PAGE 1/2/3/4

    In 1884 Mainland had a population of 29, two of whom admitted being born in a foreign country .The 29 persons were spread among five families. Black Duck Brook then counted 86 inhabitants, one of whom admitted to foreign birth. It seems obvious that somebody was hiding the truth. Oral testimony claims today that the majority of families at Cape St. George, at Mainland and Black Duck Brook, descend from French or St. Pierre ancestors. One must conclude that in the years prior to 1904, only a few old men admitted their true origins. With the departure of the French companies from the West Coast after 1904, the figures begin to indicate a growing number of foreigners. The last settler at Cape St. George, a deserter from the French fishery, apparently came there in about 1895.