I don’t have very much for the name Sexton. The name is absent from the 1882 Voter’s list and my first record of them in Little Bay appears in the summer of 1888. They were living on the New Line Road about a mile from the shore. I feel it’s safe to assume they’d been there at least one year due to the new road being cut in 1887. This gives them some time to get the house built. Houses in this new area of Little Bay, known as The Valley, were said to be presentable with flowers planted outside them. I’d place the arrival of the Sextons between 1883 and 1887. I don’t know where they’d moved from but the family ends up in St. John’s so perhaps the east coast. They are of British descent and likely members of the Church of England.

Thomas Sexton had built a new home in the area of Little Bay known as The Valley by June of 1888. He was the first person to spot the 1888 fire according to an article in the Daily Colonist and the same piece notes that he’d had experience with fire before. His next house is located in The Bight so perhaps he was next renting from the mining company. Adding to that fact, I think we can further make a safe guess that he worked in the mine due to the fact that his son is listed as a machinist in the 1935 census despite his father’s listing as a fisherman in 1894. Many of the local miners had switched to fishing during periods when mining operations were slowed such as they were at that time. It’s a fair assumption that he was married as he had a son also named Thomas Sexton in 1895 and it would be unusual for an unmarried man to give his surname to a child.

The family remains in the area until at least 1921 when the younger Thomas Sexton marries Agnes McGrath at St. Patrick’s. Unusually, according to the 1935 census, Thomas remained a member of the Church of England despite the rest of his family being Roman Catholic. His choice to move to St. Patrick’s was perhaps motivated by his wife’s family as St. Patrick’s was primarily a Catholic area while St. Luke’s, the only Church of England church present, was located on the hill in The Bight.

I cannot find a listing for them there on the 1921 census so perhaps they moved the year of their wedding. They are next found in St. John’s according to the 1935 census with their children listed as William, Eilleen, Lillian, Elizabeth, and Mary.

Sources:

• 1888, June 6th – Sexton sees fire (DC)
• 1889 – Thomas Sexton living at Indian Bight, Little Bay (Voter’s List)
• 1894 – Thomas Sexton listed as a fisherman at Little Bay harbour (1894 census)
• 1895 – Birth of Thomas Sexton (Vit records)
• 1921 – Thomas Sexton marries Agnes McGrath in St. Patrick’s (Vit records)
• 1935 – Thomas and Agnes Sexton living in St. John’s with children listed as William, Eilleen, Lillian, Elizabeth, and Mary. Thomas is listed as a machinist (1935 census)