Prepared by Randell Mercer (updated: Dec 21, 2020)
Lynn is the 9th largest municipality in the State of Massachusetts, and the largest city in Essex County.
Situated on the Atlantic Ocean, 3.7 miles north of the Boston city line at Suffolk Downs, Lynn is part of Greater Boston's urban inner core.
In the opening pages of "The History of Lynn, MA" by Alonzo Lewis and James R. Newhall, appears the following: "The first white men known to have been inhabitants of Lynn were Edmund Ingalls and his brother Francis Ingalls." Alonzo Lewis, the historian of Lynn, refers to manuscripts showing that Edmund and Francis settled in Saugus (Lynn) as early as the first of June 1629.
By the late 1800s the shoe manufacturing industry was well established in Lynn. One of the largest strikes of the early labor movement began in the shoe factories of Lynn on February 22, 1860.
Martha Foley, a resident of Brooklyn, NY and a descendent of Josiah Drover (1856-1924) stated in a recent email to this website, "In the 1880s, a small community of Newfoundlanders established themselves in Lynn first on a seasonal basis, then more permanently. Work was plentiful in the newly formed General Electric Corporation and in the many shoe factories that flourished in the City. Housing and food were relatively cheap, public transportation existed and it was a welcoming place to many immigrants. Jessie and Cecily Drover and their husbands, William Walker and John Hussey moved there from Newfoundland around the turn of the century to work. The Hussey household included in-laws as well as the newly married couple, according to the 1900 Federal Census. It was not like today when you had passports and emigration agents. There was a lot of movement back and forth between the Maritime Provinces and New England."
Josiah Drover, as were seven of his eight children, was born at Upper Island Cove, Newfoundland. At that time Newfoundland was not a province of Canada, but an independent colony within the British Empire. Three of Josiah’s offspring traveled to the USA to capitalize on work opportunity at Lynn, Massachusetts. This was the case for many other young men and women from Upper Island Cove during late 1800s and beyond the turn of the 20th century. After brief work stays and the accumulation of additional earnings, some returned to their hometown in Newfoundland, but many stayed, married and raised families there. The latter group of Upper Island Covers included:
Simeon Edward Bishop immigrated to Lynn in 1899. He married Maud Burrows from England in 1903, whom he later divorced. On Apr 27, 1911 he married a former Newfoundlander, Martha Gosse from Spaniard's Bay, NL. All five of Simeon and Martha’s children were born in Massachusetts.
Archibald Lundrigan & Patience Jones both immigrated to Lynn in 1892 and were married there on Sept 20, 1893. All six of their children born at Lynn between 1894 and 1900.
Selina Lundrigan
John William Hussey & Cecily Ann Drover
Robert Hussey & Frances Osborne
Nathaniel Hussey & Dorcas Gosse (Spaniard's Bay, NL) were married on Nov 9, 1892 at Lynn, Massachusetts where all 11 of their children were born between 1893 and 1910.
Jessie Drover
Fenwick Mercer & Isabella Jones
Ellen Mary Mercer immigrated to Lynn, Massachusetts in 1893. On Dec 31, 1894 married another Newfoundlander, Junior Garland from Lower Island Cove, NL. Lynn was the birthplace of their 3 children. Junior died in 1899. Two years latter, Ellen Mary remarried John Henry Mitchell, an American, the father of Ellen Mary’s 4th child. By 1930, Ellen Mary & John Henry had relocated to New Hampshire.
Alberta Drover married a fellow Newfoundlander, Bernard Noseworthy, at Lynn, Massachusetts on Jul 31, 1906.
Lizzie Coombs and Charles Shute from Southside, Harbour Grace, NL were married at Lynn, Massachusetts on Jun 10, 1910. Lizzie died there eight years later.
Nathaniel Coombs, younger brother of Lizzie Coombs, immigrated to Lynn in 1897. Nathaniel’s first marriage took place at Lynn with Annie French, also from Newfoundland on Nov 3, 1900. Just a few years after their marriage, Annie died of tuberculosis. As a 39 year old widower, he married Naomi Rachel Walsh from Harbour Grace, NL at Lynn on Aug 24, 1914.
Upper Island Covers who immigrated to other locales in Massachuetts and Throughout the United States during the 19th and early 20th century
Joseph Hussey, son of John Hussey & Jane Coombs, immigrated to Massachusetts in 1890. Joseph married a fellow Newfoundlander, Emma Clements, at Melrose, Massachusetts on Oct 19, 1896. Joseph and Emma had two children (John, born at Madden, Mass. & Elsie, born at Boston, Mass.). A short while after Elsie’s birth, Emma died at the young age of 23 years. In 1900 their next door neighbours were Jessie Crane (husband Richard Gosse) and family.
Jessie Crane, daughter of William Crane & Elizabeth Hussey, married Richard Gosse from Spaniard’s Bay, NL on Dec 23 1890 at Dartmouth, NS. It was there that their first three children (Arthur, Joseph and Ada) were born. In 1897 Jessie & Richard relocated their family from Dartmouth, NS to Boston. In Boston their final four children (William, Walter, Jessie and Ann Elizabeth) were born.
Eliza Drover, daughter of Josiah Drover & Mary Ann Barrett, along with four of her syblings (Mary Ann, Ellen Irene, William Ernest and Nathaniel) immigrated to Cambridge, Massachusetts during the early 1906s. Eliza married Abraham Driscoll from Lower Island Cove, NL on Apr 18, 1911 at Cambridge, Mass. where their two children were born (Clarence & Ralph). Abraham died there at the young age of 29 yrs. Several years later Eliza married Elijah Sparks, a former Newfoundland. According to the 1940 USA Census, Eliza & Elijah had two daughters (Dorothy & Helen), all of whom, including Elizabeth’s son Ralph Driscoll, were still residing at Cambridge, Mass. As a single mom in 1915, Mary Ann Drover gave birth to a daughter, Dorothy May Dover. Two years later Mary Ann married Alfred Kamb and they had two more children (Edith H. & Alfred C. Kamb). Ellen Irene Drover married Edgar Swyers in 1920 and gave birth to five Swyers children, Florence May, Irene Evelina, Virginia Ruth, Gertrude Jane and Edgar Jr. William Ernest Drover married a follow Newfoundland, Velma Reader. After giving birth to two children (Margery and Emma Marie) at Cambridge, Mass., they later returned to Newfoundland with the two girls, where three other children were born (William Ralph, Elizabeth and Calvin). Nathaniel Drover met and married former Newfoundlander, Annie Smith at Cambridge, Mass. In 1933, they gave birth to Laura Drover.
Nathaniel Osborne, son of John Osborne & Frances (Fanny) Jones, arrived in the USA in 1902, as did Naomi Boone from Clarke’s Beach, NL. Nathaniel and Naomi married on Mar 23, 1903 at Chelsea City, Massachusetts, where their five children (Harold, Blanche, Edith, Louis and Edward) were born.
Hopefully, over time, with further research these lists will become more complete.
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