|
BEESO
NEWFOUNDLAND
My mothers ancestors came from Newfoundland Canada. They originated from
France, Normandy, they then travelled to the channel Islands and
eventually settled in Canada. The main areas of my family connections
are Harbour Main and Harbour Grace Newfoundland.
My
mothers father was Arthur Edward Beeso, we have very little info
on him as he left my grandmother when my mother was only young.
Here is a picture of him with his son Michael Beeso.
Arthur
Edward was born in Leicester Uk in 1918. He remained in Leicester
after splitting with my grandmother and I understand he remarried
to a Nora May. My mother and uncle tried to trace him but all
they found was this disturbing newspaper article taken from the
Leicester Mercury in 1993.
My mothers grandfather Michael John Beeso was
born in 1893 in a place called Dildo Canada. I have a copy of
his baptism certificate which states he was baptised at St Alphonsus
Church Whitbourne (photo below), then part of Harbour Grace. (Photo
taken from the following website, for more info on this parish
please visit http://home.thezone.net/~rcecgf/whitbourne.htm
)
This parish was established in 1887.
The area of Whitbourne became a settlement
when the St Johns railway system was constructed in this area.
It was also know as Harbour Grace Junction in reference to this
railway line. It became Whitbourne in 1889 as an acknowledgement
of Richard Whitbourne a traveler who often visited in the 1500’s.
Michael John moved then to Winnipeg with his
parents, Joseph and Mary. I have several addresses for them in
the Winnipeg area, (some being from Michael John’s army papers), STE A Investor Block, 734 Sherbrook St (some family letters
from 1950’s bear this address, also area directory shows them
there in 1954), 689 William Ave, 296 Nanes St, 714 Logan Ave,
775 Portage Ave.
Michael John joined the Canadian expeditionary
force in 1915, here are copies of his attestation papers.
He was discharged in 1918 due to a shrapnel
wound in right shoulder, face and neck. At time of discharge he
was in 61st Battalion in Winnipeg. Whilst based in
the UK he met his wife to be Millicent Mable Chambers. Their house
was 64 Chatsworth Street Leicester UK. This was her parents home.
In Michaels army documents his payments are split between his
mother Mary Jane Beeso in Winnipeg and his wife in Leicester UK.
His wife is listed on some army papers as living at 2 Cranbrooke
Road, St Leonard's on Sea, Sussex, I assume this was due to him
being posted in the area as she was a Leicester girl all her life
and brought up her own children there.
Above
Michael John Beeso
Michael John Left, Wife Millicent Centre
Father,
Joseph right.
Whilst
serving in the army he was hospitalized at the following hospitals…
Moore
Barracks Hospital Shorncliffe 3/8/1916
Shorncliffe
Military Hospital 23/10/1916
Ramsgate
29/12/1916
Northern
Glen Hospital Leicester 9/6/1916
Woodcote
Epsom 8/7/1916
Also
a hospital in France for 7 days admission after injury.
All of
the above hospital visits were resulting from the Shrapnel wound
he obtained in Ypres France in 1916
it is said it was from a Gas Bomb. He was also hit by a
portion of the bomb. He fought overseas for 2 years and 9 months
, 7 months of this time was in France and Belgium. His injury
kept causing problems, it is said he had lost part of his spine
and shoulder muscle in the process according to a paper titled
“Medical History of an Invalid” dated 21/3/1918.
Joseph
Beeso Michael Johns father was baptized 15/7/1860
at St Peter and St Paul Roman Catholic Church Harbour Main (pictured
below)
Mary
Jane Butt and Joseph Beeso (Michael John’s parents)
Married
at Harbour Grace Christ church (pictured Below) 19/2/1889. The
announcement in the Harbour Grace Standard and Conception Bay
Advertiser stated he was a labourer, spelt his name Reese ( lots
of spelling mistakes found with this surname!) and that he lived
Harbour Grace Junction .
The
Beeso family were Roman Catholics, so I assume Mary Jane Butt
and family were Anglican.
Joseph
and Mary were found on the 1830 census in Los Angeles visiting
their son Edward. They then returned to Winnipeg Manitoba, Canada.
In
some of the family letters a daughter Pearl is stated as living
in Vancouver British Columbia. This also would tie in with Michael
John Beeso who died in Vancouver in 1971, he divorced his wife
Millicent and returned to Canada, so I assume he went to live
with his sister. Also there is rumour of a family connection to
the Mcphail Surname, this has been proved by finding the marriage
record of their other daughter Mary to an Angus Mcphail in Winnipeg
in 1906. There is also a death record for an Angus Mcphail age
2 in 1910 which I assume was their son. I have not found any more
info on these at present.
Joseph
Beeso’s father was called Michael Beeso born 1836 and he married
Ann Ellen Lewis in 1859, have no more details on this at present.
Michael
Beesos father was also called Michael, he married Sarah Wall 27/11/1828
in Immaculate Conception Church Harbour Grace (pictured below).
Michael
Beeso’s father was Francis John Besso born approx 1765 in the
Channel Islands. He died in Holyrood Newfoundland. He came to
Newfoundland with his sister Katherine in approximately the late
1700’s early 1800’s. Unfortunately a lot of the parish records
of the early 1800’s have been destroyed in fires so this is where
we all start to struggle with tracing the family history.
The
Channel Islands are the only portion of the area which used to
be the “dukedom of Normandy” which belong to the British Isles.
The reason for the Channel Islanders to visit Newfoundland was
the shared interested in sea travel and fishing. It appears the
fishermen would travel to Newfoundland then return and sell their
wares back home. This was a very lucrative living the profits
made by far outweighed the cost of the travel so it became a popular
occupation.
Quite
a few Jersey place names made it to Newfoundland, so it would
appear that where fishermen “discovered” new areas and lay claim
to them naming them as such, the following names of Jersey can
also be found in Newfoundland, St Marys, St Johns, Trinity and
many more. Carbonear, a Newfoundland area seems to have been named
after “Charbonier” which was the term given to it by some Jersey
men due to all of the Charcoal pits there. Bay Roberts was originally
“Bay De Roberts” after a Jersey family who lived there, Bisson
the original version of my Beeso surname originated from the Channel
Islands being a frequent surname there.
(Some
of the above info obtained from http://ngb.chebucto.org/Articles/hist-004.shtml
please
visit this link for a more detailed article)
The
Bisson Surname and its variants roughly translates as meaning
“ Dweller by or of the birch, bush or bushy area”
The
Beeso family had several variations of the spelling, so far I
have seen, Besso, Besson, Bessom, Beso, Buso, Besaw, Bisson, Bissom,
Besan, Beseau, Besau, and
others. The Bisson name seems to be the original from the Channel
islands and the name has evolved over the years. A lot of the
Beeso’s who moved to the USA changed the spelling to Besso. A
few Beeso’s settled on Bell Island Newfoundland but at present
there is only one family left there.
There
were a large settlement of Beeso’s in the Holyrood area, with
many to be found on census records or trade directories. A book
called “Come Ashore to Holyrood” by Mary G Veitch describes some
Holyrood families making a mention of the Beeso clan. I have been
trying for a while to obtain a copy of this out of print book
but so far to no avail! An extract is published below…
Sites
used in production of this document…
(if
you have family connections to Newfoundland be sure to visit these
extremely informative sites!)
http://ngb.chebucto.org
http://www.geocities.com/Heartland/Pines/7008/
http://www.harrymercer.com/genealogy.html
http://www.nethop.net/~ewalsh/index.html
http://www.rootsweb.com/~cannf/index.html
http://home.cogeco.ca/~nfldroots/news.htm
http://www.tcr.gov.nl.ca/panl/
http://home.cogeco.ca/~nfldroots/index.html
http://www.crescent.k12.nf.ca/chalneeds/whitbourne.htm
http://home.thezone.net/~rcecgf/whitbourne.htm
http://bisson.bravehost.com/index.html
HOME
|
CLEOBURY MORTIMER PARISH RECORDS