Posts - The History of Little Bay

The fire of 1881

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 burned down.In cities across North America people opened their papers on the morning of June 17th to some pretty scary news from Newfoundland. A press release had gone out from the New York Herald that day with a story. The promising mining settlement i ...

Pay Day at the mine. Likely taken around 1886. My guess on the photographer is Otis Boyden. The house in the background was the home of the Lind family.

Little Bay’s Miners’ Union

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 uncovered evidence to make a stronger claim. The first union on the island was Little Bay’s Miners’ Union and it was officially established on May 4th 1883.Recently I came across a newspaper I wasn’t familiar with. At this point in the work it’s unusua ...

Captain Lizzie Penny

The Salvation Army landed in Newfoundland in 1886. I don’t know when exactly they can be placed in Little Bay but by 1888 they had a small, active presence in the town. I suspect this was organized around the Rideout family.Lieutenant Lizzie Penny stepped off a steamer in Little Bay on January 10th that year. She was in the company of Cadet Lizzie Howse. The pair moved into the Rideout’s home and Mrs. Rideout took on aide duties. They first hold services there.Using their arrival and departure d ...

Duncan Parsons (Blacksmith)

Duncan Parsons (1856-1914)Duncan Parsons was Little Bay’s blacksmith from 1879 until around 1896.Duncan was born at South Side, Harbour Grace on January 27th 1856 to Frederick and Patience Parsons. The family were Methodists and young Duncan was christened there on February 8th 1856 by James Dove.Once he was old enough he went to school. Michael Scully of Riverhead was Duncan’s teacher. After his formal education was completed he and his brother started their training to become blacksmiths.He wa ...

Constable John Nowlan

I’ve been trying to find the story of Constable John Nowlan, Little Bay’s first police officer. I don't think I've been overly successful. However, in the attempt I have found the context of his arrival and I think it tells another, broader tale of the town.There’s a lot happening in Little Bay, politically speaking, in 1879.That summer the town was just one year old but it was already boasting a population of 1500 people. I just want you to think about that. 1500 people where there were 500 six ...

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Power

Recently I received a request to put together what I've got on the Power family in Little Bay. Well, I've come to suspect more than one Power family were present. All appeared to be Catholic but little else connected them. I had a lot of pieces that didn't fit together very well.I checked the genealogical sites but it didn't turn up much. I suspected this Power family tree hasn't been tackled yet, not online at least. So I couldn't piggyback off of existing work. I decided I'd try to help by pie ...

Killed on the job

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 the first name for a Mr. Young from Bay Roberts and a man from Little Bay Islands has no name at all. I’ve had no luck matching their DODs to burial records or headstones (thanks go to Doyle Wells and The Rooms for helping!). My latest idea is finding ...

The Hiram Perry Jr.

A little steam tug called the Hiram Perry Junior played a significant role in the history of Newfoundland mining. It was certainly the most significant ship in the history of Little Bay. I’ll attempt to tell you its story here. I’ve yet to find a picture of the Hiram Perry so the pictures included here are only of similarly designed ships to give you a sense of a craft that ventured the bays of Northern Newfoundland in the late 19th century.Records of the Hiram Perry in Newfoundland I've found o ...

The fire of 1904

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 don’t know if anyone else is as concerned about properly sorting out these two events as I am but in case anyone follows after my work they’ll see how I came to my conclusions. Unfortunately, I lack the first hand accounts of this blaze that I ha ...

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Loader

Spelling variants found: Loader, Loder, Lowder, Loather, Loathers, Louther, LouthersMy first reference to the Loader family in Little Bay appears on the 1882 electoral list for the region. It has recently been suggested that voters had to have lived in a place for two years before registering to vote there. If that is the case it moves the earliest date for this family in town back to 1880. This would correspond with the sale of the mine by the Germans and lines up nicely with references to a fl ...

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