The Fishery and Settlement Patterns in Newfoundland and Labrador: 17 th -18 th Century Trinity Bay Internal Migration Lesson Overview In this lesson, students will be exposed to two case studies from Trinity Bay in Newfoundland and Labrador that illustrate internal migration during the mid-1700s to 1950s. Through an examination of a variety of materials, various push and pull factors will be explored. These factors encouraged early fishermen and their families to continue their movement after their arrival from England and Ireland. Students will be required to produce a map to trace the migration routes taken by these early settlers. Teachers should encourage students to research and apply similar information to other regions of Atlantic Canada. Grade Level Grades 9-12 (secondary school) Grades 6-8 (middle school) Time Required Teachers should be able to conduct the lesson in two classes. Curriculum Connection (Province/Territory and course) Atlantic Provinces Curriculum for Social Studies: Council of Atlantic Ministers of Education and Training (CAMET): Newfoundland and Labrador Curriculum Outcomes (Can be adapted for any province) Newfoundland and Labrador Intermediate social studies program Canadian Geography 1202 World Geography 3200 World Geography 3202 Other Atlantic Provinces Intermediate Social Studies Senior High Social Studies Link to the Canadian Atlas Online (CAOL) The Canadian Atlas online can be used to help students construct their maps of internal migration in Trinity Bay. Using the link /, locate Explore the maps. Then click on How to use the map. Zoom in on Trinity Bay to 27kms to 54kms. Students can print a copy of this map and use it to show the migration routes taken by these three families. Contextual information can be found under: Themes: History and Heritage The Fishery
Additional Resources, Materials and Equipment Required Computer and Internet access Sample copies of maps showing Migration Routes in Trinity Bay (not attached) Student information sheet Internal Migration for Trinity Bay (attached) Group copies of 3 Case Studies: #1: The Greens, #2: The Veys, #3: The Spurrells (attached) Student worksheet Internal Migration (attached) Assessment rubric (attached) Main Objective The primary objective of this lesson is to allow students to become familiar with internal migration and to identify the push and pull factors. This will be achieved through two case studies of families who arrived in Trinity Bay in the mid-1700s. These families continued to move until they found a permanent location to settle. Students will use mapping skills to show these migration routes. Teachers should challenge students to apply concepts to model their local areas for migration patterns. Learning Outcomes By the end of the lesson, students will be able to: Define internal migration Suggest possible push and pull factors that cause migration Apply migration factors to their own extended family history Construct maps showing internal migration Be familiar with historical maps showing early 16 th and 17 th century fishing in Canada. Become familiar with the importance of the Newfoundland fishery to England, Ireland and France. Appreciate early settlement in the town of Trinity, in Trinity Bay, Newfoundland and Labrador. The Lesson Teacher Activity Introduction Open lesson with by introducing Plates 23 and 24 from Volume 1, Historical Atlas of Canada. Initiate discussions centred on regions that supplied early immigrants to Newfoundland from England and Ireland by asking the following questions: Where did the largest early migrant groups to eastern Canada settle? Student Activity Use online Historical Atlas of Canada to examine early migration routes taken by immigrants from Ireland and England shown in Plates 23 and 24. Suggest possible reason for this migration. Why do you think they came to Newfoundland?
Lesson Development Conclusion What factors might have caused them to settle in Trinity Bay, Newfoundland? Separate class into several groups of four. Hand out Student Worksheet: Internal Migration and have students complete. Distribute case studies evenly among groups. Encourage students to complete the map using Canadian Atlas Online: / Note: Students should also be shown one template map to help them understand the type of map to be constructed for their case study. Gather students in large group for presentation and discussion of their findings. Encourage students to discuss possible migration patterns within their families and communities. Assemble in groups of four with assigned case study. Read and discuss the case study. Complete the worksheet Internal Migration for the assigned case studies. Each group will briefly discuss/describe their case study to the class and show the map of internal migration for their assigned case study. Lesson Extension Students should be encouraged to examine their local areas and family history for evidence of migration patterns that exist in their community. Teachers could encourage local historians, church leaders, and local genealogists to speak on local settlement patterns. A homework assignment similar to this lesson could be given. Assessment of Student Learning Rubric Worksheet Further Reading Optional Link to Canadian National Standards for Geography Essential Element #1: The World in Spatial Terms Maps and atlas used to observe the migration patterns in Eastern Canada Identify settlement patterns in Trinity Bay, Newfoundland and other possible locations in eastern Canada. Essential Element #2: Places and Regions Regional analysis of geographic issues and questions related to migration and settlement patterns. Issues and problems of a region related to suitable settlement and employment.
Essential Element #3: Physical Systems Components of Earth s physical system World patterns of extreme events World climate regions Essential Element #4: Impact of human migration Human population distribution Human Systems Human settlement patterns rural versus urban Canada Essential Element #5: Environment and Society Distribution and utilization of local resources. Use and sustainability of natural resources Geographic Skills #1: Asking Geographic Questions Plan and organize a geographic project on internal migration Research and answer questions Identify internal migration as an issue facing early rural Canada Geographic Skills #2: Acquiring Geographic Information Use various websites to locate information Use a variety of research skills to locate and collect information Geographic Skills #3: Organizing Geographic Information Use a variety of media to develop and organize geographic information Geographic Skills #4: Analyzing Geographic Information Use the processes of analysis, synthesis, evaluation, and explanation to interpret geographic information from a variety of sources Geographic Skills #5: Communicate clearly and effectively Answering Geographic Questions Formulate valid generalizations based on information collected and analyzed
Student Information: Internal Migration at Trinity Bay As the Island of Newfoundland became more and more populated by Western Europeans, popular locations like Trinity, Bay de Verde, Grates Cove, and Scilly Cove (now Winterton) in Trinity Bay became overcrowded. Settlers searched for other favourable locations that could support their growing families and provide sheltered harbours and rich fishing grounds. It was a common practice in Newfoundland for migrants to travel about 20 kilometres to temporary winter homes to obtain food, wood supplies, and building materials at the bottom of harbours and inlets. Residents of Grates Cove and Scilly Cove often crossed Trinity Bay to cut timbers for boat building at Random Sound. Some families in Trinity looked to areas like Heart s Ease and Random as being good fishing grounds with an abundance of wood supplies. The Newfoundland Directory, 1871, describes Random as being very fertile, but is almost unoccupied. The inhabitants are engaged in lumbering, farming, and salmon fishing in conjunction with cod fishing This alone explains why a number of the residents of Bay de Verde, Grates Cove and Scilly Cove eventually migrated from the north side of Trinity Bay to the Southwest Arm area. Family names like Vey, Green, Hiscock, Martin, Shaw, Avery, Jacobs, Drodge, King, Benson, and Frost can be traced to Grates Cove, Bay de Verde and Winterton. Families like the Spurrells, Pitcher, Dodge, Langer, and Baker also moved from the Trinity area to seek out new opportunities and prosperities for their expanding families. Below you will find three surnames that came to the shores of Trinity Bay and became internal migrants.
Case Study 1: The Greens The Greens arrived in Trinity in the 1700 s. Early St. Paul s Church records state that John and Agnes Green had two young sons who died there in 1761. A son John Green married Mary Dewey of Bonavista in 1775. John and Mary settled in Trinity and made a living building and operating a metal forge to supply the demands of a growing fishing industry. John and Agnes had several other children and one of them, Daniel, married Jane Bailey in 1794. Jane had three children from a previous relationship. These were adopted and baptized into the Green surname at Scilly Cove (now Winterton). The population of Trinity was expanding rapidly and it appears that Daniel and Jane moved from Trinity to seek a new life for their family at Scilly Cove, a smaller fishing community on the opposite side of Trinity Bay. Here the children grew and eventually entered into the fishery. Daniel and Jane had a Grandson Levi, who married Rachael Adey in 1854. They had several children, all of whom were born in Scilly Cove. Levi and his cousin, John, often crossed Trinity Bay to harvest the forest for materials that could be used in construction of boats, homes, wharves, and stages back home in Scilly Cove. In addition, St. Jones Without offered good shelter, fishing grounds, and fertile soil. Around the 1870s, Levi and John moved their families permanently to start a new community that was recorded in the 1870s census as St. James but quickly became known as St. Jones Without. The move allowed their families to have easy access to the natural resources. The community of St. Jones remained an active fishing community from the 1870s until 1950s. Due to its isolation, however, the community lacked medical and educational facilities. To receive emergency help during stormy weather, a person had to walk to the nearest community of Little Heart s Ease. The surrounding hills limited communication and mail was often sporadic. With the beginning of roads in Newfoundland, the community was deemed impossible to reach by road. The families voluntarily left the inlet by the early 1950s. The great-grandson of Levi, William and his young wife, Olive moved their growing family to her hometown of Little Heart s Ease. Here, William continued to fish in the waters of Southwest Arm, Trinity Bay. He often returned to the abandoned community of St. Jones Without to fish during the summer months.
Case Study 2: The Veys The Veys of Trinity Bay were a family from New Ross, Ireland, which left that country under unusual circumstances. In New Ross, the family surname was Rice. Michael Rice and his wife, Sarah, had several children and times were very hard. Sarah had just given birth to Catherine, with the assistance of a mid-wife, Mary Browne. Mary and Michael Browne were friends of Sarah and Mick. During an early summer s evening in 1836, the family received a loud knock upon the door. A gang of men demanded to see Michael Browne. Because the gang members were bearing arms, Mick quickly grabbed a weapon and, along with Michael, confronted the local men. Both Michael and Mick were forced down the road and into the river. Here they both were killed. Fearing for their lives the women quickly gathered underneath the house and developed a plan to escape their husbands killers. Sarah Rice, sons James, John and youngest daughter, Catherine, and their friend Mary Browne fled to England. Once in England they arranged passage on a ship traveling to Newfoundland. Before crossing the Atlantic, all of them reached a decision to change their names. It was agreed that the surname would become Vye and that their religion should be changed to Protestant. Mary would also become known as Granny Elizabeth. With their new identities in place it was vowed that no one would reveal the family secret. Sarah would locate her two oldest daughters who were living at Grates Cove upon their arrival in Newfoundland. However, while crossing the Atlantic, Sarah passed away and her infant, Catherine, died before reaching Newfoundland. Upon their arrival in Newfoundland, the remaining three slowly made their way up the Conception Bay shoreline until they reached Grates Cove. Here James and John established themselves in the fishing industry and married local women from Grates Cove. James married Lavina Stoyles, while John married Margaret Benson. James, along with his two older sons, started to cross Trinity Bay and established a sawmill at Long Beach to supply materials to Grates Cove and Trinity. During this time period, Grates Cove population continued to grow and land for houses, stages, wharves and fishing were become more difficult to obtain. Families had already started to move to the Southwest Arm area. In the summer of 1865, James and Lavinia moved their family, along with Granny Elizabeth, to Long Beach. Here James felt his family had everything - an abundance of land, forest, fertile soil, and rich fishing grounds. In 1868, John, who had remained in Grates Cove, drowned at sea hunting seals. His death was about one year after his brother James. Granny Elizabeth had outlived her four Rice allies who had left Ireland with her. On October 22, 1874, Granny Elizabeth passed away at the age of one hundred and two years. Her only request before her death was that she be buried at Grates Cove. Her body had to be salted-in until fair weather would allow its removal to Grates Cove for burial. The fear of reprisal did not end with their deaths, however. The family secret had been so well kept that it lasted another four generations before it was finally divulged.
Case Study 3: The Spurrells The earliest records indicate that a John Spurrell from Bath, Somerset married a Mary Cutler from Taunton, Somerset in 1747. They traveled from England to Newfoundland around 1748 to likely serve as servants to John Masters of Poole and Michael Ballard of Ireland. John and Mary s grandson Moses was born in Trinity in 1803. It was Moses s marriage to Honour Sexton in 1828 and the resulting family, most of who were born in Trinity, which prompted his movement to search for a new place to raise his family. The family s first movement was to a location close to Trinity called Sooley s Cove in 1840. However, by 1845, he heard of the rich fishing grounds at Little Heart s Ease. He likely visited this area with his older sons in 1844 and witnessed the excellent fishing grounds but there was little land available at the community of Little Heart s Ease. This likely caused him to build a summer s tilt at Butter Cove where there were no settlers. This location was at a greater distance from the fishing grounds than Little Heart s Ease and nearby Gooseberry Cove but it offered lots of land for his family. Church records indicate that he likely moved permanently to Butter Cove in the spring of 1845. It was not until the birth of his youngest child, Joshua, that the community was officially listed as Butter Cove.
Student Worksheet: Internal Migration Purpose To become familiar with internal migration that occurred in Trinity Bay between 17 th and 18 th centuries. Materials: Student Information: Internal Migration at Trinity Bay Case study Map of Trinity Bay or (students can be directed to produce their own at Canadian Atlas Online): /, Directions for Worksheet Read the assigned case study and complete the questions. Locate and label the place names in Trinity Bay in your case study. Produce a group map of Trinity Bay outlining the migration route taken by the family. **It is suggested that students divide the responsibilities into student presenter, students to answer questions, and students to produce the map. Questions: 1. What is meant by the term migration? How is this different from internal migration? 2. What were some of the push and pull factors identified in your assigned family case study for internal migration at Trinity Bay? 3. Why did the settlers in your case study move from Europe to the Trinity Bay area? 4. Look at a current map of Trinity Bay. Are all the place names still there? Why might they have disappeared? (If you can t find them, do a Google search.) Using Plate 26, Volume 1, Historical Atlas of Canada, 5. What were some of the imports and exports for Trinity? 6. What were the ethnic origins of people from Europe? 7. Using a print or online atlas, see if you can locate the places in England and Ireland from which the settlers of Trinity Bay originated.
Assessment Rubric: Trinity Bay Internal Migration POINT VALUES CATEGORY 5 4 3 2 1 COMPLETENESS Everything completed. Most items completed. Missing 1 Most items completed. Missing 1-3 Missing 3-5 items Incomplete ACCURACY: Migration routes Everything completed All migration routes completed Two migration routes One migration route Incomplete NEATNESS: Attention to Detail/ Map Exceptional Colour/Orderly/Legible Routes easily identified and labelled Good Colour/Orderly/Legible Routes identified and labelled Average Colour/Orderly/Legible Routes identified but not labelled Satisfactory Colour/Orderly/Legible Routes not identified Incomplete No colour No horizontal labels No labels Push and Pull factors for migration 4 push factors 4 pull factors 3 push factors 3 pull factors 2 push factors 2 pull factors 1 push factor 1 pull factor No push or pull factors identified SCORE: /20