Dingle Peninsula, County Kerry, Ireland
Lance Cove, Bell Island Newfoundland
The story below was taken from the
Outport
Revisted website. I have not been successful in contacting Mr. REES I would
be grateful to anyone who could help me reach him.
Excerpt from an "OUTPORT REVISITED" essay by Lloyd C. REES
"The Kennedys arrived in Lance
Cove from Carbonear around 1830. There were three of them: John William; Ned;
and their sister, Jane. They settled just up over the hill in the place
subsequently known as the glebe. John William married a daughter of George
Hiscock, and Mr. Hiscock gave him half of all his property, including a portion
of his fishing room. The Kennedy property is bounded on the south west side of
Lance Cove by a steep cliff known as Kerry Head, a name which is a memorial to
the land of their origin. This Irish family prospered well in the early years
as fishermen and farmers. The two Kennedy brothers, assisted by the Reeses and
the Hiscocks, built at least one schooner. The story is told of how John
William went to St. John's to obtain certain needed fishing equipment and
provisions on credit. He was having little success with this venture until it
occurred to him to mention that he was master of his own schooner, a vessel that
had a fine reputation in the Labrador fishery. When this was declared, he
reported that he could have obtained almost anything he cared to ask for. This
hardy old son of Erin is also buried in the old cemetery where a headstone once
marked his resting place. Unfortunately, this stone has since mysteriously
disappeared. William Jr., a grandson of John William, became well known in the
district as a skilled wharf builder. He built a wharf at Lance Cove, one at
Portugal Cove, and several others around the bay. Being a good Irishman and
supporter of the Liberal cause, he was given the honour of dispensing the local
road grants, a position that carried with it some degree of special status in
the local political circle. Political patronage was the order of those days,
and Lance Covers were not ones to underestimate the blarney in buttering up the
dispensers of election time largesse. Mrs. Kennedy ran the polling booth from
her home at election time. When the Liberal candidate, J.P. Fox, accompanied
by Murphy and Furlong, came to Lance Cove for a public meting during the 1897
elections campaign, they met Kennedy with a group of men who were working on the
wharf. The politicians reported that those were the hardest group of men in the
district to please. Though not intended, this is a tribute to the
resourcefulness of those rugged old characters.
Jane Kennedy married William Stoyles (Stiles),
the young runaway doctor to-be who arrived in Lance cove in 1832, when he was
thirty two years of age. William Stoyles was an Englishman and son of a
well-to-do Devonshire yeoman. He had been studying medicine when he fell victim
to the lure of adventure and soon found himself heading across the broad
Atlantic, schoolbooks still in his possession, on board one of captain Pitts's
sturdy little brigs. Captain Pitts gave him a small parcel of land at the top
of the hill; there William and Jane made their home and brought up a fine
family. The Stoyleses, down through the years, were successful farmers who kept
many sheep and cows. William adopted the faith of his Roman Catholic wife and
their descendants have been a credit to the best traditions of the old
pioneers. William died at the age of 82 and is buried in the Roman Catholic
cemetery in Lance Cove. His wife, however, lies sleeping with the
old pioneers on the cliff side."
When looking for what family the Lance Cove Kennedy's came from in Carbonear I
found that their arrival to Lance Cove had been at least 2 decades earlier
then previously thought.
The Kennedy's arrived in Lance Cove not in 1830 but prior to 1814.
The first indication was a reference by E.R.
Seary to William Kennedy, of Lance Cove (Bell
Island),1814 (D'Alberti 24); what follows is a series of Notes on the early
Kennedy family in Lance Cove.
Parish Records
1812 nov 24 William Kennedy married Ann Kent wit:
William Kennedy and Ann Oates Harbor Grace RC
and a descendants tree (coming soon)
1814
State and
Condition of Residents of Belle Isle
Hiscock and Kennedy (4 acres enclosed) This man is a native and has his fishery
in Lance Cove
(other Surnames listed
Pitts,Cooper,Kent,Oates,Power,Reese,Lahey,Sweeney,Kelly,Harragan,Claharty,Foreham,Normer,Fitzgerald, Dwyer,Squires, King, Ryan, Welsh etc)
Memorandums
from government records for November 21, 1814 are as follows:
William Kennedy of Lance Cove in the island of Belle Isle in Conception Bay,
having applied to me for permission to erect a fishing room in an unoccupied
space of ground in Scrape Cove in said island. Permission was granted.
Signed - Governor R.G. Keats.
1814-1815 Terence Kennedy of Crocker's Cove is
Captain of Bell Iste [sic Bell Isle]; Bell Isle boat later Captained by
William and John Pitts of Lance Cove in 1820;
1815 Nov Harbor Grace Surrogate Court William Kennedy and Geo Hiscock writ
against Sam Laurence of Broad Cove 40/5/- (Keith Matthews File)
1817 Dec 2 Michael Hammond of
Bell Isle, Lance Cove, Bachelor married Margaret Morrissey Spinster at Harbor
Grace wit: Catherine Kennedy, William Kennedy
1832
November 1832 Belle Isle Petition to Sir Thomas John Cockrane, protesting
the changing of electorial district of St. John's to the district of Conception
Bay
John Dwyer James Kelly Edward Kennedy
Andrew Murphy John Fitzpatrick Terrence Kennedy
John Jackman Dennis Dwyer William Kennedy
James Jackman James Cosh John Kent
Richard Manning Thomas Whalen Peter Kent
John Morris Charles Whalen William Kent
Solomon Normore Matthew Kelly William Stoyles
Edward Normore William Pitts Michael Hammond
Peter Jackman James Cooper George Rees
Henry Normore Edward Cooper John Rees
Stephen Long William Clemens James Pitts
John Long George Hiscock James Oatta
Henry Bickford
Provincial Archives G/N2/2 - Transcribed by Vi Smith May 2000
Family Tree Sketch: For more information contact
Joanne@ancestraldigs.com or
MichaelKennedy@sympatico.ca
we are looking for a male Kennedy descendant of Crocker's Cove outside of our
Nich.&Julia or Nich.&Grace line of Carbonear to test their dna for a match to
Michael this would provide evidence that the below Wm. did originate out of
Crocker's Cove, Carbonear and thus all Bell Island Kennedy's can trace there.
Our Nich.Kennedy&Julia(maiden Kennedy) dna does not match Michael Kennedy of
Bell Island-- we believe this supports the fact then that our married Nich&Julia
both Kennedy's were not cousins, that Nich. was a more recent immigrant from SE
Ireland and we need to match a male of Julia's Kennedy line (the crocker's cove
original Kennedy's) to test against Michael's dna. The best sample would
be from the Norris Point/Bonne Bay Kennedy line or Coachman's Cove/ Winterhouse
Brook Kennedy line since we have a paper trail that ties them to Carbonear.
1. William Kennedy (born 1776 Carbonear, Newfoundland) m. Ann Kent 1812 Harbor Grace Parish Records and resided after their marriage at Lance Cove, Bell Island
children:
2.Edward Joseph Kennedy married Margaret Ellen Meeker
3.William Kennedy married Elizabeth Fagan
4. John Kennedy b. 1861 Bell Island married Mary Fitzgerald b. 1863 Bell Island
2.Catherine Kennedy
2.Amelia Kennedy married William Kent
2.Terrence Kennedy
Back to
Kennedy page
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Index
