Joseph Nelson Bearse

White male, born 2 June 1860, in Gloucester, MA. His parents were Joseph M. and Henrietta Dench Bearse, both natives of Nova Scotia, Canada.

Joseph’s birth record listed his date of birth as June 2, 1860 on Locust Street in Gloucester. His father, Joseph Bearse, was born in Canso, Nova Scotia; his mother, Henrietta Dench, was born in Cornwallis, Nova Scotia. Both resided in Gloucester at the time of Joseph’s birth.

A passenger list for the S.S. Linda, from Yarmouth to Boston on 30 August 1867 lists Mrs. H. Bearse, 30 years old, Joseph Bearse, 7 years old, and Lydia Dench, 10 years old. The column for “country to which they severally belong” is listed as Nova Scotia for both Mrs. Bearse and her son; the “country of which they intend to become inhabitants” was the United States. While this would seem to indicate that Joseph was born in Nova Scotia, his Gloucester birth record reassures one that the passenger record was surely a mistake.

In the 1870 U.S. census for Gloucester, Essex County, Massachusetts, Joseph was enumerated in the household of his father, Joseph M. Bearse. Joseph M. was 43 yeas old and worked as a fisherman. He seems to have owned his home. His wife, Henrietta, was 40 years old and kept house. Joseph N. was 10 years old and was going to school. Also in the household was Mehitable Bearse, Joseph M.’s mother, 65 years old. The census taker used a line where Joseph M. and Henrietta’s birthplace should have been, but it seems to be acting as a ditto mark, which indicates they were born in Nova Scotia, as was Mehitable. Joseph N. was born in Massachusetts.

In the 1880 census, the Bearse family was living at 14 Merchant St. in Gloucester. Joseph M. was 56 years old and a Master Fisherman (he was called a Master Mariner in the 1882 Gloucester City Directory). He was born in Nova Scotia as were both his parents. Henrietta was 50 years old, keeping house. She, too was born in Nova Scotia of two parents also born in Nova Scotia. Joseph N. was 20 years old, working as a fisherman, born in Massachusetts of two parents born in Nova Scotia. Also in the household was Mehitable (called Isabel in the census), 75 years old, widowed, born in Nova Scotia of two parents born in Nova Scotia. Nettie W. Dench, 16, was listed as their adopted daughter, but there was surely some familial connection to Henrietta. She was a student, born in Massachusetts of two parents born in Nova Scotia. Last was Fanny E. Garland, niece to Joseph M. Bearse, 10 years old. She was born in New Hampshire as was her father; her mother was born in Nova Scotia.

On 10 May 1887, Joseph N. married Anna Laurie McEachern, born 7 November 1862 to Angus and Sarah McDonald McEachern. They had a daughter, Henrietta Josephine, on 16 September 1888. Annie gave birth to a son, Joseph Murray, on 13 February 1891, but she died the next day. Her obituary in the Boston Globe is poignant: “Mrs. Annie L. Bearse, wife of Joseph N. Bearse, died in childbirth Saturday… Her husband is on a fishing trip in the schooner Shenandoah.” She is buried in Oak Grove cemetery in Gloucester. The children were apparently raised by Annie’s mother, Sarah, as they appear in her household in the 1910 census of Gloucester.

[After some rather breathless searching, I found that Joseph Murray survived to adulthood; though he was baptized Joseph Murray on 16 February 1891, he seemed to have gone by Murray as many records list him as “Murray Joseph.”]

Joseph N. appeared in the 1900 census for Gloucester, living in a large boarding house or hotel at 12 Railroad Ave. filled with 24 fisherman. He was listed as single, though there is no birth information for him, so the enumerator was not familiar with his situation.

His father died in October 1909. I have not located Joseph in the 1910 census.

Joseph moved to Pensacola soon after the 1900 census, according to his October 1917 application for a Seaman’s Protection certificate, where he declared he was born in Gloucester and lived there “until about 16 years ago, since then at Pensacola.” He was described as being 57 years old, 5’8″ tall, with gray hair, gray eyes, fair complexion, and his “fingers a little drawn from rheumatism.” One wonders that he didn’t bear more scars after a lifetime on the sea.

Joseph put in for another Certificate in November 1919. This time he was described as being 59 years old, 5’8″ tall, 150 lbs., gray hair, blue eyes, fair complextion. He lived at 528 W. Zarragossa St. He gave his occupation as Yeoman, having held that position since 1880.

The 1920 census of Pensacola enumerated him with the Fisherman’s Association of Pensacola on West Zarragossa Street. His name was given as Joseph Barce, 61 years old, born in Gloucester, MA as were both parents. His occupation was fisherman on a fishing smack. I have not located him in the 1930 census.

Joseph died on 28 April 1931 at 122. W. Zarragossa St. According to the 1931 City Directory and 1930 census, this was a boarding house run by Pattie Pharr, a woman of color. His place of birth was given as Boston on the death certificate. He was 71 years old, widowed, and worked as a fisherman for Saunders Fish Co. The informant was F.G. McMillan, an embalmer with Fisher-Pou funeral home in Pensacola (T.M. Lloyd eventually provided the undertaking services). The death certificate said he had been in the city for 5 years, which is obviously incorrect. The cause of death was “probably valvular heart disease.” He was buried in the Escambia County Poor Farm cemetery.

FAMILY:

Mother: Henrietta Dench

Father: Joseph M. Bearse

Grandmother: Mehitable Bearse

Wife: Anna Laurie McEachern

Children: Henrietta Josephine Bearse, Joseph Murray Bearse

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