Tobias Pearson was born on Merasheen Island in 1941 to Agnes Wilson and Cecil Pearson. He taught school at South East Bight for many years and earned his degree from Memorial University during the summers. His grandmother, Kate Wilson, was a powerful traditional singer who passed her songs on to her daughter and her grandsons Tobias and Gerald.
They also learned the old songs from their father who was from Petit Forte. Tobias has performed at various folk festivals in Newfoundland and at traditional music gatherings in Boston and New York.
Tobias Pearson's Songs
Eggs in a Basket. Two sailors find a babe in the basket instead of eggs. Learned from John Lake 1976.
Jessie Monroe. The blacksmith's daughter sends handsome Johnny back to his wife.
The Poor Little Fisherman. An orphaned lad is saved from a shipwreck on a foreign shore and taken in by kind strangers. He learned this from his Uncle John Wilson.
Virginia Shore. A young woman thinks she has been abandoned by her sailor lover.
Well Sold the Cow. In this comic song Jack gets the best of robbers on his way home from market.
The Constant Farmer's Son. Mary's brothers murder her true love so she will marry the squire's son. A song from his mother Agnes Wilson.
Collected by Anita Best and Pamela Morgan.