Family Names of Calvert (Caplin Bay), Newfoundland

On January 30, 1922, the small Newfoundland fishing settlement of Caplin Bay was re-named Calvert in honour of Sir George Calvert (Lord Baltimore), the leader of a failed attempt to establish a permanent settlement in this area of Newfoundland in the 1620s. Much later than Lord Baltimore had hoped, sustained permanent settlement eventually did take place, primarily in the last two decades of the 1700s and the first three decades of the 1800s.

This site provides information about the origins of the families who eventually settled on the hillsides overlooking the cliffs, coves, and beaches of what was then called Caplin Bay. Although some of the first settlers arrived as established families, most families sprung from the marriages of young unmarried men and women, both immigrant and 'bush-born', who worked in the fishing industry. By the 1840s, most resident families were well established at Caplin Bay. Primarily as fishermen-farmer families, our ancestors wrested a living from both the sea and the land. As they adapted to the often inhospitable Newfoundland climate, they eventually became skilled hunters, trappers, woodsmen, and boatbuilders.