The Evans Family

The first known member of the Evans family to come to Northern Arm was Edward Evans, who was born in Cardiff, Wales in 1817. At an early age, he enrolled in the Royal Navy as the ships apprentice carpenter and sailed in this hemisphere from 1835 to 1840. He decided to settle on Exploits Island, where he married Caroline Ball. Their children included William, John, Edward, Henry, Mary Jane, Jabez, Elizabeth Ann, Lucinda, and Solomon. Around 1870, they moved into Exploits Bay seeking good timber for their ship building. They settled on the point, therefore it was then known as Evans’ Point. Building schooners and fishing on the Labrador Sea was their lifestyle. The eldest son William became the master ship-builder, and from his skill and knowledge 37 schooners were built. Some of these schooners were The Sara Jane, Morning Star, The Violet, Zegna and The Change. The Change is believed to be the last ship that he built on this site.

Edward Evans was first and foremost a sailor and went on the seal hunt many times. He died in Twillingate in 1879 and was buried there. The rest of his family settled on the point and around Northern Arm and became fishermen/planters. They obtained large tracts of land from the point around the shore to Northern Brook. With such a large family it became necessary to build a cemetery. The oldest headstone located there is Eleanor Evans’ (Humphries), who was the second wife of Edward Evans. This sacred spot can still be viewed and visitors are welcome to visit the resting place of some of Northern Arm’s earliest settlers.