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Outport town of Harbor Grace, Newfoundland
1857 Harbor Grace Map - Photographed from the Conception Bay Museum in Harbor Grace during my visit on August 14, 2025
Plan on an Enlarged Scale of the
Town of Harbor Grace in Conception Bay Newfoundland
From the most recent Surveys showing the different Mercantile Establishments on the South Side of Water Street.
NB. The Surveys are completed to the present time, 10th September, AD 1857.
Frederick Rowden Page, Surveyor, St. Johns, Newfoundland
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1. William Andrews
2. Thomas Higgins (H. T. Moore)
3. George Pike
4. William Ash
5. Thomas French
6. Thomas Godden
7. Michael Flynn
8. Nathaniel Davis
9. Jonathan Neil
10. Nicholas Payne
11. William and Jno Payne
12 same
13. Jonathan Martin and Sons
14. William Davis
15. same
16. William Parsons
17. same
18. same
19. Jonathan Martin and Sons
20. William Gordon
21. Jonathan Martin and Sons
22 to 28 William Donnelly
29. same (H.W. Trapnell tennent)
30. Patrick Devereux
31. same
32. Kean's Estate (J.L. Predergast)
33. same (vacant)
34. same (vacant) |
35. Public Wharf and Landing
36. Public Cove
37. Public Tank
38. Daniel Green (Punton and Munn)
39. same (Punton and Munn)
40. same (H and J Gillard)
41. same (Wm Allen MD)
42. same (Punton and Munn)
43. same (Punton and Munn)
44. to 54. Punton and Munn
55. James Hippisley
56. Robert Walsh (A. Drysdale)
57. Robert Walsh (A. Drysdale)
58. Andrew Drysdale
59. to 62. Daniel Green
63. Thomas Higgins (Ridley and Sons)
64. and 65. Rutherford Brothers
66. Captain Jno Stevenson
67. Edward Keefe
68. Charles Walker (Walker and Ross)
69. Arnold Webber
70. Pynn's property
71. same
72. William Pitts (Ridley and Sons)
73. same (R. Hanrahan)
74. James Lampen (J Callahan)
75. Public Cove or Dock
76. and 77. A and H Thomey |
78. Edward Knight
79. and 80 Thomas Woolfrey
81. Public Space
82. and 83. Daniel Green
84. to 88. Ridley and Sons
89. and 90. William Pitts (Ridley and Sons)
91. Public Landing
92. to 99. Ridley and Sons
100. John Mitchell
101. Patrick Butler
102. and 103. Robert Lee Whiting
104. Ridley and Sons
105. John Richards
106. to 110. Thomas Higgins
111. W. C. St. John (J.McDonald)
112. Francis Lynch
113. John Richards (D. Thompson)
114. J. Kavanagh
115. J. Gorman
116. Francis Lynch
117. John Richards
118. J Kavanagh
119. Edward Wheaton
120. and 121. Randal Green
122. to 127. Thomas Higgins
128. Ridley and Sons
129 Samuel Gorden
130 Custom House Ground
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A. Roman Catholic Chapel
B. Court House Gaol and Offices
C. Public School
D. Wesleyan M. Chapel
E. Alms Houses (Private Property)
F. Episcopal Church
G. Gas House Premises
H. Free Kirk
I. Tempce Hall Telegraph Office etc.
J. Public Tank
K. Beacon Tower and Light
L. N.F.Land School and School House
M. Custom House
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1846 penny sized token from Rutherford Brothers in Harbor Grace - Photos from ebay listing. |
Exerpt from Walter Peddle's The Forgotten Craftsmen:
Furniture making in Harbour Grace
Due largely to successful fisheries and the industrious nature of the local merchants, Harbour Grace, Conception Bay was the most rapidly developing community after St. John's during the 19th century. Sources of information about Harbour Grace furniture makers are few. We know that John Searle was one of the first cabinet makers to set up a shop because he advertised his trade in the Newfoundland Mercantile Journal, January 1817. Period books, old newspapers, directories, census reports and voter's lists, however, offer little insight into furniture making in that town. It was possible, nevertheless, to put together an account of three furniture making businesses that operated in Harbour Grace during the late 19th and early 20th centuries. Two had their beginnings around 1870-- a time when the town's prosperity had peaked and began slowly to decline. One was run by Alexander and Edward Parsons; the other by Francis Cody. It was probably at least a decade later that Albert Rogers began making furniture.
The Parsons family
Of the three, Parsons probably produced the largest amount of furniture. This business, which started as a cabinet making, upholstery and undertaking enterprise, gradually expanded to include a retail fancy goods and stationery store and a photographic room. The two following advertisements show this expansion. The first appeared in The Conception Bay Advertiser, Harbour Grace, Newfoundland, December 27, 1873. At the time, Alexander was 26 years old and Edward,
21.
Edward Parsons was an ambitious man. After his brother's death, he managed this thriving business himself until 1927, just two years before his own death. He was also politically active and in his later life was elected as a member of the House of Assembly for the district of Harbour Grace in 1909 and again in 1913.
In 1927 Edward's son Reuben assumed responsibility for the business. By that time, an electric lathe and a multi-purpose machine that could plane, cross-cut, rip and cut grooves were being used and beds were one of the most popular sellers.'
The skippers of fishing vessels from Trinity Bay and Bonavista Bay would come in the fall of the year at the end of the fishing season and whisk the beds away before their varnish finish had completely dried.
Reuben's son, Maxwell Parsons, has vivid memories of these schooner masters struggling towards their vessels with the dismantled beds precariously balanced over their bowed shoulders. "You couldn't make them up quick enough", he commented.
In addition to a general line of household furniture, mattresses were also manufactured, and stuffed with sea grass gathered in Clarke's Beach, Conception Bay, or with excelsior imported in bales.
Metal springs were imported for the mattresses and for the sofas and couches the shop produced. Chairs were imported in an unassembled condition from the Dominion Chair Company, Bass River, Nova Scotia, and assembled in the shop for re-sale. Only about three people worked in the workshop. James Fox, who was a cabinet maker and undertaker, himself, was an employee at one time.
The furniture making ceased after 1949 due to increased competition from mainland Canadian factories. Maxwell Parsons explained:
"With the dropping off of tariffs after Confederation; it was cheaper to import and sell."
It is regrettable that no ledgers or other business or personal records have survived, and tragic that to date only a single piece of furniture can be definitely attributed to the 19th century shop of Alexander and Edward Parsons. Unfortunately, such furniture was considered of little value because it was made from so-called common woods such as locally grown pine and birch; consequently, most of this furniture was eventually discarded.
 
Three buildings comprising Parsons' Emporium, circa 1900. Photographer un-known. In the doorway is Reuben Parsons; the other gentleman is believed to be Edward Parsons. The first two floors of the center building were used to display furniture, the third floor, for storage. In the building on the left, stationery, fancy goods and some furniture were displayed on the ground floor. Behind the display area was the workshop. On the second floor was the photographic room. Just to the right of the centre building is a shop rented by the Parsons for coffin storage. Coffins were also kept in a shed (referred to as the coffin house) behind the building at the extreme left
October 23, 2894 Ad - From Memorial University of Newfoundland. |
Map and text From Routes - Exploring the British Origins of Newfoundland Outport Furniture -
English Settlement in Newfoundland
Dr. Gordon Handcock
Most Newfoundland settlers came from two areas in the Southwest of England. Those from South Devon, leaving from the ports of Teignmouth, Dartmouth and Plymouth, settled mainly in St. John's and Conception Bay, while emigrants from a region comprising Dorset, Western Hampshire (the New Forest Area, South Somerset and Southwest Wiltshire, took passage from the port of Poole, Dorset and settled mainly along the Northeast Coast, from Conception Bay north to Notre Dame Bay. Other important English homeland origins include the port cities of Bristol, London and Liverpool. The Channel Islands (Jersey and Guernsey) are also noteworthy as a source area.
Migration patterns were determined largely by merchants, the pattern of their shipping and the location of their trading establishments in Newfoundland.
Consequently, almost all of the English settlers in places such as Bay Bulls, Petty Harbour and Torbay came from South Devon. Settlers from Dorsetshire, Somerset and Hampshire were the dominant English settlers along the Northeast Coast, from Conception Bay north to Notre Dame Bay, mainly because the fishery and trade along this coast was dominated by merchants of Poole. Poole merchants transported servants and fishermen to their various headquarters in Newfoundland, notably Brigus, Bay Roberts and Carbonear in Conception Bay, as well as Trinity, Bonavista, Greenspond, Fogo and Twillingate. Poole merchants also brought out migrants to Placentia, Mortier Bay, Burin and Harbour Breton.
Bristol-born emigrants settled almost exclusively in Conception Bay around Harbour Grace, where for several centuries Bristol merchants had trading establishments. Channel Island merchants brought migrants who settled in Conception Bay including the Port de Grave/ Bay Roberts area. After the American Revolution, however, most Channel Islanders settled along the South Coast. Most of the London and Liverpool emigrants to Newfoundland resided in St. John's as did most of the Scots who came mostly from the Glasgow and Greenock area. The Scots, along with Londoners and settlers from Liverpool, became prominent in the local resident merchant-class of St. John's. A few Scottish traders also settled in Conception Bay, in Trinity Bay and at Bonavista. |
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