Free Silk Sails by Calvin Evans Page B

Newfoundland in the early 1600s; for example, Elizabeth Matthews was in Bay Bulls in 1641 and Margery Burt was in the same place in 1651. Mrs. Gilder was involved in the fishery business in 1663, place unknown. There were at least nine other women boat-owners listed in the 1675 census in six other communities between Bonavista and Trepassey: Joan Clay at Bay Roberts; Margaret Taverner at Bay Verds (Bay de Verde); Sarah Edwards at Tarr Bay (Torbay); Emma Horton, Barbara Horton and Joan Hibbs at Harbour Grace; and Widow Long (or Lony), Widow Sertall and Mary Furze at St. John’s. All of the women are clearly designated as widows except Margaret Tavernerof Bay Verds. She was in fact a married woman who resided in Bay de Verde and operated a fishing room there because her husband William was ill at home in Poole. Her sons Andrew and Robert operated fishing establishments there also. The Taverners had been in Bay de Verde from the 1650s. Other women reputed to have been involved in the fishery business were: Emelin Garland in 1675; Widows Wood, Holmen and Gresham in 1676; Lucy Guy and Widow Hanan in 1677; and Widow Roberts in 1681. Also in 1681 there is mention of Widow Bearns living in St. John’s with two children, two boats and ten servants. The English population along the east coast in 1675 totaled 1,367 of which 114 were planters. If women in charge of fishing plantations are counted among the planters, they represent about ten percent of the group, which is quite remarkable. The censuses of 1675 and 1681 demonstrate also that widows employed an average of thirteen servants on their plantations compared with an average of nine for all plantations.
    A petition was sent from Ferryland to King William III on November 27, 1696, describing continuing French aggression against the settlers, the destruction of 12,000 pounds sterling in property, and the banishment by the French of the entire population of 150 persons. The petition was signed by 40 men. Lady Kirke and Lady Hopkins had long since died or departed; George Kirke had moved to St. John’s sometime after the 1675 census; David Kirke II was imprisoned by the French at Placentia, where he died in 1696 or 1697. Following the destruction of several English settlements by the French in 1697, there was at least a tacit tolerance by the British of their own settlers along the east coast and some modest efforts made to supply a military presence for defense purposes. When the British government passed the Act to Encourage the Trade to Newfoundland in 1699, its main thrust was still to promote the existing migratory fishery, but it also included the right to property which had been held in 1685 or before.
    After David Kirke II died in 1696 or 1697, his widow Mary married the St. John’s merchant James Benger in 1699; she then claimed the Ferryland plantation, and they established a business there whichthey operated for many years. Mary Kirke’s decision to remarry was one option for a widow, and it was an option that was taken by many widows, though widows were not as likely to remarry as widowers. Gordon Handcock writes in his book
Soe longe as there comes noe women: Origins of English Settlement in Newfoundland:
“The (Mary) Kirke example does illustrate at least several social processes important for permanency. These include the transfer of property through females, the social situation of the widowed female who found herself stranded in Newfoundland and enforced by circumstances to seek through early remarriage some measure of security and, most importantly, the social interaction between the settled population and the migrating labour force.”
    The main reason for remarriage was economic; it was clear that husband and wife working together formed a strong economic unit. However, many widows were not prepared to surrender the independent status of being head of a household, particularly if the wife and husband had already built up a viable economic