DCHP-1 Online

planter Nfld and Lab.

• 1a n. Obs. a settler in the colony, or plantation (def. 1), of Newfoundland.

  See also: plantation (def. 1)  

  • 1620  The purpose thereof, is, with your Gracious allowance, to beget a disposition in all your Maiesties Subiects, for a Plantation in the New-found-land, grounded vpon reason of industry, both generally and particularly profitable to the Vndertakers and Posterities.
  • 1626  And likewise the Planters themselues may fish for Cod there a moneth before our Englishmen can arriue thither, and also after they are gone they may fish almost all the yeare after.
  • 1712  (1907)  Planters being very backward in paying he got only one hundred quintals of fish this season.
  • 1793  His majesty ordered . . . That no planter should cut down any wood, or should plant within six miles of the sea shore.
  • 1842  Next, the middle-man or planter, as he is most absurdly called, --probably from all the original English settlements in American having received the official designation of plantations; but the Newfoundland planter has had in reality as little to do with cultivating the soill as an Esquimaux.

• 1b n. See 1861 and 1937 quotes.

  • 1714  (1793)  By this irregular proceeding the strongest man gets all; and the rest of the creditors nothing; so that the next year a planter is forced to hire himself out for a servant.
  • 1714  (1793)  He expresses astonishment, how the planters and inhabitants could procure hands from England to fish for them, considering how ill they used them.
  • 1841  Petitioners deeply regret the situation they are placed in, as regards the Merchants, Planters, and themselves, in the persons of Suppliers, Masters, and Servants, for want of an established law to protect [them].
  • 1861  The man who prosecutes, or speculates in, the fishery, is called the Planter; and his mode is generally to hire his men by the voyage, giving them food and lodging, with the use of a boat, for half their labour, retaining, however, the cod-livers for himself.
  • 1937  Those immigrants who settled in Newfoundland and had means enough to build their own fishing rooms, "ship" men, and issue supplies to other fishermen, were called "planters". . . .
  • 1958  One important aspect of the fishery is that young Newfoundlanders are now shipping with Labrador skippers, a complete reversal of former years. These "planters" . . . have their own gear . . . including power operated pumps in their premises and need workers to make up their crews on share and wage basis.

• 2a n. a small trader.

  • 1771  (1792)  I sent Shuglawina on shore there, with a letter to Guy's father, who is a planter, lives in that place, and keeps several cows.
  • 1808  (1890)  The [Labrador] coast is inhabited by Esquimaux and a mixture of English, Irish and Canadians, commonly called "planters," who trade with the Eskimaux and carry on salmon and cod fisheries along the Straits of Belisle.
  • 1905  The coast people who occasionally trade in a small way are known as "planters."

• 2b n. a businessman who provides advances to fishermen in return for the catch.

  • 1875  The Inspector, therefore, who does work in a slovenly fashion inflicts injury, not only upon a particular merchant or supplier, but upon merchants, planters, fishermen and the whole community.
  • 1905  The "planter," who advances the salt to cure the fish, takes the catch at the end of the season, giving in exchange provisions at an incredible profit.
  • 1918  The planters, or men who give advances to come and fish around the mouth of Hamilton Inlet, were to ship their fish on a steamer coming direct from England and returning direct. . . .
  • 1964  . . . sharemen were and are sometimes chargeable with a part of certain items . . . when a Labradorman's voyage of fish has to be "made," i.e. sun dried, by the planters. . . .

• 2c n. Obs. See freeman (def. I a).

  • 1842  The Planters or freemen, are composed of persons who have come out in the service of the different mercantile establisments [sic] and at the expiration of their engagements have remained in the country, hunting and fishing, on their own account, receiving the necessary supplies from the nearest establishment, and giving in the produce of their hunt, &c., in return.

• 2d n. a permanent resident of the coast of Labrador, as opposed to the fishermen coming from Newfoundland for the fishing season.

  See also: liveyere (def. 1)  

  • 1905  In Hamilton Inlet, west of Rigolet, all of the trappers and fishermen are called planters.
  • 1947  The resident white fishermen of the outer coast are mostly known under the title liveyeres, a West of England word supposed to be a corruption of "live here". On the southern coast a distinction is also made between liveyeres, English-speaking, semi-settled fishermen[,] and habitants, semi-settled fishermen who speak French. The former are also termed "planters" or "settlers."

• 2e n. a fisherman who visits the coast during the fishing season.

  • 1944  . . . more fishing crews arrive for the summer. These fishermen are known as "Planters." They have their homes and fishing premises scattered around various communities and at the end of the season . . . they heave for home.
  • 1956  The Transient or "Visiting" Fishermen . are of two types 1. The planters or "stationers," who fish from the shore. 2. The "floaters" or "schoonermen."