Newspaper and Magazine Articles

Esther Graham Morry Carew’s Obituary, 1939

This is the obituary that appeared in the St. John’s Daily News on the occasion of the death of Esther Graham (Morry) Carew. It names many of her relations, both living and deceased. Sent to me by Enid O’Brien, one of Esther’s g. granddaughters. Esther was the first cousin of my g. grandfather Thomas Graham Morry.

Howard Morry Concerning the Holdsworth House, 1954

This is an article which appeared in The Newfoundland Ancestor 15:1, Spring 1999. The article was submitted by Enid O’Brien and consisted of a letter from Howard Morry to Michael Murphy relating a little of the history of the Holdsworth House.

Toronto Telegram article on Howard Morry and Ferryland Dec. 1, 1959

This article was written by a Toronto journalist (Leon Kossar) as part of a series he was doing on the “main ethnic communities” of Canada. It seems clear from the errors that he did not spend much time in Newfoundland but nonetheless it is interesting reading about the familiar names of folk he spoke with including Herb Barnable, Will Costello, Jack Devereaux and Howard and Pat Morry and others of whom he writes briefly, including Fr. Cotter, Bride Ryan and Pauline Devereaux.

Howard Morry – Memories of Ferryland, 1967

This is an article which appeared in The Evening Telegram, February 23, 1967. Dad Morry speaks of the rough justice of earlier days in Ferryland when there were three gallows in the village and the word of the Captain of the Royal Naval ship in port was law. He also recounts stories of the Whites and Sullivan’s, ancestors on his grandmother, Catherine White’s side.

P. J. Wakeham’s Article on Robert Carter and His Defence of Ferryland and St. John’s, 1977

Pius Joseph Wakeham published New-Land magazine from the late 1960s until the early 1980s. He not only published the magazine but also wrote most of the articles, whether under his own name or that of his alter ego, Jarge. He was a prolific writer, both in this forum and in his many other books and writings. His topic was Newfoundland. But although he wrote extensively about the history of Newfoundland, he was not a historian. That would have constrained his enthusiasm and imagination. The account here of Robert Carter’s role in saving Ferryland and then St. John’s from French attack in 1762 is a typical example of P. J. Wakeham’s writing, containing just enough historical fact to lend it credibility but departing from there into flights of fantasy. Readers are advised to be careful not to assume that what they are reading is entirely factual because it is not. For one thing, neither of the major proponent figures in the saving of St. John’s, Jeffrey Amherst and Lord Colville, make any mention of Robert Carter in their accounts of this event. That does not mean that he did not play some part in this historic event, but it certainly makes it clear that his was not the leading role portrayed by Jarge!

From St John’s to Victoria BC in 1911 – Evening Telegram Nov 2 1981

This story appeared in the Evening Telegram on November 2, 1981 and was a follow-up on two earlier articles (March 9 and 16, 1981) pertaining to the sinking of the BRUCE seventy years before based on eye witness evidence of a survivor, Graham Morry (Thomas Graham Morry IV of Ferryland). I found the November article amongst the papers of Anna Elton Morris now retained by the Centre for Newfoundland Studies / Archives and Special Collections at the QEII Library on the Memorial Campus in St. John’s. Unfortunately, I do not have copies of the two earlier articles nor of the letter from Graham Morry on which Michael Harrington based the three newspaper articles.

Ab Stockwood’s Article on Robert Carter’s Right to Fly the White Ensign, 1986

This article, which appeared in the Newfoundland Herald, Vol. 41 (25), June 21-27, 1986, covers much of the same material as the article above by P. J. Wakeham but with somewhat more historical accuracy and somewhat less imaginative embellishment. Even so, the historical record is completely devoid of any documentary evidence to support the family tradition that Robert was indeed granted the right in perpetuity to fly the White Ensign in gratitude for his saving Ferryland from French attack.

Jean Edwards Stacey, 1997

Evening Telegram — Feb. 24, 1997

Here is an interesting (if slightly inaccurate) account concerning the house of Thomas Graham Morry.

Robert Parsons’ Downhomer article on the Wreck of the SIGRID, 2003

This article, which appeared in the September 2003 edition of the Downhomer, tells the story of a daring but doomed rescue attempt by a number of Ferryland men, following the tragic wreck of the Danish vessel SIGRID, with the loss of all souls, off Ferryland Head in 1903. Two of the people mentioned, the Light keeper at the time, William Costello, and his son John William, were related to the Morrys by marriage.

The Gallipolian, Spring 2016, Article on 100th Anniversary Return to Gallipoli

Here is an article published in the Spring Edition of the Gallipolian Magazine concerning the 100th Anniversary commemorative visit to Gallipoli by the Royal Newfoundland Regiment, the RNR Advisory Committee and the Honour 100 Representatives from Newfoundland.