Page Eight

 

On November 28th, 1809, George returned to Lance Cove with an Irish bride to share his new home.  This young colleen was Mary Ann Neary, of Portugal Cove.  She was only nine years of age when the French raided her village in 1796 and burned the homes of all the fishermen there.  The census for 1794-95 lists a Frank Neary living in Portugal Cove with his family; presumably, Mary Ann was one of his daughters.  While the French were putting the torch to her father's home, her brother, John, who had been fishing at Renews, was walking home to visit his family.  "When passing through Bay Bulls he saw the poor fishermen's  homes there (Portugal Cove) in flames, and he reached here just after the French left the place".15

Irish love for the land and capacity for deep feeling, English savvy and determination,  and the aesthetic sensitivity of the Welsh, are traits bequeath by George and Mary Ann to their descendants to mark the heritage of their mixed ancestry.  All of their six sons and one daughter married and continued to live in Lance Cove.  One daughter who never married lived in St. John's.

After James Pitts left Lance Cove, his property as well as that of his deceased brother's was purchased by the Rees brothers.  Like the Coopers, the Reeses were mostly farmers, though some did take to the sea, and for many years the "Green Valley Farm" and the Rees fishing rooms were busy and prosperous places.

No record of George’s death or burial place could be found.  This was undoubtedly lost in the fire that destroyed the Church of England rectory in Portugal Cove in 1938.  However, his will, the original of which is extant, is dated April 7th, 1857; its wording is such as to suggest that it was written shortly before his passing.   This would mean that he lived to be at least 85 years of age.  In the Church of England register of burials, Topsail, the following entry was found: " Mary Rees, aged 87, was buried at Lance Cove, 15 Nov., 1874".  Had she lived only thirteen more days, she would have reached her 65th wedding anniversary. 

 

 


15. Newfoundland Quarterly. Walter R. Smith. June, 1902. p.7.

 

 

 

 

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