Free Silk Sails by Calvin Evans

the first teacher in Newfoundland because she successfully taught an American Aboriginal to speak English. John and Ann Mason jointly authored a highly accurate description of the island in a book entitled
A Briefe Discourse of the New-found-land
. George Calvert, the first Lord Baltimore, established a colony at Ferryland in 1621 and appointed Edward Wynne as governor of the colony. In the second group of settlers which came out in 1622, there were seven women. But Wynne, in a letter to Calvert, asked for more, especially for “a couple of strong maids, that (besides other worke) can both brew and bake.” Contrasting with Edward Wynne’s statement that “women would be necessary heere” was Captain Wheler’s remark in the 1660s that “soe longe as there comes noe women they are not fixed.” The latter statement reflected a battle that was raging in England about whether Newfoundland should be settled at all. The seasonal migratory fishery had been pretty well restricted to men only, and there were many strong West Country advocates of the status quo. At the same time that settlement was being consciously retarded in Newfoundland, an advocate for settlement in the American colonies was writing: “A plantation can never flourish till families be planted with the respects of Wives and children fix the people on the soyle.” The presence of women was synonymous with settlement and community stability.
    The formal colonies continued somewhat tentatively in Newfoundland. Lord Baltimore’s colony at Ferryland was enlarged and became the Province of Avalon in 1623. Edward Wynne was replaced by Arthur Aston as governor in 1625 and Lord Baltimore finally came to Ferryland in 1627. The next year he brought his wife to Avalon. So dreadful and interminably long was the winter that it is believed that Lady Baltimore persuaded her husband to abandon the venture for something in the warm south. He appliedfor Maryland but died before the grant was awarded in 1632. The charter for the Province of Avalon was assumed by Cecil Calvert, the second Lord Baltimore, George’s son, but he became preoccupied with the venture at Maryland and ruled Avalon through a series of governors until about 1637.
    In that same year Sir David Kirke was awarded a charter for the entire island of Newfoundland, and he became governor of the colony on behalf of the Company of Adventurers to Newfoundland. In 1638 he arrived in Ferryland with about 100 colonists. His tenure was marked by the fiercest possible controversy with both French settlers and West Country merchants. As a result he was recalled to England in 1651 and placed in prison. Though he was eventually released from prison, it is highly unlikely that he ever returned to Ferryland. However, his wife Lady Sara Kirke did return and carried on the family fishing business for several years after her husband’s death.
    In Lady Sara Kirke we meet the first of our women shipowners in the Atlantic region. One of the informational history boards at present-day Ferryland states: “She rightfully deserves the title of British North America’s first woman entrepreneur.”
    It is impossible to determine in what year Lady Kirke became a plantation owner or shipowner. She had first arrived in Ferryland in 1638. As the wife of the governor it is unlikely that she was having a “hands-on” involvement in the fishery in the early years. However, since she was carrying on an active fishing and supply venture according to the census of 1675, it may be safely concluded that she was a plantation owner, a shipowner and a boatowner from about 1643, if not before. She was not the only woman at Ferryland. Her sister, Lady Frances Hopkins, a political refugee whose husband was William Hopkins of Newport, moved to Ferryland in 1643 with the support and commendation of King Charles I. Lady Hopkins also appears in the 1675 census as a plantation owner pursuing an