Anecdote about Early Battens in Newfoundland
from Shortis and Munn, Jerseymen in Newfoundland, 1910:
"The Batten family came from Jersey and still own property in the central part of the Harbor of Port de Grave, Nfld.
There is a tradition in the family that when their forefathers first built their fishing stages there was an encampment of Red Indians where their kitchen garden is now. This is one of the most interesting traditions that I know of, as the mention of Red Indians must have taken that original settlement back four hundred years or more. John Guy arrived at Port de Grave in 1610, before erecting his castle at Cupids. We know from his records that there were no Red Indians in Conception Bay at that time, and he had to go right up to the bottom of Trinity Bay before he met them. It shows how long these Jersey families have been continuous residents in that one spot, and they may well lay claim to the oldest inhabitants of our Island, and the Plymouth Rock aristocracy of the United States are not in it with the Jersey Batten family in Nfld.
The people of this family are said to be blackhaired and with olive complexion."
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