BAY DE LIEU (LOUP)

    In Bay de Lieu, we find old Mr. Blackmore, an Englishman, who married the widow of George Strickland.

    George Strickland died here the 16th of March, age 59. Surviving him were sons William, John, and George. I know of no others. Also left were daughters Betsy, Rachel, and Fanny. I have heard that there was one older than William.

    William married first, a woman at Hunt's, who did not live very long. There was no family. In 1860, he married Sarah Timberley, who is still living with her daughter, Mrs. [George] Sutton. They had quite a family. Edward died a young man. James married a daughter of John Crant. Both are still living. John married Sarah Kinslow of Red Island. Both of them are also still living. Joseph never married; he was killed in the country by an avalanche of snow fifteen years ago. Two girls married away. Hannah married George Sutton. Both are still living in the Reach. They had a family: William, Wilson, Jerry, Joseph, Rachel, Mary, and Martha. William covered himself in glory in the great war. He was married to Millie Taylor of Grand Bruit. They had one child. After the war, he came home, then left the country again two years later and never returned to his wife. In 1923, he fell overboard in Rupert's Land and was drowned. The body was recovered. The widow and child are living here. The three other lads: Wilson, Jerry, and Joseph, sons of George and Hannah Sutton, are still here. Rachel married Ephraim Matthews, and is still living here, as are the other girls. The father, William Strickland, died five years ago, a very old man. He was a good fisherman and worked hard. The family was all born in Bay de Lieu, except the three girls. The moved to Burgeo in the early eighties.

    The daughters of George Strickland, Betsy and Rachel, never married. They died only a year or two ago; old persons. Fanny married Larry Benoite. They moved from Bay de Lieu before 1880. They had a family. Both have been dead some years. William married a daughter of James Young. They are living here. Peter died a young man many years ago. One daughter married Frank Benoite and is living at Grandy's Brook. Another married Henry Brown and is living here. The oldest, named [*Elizabeth] _________ married Teddy Anderson and is living at Mercers.

    John Strickland, the second son of George, married [*Catherine Crant]_______ Grant. They moved from Bay de Lieu at the same time as the brother. Both have been dead these many years. They left George, the third of that name, John, and William. They all lived in the Reach where they planted themselves. They were the first, after Mrs. Blackmore, to build there as early as 1879.

    George Strickland, the second of that name,[and son of George senior] married Jane Timberley (Jane O'Brien now). They had a boy and a girl. Job drowned here in 1900, unmarried. The girl married one of John or Thomas Crant's sons, I am not sure which. She died long ago. He settled on the Labrador. There was a boy and a girl by this marriage. He grew up here but went away as a lad. The girl, Jessie, also went to Canada and married a Belgian. She visited here in 1908, was a great swell and had plenty of money. She was nice looking. Reports say they went to Belgium shortly after this.

    I have now to go back to Mr. Blackmore's family. I do not know when this second marriage of Mrs. Strickland [widow of George Strickland] to Mr. Blackmore took place, but reports say it was in Burgeo but not by the first Rector, Mr. Blackmore. There were by this marriage, three girls, two of whom died young. I remember one of them. The oldest was Lizzie who married Peter Benoite, brother of the Larry mentioned above. He [Peter Benoite] died over forty years ago and left a widow and children, Johnny, Peter, Sarah, and Ellen. The widow died in 1916. Johnny married Susie Crant of Thomas Crant. Both are still living and have had a large family. One, Annie, married Frank Remo. Three are dead, two of whom were teachers. The other, the eldest, married William Swift, son of George. Both died of consumption and left no family. Four sons are still living. Peter married a daughter of John Remo. William married another of the Remo daughters. Frank and Samuel are young men and still living. Victor died of consumption last February. Peter Benoite, son of Peter and Lizzie, married Rosie Buckland, daughter of William Buckland senior. He has been dead twenty-five years or more; consumption. There were two boys by this marriage, Lewis and _______ . Peter's sister, Sarah Ellen, who never married, has kept house for him ever since.

    Thomas Crant also lived at Bay de Lieu. He came from Hermitage with his family. I know nothing or very little of them before they came here. Mr. and Mrs. Crant and son William, a single man, died in the sixties. They left five sons: [should read Philip] Peter, John, Thomas, Samuel, and George, and three daughters, Catherine, Mary, and Jane.

    John [Crant, son of Thomas] married Matilda Swift. They are both dead. They had as family sons. These went away to Gloucester [Massachusetts]. One died some years ago and left some money to his father [John Crant] and it kept the old man a long time after all the family here had married and left. He moved up from Red Island and built a house in the Reach. He took a family in to live with him and made a will leaving the house to them. One of the daughters [of John and Matilda (Swift) Crant] married Joseph Lawrence. One, Mabel, married James Strickland, of William. One married in Quebec.

    Samuel Crant [son of Thomas] left Newfoundland in 1863, married and settled at Sheet Harbour. He never returned. George [Crant, son of Thomas] went to Channel in the seventies and married. He is still there.

    Thomas [Crant junior, son of Thomas] married Mary Clarke and they settled in the Reach. Mary died of typhoid fever nearly thirty years ago. Thomas is still living, an old man, with his son, George. Thomas and Mary had as family: Samuel, George, Thomas, Susie, Caroline, Martha and George married Sarah, a daughter of John Remo and has a good family of three boys and three girls. One died of drowning; a beautiful child. Thomas married a daughter of Mrs. O'Brien [Jane Timberley/Strickland]. She died, leaving a boy and a girl. Thomas went to Labrador. The children were brought up by the Grandmother. Jessie went to Sydney and from there to Alberta. There she married an Australian or Belgian. I have mentioned that she paid a visit here some years ago; a fine looking woman. She and her husband both died of the flu a few years ago, leaving two children with her brother, Thomas. Thomas had also gone to live in Alberta where he married. I do not know the name of this man. Susie [daughter of Thomas and Mary (Clarke) Crant] married John Benoite. Caroline [Susie's sister] married William Clothier of Muddy Hole. Martha [another sister of Susie] married George Strickland. Both are still living in the Reach. They have a family with one married. Harriet [Susie's sister, left blank above] married William Strickland, of John, and is living in the Reach. She died of typhoid, leaving two girls. One [daughter of William and Harriet (Crant) Strickland] married Thomas Swift; the other married John Swift.