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Enoch Hounsell (1864-1935), the son of
William and Louise Ann, was next in line. Enoch married Lucy Jane Lush
(1867-1944). Lucy came from Fair Island, Bonavista Bay. They were married
at Pinchard's Island on July 2, 1888.
On July 2, 1884 Rosanna Hounsell, who was
a sister to Enoch, married Robert Attwood, a resident of Safe Harbour. In
the year 1886 Robert Attwood and his friend Robert Elkins received a joint,
government land grant for 10 acres of land at Safe Harbour, in the area then
known as Little Safe Harbour - now commonly called The Gut. On this site
Robert and Rosanna built their home alongside their neighbours Robert and
Rebecca Elkins.
Some time later, perhaps before 1889,
Robert was lost at sea, leaving Rosanna widowed and childless. It seems that
he and another person were returning from a birding trip to the Funk
Islands, some 40 miles from Safe Harbour, when a tragedy befell them and
they were both drowned.
Shortly after this tragic accident,
and perhaps because of it, Enoch Hounsell and his wife Lucy Lush, moved from
Pinchard's Island to Safe Harbour to live with Rosanna. Eventually Rosanna
married George Dyke and moved to his house on Dyke's Point in Safe
Harbour. Then in 1913 she sold her 5 acres of land (part of the original
10 acre grant) to her brother Enoch Hounsell, for $1.50
Enoch fished for a living. He was a
dedicated Christian, and the Sexton of the Methodist Church which, after a
denominational merger in 1925, became the United Church of Canada.
Enoch and Lucy Hounsell had seven
children: Emanuel, Robert, Flora, Charles, Daisy, Clara and Elizabeth; all
born between 1888 and 1902.
Emanuel, the first born, went to Nova
Scotia when he was a young man, there he married and raised a family.
Elizabeth died on July 14, 1894 at the
age of 2 years and 7 months. She was playing on a nearby hill when she fell
off the cliff into the harbour and was drowned
Clara had planned to be married but
she came down with diphtheria, and instead she was buried in her wedding
dress at age 24, in the year 1921.
Robert married Annie Porter of
Porterville and built a house next door to his father, Enoch. They had no
children. Around 1940 they moved to St. John's and eventually went to live
in Ontario.
Flora married Wilfred Osmond. Their
children were Pearce, Daisy, Charles, Nita, and Sophie were all born at Safe
Harbour. Around 1940 they moved to Corner Brook where Wilfred had found
steady work in the paper mill. Uncle Wilf, a man much beloved by all who
knew him, lived to be 103 years old and passed away in 2002.
My father, Charles, married Frances
Attwood, daughter of William Kean and Mariah (Spurrell) Attwood. They lived
in Safe Harbour with his father and mother, Enoch and Lucy (Lush) Hounsell.
Charles was a fisherman- lumber jack - sailor - carpenter. Like his father
before him he was a Christian man and a Lay Reader in the church. He and
Frances had three children: Wallace, Robert, and Clara. In 1942 the family
moved to St. John's where Charles pursued his carpentry trade.
When work in the construction industry
became scarce the whole family moved to Toronto in 1950.
After he retired from the carpentry
trade Charles tried his hand at painting scenery. This was actually the idea
of his wife Frances, but he took great interest in this hobby and produced
over 40 oil paintings. During the warm summer months he loved to set up his
easel out on the balcony of his fifth floor Toronto apartment and paint from
memory the scenes of his beloved Newfoundland.
Charles died on May 23, 1988.
Frances died at Grimsby, Ontario on November 1, 1997 they were buried in
Mount Pleasant cemetery in Toronto.
This article is contributed by
son of Charles and Frances,
Wallace Hounsell of Valleyfield.
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