Freebairn/Coffey House (Ferryland)

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This is a somewhat unusual house in Newfoundland being built half of stone and half of timber. Its date of construction is undetermined but it is erected on what was once the Tessier property. Peter and Lewis Tessier came to Newfoundland from Newton Abbot, Devonshire, and conducted a large mercantile business in St. John's at the end of the 19th century. They were descendants of Baron de Tessier who fled the excesses of the French Revolution to settle in England. Peter Tessier married a daughter of Robert Carter of Ferryland. Their son, Charles, built an elaborate estate, Germondale, on Waterford Bridge Road. It was demolished in the early 1970s. Peter Tessier may have constructed a stone house on the Ferryland property as a country retreat. It is thought the timbered upper section was added around the turn of the century, possibly by Dr. R. Jardine Freebairn who owned and occupied the place until his death 8 September 1934 at the age of 71 years. A native of B ronh ill, Dumbartonshire, Sco tland, Free bairn spent much of his life as a medical doctor in Ferryland where he also acted as magistrate. A daughter, Jessie, married Hedley Bret of St. John's.

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