BARENEED: Boon, Fillier, French, Hogan, Noble, Stephens, etc. BRIGUS: Antle, Bartlett, Conroy, Doyle, Gushue, Haw, Percy, Phelan, Plowman, Quinlin, Rabits, Roberts, Sanders, Sparks, Wilcox, etc. PORT DE GRAVE: Butler, Coviduck, Daw, Kavanaugh, Lare, Morgan, Porter, Ralph, Snow, Taylor, etc. Dear Fellow Listers, I have wondered about the circumstances and definition of the word 'distressed' as recorded in the 1817 Census for Conception Bay NL. After reading the quotes below it looks like it could have been another word to describe bankruptcy, which we know today. This family situation was and is sometimes sufficient reason to 'leave town' and 'start over' in another location, provided that there is some financial help from a family member or friendly benifactor. I am told that NL families were very supportive of each other in the early days of NL history. Was it 'bankruptcy' that motivated many family moves to northern Coves and settlements on the Island of Newfoundland and moves much further away to mainland Canada and USA. (a) quote from Father Thomas Ewer's letter from Harbour Grace dated March 20th, 1817...."The much increased population in this place demands many more missionarys than we have at present, but the close of a long war has so changed the scene here, that in every probability it will soon be thin of people. The failure of the fishery deprived us of the supplies necessary & the numbers who flock here from poverty at home render our present case desperate." (lghr questions: does 'at home' mean Ireland? and what year was the potato famine in Ireland?) (b) quote from Court Proceedings (St. John's 1821) concerning 'A Plea for Reform, The Case of James Landergan (1818)...."James Landergan, a native of this island, and a respectable planter at Cubit's, in the district of Conception Bay, happened in the fishing season of 1818 to fall in debt for supplies, to the inconsiderable amount of twelve pounds. It is not usual with the suppliers for the fisheries in this island to distress the planters who may chance to be in arrears to them at the fall of the year, and more especially when they are possessed of fishing rooms as a security for the debt." (lghr note: my ancestor, Henry Rosewell, in the year 1813 sold a fishing room and 61 yards of waterfront property at Bay Roberts, where the 50+ Club stands today, for 10 pounds sterling to Robert Pack, paid for with Bills of Exchange.) Webster's def. of 'distress'...1 a : seizure and detention of the goods of another as pledge or to obtain satisfaction of a claim by the sale of the goods seized; All words of enlightenment are welcome. Sincerely Lloyd ===== Researching Surnames/ancestors, in NL before 1835.....Batten *Beauchamp, *Beecham, *Bishop, *Buchan, *Bucham, Butler, Churchill, *Dawe (Daw, Dar, Dare, Dorr) Earle, Epps, Fitzpatrick, Foot, *French, *Lamb, Moran, Morgan, *Russell, *Rosewell, *Rosedale, Rosdell, Routh, *Rowswell, *Rowsell, Rowell, *Rousell, Roussell, Snow, *Sparks, *Sparkes, Tucker and their in-laws. (*Timeline Documents on file for these surnames, NL Primary Producers and NDBay History..all family history contributions are welcome) __________________________________ Do you Yahoo!? SBC Yahoo! DSL - Now only $29.95 per month! http://sbc.yahoo.com

"Lloyd Rowsell", Wrote: > I have wondered about the circumstances and definition of the word > 'distressed' as recorded in the 1817 Census for Conception Bay NL. I do not believe that this is a census but rather is a report on the economic conditions of the inhabitants of Conception Bay. Unlike a census I do not believe that anyone went house to house and took the information from individuals but, instead, I would guess that the information was obtained from the supplying merchants. So how they were characterised ("distressed", "well off", "very well off") may have been as much a reflection of the supplying merchants situation as the situation of the inhabitants. The only copy I have seen of this document is a photocopy from the A.C. Hunter Library in St. John's. Unfortunately it does not include where the original is to be found. I am sure that it was a document produced for someone in the Colonial Office but I don't know where it is. If one knew this then one could figure out why and how it was produced. If anyone knows the source of this document (i.e., which Colonial Office or Board of Trade series is comes from and the page numbers) I would be very pleased to be told. > After reading the quotes below it looks like it could have been > another word to describe bankruptcy, which we know today. It could be, but I think that it isn't being used in this precise a sense but rather used in the more general sense that they were very hard up, more precisely it probably meant that they didn't have the resources to feed themselves for the winter and that their supplying merchant wasn't willing to advance them it either (i.e., supply it on credit). Whether they were 'bankrupt' would be another matter (i.e., one can be very much in debt but not be bankrupt). It is listed under "Means of providing" and the other terms used here include "well off" and "very well off". > This > family situation was and is sometimes sufficient reason to 'leave > town' and 'start over' in another location, provided that there is > some financial help from a family member or friendly benifactor. Traditionally insolvent inhabitants had their return to England paid for by their supplying merchant. Reeves mentions the custom: --begin quote-- While I was at Trinity Harbour last Summer, I saw a Boatkeeper of Perlican, who, with a Wife and Ten Children, wished to be carried to England to his Parish. The merchant, by whom he had been supplied till the last Two years, told me, he had fallen so in Debt to him that he could not supply him further, and he had offered to convey him and his Family to England, as he saw no Probability of the Boatkeeper retrieving his Affairs. The Boatkeeper, however, wished to try his Luck again, and persuaded a Merchant at Harbour Grace to supply him; he went on for Two Seasons, had no Success, fell deeply in Debt to his new Merchant, and was, when I saw him, in Dread of being refused Supplies for the Winter, and his Family perishing for Want. To escape this he wished to go to England; but the first Merchant now refused what he had before offered; the Man was out of his Hands; he was not bound by that Sort of Honour, which is well understood in the Island, to supply him during the Winter; a Burthen which always falls on the Merchant who has the Fish during the Summer, and not being so bound, he had no need to renew his Offer of conveying the Man and his Family to England. I thought the first Merchant perfectly right; he had done his Duty, while he had any Obligation on him. I mention this only to shew [sic], that something else than Zeal for the Trade is the Motive for sending Home Persons without being paid for so doing. Reeves, J. (1793). Mr. Reeve¹s evidence before a committee of the House of Commons on the trade of Newfoundland. London: J. Sewell, Cornhill; J. Debrett, Piccadilly; and J. Downes. Page 88. --end quote-- The 'parish' here was the civil parish which supplied relief under the Poor Law. > I am told that NL families were very supportive of each other in > the early days of NL history. This may have been the case (it would be hard to disprove or prove), but in any case, the British Colonial Office and Navy often transported the poor back to England (at the urging of the merchants no doubt) rather than pay relief. > Was it 'bankruptcy' that motivated > many family moves to northern Coves and settlements on the Island > of Newfoundland Better fishing I would guess, places like Conception Bay had pretty well 'filled up', fishing wise, by the early nineteenth century. > and moves much further away to mainland Canada and > USA. Poverty and better economic opportunities for certain. > (a) quote from Father Thomas Ewer's letter from Harbour Grace > dated March 20th, 1817...."The much increased population in this > place demands many more missionarys than we have at present, but > the close of a long war has so changed the scene here, that in > every probability it will soon be thin of people. The failure of > the fishery deprived us of the supplies necessary & the numbers > who flock here from poverty at home render our present case > desperate." (lghr questions: does 'at home' mean Ireland? It would also mean the West of England in the case of Harbour Grace. There was a general economic depression in both Britain and Newfoundland at the end of the Napoleonic Wars. > and > what year was the potato famine in Ireland?) The Great Famine was 1845-50 (though there had been localized ones from the mid-eighteenth century), very few escaping that famine went to Newfoundland, which was already had more emigrants than immigrants by then. Most went to the United States and the Canadas (the same place many Newfoundlanders were already going to). > (b) quote from Court Proceedings (St. John's 1821) concerning 'A > Plea for Reform, The Case of James Landergan (1818)...."James > Landergan, a native of this island, and a respectable planter at > Cubit's, in the district of Conception Bay, happened in the > fishing season of 1818 to fall in debt for supplies, to the > inconsiderable amount of twelve pounds. It is not usual with the > suppliers for the fisheries in this island to distress the > planters who may chance to be in arrears to them at the fall of > the year, and more especially when they are possessed of fishing > rooms as a security for the debt." (lghr note: my ancestor, Henry > Rosewell, in the year 1813 sold a fishing room and 61 yards of > waterfront property at Bay Roberts, where the 50+ Club stands > today, for 10 pounds sterling to Robert Pack, paid for with Bills > of Exchange.) This does refer to a case of insolvency/bankruptcy, however many people were in debt at the end of the fishing season but they were not bankrupt unless the merchant called in his debts and most did not. Again from Reeves' evidence citied above: --begin quote-- With respect to the Population of the Island, and the Increase of Residents, this seems to me an Evil, if it is one, that cannot be so easily cured. I repeat, that the Merchants which pretend so much Zeal against Residents have been and still are the principal Encouragers of Residency; the Resident Boatkeepers are the Hens that lay them their Golden Eggs; so long as they are successful, and are able to pay their Way, no Merchant (with all his supposed Zeal for a Fishery carried on from Great Britain) ever wishes to remove them; but as soon as they run not only repeatedly in Debt (for the most thriving are so, and the Merchant takes pretty good Care to keep them so) but so much behind, Year after year, as not to afford a Prospect of the Merchant being any longer a Gainer by them, then no Body is so anxious as he is to send them out of the Country to prevent their being burthensome to himself; and some of these are the Instances the Merchants cite, when they say they have brought many Home without taking any Thing for their Passage. The other Instances are of Servants who are grown lazy and unprofitable;.... (p. 91) --end quote-- The years 1816-1818 were very hard ones in Newfoundland. The population had increased rapidly in the period from 1810-1815 because fish prices had been very high (the main competitors, France and the United States, had been unable to fish and the war had lead to increased demand) and travel between Britain and Newfoundland had become more dangerous for those working in the fishery (mostly from the danger of impressment by the Royal Navy but also from the Americans). After 1815 the economy crashed, there were bad fisheries, and St. John's burnt down. The winter of 1817-1818 was known as the 'Winter of the Rals' when there was real starvation and gangs of unemployed men raiding stores in search of food. A good source to read on this is, Ryan, S. (1994). The ice hunters: A history of Newfoundland sealing to 1914. St. John¹s, NF: Breakwater. Robert M. Lewis, PhD Department of Sociology AA 2046 Memorial University of Newfoundland St. John's, NL A1C 5S7 CANADA 709-737-3977 http://www.ucs.mun.ca/~lewis