NL GenWebBaptisms (Partial-Selected)St. Bernard's Roman Catholic Parish Register 1861-1883 The following is a list of baptisms extracted from the St. Bernard's Roman Catholic parish registers housed at that local parish. The partial list is restricted primarily to suspected Newfoundland Mi'kmaw family names from the Herimtage-Bay Despoir region of the South Coast, as well non-Mi'kmaw familes connected through kinship and/or friendship. It is apparent from a detailed study of the Burin RC records that suspected Mi'kmaw family names previously listed there (ca. 1836-1859) are no longer found there after 1859, in accord with the formation of the St. Bernard's parish for the Fortune Bay district. Family names enclosed in square brackets immediately following the extracted given name and/or family name represent an approximation of the standardized form of the name currently in use or accepted among living descendants. Held by the St. Bernard's Parish, Fortune Bay. A duplicate copy also held by the RC Basilica Archives , St. John's, NL Transcribed & contributed by Dwayne Pike.
1861
Transcriber Notes: 1 This is presumably the same John Barrington as listed in the various NL censuses as residing at Swift Current and Black River, Placentia Bay. Conne River elders insist that he was "a recent immigrant from Nova Scotia" (Jackson 1993:100). He may have been the Indian identified in the NL 1874 (103) & 1884 (145) census returns for the Burin Electoral Districts as then residing at Black Duck Brook, Piper's Hole River [Indian Cove, Pike Place (now Brown's Island)]. Black Duck Brook emanates from Black Duck Pond, which flows into the mouth of the Rattling Brook at Indian Cove. John Barrington is not listed in the 1869-71 Howley Censuses of Conne River Mi'kmaq. It is assumed that he migrated from there ca. 1868-1869 following the Howley 1868 Geological Survey of the Piper's Hole watershed area, settling in the Black Duck Brook-Indian Cove area around 1869-1870. Barrington is known to have lived at Indian Cove, Pike Place (later Browns Island) with his wife Mary Hawco of Brigus, along with John Martin, a Frenchman or French Indian of St. Pierre-Miquelon (with a possible connection to the Conne River Martin line?) and his wife Mary Pique/Pike from that region, reported to be the sister of John Richard Pike (Pyke) of Piper's Hole. This place is named after the Pike family from the Piper's Hole-Black River watershed areas reported to be an Anglo-Irish settler family from the Trinity Bay area, which migrated into the area ca. 1750-1790, with connections to the British (English) Harbour-Deer Harbour-New Harbour, TB Pike groups (formerly Peck/Pick/Peek/Peak/Pake). Citing unpublished oral family traditions the Pike family from Piper's Hole may be related to the old Pic(q)(ue) (also Tompique, Tompic, Tompish, Tompict, Toupic, Toupie, Piet, Pitt) family derived from an English planter Thomas Picq (Pike/Pick) (anglois) born in England ca. 1640, later planter of Plaisance-Petit Plaisance who fought in Father Beaudoin's War (1696-1697) and later military campaigns against the English in Trinity Bay (ca. 1697-1708). The extended Pic(que) family later migrated to St. Pierre-Miquleon, Ile Royale, Louisbourg, and Havre Baleine, NS, following the Acadien withdrawal from Plaisance and outlying areas of Placentia Bay (1713). Some descendants of this family later settled in the Bonne Bay area, and are noted in the St. Pierre-Miquelon RC parish registers as having connections to the Huri (or Heli) NL Mi'kmaw family line, which in turn is connected to the Martin line (from either Arguimeau/Argoumatinip/Algoumatimpk, or Telgoumart/Algoumatique). After the Pikes left Pike Place as permanent residents ca. 1859-1865, Philip Brown of Browns Point, Sound Island, then merchant middleman or trader for this area with connections to the Pike family gained title to this tract of land. To date there is no record outlining transfer of title to land from the Pike family to the Brown family, although transfer is inferred through private agreement or contract. John Martin of Jean Martin and Mary Pike, both of Piper's Hole-Black River, continued to reside there as late ca. 1945 on a seasonal basis while traveling through and hunting-trapping in this area. Citing Barrington family oral traditions, John Barrington was known to have a hunting territory in the Piper's Hole watershed area, while Millais (1907:222), gave his traditional family hunting territory as the "Eastern Side of the Tolt", along with Lewis John (son of Peter John and Mary Brazil), a presumed paternal and /or maternal ancestor. Source: Jackson, Doug. 1993. "On the County": The Micmac of Newfoundland (Gerald Penney, editor). St. Johns: Harry Cuff Publications. According to the Encyclopaedia of Newfoundland "Pipers Hole was also home to a small band of Micmac, notably the family of John Barrington. Barrington is said to have settled at Swift Current after being employed in surveying the telegraph line across the south coast in the 1850s and later maintained and repaired the line between Placentia and Fortune Bays" (Poole et al. 1994(5): 332). However, to date, a detailed study and analysis of the list of survey party employees employed during the the 1851 Gisbourne Electric Telegraph Surveying Expedition currently held at PANL on microfilm (to appear on Gen Web) has failed to reveal the presence of any employee by the name of Barrington as either surveyor or Indian guide. Further research in this area, however, may provide clues or evidence to confirm this tradition. Source: Poole, Cyril F. & Robert H. Cuff. 1994. The Encyclopaedia of Newfoundland & Labrador. St. Johns, NL: Harry Cuff Publications. Both accounts on the proposed origin of the Barrington family, however, contrast with the place of birth for John Barrington as cited from the Newfoundland Vital Statistics Return of Deaths for the District of Placentia & St. Mary's currently held at PANL on microfilm. The return of death for Sept. 07, 1928 gives the following information for John Barrington: Swift Current as place of death; Con River (sic.) as place of birth; age of 103; place of burial Sound Island and a note as Indian for occupation [PANL Vital Statistics, Microfilm Collection]. This also contrasts with the NL1921 Census which gives a Place of Birth for John Barrington as Black River, PB.. The contradictory nature of the various census and vital statistics information, as well as the lack of a baptism record, seriously calls into the question the oral tradition accounts, which requires further research and investigation. This should not detract from the inviolable sacredness of family oral traditions, which ultimately must be accepted as truth conditional. According to Barrington family oral tradition "The Barrington name came over from England. They were surveyors. One day they found an Indian boy who didn't really know his name. Using his name the surveyor named the boy John Barrington and then adopted the Indian boy and raised him until he was old enough to be on his own (Exploits Native band Council 1992:34) Source: Expoits Native Band Council-Corona Training Institute. 1992. Wjipnukewaq-People of the Light. Grand Falls-Windsor, NL(also online: Splet'tk Band Council). 2 This is presumably the same Michael John who entertained and hosted the noted NL writer, and adventurer Farley Mowat. Michael gave a detailed account of the history of his people, the Newfoundland Mi'kmaq (Ktaqmkukewaq), and an encounter, albeit of questionable and controversial nature, between his father Lewis John and his grandfather Peter John with a small group of Beothuk survivors 14 miles upriver from the headwaters of the Long Harbour River, on the western side (Mowat 2006:171-172). Source: Mowat, Farley. 2006. Bay of Spirits-A Love Story. McClelland & Stewart. Michael gave the age of his father Lewis John (of Peter John & Mary Brazil), at around 10 years old when the event occurred. According to NLVital Stats Return of Deaths, Lewis was born at Conne River ca. 1826, in contrast to the KCRC Baptism records which gives the same date of birth but a different place of birth (Fogo). If this oral tradition is accurate, where Lewis John was only 10 years of age then the event can be timed to ca. 1836, and not the date of 1880 as estimated by Wetzel (1995). For further details on other Newfoundland Mi'kmaw hunters meeting scattered remnants of the then extinct Beothuk (Pi'tawkewaq) as late as ca. 1870 the reader is directed to Wetzel (1995) and Jackson (1993). Source: Wetzel Michael. 1995. Decolonizing Ktaqmkuk History. Master of Laws thesis (LL.M). Dalhousie University, N.S. |
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