The process of gathering information about the families of Calvert has taken a long time and it is still ongoing. Starting with my own family about 1982, the scope of my curiosity has expanded to include the families of the entire community of Calvert, and beyond. Although I have gathered a lot of information on my own, I would be remiss if I did not acknowledge the fact that other people have made significant contributions to the information included on this website. In this regard, I feel it is appropriate to post acknowledgements for the contributions received thus far. The contributions that I have received and used to "flesh out" family profiles have come from several people; some with a lot to share, others with just a little to share. Regardless of the extent of the contribution, all information is appreciated.
The order in which I have listed acknowledgements below is random and does not necessarily represent the magnitude or importance of the information received. All visitors to the website are encouraged to comment on, critique, identify errors in, or debate the contents of any information posted on this site. If I have missed anyone who has contributed, drop me an e-mail and I will set the record straight.
This page also includes a list of updates to this website as additional information was added, or corrections and improvements were made.
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
I would first like to acknowledge the contributions of three people who have been constant in their sharing of information. For almost a couple of decades, Chris Morry and Enid O'Brien have helped me gather, analyze, and evaluate information that pertains, in particular, to the Morry and Sweetland families. Through our exchange of e-mails, shared transcription efforts, and many debates over the interpretation of old documents and records, we have discovered settlement details about these two families that were previously unknown or forgotten. This effort has been very encouraging and we hope to uncover more details in the future. I would also like to acknowledge the many newspaper obits, articles, etc. regarding Caplin Bay people that have been forwarded to me by Audrey Swain and Enid O'Brien. Also, Audrey's findings on websites such as "familysearch.org" and "ancestry.com" have helped identify information on some emigrants from Caplin Bay/Calvert who moved to the United States.
Unfortunately, research on my own family started late, at a time when most of my immediate relatives had passed on. However, I wish to acknowledge the valuable oral family history provided to me by my late uncle, Tom Reddigan (1914-1983). His recollection of the married surnames of Reddigan women, who had emigrated to the U.S. at the turn of the last century, enabled me in later years to exchange family details with a distant relative in that country. Gregg Armstrong, a grandson of Catherine Francis (Reddigan) Armstrong, was kind enough to provide me with information re his family tree. Gregg also gleaned, from his aged aunts, the old address of my grandfather's sister, Alice (Reddigan) Pike. This address enabled me to access the U.S. Census Records for more details. He was also able to supply me with several old photos of the Pike family. I would also like to recognize the efforts of my late second cousin, Regina Sullivan for making me aware that my grandmother Bridget (Meaney) Reddigan had a sister who emigrated to Nova Scotia. With the information provided, I was able to successfully find some details of her presence in that province.
Information on my maternal relations, the O'Brien's of Calvert, has always been very vague and elusive. My grandmother Ellen (O'Brien) Carey died when my mother was only six years old, hence she did not know a lot about that side of her family. A second cousin, Marian Norris has provided me with information about the O'Brien family and some lore about other long-gone Caplin Bay families, the Barrys and Mahers. Marian and the late Dorothy (Barnable) Agresti also provided me with information about the Johnston families of Calvert and Ferryland.
Information on the Swains and other families descended from Robert Swain of Stone Island, was provided from several sources. My main source and correspondent has been Don Lopes who married a descendant of Robert Swain of Stone Island. Dianne Butz, another Swain descendant, has contributed considerable information to Don, which he has shared with me. Mary Ellen (Ledwell) Kavanagh, another Swain descendant, has also been a good source of information regarding the Swain/Evoy/Ledwell branch of the family.
The late Ray Curran, who sadly passed away at the age of 54 in August 2002, was the main information contributor about the Rossiter family. His transcriptions of various Ferryland area colonial and court records, church registers, etc., posted on the Newfoundland's Grand Bank's have also been an invaluable reference source. Other pieces of the Rossiter family history have been provided by Pat Rossiter, Pam Todd, Patrick McDonald and the late Tom Rossiter. Gerry Collins provided me with information re the Gearys of Ferryland, who were related to the Rossiters.
Although the Healy family is generally associated with Ferryland, they were also associated with Caplin Bay for several decades during the 1800s. I would like to acknowledge the information regarding this family provided to me by Roberta and the late Richard Sullivan from their research of the Ferryland branch of that family. Likewise, the Caplin Bay (O')Keefe family, and their association with the Rossiter family of Caplin Bay and the O'Neill and Hagan families of Fermeuse, has been verified through past and current contact with their US descendant, the late Barbara Smith, and more recently by her brother, Tom Donavan. Another early Caplin Bay name that is now extinct (and about whom little was known in earlier generations) is the Clancy family. However, through the Internet and this website, I have had contact with a couple of people who have been able to provide information on a U.S. branch of this family. In 2006, I corresponded with Jim Farrell (a grandson of Patrick Clancy of Caplin Bay and Mary Hartery of Cape Broyle who emigrated to Chicago) and his daughter Mary York. They shared some information with me about their family in Illinois and their Newfoundland connections. In April 2014, I was contacted by Bill Whalen, a Newfoundlander who lives in England, and through some research, we have discovered that he is a descendant of Anastasia Clancy of Caplin Bay and John Williams of Bay Bulls.
Although their stay at Calvert may have been brief, I decided to include the Badcock/Battcock family name in the families of Calvert. I have received information on this family from several sources. John Paul Bradford, who married a Battcock descendant, has been a good source of information on the Battcocks, from their arrival in Newfoundland to the present. Eileen "Bunny" Best, a Battcock descendant, has provided me with information on her branch of the family, many of whom became known as Babcock when they settled in the U.S. in the 1890s. Other Battcock descendants Liz Croft and Kay Svagdys have also been in contact with me over the years regarding family information.
UPDATES
- November 2019: Added 'Book' page announcing the September publication of my book 'Courageous Souls - The Early History and Founding Families of Caplin Bay (Calvert), Newfoundland'.
- May 2015: New domain - calvertweb.ca - enabled and web-based database added to consolidate all records collected to date.
- October 2014: Entire web site completely redesigned. Changed layout and background colours etc. and added automated time-stamp for all pages.
- October 26, 2009: Entire web site: Geocities was shut down, all site information transferred to RootsWeb.
- August 30, 2006: Family Surnames - Reddigan: Updated Reddigan page with additional information.
- February 10, 2006: Updated various pages to correct link problems created by a transfer of the site to Geocities.
- December 12, 2005: Family Surnames - Wade: Updated page with additional information re this family, including the death date of Johnny Wade.
- October 30, 2005: Family Surnames - Evoy: Updated page to show some recently discovered details regarding John Evoy's death at Caplin Bay in 1825. Added link to Supreme Court Estate Files under Land Transactions.
- May 20, 2005: Various Pages: Updated pages to embed hard-coded "last updated" information due to limitations of Geocities Web Hosting.
- March 11, 2005: Home Page: Updated to rename page Acknowledgements as Acknowledgements & Updates.
- March 11, 2005: Updates & acknowledgements: updated this page to remove all e-mail addresses (spam control) and to add this update list detailing recent changes made to pages on this website.
- March 10, 2005: Family Trees - updated link address to the website 'The Morry Family of Newfoundland, ex. Devon'.
- February 28, 2005: Entire website: All files transferred to Yahoo Geocities servers due to upgrades by Rogers Cable. URL address changed to reflect the new website hosting location.
- January 31, 2005: Family Surnames - Barry: added information re death of Michael Barry at St. John's in 1898.
- June 2002: Website initially hosted by Cable Atlantic.