Salvation Army a safe place to practice their worship. By placing the Rideouts at the centre of a cultural whirlwind we see what looks like a mutually beneficial relationship that changes the face of our 19th century mining town.

Thanks for reading!

Rideout Sources:

• 1869, Oct – Birth of Henry William Rideout at Tilt Cove to Alfred and Sophia (Vit stats)
• 1881, Aug – Mr. Rideout had a stage head at Whale’s Gulsh which was visited by two fugitives on their route to Little Bay mines. They were pursued by Sergeant Wells on an iron boat (TS)
• 1881 – Birth of Alfred Watson Rideout. Son of Alfred and Sophia (Vit stats)
• 1882 – Birth of Lilian Rideout. Daughter of Richard and Elizabeth (Vit stats)
• 1883 – Birth of Maud Rideout to Alfred and Sophia Susan (Curtis) Rideout (MyHeritage)
• 1884 – The Labourer Henry Rideout owed a debt of 65.14 to the trader Thomas Boyde (Supreme Court docs)
• 1884 – Henry Rideout issues a summons to appear in court by trader John Butt (Supreme Court docs)
• 1885, May – Wedding at Little Bay of William Rideout miner and Louisa Rendell spinster. Alfred Rideout was a witness (Methodist marriages)
• 1886, Feb – Summons issued for James Hillyer for the assault of Mrs. Alfred Rideout. Mr. Hillyer was charged $4.00 (Wells)
• 1886, Sept – Mark Snow arrested in a case of bastardy under complaint of Mary Rideout (Wells)
• 1886, Nov – Henry and Alfred Rideout witness the wedding of a couple from Fogo at Little Bay (Methodist marriages)
• 1888 – Birth of Jospeh Rideout to Joseph and Mary Ann (Vit stats)
• 1888, Feb – Alfred Ridout’s home is the first place of worship for the newly arrived Salvation Army at Little Bay. Mrs. Alfred Rideout is Lieutenant Penny’s aid-de-camp (TS)
• 1888, Feb – Annie L. Ridout married William Phoran (TS)
• 1888, Sept – H. Ridout and F. Ridout played cricket on the amateur team (TS)
• 1888, Sept – Wedding at Little Bay of Henry James a miner from Little Bay and Agnes Rideout spinster Little Bay (Methodist marriages)
• 1889 – Alfred and Henry Rideout listed in Little Bay (Voter’s List)
• 1889, Sept – Wedding at Little Bay of Francis Rideout a miner from Pilley’s Island and Agnes Rice a spinster from Little Bay (Methodist marriages)
• 1889, Dec – Death of Jospeh Ridout. Age 1 year 7 months. Son of Joseph and Mary Ann Ridout (UC burials)
• 1890, May – Death of Alfred William Ridout. Age 11 months. Son of William James Rideout and Louisa Rendell (UC burials)
• 1890, Sept – Death of Clara Annie Nobel. Age 4 years 6 months. Daughter of Thomas Nobel and Rhoda Rideout (UC burials)
• 1890, Nov – Death of Mary A. Ridout. Age 3 years. Daughter of William James Rideout and Louisa Rendell (UC burials)
• 1893, Nov – Birth of Henry Thomas Nobel to miner Thomas Nobel and Rhoda Rideout (Civ births)
• 1894 – Henry and Joseph Ridout listed as fishermen at Little Bay Harbour (Census)
• 1895 – Henry Rideout is working at the mine in Tilt Cove when listed in the debts of Little Bay’s John Lamb after ordering supplies (Lind ledger)
• 1895 – Charles Ridout among those listed at Little Bay and vicinity (Requisition to the Honourable Robert Bond)
• 1897 – Burial of Alfred Rideout at Tilt Cove (MyHeritage)
• 1898 – Joseph Rideout listed as labourer living at Stafford’s Town, Little Bay (McAlpine’s)
• 1904 – Joseph and Mark Ridout listed as fishermen living at Stafford’s Town (McAlpine’s)
• 1911 – Joseph Ridout listed as member of Little Bay’s Road Board (Almanac)