CANADA
NEWFOUNDLAND LINE: ROBERT PROWSE (1798-?)
Fishing of the Grand Banks of the coast of Newfoundland had been going on since at least the 1500's and likely before that. John Cabot's voyage to the region in 1497 was less a wild adventure and more a commercial endeavour informed by the knowledge of fishermen. From at least 1682 the Prowse name appeared on the island though it is uncertain if the early Prowses settled or simply spent the fishing season there.
Robert Prowse arrived in Port de Grave in 1808 when he was 10 years old. He was the son of Samuel Prowse and ? Mudge. Samuel was reputedly a 'privateer' with connections to Newfoundland before his son's arrival.
Fishing. Businessmen, Lawyers, Judges, Politicians
NOTABLE DESCENDANTS:
Judge Daniel Woodley Prowse - author of 1895's A History or Newfoundland and other works
LIVING DESCENDANTS:
Daniel Prowse, Al Mainland, Phebe Langdon
PRINCE EDWARD ISLAND (PEI) LINE: WILLIAM PROWSE 1794-1864
William was born at Malborough, Devon to Robert Prowse (1760-1845) & Mary Jarvis (1760-?). William is believed to have been part of six ships of Methodists that landed in PEI in 1823.
A notable line of businessmen, lawyers, and politicians. Members of the line moved West in the late 1800's to present day Alberta and Manitoba.
NOTABLE DESCENDANTS:
Honourable Samuel Prowse (1835-1902) - businessman and politician.
Dr. Samuel Willis Prowse - migrated West to Winnipeg, became Dean of the University of Manitoba School of Medicine and was instrumental in helping it become a world class institution. To this day there is a scholarship named after him.
James Harper Prowse - politician
LIVING DESCENDANTS:
Leanne Cooper, Robert Prowse,
c.1829 MONTREAL LINE: GEORGE FABES PROWSE 1805-1883
George was born at Devonport, Devon, the son of Roger Prowse, (b. 1777 at Loddiswell, Devon | d. 1835 at Devonport) and Sybella Fabes. A copper and tinsmith, he emigrated to Halifax, Nova Scotia c.1829 where he met and married Sarah Neal and founded a small company. He later moved to Montreal, Quebec and founded the George Prowse Range Co., designing and manufacturing woodfired stoves that were the precursor to modern gas and electric ranges.
NOTABLE DESCENDANTS:
George Roger Prowse - continued on with the family business and changed its name to the George R Prowse Range Company.
Charles Chapman Prowse - became a fruit merchant and helped establish the first fruit orchards in the Okanogan Valley in British Columbia.
LIVING DESCENDANTS:
None known at this time
c.1855 ELGIN LINE: JOHN PROWSE 1801-1878
John Prowse was born c.1801 at Diptford, Devon. He married Mary Chalk of Widdecombe and emigrated to Elgin, in Southwestern Ontario, not too far from London with their two daughters and one son between 1851 and 1861.
NOTABLE DESCENDANTS:
Stanton Earl Prowse - WWI soldier
LIVING DESCENDANTS:
Dave Prowse
BEAUMARIS LINE: EDWARD PROWSE 1840-1910
Edward was a descendant of the Liverpool shipping magnate line started by William Prowse, who was born in Devon.
NOTABLE DESCENDANTS:
None at this time
LIVING DESCENDANTS:
None known at this time
1908: Cornwall - Australia - Albert Line: John Prowse 1868-1925
John emigrated from St. Agnes, Cornwall to Australia in the 1880's. There he married Catherine Nichols at Cairns. John and Catherine had eight children in Queensland, Australia, one of whom died in infancy. Based on immigration records, it appears the family returned to England before emigrating in 1908 to Alberta, Canada to farm near Calgary, where John and Catherine had three more children. John died in 1925 near Vancouver, British Columbia. Catherine died in 1926 in Alberta. There are at least four generations of descendants now, mostly in Alberta and BC.
NOTABLE DESCENDANTS:
None at this time
LIVING DESCENDANTS:
Roderick Prowse b. 1954