Doting Cove
Doting Cove and Ragged Harbour.
Geography
Located on the Straight Shore of Newfoundland, Ragged Harbour is to the west of Musgrave Harbour and Doting Cove is to the east. Ragged Harbour got its name from the appearance of its harbour which is filled with rocks and coves, thus giving it a 'ragged' look.History
The 1836 Newfoundland Census records a family of five living in Ragged Harbour, it was the family of Jack Mullins. Soon after the Bemisters and Pinsents settled in Ragged Harbour. One of the Bemisters of Ragged Harbour, Simeon, was a crew member on the Belle Hadden which was built in Ragged Harbour and was used to take produce to mining towns.Doting Cove had its first settlers by 1850, some of the families were the Abbotts, Cuffs, Haywards, Hickses, and Moulands. Just seven years later the population had reached 102 in Doting Cove. Many of the settlers would go to the Wadham Islands to fish during the summer season. In the 1900s Doting Cove was a supporter of the Fisherman's Protective Union and by 1912 a Union Trading Co. store was opened there.
Ragged Harbour and Doting Cove by 1884 were both almost entirely Methodist. However the Salvation Army made converts in Doting Cove first in the 1890s and the majority of Doting Cove's population became Salvation Army by the 1930s.
The 1911 census records Doting Cove's population as 458 and Ragged Harbours as 49. Since Doting Cove, Ragged Harbour and Musgrave Harbour were incorporated their population has remained near 1000 throughout the 1900s.
Census Information
- Ragged Harbour
| 1869 | 1857 | 1874 | |
| population | 11 | 9 | 10 |
| inhabited houses | 2 | 2 | 2 |
| families | 2 | 2 | 2 |
| Church of England | 11 | 9 | 10 |
| people catching/curing fish | 2 | 2 | 3 |
| seamen/fishermen | 2 | 2 | 3 |
| total boats | 1 | - | 1 |
| nets/seines | 9 | 9 | 9 |
| salmon caught/cured | - | 4 | 21 |
| cod fish cured | - | - | 4 |
| fishing rooms in use | 2 | - | 2 |
| stores/barns/outhouses | 2 | 1 | 2 |
| swine | 2 | - | 1 |
| barrels of potatoes produced | 46 | 21 | 18 |
- Doting Cove
| 1874 | |
| population | 247 |
| inhabited houses | 33 |
| families | 38 |
| Wesleyan | 247 |
| can read/write | 61 |
| attending school | 56 |
| not attending school | 67 |
| nets/seines | 53 |
| catching/curing fish | 64 |
| seamen/fishermen | 48 |
| total boats | 35 |
| cod fish cured | 2362 |
| herring | 112 |
| fishing rooms in use | 21 |
| stores/barns/outhouses | 27 |
| oil | 2712 |
| cattle/cow | 23 |
| horses | 7 |
| sheep | 17 |
| swine/goats | 74 |
| tons of hay | 23 1/4 |
| barrels of potatoes | 867 |
| barrels of turnip | 20 |
| barrels of root crop | 1 |