A surname of England from the English place named Sweetlands Farm (Devon). (Spiegelhalter). Traced by Spiegelhalter in Devon.
| At Ferryland: |
Surrogate Court Records: September 14, 1773 - Henry Sweetland - Member of the jury in Butler vs. Shortall. |
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Surrogate Court Records: October 7, 1774 - Darby Murry - Charged this boatmaster of Henry Sweetland with running down his boat on his return from the capelin school: Thomas Barnes. |
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Surrogate Court Records: October 7, 1774 - William Pidgeon - Was a partner in a plantation with this person: John Spinster. The plantation is now occupied by Sweetland and Co. |
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Surrogate Court Records: October 5, 1775 - Henry Sweetland - Member of the jury in Cullin vs. Tree. |
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Surrogate Court Records: August 25, 1784 - Henry Sweetland - Justice of the Peace for Ferryland District. |
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District Court Records: October 20, 1784 - Henry Sweetland - Ferryland resident bought a garden from this person: Allen, Alexander. |
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Surrogate Court Records: July 30, 1785 - Henry Sweetland - Justice of the Peace for Ferryland District. |
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Surrogate Court Records: September 23, 1786 - John Mackey, William Neil, Richard Power, Thomas Power, John Sulivan, James Keating - Complained that their fish was being seized by this person to pay passage for their servants: Henry Sweetland. |
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Colonial Records: October 24, 1788 - Henry Sweetland (Treasurer) - Member of Ferryland Protestant courthouse committee. |
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Surrogate Court Records: October 1, 1789 - Henry Sweetland - Justice of the Peace for Ferryland District. |
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Surrogate Court Records: September 20, 1790 - Henry Sweetland, Justice of the Peace for Ferryland District. |
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Colonial Records: October 18, 1790 - Henry Sweetland - Reprimanded by Governor for bad management of official money. Description of the courthouse here as well. |
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District Court Actions: October 12, 1792 - Henry and David Sweetland - Sued this person for money owed: John Kenney. |
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District Court Actions: January 7, 1798 - Ann Sweetland - Widow of this treasurer from Ferryland who received his final wages: Henry Sweetland. |
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Ferryland 1800 Census: Ann Sweetland (widow), Benjamin Sweetland - 11. |
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Surrogate Court Records: April 10, 1805 - John Baker - Agent for David Sweetland. |
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Surrogate Court Records: April 10, 1805 - mentioned in court that David Sweetland (through his agent, John Baker) leased a plantation called Audley's Plantation on the North Side of Caplin Bay to James Walsh. Witness: Patrick Evoy. |
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Surrogate Court Records: December 4, 1819 - William Brodrick - Testified that Brien Cashin fished for Sweetland and Co. (Witness - Keefe, James). |
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Supreme Court Records: November 1-11, 1826 - Sweetland and Morry - Sued: Patrick Evoy, James Grant, Michael Murphy. |
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Supreme Court Records: October 2, 1827 - Benjamin Sweetland, Foreman of Special Jury. |
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Supreme Court Records: November 4, 1828 - Benjamin Sweetland, Foreman of Grand Jury. |
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Supreme Court Records: November 4, 1828 - William Sweetland, Member of Grand Jury |
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Supreme Court Records: November 4, 1828 - De la Poer, Patrick - Sued: Benjamin Sweetland and Co. |
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District Court Actions: August 15, 1829 - William Sweetland - Assaulted by Michael Mackey. |
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Supreme Court Records: October 26, 1830 - Benjamin Sweetland and Co. Sued: Patrick Congdon. |
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Supreme Court Records: November 4, 1830 - Benjamin Sweetland and Co. Sued: Timothy Brien, Patrick Clancy, Edward Kough, William Slade (Wade ?), Robert Swaine. |
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Supreme Court Records: October 10, 1831 - Benjamin Sweetland and Co. Sued: Patrick Congdon. |
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Supreme Court Records: October 10, 1831 - Benjamin Sweetland, Justice of the Peace. |
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Supreme Court Records: October 14, 1833 - Benjamin Sweetland, Deputy Sheriff. |
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Queen Elizabeth Library (MUN): Parish of Topsham. Burial - Lt. Henry Sweetland, RN of Ferryland, NA who died at the place the 10th day of May 1849, age 63 years. (Notes of Enid O'Brien). |
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Interview with the late Howard Morry: Henry Sweetland, Jr., retired in Topsham - not married. (Notes of Enid O'Brien).
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| At Caplin Bay: |
Surrogate Court Records: August 11, 1814 - James Haley - Caplin Bay resident sold house and land at the east end of Old Women's Pond to William Sweetland. (Witness: Thomas Graham). |
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The Newfoundlander (St. John's newspaper). Wednesday, December 5, 1827: Married yesterday evening, by the Rev. F.H. Carrington, BENJAMIN SWEETLAND, Esq., of Caplin Bay, Merchant to TRYPHENA, the youngest daughter of the late GEORGE GADEN, Esq., Merchant of this place. |
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Ships and Seafarers of Atlantic Canada: Schooner IRIS - 87 tons - L-60' W-19' D-11' - Built Caplin Bay 1820; owner Henry Sweetland - mariner - of Caplin Bay. Registration Closure - 1828 - lost at sea. (Notes of Chris Morry). |
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Ferryland Church of England Baptisms: Henry - 1828, Tryphena - 1832, Maria - 1834. |
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St John's Anglican Cathedral Baptisms: Emma - born 1829, bapt. 1830. |
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Journal of the House of Assembly of Newfoundland: 1835-1836: Benjamin Sweetland provides details of a survey that he carried out, as directed by the Colonial Secretary, for a road between St. John's and Trepassey. |
| At Trinity: |
The Newfoundlander: April 20, 1837 - Benjamin Sweetland of Trinity Bay. |
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St. Paul's Anglican Church - Baptisms: George - 1838, Tryphena Eliza Spencer - 1840, Marie Selena - 1840, Benjamin - 1842, William Frederick - 1844, Margaret Richardson - 1850. |
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Church Report - 1849: B. Sweetland. |
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Hutchinsons 1864 - 65 Directory: B. Sweetland, stipendiary magistrate and judge of Labrador coast. |
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Lovell's 1871 Directory: Benjamin Sweetland, lawyer. |
| At Brooklyn, NY: |
Births, Deaths, Marriages in Newfoundland Newspapers (1825-1890): Death - abt. August 15, 1879 - Tryphena Sweetland. |
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Births, Deaths, Marriages in Newfoundland Newspapers (1825-1890): Death - abt. May 22, 1884 - Benjamin Sweetland. |
| Family History: |
The Sweetland surname appears in the records at Ferryland in the early 1770s and it is obvious from the nature of the entries that Henry is a merchant, operating under the business name of Sweetland & Co. Earlier documents mention Henry Sweetland only, but later documents show a David Sweetland at Ferryland and Caplin Bay. Research indicates that Henry and David Sweetland were brothers, born in the 1730s, at Uffculme, Devon, England. Henry Sweetland married Anne Carter, daughter of Robert Carter and Ann Wyley, and widow of Samuel Hill, of Topsham, Dorset, England. Henry and Anne had at least three children, Henry, b. about 1787, William, b. about 1788 and Benjamin, b. about 1789. Henry Sweetland Sr. died about 1797. His widow Anne remarried, for the third time, to Matthew Morry (1750-1836) sometime after 1800. |
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Henry and Anne Sweetland lived on the Downs at Ferryland. An entry in 1774 indicates that Sweetland & Co. was head-quartered at Ferryland, occupying a plantation previously owned by William Pidgeon and John Spinster. Another court record, in 1784, mentions Henry as a Ferryland resident when he bought some property there, and an entry after his death recording payment of his final wages to his widow Anne refers to him as "treasurer from Ferryland". Early in the 1800s, records show that David Sweetland owned a property on the north side of Caplin Bay, however, after this entry, there is no further mention of the Sweetland name there until the following decade. In later records, it became evident that, around the end of the second decade of the 1800s, Henry Jr., William and Benjamin Sweetland are involved in various business activities at Caplin Bay. |
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Little is known of Henry and Anne's eldest son, Henry, although it appears that he may have been the mariner in the family. He is recorded as the owner of a schooner named the IRIS that was lost at sea in 1828. The IRIS was built at Caplin Bay in 1820, and between 1820 and 1825, was owned by Benjamin Sweetland and Matthew Morry. After 1825, and up until her loss in 1828, the IRIS was registered to one owner, Henry Sweetland. After this loss, we do not know the travels of Henry, however, it appears that he joined the Royal Navy. A death record at Topsham, Devon, England for a Henry Sweetland "of Ferryland, NA" in May of 1849 records him as a lieutenant in the Royal Navy. This information agrees with interview information with the late Howard Morry who indicated that Henry Sweetland Jr. had retired in Topsham and had never married. |
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Henry and Anne's second son, William Sweetland is recorded as buying some property at Caplin Bay in 1814. This is probably the site of the large Georgian house that the Sweetlands built at the east end of the Old Woman's Pond. Part of that house still survives to this day and is occupied by the Power family. Records show that William married Priscilla Ann Morry in Dartmouth, Devon in 1810. Priscilla Ann was the daughter of the widowed Matthew Morry, who eventually married William's Sweetland's mother. It appears that William's children were all born in England, William probably returning to Newfoundland only on a seasonal basis. Priscilla Ann died in England in 1820 and William is last mentioned at Caplin Bay in 1829. However, according to the Colonial Records, William Sweetland was appointed Magistrate of Bonavista on December 15, 1836. He remarried while at Bonavista and died there in 1864 at the age of 75. |
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Henry and Anne's third son, Benjamin Sweetland married Tryphena Gaden of St. John's in 1827 and they had at least five children while living at Caplin Bay. In the early 1830s, Benjamin was appointed Justice of the Peace and later Deputy Sheriff of Ferryland. Sometime between August 1834 and April 1837, Benjamin and his family moved to Trinity, Trinity Bay. Baptisms for six more children were recorded in the St. Paul's Anglican records there, the last one in September of 1850. The position that Benjamin held at Trinity immediately after his move is not known, but in 1864, he is listed as a stipendiary magistrate and judge of the Labrador coast. In Lovell's Directory, a Benjamin Sweetland is noted as a lawyer at Trinity. Benjamin Sweetland lived to be 95 years old. He died in Brooklyn, New York about May of 1884. His wife, Tryphena, pre-deceased him in Brooklyn in August 1879. |
| Present Status: |
It doesn't appear that any of the Sweetland family descendants settled in Newfoundland, but descendants of Benjamin Sweetland's son Charles, who emigrated to Australia, visited Newfoundland some years ago. |
| Local Place Names: |
Sweetland Hill. This location refers to some high ground southwest of the road between Calvert and Cape Broyle. |
