Barr’d Islands: From English Roots is a history of early English settlement in Notre Dame Bay, Newfoundland, with a focus on Barr’d Islands, a small fishing community on Fogo Island. Explore the day-to-day lives of a charitable, community-minded people whose hardships were many in a time when survival from year to year was uncertain: living under the iron fist of merchant firms, subsistence farming, poverty. Also, learn of these early settlers’ faith, richness of virtue, hard-work ethic, and games and amusements shared by all in the community. Finally, this book is a genealogical treasure trove that traces many well-known Newfoundland family trees back to their English roots in the 1600s.?xml:namespace prefix="o" ns="urn:schemas-microsoft-com:office:office" />

The mission of this Historic series is to bring to light the ageless character of Newfoundland and Labrador communities in an effort to preserve the history of this province and to educate future generations about this corner of the global village. Barr’d Islands: From English Roots is the first instalment in this series.

Eric R. Witcher was born in Barr’d Islands in 1946. After graduating from high school there, he attended university, receiving a B.A. (Ed.) and a B.A. from Memorial University of Newfoundland, and a M.A. from California State University. He became a schoolteacher, spending most of his career in Lewisporte.Eric is married to Ruth Vaters of Victoria, Carbonear. They have one child, Rosetta, who is married to Brian Lubbers of Calgary, where they reside.

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