The Wonder of Grace Newell

I am interested in the women in our history whose stories are seldom told. They often disappear in the records when they marry and take their spouses' names.. If we are lucky, we find their birth/baptismal information but their mothers' maiden names are seldom given. Marriage records can be helpful but often are destroyed, missing or non-existent. Finding a matrilineal line is difficult.

Then there is Grace Newell. Grace was married in 1860 to Eli Mercer. She is my husband's great great grandmother on his mother's paternal side. We have not been able to find Grace's birth date but we imagine it to be in the 1830s. The baptismal records for that time do not exist for that area. If she was born elsewhere in Newfoundland, finding her baptismal information will be a long search. We may never know the names of Grace's parents.

 

                     Grace Newell

We know that Grace married Eli Mercer in 1860 in Bareneed, Newfoundland. The name Bareneed itself conjures up interesting images. There are several theories as to the reason for such an unusual name, the most accepted of which relates to the bare land and exposure of the area on the Port de Grave peninsula in Conception Bay.

Have a look at Bareneed in the photos here.*

We are fortunate to have a picture of Grace which is unusual for the time. Some of the earliest photographs in Newfoundland were taken in the late 1850s. The date of this photo is unknown.

Of Grace herself, we only know what we can see from the photo or infer from her appearance. She has strong features, dark hair and eyes, with high cheek bones. Some people have suggested that Grace had Indigenous ancestry in her family line though the Newells in Newfoundland were originally from Britain. We would need to find her matrilineal line to confirm this suggestion.

Her hair, though tidy, gives severity to her features. In the 1860s, a woman's long hair was parted and flattened to the head around the face and gathered in at the back of the head. By the 1870s, hair was gathered on top of the head so this picture may be from the 1860s. Could this picture have been taken before Grace married?

It is interesting that Grace had a brooch at her collar. This piece of jewelry and the picture itself were not the common property of fishermen's daughters. Such families had difficulty feeding the children, leaving little for pictures or jewelry. Grace's family may not have been of average means for the time. Her father may have been a merchant or a planter.**

After their marriage, Eli and Grace lived in Bay Roberts, Eli's home. Eli was a fisherman, according to an occupational directory of the time. There they had five children, the youngest of whom was my husband's great grandfather, Richard Mercer. By the time Eli died in 1907, he was a planter.

            Richard's Graduation

Eli and Grace's son, Richard, married Clarinda Moulton of Burgeo. Her father was a merchant. Richard met Clarinda when he was stationed in Burgeo as the Church of England minister. It was said that their wedding was the social occasion of the year.

           Richard and Clarinda

Clarinda and Richard had nine children, not all of whom lived to adulthood. One son survived, my husband's grandfather Richard, born 1909. One of his sisters, Faith was born in 1920. While her colouring is lighter than Grace's, the shape of her face is unique among her siblings and similar to her grandmother's strong cheek bones.

Faith married late in life and did not have any children. We are remembering her today and giving her a place in the family story.

                          Faith 

When I see the pictures of Grace Newell Mercer and her granddaughter Faith Mercer Randell, I wonder whose features I exhibit. Dad always said I looked like his mother...

*The photographer is JP Newell, who was born in Bareneed. We cannot help but wonder if he is a distant relative of my husband. His photo galleries, accessible on the upper left corner, are beautiful.

**The first fishers of Newfoundland were migratory, sailing from Britain in the spring and returning again in the fall. The first resident fishers were called planters. Over time, the term referred to a man who owned a fishing vessel.