Newfoundland's Grand Banks Message Board

Most of the Caines families of the Northern Peninsula (Bonne Bay to PortSaunders) can trace the migration of their ancestors from George Caines of Lamaline who was born in the late 1700'a. The family migrated from the Burin Peninsula, along the south Coast to Bonne Bay and then North to St. John's Island and later to Port Saunders. There is reason to believe that there may have been another migration of the Caines to the most northern part of the Northern Peninsula from locations on the east coast of Newfoundland. Any assistance on this subject would be greatly appreciated.

Two of the Caines sisters m. two Davidge men in Burgeo:
William DAVIDGE m. Caroline CAINES - 9 children
Alfred DAVIDGE m. Phoebe CAINES - 8 children
These two couples built a 'double house', so all 17 children were raised together; they were 'double cousins'.

In fact, my earliest known connection is to George CAINES m. Deborah ? Sorry, no dates for those.
Their daughter, Martha CAINES b. 1797 (Lamaline) m. Richard VATCHER b 24 Oct 1816 (Lamaline) - he was 36 y/o; she was 21. They had 9 children.
Child 8 was also named Martha (VATCHER). She m. John CAINES, a first cousin.
This couple had 8 children, including Caroline and Phoebe CAINES.

I have more but not the time to type it out. Suffice to say that the families who were in Burgeo early had few choices as to spouses. In 1802, there were only 23 people living there.
The ANDERSON family is believed to have been the first family to settle, likely followed by the MATTHEWS.

We believe that these CAINES came from Lamaline very early in the settling of NL, possibly as early as the early 1700s and are currently searching for their origins in England.

As you are likely aware, there are a lot of variants on the CAINES surname spelling, right to Keynes.

I got a good sized British Road Atlas when I visited England a couple of years ago. One of our NL relatives had found the origin of Joseph STRANGE, who m. Sarah MATTHEWS in Burgeo. They had to return to England as he had to manage the family estates in Hazelbury Bryan. When I started searching there and the villages around Hazelbury Bryan, not only did I find Joseph and Sarah STRANGE, but in searching the surrounding villages, found Caines surnames. I have not confirmed whether this is the same Caines as it sometimes shows up as Cain/Cains/Kain/Kains.

What is a hoot is that when we were in Cobham, Kent and Gravesend, Kent, I came across a local services booklet that showed a Caines!

I would love to find the descendant cousins whose ancestors remained in England. Any info?

Sharon Williams (envisage88)

envisge88

Thanks for your response.

It appears that the family you outlined in your memo confirms the migration of Caines from Lamaline up the SW Coast to Burgeo and then to Bonne Bay, St. Johns Island and Port Saunders.

It would be nice to know if, in addition to this migration route, there was another rout of the Caines family name that reached the Western Side of the Northern Peninsula via the Straits of Belle Isle.

Again, thanks for your information.

Kind regards.

keppleisland

Hello Caines Researcher,

I am also researching the Caines Family and following the route you mentioned!! I am descended from Martha Caines born 1795 of George & Deborrah. She married Richard Vatcher in 1816 at Lamaline and moved west to Burgeo c 1820 along with her sister Susannah and her husband Henry Dicks where they lived out their lives! You can contact me at this site.

Take Care,
Les

My husbands grandmother was a Caines and apparently was from Pools Cove. But what I have researched they were in Belleroam.