by Lorraine Hynes
Reprinted from The Packet, July 31, 1980
John Charles Butt was born on December 19, 1893 at a small community named Perry’s Cove near Carbonear. His late mother was the former Jessie Curtis from Grate’s Cove and Henry, his father was born and grew up at Perry’s Cove. He was somewhere around the age of two when his father died and he went to live with his great Aunt Mary Harris at Grate’s Cove. His nephew came to Perry’s Cove on horseback to carry him to Grate’s Cove to live. He has since been told he was still in dresses when he left home. They spent the first night at Caplin Cove and arrived at Grate’s Cove the next day. He doesn’t rightly know how many brothers and sisters were in his family, but he has one sister, Mrs. Mary Moores at Carbonear and one deceased brother.
Before very long his aunt died and then his uncle. He then went to live with a neighbor, Eleazer Benson who had a son, Peter around his age. They grew up as brothers and Mr. Benson was very much a good father who taught how to mend twine but wouldn’t allow him to do any real hard work.
As far as school went he says, “I’ve never seen inside a school in my life.” Therefore he never learned to read or write but has always managed quite fine without it.
At the age of fifteen he left Grate’s Cove and went to New Brunswick in search of work. His trip there cost him $15.50 from St. John’s to New Brunswick. He was hired on the government buoy boat where he earned $35 a month and every six months was given a $5 bonus. His job was to assist in the placing of new buoys, replace the carbide every six months in others and supply cartons of kerosene oil to the lighthouses in his area which took him to Halifax and the Bay of Fundy. He spent nearly three years at this work.
He left there and went trucking on the “Calvin Austin” travelling from St. John’s to Boston. He didn’t much care for this type of work so he went as a fireman on the “‘Yarmouth.” This was a passenger boat which travelled daily from St. John to Digby. This ship had twenty-four furnaces which had to be tended and burned 22 tons of coal for a return trip. After about a year there he returned home and began his fishing career.
He married Minnie Hiscock from Hodge’s Cove in the fall of 1914, the same year he came home, and moved there to live. He began going to Labrador every year fishing at places such as Indian Harbour, Engine Cove, Queen’s Lakes etc. with different captains but his best years were spent with Silas Tucker from St. Jones Within. During the winter months he worked in the woods, went freighting to St. John’s in the spring and then back to the Labrador come summer.
They had one daughter, Emma (Mrs. Edward Barnes who now resides at St. John’s) who was about four when her mother came down with a cold and passed away while Mr. Butt was fishing at Labrador. Annie Hiscock. a neighbor took her and cared for her until he returned and carried her to Perry”s Cove to live with his mother.
He recalls one of his near escapes was on a trip to Bailey’s Cove when their boat was caught in slob ice. It was the bravery of Captain Ralph Smith of Hodge’s Cove who used a ladder and rope to rescue Mr. Butt and the other men from freezing aboard the boat.
He even tried the seal hunt and spent several years there aboard the Viking and the Lady MacDonald. “I loved to be out to the hunt,” he replied when he was asked how he liked the trip. He was hired as a cook but he also did his share of killing. On a return trip on the Lady MacDonald with Captain Ralph Smith the wind came up from the northeast and instead of trying to make port at Catalina, they kept going to St. John’s. They lost all their radio equipment and were in heavy seas for two days and two nights before they finally reached St. John’s.
On December 15, 1923 he married Annie Hiscock from Hodge’s Cove at an Anglican Church at St. John’s. Her father was William Hiscock and her mother was the former Elizabeth Smith. They have three daughters and five sons: Eldred at Milton, Florence (Mrs. Hubert Rodgers) Pool’s Island, Vallance at North West Brook, Frances (Mrs. Hugh Robson) St. John’s, Claude, Gordon and Arthur all at North West Brook and Elvie (Mrs. Peter Rideout) at Deer Lake.
Shortly after they were married they brought his daughter, Emma, home to live and Mrs. Butt’s mother had passed away some years before, so her two brothers came to live with them until they were old enough to go out to work.
They always kept their animals and planted their gardens, so Mrs. Butt always knit warm clothing and made sure there were enough vegetables.
Mr. Butt kept working at fishing, freighting and in the lumberwoods with the exception of a couple of years when Gander was first started, he went there building barges. On one trip there he was away for seven months before he was able to get home, trans- portation wasn’t like it is today.
His children were all born while they lived at Hodge’s Cove but twenty-seven years ago he decided to build a new house at North West Brook where he still resides. He says the reason he moved there was he never thought the road would ever be built.
Uncle John was at one time a member of the Orange Lodge at St. John . N.B. and for a short time a member of the Fishermen’s Union at Little Heart’s Ease. He says he never had time to be involved because of his work.
They have 47 grandchildren and 23 great-grandchildren. However, they live alone but spent last winter with their son, Claude next door and then spent awhile with Vallance who also lives next door. Until this past winter, Uncle John spent most of his time in the woods cutting firewood. He still gets around quite well and when the “Packet” arrived he was very busy painting the fence. He has an excellent memory and can sit for hours and tell many interesting stories about his life.
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Transcribed by Wanda Garrett, November 2025
These transcriptions may contain human errors. As always, confirm these as you would any other source material.