The Sparrows were a Newfoundland-born Catholic family who arrived at Little Bay Mines for work.John Sparrow (1850–1920) first appears there in 1889. His wife, Mary Ellen, died there in 1895, and by 1901 the family had moved to Glace Bay, Nova Scotia, ...
Little Bay suffered four major fires. I've covered the fires of 1888, 1903, and 1904. What follows is what I've been able to discern about the blaze of '81.Press ReleaseThis is the story of how, in the summer of 1881, everyone thought Little Bay bur ...
The first union in Newfoundland is thought to have formed on Bell Island in 1900 after the first strike there in 1896. In 'Once Upon a Mine' Wendy Martin referred to Little Bay’s miners as “forming a union of sorts” during the strike in 1883. I’ve un ...
The town of Little Bay is planning a memorial plaque to honour those who lost their lives working Little Bay Mines. I’ve been asked to find the men killed there in the 19th century. I have two deaths that are proving difficult to name. I’m missing th ...
If you’ve been following my work you’ll know I’ve been trying to separate two fires which impacted Little Bay in 1903 and 1904. I posted a piece with my findings on the 1903 fire. In this piece I’ll attempt to sort out the references to the 1904 fire ...
I’ve been exploring the possibility that Little Bay has a missing lighthouse. It’s a dubious proposition but not without some circumstantial evidence. It concerns a man named Edward John Paddock.Edward was born at Ward’s Harbour on August 12th 1854 t ...
The Eagen family was in Little Bay by 1882 and remained in town until at least 1904. John and Patrick Eagen worked as miners. John has a series of run-ins with the law due to public drinking. His wife was Ann. However, it is Patrick’s wife Catherine ...
*Pictures included are: town before fire showing where it started (behind brown building above ridge on right), Rev. John J. Lynch, Rev. Arthur Pittman, Picture of town after fire for comparison.Sometimes I get lucky and find multiple firsthand accou ...
Fair warning; this is a macabre and melancholy story.John Cantwell (1804-1889) was from Ballyhesan, County Waterford in Ireland. He moved to Newfoundland in 1824 when he was 20 years old. He settled and raised a family in Tizzard’s Harbour. There he ...
The case of William Drummond is a curious one.On the morning of June 12th 1882 a punt with sail was observed adrift off of Little Bay Islands. Two boys set out to investigate. They found no one onboard but the boat appeared to have recently held two ...
