Hello Bonnie,
I am descended from Greenslades of Long Pond and Taylors of Middle Bight, which is a couple of kilometres down the road. My great-grandmother was Caroline Greenslade. I have an approximate year of birth for her (1847), but no information on her parents or siblings. She married Jacob Taylor of Middle Bight and in about 1870 they moved to James Cove, on the south shore of Bonavista Bay.
According to what I have read and been told, a church rectory fire in the 1890's destroyed some fifty years (1842-1892) of birth, death and marriage records for the Conception Bay South area. Records after 1892 may be available because they were maintained by the Newfoundland vital statistics office. It's a long shot, but you might also find something in the records of the Cathedral of St. John the Baptist in St. John's, since some people from the Long Pond area may have gone there for weddings, baptisms, or burials. In searching my family history for that area during that period I have had to rely on later event records, or other records such as census.
I found a booklet at Library and Archives Canada in Ottawa called "They Were Pioneers of Conception Bay South -- A Legacy of Five Generations of Ancestors" by Lorraine Moores, 2004. I don't have a copy and I have gone through my notes.
Long Pond was settled by several families, principally Eason, Greenslade, Porter, Rideout, Stanley and Taylor. The booklet has selective but extensive charts of descendants. In my notes I find all the surnames you mention, but none of the specific names, but then my notes are not comprehensive.
You may be interested to know, if you don't already, that there is a Greenslades Road in the Long Pond area of Conception Bay South, and I am told there are still Greenslades living on it.
You might want to contact the Conception Bay South public library, 709-834-4241. They have some information there, although I think it may now be all on-line. But they may be able to direct you to some further information.
By coincidence, I have a great great grandmother named Mary Ann Bishop. But she was born on Fool's Island in Bonavista Bay in about 1827, and married a William Stratton of Greenspond. Different person than you are looking for, but just a heads up that she might turn up in your search.
I hope this is useful. Good luck.
Graham Taylor
|