Norris Point - Old Anglican Cemetery

While in Norris Point, Newfoundland, Cousin Peter, Cousin Kelly, and I took a trip to the Old Anglican Cemetery where many of my Samms and Organ ancestors are interred.

My great-great grandmother was Sarah Samms-Earle-Bromley. She was born in about 1857 in Norris Point. Her parents were Reuben Samms and Frances Organ-Samms-Smith. I wrote about Reuben's tragic demise in yesterday's post about the loss of the ship named the "Reddie."

A few years after Reuben's death Frances remarried to a man named Matthew Smith.

Upon our first visit to the Old Anglican Cemetery I forgotten about her second marriage and overlooked her headstone. Granted, I am generally surprised to find any of my ancestors even have a headstone since most often they do not. But three of four of Sarah Samms-Earle-Bromley's grandparent did have headstone in this cemetery as does her mother Frances Organ-Samms-Smith.

Sarah's paternal grandfather who had the same name as her father, Reuben Samms, did not have a stone. Her paternal grandmother, Sarah, whose maiden name I do not know did has a stone:

This is Sarah's maternal grandfather, Michael Organ's headstone:

Sarah's maternal grandmother, Sarah Elizabeth Matthews-Organ's headstone is probably the most remarkable of all. It is wooden and according to an oral history which appears in the book, This is Our Place, This is Our Home by Joan Edward, this stone was craved by Michael Organ's brother, George Thomas Organ.

The funny thing about that last detail, that book was one of the coffee table books at the house we rented in Twillingate. Seeing the hand-drawn images of my 4th great grandmother's marker in that book made me feel like I was being nudged ahead to Norris Point with a mission to see these markers. I'm glad I saw them first-hand.

Norris Point - The Loss of the "Reddie" from Gadds Harbour Island

The third destination on our trip around Newfoundland was the town of Norris Point. Nestled in the National Park, Gros Morne, Norris Point is where my great-great grandmother, Sarah Samms-Earle-Bromley was born in about 1857.

I chose this destination because it was within the National Park. It was only after the trip was booked that I realized the connection to the Samms family...and I am glad I did.

While we were in driving around the National Park, Cousin Kelly and I stopped into a gift shop in the nearby town of  Woody Point. We almost didn't get into the shop. It was after their closing time and the door was lock but as we turned back to get in the car, one of the owners of the Hunky Dory, Mr. Charlie Payne, came running out of his home to open his shop up for us.

Just as with every stop, Cousin Kelly informed Mr. Payne that I was doing some genealogy research in the area; that I am an Earle. Mr. Payne immediately acknowledged that there were many Earles in the area. I explained to him that this was the section on Newfoundland where my Samms ancestors were from. "Samms?," he inquired. "My wife is Samms." At that point he excused himself to go back to his home to retrieve some genealogical research he had collected. When he returned he shared this story with us.:

Loss of the "Reddie" [recorded from] Louis and Ned Samms [by Charlie Payne]

During the 1870s, the Samms family of Gadds Harbour carried on a seal hunt on a small scale. The enterprise was short-lived because on an accident at the ice. It was during the 1870s that the "Reddie" went to the ice and was lost with her entire crew from Gadds Harbour and Norris Point. Her wreck was found later the same year on St. Paul's Island on the Quebec Shore of the gulf of St. Lawrence. Seven men were lost in total. Reuben Samms left a wife and 7 or 8 children, James Organ left a wife and 6 or 7 children, William Parrons left a wife and one child, James Harding was the only supporter of a mother, 3 sisters and 2 little brothers, and Richard Sams, the unmarried brother of Ruben Sams. It is said that there was only one man left in Gadds Harbour after the loss of the "Reddie." One day that same spring he left to walk across on the ice to Woody Point for food supplies and he too never returned. He fell through the spring ice and drowned.

Reuben Samms - also spelled Ruben Sams in this story - was my third great grandfather, the father of Sarah Samms-Earle-Bromley.

Mr. Payne - now more lovingly referred to as Cousin Charlie - recommended a book to me in which the story is recorded; The Good and Beautiful Bay: A History of Bonne Bay to Confederation and a Little Beyond by Antony Berger. 

When we returned to St. John's at the end of our trip I went to the Provincial Archives again to see if I could find anymore about the "Reddie." Unfortunately, I could not. As the librarian at the Archives concurred with me, oral history is perhaps the only way this story of the tragic event has survived. Thank God for the storytellers.

Twillingate, Newfoundland - St. Peter's Anglican Church

While on my trip to Newfoundland with Cousin Peter and Cousin Kelly we took a boat tour in Witless bay to see the puffins. 

I do not know how I can come from a seafaring people because I hurled like I had taken ipecac; that is a medicine used to induce vomiting. I was dying, a cold sweat, the shakes, the works - serious, serious motion sickness. Now granted, it was a rough sea that day but I get nausea just standing on the dock. So by the time we got to Twillingate, there was no way I was getting on a boat tour to see icebergs. I saw them just fine from the harbor - - look:

In any case, while Cousin Peter and Cousin Kelly hit the seas I romped around Twillingate looking for records on my dead people. 

A trip to Town Hall directed me to the Twillingate Museum which is housed in the former rectory of St. Peter's Anglican Church. 

They had a few records of burials in the community. In this instance, though, their records didn't provide me with anything I hadn't already learned online. But I got to give them information they didn't know.

Their records showed a burial for a Thomas Warr in December of 1890 but I know that Mr. Warr's body is not interred there. He was the captain of the ill-fated ship "The Rise and Go" on which my great-great grandfather, Abraham Earle, was lost.

You learn something new everyday, but once in awhile you get to teach something new too.

Twillingate, Newfoundland - Hart's Cove Cemetery: Location, Location, Location

My great grandfather, Abram Thomas Earle, was born in Twilligate, Newfoundland on January 13, 1891. He was the youngest of seven children born to Abraham Earle and Sarah Samms-Earle. Two of those children died before Abram was born as did his father. Abraham Earle died at sea in December 1890 on a ship called "The Rise and Go." Abraham never got to meet his son, Abram.

Sarah remarried on September 15, 1894 to James Bromley who was a widower. Less than 5 years later Sarah would succumb to consumption. She died in March of 1899 when Abram was just 8 years old.

I learned all of this information online through websites like Ancestry.com, http://nl.canadagenweb.org/ , and http://ngb.chebucto.org/. I had also seen Sarah's headstone online through a resource called StonePics.  

http://www.stonepics.com/ is the result of a massive project to photograph and index every cemetery, headstone, and monument in Newfoundland, Canada. It is amazing. If you have ancestors buried in Newfoundland you MUST check it out. I actually saw the headstone before the resource was online, before there was an online. I purchased a CD-rom of the images back in the late 90s.

What I learned from StonePics was that other Earles were buried in the same cemetery as Sarah; Hart's Cove Cemetery. 

One of those other Earles included an Elias Earl. In notes that were written by Abram's sister Susie, she indicates that Abraham's father was Elias. Many people say his father was William but no one has produced documentation for me. Based on Susie's notes, I believe Elias to be my 3rd great grandfather.

This is Elias's headstone. 

This is Sarah's headstone.

What StonePics did not show me was this.:

Elias Earl and Sarah, whom I believe to be his daughter-in-law, are buried no more than 10 feet apart. I found no other Earles marked in that cemetery; only those two Earle headstones. I believe they share a family plot. I am now more convinced than ever that Elias Earl was the father of Abraham Earle and with no existing documentation I can only trust the information passed down to me.

The Rooms in St. John's, Newfoundland

The Rooms is a cultural facility in St. John's, Newfoundland. It contains an art gallery, a history museum, and the Provincial Archives. I had never seen anything quite like it. It was lovely how they pulled together these various aspects of culture into one location.

There are no general admission fee to view the Archives in which there are several exhibits of their archival materials. There is, however, a fee for researchers; a one time $10 fee to obtain a permanent Researcher Registration number.

I researched in the Archives twice while on this trip and if you ask me I completely got my money's worth. I went the first time on our second day in St. John's before heading out to the outports where my family lived. My second visit was after having visited the sites where my Earles, Samms, and Organ ancestors lived. 

On the first trip I went to see if they had anymore information than what I had already seen online through websites like http://nl.canadagenweb.org/ and http://ngb.chebucto.org/ .

The "records" that are online at those sites are transcriptions of the registers of vital statistics, not scans or digitized copies of the original records but typed transcriptions. The Archives had copies of the handwritten registers of these vital statistics. I didn't learn anything more than I already knew; they pretty much are what I saw transcribed online but a good researcher always wants to see the originals because we know errors can be made in transcriptions. In this case, I saw no errors but enjoyed the opportunity to see the registers.

After having visited Twillingate, Norris Point, and St. Anthony, we returned to St. John's.  

On the second visit to The Rooms I was looking to see if I could find information on a specific ship that sank in Bonne Bay in about 1869 or 1870. I will share more about the story I heard in another post. Unfortunately, I didn't find any info about the tragic sinking but I did look through registers of vital statistics that I hadn't checked before. I was able to glean a lot of data about my ancestors from Norris Point; the Samms and the Organs. I also got to look at resources that are not available online; gleanings from various newspapers.

If you have genealogical research to do on individuals from Newfoundland, you can get a lot of it online. Like I said the registers of vital statistics held by the Archives are transcribed online through the two aforementioned websites. In terms of vital stats, there really isn't much more on Newfoundland than what is online but that does not mean the Provincial Archives at The Rooms isn't worth the visit. The librarians there were incredibly helpful. One of them shared with me that he too had Earles of Twillingate in his family tree. Just to feel the support from them and to see the registers in person was worth the trip.

Visited the Earle Ancestral Homeland

I know I have not posted in awhile. Higher education sucks up a lot of my time but now that it is summer I hope to have the chance to write some more about my genealogical research.

School ended in May. In June I went away for my birthday. See if you go away for your birthday it doesn't count. :) So instead of turning 40 I'm still only 28. ;) That is my story and I am sticking to it.

Typically I travel with two of my second cousins - Cousin Kelly and Cousin Peter. This summer the three of us went to Newfoundland for two weeks. Two weeks of nothing but icebergs and puffins and dead people research - aww yeah!

Newfoundland is absolutely beautiful. And everything I had heard about the people was true - warm, friendly, jovial, and full of stories.

We had four towns that we planned to see. We spent about 3-4 days in each.:

1. St. John's - The main city.
2. Twillingate - Where my Great Grandpa Abram Earle was born. Also known as the Iceberg Capital of the World.
3. Norris Point - Nestled in the breathtaking Gros Morne National Park, this is also the location where my Great-great Grandmother Sarah Samms-Earle-Bromley was born.
4. St. Anthony - A town not far from L'anse aux Meadows which is a UNESCO Heritage Site possible settled by Leif Ericson in about 1000 A.D.

I plan to post about my genealogical experiences in each location over the course of the next few days.

For now here are just a few photos to hold your attention.

A view of St. John's from Signal Hill.

Icebergs fill Twillingate Harbour

Hart's Cove Cemetery - Twillingate

Farmer's Arm, Twillingate

Old Anglican Cemetery, Norris Point

L'anse aux Meadows, Viking Heritage Site

Revisiting If A=B and B=C then A=C, AncestryDNA!!

After giving the matter explored in my last post it dawned on me that YES, my father and distant cousin can match the same person genetically without matching each other.

Here is how:

Person X could have inherited two pieces of DNA from an ancestor. We'll call those pieces 1 and 2.

My father may have inherited piece 1. Cousin Mary may have inherited piece 2.

Therefore Dad and Cousin Mary could match to the same person without matching to each other.


Ok, AncestryDNA, you win.