Parsons- Bay Roberts, Newfoundland- Will

[lfparsons]

Hi,
I have looked at all resources available from Newfoundland  Parish records and vital statistics and there is nothing for the area and time frame for a Matthew Parsons.  I have him having a few kids and in a few census' of which the most interesting is the 1898 Harbour Grace district which says "Matt (Wm" so I am looking for a William or Matt/Matthew Will or estate, or land record.  I know where they are buried (Coley's Point Grace United Church) and that Matthew was born in Newfoundland, Bay Roberts area, specifically Country Rd, the grave of William says immigrated from England early 1800's .
I need a look up if anyone has access or some advice on what is needed for the will or land deed or something else to look up.  I know Matthew died Country Rd at 84 in May 1927, but I do not know anything about the possible father William.  I hope to get a will to help link them because there is nothing else out there.  The only other thing I may have is a John Parsons lives in same area in 1921 census, is in the other census' and directories with Matthew and it says same (Wm beside his name in the 1898 census, I assume same father.  (Also, John and William have the same grave type but my direct ancestor Matthew is in unmarked grave)
If there is any advice or look ups that can be done it would be greatly appreciated.  I can provide more info if it is needed.
Thanks

[amazon510]

Hi,

Naomi Parsons of Bay Roberts(?), b. 1891, was my gggrandmother - any connection?

I assume you've already seen the Newfoundland Grand Banks website.  http://ngb.chebucto.org/.  It's a bit scanty though on Conception Bay North stuff.  Depending on the time period, your ancestors records could be under Harbour Grace, Port de Grave, Bay Roberts or Coley's Point.  There are wills listed on NGB but none for a Matthew Parsons that I could find.  You could always check with the courthouse in St. John's to be sure there is no will. Contact information is posted here:  http://ngb.chebucto.org/Research/wills.shtml
fees seem pretty reasonable.

I know you say you have checked all available resources, but have you checked the Labrador records for other possible records?  Conception Bay North fishermen were very active in the Labrador fishery and some BMD might have occured in a mission on the coast.  Also check the big St. John's parishes, sometimes they sent missions to Labrador as well.  You could even check the Quebec Lower North Shore, I found some of my Bay Roberts relations there.  http://www.rootsweb.ancestry.com/~qclns/.  Now that said, the Labrador records are very scant and I suspect some have been lost, but it might be worth checking what's available.

Just to be sure, I assume you've also seen the reference to William Parsons in Seary's Family Names of the Island of Newfoundland, and the Parsons file at the Matthew collection.  Have you tried looking up the original source for any references of interest?  You might glean another detail or two. 

J.

[lfparsons]

Hi,
Ya I have tried all available resources I know of anyway, well most I know of I guess.  A few before me have looked and did not find much.

No Naomi Parsons in my tree, my family from Matthew Parsons was born around 1880's and the records for my ggrandfather Francis Parsons birth is not available.  I do know Matthew had a few more kids, Annie Mary, Susannah and Thomas. 
I have gone through a lot of that info on Newfoundland Grand Banks website and searched some scans on familysearch for births, deaths and marriages.  It is all over in that area as earlier it was Port de Grave and then Harbour Grace.  There is a John and a William that live on Country Path around Matthew so they maybe his brothers, only link I have is the 1898 McAlpines Directory
http://ngb.chebucto.org/M1898/98-cooley_hg.shtml
PARSONS   John (Wm   Contry road   fshmn
PARSONS   Matt (Wm   Contry road   fshmn
and Francis is there too.
I have looked into John Parsons and his wife Eliza Jane Russell, but nothing yet.
I know he i
I am going to do the Will lookup with the courts for both Francis and Matthew, my question is, if they were not well off, will they still have a will?
I did find a Matthew Parsons born May 19, 1847 from a William and Mary Parsons in Bay Roberts. 
I know my Matthew died May 9, 1927 at age 84 (age from the vital records, not too sure how accurate)  Also my Matthew, the 1921 Cenus says his birth month is Aug, year says 1841 (I heard the years were off, but months were more accurate?)
Also, I found John buried with a William in the same place as Matthew and Francis, but I think the John info is wrong on the wooden grave marker (looked at the death record), frustrating.  It says William came from England in the early 1800's, so I would love to try to keep the line going if he is related.
 
Anyway, I looked briefly at the Labrador stuff but did not find anything, as you said they are very scant, I may try again.  My mothers aunt did say they used to go there and fish, our family did, and she or someone else used to go and babysit as well.  I tried Quebec as well but nothing on them.

I did not see the reference to William Parsons in Seary's Family Names of the Island of Newfoundland, and the Parsons file at the Matthew collection (What is this, I have found the Seary's Family book, but where can I get info on the Matthew Collection?).   The originals I have looked at are the scans, I am not in newfoundland so I cannot go to the collections in St Johns.

Thanks for the tips, I will not give up trying.

[amazon510]

Hi,

Not sure about the wills.  Can't hurt to check, I found one ancestor who had no children and had a will leaving his small estate to the church in Coley's Point.  However I'd suspect the odds of a will are lower if they were poor.  Won't know 'til you check I guess.

I see what you mean, the United Church records are more complete for Port de Grave.   I need Church of England which are frustratingly scant on that website.  However I don't see any Bay Roberts United Church records, just Clarke's Beach and Brigus, and I'm sure there are some for Bay Roberts.  PANL has a complete listing of all parish records on their website, just have a look and see if there are any you haven't seen yet.

http://www.therooms.ca/archives/family_history_collections.asp

Next time I'm there (which isn't often, I'll warn you), I'll look into Naomi Parson's family.  I've never checked out the Parsons branch, if I find anything of interest I'll let you know.

Re Seary, under "Family Traditions" - "Samuel from Devon settled at Running Brook, Bay Roberts, about 1825." 

Source is Memorial University Folklore Department.  The folklore department ran an ongoing thing during the 1970s where they had all Newfoundland students in certain first year courses fill out a questionaire about their family origins.   I went and looked up some of interest to me one time, not sure if you can still do that but you could try contacting the university and see.  There might be more details on the original form.

Then, under "Early Instances" - "James and William, of Bay Roberts, 1769, property 'in possession of the family for 102 years', that is 1667 (CO 199.18)"  Now that doesn't rule out your William coming from England, they might have been part of the migratory fishery and William was the first to settle permanently.

CO199.18 is the Colonial Office records for Newfoundland.  They have Microfilm at the Provincial Archives and the Maritime History Archives, the original is at the National Archives in the UK.  It probably won't say much more on the original though, it was probably a survey of lands carried out by the governor of the day.

There is also "Robert and William of Crockers Cove (Carbonear), 1795", source is also CO199.18.

The Seary entry for Parsons is quite extensive, lots of Parsons right up the shore from Bay Roberts up to Bryant's Cove and Carbonear.  You might want to buy a copy of Seary if you are doing a lot of research in Newfoundland, it's very helpful and I think you can buy it on Amazon.com.

Re the Matthews Collection - see the following link for the resources at the Maritime History Archive at Memorial University:  http://www.mun.ca/mha/holdings/genealog.php.  The Matthew collection is a treasure trove of early Newfoundland references.  Note that for large files (and I'm sure Parsons is going to be a fat one) the file is broken down by first name.  You can request just the first names you are interested in, to cut down on cost.

Jennifer.

[Redroger]

I am watching this thread with great interest as a surname I am researching (Luffman) has its highest world wide incidence in NF. I have found one man (transcribed as Loveman) in an early census whose place of birth was shown as England, but despite help from Rootschatters on both sides of the Atlantic I have been unable to make a firm connection. In England the name is at its most common (least rare!) in Dorset and Somerset, but research on these counties has still drawn blank.

[Redroger]

Checking my trees I find that I have five instances of the surname Parsons in my trees, all in the Dorset/Somerset border area around Milborne Port etc.

[lfparsons]

I saw the Matthews collection a while ago but was not sure about doing it.  Also Matthew Parsons was born after or around 1850 in NFLD so I did not need to just then.  I just recently put together the William so I will look into that, I so not even know fore sure if it is Matthews father .  I will try the wills too as I know Matthew's sons owned land there, so maybe he did to and left them some, but I think they were still poor fisherman.  I would like to find out when William died http://ngb.chebucto.org/Cemetery/parsons-wiliam-1800-bay-roberts-grace-uc-hg.shtml to look for his will too, but as you know, so many William Parsons it maybe difficult.  I am still new to this stuff too.

I am sure you know about familysearch and the images
https://www.familysearch.org/s/image/show#uri=http%3A//pilot.familysearch.org/records/waypoint/5478931&hash=Mrd8SMocDIIen2Q83tu%252B82PRagg%253D
Thats Bay Roberts CoE Parish records, notice its in Port de Grave.
as well is the vital records
https://www.familysearch.org/s/image/show#uri=http%3A//pilot.familysearch.org/records/collection/1790939/waypoints&hash=Mrd8SMocDIIen2Q83tu%252B82PRagg%253D
I found some records that are not on those websites.   

How about NFLD land records?  is there a way to find people if they owned land?  Is it easily accessible material? 

[amazon510]

!  Okay, I did not know about all the records on Family Search.  Very handy, thanks for the tip.  I compared it to my notes, looks very complete for the Bay Roberts to Carbonear region. 

I think Bay Roberts was simply grouped under Port de Grave for administration purposes.  It's a separate town, not that it matters.

Re land, what you want is the Registry of Crown Land Grants (1830-1930), at PANL.  Not on-line I'm afraid, but I think it's indexed.  Can't remember, I haven't looked at it in a long time.  There's also the Plantation Records, but they're generally older.

J.

[lfparsons]

Ya that family search is a gem, its actual records which is nice to add to your gedcom or whatever.

I will have to try to interlibrary loan the Registry of Crown Land grants on microfilm one day.
Thanks again