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Patrick Raymond Bowers was born in Ireland on 10 May 1844. He immigrated to Charlottetown, Prince Edward Island, while still quite young, where he attended a private school operated by John LePage. He later became a student at St. Dunstan's College.

Politics captured Bowers' imagination at a very early age. He held the post of secretary of the Liberal Reform Association of Prince Edward Island while still only 18 years old. Perhaps it was this interest in politics which propelled him to a career in journalism: in 1863 he became an editorial contributor of The Examiner, a newspaper published by the Hon. Edward Whelan, a prominent journalist, member of the PEI Legislature, and a Father of Confederation. In 1868 Bowers published a biography of Whelan, who had died the previous year.

In 1865 Bowers left The Examiner to become headmaster and choirmaster at the Roman Catholic Academy in Woodstock, New Brunswick. He returned to The Examiner in 1870 as editor, a post he would hold until 1873, when he became Queen's Printer for PEI, a probable political sinecure. Bowers appointment to the Queen's Printer's position coincides with the election of 1873 and PEI joining the Canadian Confederation. While his knowledge of printing may have qualified him for the job, it did not secure it for him, as he lost the position three years later when the party he supported lost the 1876 election.

Even before he left office as Queen's Printer, Bowers had established his own newspaper, The New Era. He was publisher and editor of that paper from 1874 until 1886. In 1875 he also became secretary of the O'Connell Centenary Celebration, charged with arranging appropriate celebrations for Prince Edward Island to mark the one-hundredth anniversary of the birth of the Irish patriot, Daniel O'Connell.

In 1878 Bowers accepted Roman Catholic Bishop Peter McIntyre's invitation to be one of 12 laymen, who, together with four clergy, would constitute the first board of the Catholic Total Abstinence Union. Bowers served as secretary of the board from his appointment until 1886. During 1884-85 he was also first vice-president of the Charlottetown Literary and Scientific Institute.

Bowers made one attempt at elected office in the 8 May 1882 provincial election when he accepted the Liberal Party nomination as one of its candidates in the two-member King's County (2nd division) seat. One of the Conservative candidates was incumbent premier W. W. Sullivan, who finished second with 569 votes to Bowers 481.

In 1886 Bowers left PEI for Newfoundland where he had accepted the editorship of a new newspaper, The Colonist, a St. John's paper owned and operated by Colonist Printing and Publishing Company (Maurice A. Devine and John O'Mara, proprietors). It was established as a voice for the Roman Catholic Liberal Party in response to the election of 1885 which resulted in the all-Protestant Reform Party forming the government. In spite of this proclaimed mandate, Bowers, who was the paper's sole editor, kept the paper on a very non-political course. In fact, its major political issue was opposition to Newfoundland joining the Canadian Confederation.

The fire of 8 July 1892, which ravaged much of downtown St. John's, destroyed The Colonist's building and its press, forcing it to cease publication. Bowers attempted to start a new paper, The Daily Tribune, in November 1892, but by September 1893 it was in financial difficulty. It published irregularly until the end of the year, when it, too, ceased publication.

Beginning in 1896, Bowers published the first of 15 annual Christmas numbers of The Tribune. It was a special Christmas issue, containing prose, poetry and illustrations appropriate for the season. In the interim, he acted as correspondent for other St. John's papers and did freelance writing, including compiling biographical sketches of Newfoundlanders for inclusion in H. J. Morgan's Canadian Who's Who.

It would appear that Bowers quickly gained the confidence of the Liberal Party hierarchy. In 1890, only four years after his arrival in Newfoundland, he was one of the government delegates sent to Canada to seek support for Newfoundland's campaign to bring about an end to French fishing rights on Newfoundland's west coast.

Bowers married Mary Cahill of Prince Edward Island in 1879. They had one daughter, who died on 5 December 1891 as a result of burns sustained when her clothes accidentally caught fire. P. R. Bowers died at St. John's on 18 August 1911. His wife, Mary, published volume 16 of Christmas issue later that year.

Alfred Bown (1908-1969), Catholic priest, was born at Bell Island, Conception Bay, Newfoundland, on 5 May 1908, the son of Mary Loretta (Giovanetti) and Thomas A. Bown. Bown died at Via Coeli, Albuquerque, New Mexico on 2 August 1969 and was buried in the Priests' Plot at Via Coeli Monastery.

Bown was educated at the parish school on Bell Island and at Holy Cross School, St. John's. He transferred to St. Bonaventure's College, St. John's (1925-28). Following graduation from St. Bonaventure's he attended St. Augustine's Seminary, Toronto, where he completed his course of studies for the priesthood in philosophy and theology (1928-34). Bown was ordained a priest on 29 June 1934 at the Cathedral of St. John the Baptist, St. John's, by Edward Patrick Roche, Archbishop of St. John's.

Rev. Bown was appointed curate in St. Michael's Parish, Bell Island, where he served from 1934-1939, except for one year of temporary replacement appointments in St. Joseph's Parish (Merasheen), Sacred Heart Parish (Oderin), and Sacred Heart Parish (Marystown). In 1939 he was given leave for medical treatment in Quebec. When Rev. Bown returned to Newfoundland he was assigned as a curate on staff in the Cathedral of St. John the Baptist Parish, St. John's, where he remained until 1950, when ill health again forced him to retire.

Rev. Bown remained in Quebec for treatment from 1950-1959. In 1959 he returned to St. John's for a short respite. In 1960 he was transferred to Via Coeli, Albuquerque, New Mexico, for further medical care where he remained in a convalescent home for priests until his death in 1969.

Noah Norman Bradley (1857-1924), cabinet maker and businessman, was born in 1857 in Musgrave Harbour, Bonavista Bay, Newfoundland, into a family of boatbuilders and fishermen. Bradley married Evangeline M. Trimm in 1886, and on 21 March 1888, the couple had a son, Frederick Gordon Bradley (1888-1966), who became a lawyer and politician. Bradley died in St. John's in 1924.

In 1878, with his brothers Adam and Len, Noah Bradley built the Orange Hall in Musgrave Harbour. In 1881, he began a five-year apprenticeship with the Newfoundland Furniture and Molding Company at its factory on Forest Road, St. John's. By 1890, he was working as a cabinetmaker for Richard Goff in a manufacturing shop in the Goff house on Prescott Street. From 1898 until his death, Bradley operated his own furniture-making business from his residence on Victoria Street.

Frederick A. Brazill (1881-1967), hotelier, salesman, insurance agent, was born in 1881. In 1902, he married Bride (surname unknown). The Brazills had three children; daughters Sheila, and Lal, and son James. Brazil died at St. John's on 8 January 1967. He signed his name Brazill, however his tombstone records his name as Brazil.

In 1898, Brazill was hired as an assistant to Charles H. Danielle, an eccentric American who owned and operated Octagon Castle, a hotel built at Octagon Pond. By 1901, Brazill was adopted by Danielle as his ward. When Danielle died in 1902, Brazill was his sole heir, and ran the hotel until it was destroyed by fire in 1905.

According to city directories, Brazill was employed as a salesman and insurance agent in St. John's, and an employee of Browning Harvey, Ltd. In the mid 1930s, Brazill was a member of The Partridge Social Club, a club for the employees of Browning Harvey, Ltd.

Robert Brennan (1829-1896), Catholic priest, was born in Kilkenny, Ireland, circa 1829. Brennan died at St. John's on 17 September 1896 and was buried in Belvedere Cemetery, St. John's.

Brennan completed his studies for the priesthood in Ireland and was ordained a priest in the Cathedral of St. John the Baptist, St. John's, on 24 June 1855 by John Thomas Mullock, Bishop of St. John's.

Rev. Brennan's first appointment was in St. John's. In 1857 he was appointed the parish priest of Holy Apostles Parish, Renews (1857-71). In 1871 he was named parish priest of Holy Rosary Parish, Argentia, succeeding Rev. Plagius Nowlan. Father Brennan retired in 1895.

Thomas Francis Brennan (1855-1916), Catholic bishop, the son of James and Margaret (Dunne) Brennan, was born at Bally Cullen, Tipperary, Ireland, 10 October 1855. He died on 21 March 1916 at Frascatti, Italy.

Brennan's family immigrated to Pennsylvania when he was eight. Brennan studied for the priesthood at St. Bonaventure's in Allegheny (N.Y.), the University of Rouen (France), and the University of Innsbruck (Austria) where he was awarded the degree of doctor of Divinity in 1876. He was ordained a priest on 4 July 1880, in Brixen, Austria, by Bishop John de Leiss. Soon after, Brennan began studies in canon law. His early career included a number of pastoral assignments in the Diocese of Erie, Pennsylvania. On 11 January 1888 he was made a Papal Chamberlain.In July 1890 the Vatican established Dallas as the third diocese in Texas. Brennan was named the first bishop of the new see, and on 5 April 1891, Tobias Mullen, Bishop of Erie, consecrated him to the episcopacy. At age of 35, Brennan was the youngest Catholic bishop in the United States at the time.

During his early months as bishop, Brennan traveled widely and his addresses were often reprinted in major newspapers. During his brief tenure he built churches in the new diocese and began publication of the Texas Catholic. He had inherited, however, the taxing responsibility of an extensive diocese, short on personnel and in considerable debt. While on a visit to Rome on 17 November 1892, Brennan was relieved of his Dallas post and transferred to the Titual See of Utila and made coadjutor to the Diocese of St. John's, Newfoundland.

On 7 October 1905 he was named titual Bishop of Caesarea in Mauretania. He later retired to a monastery in Grottoferrata, Italy. Brennan died on 2 March 1916 in Frascatti, Italy.

Thomas J. Bride (1887-1951), Catholic priest, was born at St. John's, Newfoundland, on 23 August 1887, the son of Mary (Power) and William Bride. His mother was from Carrick-on-Suir, Ireland, and his father was originally from Brigus, Newfoundland. He died at St. Clare's Mercy Hospital, St. John's, on 25 April 1951 and was buried in Belvedere Cemetery, St. John's.

Bride attended St. Patrick's Hall School, St. John's, for his primary, elementary and high school education. He secured employment with the commercial firm of J. D. Ryan. Upon the death of his mother (1910) he lived with his grandparents in Ireland.

Bride began his studies for the priesthood in Ireland in 1911. He completed his philosophy studies at Mount Mellary, a boarding college for seminarians, under the direction of monks from the Cistercian Order. Bride studied theology at St. John's College, Waterford, where he was ordained a priest on 17 June 1917, by Bishop Bernard Hackett.

In 1918 Rev. Bride returned to Newfoundland and was appointed as the parish priest of St. Patrick's Parish, Burin (1918-24). He served as parish priest of St. Raphael's Parish and chaplain to Mount Cashel Orphanage, St. John's, holding these appointments until shortly before the time of his death in 1951.

Thomas Bright (fl. 1940 -1977), veteran, baseball and hockey organizer, sports official, was born in Saint John, New Brunswick. He joined the Armed Forces in 1940, serving in various actions overseas including the D-Day offensive. He returned to Saint John after World War II, but left again in 1957 as a civilian employee of the Forces. He worked at a number of military installations, including Moosonee, Ontario, where he was active in organizing Little League baseball.

In 1967 Bright was transferred from Moosonee to Happy Valley/Goose Bay, Newfoundland as superintendent of the base's heating plant. In Happy Valley/Goose Bay, Bright was active in all levels of Little League baseball, particularly as organizer and umpire. He established a girls' softball league and was also involved with adult games. In the winter he was involved with minor hockey as team manager, rink manager and coordinator of tournaments and hockey schools.

As a result of his devotion to the interests of minor hockey and Little League baseball, Bright was made an honorary Kinsman in 1977 and nominated by them to the Newfoundland and Labrador Sports Hall of Fame. He retired from his job with the Forces in 1977 due to ill health and moved to Saint John in that year.

The Methodist missions in Newfoundland were administered directly from England until 1816. In that year the missions were erected into a district of the British Wesleyan Methodist Conference under the supervision of the Wesleyan Missionary Society. In 1855 the districts of Nova Scotia, New Brunswick, Prince Edward Island, Bermuda and Newfoundland were formed into the Wesleyan Methodist Conference of Eastern British America. For a discussion of the history of the various Methodist bodies in Canada see Neil Semple, The Lord’s Dominion (Montreal, 1996). For a detailed history of the Methodist Church of Canada in Newfoundland and Labrador see D.W. Johnson, Methodism in Eastern British America (Sackville, N.B., 1924).