Most Wanted

Joseph West was the first known West in our family to come to Newfoundland. He shows up in the records in Greenspond in 1830 with the baptism of his wife, Sarah, and son, Thomas. A second son was born in 1831, James. In 1836, he married for a second time to Mary Ann Nicholas (misspelled Nichols in the marriage register) of Harbour Grace and from there the family begins in Cat Harbour, expanding into Ladle Cove. We are not sure what happened to his first 2 sons and his first wife. Presumably, they died as there is no further known record of them. In 1836 he listed his residence as Church, Hants, England - possibly Christchurch in Hampshire County, England. International research shows there are many Joseph Wests from the area in the late 1700 and early 1800s. We are unsure of which one he is. Y-DNA test results by some male members of the West line show relation to those with surname Hall and Phillips. There was a Joseph Hall West born to Elizabeth West and Joseph Hall in 1803, baptized 21 Sep 1806, in Christchurch. This is a possible match to our Joseph, however, we really don't know for sure when the other names come into the family line. To find out more, it may be possible to review papers held by the Provincial Archives of Newfoundland, Maritime History Archive, and Memorial University. Each institution has records of active companies operating between Newfoundland and England in the early-mid 1800s, including Slade Co., Sleat and Read, etc. Perhaps some of these collections may include records of employment or payments of some kind that could lead to finding out more about Joseph.

Despite knowing many details about her, her biological parents remain in question. She lists her parents as Martha Ann Sparkes and William Lush, however they married in 1897, when Maud was 9 years old. DNA testing has proven that William Lush wasn't her father as there are no Lush family matches in any of her descendants that have tested. It appears that Martha was her mother (or at least a very close relative of Martha), as indicated by the number of Sparkes that match at the appropriate amount of cM for the relationship to be accurate. She is a mystery....

According to census records, James J Snooks was born in 1852 in Placentia. Unfortunately, likely due to parish fires, it seems no records exist for this time or location. I know he married Susan Murphy of Oderin, PB, and raised a family in St. John's but his birth, parents, etc are unknown.