Scholar John Tilley and family - The first settlers

John Tilley and his family are remembered as the first permanent settlers of what is now Clarenville. Drawn by the plentiful timber, they moved from Hants Harbour in 1848 and built their homestead near the Shoal Harbour River.

Tilley wore many hats during his remarkable life – fisherman, logger, farmer, justice of the peace, postmaster, and poet.

Like most young boys growing up in coastal and rural Newfoundland, Scholar John began fishing at an early age. In 1809, he married Elizabeth Bursey, the 20-year-old daughter of an Old Perlican merchant, and together they had a large family, possibly as many as thirteen children.

During his early adult life, he taught himself to read and write and developed a keen and passionate interest in literature. He eventually mastered Greek and Latin enabling him to read the “Classics” in the original languages and he accumulated a large library. He also became a masterful writer of poetry and consequently earned the title of Scholar John Tilley, the poet of Trinity Bay.

Scholar John was appointed as a Justice of the Peace in 1815, and he also possessed a license to perform marriages in Newfoundland. He married many young people in the area, including his daughter, Ann, to William Bremner of Hants Harbour on November 15, 1842.

The Tilleys were a family of remarkable entrepreneurs. Beyond their initial sawmilling operation, they diversified into a range of ventures, including fox farming, gardening, coopering, blacksmithing, and fishing. However, it was their award-winning fish canning that earned them international recognition.

In 1862, their tinning operation submitted a sample of their canned salmon to the International Fisheries Exhibition in Copenhagen, Denmark. Their efforts were rewarded with a bronze medal, inscribed with a testament to their product “Warranted to keep free from taint and to retain its purity and nutritious quality, in any climate for many years.”

Scholar John and his sons, Aaron and Moses Tilley, with help from John’s son-in-law David Palmer, built the first Methodist church in Shoal Harbour.

John Tilley died in 1871 and was buried in the Methodist Cemetery on the shore of Shoal Harbour. His wife Elizabeth, who died about 1868, and likely other family members are also buried there.

Scholar John realized extraordinary accomplishments in both his business and personal life.

Source: https://www.paultilley.ca