Showing 3 results

Archival description
Thomas Roberts fonds
Fonds · 1865-1916; predominant 1903

The fonds consists of a diary and photo album compiled by Thomas Roberts on his trip to Newfoundland in 1903, and a letter received from a cousin in Montreal while he was in Brigus. There is also a prayer book which belonged to a family member, and various Newfoundland, Canadian and British one cent or one penny coins dating from 1865 to 1916. The material has been arranged in three series, with non-original material concerning Mr. Roberts, together with correspondence between Mrs. Newton and Bobbie Robertson, Secretary of the Newfoundland Historical Society, being placed in an appendix. Series are as follows: Series 1.00, Textual materials; Series 2.00, Photographs; Series 3.00, Coins; Appendix 1, Correspondence and other material relating to the collection.

Roberts, Thomas
Rev. George M. Johnson fonds
Fonds · 1855-1862

The fonds consists of 15 diaries in the form of numbered booklets of around 30 - 32 pages each, handwritten, with the inclusive dates recorded on the front cover. The collection starts with Diary 13, March 11 to May 8, 1855, moves to Diaries 33 - 35, November 6, 1858 to June 20, 1859, and finally Diaries 45 - 55, December 18, 1860 to December 31, 1862. The location of the missing diaries, which presumably started with his incumbency at Portugal Cove and included a trip to Labrador and the death of his first wife in 1860, is unknown.

The diaries record the weather, the texts on which all his sermons were preached, the size of the congregations, number of communicants, amount of offetory and other collections, names of the sick and other parishioners visited, baptisms, churching of women, burials and occasional weddings. His duties took him on many journeys, walking, on horse back, by cart and by catamaran, to visit his various parishes, as well as on visits to his brother R. Malcolm Johnson, friends, fellow clergymen, church services, meetings and the Colonial Building. Personal activities, such as tending his horse and garden, reading, writing sermons and letters, listening to his children's lessons, picnicking and boating, are also listed. There is very little reflection on the politics or worldly news of the day.

Johnson, George M.
Fonds · 1864-1903

The letters range over the period from 1864 to 1903, though there is nothing between 1874 and 1898. The correspondents include Edward Feild, Bishop of Newfoundland; Shears' future wife, Emma Laura Harvey; his brother Fred; and his good friend Robert Holland Taylor, Anglican incumbent of Brigus parish from the early 1860's to 1886, and of Baltimore, NJ, from at least 1898 to 1903. The five photographs, all albumen prints in carte-de-visite form, were in one envelope, but only one is identified and dated, July 14, 1865. The material has been arranged in two series, with an appendix: Series 1.00, Textual materials; Series 2.00, Photographs; Appendix 1, Correspondence and other material relating to the collection.

Shears, William Charles