*********SUBJECT**** �Seary�s NL Folklore, Opinions, Facts, Whitmonday,and the passage of time�.......updated Oct. 31st, 2003 prepared by Lloyd George Henry Rowsell.....for sharing, on the internet, with members of the NL ROOTS genealogy group, etc. *****message, PART I******** This note is a follow up to a short piece that I earlier posted to NL Roots under the subject. �Three Brothers--Folklore, Fact and Fancy�. Since I like to work within the bounds and order of �timeline linkages� I will continue that mode of presentation here. 1647...Richard Russell, of Charlestown, Mass. sold two vessels to the Colony of Avalon, "according to the laws of Oleron". 1700 - 1807 - 1865...A copy of the 1865 Lecture at BR Anglican Church by Rev. Blackmore was serially printed in the BR newspaper Feb. 20 to March 20, 1943....some quotes: #1..�From the several documents the date of this settlement as a prominent fishing station may be safely fixed at about the year 1700, or somewhat more than 160 years ago.� #2...But in the year 1807 a fresh movement took place.........Mark Delaney, an Irishman, at that time living in French�s Cove......etc.� #3...�1810........Somewhat later back......while at Coley�s Point the eye could rest on the two little tilts, which were occupied by Mr. T.M. Russell and J. Churchill, set up near the spot where Mr. G. Jackson now lives. ( lghr: I wonder if this was Mr. Thomas Henry Russell and Mr. John Churchill, of other records, M & H are sometimes transcribed incorrectly?) #4. �At the beginning of the present century.........in a little cove at the foot of Whit Monday Hill, was Mr. Badcock.......The schooner was called the �Fox�. It was 60 tons measurement, and carried a complement of 20 men.........The following year....another little schooner was build down the Harbour likewise, this time by the present family of Russell�s. The schooner was named the �John William.� (lghr note: �John and William� was a 64 ton schooner built in 1806 reg#S826007 owned by Henry and Stephen Russell, Farmers/Planters of Bay Roberts......in 1838 Henry and Stephen Russell owned the 84 ton schooner named Antigonish, built in NS. reg.# S838099). 1810-1815....Here are replies from Dr. Robert M. Lewis to questions which I asked in April 2003.. Question #1....� Do you know the actual numbers of population growth between 1810 and 1815 caused by in migration as opposed to natural birth rate increase?� REPLY: "Robert M. Lewis" <lewis@mun.ca> wrote: � I am not sure what you mean here by 'opinions'. This is Shannon Ryan's interpretation (an 'opinion' but one based on a careful analysis of records from the time) of the historical evidence available, which I agree with. It has to be an interpretation because neither births and deaths nor 'immigration' was being recorded. I put 'immigration' in quotes because I am very sure that many who came in that period did not think of themselves as 'immigrating' to Newfoundland but rather as coming to work here for a while but who just ended up staying (for many reasons, but, along with Ryan, I think that the development of the seal fishery was central). This process was, I believe, much like that of many Newfoundlanders who have gone to work in Boston, Sydney, Toronto, Ft. McMurray, &c., have over time and who have ended up staying. The hows and wherefores of the early settlement of Newfoundland is still very much a point of historical debate, though I think that Ryan's interpretation is the most widely accepted one. But there are others.....� #2. �Do you know if records exist for the names of the Irish persons who came to Newfoundland during the period 1810-1815 either as passengers or stowaways? REPLY: � No, and I don't think that many exist. Officially they would all have been considered migratory workers who would return to England or Ireland at the end of the season or in a year or two. There was no official immigration at the time because Newfoundland was not considered an official colony until 1825. In England and Ireland there probably are at least a few ships records of crewmen and passengers coming to Newfoundland in this period but I can't tell you where exactly where because I have never gone looking for them., One of the things I think that many people ignore is that the settlement of Newfoundland was quite different than that of the United States in the 19th century (or at least as it is usually presented). There was no Ellis Island in Newfoundland, no immigration officer, and no 'immigration ships'. Immigration to Newfoundland was not as cut and dried as was immigration to the United States was (though that wasn't as cut and dried as it often is presented, e.g., one of the largest 'immigrant' groups in the18th and early 19th centuries were African slaves who also lack the neat records of the more 'normal' immigrants). That is one of the reasons that there aren't the same sort of records found in the U.S.� end of quotes. Whit Monday Hill: 1857-2003....After spending part of the years 1944 to 1947 as an Episcopalian Missionary at Bay Roberts, in the year 1858 Robert T.S. Lowell (Russell ancestors, family from Charlestown, Mass.) returned to his home in Mass. and published a novel titled �New Priest in Conception Bay�. Quotes from page 17: � The place was like a balcony; in front one could see down the shore of the harbor along the sea-face of Whitmonday Hill, and over more than one little settlement: and out in the bay to Belle-Isle, and the South Shore, and down towards Capt St. Francis.� page21: �This Whitmonday Hill, in Peterport, of which mention was made in the last chapter, is, on its travelled face, steep enough for a practiced beast (if there were such in Peterport) to slide down.......This edging stretches along as debatable ground between the hill and the sea, to Daughter�s Dock, (the little cove where a �Seventh Daughter� lives,).......The scene, to a sympathetic eye, was a pretty one of home life; but the prettiest part of it was on the wateredge of Whitmonday Hill........� (lghr question: Can anyone, who traces ancestry to the town of Bay Roberts or Port de Grave, correctly identify the location of Whitmonday Hill today?) 1915....James P. Howley published a book about the History of Newfoundland. A few days ago, at the library in downtown Victoria, I saw a copy of this book noted his words, concerning the history of the Rowsell family in Notre Dame Bay, some of which I had read earlier on a website about NL Rowsell genealogy. Here is the preamble, left out of the internet record. Excerpt from page 282 of �The Beothucks or Red Indians, the Aboriginal Inhabitants of Newfoundland� (1915) by. James P. Howley, FGS....�I have had much communication with Mr. Thomas Peyton, D.S. of Twillingate, son of John Peyton the captor of Mary March. Mr. Peyton, jr., is one of the very few now remaining who knows anything of the Indians, and his information is all second hand, having been derived chiefly from his father and mother, and from old servants or employees of the family. In reply to various inquiries addressed to him from time to time by myself, I cull the following items.� end quote 1977...At the age of 92 years, Mr. Dawe recorded his momories about his ancestors. A review of this tape-recording indicates that he had knowledge of many who lived with the birth surnames and in-law surnames of, Bowering, Daw, Mercer, Morgan, Richards, Seeley,etc. He also accurately recalled some of their occupations, places of birth, place of marriage and where some were buried. He recounted some stories that were told to him about shipwrecks and accidental loss of life. However, it appears to me that he combined into one event, some of the names that related to ancestors involved in both Labrador disasters of Octobers 1867 and 1885. This in no way deminishes the value of Mr. Dawe�s record of BR oral history or folklore. 2000-2001...Since both my parents had passed on almost 30 years earlier, my own quest for family history and roots started with a phone call to my father�s only sister. Her words, in reply to my questions, were something like this: � Why do you need to know that? I think that my grandfather�s name was Henry, he died before I was born. Your father might know, if he was alive.� During my vist to Coley's Point, CB in 2001 I learned, for the first time, that many people there knew my grandfather simply as �Uncle George Henry�. A contempory of mine said: "I was a teenager before I knew that your grandfather's surname was not Henry." 2001...During taped interviews, in the BR area, with �contemporaries/distant relatives� of my father, those comments were recorded: (a) �Boy, I think you are about five years too late, most of the �old fellas� who knew that, have passed on, see.� (b) � Well, now you could be on the right track, the Frenchs used to own most of the land around here.� (c) �Well now, I think that George Henry�s father �died at the ice�, yes, that�s right, I think that he �died at the ice�. (d) �George Henry�s father, he died down on the beach, Long Beach, you know, Long Beach Pond, he was hauling caplin, see, for his gardens, the horse bolted and ran over him, yes, that�s how he died.� (e) �Yes, he was George Henry�s father, he died hauling wood..... the caterman turned over and he was stuck under the load of wood, yes, that�s how he died.� (f) �George Henry�s father died at home, he had scarlet fever, my mother caught it from him, she lost all her hair, she was really young then.� __________________________________ Do you Yahoo!? Exclusive Video Premiere - Britney Spears http://launch.yahoo.com/promos/britneyspears/