The Mansfield family is first found in my Little Bay records in 1885. They are members of the Church of England but unlikely to be tied to the Temperance Movement. The family is absent from the 1882 Voter’s list for Little Bay so I’m placing their arrival as likely in 1883 or 1884. They are represented by John and Anthony. I think it likely that Patrick Mansfield was also present. Anthony and Patrick are brothers but I suspect the trio are all brothers as Anthony would later name a son John. Their later connections to Tilt Cove, Pilley’s Island, and Bell Island make it obvious that they were miners. They were also often involved in shenanigans as documented in the police diaries and court records. I suspect they spent a lot of at Chemist Cove which seems to have had become a party spot since Dr. Stafford departed the area earlier. I deduce this due to the number of arrests recorded there and the presence of the McLean sheeban house. I can last place them in Little Bay in 1889. They appear to go next to Tilt Cove before spreading out to other mining locations, no doubt stopping for a few drinks along the way. They seem to travel with a couple of regular cronies from the Cooney and Cahial clans.

A MyHeritage page hosted by Taylor Furey places the family’s origin as La Manche, Newfoundland with William Anthony Mansfield’s birth there in 1864 and Patrick’s in 1868. The image of Patrick included here comes from that account.

Name variants found: Manfield and Mansfield

Sources:

• 1882 – Absent from Little Bay’s Voter’s List
• 1885 Dec 27 – John Mansfield who was unemployed at the time was arrested by Constable Meaney “on the complaint of Mrs. Power for deserting his female bastard child” (Wells, P. 114).
• 1886 – John Manfield was listed as a labourer at Little Bay in a debt case against him by Ellen Cooney of $54 for board and lodging (Supreme Court docs)
• 1886 Feb 10 – Anthony Mansfield said to have assaulted William Bonar with a bottle (TS)
• 1886, Feb 11th – Anthony Mansfield was summoned to appear in court in a case against him by William Bonar. Mr. Bonar wore two black eyes from the night before that he claimed Mansfield had done to him with a bottle. There was a lack of evidence in the case. It should be noted that two of the other men charged with drinking that night were Edward Cooney and Micheal Cahial (TS)
• 1886 Feb 11 – A young Mansfield boy reported a fight to the police (Wells P.123)
• 1886 March – Anthony Mansfield arrested with a number of rowdy others for drinking publicly (Bromley)
• 1886 April 14 – John Mansfield summoned to court by Mrs. Power (Wells P.133)
• 1887 – Anthony Mansfield is working as a miner. His wife is named Rebecca Tucker Mansfield (Crosbie)
• 1887, Nov 5th – William Anthony Mansfield was listed as a miner from Little Bay at his wedding to Rebecca Ann Tucker in Twillingate. They are married by Rev. Pittman
• 1889 – John and Anthony on Voter’s List for Little Bay Bight
• 1889 April 17 – Anthony Mansfield was assaulted by John Fry at Chemist Cove (Wels P.241)
• 1893, Nov 15th – Patrick Mansfield was a witness at the wedding of Micheal Kielly (miner) and Caroline McDonald in Tilt Cove (Civ marriages)
• 1894 – Patrick Mansfield witnessed at a wedding in Tilt Cove (Civ marriages)
• 1895 – Pat Mansfield of Tilt Cove owed John Lamb money (Lind ledger)
• 1896 – Death of Rebecca Mansfield at Tilt Cove (MyHeritage)