Bay Roberts Roots: Finding 10 Generations in Newfoundland

​Ahoy from the side of the road.

​We are idling in Bay Roberts, Newfoundland. The engine is ticking, resting after the haul down some the rough coastal tracks, while the Skipper steps out into the sea mist. She has got the First Mate by the hand. He is nine years old and full of energy, but right now, they are walking slowly across ground where his ancestors stood four hundred years ago.

​Sometimes an old rig like me just sits back and lets the crew do the talking. The Skipper has been unravelling a knot of family history that reaches back to the very early days of European settlement on this rock. She put her thoughts together to share here, sitting at my dinette table at the campsite or tapping away on her cell phone in the passenger seat.

​Here is what my Skipper has to say about the bloodline that brought us all the way back to Bay Roberts on Conception Bay…

Since arriving in Newfoundland more than a week ago, I have felt an overwhelming connection to this rocky land on the other side of our beautiful and diverse country. Of course, I’ve always known I have family ties… my Grandfather who died long before I was born was himself born here. I wonder… is that why I am just so happy to be here… in the sunshine, in the fog, camping on the rocky shoreline and breathing this crisp salty air.

Here we are, our little Grandfamily, having travelled over 9,600 km across Canada. Here we are in Bay Roberts, Newfoundland. Me and my grandson, hand in hand. Ten generations since our first ancestors walked these paths. Ten generations. Imagine that.

I feel like I am getting to know his great-great-grandfather (who I never met) a wee bit better. Let me tell you a little about what I know about my grandpa Jack and what I have learned about all our ancestors…

(much of the information below was compiled with the help of data tools. All data sources have been recorded. Some is family lore I learned at my grandmother’s knee… but the deep online research was only possible because of information provided to me by my extended family’s archivist, my cousin Maureen.)

The Footsteps of Grandpa Jack

My grandfather, John Edward “Jack” French, was born right here in Bay Roberts in April 1876, the youngest son of Nathaniel French and Mary-Anne Hayes. Around 1890, as a boy of just fifteen, he left the shores of Conception Bay for Boston to join his older brothers, Aubrey and Ben, and learn the carpentry trade.

By 1900, the pull of adventure took him clear across the continent to the Yukon during the Gold Rush. He lived as a bachelor in Whitehorse for years, a well respected and talented craftsman, before enlisting with the Yukon Infantry Company during World War I in 1916. He served overseas as a carpenter and soldier in Europe, surviving a gas shell attack in France before being discharged in 1919.

A confirmed bachelor, Jack was swept off his feet by a pretty English missionary, and at fifty two years old Jack married twenty six year old Muriel Blackburn in 1928 in Rapid City, Manitoba. Together they raised three daughters back in Whitehorse, where Jack put his master carpentry skills to work, before eventually relocating to Vancouver Island. Jack passed away in 1954 and was laid to rest in Victoria, BC, completing a colourful life’s journey that stretched from the Atlantic to far north to the Pacific.

Imagining the Crossing: Nathaniel & Mary-Anne

Before Jack set off when just a teenager, his life began right here in Bay Roberts 150 years ago with his parents, Nathaniel French (~1823–1890) and Mary-Anne (Hayes) French (~1830–1913).

I invite you to imagine, as I can only do, what the docks of St. John’s in the mid-1800s must have been for a young English woman stepping off a wooden sailing ship into the crisp, salt-tinged Newfoundland air, leaving behind everything familiar for an unfamiliar shore. We don’t know whether Mary-Anne arrived following extended family, seeking employment in domestic or merchant work, or simply pursuing a new life. We do know that somehow her world crossed paths with a young Nathaniel French, a seafaring mariner rooted deep in the waters of Conception Bay. On May 15, 1857, at the Cathedral of St. John the Baptist, they exchanged vows, bringing together an English immigrant and a rugged local mariner.

Together they built their life in Bay Roberts, raising a large family including Ann Olivia, Benjamin, Celia, Mary Mahala, Emma Lily, Jessie, Aubrey, and young Jack (my Grandpa). Nathaniel passed away on December 14, 1890, and Mary-Anne survived him by over two decades, passing away on February 5, 1913. Both are said to rest in the local church cemetery alongside their daughter Ann Olivia. We spent almost an hour scouring through the cemetery, and sadly could not locate their markers.

Three Centuries on the Cove

The story of the French family in Conception Bay long predates Nathaniel and Mary-Anne, stretching back over three hundred years to Newfoundland’s earliest English settlers.

The 1600s: Settlement at French’s Cove

Family records and colonial land entries trace the initial claim at French’s Cove (and nearby Juggler’s Cove) by Edward French back to 1634. Originating from West Country ports in Devon and Dorset, the family transitioned from seasonal migratory fishing to permanent homesteads. Though the settlement was burned by French forces under Pierre Le Moyne d’Iberville during the winter campaign of 1696–1697, the settlers returned immediately to rebuild their stages and homes.

The 1700s: Ships and Trade

Throughout the 18th century, the family expanded into shipping. Transatlantic merchant logs record Edward French and Sons operating a trading route out of Bay Roberts, exporting salted cod to the West Indies and returning with salt, sugar, and rum. The 1805 Colonial Plantation Books formally recorded the French family as established property owners across French’s Cove, Coley’s Point, and Juggler’s Cove.

The 1800s: Patriarch Edward French (1766–1829)

Nathaniel’s grandfather, Edward French, was born at French’s Cove on August 11, 1766. He owned and operated local schooners, including the 44-ton Elizabeth and the 65-ton Brothers. When he passed away in 1829, his estate passed on property and maritime interests to his children, including his son John French—Nathaniel’s father.
From 17th-century shore stations at French’s Cove to the quiet churchyard in Bay Roberts, standing here in 2026 brings three centuries of family history right into focus.

The 10 Generations of Newfoundland bloodline

• Generation 1: Edward French (b. early 1600s) The original pioneer who established the family claim at French’s Cove / Juggler’s Cove c. 1634.
• Generation 2: Edward French Sr. (b. c. 1720s) Recorded in early colonial plantation records and West Indies trading logs.
• Generation 3: Edward French (1766–1829) The vessel owner and merchant who operated schooners out of French’s Cove.
• Generation 4: John French (b. c. 1812) Married Emma Jane in Bay Roberts.
• Generation 5: Nathaniel French (~1823–1890) Married Mary-Anne Hayes in 1857.
• Generation 6: John Edward “Jack” French (1876–1954) — my grandfather who travelled from Bay Roberts to Boston, the Yukon, and finally laid to rest in Victoria BC.
• Generation 7: My Mother
• Generation 8: Me
• Generation 9: My Child
• Generation 10: My Grandson

Standing there in Bay Roberts with my grandson brings 10 generations of direct lineage full circle, bridging nearly 400 years from the original 1634 cove claim right down to him.

Note: This is my patriarchal lineage on my mother’s side. Thank you, Newfoundland.