Were the Harvey Women of Isle Aux Morts, native? How are the Legges of Crabbes and Blanchards of Bay of Islands intertwined?

Originally found by another fantastic researcher, Chris Boudreau, whom I have been following recently due to his work with Metis research, this piece includes an interview with a man named George Prosser who was 92 years old at the time. Spending most of his life in Cape Breton, Nova Scotia, he was born in Isle Aux Morts on the South Coast of Newfoundland in 1906 and lived there until his 30s. From the article in Issue 74 of Cape Breton Magazine, which can be viewed here, George seems to have had extensive knowledge of his ancestry. Being far removed from the prejudice that many Newfoundlanders with Native ancestry faced, he speaks freely of “jackatars” in his family. This article is especially important due to his residence in Nova Scotia and long before interest in the Qalipu band clouded family history. For your information a “Limey” is a British person. Jackatar or Jackietar is typically a slur used to describe people of mixed Native and European descent. An important aspect of this account is that the mixed race descendants often called themselves English but they weren’t fully English.

Here is an excerpt from the article in Cape Breton Magazine concerning Mr. Prosser’s hometown and ancestry:

“…(How did your parents come to be in Isle-aux-Morts?) It’s a French name. Island of the Dead. My parents come there because my grandfather was a Limey, come from England. My grandmother was a Lundrigan, and my grandfather was a Clark, so they got married that way. My grandmother’s mother was a Hardy. Down in Newfoundland in them days, the story was them Limeys come over, they’re Hardys, and they got mixed up with the Indians and they married the Indians. And all the Hardys down there was related, some relation of mine. They all called theirselves English, but they were jackie-tars. A jackie-tar was a Limey and an Indian, eh? A half-breed. They went with the Hardy name ‘cause it was the man. Most of the women were all Indians on the Hardy side. But on the Lundrigan side I can only go back as far as my grandmother and grandfather.

At that time, (Isle-aux-Morts) was about five hundred families. I lived on an island, and we had to row from there to get ashore on the mainland. That’s where the schools and the churches and stores were. When I was born, there was only two houses on the island. My grandfather, my father, my oldest brother built a house – – that was the third house. Our cousins the Lundrigans, they built one. That made four houses. That’s all was on the island. . . .”

 While there is a lot to unpack here, it’s important to note that George Prosser firmly states that the Hardy family were were mixed race but had called themselves English. No doubt this was to avoid prejudice which was rampant in the 19th century. An all too familiar occurrence.

Upon reading this independent account I was intrigued to investigate further as there was definitely a air of truth in his story. I found that George Prosser was indeed born in 1906 in Isle Aux Morts to William Prosser and Adeline Clarke. This is where the details become muddled. The author which compiled the article from several interviews claims George said that his grandmother was a Lundrigan on that particular side… Eventually I found Adeline’s parents to be Charles Clarke (born 1838 in England, died May 5 1918 in Isle Aux Morts)  and Sarah Jane –? who was born about 1847 in Isle Aux Morts and died on June 25 1917 in Isle Aux Morts. Charles, George’s grandfather, was English as he had said. The problem is that there were no Lundrigans on the South West Coast. Not one in Isle Aux Morts during the 19th Century, not even one in the 1921 census. 

But a key detail George gives us is that his family lived on an island with 4 other homes, one being his brother and another being his cousins the Lundrigans. Upon looking at the 1921 census, his brother is indeed a next door neighbor but it is the Lillington’s that are his other immediate neighbors. A name that is prominent in Isle Aux Morts. It seems the author recorded the last name down incorrectly and his grandmother was actually Sarah Jane (Lillington) Clarke. Unfortunately parish records seem to be unavailable for the majority of families for Isle Aux Morts so we have to rely on currently available history. 

The next door neighbors of George and his family were that of George Lillington (b. 1845) and his wife Mary Ann. From here we can piece the family together, with the following evidence: 1. George Lillington was born around the same time as George’s grandmother Sarah Jane (b. 1847). 2. George Lillington named a daughter Sarah Jane (b. 1871). 3. George’s parents were the only Lillington family in Isle aux Morts at the time of his birth. Thus, it is probably safe to assume Sarah Jane (Lillington) Clarke was his sister and the daughter of Thomas Lillington and Eleanor Harvey. Thomas seems to have been the first Lillington in Newfoundland.

But wait, George also said his great grandmother was a Hardy, mother of Sarah Jane. It seems that once again the author got the name wrong as there are no Hardys in Isle Aux Morts either at this time nor in the 1921 census. So was it the Harvey family in which he was speaking of all along being mixed blood? It seems so based on his ancestry. These are testy waters as the brave Harvey family is very famous in Isle Aux Morts. 

Eleanor Harvey’s parents were George Harvey (b about 1780 from England) and Jane –? born about 1792. Over 60 trees on ancestry have Jane as a Hickman, however this fact has been disproven as fake in the past. George Prosser states most all of the Hardy women (presumably Harvey women) were native or jackatars. So was Jane also of native descent? Looking at the next generation George and Jane only had 3 sons. 1. John who married Susan Blanchard. 2. Thomas who married Lydia Legge of Crabbes, St. George’s 3. George who married Elizabeth –? As well as many daughters, the eldest daughter Ann in particular, helping her father to save dozens of people in two shipwrecks near their home in the early 1800s. A fact that is celebrated still today.

Was it that only the 3 sons married women of Native descent or was Jane herself native or  was it both? The wife of the son John Harvey caught my eye as Susan Blanchard prior to the Elizabeth Project in 2012 was considered to be the daughter of William Blanchard & Elizabeth Joe of the Bay of Islands. Elizabeth being of native descent and her maternal line one of the focuses of my research. Susan Blanchard was baptized in 1835 by Rev. Edward Wix when he visited William & Elizabeth in the Bay of Islands.

However mtDNA testing conducted on Susan (Blanchard) Harvey’s descendant concluded the mtdna was not the same as Elizabeth (Joe) Blanchard, leaving doubt she was her daughter. However it was only conducted on one descendant with genealogy that was not independently verified which leaves room for error. Susan does not seem to fit the St. George’s Blanchard family and the name Susan is popular with the Bay of Islands Blanchards. If Susan was indeed of William Blanchard and Elizabeth Joe, she could have been one of the Native Harvey women George speaks of.

There is a substantial bit of hypothesis in this article so surviving parish records especially for George’s grandmother could help clear up the Hardy/Harvey & Lundrigan/Lillington mix up. If anyone has a baptism for George’s grandmother Sarah Jane born 1847 or even a marriage record for Sarah Jane & Charles please let me know below. In addition, if you have direct knowledge from family history of this family and know Sarah Jane’s maiden name please also comment below.

 

Going forward, mtDNA testing should be conducted on another Susan (Blanchard) Harvey descendant to prove or disprove the connection. In addition mtdna testing should be conducted on Jane wife of George Harvey. I also wish to caution anyone reading this that none of this is confirmed and is a theory until proven fact – to generate discussion. If you have any comments or are descended from this family, sound off below!