Sadie Saunders (Cummings) b. 1898. Private secretary to Sir William Coaker, until 1926. Carbonear correspondent for the Daily News. Married Fred Saunders.
Torsten Anderson (1834-19-) was born in Norway on 9 February 1834 as Torstein Kverna. He married Mary Thomas in 1859; they had six boys and four girls.
Torstein Kverna arrived in Labrador in the late 1840s as an employee of the Hudson's Bay Company. He adopted a new name following his arrival in Labrador, altering the old Norwegian spelling of Torstein to Torsten and changing his surname from Kverna to Anderson as the latter was considered too difficult to pronounce. He chose the Anderson as his father's name was Anders and the name Anders had been in the family for about two hundred years. Torsten Anderson was the first European to settle in Makkovik, Labrador.
Leonard Cecil Outerbridge (1888-1986), Newfoundland businessman and lieutenant-governor, was born at Ashville, North Carolina, on 6 May 1888, son of Maria Harvey (Tucker) and Joseph Outerbridge, businessman and Vice President of the Patriotic Association of Newfoundland. He married Dorothy Winifred Strathy, and they had one daughter, Nancy Diana (Winter). Outerbridge died on 6 September 1986.
Outerbridge was educated at Bishop Feild College, St. John's, Marlborough College, England, and the University of Toronto, where he obtained his LL.B. After serving in the Canadian Army (rank of major) in World War I, Outerbridge practiced law in Toronto before returning to St. John's to manage Harvey and Company with his brother, Herbert. Over the next several decades, Outerbridge was involved with the Harvey Group of Companies in various capacities: Vice President, Director, President, and Chairman. He was President of the Newfoundland Board of Trade (1923-24); Chairman, Newfoundland Committee of the British Empire Exhibition (1925) Director, Bank of Montreal; Board of Directors, Bishop Feild College (1920-24), and Bishop Spencer College (1921-46).
In addition to his business activities, Outerbridge served as honourary private secretary to Newfoundland governors from 1930 to 1944. In 1941, Outerbridge, with lawyer Charles Hunt, publicly supported the Anglo-American Leased Bases Agreement, which authorized the United States to establish military bases in Newfoundland. He volunteered as full-time director of Civil Defence in World War II, and supervised the Air Raid Precautions (ARP) team in St. John's. He supported confederation in the second referendum in 1948. In 1949, he succeeded Albert B. Walsh as the second lieutenant-governor of Newfoundland; his term ended in 1957.
Outerbridge was also active in the Anglican church: he served as Rectors Warden at the Cathedral of St. John the Baptist from 1923 to 1941, and again from 1944 to 1948; he was involved with church committees; and he was on the Executive Committee of the Anglican Diocese of Newfoundland from 1920 to 1969.
Outerbridge was awarded the Distinguished Service Order (1918) and Companion of the British Empire (1926); knighted (1946); appointed Honourary Colonel of the Royal Newfoundland Regiment (1950) and Knight of Grace, Order of St. John of Jerusalem (1951); made a Companion of the Order of Canada (1967); received a Special Services Award, Canadian Institute of the Blind, for his service as director from 1959-75 (1985); and appointed Companion of the Order of the Red Cross (1985).
Stewart Alexander Davidson (1921- ), World War II veteran, teacher, university professor, sports researcher, was born in Montreal in 1921. After serving in the RCAF during World War II, he returned to Montreal where he enrolled in a Bachelor of Physical Education program at McGill University. Following graduation, Davidson taught in Montreal schools for a number of years before continuing his studies at Columbia University. He continued his teaching career after receiving his EdD from that institution and subsequently taught in the School of Physical Education (later the School of Human Kinetics) at the University of Ottawa until his retirement in 1986.
While conducting research on Canadian sports pioneers, Davidson encountered Frank Graham, who encouraged him to examine the history of sport in Newfoundland. Davidson obtained funding from the Government of Newfoundland and Labrador to make a research trip to the province in the summer of 1980. With Graham's assistance he interviewed fourteen members of the Newfoundland and Labrador Sports Hall of Fame. Most of the interviews, all with men, were conducted in the Sports Archives office. The resultant paper, "An Oral History of Newfoundland Sport", was presented at the Fifth Canadian Symposium on the History of Sport and Physical Education at the University of Toronto in 1982 and published as part of the Symposium's proceedings.
John Victor (JVR, Jack, Bunny) Rabbitts (1909-1964), athlete, civil servant, coach, sports writer, was born in St. John's on October 4, 1909, the son of Jessie (Clarke) and Fred Rabbitts. On October 4, 1957, he married Dorothy Elizabeth Hewerdine. They had no children. Rabbitts died in St. John's on 8 August 1964.
Rabbitts attended the Methodist College, St. John's, where he participated in football (soccer), hockey, and track and field (athletics). He joined the Church Lads Brigade (CLB) in 1923, where he played football (soccer), hockey, basketball, and track and field, and was a member of the rowing crew in the St. John's Regatta (1925-1928). He also participated in tennis and curling.
Rabbitts attended the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) in Boston before returning to St. John's to work as a civil servant with the Newfoundland Government. He was an executive member of the Newfoundland Amateur Athletic Association (NAAA), founder (1935) and president of the Newfoundland Lawn Tennis Association, and served on the executives of hockey and basketball sport governing bodies. An avid bowling enthusiast ("Mr. Bowling"), he organized tournaments and developed public interest in the activity. He also coached gymnastics at the CLB and Bishop Feild College (1950). He organized the All-Newfoundland Football Association (and was first president in 1950) and was later made an honourary life member of the association.
Rabbitts involvement in sport also included research, writing, and chronicling. For forty years he was a regular sports contributor to local newspapers. In 1979 he was inducted posthumously into the Newfoundland and Labrador Sports Hall of Fame. The Basketball Newfoundland Hall of Fame inducted him as a builder in 1984. The Newfoundland Soccer Hall of Fame inducted him in 1985, and the Newfoundland and Labrador Tennis Hall of Fame followed suit in 1986.
Martin Joseph Bergin (1809-1841), Catholic priest, was born in Dublin, Ireland in 1809. Bergen died at Tilton Harbour 28 September 1841.
At the invitation of Michael Anthony Fleming, Bergin came to the Vicariate of Newfoundland, arriving in 1834. He served St. Patrick's Parish, Tilton (Tilting) Harbour, Fogo Island, from 1834 to 1841.
William FitzPatrick (1846-1881), Catholic priest, was born in St. John's, Newfoundland, on 23 January 1846, the son of William and Mary (Morey) Fitzpatrick. After completing high school at St. Bonaventure's College, St. John's (1866), he began his studies for the priesthood at All Hallows College, Dublin, Ireland. He was ordained a priest by Bishop Thomas Joseph Power in the Cathedral of St. John the Baptist, St. John's in 1870.
Rev. FitzPatrick served as a curate at the Cathedral Parish in St. John's from 1870-72. In 1872, he was appointed a professor at St. Bonaventure's College, and he became president of the college in 1878. He died of tuberculosis in St. John's 4 January 1881. He was buried in his family's plot, Belvedere Cemetery, St. John's.
Shortly after his death, an article in The Adelphian, a St. Bonaventure's publication, noted that during his time at the college, Rev. FitzPatrick had been in ill-health and had often been confined to his room. Nevertheless, he made a significant impact on the students. He was also a supporter of the Irish Christian Brothers, providing accommodations for them in St. Bonaventure's College during the construction of Mount St. Francis Monastery.
Michael O'Donel (1777-1832), Catholic priest, was born in Tullaghmelan, County Tipperary, Ireland, in 1777. In 1799, he came to Newfoundland at the invitation of his uncle Bishop James Louis O'Donel, Vicar Apostolic.
O'Donel was initially sent by his uncle to the Grande Seminare at Quebec City to complete his studies for the priesthood. He was ordained a priest on 12 July 1801 by Bishop Plessis in the cathedral at Quebec. O'Donel returned to St. John's and was given an appointment there as a curate in the Cathedral of St. John the Baptist Parish, where he served from 1801 to 1806.
Rev. O'Donel returned to Ireland in 1806, the same year as did his uncle. He was appointed the parish priest of Clashmore and Piltown, County Waterford, and ministered there until his death in 1832. He was buried in the cemetery at Harrogate.
Samuel Baggs (1887-1968), teacher, Methodist/United Church minister, was born in Broad Cove, Bay de Verde, Newfoundland, on 24 June 1887, the son of Archibald and Janet Baggs. He married Laura Lorenzen (sp), of Garnish. They had no children. The Rev. Baggs died on 2 August 1968 in St. John's.
As a teenager, Baggs fished with his father on the coast of Labrador. After finishing school, he accepted a teaching position at Garnish. There he realized he wished to enter the Methodist ministry. He requested a position where he could teach as well as lead in religious worship; he was sent to Indian Burying Place, Notre Dame Bay. In 1912, he became a probationer for the Methodist minstry and served in the Deer Island Charge in Bonavista Bay. He attended Mount Allison University, Sackville, New Brunswick, in 1914 and graduated with a BA degree in in 1917. He was ordained at Cochrane St. Church in June, 1917.
Rev. Baggs served many pastoral charges, including Newtown/Lumsden (1917-21), Bay Roberts (1921-25), Western Bay (1925-28), Freshwater (1928-30) Blackhead (1930-35), Bay Roberts (1935-1936), Channel, Port aux Basques (1936-44),Twillingate (1944-46) and Channel (1946-56).
In 1934, Baggs was elected Secretary of the United Church Conference, and in 1936, became its President.
Following his retirement from the full-time ministry in 1956, Rev. Baggs served as retired assistant minister at First United Church in Corner Brook (1956-7) and Port aux Basques (1957-62) In 1963 he moved to St. John's where he served as supply minister at Cochrane St. United Church and as summer supply at Grand Falls and Grand Bank.
Baggs was awarded an honorary Doctorate of Divinity degree from Mount Allison University. He was an active member of the Masonic Order and was named Grand Chaplain of the Masonic Order of the English Lodge in 1967.
Matthew Scanlan (1803-1871), Catholic priest, was born in 1803. Relatively little is known about Scanlan's early life except that as a teenager, he entered St. John's College, Waterford. He was one of a group of four (along with John Cullen, James Gleeson and Jeremiah O'Neill) to respond to a plea by Bishop Michael Anthony Fleming, St. John's, for volunteers for the Newfoundland mission. The four were ordained together in the Holy Trinity Cathedral , Waterford, by Bishop Foran in 1842 and sailed immediately for St. John's.
Rev. Scanlan was appointed parish priest of Bonavista. His parish was a large geographical area that included King's Cove where he served as curate to Rev. O'Connor. Rev. Scanlan was active in all aspects of the parish including serving on the Roman Catholic School Board of Bonavista Bay South.
Rev. Scanlon died on 14 December 1871.