Posts - Page 9 of 16 - The History of Little Bay

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Kidston

This Little Bay research is a journey. It takes unexpected turns. It twists. Working on the Kidston family is a fun little example of that. Kidston is a name I’ve only recently gotten anywhere with. It was one lonely reference for a long time, only the name on a gravestone in the Bight. At the United Church cemetery was inscribed the name Edward A. Kidston. The headstone said he’d died in April of 1881 and that he was the son of A. S. Kidston but that was it. For a long time that was all I had.W ...

Mayo Lind

The summers of my childhood were spent in Little Bay. I fished for trout out of a small pond off the main road. It’s called Lind’s Pond. I didn’t understand the name’s significance to Newfoundland’s military history when I played by that pond as a child. It was named after the Lind family. They resided in Little Bay from the mid 1880s until the early 1940s. Likely you already know the name Mayo Lind. It was a nickname given to a man who also spent his boyhood summers playing next to Lind’s Pond. ...

Boyles

Benjamin T. Boyles (pictured with his wife Jemima) moved to Shoal Arm, Little Bay from St. John’s with his sister Martha in 1878. Benjamin Boyles worked as a general dealer there. There were other Boyles present in the area including William G. Boyles at Tilt Cove in 1882 and a teamster named Henry Boyles at Little Bay by 1892. The Boyles family intertwined with the Benson family in 1885 as Johnathan Benson was also a dealer from St. John’s who lived in Little Bay at the time.1878 - Mr. B. T. Bo ...

Richards

This one has it all - rum running, arson, religious intolerance, and perhaps even hints of murder - if you'll allow me my suspicions anyway! What follows is the Richards family's journey in Little Bay.John Thomas Richards married Sarah Dawe at New Bay Head in March of 1865. The couple moved to Little Bay in 1882 with their children - William, Isaac, Temple, and Evangeline. John listed as a trader during the mining boon but later as a fishermen when mining operations stalled. A letter to the edit ...

Simms

I have very little on the Simms family, sadly. They are in town by 1879 and represented by Alfred and John who are likely brothers. Alfred and his wife Caroline had a son named John in a place called Nimrod in Green Bay Newfoundland in 1877. John is listed as a labourer so I’d imagine the two arrived from Nimrod together to find work at Little Bay mines. 1879 - Birth of Archibald William Simms to Alfred and Caroline (Vit Stats) 1882 - Birth of Thomas Simms to John and Elizabeth (Vit stats) 18 ...

Sinnott

The Sinnotts came to Little Bay from Placentia to work as miners. They were Catholic. Peter was born in 1850 and David was born in 1851. The first record of the name associated with Little Bay is from July of 1880 when Little Bay’s mine manager, Adolph Guzman, sent a prospecting party to Brigus to investigate a gold find there. The chief was a Mr. Sinnott who hoped “to find the lode in a day or two” (Harbour Grace Standard, July 17 1880).There's a David Sinnott listed at Little Bay Bight in 1882 ...

Furey

The Furey family came to Little Bay from Harbour Main and are first found in my records in 1882. They left Little Bay for the mine in Glace Bay, Nova Scotia after the 1904 fire. The family consisted James and his sons. They worked as fishermen and resided on Otter Island. Two of his sons were named James and Edward. There is also a Peter Furey present who worked as a labourer whose parentage I cannot confirm. According to a My Heritage page Edward is found in Glace Bay, NS by 1907 but his father ...

Kennedy

The Kennedy family were present in Little Bay by 1879. They were Catholic. They came from the Avalon. The Kennedys largely left Little Bay after 1904, likely a result of the fires. Many returned to the east coast but some went to Glace Bay, Nova Scotia to work the mine there. Thomas and Mary Ann Kennedy are pictured. The family genealogy is a little unclear. There are a lot of men named Hugh! I have one reference to a Mr. and Mrs. M.R. Kennedy in Little Bay in 1948 with ties to the Head family. ...

Hayes

The Hayes family are present in my Little Bay records by 1888. They arrived from Bay Roberts via the mining communities of Tilt Cove and Bett’s Cove. They came sometime after 1882. The first generation consist of Willam, Thomas, and Mary Ellen. The subsequent generations in town descend from William. I believe they moved for logging work with the mine at first but records from 1894 onwards list them as fishermen. The family was Catholic. Spelling variants: Hayes, Hayse, and Hays. James Hayes pic ...

Benson

The Benson family arrived in Little Bay from St. John’s in 1879. Johnathan J. Benson may very well have been the first shopkeeper in town. He owned several fishing schooners which employed people from Little Bay to serve as fishermen off the cold coast of Labrador. The dangerous work cost Benson a ship called the Victor in 1886. Another of his ships, the Sarah Jane, would have been lost that year as well were it not for the heroic wits of a young stewardess named Elizabeth Pilgrim. Benson’s prov ...

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