Stella Ryan- Midwife Extraordinaire

There may have been more midwives in our local area of South Brook, Midland and Pasadena but the one I've heard so many residents discuss is Mrs. Stella Ryan. Sometime she helped bring into this world all the children in a family.  I'm sure there are many families around like that. 

Mrs. Madeline Whiffin told me that her oldest brother George was the first child Stella born as a midwife.  My father Albert Finlay went for Mrs. Ryan on a horse.  I recall hearing him tell how fast he got that horse to go and how his bottom was sore by the time he brought her to our house.  That was in 1955.

I'm posting this as I would like to hear from anyone who has a story or fact to share.

How Pasadena, the Town, Came To Be

In the 1920s the loggers came
to South Brook, Newfoundland
About a hundred of them to
work for Bowaters Co. for winter work
The 1921 Census showed two familes
with six people total lived near the lake
A lot of stone existed so a quarry was started
to provide a supply of rock for the Deer Lake powerhouse
The population grew as men brought their families to live here
and built their homes to stay in the area

In 1933 a fellow named Leonard Earle
a St. John's business man wanted an area to farm
He bought 2500 acres and came to stay and named the area Pasadena
which means valley, valleytown or key of the big valley or crown of the valley in Ojibwa
He named it to honour his wife who once lived in Pasadena, California
 and it was the place where they had found wedded bliss
Men from Corner Brook came to build his house
and other men he brought with him cleared the land by hand and capstan
He grew potatoes and carrots which prospered
in the temperate climate of the humber valley

In 1936 the government of Commission had a plan
to relocate 25 families from decline of the fishery to Midland
Severely affected by the Depression they moved from many places,
Argentia, Clarkes Beach, Bell Island, Lamaline, Burin and Red Island
The land they cleared with one tractor provided to them,
two two acre lots of land were prepared to use as farmland for food for all
By September 1963 the houses were ready for the families arrival
without electricity or running water and bathrooms 30 feet back in the woods
Midland and Pasadena united in 1955 and was called the town of Pasadena-Midland
In 1969 it became a town and in 1986 South Brook joined, and all three became town of Pasadena

This is my condensation of the wikipedia article. The facts were taken from that piece of writing. www.wikipedia.com Search words: Pasadena Newfoundland

Are you a descendant of one of our first setters?

If you are a descendant of one of the first settlers, tell us about your family.

My grandfather Andrew Whiffin and my grandmother Elizabeth Slaney were married and then came to settle in Pasadena. Elizabeth was from St. Lawrence and Andrew was from Fox Harbour(help me out here,Larry, Wanda or Donna). They were one of the first families to settle in Pasadena, Newfoundland. Andrew was in the war and as a child I remember seeing a large picture of him in his uniform hung in their home. It now hangs in Madeline Whiffin's home, as her deceased husband Patrick Whiffin was the oldest son of Andrew and Elizabeth.

The Whiffin family grew to include Patrick(usually called Paddy, who married Madeline Murphy), Carmel(who married Henry Blackwood), Kathleen(who married William Byrne), Joan(who married my father, Albert Finlay), Andrew,Joan's twin brother, Elizabeth(who married Darryl Shears), Joseph(who married...?.....). Patrick and Madeline lived next door to my grandparents, to the right of their home. Albert and Joan Finlay built their house next door, to the left of my grandparents.