(2010)
114 Commercial Street Condominium.
Lots of folks passed through No. 114 in the decades before it became a three-unit condo in 2007. Mary Crowley acquired the property in 1899. During the years of her ownership, this was home to the family of Capt. Manuel Crawley (1854-1938) and his wife, Mary Louisa (Nunes) Crawley (1859-1950). That’s Crawley with an “a” — whereas the landlady was Crowley with an “o.” Captain Crawley was born on São Miguel in the Azores and came to Provincetown when he was 18. Before his retirement in the late 1920s, he skippered the schooners Lucy B. Windsor and John Ball, among others; fished the Grand Banks, Greenland, and the Carolinas; and was, The Advocate said, “considered an authority on navigation and was the source of innumerable thrilling tales of the sea.” His wife, too, was Azorean by birth. Their daughters played a key role in keeping Provincetown residents in touch with one another, and the outside world. Matilda Dorothy (Crawley) Montgomery (1889-1957), was the supervisor of the Provincetown telephone exchange when everyone’s phone call had to go through a central switching office (at 100 Bradford Street). Her older sister, Mary A. Crawley (1883-1942), was the chief telephone operator for more than three decades. There was a brief-lived gift shop called the Fireside Shop at this address in 1937. The Crowleys’ other tenants in these years included William Silva (1868-1951) and his wife, Almena (Prada) Silva (1869-1950), both of whom were born on São Miguel.
The Crawleys — Matilda and her husband, Converse L. Montgomery (1892-1958) — acquired the house from the Crowleys in 1953. They sold it two years later to Frank Perry Jr. (1926-2015), a decorated veteran of World War II, and his wife, Jenita Louise (Woolsey) Perry (1922-1995). Over the next half century, the Perrys’ tenants included themselves; Ronald Taves Cabral (1935-2001) — a Navy veteran and brother of Reggie and Bobby — and Ann Christine Cabral (1935-2018); Mary-Jo Avellar, who now lives in the old telephone exchange building; the fisherman Edmar G. Vieira and Teresa (Vicente) Vieira, and their family; the fisherman Ederlindo Machado and Joanne C. Machado; the fisherman Carlos Sendao; and James E. Hubert Jr., a waiter. Perry sold the property in 2006 to Kenneth S. Johnson and David H. Johnson of Lynnfield. Kenneth Johnson established the condo in 2007. One owner, as of 2018, lives in town. The others live in North Weymouth and Manhattan.
¶ Last updated on 19 September 2018.
Grave sites in Provincetown
Cabral, Ann. Find a Grave Memorial 190015156.
Cabral, Ronald. Find a Grave Memorial 162747691.
Crawley, Manuel. Find a Grave Memorial 125150010.
Crawley, Mary (Nunes). Find a Grave Memorial 139044742.
Crawley, Mary. Find a Grave Memorial 125603821.
Montgomery, Converse. Find a Grave Memorial 128969601.
Montgomery, Matilda (Crawley). Find a Grave Memorial 128970168.
Perry, Jenita (Woolsey). Find a Grave Memorial 155387365.
Perry, Frank. Find a Grave Memorial 155385864.
Silva, Almena (Prada). Find a Grave Memorial 35412731.
Silva, William. Find a Grave Memorial 35412698.