Charles Ollerhead and the Heart's Content Salvation Army Cemetery

Our last blog post on Charles Ollerhead and the Heart's Content Salvation Army cemetery inspired questions on who Charles Ollerhead was, and the history of this tiny, one-marker cemetery. More information was found in Connecting the Continents by Ted Rowe, an excerpt of which is available below.

Connecting the Continents by Ted Rowe.

Excerpt below was taken from: Rowe, Ted. Connecting the Continents. St. John’s: Breakwater Books Ltd.,

2009-04-21. Page 96-97, with the authors permission.

"The Salvation Army first appeared in Heart's Content in 1891, striking a chord with a young cable operator dedicated to the cause. Newcomers to Newfoundland, the Army brought a religious style especially appealing to those Methodists nostalgic for the lively, unrestrained prayer meetings of their earlier days. Carried on a wave of unabashed evangelical fervour, the Army swept through the outports and attained official standing as a religious denomination, which, among other things, allowed it to operate its own schools in a government-supported denominational education system. 

At first the congregation of St. Mary's, still mindful of the Wesley upsurge, did not know quite what to make of this new intrusion, but a congregational meeting in January 1892 found them ready to close ranks: 

Mr. Charlton asked who were members of the Church. Rev. Chairman stated that any persons who connected themselves with any other church or sect or enrolled themselves as members of S Army could not be members of the Church and pointed out that the Rector was not bound to bury a corpse simply because the friends of the deceased wished it. After some remarks by Messrs John Farnham, Gaden Rendell & others Mr. Charlton proposed, Mr. J. H. Moore seconded that persons joining any other church or enrolling as member of S Army be not allowed to use St. Mary's cemetery. Carried. 

Headstone of Charles Ollerhead, buried in the Salvation Army Cemetery
in Heart's Content. Photo courtesy of Ted Rowe.

No dithering as far as the Salvation Army was concerned. The Army's stalwart in Heart's Content was Charlie Ollerhead, a 20-year old Anglo employee whose father had broken away from the Church of England and married into the Methodist side of the Hopkins family. A bachelor with some spare time on his hands, Charlie Ollerhead became passionate in the cause. He volunteered as secretary of the Salvation Army in Newfoundland and spent his summer holidays helping out at headquarters in St. John's. His zeal is apparent in a small item penned for the Army's Canadian newspaper, The War Cry: 

One would think it an impossibility to have a public S.A. banquet in Heart's Content, the people seem to be so much opposed to us, but the Captain's faith ran high, and six of us took up our cross to beg (without a trial there's no denial), and the Lord opened the peo- ple's hearts and they helped us exceptionally well.  

We have no real barracks here, and we tried to get a hall, but failed to obtain one. We had with us Capt. Hoddinott and Bro. Howell, with his cornet and guitar, from Carbonear, also officers from Hant's Harbour and Scilly Cove. We had a nice crowd. The musical jubilee went with a swing. I believe everyone enjoyed themselves, and the unsaved had another chance to get ready to enter into the marriage supper of the Lamb, but none would accept the invitation...We realized the nice little sum of thirty dollars…

 

The Army held their first meetings in a fishing shed on the Rockwood plantation, nicknamed the "tar-pot," where they attracted a contingent of men from Scilly Cove. By 1893, the Scilly Cove people branched off with a corps of their own. In Heart's Content a new barracks was established near the Main Brook. 

Charlie Ollerhead's soldiership was cut short by ill health in 1896. In March, the station superintendent advised that he take a fortnight off and noted that he would be wise to "discontinue his more active operations in connection with the Salvation Army, public speaking, shouting, excitement and late hours not being good for him." Anglo's general manager in London ruled that his occupations outside combined with his duties were too much, and he would have to resign one or the other. Ollerhead worked on and off until June when he was diagnosed with tuberculosis. He died in November. Forewarned by the Church of England policy on burial space, the Army had secured land for a cemetery on the barrens just behind Rowe's Bank. Charlie Ollerhead was the first and only soldier laid to rest there. After his passing the Army failed to gain a firm footing in Heart's Content and departed for good in the 1930s. Today, their tiny cemetery with its single gravesite is the only reminder that they were ever there." 

Learn more about the history of Heart's Content in Connecting the Continents by Ted Rowe (2009).

#CollectiveMemories Roadtrip: Bonavista Peninsula

Pei and Michael measuring and drawing the inside of the Salvation Army Citadel.

Last week from July 12th to the 15th Built Heritage Officer Michael Philpott, Heritage Intern Pei Xing Li, and myself, Terra Barrett travelled to the Bonavista Peninsula for a #NLHeritage Roadtrip. The main goals for this work road trip were to measure, and draw the Salvation Army Citadel in Elliston and the spar in Champney’s West, gather as much information about the Citadel and spar, and to photograph the Foundation’s designated buildings.

Sign inside the Salvation Army Citadel.

We left the office early Tuesday morning and hit the highway. Our first stop after a quick lunch at Two Whales in Port Rexton was the Tourism Elliston Office. We talked with Don Johnson about the Citadel and asked about who we should talk with in the area. He also showed us the Salvation Army instruments which were found in the citadel and were being stored in the Tourism Elliston storage room. Don then let us in the building and found a ladder for us to use.

The Salvation Army Citadel which was recently designated.

The weather outside was pretty dreadful so we mainly focused on photographing, measuring, and drawing the inside of the citadel. The equipment we used was very straight forward – a couple of measuring tapes, graph paper, a clipboard, pencils and pens, line level and string, a drafting triangle, and a molding comb. If you would like to learn more about field documentation there is a fantastic PDF guide from the United States’ National Park Service here.

Mortuary Chapel, Trinity, NL.

After measuring and drawing the interior of the building we had a dinner of fish cakes and fish and brewis at Nanny’s Root Cellar and then headed out to take some photographs. One major part of the Heritage Foundation’s mandate is to designate buildings and offer information, support, and grants for the restoration of buildings. We have an online listing of our properties and have photographs of each building. Some of these photographs are quite old so we decided to use the trip to take photographs of as many of the buildings as possible in order to update our website. If you want to check out some of our registered structures click here!

Pei and I turnipped in Champney's West.

Wednesday we spent most of our time in Champney’s West. If you follow the blog you will remember Dale and I took a trip to Champney’s last summer did a few workshops and a couple of oral history interviews. This summer our team did a couple more interviews about the spar which rests outside the Heritage House in Champney’s West. This spar (which is basically the mast off of a ship) is a piece of the Hazel Pearl which was wrecked near the community. Two local fisherman accidentally caught it in their net and so they’ve displayed it outside their community museum. There are several people in the community with vivid memories of when the Hazel Pearl sank and so we did a couple of interviews on its sinking and hope to do another one next week with the man who accidentally retrieved the spar.

Sarah Hiscock who was interview about the sinking of the Hazel Pearl.

The Hookey house which was framed and finished in the 1930s.

In the early evening we were invited to an old house built in the 1930s which quite sadly is falling down. The woman who lived in the house until recently is 106 and both she and her husband were incredibly crafty. Amy Hookey is a beautiful quilter, and rug hooker who left in her home an incredible collection of mats and quilts both finished an unfinished.

Bj who purchased the home has contacted the local crafting groups in the area about reusing the scraps and materials remaining in the home for new projects. Amy’s husband Alonzo was also a craftsperson – most all of the furniture found in the house was handmade. There were handmade rocking chairs, dressers, and built in cabinets. It was an incredible house to explore. It will be sad to see the house go however it hasn’t been lived in for some time and it is starting to really deteriorate quickly. I’m glad Michael, Pei and myself had a brief opportunity to explore the home and photograph some of it’s stories. I would love to talk with Amy in the near future and hear some of her personal memories and stories about the home and about crafting.

Details of Alonzo's work.

Pile of Amy's quilts.

Later Wednesday evening we returned to Trinity to finish photographing the area and we even ventured to the abandoned Trinity Loop for a couple of photographs. One interesting thing about talking to folks in small communities is their willingness to invite you into their homes. P.J. allowed us to walk through Amy’s home, we were invited in to Karl Hobb’s home in Elliston for a chat about the Salvation Army, carpenter Aiden Duff showed us around the Trinity schoolhouse, and we enjoyed a cup of tea with house owner Robert Cuff.

View from St. Paul's Anglican School in Trinity, NL.

The designation of the Loop is confined to the railroad tracks but it is pretty amazing to explore the abandoned park.

Following a late supper in Trinity we returned to Port Rexton to see if the Kitchen Party was still happening. We stopped by after nine for an event that started at seven expecting it to be almost finished. Instead we arrived just in time for a lunch of tea, sandwiches, and cookies and another couple of hours of music. There were locals who sang original songs, played instrument from keyboard and guitar to accordion and bass, a couple of ladies got up and stepped along with the jigs and reels, and there was a special appearance by a fiddle player from Newfoundland and Labrador tourism who is touring the coast and playing at community events. It was a lovely ending to a full day!

Michael and Pei on our Fox Island hike.

On Thursday we woke up relatively early and took the opportunity to hike some of the Fox Island Trail in Champney’s West. You get great vistas of the ocean, Trinity, and Trinity East. Our team spent most of the rest of our day in Elliston. This time we were measuring, photographing, and drawing the exterior of the building, as well as conducting interviews with local people about the Salvation Army Citadel. Michael and Pei did a lot of the measurements and drawings while I conducted a couple of interviews. The first interview was with a gentleman, Lewellyn Tucker who grew up in Elliston and went to the Salvation Army Citadel with his grandmother. Lew said in jest that his favourite memory of going to the Citadel was trying to make off with the 25 cent collection he brought each week. He said 25 cents was a lot of money back then but he never made away with it. He was always caught by his grandmother and put the collection in the plate.

Port Union Heritage District.

Michael and Pei measuring the Salvation Army Citadel.

Theodore Tucker was the second interview and he discussed the open air services held during the summer, who played the drums and tambourines, as well as his memories about attending services and singing on the platform. We tried to do one last interview before heading out to Bonavista to take some registered heritage structure photos but unfortunately the gentleman wasn’t home. Instead we stopped into Bonavista and photographed houses, churches, and lodges. We were invited in to see the progress on the home of Robert Cuff who, along with his son, is renovating his home.

Alexander Mortuary Chapel of All Souls.

We left Bonavista and headed to Upper Amherst Cove where we had a lovely supper at the Bonavista Social Club. When we finished our meal we booked it back to Port Rexton to bingo but unfortunately we were late! In my experience you never want to be late to bingo and you certainly don’t want to be late and new to the game. It took us a few minutes to sort out what size cards we wanted and then we had to get dabbers. Once we got into the swing of things it was a great fun. We had to keep checking with the table next to us to check what card we were on. We also played Wild Bologna for the last card which means that you dab all the numbers that end in the number called. 17 was called so 7, 27, 37, 47 and 57 could be dabbed. Is this common to bingo? It was my first time playing with Wild Bingo. Although we didn’t win anything it was a fun evening and it was great to see some familiar faces from the Kitchen Party and from an interview we had done.

One of the many designated homes in Bonavista.

Friday we packed up the car and headed to Bonavista. We finished taking photographs of the registered structures in the area and we did an interview with a gentleman name Bill Faulkner who was a school teacher in Elliston and had memories of the Salvation Army Citadel. He described the renovations to the citadel which he had helped with, the special services for Easter, and Christmas, and the music which was played during the services. After we finished the interview and photographed the last buildings we stopped at Aunt Sarah’s Chocolate Shop to try her ice cream and then we hit the highway back to town.

Stay tuned for some short video clips of Sarah Hiscock and Albert Hiscock's interviews!

~Terra Barrett

Call for Memories - Salvation Army in Elliston

Salvation Army Citadel, Elliston, 1960.  Source: Community Memories Virtual Museum, Subsistence of Early Outport Newfoundlanders, Tourism Elliston Inc. album, 203.

Do you have memories about the Salvation Army in Elliston, NL? The Heritage Foundation of Newfoundland and Labrador (HFNL) is looking for stories, photos, and memories and wants to talk to you.

Collected stories will be made available through Memorial University’s Digital Archives Initiative, which is a free, public website where the HFNL stores the photos, videos, and interviews it collects. Researchers are currently looking to talk to locals about their memories of the Salvation Army in Elliston, NL. We are also interested in any photographs of Salvation Army events such as weddings, and citadel suppers.

The Salvation Army began in London England in 1865, and arrived in Elliston in 1887 with the first officer assigned in 1894. We are looking for anyone connected to Elliston’s Salvation Army’s citadel including soldiers, officers, captains, and majors who may have served in the area. From recollections of the church’s social events such as weddings, garden parties, and citadel suppers to regular services, if you have been involved with the Salvation Army in Elliston we would love to hear from you.

The oral history project is part of HFNL’s ongoing Intangible Cultural Heritage program. The program works to safeguard the living heritage of the province for present and future generations everywhere, as a vital part of the identities of Newfoundlanders and Labradorians, and as a valuable collection of unique knowledge and customs.

If you would like more information, are interested in being interviewed for the project, or have photos of citadel events please contact Historic Places Researcher Terra Barrett at (709)739-1892 ext. 5 or terra@heritagefoundation.ca.

Salvation Army Captain standing on Lodge Hill, Elliston, 1940.  Source: Community Memories Virtual Museum, Subsistence of Early Outport Newfoundlanders, Tourism Elliston Inc. album, 28.

~Terra Barrett