My Beothuk Nana
My Beothuk 4x Great Grandmother was born and lived in the wilderness with possibly the very last Beothuk tribe in Pistlet Bay on the tip of Newfoundland’s northern peninsula. Fifty years ago older people in Ship Cove remembered her (Possibly as stories from their parents or grandparents) as a “medicine women”. We dont know her Beothuk name and was just called Nancy. We also dont know exactly when she died or was born. But a clue to those two questions is that she was still alive in 1911 and in 1848 managed to attract the attention of a French Doctor on a fishing boat (Who was probably one of the more desirable men available in the area at that time) and in 1849 had a baby for him. So she was most likely born in the early to mid 1830s and died in her eighties.
In the spring of 1848 she got into a relationship with a (Sort of) outlaw French doctor from a fishing boat named Andre. Andre missed the boat back to france in the fall and spent the winter living with her and the Beothuks in the wilderness. During the late winter (Around March) they have a baby boy. Andre always calls the baby “Good son” and we dont think gave him a actual name. In the fall of 1849 Andre returns to France to take care of family affairs and promises to return. He never does return but does send care packages for years with the fishing boat.
Since Nancy was known as a medicine woman we assume that Andre taught her much about medicine and being a doctor. (Not like there is much else to do in the winter on the Northern Peninsula surrounded by 30 foot snowbanks – He had already made her pregnant)
Some years later (Probably after Nancy realities that Andre will never return – and also possibly because she has to get christened as it appears that her and the baby lived in Ship Cove so would have had to become christians) she has to name the baby. She names him Henry (After his father) and as a surname has to make something up. Andre always called him “Good son” which in French is something like “Bowfies”. This might not be exact french but as close as a women who was likely barely literate never having spent a day in school in her life and possibly not speaking good French or English. So she named the baby HENRY BOWFIES (A surname later adapted as Beaufield). Apparantly there are various versions of the name on various birth certificates but my great grandfathers birth in 1898 is the earliest version known that says “Beaufield”.
We dont know when or why but Nancy somehow ends up in Fox Harbour in Labrador. Prospects for wemon at the time is generally pretty bleak and the only options are usually get married or become a domestic helper. However, being a “Medicine woman” she could well have spent most of her life in places where she was one of the most (If not often the most) qualified doctor around so may well have had the ability to eek out a relatively comfortable living. I am just guessing on that though. We dont actually know what she was doing in Fox Harbour. But I think that we would know if she went there to get married.
The reason why we know she lived in Fox Harbour in her later years was because some locals had work that brought them occasionally to St Anthony who became friends with my thirteen year old great grandfather who was working at the hospital in St Anthony. In conversation with Nancy one of them mentioned my great grandfathers name. Apparently Nancy’s eyes lighted up and she got excited and asked them to tell my great grandfather to come visit her. My Great grandfather was thirteen at the time so this would have been on or about 1911. He never did make it and even though they were both alive at the same time for at least thirteen years he never did get to meet his pure Beothuk great grandmother. She would have been an old lady at least in her eighties at this time. Its the last reference that we have of her.