THE FAMILIES OF BURGEO

I shall now take up the families and try to name them all and give a history of their coming here as far back a 1796, when the first settler came. This I feel I can better do than any other person in this town as I have been living here among them since 1860. In 1907 I undertook to get the family history together.

In 1860 there were only 62 families living here, but in, 1907 there were about 1800. This does not include Hunt' and Our Harbour. I find that by 1860 a great many name of people on the Church Records who lived here in the forties were not here in 1860 and presume many of them, went to the westward. Others had gone elsewhere or ha died. This is especially true of West Burgeo and I now give the names of those of West Burgeo who had move elsewhere by 1860: John Anderson, Fred Cox, John B. Cox, Samuel Cox, Robert Rose, Jonathan Rose, Francis Read, Robert Harris, James Blumpied, William Major (Mauger), and William Mead. Most of these can be trace as they went to LaPoile and West Point, with the exception of Jonathan Rose, who, I am informed, went to Grand Banks. This was taken from the Church Records.

In 1860, when the writer of this history came to live in Burgeo, there were only about 60 families living here, except Hunt's and Our Harbour. There were six families a Our Harbour, 8 at Hunt's Island, and 5 at Muddy Hole The heads of these families passed away years ago an their sons have married and taken over the old lands an built on the same stands. These families all came from Hermitage Bay previous to my coming.

I propose to begin with the families on the islands although they were not the first to settle in Burgeo Undoubtedly, there was someone living on Collier's an Vatcher's Islands before Mr. Matthews came in 1796 or 1800. Many things have been dug up, such as pieces of iron buttons, parts of coffins, and bones, which is a proof of people living here but [who] were gone at the above date. Possibly they were French.