Thanks so much for your reply. I would be fascinated to hear more about this. I don't know how this website works so I'll give you my home e-mail in case the free account is closed.
svmolder@sympatico.ca. I live in Toronto (near Yonge and Sheppard).
In June 1997, my uncle (Fred Martin) and I visited Stella Holwell in Lewisporte. Her mother, Ellen Anne, was a sister of Selina King (first cousin of my MGF, Abner Martin). She told me about Phoebe being a midwife ("she borned a lot of people'). She described her as energetic and full of fun. She and Matthew had lived on Main Street, on the water side, almost across from St. Matthew's Church. The house is no longer there. Stella had not heard the rumour about Matthew. She had been told that Matthew's 'mother' was living on Change Island with 2 children when she was widowed (Mr. King drowned). She got married again, to a Mr Simms, and went to Fogo where she had more children. Stella's mother, Ellen Anne, lived with Mrs. Simms from about the age of 2, rather than with Matthew and Phoebe. Apparently, this arrangement began as a help to Phoebe but Ellen Anne was happy there and stayed. John Brown, Phoebe's father, used to walk from Joe Batt's Arm to Fogo to see Ellen Anne. Stella did say that, as a young man, Matthew fell through a hole in a schooner and "crushed" his skull. He lost his memory for some time but recovered slowly. Stella recalls him getting severe headaches on occasion. She said his pain was obvious since tears would roll down his face. She described him as a quiet man who said little. Stella had been told that Selina King died of cancer. Shortly before she died she wrote in a letter to Althea or Ellen Anne, "Safe in the arms of Jesus, Safe on his gentle breast, There by his love o'ershadowed, Sweetly my soul shall rest."
I look forward to hearing from you.