Cousins in Unlikely Places: Part 1

This past June I traveled to Newfoundland with my Uncle Thomas. This was his first visit to our ancestral homeland; my second. I had been to the town of Twillingate once before in 2014 with Cousin Kelly and Cousin Peter. Twillingate is the town where my great grandfather, Abram Thomas Earle, was born in January 1891. This location was on Uncle Tom's bucket list and so when I was determining where I wanted to go for my birthday vacation this year and my usual travel companions were unable to accompany me, I invited Uncle Tom to go with me.

Uncle Thomas has a strong affinity for his grandfather, Abe. So much so that he named his boat "Twillingate" after his boatsman grandfather's birthplace.

In Newfoundland there are not many chain hotels in the small towns; not even in the small towns that are touristy. Most people stay in B & Bs. In advance of our travels, I used AirBnB to reserve places for my uncle and I. That's good because we could get multi-bedroom locations for nearly the same price as hotel rooms in which we would have to share a room. 

In my search on AirBnB, I came across a place called The Pumpkin House located on Farmers Arm Road in Twillingate. The funny thing is that according to the birth registration for Great Grandpa Abe, he was born on Farmers Arm; a section of the Durrell side of Twillingate.

Pumpkin House - image taken from AirBnB.com

So there we were in the bright and bonnie abodes of The Pumpkin House owned and operated by Nancy and her son Charlie. Turns out Charlie recently purchased a house of his own just a few doors down from Pumpkin House. On his deed it shows a survey conducted by Thomas Peyton who was once the local magistrate. Thomas Peyton was also the father of Edgar Peyton; the brother-in-law of my great grandfather and thus my uncle's great uncle. Family connections were happening. 

More stunning though was the fact that the property Charlie owns was once owned by John Earle. Yup an Earle! The deed, which can also be viewed in the Peyton Family Papers held in the Special Collection of Memorial University in St. John's Newfoundland, shows the property of both John and Thomas Earle side by side on Farmers Arm; now Farmers Arm Road. The deed indicates the land was once owned by the Late William Earle who, one would assume is the father of John & Thomas, the aforementioned land owners.

Land Survey conducted by Thomas Peyton of land once owned by William, Thomas, and John Earle of Farmers Arm, Durrell, Twillingate, Newfoundland in 1894.

I haven't pieced all the family connections together just yet but my gut tells me that my great grandfather was born on Charlie's land or that of Charlie's neighbor; Daphne Earle who now owns the land that belong to her grandfather-in-law, Thomas Earle. 

Oh but wait, it gets even better...