William Hynes 1845–1932 – Genealogical Records

Sources

Genealogy Event 1
Event Type: Birth
Event Date: JAN 1845
Event Place: Sandy Cove, B. B., Nf., Can.

Genealogy Event 2
Event Type: Custom Event
Record Source: William Hynes (Philip, William Jr., William Sr., Benjamin) was bornin Jan 18 45 in Sandy Point, NF. He died in 1932 in Port au Port, NF. Info from Don B ennett's book: William and Ester settled down in Port au Port East around 1871 . Theylived on a 37 acre farm and the land extended from the base of themoun tain to Port au Port Bay. A gentle sloping valley ran throughthe property and contained a small brook with clear water and brooktrout. Timber grew well in this valley and over the years producedenough logs to build a house. The lan d in the upper field was rockybut, with hard work, produced all the vegetables required for thefamily. The first in the upper field, overlooked Port au Por t Bay. The houseserved as the first RC Church for Port au Port. The priest o f bishopwould sometimes stay overnight and celebrate Mass in the morning. Allthe Catholics from around would come to this house for Mass. By 1893 William a nd Ester had 12 children and the old house was nolong adequate. They had work ed hard, managed well and by 1895 hadthe means to build a larger and elaborate house. In 1897, when theirson Philip Stanislaus was 6 years old, the family moved to a new housein the center of the big field. The new two-story house h as abell-shaped roof with dormer windows and was green with casings. Theupst airs contained a bathroom and four large bedrooms. Thedownstairs has a dressi ng room, hallway, kitchen with pantry, diningroom, parlor, sun porch and veran dah. In every room of the housethere were holy pictures. On one occasion when Father Joy came toPort au Port, the Annual Garden Party was held on William a nd Ester's37 acre farm. On the east side of their field, toward the front gat e was a largewhite building with red trim that contained a small grocery sto re upstairs and utility room downstairs.In the valley below the house a secon d building served as a coldstorage facility. In the back field a foot path ra n a quarter mileover the edge of the bank to the fishing flakes and fish store . Thelarge white building in the front of the field proved to be a soundinves tment. The utility room contained all the tools necessary formaking barrels. William and sons Columba and Thomas would cut hardwood each winter andmake, sell, barrels for the herring fishery. William was a cooper andwas contracted to make barrels on American vessels in the Bay ofIslands. He took knitted gra y socks that Ester knit to the Bay ofIslands. The American captain said that gray socks were 'Jonahs' andmade William throw them overboard. William would s pend a few monthson the American vessels each fall. The vessels would sail ba ck toGloucester when they had their load of herring. The small grocery store was stocked with merchandise from Sandy Point.They never handled heavy stuff, an average small grocery store, allkinds of varieties. If you wanted some ba king soda they would put abig penny on one end and balance it with soda in the other end of thescale. The grocery store, although a viable operation, close d,because it required too much effort during the fishing season.Although he had business interests, William was first and foremost afisherman. He fished for lobster and cod with his brother Henry atFox Island, in Port au Port Bay. He also worked in the lobstercanning business with his brother John Philip an d brother-in-lawMichael Abbott. John Philip and Michael had the lobster conce ssionfor Fox Island area of Port au Port Bay and William reportedly ran hisow n operation under their concession. In later years his sons William and Michae l joined him at Fox Islandto fish lobster and cod. They were out there on Jul y 3, 1906, thesea was calm and it was a beautiful summer day. William (20) an dMichael (17) had gone out in their boat to move a line of lobstertraps. The boat had a hole in the back for a sculling oar. Whilethey were loading the t raps, water was coming in through the hole,and th

Genealogy Event 3
Event Type: Death
Event Date: 1932
Event Place: Port Au Port, Nl, Can.