Finding My Heritage
I know my grandfather, James Christoper Hann (August 23, 1866 – March 10, 1944, Allan’s Island) came to Toronto, Ontario from Newfoundland in the early 1900’s. He married Dorothy Brown, born in Toronto on December 7, 1866. They had 10 children; my mother Dorothy was the 9th.
I had often heard they came from Heart’s Content or Lamaline. My brother Kirk and his wife Helen visited Heart’s Content only to find through church records that they came from Lamaline.
In 2002, my husband Cliff and I drove to Newfoundland from our retirement home/cottage on Morrison Lake, Gravenhurst (100 miles north of Toronto, Ontario) to find my heritage.
We stayed in B & B’s while traveling 4200 km exploring your beautiful province, including L’Anse aux Meadows, St. Anthony, Twillingate and up and down nearly every peninsula.
Finally, we stayed in a B & B in Grand Bank, owned and operated by Judy Foot and from there went to Lamaline.
In a snack bar store in Grand Bank, we purchased a booklet entitled “Church at St. Mary The Virgin Parish at Lamaline Part of the Story at 114 years 1849 – 1963. We found it contained the name of George Hann as a Church Warden.
In Lamaline we found the church and the tombstone of my great-grandparents, George Hann and Mary Ann Pitman and other relations.
We went to the Post office and asked the lady if she heard of any relations of the Hann family, and she said no.
The next day Cliff said, “Let’s go back and check again.” There was a different lady at the Post Office. We asked the same question. She said “Yes, John Hooper was a descendant and he and his wife Beulah live in town. I’ll call her and tell her you are coming.” We had a lovely visit and shared information on the family.
In 2005, we drove back again and did another 4200 km, concentrating on specific areas, including Trinity and the Trinity Pageant again. This time, we arranged to be in Lamaline on Sunday to attend the church service. We were surprised to see Beulah was a Eucharistic Assistant and she asked if we wanted to sit in my grandfather’s pew. We have kept in touch with Beulah and donate annually to the upkeep of the church.
Pat Flavell
Gravenhurst, Ontario
Downhome no longer accepts submissions from users who are not logged in. Past submissions without a corresponding account will be attributed to Downhome by default.
If you wish to connect a submission to your new Downhome account, please create an account and log in.
Once you are logged in, click on the "Claim Submission" button and your information will be sent to Downhome to review and update the submission information.
Leave a Comment
MORE FROM DOWNHOME LIFE
Recipes
Enjoy Downhome's everyday recipes, including trendy and traditional dishes, seafood, berry desserts and more!
Puzzles
Find the answers to the latest Downhome puzzles, look up past answers and print colouring pages!
Contests
Tell us where you found Corky, submit your Say What captions, enter our Calendar Contest and more!