Pool's Island, Newfoundland and Labrador


Pool's Island is an incorporated community of Badger's Quay-Valleyfield-Pool's Island in the province of Newfoundland and Labrador, Canada. It is now part of the town of New-Wes-Valley.

History

Pool's Island was named Fool's Island up until the 1850s. It was visited in the late 18th century by migratory fishermen but permanent settlement did not begin until about 1800 by seal fishermen and inshore cod fishermen. The first known resident was Anne Jeans, recorded in 1815. By 1821, a sealing captain from Greenspond, William Knee, was living on Pool's Island, and in 1823, a Jacob Preston was there. Other family names that came to Pool's Island were Kean, Ayles, Pope, Dalton, and Davis; many of these settlers came from Flowers Island. There was a rapid increase in population between 1845 and 1869 when the population grew from 177 to 524, mainly because of the Labrador seal hunt and Pool's Island was in the path of the harp seal migration route. The growth of Pool's Island eventually led to the growth of communities surrounding it, such as Valleyfield and Badger's Quay.

Church history

In 1836, nine people out of the 112 on Pool's Island were Roman Catholic, the rest were Church of England. By 1845 there was a Roman Catholic school and church on the island. There was no resident minister in Pool's Island so Missionaries from other communities would visit Pool's Island for services, baptisms, burials, and marriages. In 1865 the St. James Anglican Church was built on Pool's Island and was consecrated on September 24, 1865 by Bishop Edward Feild.

Education

As early as 1830 children were being educated on Pool's Island, a building on the island was used as a school until the first school was built in 1862. In 1841 there were 30 students under John Spurrell, and in 1848 there were 48 students. The next teacher was William Murch from England who taught from 1858 to 1873. A new school room was built on Pool's Island in 1883. In 1895 C.W. Prowse wrote in his history of Newfoundland that the branch school at Pool's Island was established in 1829 and was being run by a branch teacher with 20 pupils in day school and 27 in Sunday school.

Seal fishery

The seal fishery played an enormous role in the permanent settlement and growth of Pool's Island. Because of its prime location for the seal fishery many captains and steamers operated out of Pool's Island. Chafe's Sealing Book lists several steamers from Pool's Island that were a part of the St. John's steam sealing fleet from 1863 to 1894. These ships, their master, and the supplier are as follows:
SteamerMasterSupplier
WolfWilliam KeanWalter Grieve & Co.
GreenlandB. KeanNicholas Stabb
KiteW. KneeBowring Brothers
MicMacS. BartlettBaine Johston & Co.
NimrodB. CrockerJob Brothers & Co.
Wolf II 2ndA. KeanNewfoundland S.S. & W.F. Co.

Chafe's book also lists a ship that sailed from Pool's Island that was a part of the Harbour Grace steam sealing fleet and that was the Mastiff mastered by Isaac Mercer, and supplied by John Munn & Co.
Naboth Winsor's Stalwart Men and Sturdy Ships provides ample detail about the seal fishery in Bonavista Bay North, which includes Pool's Island. In one of Winsor's charts, Pool's Island is listed as having 38 seal nets in 1845, 57 in 1857, and 18 in 1869. Also, in 1857 Pool's Island had 9 large boats suitable for the seal fishery.

Census information

18361845185718691874
population112177311524506
inhabited houses1316306667
families--518380
Church of England103162306476442
Roman Catholic915---
Wesleyan/Methodists--54864
can read/write---169206
# of students-39-3937
merchants/traders--11-
people catching/curing fish--240147256
seamen/fishermen--78?85
total fishing boats121432823
boats built--2--
nets/seines-454866195
cod fish cured --5010-6606
herring cured --150--
vessels in seal fishery--61814
men on board--119131216
tonnage in fishery--352716672
seals caught--8725--
seal nets-385718
fishing rooms in use--232230
stores/barns/outhouses--282341
Oil --16-3884
tons of hay-42--
barrels potatoes produced766.526040611722048
barrels of turnip--494745
hogs6----
cows--3--
sheep--2715
swine/goats--1961167

Directories

- Hutchinson's Directory for 1864-65 lists some residents of Pool's Island:
- Lovell's Directory for 1871 describes Pool's Island as an island on the north side of Bonavista Bay with a good harbour, distant from Greenspond 3 miles by boat with a population of 524. The names listed are: