Report by the Governor on a Visit to the Micmac Indians at Bay dEspoir | Page 4

William MacGregor
coming over, and that the Beothuks were keeping to the interior in dread of them. The Governor followed up this Report next year (1810) by a Proclamation to the Micmacs and other American Indians frequenting Newfoundland, warning them that any person that murdered a native Indian (Beothuk) would be punished with death. Unfortunately this Proclamation it would appear had no restraining effect, as Governor Keats reports to the Secretary of State in 1815 that the Micmacs had recently come over from Nova Scotia in greater numbers, and had reached the eastern coast of Newfoundland; and he expressed the fear that these newcomers would destroy the native Indians of the Island, whose arms were the bow and arrow.
The Micmacs, it appears, have always possessed firearms since they arrived in Newfoundland. On the other hand I have never heard of a single instance in which the native Beothuks ever obtained such a weapon. The fears of Governor Keats were therefore only too well founded. The unfortunate Beothuk was thus crushed out of existence by the white man and the invading Micmac. Between the white man and the Beothuk there was always hostility; and I have not heard of any family or person in Newfoundland in whose veins flows Beothuk blood. On the other hand it may be doubted whether there is a single pure-blooded Micmac on the Island to-day. As an ethnic unit the Micmac can therefore hardly be said to exist here.
At the same time the Micmac community, such as it is, will not, at least for several generations, be absorbed into the European population of Newfoundland. It is at present a separate entity, and as such clearly requires special attention and treatment at the hands of the Administration, for the Reservation families have claims on Newfoundland by right of a century of Micmac occupation, and by virtue of the European blood that probably each one of them has inherited.
I have, &c., WM. MACGREGOR.
The Right Honourable The Earl of Crewe, K.G., &c., &c., &c.
FOOTNOTES:
[Footnote A: Not reproduced.]
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APPENDIX I.
MICMACS AT CONNE SETTLEMENT, 29th May, 1908.
Head of Family. Family. Condition of Members of Family. Stephen Joe 5 Self, wife, 3 children. Stephen Bernard 5 Self, mother, 3 children. Noel Matthew 13 Self, wife, 11 children. Nicholas Jeddore 5 Self, wife, 3 children. Noel Jeddore 9 Self, wife, 7 children. Bernard John 2 Self, wife. John 5 Self, sister, 3 brothers. Joseph Jeddore 3 Self, wife, 1 brother. Stephen Jeddore 7 Self, wife, 5 children. John McDonald, Sr. 2 Self, wife. John D. Jeddore 2 Self, wife. John McDonald, Jr. 7 Self, wife, 5 children. William Drew 4 Self, wife, 2 children. Matthew Burke 4 Self, wife, 2 children. John Benoit 9 Self, wife, 7 children. Ben Benoit 12 Self, wife, 10 children. John Juks 7 Self, 6 children. Edward Pullett 4 Self, wife, 2 children. Reuben Louis 2 Self, sister. Thomas McDonald 8 Self, wife, 6 children. Peter Joe 5 Self, wife, 3 children. John Martin 3 Self, wife, 1 child.
Total Micmacs on the Reservation, 123.
Living off the Reservation were--
Head of Family. Family. Condition of Members of Family. William McDonald 8 Self, wife, 6 children.
Gone to Glenwood.
Lewis John 5 Self, wife, 3 children. Peter John 1 Self. Louis John 1 Self.
Totals.
Living on the Reservation 123 Living near the Reservation 8 Gone from the Reservation to Glenwood 7 ---- Total 138 ----
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APPENDIX II.
NEWFOUNDLAND. No. To all to whom these Presents shall come, I, ANTHONY MUSGRAVE, Esquire, Governor and Commander-in-Chief in and over the island of Newfoundland and its Dependencies, &c., &c.
SEND GREETING:
WHEREAS _____________________
of ________________________ desirous of permanently settling on the Land hereinafter mentioned: KNOW YE, that in pursuance of the power and authority vested in me by the Act of the Legislature of this Colony, passed in the 23rd year of the Reign of Her present Majesty, entitled "An Act to amend an Act passed in the Seventh year of Her Majesty's Reign, entitled 'An Act to make provision for the Disposal and Sale of ungranted and unoccupied Crown Lands, within the Island of Newfoundland and its Dependencies, and for other purposes';" I, the said Governor, do hereby give to the said ______________________ a License to Occupy all that Piece or Parcel of Land situate and being ________________________________________________________________ To Have and to Hold the same, with all rights and all privileges thereto belonging, to the said ______________________________ Executors, Administrators and Assigns, for the term of Five Years from the date of these Presents: Provided always that if the said ___________________ shall have settled on and occupied the said Land for the said term of Five Years, and have cultivated ___ acres thereof, within the said term, and have conformed to the provisions of said Act, ___ shall be entitled to a Grant in fee, under the
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