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

Beothuks were nearly destroyed
by their French and English aggressors.
A sufficiently accurate view of the arrival and early doings of the
Micmacs in Newfoundland may be had from the brief extracts from
official records enclosed herewith. Governor Duckworth reports in
1809 that the Micmacs were 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.]
* * * * *

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 ----
* * * * *

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,