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 (Voter’s List)

In October of 1887 a miner named Peter Sinnot was killed in a mining accident at Little Bay mines. This was reported in the Harbour Grace Standard, Evening Telegram, and Twillingate Sun newspapers with the Twillingate Sun giving him the last name Signott. They wrote that he “was working in the mines some 300 feet below the surface. It appears that, in moving or fixing his ladder, it or the ground beneath it gave way and he fell right down the shaft, a distance of 600 feet. He was carried home at once on a stretcher by his sorrowful companions to his weeping widow and three small children. He was a good and steady workman and much respected. He was buried on Wednesday by Rev. Father S.O. Flynn” (The Twillingate Sun, Oct. 22 1887).

According to his will Peter Sinnot was “of Little Bay” as of 1886 and his wife Ellen was “of Saint John’s in the Central District of Newfoundland” as of 1888. This suggests that she left Little Bay after Peter’s death in 1887. Their estate was valued at 800 dollars.

David Sinnott (spelled Synott) is recorded again at Indian Bight, Little Bay in 1889 (Voter’s List)

David Sinnott (spelled Synnott) donates to the Harbour Grace Cathedral Fund (St. John’s Colonist, 1889, Oct 11)

1891 – Birth of John James Sinnott to David Sinnott and Mary Henderson in Little Bay (Vital Stats)

David Sinnott is in Tilt Cove the following year and has several children there before dying there in 1900 at the age of 49 (Vital Stats)

Catherine Sinnott listed as the widow of Peter is found back in Little Bay in 1898. She appears to have returned sometime after 1894 (McAlpines).

The picture displayed is of Mary Foran (born Sinnott) and was supplied by Kathie Wagner who is working on connections between the Sinnott, Foran, and Dunphy families. Mary is believed to have lived in Little Bay. According to an Ancestry page she was born in 1838 and died in 1885.

I don’t yet know how Peter, David, and Mary Sinnott connect genealogically but I can tell you that David named one of his sons Peter in 1892. If you have more on this family please let me know!