........     ~ Thistle of Harbour Grace~.........

The Thistle's of Harbour Grace were once one of the most prominent famlies in 
Conception Bay.  After the death of Thomas Thistle Jr. in 1812 and his mother
Amy Thistle sometime around 1817 the Surname Thistle seems to fade away.
With the death of  the matriarch and her son Thomas Pynn Thistle, ended one 
of the oldest family names in a long line of  Thistles  from this Harbour.

This proud family was once one of the largest land holders of Harbour Grace
and they lived in the very center of the Harbour . They  were also one of the
largest Merchants in the area till the end of the 18th century. The Thistles
and some of the other early settlers the Parsons, Webers, Strittons, Pikes
and Moores who's property also abutted the Thistles of Harbour Grace are 
responsible for much of the early growth of the village. Their roots go back
to the mid to late 1600's and the family may have descended from the four 
Thistle brothers that arrived in harbour from the Channel Island of Guernsey .
In 1765 Amy Thistle claims her ancestors had owned property here for 102 years.
That would have meant her family had lived here in 1663. The families that lived 
on the waterfront next to the Thistles, the Pynn's and Joureaux families, were 
two other very old well established families in the settlement.  

It was not easy for these first pioneering families to establish their roots in 
Newfoundland. More then once Habour Grace was attacked by the French.
In 1705 Harbour Grace was burnt to the ground and 22 homes were destroyed,
the people of the settlement fled to Belle Island. Honery Thistle (Henry) shows
up in the 1706 census on Belle Island with his family of 1 wife, 5 children, 4 servants
and 1 boat.

Could Henry Thistle have been part of the Thistle family of Harbour Grace?
Was he one of settlers that fled to Belle Island and decided to stay because
it was safer there to settle his family? Henry Thistle had contracted for
land in 1705 the same year that the French attacked Harbour Grace. 
Henry  may have lived in Harbour Garce in 1697 when the settlement had 
a population of 14 dewllings 11 planters 9 wives 15 sons 20 daughters 
107 fishery servants and 25 Boats. Did Henry Thistle die on Belle Island ?
Who knows, but his children may have been the seeds of some the early 
Thistle families of Carbonear or Mulley's Cove.

In 1750 Amy Thistles Father in-law bequeathed her a large wooded area behind 
her plantation as well as 6 stores, 6 houses, 2 stages, 4 wharfs, 3 gardens and 
1 meadow.This along with other lands were leased to tenents. It would have 
taken some time for Amy's father in-law to  amass this kind of position .
That would lead me to believe in 1677 Thomas Thistles family lived 
In Harbour Grace when the community had 7 dwellings 10 planters 2 wives 
5 daughters 35 fishery servants and 11 boats and 9 gardens. 

The Thistle families were deeply involved wth the business , political and 
religious aspects of Harbour Grace. Mr. Thistle shows up in church records 
as the Warden of the Anglican Church of Harbour Grace and Carbonear in the
year 1795. Part of Amy Thistle's land abutted the chapel  and school for 
150 yards. In 1799 the earliest Catholic Cemetery on Bennett's lane in 
Harbour Grace was donated by The Thistles which were known as a very old 
family from the Jersey Islands. William Thistle owned a plantation that was 
next to the Catholic Church of Harbour Grace, his land bounded the Church 
on the east for 90 yards.(Newfoundlanders used the term Jersey men for all 
settlers that arrived from the Channel Islands including Guernsey and the other 
two smaller Islands Alderney and Sark.)

In 1811 Amy Thistle transfered 23 acres of land to Dr. Sterling who later sold the 
land to Rev.Charles Dalton in 1839. Mr. Dalton later willed the land to the Nuns in 
Harbour Grace for their Convent in 1858.
 
With the deaths of Thomas  and Amy Thistle and their son , the families
remaining four daughters married into some of the most prominent families 
of St Johns. This was the begining of the end for this historic old family 
of Harbour Grace. The surname Thistle slowly disappears from the 
church records and outside of William Thistle of Outterbury. Only three 
Thistles show up in the 1871 directory  on the South side of  Harbour Grace,
the name Thistle fades away . 

Gary Thistle.............