Efforts to distinguish among the myriad of nooks and coves on Merasheen Island resulted in many descriptive names which survived into the twentieth century, including Dough Ball Cove, Forked Duck Rock, Jaw Bones Cove, Potato Point and Naked Man Ridge (the location of Captain James Cook's station when he surveyed Newfoundland's coast in the 1760s). While many of the areas, such as Baker's Cove and Best's Harbour, were named for early settlers, others were named for geographical features -- including Rose au Rue (Roche Roux, ``reddish rocks''). Merasheen was an anglicization of ``Mer aux Chiens'' (ocean of the seadogs or seals). ( From the Encyclopedia of Newfoundland & Labrador) The English, Irish and Scottish began to settle permanently in Merasheen as early as the late 1700s and by 1836 there were already 188 people living in the community. Seary records a tradition that a ``Pomeroy, from Ireland, settled at Merasheen about 1820,'' while some of the oldest headstones in the graveyard indicate that families of Bests, Hennesseys, Movells and Wards were also among the first settlers. Another community established in the early 1800s and located over a ridge to the north (on the site of an ancient graveyard) was named Little Merasheen. By 1857 there were 127 people living at Little Merasheen. Throughout the late 1800s and early 1900s the two communities were enumerated as one, their combined population peaking at 380 by 1921. By this time additional family names at Merasheen included Connors, Ennis, Houlihan, Pittman and Wilson. The 1857 Census was the first to record the existence of a Roman Catholic church and school.

Names in this file:

MOVELLE, HENNESSEY, BARRY, WALSH, BARRON, PITTMAN, ENNIS I started my quest looking for the Ennis family from Newfoundland especially from the Island of Merasheen. My sister gave me some names to start and I went to Newfoundland looking through the archives for Catholic families in the Placentia Bay area. The first one I found was my grandmother Mary Barry from Red Island. After this I received a copy of the book "A Red Island Family Tree" by Brian Hennessey of Paramus, NJ. Brian did a great job on this book and it helped me get information on my family and started me in my quest for more facts and branches of the tree. Shortly after on AOL, I came across John Ennis from Rhode Island. He is merasheen@aol.com. I contacted John and he gave me some of the information in this file about Louis Movelle for who my father was named. Searching for my father Louis Ennis in Newfoundland did present a bit of a problem because it was a very common name on Merasheen Island.

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Generation No 0
1. LOUIS MOVELLE was born 1773 possibly Channel Islands. He married ELIZABETH TERRICK .

Children of LOUIS MOVELLE and ELIZABETH TERRICK are:
• i. RICHARD MOVELLE, b. 1800, Merasheen, Newfoundland;
• ii. JOHN MOVELLE, b. 1802, Merasheen, Newfoundland.
• iii. THOMAS MOVELLE, b. 1805, Merasheen, Newfoundland.
• iv. ELIZABETH MOVELLE, b. 1808, Merasheen, Newfoundland.
• v. CATHERINE MOVELLE, b. 1810, Merasheen, Newfoundland.
• vi. MARY MOVELLE, b. 1810, Merasheen, Newfoundland.
• vii. LOUIS MOVELLE, b. 1811, Merasheen, Newfoundland.
• viii. JAMES MOVELLE, b. 1813, Merasheen, Newfoundland.
• ix. ELINOR MOVELLE, b. 1818, Merasheen, Newfoundland.
• x. LUCY MOVELLE, b. 1819, Merasheen, Newfoundland.
• xi. HANNAH MOVELLE b. Mar 21, 1820 Merasheen, Newfoundland.

Generation No 1
1. PATRICK2 ENNIS (PATRICK1) was born 1834 in Little Bona , Newfoundland. He married ANNE HENNESSEY 1867, daughter of JOHN HENNESSEY and LUCY MOVELLE.

Children of PATRICK ENNIS and ANNE HENNESSEY are:
• 2. i. JOHN3 ENNIS, b. August 10, 1867, Merasheen, Newfoundland; d. Abt. 1950, Grand Falls Newfoundland.
• 3. ii. JOHANNA ENNIS, b. February 27, 1874, Merasheen, Newfoundland.
• 4. iii. LUCY ENNIS, b. August 20, 1869, Merasheen, Newfoundland.
• iv. MARY ENNIS, b. August 25, 1876, Merasheen, Newfoundland.
• v. WILLIAM ENNIS, b. 1878, Merasheen, Newfoundland.

Generation No. 2
2. JOHN3 ENNIS (PATRICK2, PATRICK1) was born August 10, 1867 in Merasheen, Newfoundland, and died Abt. 1950 in Grand Falls Newfoundland. He married MARY BARRY 1894, daughter of JAMES BARRY and ELIZABETH MCCARTHY.

• Children of JOHN ENNIS and MARY BARRY are:
  • 6. i. LOUIS ENNIS, b. March 22, 1897, Merasheen, Newfoundland; d. December 19, 1982, Pittsburgh Pa.
  • 7. ii. JAMES ENNIS, b. 1901, d. 1989 Grand Falls, Newfoundland.
  • iii. ELIZABETH ANNE ENNIS, b. 1903, d. About 1923 Grand Falls, Newfoundland.
  • 8. iv. ALICE ENNIS, b. June 11, 1905, Merasheen, Newfoundland; d. June 24, 1962, Providence RI.

3. JOHANNA3 ENNIS (PATRICK2, PATRICK1) was born February 27, 1874 in Merasheen, Newfoundland. She married PATRICK WALSH November 28, 1908, son of THOMAS WALSH and MARY BREATHWAITE.

Child of JOHANNA ENNIS and PATRICK WALSH is:
• i. MARY4 WALSH,

4. LUCY3 ENNIS (PATRICK2, PATRICK1) was born August 20, 1869 in Merasheen, Newfoundland. She married PHILIP PITTMAN November 13, 1892, son of MICHAEL PITTMAN and CATHERINE VISCOUNT.

Children of LUCY ENNIS and PHILIP PITTMAN are:
• i. MARY TERESA4 PITTMAN, b. August 27, 1893.
• ii. THOMAS PITTMAN, b. April 24, 1894.
• iii. CECILIA PITTMAN, b. May 08, 1898.
• iv. MICHAEL PATRICK PITTMAN, b. June 06, 1901.
• v. WILLIAM PITTMAN, b. May 19, 1903.
• vi. JOHN LOUIS PITTMAN, b. October 01, 1904, Merasheen, Newfoundland.

5. WILLIAM3 ENNIS (PATRICK2, PATRICK1) was born 1878 in Merasheen, Newfoundland. He married ELIZABETH MCCARTHY, daughter of JAMES MCCARTHY and HONORAH NORMAN.

Child of WILLIAM ENNIS and ELIZABETH MCCARTHY is:
• 9. i. VINCENT4 ENNIS,

Generation No. 3
6. LOUIS4 ENNIS (JOHN3, PATRICK2, PATRICK1) was born March 22, 1897 in Merasheen, Newfoundland, and died December 19, 1982 in Pittsburgh Pa. He married MAUDE BARRON 1931, daughter of MICHAEL BARRON and BRIDGET GRIFFIN of Dunville, Newfoundland.

Children of LOUIS ENNIS and MAUDE BARRON are:
• i. JOHN JOSEPH5 ENNIS,
• 10. ii. WILLIAM VINCENT ENNIS,
  11. iii. ROBERT LOUIS ENNIS,
• 12. iv. PATRICIA MARY ENNIS.

7. JAMES4 ENNIS (JOHN3, PATRICK2, PATRICK1) was born 1901. He married MARY RYAN 1932, daughter of JEREMIAH RYAN and ELIZABETH WITHERS.
Children of JAMES ENNIS and MARY RYAN are:

• 13. i. ANGELA5 ENNIS,
  14. ii. TERESA ENNIS,
• 15. iii. MARIE ENNIS,
• iv. ANNE ENNIS.

8. ALICE4 ENNIS (JOHN3, PATRICK2, PATRICK1) was born June 11, 1905 in Merasheen, Newfoundland, and died June
24, 1962 in Providence RI. She married LEO HOULIHAN.
Children of ALICE ENNIS and LEO HOULIHAN are:

• i. ANGELA5 HOULIHAN,
• ii. JOHN VINCENT HOULIHAN,

9. VINCENT4 ENNIS (WILLIAM3, PATRICK2, PATRICK1) was born 1909 in Merasheen, Newfoundland. He married MARY CARROLL 1934, daughter of JOHN CARROLL and ELIZABETH REDDY.
Children of VINCENT ENNIS and MARY CARROLL are:

• i. ELIZABETH5 ENNIS,
• ii. WILLIAM MARY ENNIS,
• iii. MARY RITA ENNIS,
• iv ANNA NORAH ENNIS,
• v. VINCENT ENNIS,
• vi. MARY ELLEN ENNIS
• vii. MARY C ENNIS
• viii. RITA ENNIS,
• ix. TERESA MARY ENNIS
• x. JOHN JOSEPH ENNIS,
• xi. PETER JOACHIM ENNIS,
• xii. JEROME ENNIS,
• xiii. SHELIA MARIE ENNIS.

Please send any comments about the information on this page to Robert L. Ennis, Retired.

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