Designated as a heritage structure in 2001, the Butler Property housed three generations of the Butler family and holds decades of rich history. When the current owners moved in, they were given an old biscuit box that held a “Newfoundland time capsule” and eagerly opened it up. To their excitement, it was filled with items that the Butler family saved; receipts, letters, notebooks, and even a corset, giving a glimpse into the life of a Newfoundland family in the early 20th century.
Frederick William Butler and his father Eli built the house in the first decade of the 1900s in Burnt Head, Cupids. According to the 1913-1916 Port de Grave Registration Records, Fred married Edith Dawe in 1914 and they had four children: Victor Clayton (b. August 21st, 1914), Violet “Jean” (b. September 2nd, 1915), Donald (b. August 31st, 1917), and Douglas Roy (b. January 1st, 1921) (Newfoundland Grand Banks 2017). The latter three children are accounted for with a variety of records, but the only trace of Victor is his name on a handwritten family tree. It’s possible Victor passed away as a young child or was adopted, but it’s unclear what happened to him.
Family Tree with Frederick, Edith, Victor, Violet, Donald, and Douglas.
The other children attended Burnt Head School, and one of the collection pieces is Jean’s schoolbook from around 1930. Between her arithmetic, geometry, and Latin notes are colorfully written stories about topics like Christmas, the kind of woman she wants to be, and camping—something she seemed to love.
When you go camping you can enjoy yourself by trouting or in having a time picking bake-apples or other fruit. In winter it is not so nice because you can’t pick berries, only catch trout if there are any to get…
Last summer we decided that we would have a day camping in the country, and so we did. The day that we had appointed for to go in the country, when we got up in the morning to go the rain was pouring down and we had to give it up for that day. We said that we wouldn’t give it up, but we would go another day. The next morning was a beautiful one and so off we went in a motor car.
We carried with us all sorts of things to eat and of course to get a few bake-apples too. When we got in there the bake-apples were shy enough and the sand flies were enough to eat us.
Jean and her siblings seemed to enjoy writing, which can be seen in a notebook that likely belonged to Fred. Inside, Fred tallied monthly expenses while the children added their own notes, including what looks like them practicing their writing, making jokes, and doodling.
Below are pages from a notebook, with the first listing items and people to be paid, with ‘Miss Jean Butler, Master Donald’, and ‘Master’ written below tallies. The has math notes, as well as ‘how many feet has forty sheep, a shepherd, and his dog?’ and a family tree beginning with Robert Harold (Fred’s brother and business partner) and ending with Donald Butler. The third has a riddle or joke: “Why was rubber put on the blacklead. Answer, Because if there were no mistakes, there would be no need of any rul [ruler]” and a doodle of a man at the bottom of the page.
Pages from a notebook with the children’s writing and doodles.
Over a dozen letters and envelopes were found in the collection, addressed from friends and family members of the Butler Family. One of which makes it seem like Edith’s mother, Patience was anything but patient;
St. Georges, July 30/36
My Dear Edith:-
I received your letter a long while ago, and intended writing you before, but kept putting it off.
I hope you are better than when I heard from you. I don’t get any letters from anyone. I wrote to Winnie the same time as I wrote to Jean, but she never answered my letter.
Aug 1st, Will try and finished [sic] this to day. Speaking about getting letters, I don’t expect to write them again in a hurry. I had a letter from Heber [Edith’s brother] last mail and we each had one from Jean…
If you are talking to any of Hebers family you can tell them I said I wrote to all of them, and none of them thought it worth their while to write back...”
Collection of postage stamps found inside an envelope.
A heavily mended corset from the Butler Property.
Fred passed away in 1965, and the house remained with Edith until her death in 1987, when their youngest son, Douglas inherited it (Newfoundland Grand Banks 2020). It became a summer home for him and his wife Edith, and remained in their possession until 2014 (Stacey n.d.).
The collection of sentimental belongings was a fascinating find for the current owners who are dedicated to cherishing everything inside the biscuit box and the Butler Property itself. They shared their thoughts with us about finding the collection:
We were so lucky to have found the Butler House in Burnt Head. To us, it represented the essence of a perfect postcard of Newfoundland architecture in a fishing community around the bay.
We were given an old wooden box by the person who renovated the home. He had found it in the attic and when he gave it to us let us know there were a lot of papers in there.
When we opened the hinge of the vintage biscuit box for the first time, we were so excited.
Literally we had in our hands a vintage Newfoundland time capsule. The box was overflowing with papers, letters, envelopes, a vintage medicine bottle, old stamps, bibles, newspaper clippings, candy wrappers etc. At the very bottom a tiny corset with faded blue and pink patches, rough stitching and some very nice buttons. We carefully removed the corset and came across a small faded card written in pencil naming all the Butler children with their dates of birth.
There were also two small workbooks belonging to the children ( Douglas and Jean) who had attended the Burnt Head school up the hill. The writings of Violet (Jean) Butler were so much fun to read. These little work assignments and essays were delightful as she depicted a snapshot of a simple life, an innocence and by the looks of her work she was a very good student with beautiful hand writing, math and latin lessons.
The numerous invoices from the fishery and the letters during the great depression brought home to us the true hardships experienced at this time.
The mothers letters to her daughter Edith were also humorous to read as she struggled perhaps to be so far away and not to hear back from people she had written in a timely fashion. The collection is unique and the contents of this box we hope to pass along to a family member who will appreciate its heritage value.
Unfortunately, Heritage NL has been unable to contact any members of the Butler family who were interested in seeing the collection, so if you or anyone you know is associated with the Burnt Head Butlers, please reach out. The digitized collection will be available on the MUN Digital Archive Initiative in the near future, so keep an eye out to look through the full collection.
References
Newfoundland’s Grand Banks
2017 Port de Grave Registration
Records, Post 1891 Registration Records, Marriages 1913 -
1916 7, pp. 120-129 & 149. Retrieved from https://ngb.chebucto.org/Vstats/post-1891-vol-7-mar-1913-1916-pdg.shtml
Newfoundland’s Grand Banks
2020 Cupids United Church Cemetery.
Retrieved from https://ngb.chebucto.org/Cemetery/cem-cupids-uc-pdg.shtml
Stacey, Jean Edwards
N.d. Newspaper article from The
Telegram.
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