The Widow of Hubert O'Quin

In the ledger book for 1843, of Philip Robin and Company, operating in Cheticamp, Cape Breton, there is an entry for the widow of Hubert O'Quin. The fact that there is an entry for a widow is not particularly noteworthy, as in any given year in the mid-1800s, among the 400 or so entries in the Company's ledgers, there are usually about a dozen widows. What stands out is the size of her account, relative to those of other widows. It is 54 pounds, 8 shillings and 4 pence, compared to the typical 2 or 3 pounds. This peculiar finding prompted two lines of questioning. First, who was this widow? And second, what was generating this level of financial activity?

Part of resolving the first issue hinged on determining that the name O'Quin was used by the Company clerks in place of Aucoin, one of the founding families of Cheticamp. Genealogical records tell us that Hubert Aucoin was born in 1791 to Anselme Aucoin and Alice Rose Chiasson. He was the second of nine children. He married Marie-Magdelene Bois, daughter of Regis Bois and Appoline Arsenault, on 25 July 1812. We are not sure when Marie-Magdelene was born, but records seem to suggest that she was twelve when she married Hubert. The couple had five children, three of whom were girls, with their fourth child, Norbert, being lost at sea on 5 April 1842. According to tradition, Hubert is supposed to have been shipwrecked off Cape North in about 1841. The ledgers tell a different story.

Tracking entries for Marie-Magdelene both before and after 1843, it turns out that she was actually widowed in 1831, her husband leaving her with a debt of about 37 pounds, and she is still on the books in 1852 -- a full two decades of seeming financial independence. Through those years, she purchases the usual supplies from the Company store: furnace oil, cloth, sugar, tobacco, rum, biscuit, tea, coffee, and various sundries. However, on occasion, she also pays for rental of a small boat, passage on a couple of voyages, and transfers amounts to various men in the community. Her sources of income include an impressive array of items: top-grade cured cod, inferior cured cod, whole cod, cod liver oil, haddock, dog fish, seal blubber and pelts, sheep and potatoes. At one point, she is even paid wages for a month's service on one of the Company's ships, the Young Witch.

Who was this woman?

Choosing the Right Title

I just finished writing a paper on the management of the cod fishery in Cape Breton in 1891. The next step is to send it out to an appropriate journal for publication. However, I'm stuck, because I can't come up with the right title. I know what I want to call it, but I also know what a huge mistake it would be to do so.

My proposed title is, 'Managing the Cod Fishery from Eastern Harbor, Cape Breton, in 1891'. Can you spot the problem? Before I get into that, let me tell you what's right about this title. First, it is important to ackowledge that this paper is best suited for a Canadian journal that publishes historical articles. With that in mind, an ideal title should indicate the particular subject matter of the paper, where it took place, and at what time. My title does all of that, but the problem, as you may have guessed, is with the word 'Harbor'. Shouldn't I be using 'Harbour'? Actually, no.

As you can see from the trading mark pictured above, Charles Robin and Company referred to the location of their business in Cape Breton, as 'Eastern Harbor'. Why they did this, is a matter for another day. The critical issue for the moment is that, if I want to maintain historical accuracy, then I should go with my proposed title, as it is. However, if I actually want my paper to get published, or if I want interested parties to be able to find my article, I either have to change the spelling, or drop the place name from my title. Here's why.

British spelling follows the conventions established by Samuel Johnson in his dictionary of 1755. In contrast, and reflecting systematic efforts at simplification and de-Latinization, American spelling follows the conventions established by Noah Webster in his dictionary of 1828. Now, with respect to everyday usage, Canadians, as they are with so many other things, are generally tolerant of either convention. However, when it comes to scholarly writing in Canada, we are with the British all the way. If I submit the paper as it is now, an editor is likely to reject it immediately, without ever reading it, wondering how I would have the audacity to submit something without having the courtesy or professionalism to check my spelling.

Cape Breton Shipping Marks

A century ago, if you wanted goods to be shipped to the proper location, you could not always assume that everyone handling your merchandise could read. Consequently, companies utilized shipping marks to make the task of identification easier. For example, Charles Robin and Company ran fishing stations at four locations on Cape Breton Island. Here are the shipping marks they used.

This first mark is for the Company's station at Eastern Harbour. This location corresponds to the modern town of Cheticamp, on the mainland across from Cheticamp Island. The Company's principal agent for Cape Breton had his office in this location, and most correspondence with suppliers, banks, and other business interests originated from here. 

The mark for Cheticamp indicates that goods were to be shipped to La Pointe, which is on the southwestern end of Cheticamp Island. The Robin's had their fish processing operation at this location from the late 1700s until 1903.

Arichat is on Isle Madame at the southeast end of Cape Breton Island. This location is actually the first place the Robins did business with local fishers, back in the 1760s. 

This final mark could prove confusing to those familiar with Cape Breton. Usually, Big Pond refers to a town on the East Bay section of the Bras d'Or Lake, well known as the home of the recently deceased singer, Rita MacNeil. However, the English-speaking Robins used the name Big Pond to refer to what was locally known as Grand Etang, a small village located on the north coast of Cape Breton between Cheticamp and Margaree Harbour. 

Delivery Problems

Have you ever had delivery problems? Has an important package gone missing? It happens all too often, and it certainly isn't anything new. Case in point. While doing some research on the management of the cod fishery in Cape Breton in the late nineteenth century, I came across this.

On May 25, 1891, Philip Le Montais, principal agent for Charles Robin and Company, in Eastern Harbour (Cheticamp), Nova Scotia, wrote to Mr. McLeod at Mulgrave:

Dear Sir, 

Please let us know at your earliest convenience who gave you instructions to forward our goods (5 large boxes) to Port Hood. Captain McKinnon reported to us that you told him the boxes had been forwarded to Arichat when on the contrary they had been sent to Port Hood. As two of our craft had called at your station for them, you will please understand that we have been sadly disappointed in not getting these goods and a serious loss. They are still in Port Hood and I wonder are they going to remain there? We beg to call your attention to it at once and let us know if you will pay the charges, as we don't intend paying them beyond your station. In future please keep our goods in a safe place at your station, until you hear from us or are called for. 

How long had they been waiting for these boxes? Did they ever get them? I haven't been able to locate any documents that would shed further light on the matter, but more than a century later I feel their pain.

Surnames and Community Identity

Researchers commonly use surname counts as a means of studying settlement patterns, ethnic heritage, and cultural identity in defined geographic areas. Cape Breton Island, with its long history of occupation, for either economic or military purposes, coupled with its relative isolation, provides an excellent site for this sort of analysis, and by way of illustration I examined the surname frequencies in three small communities.

Cheticamp is a long-established fishing community with a population of just over 3000, located at the northwest end of the Cape Breton Highlands National Park. Ingonish, with a population of just over 1200, is located at the Park's southeastern end, and is home to the renowned Keltic Lodge and the top-ranked Highland Links golf course. The town of Mabou, on the west coast of the Island, with a population of just over 1200, was historically associated with coal mining, but is now more closely associated with its cultural strength, as particularly evident in its musicians, such as the internationally acclaimed Rankin Family.

There are 502 households in Mabou, representing 170 different surnames, of which 112 (65.8%) occur only once. The three most common surnames, in terms of households, are Beaton (66), MacDonald (60), and Rankin (28). Together these three represent 30.6% of all households. 

There are 527 households in Ingonish, representing 198 different surnames, of which 133 (67.1%) occur only once. The three most common surnames are Donovan (31), Whitty (24), and in a tie for third place, Barron (18), Doucette (18), and MacLeod (18). Together these five represent 20.6% of all households.

There are 1292 households in Cheticamp, representing 264 different surnames, of which 182 (68.9%) occur only once. The three most common surnames are Aucoin (152), Poirier (100), and Chiasson (85). Together these three represent 26% of all households.

In total, there are 545 different surnames represented across these three communities, but only 14 of these, or 2.5%, are represented in all three communities. They are: Aucoin, Brown, Campbell, Doyle, Fraser, Gillis, Harrison, Leblanc, MacDonald, MacDougall, MacKinnon, MacLean, Murphy, and Thompson.

While there are a number of observations that could be made about these findings, it is perhaps most intriguing to note that in all three cases, two-thirds of the households represent unique surname occurrences. Further, based on the relative density of heritage families we might speculate that Mabou is the most culturally cohesive community, followed by Cheticamp, and then Ingonish.