Dartmouth Patriot, 6 Jul 1901 Edition
 
 

No. 10
 

I will give only a brief history of the two islands Devil's and Lawlor's and will begin with the history of Devil's Island.

To judge from the name one would suppose from the natural order of things that the island received its name from its first settler and that this settler was the gentleman whose name it bears. But romantic as the name is, its history can be briefly summed up and in that sum many I will (page torn) in the derivation of its peculiar name.

It had however two names before it received its present one. The island is not named on an old plan in the Provincial Library, but in 1758 it is mentioned as being in the boundaries of Halifax township as formed in that year. I give herewith the description of the extent of the township as settled by order of Council, 20th May 1758: "That until said town can be more particularly described, the limit thereof shall be deemed to be as follows:

Another story says that when some of the first settlers were in the house then on the island a number of men landed one night. Their guns were charged with an extra portion of powder. They walked up to the house where the shepherds were abiding and discharged their guns down the chimney. The shepherds took to the boat and left for the mainland leaving the invaders in possession. They declared that the Devil was on the island. According to the believers in this story its name is accounted for in this manner.

These are both good stories, and stories which one could wish to be true for the sake of romance. But unfortunately the real origin of the name is more prosaic. A man named Deval or Devol at one time owned the island and gave to it his name. When he had passed out of the memories of most people the name naturally became corrupted to "Devil's" Island. Deval was a Frenchman and thoughtless people must not allow themselves to rate His Satanic Majesty as a Frenchman.

It is doubtful if the first owners ever lived on the island. It belonged to no one in particular for a long time. I have heard that a man named Soward from Eastern Passage was one of the first settlers. He probably did not remain there long. A colored man is also said to have lived on the island at one time. At any rate it was inhabited by some one for there was a rude house on the island in which the Horns afterwards used to live when on the island.

About 70 years ago the first permanent settlement was made. I mentioned in paper No. 8 a man named Andrew Henneberry. This man's lease having expired he removed from McNab's Island to Stoney Beach, a beach near Devil's Island on the Eastern mainland. From this he moved to Devil's Island taking with him a large family - some of whom died quite recently. Old Mr. Andrew Henneberry, his wife and son, James were drowned between Stoney Beach and Devil's Island about 55 years ago. They were coming from Halifax a short time before Xmas with a boat holding many articles for that occasion. The night was stormy and their little craft could not weather the gale.

After the Henneberrys' came Thomas Edwards. Mr. Edwards came from Pope's Harbour. His brothers afterwards joined him. The three brothers died very recently. Thomas the original settler died March 22, 1900 aged 82 years.

Looking at the large number of buildings on the Island now one would not suppose that only 50 years ago there were only 3 houses on the island. Yet such is the case. The three houses belonged to Gasper Henneberry, Andrew Henneberry and Thomas Edwards. There was also a very small school house. Settler after settler arrived and now the island has on it 18 dwelling houses. The island being 27 acres in extent its history necessarily is restricted. When seen from a distance the island appears to be long and narrow. This is caused by its being so level. The bed rock is slate which crops up everywhere. There are several deep gullies on the western side of the island. The water, coming into these on a rough day is thrown to a great distance. Not a tree or a shrub is to be seen on the island. Neither snake, toad nor frog lives there.

Nothing grows on the little island but children. Any why should they not grow? With the salt breezes which always blow over the island it is no wonder that they grow to be as their fathers, the equal if not the superior of any in Nova Scotia in pluck, bravery and endurance. I intend giving the remainder of the history of the island under four headings. The first, its school history, I will give in this paper. In the next paper I will give the history of its lifeboat, its lighthouses and its wrecks.

Its school history would not be of interest to outsiders and any one interested can supplement the information given here very easily.

There has been three schoolhouses on the island. The first was a very small building on the N.E. part of the island. It was put there over 50 years ago. A gentleman, Mr. McCarthy, from Waterford, Ireland, taught in it. He taught at intervals for 20 years on the island.

The next school house stood near the centre of the island. Teachers in this school were Messrs. Gorman, Devereau, Stewart and Roche.

The present school has had as teachers in it Misses Osborne, Negus, Robinson, Knox, Doyle, Power, Mitchell, Hughes, Wilson, Brennan, Mr. James O'Brien and Misses Shines and Dooks.
 

(To be Continued.)