My g.g grandfather Michael Lowry immigrated from Loughteeog,
Stradbally, County Laois, to St John's, Newfoundland, (joined Canada in
l949 but was a British Colony at the time). We think he arrived here
about l8l0 and was a young, single man at the time. He was involved in
fighting the British, hid out in the Slieb Blooms for awhile, then the
family having been evicted from their boggy home by the landlord,
returned with his brother and filled the cabin with hay before burning
it to the ground. They escaped via a rowboat which they had procured
earlier and which they had hid in some reeds in a small stream near
Stradbally and which leads into the Barrow River. They took the rowboat
downstream in the wee hours of the morning of their arsonist act, and
took an itinerant West Country fishing boat either at Waterford City or
at Passage East most likely which was in port taking on provisions, for
the Newfoundland cod fishery.
Michael's brother did not stay long in St John's but went either to
Nova Scotia or to the USA via another ship leaving St John's, NF.
Michael found employment on the docks of St John's and hid out in a
cabin several miles from downtown in Waterford Valley by the Waterford
River which is the main valley and river leading into St John's City.
People living downtown still have a Waterford accent rather than a North
American mid-west accent associated with the mid-west USA and Canada.
Eventually, Michael Lowry married one Mary Gillens (now Jennings)
whose grandfather was Patrick Nearins from Kilkenny and who had
immigrated earlier to nearby Portugal Cove, 9 miles northwest of St
John's. They were married by Father William Whitly (not Whitty) of the
RC Parish now the Archdiocese of St John's on November 20, 1820. Their
marriage certificate reveals that their best man was one Michael Brennan
of then Horse Cove, later St Thomas and now a part of the Town of
Paradise, l0 miles west of St John's City, at Conception Bay.
Michael Brennan was an older man and he had a house and gardens
between the Upper and Lower Horse Cove Beaches. His farm was on a round
hill of about twenty acres in size rising to about 90 feet directly
upwards from the sea. It is still called "Brennan's Hill". The initial
settlers including Brennan and my gg grandfather Lowry, were Gaelic
speaking. I have evidence to show that the word "Hill" used by the
original Horse Cove families of Brennan, Lowry, Stapleton, Picco,
Whelan, Travers, Neary, Clark, and Lawlor (most families here today have
a surname of Lawlor), really was "ail" the Gaelic for "cliff" and later
non-Gaelic people, their children for example, thought they were
following the norm of the West Country English settlers nearby who never
pronounce a "H" if it begins a word's spelling and hence, as a
corrective measure this second and third generation of Horse Cove
changed unknowingly "ail" to "hill". By the way "ail" in French, means
"garlic" in English
The Penal Laws were enforced strictly in Newfoundland till the
emancipation of Catholics legislation was passed in the English
Parliament in l829. When as a prince, King William IV served here in the
Royal Navy and decided to be a judge, the Catholic bishop had to hide
out during William's stay. In 1784, Michael Keating of Harbour Main, 40
miles west of St John's, had his fishing premises, his home and fishing
boats all burned summarily by the Royal Navy because he permitted a
Catholic priest to say mass in one of his fishing sheds. Keating was
fined fifty pounds and exiled from the colony forthwith as well.
Ironically, this was the same year as the Quebec Act was passed allowing
Quebecers to keep their Catholic faith openly practised, their
seigneuries to continue and their language was protected, to this day.
Patrick Travers formerly of Waterford City, was the best educated of
all the settlers. He bought his land though there was no title for
Catholics in Newfoundland till l829, from a Protestant West Countryman
Emanuel Tucker, who claimed to own all of the land in Horse Cove, five
miles southwest of Portugal Cove, NL. Brennan and Ellard were mere
squatters but they had been there for years and had cleared and worked
the land. Family lore states that Brennan and my gg Lowry were related
as were cousins most likely from marriages in then Queen's County. I
assume then Brennan came from around Stradbally but there is no direct
evidence to that inference. Michael Brennan had no children but he had
at least one daughter who was the wife of Richard Gladney, of Old Broad
Cove Road and Portugal Cove Road, and roughly 5 miles northeast of St
John's City where the Gladney family who came here a century before our
family, owned roughly three hundred acres of arable land and they still
do at this site. The first highway built in Newfoundland was the
Portugal Cove Road in l828. Our first Representative Government was
begun in l832 and Responsible Government obtained in l855 while
Newfoundland became a Dominion in l932 before reverting back to a colony
due to impecuniosity, in l934.
Travers tried to claim all of the land he said he bought from Tucker
but failed. Brennan was an old man while my gg grandfather was a young
man. Brennan asked him if he feared Travers and when my gg Lowry stated
he was not nor of James Whelan whom Travers had brought to St Thomas to
drive off the squatters, Brennan gave his farmed lands and woodlot over
to my gg Lowry in the hope that the Travers family would not take
possession of it. They never did and the land is still in our family
most of which I own while my brother Kevin last year succeeded in buying
out the last of the Travers' lands in Horse Cove.
Brennan retired to Portugal Cove Road to live with his daughter Mrs
Gladney. Nothing further is known of him.
I wonder if Michael Brennan of Horse Cove who left Brennan's Garden,
owned by my brother Philip Laurie, and which bordered upon Travers'
farm; and Brennan's Hill now wooded, owned by one King of St John's, was
a member of your extended family.
I am a retired Barrister and Solicitor and I have a tourist home at
Bell Island, NL which is five miles offshore of Horse Cove, NL. We have
another house at 553 St Thomas Line on lands taken by my gg grandfather
Lowry.
My wife Alexa was born and raised in Lewisham, SE London, UK and is a
medical doctor. She still practices at the island's hospital as its
Chief Medical Officer. Our three adult daughters live and work in St
John's City and live at our St Thomas Line home. St Thomas Line hitherto
known as Horse Cove Line was built by the same "Patrick Travers of
Portugal Cove and followers" for 75 Imperial pounds in l834 as listed in
"The Journal of the House of Assembly, Second Edition, l834".
Brennan is a large name in St John's City, some of whom even to
British Columbia and where my friend now deceased, Michael Brennan was
the Sheriff of Chilliwack, B.C., in the mid l980's, while his sister and
parents emigrated earlier from St John's City to southern California not
to die under the reign of an English Queen for the most part.
Slan agus beannacht
Michael Laurie, B.A.,
LL.B (Notary)
Retired Barrister and
Solicitor
Strathlaurie House
48 Main Street, P.O.
Box 61,
Bell Island, NL A0A
1H0
Canada
E-Mail:
thelauries@nf.sympatico.ca
URL:
http://www.bellisland.net/strathlaurie/
Bell Island Page:
http://www.bellisland.net
Lowry,Laurie Page:http://www.lowary.org
