Thomas Webster (born 1846) and his wife Mary (born 1843) had come to Little Bay from Ochre Pit Cove. They largely stayed off my radar as, like the Warrens, they were not found recorded in town until the 1894 McAlpine’s directory. That was until I found Thomas gave his name to the 1889 petition against timber grants. I also missed it as the B looked like an L and I had it put aside as one I couldn’t decipher yet. I compared that list to names I had with similarities and cleared a few up like that. Webster was one. This put them in town much earlier and I’d guess doesn’t actually give us their arrival date. The Websters don’t leave much paper evidence of themselves.

I can’t even tell you their denomination with certainly yet but if I was to guess I’d say Catholic just based on where they were living in town.

The Websters and Warrens have a few things in common. They didn’t register to vote, they didn’t have children in town, and they didn’t get into trouble with the law. Those are the usual ways I zero in on a family’s date of arrival. It’s something to keep in mind going forward as there could be others hidden between the pages like Mr. and Mrs. Webster here.

Sources:

1889 – Thomas Webster signed the petition against timber grants.

1894 – Thomas Webster was a fisherman at Little Bay Harbour (McAlpine’s)

1898 – Thomas Webster fisherman at St. Patrick’s (McAlpine’s)

1904 – Thomas Webster fisherman at St. Patrick’s (McAlpine’s)

1911 – Thomas and Mary Webster living in Little Bay with a widower named Thomas [[Nevills]] and his children (Census). I’d guess his deceased wife to be the Webster’s child but if so I haven’t found any evidence of that yet.