AVON RIVER HERITAGE CENTRE
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    • Avon River Heritage Society
    • Artifacts & Archives
    • The Avon River
    • Meet the People in our Neighbourhood >
      • Dawn Allen, August 21st, 2020
      • Sara Beanlands, July 22nd, 2021
      • Carolyn Connors, July 30th, 2020
      • Carolyn Connors, July 21st, 2021
      • Louis Coutinho, August 13th, 2020
      • Sean Coutinho, January 13th, 2021
      • Eva Evans, July 24th, 2020
      • Elizabeth Ferguson, July 27th, 2020
      • Nicholas Hughes, August 6th, 2020
      • Olwynn Hughes, August 11th, 2020
      • Kim Lake, January 18th & 21st, 2021
      • Trudy Lake, March 13th, 2022
      • Raymond Parker, August 12th, 2020
      • Raymond Parker, July 7th, 2021
      • Zacchary Paul, August 21st, 2021
      • Tacha Reed, August 27th, 2020
      • Allen Shaw, January 18th, 2021
      • Carolyn vanGurp, July 16th, 2020
      • Abraham Zebian, August 24th, 2020
    • Avondale Walking Tour
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  • History
    • Natural History >
      • Highest Tides in the World
      • Tidal Bore
      • Avon Peninsula Ecology
      • Birds of the Avon
      • Marine and Freshwater Species of the Avon
      • Karst Environment
      • Gypsum
      • Avon Peninsula Watershed Preservation Society >
        • Avon Peninsula Watershed Preservation Society, Interview with President, Raymond Parker
    • Mi'kmaq >
      • Mi'kmaq Birch Bark Canoes
      • Mi'kmaq of the Avon River >
        • Treaty Truckhouse 2 & Zacchary Paul
    • The Coming of the Europeans
    • The North American Colonies
    • Acadians >
      • Pisiquit
      • Acadians of the Avon River >
        • Babin
        • Breau
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        • Forest
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      • Village Thibodeau (Poplar Grove)
      • Acadian Families After Expulsion >
        • Broussard
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        • Leger
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    • New England Planters >
      • New England Planters in Avondale >
        • Genealogy
        • Samuel Bentley
        • Benjamin Borden
        • John Chambers
        • James and John Harvie
        • Caleb Lake
        • James and Lydia Mosher
        • Nathaniel Reynolds
        • Benjamin Sanford
        • James Smith
        • Henry Tucker
        • James Weedon
    • Loyalists
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    • Local Home Histories >
      • 28 Chip Hill Road
      • 51 Avondale Road
      • 38 Avondale Road: The Clifford Mosher House
      • 58 Avondale Road
      • 60 Avondale Cross Road
      • 71 Avondale Road: The John A. Harvie House
      • 354 Belmont Road: The Yellow House
      • 603 Belmont Road: Wallace Point
      • 801 Avondale Road
      • The Acadia House
      • The Avondale Church
      • The Avondale Parsonage
      • The Church Farm
      • The Fred Robart House
      • The Henry Lyon House
      • The House Across From The Church
      • The John E.F. Mosher House
      • The Knowles Homestead
      • The Mounce Mansions >
        • Captain George R. Mounce House
        • The Thomas A. Mounce House (Honeymoon House) >
          • Interior of the Honeymoon House
      • The Mrs. Dunham Hotel
      • The Old Newton Mosher House
      • The Old Stone House >
        • The Mystery of the Fieldstone House
      • The Roley Mosher House
      • The W.H. Mosher House
    • The Avondale School
    • Avondale Wharf & The Landing
    • The Avon Spirit
    • Golden Age of Sail >
      • The Rise and Fall of the Golden Age of Sail in Newport
      • The Mosher Shipyards
      • Sailing Ships, Sugar, and Salt
      • Vessels of the Avon River
      • Shipbuilding Process
      • Shipbuilding Tools
      • Ship Directories
      • Kings Wharf
      • The Hamburg >
        • Obituary Capt. Andrew B. Coldwell
        • The Hamburg and Alice Coalfleet’s Diary
      • Captain George Richard Mounce Sr
      • Annie Armstrong Mounce Correspondence 1875-1892
      • Captain Daniel William Dexter & The Emma Payzant >
        • Captain Daniel William Dexter and Family, Interview with Debbie Siler, July 21st, 2021
        • Diary of Sarah Dexter, 1892-1893
      • The Rotundus
    • Community Orchard
    • Edmund McCarthy
  • Arts & Culture
    • The Great Little Art Show >
      • Great Little Art Show 2021 - Artists
      • Great Little Art Show 2021 - Artwork
      • Great Little Art Show 2022 - Artists
      • Great Little Art Show 2022 - Artwork
      • Great Little Art Show 2023
      • Great Little Art Show 2024 - Artists
      • Great Little Art Show 2024 - Artwork
      • Great Little Art Show 2025 - Artists
      • Great Little Art Show 2025 - Artwork
    • Artists Landing Art Gallery
    • Open Studio
    • Full Circle Festival >
      • Sofa Sundays
      • Solstice Market
    • Paint Avondale
    • Avondale Wharf Day
    • Honey Harvest Festival
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  • How to find us!

​Captain Daniel William Dexter & The Emma Payzant

​The Emma Payzant was a vessel of about 840 tons built by James Mosher in Avondale. It was launched in November, 1873. Godfrey Payzant of Windsor was its first owner and Daniel William Dexter (1834-1895) was its Captain for its first seventeen years. Like other ship owners in the area, Payzant also made his money investing in the bank of Windsor, the cotton mill, insurance, gas, and groceries. Payzant passed away in 1896. 
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Captain Dexter often made three trips across the Atlantic per year, including winter trips, which were very cold and strained the mariners. Captain Dexter’s wife, Sarah Jemima Mosher (1842 - 1929), and their daughters, Rachel "Pauline" Dexter (born in Weymouth, Massachusetts  1870-1951) and Mabel Rose (born in Avondale 1872-1956), sometimes accompanied the Captain on his voyages. 
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Portrait of Daniel William Dexter, painted in Antwerp in 1866
​Our museum has a logbook of the Emma Payzant from the year of its launch (1873). A collection of Lloyd's weekly shipping Index provides additional information on the Emma Payzant, with Captain Dexter at the helm, beginning in 1883. This log predates the Lloyd's shipping records by ten years. Ports of call in 1883 included Clyde, St. John, Horton Bluff, Windsor, Parrsboro, Garston, and Liverpool leaving for New York. 1885 stops included Liverpool and three trips between New York, Dunkirk. In 1886 there were two trips between Dunkirk and Philadelphia, a voyage from Dunkirk to New York with a stop-over at North Sydney, and a journey from New York to Antwerp and back. 
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Captain Dexter's canvas seaman's bag
In 1891 while in Philadelphia, the Emma Payzant discharged a small portion of her cargo, had its rudder removed and top sides caulked, before proceeding to Dunkirk in January 1892. 1893 voyages included Belfast to New York to Brunswick to Dublin to Sydney. In 1893, the Emma Payzant was sold in Belfast. 

In August 1894 Dexter was scheduled to captain the ship but the captain was changed to Captain Waycott. In 1895 a trip from Lubbock to Havana was scheduled. Captain Dexter passed away in 1895.
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Mabel Rose Dexter's Doll Craddle
​Mabel Rose Dexter (born in Avondale 1872-1956), was the daughter of Captain Daniel William Dexter (1834-1895) and Sarah Jemima Mosher (1842-1929). Mabel, her mother and her sister, Rachel "Pauline" Dexter (born in Weymouth, Massachusetts 1870-1951), often accompanied Captain Dexter on his voyages. Mabel Rose’s doll’s cradle and portrait are on display at the museum. She can be seen as part of the family grouping in the stern of the Emma Payzant’s ship’s portrait, on display in the museum. 

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Portrait of Mabel Rose Dexter
​Mabel married William Isaac Withrow of Stanley (1871 - 1941) and had the following eight children;  Olga Zella (1895 - 1981), Greta Luska (1899 - 1991), Emilie Grant (1906 - 1998), Melbourne Vaughn (1897 - 1968), Viva Armine (1901 - 1996), Cortland Myers (1910 - 1912), Volney West (1904 - 1995), and Phillip Carmen (1916 - 1988). 
More on Captain D.W. Dexter and Sarah Dexter
Dairy of Sarah Dexter, October 1892 - February 1893
​“This project has been made possible in part by the Documentary Heritage Communities Program offered by  Library and Archives Canada / Ce projet a été rendu possible en partie grâce au Programme pour les  collectivités du patrimoine documentaire offert par Bibliothèque et Archives Canada.” 
Avon River Heritage Centre, 17 Belmont Road, Avondale/Newport Landing, West Hants, Nova Scotia, B0N 2A0
Email us at [email protected]
Telephone us, May through October, at (902) 757-1718

The Avon River Heritage Society would like to thank the Municipality of West Hants and the Province of Nova Scotia for their generous support.

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