I hope this message reaches all those who replied to my postings. I was in the middle of replying to them individually and I lost the thread and can't get the replies back. I did manage to get an e-mail off to "JOL" and was writing one to Welsh Jen re "Colbert". Please tell me how to access them! Thank you to the person who is checking out Goons for me. Another member has given me a lot of leads in England. I will summarize what I have discovered so far. The earliest mention of the Sweetland name in Newfoundland dates to the late 1700s. There was a William and Catherine Sweetland in English Harbour (Trinity Parish) in 1788. There was a Henry and Ann Sweetlands in Calvert (Ferryland) in 1790. Henry was a merchant and JP. Henry and Ann had three sons, Henry, William, and Benjamin, who were all baptized at the Anglican Cathedral of St. John the baptist in St. John's. (I searched the parish records and retrieved this.) Details of the family can also be read at:<http://home.thezone.net/~calvert/names/sweetland.htm>. The Benjamin that JOL refers to is this Benjamin who was a magistrate and his ancestor. The other brother, William, eventually left Calvert and became a magistrate in Bonavista. Bonavista is 30 miles from Trinity. Bonavista is where my mother's Sweetlands are from. The earliest Sweetlands in Bonavista were a Joseph and Mary who first appear in 1804. There is no record of their marriage, but all their children are registered. One of their children was named William. My grandfather's grandfather was "William Sweetland". So far, I have been unable to ascertain if he was "William " of Joseph and Mary, or "William" from Ferryland, who married for the second time after arriving in Bonavista. Both William Sweetlands had sons named "John", the name of my grandfather's father. I am piecing this together as much as I can. The Bonavista records give no clues, so I think I may have to go to graveyards. As to where they originated, I suspect it was Devon and they may have all been related and came here already married (Henry of Ferryland was married in England.) So that's a search for another time. I apologize for not repliying earlier. but I've been traveling. The records are chock full of sweetland births in Bonavista, so much that you would expect the place to be overrun-but not so, only 14 in the directory, and 3 are women.
