From "Joseph Small's Diary of Burgeo - 1925" (see Burgeo, Newfoundland):
"Gabriel Billard married Marian Durnford. The Billard family was living at Red Island as early as 1840. Three of the sons married there. There were seven sons altogether, with Thomas being the youngest. There are more descendants of this old Gabriel on this coast than of any family in the whole district. Had Thomas not moved to Louisbourg thirty years ago and let his sons marry over there, there would have probably been fifty more descendants of the old gent."
Emails from Rodrigue Girardin, archivist on Saint Pierre and Miquelon, September 3-9, 2013 (formatted for ease of reading, and spelling not related to names of people corrected):
"First, Villard-Billard: the Spanish and then, Basque pronunciation for a V is BV: almost B. Then it's hard for a listener not used to it to make the difference. E.g. you translate "Let's go", into "Vamos, Vamo nos", but you pronounce "Bvamos, Bvamo nos", "Bamos, Bamo nos".
2nd point: In a letter wrote from Miquelon to the Governor in St-Pierre on November 4, 1833. It is said roughly that a former French, named Gabriel Villard came to settle in Miquelon with his whole family and rented a house. The family included 9 persons: himself, his wife and 7 sons, the eldest was 18 years old.
He was warned by the governor's representant in Miquelon that, as he lost the French nationality, he could not pretend any help in food from the French government. Gabriel answered he was able to live from his own work as well as his sons' work. He had his winter's goods.
3rd point: I would think Gabriel came to fish in Newfoundland in 1814-1815 as well as other Basques fishermen I've traced who came back from that place to SPM in 1816 when the archipelago was definitively given back to France. They were said coming "des possessions anglaises". Why 1814-1815? Because France recovered his rights on SPM and on the French Shore in 1814 by the first treaty of Paris. But as Napoléon escaped from Ile d'Elbe for a period called "Les 100 jours", in 1815, the 2nd Treaty of Paris restored French fisheries to 1792 status. The final return was made in 1816 even if some French and Basques fishermen were already fishing there at least in 1815.
4th point: When he came to Miquelon in 1833, Gabriel declared he was born in Hendaye on august 23, 1783. Hendaye is close to St-Jean de Luz, south-west of France, that region called Pays-Basque. In his baptism act I sent you from the official archives website, he was baptised in Hendaye the day after his birth, that means on Aug. 24. The act is pretty hard to read as the copy is not clear at all, but it is said his father is named Jean Villard and it looks like his mother was Françoise Simoné. This couple was owning a farm or premises named something like "Irandalxana" in Hendaye. Godfather was Gabriel ....uncle by marriage of his mother; godmother was ... Simoné, aunt by his mother. (For access to the baptism, just google "AD64". Then choose Registres paroissiaux et d'état... ; go to the bottom of the page; choose letter H, then Hendaye; Baptêmes, mariages, sépultures, 1774-1788; Accès aux documents numérisés; go to page 62, upper left). [Note: googling 'Registres paroissiaux et d'état "AD64" yields faster results]
5th point: During his very short settlement in Miquelon (Oct-Nov 1833 to at least March 2, 1834, he had with his wife named Marie Anne Donvel, four kids baptised there with different spellings:
On Feb 2, 1834, their son, Narcisse, born May 16, 1833 in Newfoundland, died at his father's house in Miquelon, but he doesn't appear in the burying register. That means the death was declared to the local government as it has to be, but the body was brought back in Newfoundland to be buried, then, very shortly after the death.
6th point: Going back to the letter wrote after his settlement in Miquelon during the fall 1833, we know he had two more boys, one 18 y. of age (b. ca 1815) and another one, probably born between 1815 and 1824. As they were not baptised in Miquelon like their brothers, they were probably already baptised in Newfoundland.
I would also think Gabriel had other kids between 1815 and 1824 because it's a ten years period, unless he was first married to Miriam Durnford you mentioned who could have died, and then to the Marie Anne Donvel mentioned in the baptism acts in Miquelon.
Another option is Miriam Durnford and Marie Anne Donvel is the same person with different spellings: in any case, they certainly had kids between 1815-1824 who could have died before 1833.
Note: during their passage in Miquelon, the wife is always named Marie Anne Donvel even if Gabriel is named Villard, Vilaire, Vilart, Bilart. Best regards, Rodrigue."
(second message)
"As I said in a previous message the Spanish pronunciation V is almost B, so, to me, Gabriel Villard and Gabriel Billard are the same person. There's also a very little difference between Miriam and Marie Anne or Marianne. This is less clear for Durnford and Donvel but how fast was it pronounced by Gabriel when he had his child baptised or died in Miquelon? I would also think the priest tried to frenchise the name Durnford into Donvel. As Gabriel couldn't sign, he was unable to control if his name and his wife's were correctly written.
Note as well the different spellings for Villard in the baptism acts, all done by the same priest in a very short period. I don't have any Durnford in my data base including all births, marriages and deaths for SPM from 1763 to 1934. As I told you, Gabriel's family came for a winter only. I suppose he thought he could find a winter job in Miquelon and then start the fishing season there but as there was very little activities except building few boats there during the winter, he just returned to Newfoundland at spring 1834.
I found brothers and sisters to Gabriel in Hendaye during period 1774-1788;
Finally Jeff, I gathered these informations as I live in St-Pierre and Miquelon and work there as archivist since 30 years. Best regards, Rodrigue."
Note: tombstone has alternate spelling of last name as 'Ballard'.
This site says that Gabriel "was a French Hugenot, who came to NF to escape religious persecution", but there is no source documentation. This website also had additional accompanying information (formatted for ease of reading, and spelling not related to names of people corrected):
Francois, Newfoundland Compiled by Kyrl Dollimount
Francois, pronounced and sometimes spelt as ``Fransway, is located on a small narrow strip of land at the head of a steep-walled, rocky fiord to the west of Hermitage Bay on the southwest coast of Newfoundland. The Friar, a cliff-like hill, 207 m (680 ft.) in height, overlooks the settlement from behind. A brook runs into the head of the bay through the settlement. It is likely that the naturally land-locked harbour of Francois offered good protection for the English and Jersey fishing ships which plied the south coast of the Island in the Eighteenth Century. No settlement or stages were marked at Francois by Captain James Cook in his 1765 survey of the coast.
1815 Births
Miriam DURNFORD, the eldest child of Samuel and Anne was born about 1798 somewhere on Newfoundland’s South Coast and died 8 AUG 1886 in Grand Bruit Newfoundland. She married Gabriel BILLARD. He was born about 1784 in St. Malo, France, and died 16 Jan 1863 in Wreck Island, Newfoundland.
Gabriel BILLARD was the original BILLARD immigrant to Newfoundland's South West Coast and the forefather of the Newfoundland BILLARDs. He was a French Huguenot, who came to NF to escape religious persecution.
Here is what Joseph Small in his book "Diary of Burgeo, Newfoundland", has to say about Gabriel Billard and his son Thomas:
It seems that Gabriel went to Rencontre and married Miriam DURNFORD, the eldest child of Samuel and Anne DURNFORD and then moved to Francois. Gabriel and Miriam had seven sons and two daughters. Their four oldest children were probably born at Francois, although they had moved to Red island, just east of Burgeo, by the time a son Samuel BILLARD was born in 1823. The remaining children were born in the Burgeo/Grand Bruit area.
The seven sons were named John, William, Samuel, Robert, Martin, Thomas and Gabriel Jr. All the sons, with the exception of Robert, married and had large families. They probably all married at Burgeo, or area. They lived for some time at Red Island. Then, around 1849/1859, they all moved away from Red Island.
John, Samuel, Gabriel Jr., Robert and Martin moved to Grand Bruit. John, Samuel and Robert lived out their lives, died and are buried in Grand Bruit. Martin later moved to Margaree, near Channel-Port Aux Basques, but I do not know his ultimate fate. Gabriel Jr. also lived for a while in the Roti Islands area, just west of Grand Bruit, before moving on to Rose Blanche.
Between Grand Bruit and La Poile Bay is an area called Roti, consisting of many islands, inlets, and a small river called Roti Brook. Gabriel Jr. lived on one of those Roti Islands by the name of Basque Island for fishing during the spring and summer season and then retired to the protected Roti Brook where the family made their winter home. Gabriel Jr. had seven children and as mentioned above, moved to Rose Blanche.
By the birth records of their children we can conclude that Gabriel BILLARD and Miriam moved out of Francois sometime between 1820 and 1823.
The family of Gabriel BILLARD (31) and Miriam DURNFORD (17) in 1815 was:
1816 Births
The family of Gabriel BILLARD (32) and Miriam DURNFORD (18) in 1816 was:
1819 Births
The family of Gabriel BILLARD (35) and Miriam DURNFORD (21) in 1819 was:
1820 Births'
The family of Gabriel BILLARD (36) and Miriam DURNFORD (22) in 1820. The rest of Gabriel BILLARD and Miriam DURNFORD’s family were born further west. The BILLARD’s moved out of Francois, going at first to Red Island and then to the Grand Bruit area.
1822 Francois was occupied in the early 1800s. W. E. Cormack noted "three resident families" at "Bay Froncois" in 1822 (Cormack: 1928). One of these families probably was that of Samuel DURNFORD’s oldest daughter, Miriam, with her husband, Gabriel BILLARD, with their children - Gabriel (7), John (6), William (3), and Elizabeth (2). One of the other families might have been a SHEPPARD since we have information that Margaret SHEPPARD was born in Francois in 1835. Margaret SHEPPARD later became the wife of James MARSDEN. The third family mentioned by Cormack is unknown.
The BILLARD family left Francois shortly after Cormack’s visit. Their next child was born in Burgeo.
[…]
In 1839 Marshall reported "two families residing in this Harbour .... I read a Sermon to them. .. and prayed with them and then retired to rest. Population twelve" ("The Journal of William Marshall"). One of these families was probably Robert DURNFORD and Hannah Elizabeth. They had moved there from East Cul de Sac about 1835. They had children, Ann (12), Samuel (9), Thomas (7), William (5), all born in Cul de Sac East and Robert (4) born in Francois. The other family was probably the SHEPPARD family, who had a daughter, Margaret, (4). The BILLARDS had moved west to Red Island by this time.[1]
http://earchives.le64.fr/archives-en-ligne/ark:/81221/r21889z4f0l5ck/f62
http://ngb.chebucto.org/Articles/small-lwrburgeo.shtml
http://ngb.chebucto.org/Cemetery/ballard-gabriel-ang-chyd-burgeo-blp.shtml
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Categories: Grand Bruit, Newfoundland Colony