Page Nine
It
would appear that the Kennedys arrived in Lance Cove from Carbonear
sometime shortly after 1800. His application to governor R.G. Keats for
permission to erect a fishing room in Scrape Cove, Government
Memorandum, November 21, 1814, shows that William Kennedy was a settler
in Lance Cove at that time. He was baptized in Harbour Grace in 1776.
Also, in the Colonial Records for September 1814, a Kennedy is listed
with Hiscock as having a fishery in Lance Cove as well as having 4 acres
of land under cultivation. Scrape Cove (the Scrape) is a tiny cove just
to east of Lance Cove that can be approached from land via a steep
pathway down the cliffside. Thomas Lahey and his family were residents
there in 1814, though, according to the census records, not engaged in
the fishery. This hardy old son of Erin is buried in the old cemetery
where it is said a headstone once marked his resting place.
Unfortunately, this stone has since disappeared.
William
married Ann Kent, likely a relative of James Kent. According to local
tradition they settled just up over the hill in the place
subsequently known as the glebe. All of their seven children, except
Edward (Ned), found marriage partners in Lance Cove; however, all
settled there. John William married Ann, 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 Kents, 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. William Jr., a grandson of 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.
William
Stoyles (Stiles), 1800-1882, a young runaway doctor to-be arrived in
Lance Cove when he was still probably only in his teens. On Dec.
9, 1822, he married Mary Kent, daughter of William and Jane (Hiscock)
Kent. William 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 Mary 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.
|