The Story of Musgrave Harbour By Louise Whiteway, PhD (The Newfoundland Quarterly, Spring 1971)
In the early 1830s a family of Western Bay pulled up stakes and sailed northward some 75 years after its first Newfoundland forefather William “a native of the West of England” had pulled up his stakes to settle in Western Bay where he lived “upwards of 78 years” until his death in 1834 at the age of 98. The migrants fished a preliminary season or two at Seldom-Come-By, and first wintered, then settled, on the nearby mainland at a point between two headlands, early known as Muddy Hole, after 1866 as Musgrave Harbour.
If the boat of small tonnage, steered by rule of thumb navigation weighed anchor finally at Latitude 49º 28´ N, long 53º 56´ W it could not have been for the sake of the harbour there, “beset with islands and off lying rocks”; the land, too, was not a little bouldery, with soils “derived from weathering of granite and sandstone bedrock, and from old beach sands and gravels and till remnants” so that it was fortunate that fishing took precedence of farming. There was better land for farming at contiguous Ragged Harbour, settled a little before, also by a single family.
Enterprising people from old established southern communities were migrating northward to settle a coastline where none except perhaps Indians had been before them. Indians had definitely preceded white settlers along the “Straight Shore”, were so reported at Cat Harbour, now Lumsden, at Ragged Harbour and at what is now Carmanville.
Former resident of Musgrave Harbour, N.W. Gillingham accounted for the northward movement: “The attraction was dense forests providing plenty of choice timber for fuel, schooner, house, and room building, an abundance of fish, sea birds, wild life; and practically every year seals were taken. The usual procedure was, after a new arrival made his choice of location, to cut down the heavy timber, build his home, stage and boats and get right on with the job of making a living.”
The newcomers had done this by 1836 when the census returns reported for Muddy Hole 1 dwelling house, 1 fishing boat, under 15 qtls, 4 males and 2 females under 14, 4 males and 2 females between 14-60. The Ragged Harbour family had its house too, but numbered only 5 in all, and had no boat. Doting Cove, on the other side of Muddy Hole had not yet come into being. These two places, to be often included later within the general designation Musgrave Harbour, though never losing their separate identities, receive mention here on that account.
The first family of an eventual 5 sons, 6 daughters, attracted others within the sphere of its activities. Sharemen, who came most often from Bonavista, were needed in prosecution of the fishery. Certain of these presently married daughters of the family and set up on their own. Roads began when trails had to be cut along the shore to enable families to visit.
The choice of location must have justified itself for 1857 census figures point to 23 families with 150 inhabitants, 59 of whom were fishermen. There were 19 houses, with 2 in building, 9 stores, 6 fishing rooms, 8 boats (3 built that year), 17 nets and seines. Codfish cured amounted to 1520 qtls. One boat with 6 men had engaged in the seal fishery. Cultivation of the land had yielded 938 barrels of potatoes, and 29 tons of hay. Cattle numbered 31; 330 lb. butter had been produced.
The census of 1857 listed one school. From other sources we know that there was a schoolhouse-church built in 1851, and it had a teacher-layreader. Starting from scratch some 20 years before, Muddy Hole had definitely settled in and was on its way, though not without incident. The very first year there, sons John and Robert lost the family ship with all their goods.
Ragged Harbour had stood almost still while the new settlement of Doting Cove forged ahead. The 1857 census assigns to Ragged Harbour only nine persons, two being fishermen but to Doting Cove 102 persons with 53 at the fishery. By the time daughters Mahala and Jane of the first family in Muddy Hole were of an age in the mid 50s to marry John Russell and John Bradley, both of Bonavista, most of the land at Muddy Hole must have been taken up so that they located on the Point just this side of Doting Point.
The general pattern of living would be typical of outports at that stage and in that area. A younger daughter of the Russells, Elizabeth, born in 1862 knew the Muddy Hole of the first generation at but one remove and could tell of the 20 or so wooden houses (23 in the 1869 census), clapboarded from lumber hewn and pitsawn locally. A line with red ochre on it would be snapped against the wood to ensure straight clapboarding; roofs were shingled; rooms had beamed ceilings; windows had small panes 8×10 inches, three each way above and below the sash. Interiors walls were papered but lower floors might be sanded – the floors of the upper rooms could have mats – and the sand was patterned with a birch broom. Every Saturday evening the old sand would be swept out and replaced with fresh sand which the young Elizabeth brought up in bags on her back from the beach. For the winter, sawdust would be used. Later came the fashion of painting red some condemned sail cloth for floor covering.
The very first dwelling house, that of the original John (1784-1856), Elizabeth remembered had the large brick chimney, wide at the base, tapering towards the roof, within which were iron bars from which hung hooks to carry kettles and pots. The floor near the chimney area would be tiled with slate blue rocks 7×8 inches square to prevent sparks igniting the wooden floor. Kerosene lamps, not candles, lighted houses, and wicks in a can of cod oil, “train oil” flaring like torches were used in [fish] stages. There was also the inevitable hard wooden settle along with other homemade furniture.