Obituary Captain Andrew Beckwith Coldwell
January 29th, 1919, Hants Journal
Died at Hantsport, Jan 13th, A.B. Coldwell, shipmaster, aged 75 years. This excellent Christian gentleman was born in the paternal home on the Bluff Road near town. He began a seafaring life at 14 years of age, and at 19 was in command of a ship. He was in the employ of Messrs. E. Churchill & Sons, and for many years sailed the barques “Bremen” and “Hamburg”. He was married to Miss Jane Polson of his native village, a lady of gentle spirit and maternal devotion. Of their six children, one son and five daughters, three daughters were with their father at his decease.
The funeral was conducted at his late residence on Avon Street, Thursday PM by his pastor, Rev. T. Hodgson, assisted by Rev. J.G. Bigney and J.M. Fisher. With refined modesty, he had requested that no eulogy should be pronounced at his burial, but his pastor gave a brief and appropriate discourse from the passage in the Saviour’s biography, “Now in the place where he was crucified there was a garden,” in which he paid a fitting and beautiful tribute to our departed friend.
Above all his qualities of noble generous manhood and worthy citizenship, our departed friend, during the twelve years of his retirement will be best remembered for his patients unstinted devotion to his invalid wife. For many years Mrs. Coldwell was the subject of an affliction involving nervous debility of the most painful nature. The open air soothed her. Long will be will be remembered in this town the pathetic figure of the aged, white-haired man wheeling his suffering companion along some quiet street and ministering to her with the tenderness of a mother to her child. It made the observer reverence the man. It reminded us of Browning:-
“The element’s rage-shall dwindle shall change, Shall become first a peace out of pain, Then a light, then thy brt, O thou soul of my soul. I shall clasp thee again. And with God be at rest!”
His own last months were dark with suffering but bright and hopeful in the faith of a Christian.
Died at Hantsport, Jan 13th, A.B. Coldwell, shipmaster, aged 75 years. This excellent Christian gentleman was born in the paternal home on the Bluff Road near town. He began a seafaring life at 14 years of age, and at 19 was in command of a ship. He was in the employ of Messrs. E. Churchill & Sons, and for many years sailed the barques “Bremen” and “Hamburg”. He was married to Miss Jane Polson of his native village, a lady of gentle spirit and maternal devotion. Of their six children, one son and five daughters, three daughters were with their father at his decease.
The funeral was conducted at his late residence on Avon Street, Thursday PM by his pastor, Rev. T. Hodgson, assisted by Rev. J.G. Bigney and J.M. Fisher. With refined modesty, he had requested that no eulogy should be pronounced at his burial, but his pastor gave a brief and appropriate discourse from the passage in the Saviour’s biography, “Now in the place where he was crucified there was a garden,” in which he paid a fitting and beautiful tribute to our departed friend.
Above all his qualities of noble generous manhood and worthy citizenship, our departed friend, during the twelve years of his retirement will be best remembered for his patients unstinted devotion to his invalid wife. For many years Mrs. Coldwell was the subject of an affliction involving nervous debility of the most painful nature. The open air soothed her. Long will be will be remembered in this town the pathetic figure of the aged, white-haired man wheeling his suffering companion along some quiet street and ministering to her with the tenderness of a mother to her child. It made the observer reverence the man. It reminded us of Browning:-
“The element’s rage-shall dwindle shall change, Shall become first a peace out of pain, Then a light, then thy brt, O thou soul of my soul. I shall clasp thee again. And with God be at rest!”
His own last months were dark with suffering but bright and hopeful in the faith of a Christian.
We are fortunate to have the crew agreement provided by Memorial University for the vessels arrival in Hamburg. The three officers were Andrew Coldwell; R.G. Churchill from Yarmouth as Mate and Frank Mosher from Summerville as Bosun. If this photo is from 1895 we know the identity of at least these people. The man with the cooks hat (second from the left would be Joseph Mercura from Montreal). Photo courtesy of the Maritime Museum of the Atlantic).
