O’Quinn’s Farm Century Farm

Searston, NL

Century Farm

Description

NOTE: In 2005 the Agricultural History Society of Newfoundland and Labrador created the “Century Farm Award” to honour farm families across the province who had farmed their land continuously for one hundred years or more and were still actively farming. Heritage NL agreed to post these listings on our website. Please note that these farms are NOT designated by Heritage NL. The listings are commemorative only. All content and images © Agricultural History Society of Newfoundland and Labrador and used with the permission of award recipients. Information current as of 2006-2007. 

O’Quinn’s Farm

O’Quinn’s farm was founded by Onesime AuCoin from Cheticamp, Nova Scotia, in the 1860s. He settled in the Searston area. This farm represents a settlement pattern in the Codroy Valley which was strongly influenced by the arrival of French and Scottish settlers from Nova Scotia in the nineteenth century. Through the years, the farm has been handed down through four generations. Along the way, the name has been changed from AuCoin to O’Quinn.

Over the history of the farm, cattle, sheep, pigs, hens were raised for food and horses were raised for work. Butter, eggs and milk were produced as well as meat. These were sold locally. Herbs and vegetables were sold for home consumption and also shipped by coastal boat to outport communities. Schooners were loaded up with vegetables to take to St Pierre. Sometimes the vegetables were traded for fish. People in Port aux Basques came by boat to buy fresh produce from the farm. Fleece from the sheep was shipped to Prince Edward Island. When the railway came in the 1890s, produce was sent by rail to the new industrial towns inland.

Frank O’Quinn left school at sixteen to work fulltime on the family farm. And he is still there, more than 70 years later! He has grown vegetables – cabbage, turnip, carrot, beets and even cucumbers. He was the largest potato farmer in the Valley for some time. He has also raised sheep, cows and hens. Today, Frank O’Quinn keeps the land in good heart by renting it to a neighbour who actively farms it.

Frank O’Quinn has seen a lot of changes over his career as a farmer. His parents planted a lot of their vegetables in beds. They also were engaged in trapping and fishing and even had a small store. But in Frank’s generation: “I did good, but when the bigger farms could afford to buy big machinery, you couldn’t compete.” Like many farms, the O’Quinn farm faced stiff competition from the mainland with the advent of Confederation and, later, the Trans-Canada Highway. “When the highway came through [in the 1960s], that was the end. People brought in produce, and it was cheaper.”

*With acknowledgement to Natalie Musseau, The Gulf News, Transcontinental Community Newspapers.

Statement of Significance

Location and History

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