Silver Fox Island


Located on the northwest side of Bonavista Bay, Newfoundland at the mouth of the Indian Bay inlet is a small island named Silver Fox Island that was once inhabited. It is about 3 km in length and about 3 km from Fair Island. The first settling began at Warren's Harbour on the southern side of the island.

History

Warren's Harbour was the first settled, named after an early settler, John Warren, who was living at Salvage, Newfoundland, in 1675. Warren's Harbour appears in the 1836 Census with a population of eight, of the same family. By 1869 there were five families living there, the Buttons, Felthams, Hunts, Matthews', and Rogers' families. In 1884 the population was 49, there was a slow population growth, and in 1901 there were 82 people living there.
Silver Fox Island was not located near any major fishing grounds so they relied heavily on the Labrador fishery and woods work in Indian Bay during the winter.
By the mid-1950s most families were relocating to nearby communities such as Indian Bay and Wareham. By 1969 the island was completely abandoned.

Education History

The islands first school-chapel was built between 1895 and 1896. A new school was built in 1926. Some people who taught on the island were James Rogers, Jesse Oakley, Stephen Hall, and Beatrice Feltham Saul Maher 1956 - 1960, Arthur Feltham,.

Fishery

Fishing boats and skippers in Silver Fox Island:
Ships skippered by the Feltham family of Silver Fox Island:
- Mayflower
- Grace
- Self
- Foam, 1885
- Paddy
- Beatrice May
- Ada
- Sea Gull
- Ivanhoe
- Henerita Dawton
- Lady Bird
- Mabel
- Clara Hallett

Census Information

Directory

- Lovell's Directory describes it asan island on the north side of Bonavista Bay, distant from Greenspond by 6 miles in boat, with a population of 45 in 1871. The list of names given are: