Overview

The Anstey family first appears in my records for Little Bay in 1880. They were Methodists. According to information derived from a MyHeritage family tree ran by Hubert Glyn McKay and a sign at the Springdale Heritage Centre sourced to Chelsley Anstey the family came from Twillingate with some lineages ending up in Springdale and Little Bay Islands following the loss of the Little Bay mine.

Sources Found

Below is what I have on the Anstey family in Little Bay. 

• 1880 – Birth of Elsie Jane Hull to Anstey, William (fisherman) & Sophie (VT)
• 1882 – Birth of Phoebe Jane to Anstey, Henry & Sophia (VT)
• 1886 – Birth of a son to Anstey, Elias and his wife (TS) 
• 1888 – Birth of Naomi Susan to Anstey, Sam & Emily (VT)
• 1889 – “On Tuesday, the 26th, a company of men went out from Little Bay, to get seal carcasses from off the ice. It was a very stormy day, and owing to fatigue and lack of food, one poor man, Samuel ANSTEY, died on the ice. His son was with him, and only just managed to get to a house. One or two men almost met a similar fate. ANSTEY leaves a wife and a large family. He was buried Friday at Sandy Cove Island, at which place he was brought in” (March TS / May HGS)
• 1891– Death of Annie Anstey daughter of George (Bromley)
• 1892 – Birth of Hannah Florence to Anstey, Henry (shopkeeper) & Mary Taylor (Civ Births)
• 1893 – Anstey, Drusilla marries William Codnor – fisherman (Civ Mar)
• 1894 – Anstey, Edward – fisherman (Census)

Sources Sought

There are a number of couples noted that should be connected genealogically if possible.

The 1889 sealing death could be written up as story but I’ll need a wider context of the seal harvesting generally. I could make a timeline of sealing references and see if a pattern shows itself. Refer to Food Culture. 

As always, any pictures of these people would be appreciated.