A Hub of Trade and Industry (Part 2)

James Easton Abbey 1823-1863

Another name closely associated with the early history of Port Robinson is that of Abbey. In the late 1830s, Robert Abbey, a boat builder by trade from Grangemouth, Scotland, arrived in Upper Canada and established a shipyard at Port Dalhousie at the northern terminus of the Welland Canal. At his shipyard, Robert and his sons built mostly yawls and sailing yachts, and later small steamers. The 1842 launch of their first large vessel, the schooner Scotia, was recorded in the St. Catharines Journal:

Launch.—We owe an apology for not sooner noticing the launch, which took place on the 7th instant [7 Jun 1842], of a fine large schooner, named the "Scotia" by the enterprising owner, Mr. Abbey, at Port Dalhousie. An eye witness has informed us that she moved off in fine style into her destined element, and that the "happy meeting" was greeted by much "tremendous cheering" from a large concourse of people, who had assembled from the surrounding country to witness the happy event, being the first that had taken place at the port. In the evening, the young "bloods," to celebrate the occasion, gave a splendid ball at Mr. Thomas Read's, and which is said to have passed off very agreeably.

Robert, the son of Alexander Abbey and Ann Mitchell, was born in 1788 in Bothkennar, Scotland on the Firth of Forth. He married Mary Powell (1793-1851), daughter of John Powell in 1812 at South Lieth where his two oldest children were baptised. About 1816 he moved his young family to Grangemouth in Stirlingshire, part of the parish of Falkirk where seven additional children were baptised.

Robert and Mary brought at least seven of their nine children with them to Canada, as well as two nephews, the sons of Robert's brother Alexander. It is not known whether Robert's son William, born in 1826, or his daughter Ann, born in 1832, lived long enough to make the journey.

John Powell Abbey 1820-1877

Census data shows that Robert's two oldest sons, Alexander (1813-1896) and Robert (1817-1885) were boat builders in Port Dalhousie, presumably working with their father. Brothers John Powell Abbey (1820-1877) and James Easton Abbey (1823-1863), however, moved to Port Robinson and founded a shipyard there. After the locks on the First Welland Canal were replaced during the construction of the Second Canal, the Abbey brothers converted the old locks into a dry dock.

The Abbey Brothers' shipyard at Port Robinson built wooden sailing ships, side-wheel and propeller steamers, barges and scows. While most of the Abbey Brothers' vessels plied the Great Lakes, the barque E. S. Adams, launched in 1857, made at least one voyage to England. In 1868 the ship sank in Lake Erie after a collision with the barque Constitution, eight kilometres east of Point Pelee. One sailor off the E. S. Adams was lost overboard and presumably drowned.

An account of the launch of the E. S. Adams appeared in the St. Catharines Constitutional:

The E.S. Adams is owned by Messrs. Norris and Nelson of St. Catherines: she is a three master of about 400 tons. Of the excellence of the workmanship, and of the materials of which she is built, it is unnecessary for us to say anything, as the testimony of several gentlemen connected with the marine merchant service, given at the dinner to the Messrs. Abbey the same evening, is sufficient to show that she is not inferior to any vessel on the inland waters of North America. On the water she appears a most beautiful model.

Only six or seven years ago Messrs. Abbey commenced their career without any means of their own, and without friends to assist them. By perseverance, sobriety, and honest industry, they attained the enviable position they now hold among the first shipbuilders in Upper Canada. They recently built a dry dock at an expense of about $10,000, and so rapidly is their business increasing, that they begin to feel the want of another. They have now in their employ from seventy to eighty men, and yet they have more work than they can readily manage to perform. On the day the E.S. Adams was launched, there were no fewer than four schooners and five or six scows lying in port waiting for repairs.

The St Catharines Post published an account of the launch of an earlier vessel in 1854:

Another Launch at Port Robinson—Those well-known and enterprising Shipbuilders, Messrs. J. & J. Abbey, will launch the clipper brig Napier, from their their shipyard, Port Robinson, on Saturday, 16th inst., at 4 o’clock, P.M. The Napier is a fine vessel of about 300 tons measurement, and was built for Messrs. Norris and Nelson, of this town, and is the second vessel launched from the above yard the present season. We are informed they have done a very large amount of repairing and refitting the present season; the proximity of their yard and dry dock to the Welland Canal rendered it very convenient for vessels requiring repairs to take advantage of their skill in such matters. We are happy to learn that the Messrs. Abbey have always as much work on hand as they can attend to, and that their business is constantly increasing, which is always the result where men of skill and integrity have charge of an establishment.

Another notable vessel was the two-masted schooner China built by the Abbey brothers in 1863. In November 1883, China was bound for Parry Sound when she strayed off course in a snow squall, and ran on to a reef to the west of Tobermory on the Bruce Peninsula. The wreck is one of over twenty frequented by scuba divers at Fathom Five National Marine Park. The wreck is close to shore but badly broken up.

An account of the shipwreck was included in Patricia Folkes's Shipwrecks of the Saugueen:

On November 20,1883 the schooner China, Edward McGowan master, was wrecked on what is now called China Reef, above Cape Hurd, during a fierce snowstorm. She was bound, light, from Buffalo to Parry Sound where it was intended to load lumber. Early in December the Detroit salvage tug Balize, engaged in yeomen service on Lake Huron, arrived at the wreck and left a man to strip her.

The China was launched at Port Robinson on the Welland Canal in April of 1863 by J. & J.P. Abbey for E. Browne of Hamilton. Browne owned her until 1874 when she was purchased by Thompson & Company of Hamilton who sailed her through 1878. At the time of her loss she was owned by M.B. Proctor of Sarnia. Ironically, Captain McGowan almost lost the China in 1879 when she stranded near Lyon's Head and had her rudder carried away. A.N. Moffatt of Port Huron, Michigan, is reported to have owned her on this occasion. Four years later she was not as lucky and broke upon the China Reef, pieces of her floating into the shallows between Wreck Point and China Cove.

The Abbey Brother's shipyard also suffered from a number of set backs, notably a fire in 1861 and the death of James Easton Abbey in 1863. This article about the fire appeared in the St Catharines' Journal:

Fire at Port Robinson: Abbey's Ship-yard Destroyed

We understand that the workshops in Messrs. J.P. and J. Abbey's Ship Yard, Port Robinson, were set fire to last night, and completely destroyed. The loss is not stated, nor if there was any insurance. It is supposed to have been the work of incendiaries, and three men, members of the Ship Carpenters and Caulker's Union, have been arrested, charged with the crime.

Mr. Currie, of St Catharines has gone up to watch the proceedings.

The following particulars we learn by telegraph from Port Robinson this morning.

About two o'clock on Sunday morning June 16 a fire was discovered in an old building, used by Messrs. Abbey's as a joiner shop, in which was stored at the time some lumber, two buggies, and nine chests of tools belonging to the joiners which were all consumed.

Three men, Gus Lennon, Mike Cature, and John Dorrington, belonging to the "Union men" of this place, have been arrested, on suspicion of having fired the building. The "Union men" were discharged from Abbey's employ two weeks ago. It is the general opinion here that those men have done it in revenge. The trial commenced yesterday, and was adjourned until tomorrow. Nothing has, as yet, been made out against them to condemn them but it appears they are holding guilt.

City of St. Catharines
(Bowling Green State University)

The last large vessel built at Port Robinson was the steamer City of St. Catharines, constructed by John Powell Abbey in 1874. In the following years the ship had several Canadian owners. In 1880 while sailing from Montreal to Chicago, the ship collided with the George H. Morse in Lake Huron off White Rock, Michigan. Although the ship sank in 15 minutes there were no fatalities.

The City of St. Catharines sank in 27 metres of water, but in September of 1882 it was raised and eventually towed to Detroit. There it was rebuilt and refitted and in 1883 renamed Otego. The ship burned and sank at Duluth in 1895. 

John Powell Abbey married 19-year-old Elizabeth Coulter in 1849. Their son Robert was born a year later. Seven other children followed. John Powell Abbey closed his shipyard in 1876 and died at Port Robinson the following year. He is buried along with his wife and three of his children at St. Paul's Anglican Church Cemetery in Port Robinson.

His brother, James Easton Abbey, married Marion Stark (1833-1876) in 1850. James and Marion had three children. The oldest, Robert (1852-1890), became a Presbyterian missionary and died in Nanking, China. James is buried with his wife and youngest son at Port Robinson Presbyterian Cemetery. A death notice appeared in the St. Catharines Constitutional:

Died.—At Port Robinson, on the 22nd instant [22 Jun 1863], in the 30th [sic] year of his age, Mr. James Easton Abbey, of the firm of Messrs. J. & J. E. Abbey, shipbuilders, a native of Grangemouth, Stirlingshire, Scotland. The deceased was a gentleman highly respected by all who know him. His death was very sudden and unexpected. He retired to rest in apparent good health on Sunday night, and was found dead in his bed on Monday morning. He leaves a wife and three children to mourn his loss.

When Robert Abbey's brother Alexander and sister-in-law Janet Shepherd both died in 1835, Robert became the guardian of his nephews Alexander and James Sheppard Abbey. Alexander and James came with their uncle's family to Port Dalhousie, but later moved to Port Robinson where they worked as ship carpenters, married, and raised families.

Alexander Abbey and his wife Ellen Bell (1838-1921) are both buried at St. Paul's Anglican Cemetery in Port Robinson. 

Steamer Ada Alice (Toronto Public Library)

James Sheppard Abbey survived his wife Sally Ann by 44 years. He died in 1910 and is buried at Drummond Hill Cemetery in Niagara Falls.

James and Sally Ann's daughter Ada Alice Abbey (1857-1920) had a small steamer named after her in 1879. The Ada Alice was built in Port Dalhousie by Ada's cousin Alexander Abbey, and operated for many years as a Toronto Island ferry. In 1911 she was shipped north by railway flatcar to Muskoka. Ada Alice was seriously damaged by fire in June 1915. Although she was repaired, Ada Alice was abandoned in 1919 and for many years was a  derelict hulk at the Gravehurst dockyards.

After the death of his wife Mary in 1851, Robert Abbey retired to Port Robinson and was living there in 1861 with his son John Powell Abbey. He died at Port Robinson in 1866 and was buried at St. Andrew's United Church Cemetery in Port Dalhousie. While the original gravestone has not survived, the gravestone of his wife remains in situ.

Sources:

The History of the County of Welland: It's Past and Present. Welland Tribune Printing House, Welland, 1887.

Folkes, Patricia. Shipwrecks of the Saugeen 1828-1938. Privately published, 1970.

Jackson, John N. The Welland Canals and their Communities. University of Toronto Press, 1997.

Tatley, Richard. "Ada Alice," The Real Muskoka Story. Issue 94. Summer 2015.

Thompson, John H. Jubilee History of Thorold Township and Town. Thorold and Beaverdams Historical Society, 1897.

"Five Little Ferry Boats," The Scanner. Vol. 30, No. 8 (May 1998)

"Encore for the Ada Alice," The Scanner. Vol. 30, No. 9 (August 1998)