Journal of the House of Assembly of Newfoundland fourth session of the fourth Second General Assembly St. John's , E.D.Shea , 1852 A Detailed Report of all Inquests held by Joseph Shea , Coroner for the Central District ,during the year ended 31st. Dec , 1851 ----------------------------------------------------------------------- My short forms...Ver. = verdict , this means what the coroner had determined was the cause of death. Where it says " held " means where the coroner held his inquest/ autopsy. Vis = visitation. This is in the context of" visitation by God", which basically means , natural causes. Gov. = government The report gives dates for each person , but I'm unsure if these were the dates of the autopsy , or the date of when he submitted his report, or both? All dates are for 1851. ------------------------------------------------------------- Joanna Paterson date : June 9 Ver.- Vis. of God Held - Water St. ------------------------------------------------- Margaret Kinsman date: June 14 Ver. - Vis. of God Held - Lime Kiln Hill ----------------------------------------------- Margaret Kelly date : June 17 Ver.- Accidental , by burning Held - Tarahan's- town --------------------------------------------- Edward Danhany date : June 20 Ver. - Vis. of God Held - Portugal Cove -------------------------------------------- Richard Mayne date; July 5 Ver.- Accidental explosion of Gas Held - Gas-house ------------------------------------------ Eliza Stancombe date : July 16 Ver.- Accidental burning Held - Portugal Cove --------------------------------------- Patrick Ryan date : July 24 Ver.- Found drowned Held - Kings Beach ------------------------------------------ John Squires date : Sept. 6 Ver.- Accidental drowning Held - Prescott St. ------------------------------------------- Joseph Ryan date ; Sept. 7 Ver.- Vis. of God Held - Cove Rd. --------------------------------------- Child found dead date : Sept. 13 Ver.- Stillborn Held - Duckworth St. ---------------------------------------- Child found dead date : Sept. 17 Ver. - Stillborn Held - Duckworth St. --------------------------------------- Patrick Hayes date : Sept. 18 Ver. - Accidental burning Held - Casey's lane ------------------------------------ James Crotty date : Oct. 29 Ver. - Accidental burning Held - Crocker's Lane ----------------------------------- Martin Murray date : Nov. 10 Ver. - Found drowned Held - Maggotty Cove ----------------------------------- Eli Butler date : Nov. 21 Ver. - vis. of God Held - Foxtrap , S.S. ------------------------------------ Patrick Kennedy date : Dec. 4 Ver. - Found drowned in Clift's Cove Held - Gov. sheds ---------------------------------------------- Well, that's this bunch done...I'm curious though...could someone with historical knowledge of NF explain why so many children appeared to die on Duckworth St.? In this posting for the yr. 1851 , 4 children died on that particular street..Was this area extremely poor???? ~ Ann~ Ann {MacDonald } Batten