The Minor Family of Somerset

Robert John, born as the third of nine children of John Hillie
r and Martha Bonnell, spent his entire life of eighty-seven year
s in Lamaline. When about twenty years of age, Robert married M
ary Susannah Ralph of St.John's who cameto Lamaline as a nurse/
caretaker. Robert and Mary Susannah had nine children. Mary Su
sannah died at the birth of her ninth child, daughter Winnifre
d in 1910. In need of a mother for his children, Robert John ma
rried Frances Ellen Bonnell, a Batten widow, who brought daughte
rs Elland and Muriel from herprevious marriage into Robert's fa
mily.
"The original family fell apart after Robert's second marriage
" says a living relative and a former neighbour ofRobert. Bab
y Winnifred was put up for 'adoption' and ended up in the househ
old of a Foote family in Lamaline. Wilfred John, one of robert'
s sons, left his Lamaline home at the age of fourteen, shortly a
fter Robert remarried.Only two of the surviving children fro
m Robert's first marriage were listed as living in Robert's hous
ehold at time of Newfoundland census of 1921.
Robert and John Francis Batten had one more child, daughter Marj
orie and are shownas husband and wife in Census records of 192
1.
After Francis Batten died (date ), Robert John remarrie
d for the third and last time. His wife became Melinda Lockyer
, a Lockyer widow of Isle Valen. There were no known children f
rom this marriage.
As a Fisherman - an occupation shown as that of Robert John, fat
her, on the baptismal certificate of his son Wilfred-Robert wa
s subject to the harsh economic conditions prevailing on the Sou
th Coast ofBurin Peninsula throughout his life. He experience
d the disastrous effect of the Tidal Wave of 1929. He survive
d three wives and several of his children about whom trace vanis
hes after their birth.
Robert John died as a widowerin 1957, aged 87. A search for hi
s death record has so far been unsuccessful. The Newfoundland G
enealogical Society, however, has a cemetery headstonerecord o
f Augustus and Dinah Hillier in "whose household robert John spe
ntthe last years of his life." (Source: Susie Bonnell, wife o
f Mark Hillier/19/19/ of Fortune, NF, Nov 1998).
From recollections of Launcelot and John Hillier, recorded durin
g the celebration of the 150th Anniversary of St. Mary's Paris
h in Lamaline, August 1999:
Robert John was a short, stern man whose housewith a long protr
uded roof stood onthe waterfront on the North Side, Lamaline, be
hind a spot toDay (1999) occupied by a seaweed processing compan
y. Hepossessed a cow and a few domestic animals, had a vegetab
le garden, owned adory. He used to go out fishing by himself
. He had a nickname or two 'justas about everybody in Lamalin
e had in th ose Days'. Red Rob, because of his reddish hair; an
d Bobby Blizzard, for which no reason is known. (From a convers
ation with Launcelot and John HIllier in Lamaline, August 1999
, supplemented with info from Rany Harnett).
Apparently a self-made and proud man, frequently self-enclosed
, Robert John would visit his brother John who lived landward ac
ross the road from Robert's house. Robert would visit here hold
ing empty pipe in his mouth, taking a seat near the fireplace
. When asked whetherhe needed to fill his pipe with tobacco, R
obert silently nodded yes. At times he would carry on a convers
ation; other times he would be hard to approach, buried in silen
ce.
Robert was a religious man and regularly attended SunDay service
s," always taking a seat in the first row, on the east side". I
tis notable that each of his nine children by his first marriag
e was baptizedwithin two months after birth.
As a widower int he first half o the 1950's, his family gone, Ro
bert John moved to Burin to live with his daughter Gertrudefro
m the first marriage. He returned to Lamaline a few weeks later
, apparently dissatisfied with and unaccustomed to Murin.