A Newfoundland puzzle

Question

I have been working, on and off, trying to identify, source, and connect the family of John Slade, who founded a trading company which was a big factor in opening up Newfoundland to settlement, rather than just being a seasonal fishing ground.

This week, Jim Slade, who runs the Slade Genealogy web site, let me know about some new additions to that site, including a branch starting with a John Slade who was born in Twillingate, Newfoundland in 1841. Now it just so happens that John Slade the company founder had a great-great nephew, also named John Slade, who managed the Slade company branch in -- you guessed it -- Twillingate at about the same time. So far, I have had a frustrating time finding sources, but I'm pretty sure there must be a connection there somewhere...

Comments

PLEASE connect these, if you ever figure out how. It's an unsolved puzzle that's been driving me bonkers. I poke at the family occasionally, but haven't had any luck, so I have a bunch of these profiles just sitting in my "unconnected watchlist".

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I know from a biography linked from the profile of Thomas Slade-1663 that we're missing a bunch of family. It refers to John's "4 nephews" (not just two). and it mentions a cousin for Thomas: George Nickleson Allen; and a nephew of Thomas; William Cox.

Answer 1

There are a couple of sources for the Slades of Newfoundland.  In addition to Twillingate, the Slades had a merchant house in Carbonear.  "By 1725, the Kemp family along with Fryer, Gosse & Pack, Pike, Green, and Slade; were trading out of Carbonear, Conception Bay. The six major firms at the time." Source:  http://www.rootsweb.ancestry.com/~cannf/pw_lloyds1781-1790.htm  Birth marriage and death records for NL before 1816 are few.  I use the Keith Matthews Name Files. Dr. Matthews compiled significant information on the merchants and others of NL  If you have not done so already I suggest you look into the Slade file https://mha.mun.ca/mha/holdings/keith/slade.php  Another source of early information is the Colonial Office Secretary Book which has all sorts of information on NL people. It can be a bit of a slog but worth going though it: Colonial Secretary's Letterbook:  http://www2.swgc.mun.ca/nfld_history/letterbook/