John Peyton Sr. (1749–1829) was an

English English usually refers to: * English language * English people English may also refer to: Peoples, culture, and language * ''English'', an adjective for something of, from, or related to England ** English national ide ...

-born fisherman and trapper in the

Colony of Newfoundland Newfoundland Colony was an English and, later, British colony established in 1610 on the island of Newfoundland off the Atlantic coast of Canada, in what is now the province of Newfoundland and Labrador. That followed decades of sporadic English ...

. He was born in

Christchurch, Dorset Christchurch () is a town and civil parish in Dorset on the south coast of England. The town had a population of 31,372 in 2021. For the borough the population was 48,368. It adjoins Bournemouth to the west, with the New Forest to the east. Part ...

and came to Newfoundland in 1770. He lived in Fogo, where he was employed in

cod Cod is the common name for the demersal fish genus '' Gadus'', belonging to the family Gadidae. Cod is also used as part of the common name for a number of other fish species, and one species that belongs to genus ''Gadus'' is commonly not call ...

fishing, until around 1775. He later spent his summers at Exploits and then his winters at Lower Sandy Point on the

Bay of Exploits The Bay of Exploits is a large bay in the northeast of Newfoundland. It extends from the mouth of the Exploits River and opens on to Notre Dame Bay to the north. It is approximately 1,000 square kilometers (386 sq. miles) in size and contains ov ...

. He fished for

salmon Salmon () is the common name for several list of commercially important fish species, commercially important species of euryhaline ray-finned fish from the family (biology), family Salmonidae, which are native to tributary, tributaries of the ...

and was involved in the fur trade; he also owned his own

schooner A schooner () is a type of sailing vessel defined by its rig: fore-and-aft rigged on all of two or more masts and, in the case of a two-masted schooner, the foremast generally being shorter than the mainmast. A common variant, the topsail schoon ...

. In 1788, Peyton married Ann Galton. His wife and children remained at

Dorset Dorset ( ; archaically: Dorsetshire , ) is a county in South West England on the English Channel coast. The ceremonial county comprises the unitary authority areas of Bournemouth, Christchurch and Poole and Dorset (unitary authority), Dors ...

in England until 1812. Both his wife and daughter died that year and Peyton subsequently brought his son John to Newfoundland to join him as a partner in business. In 1819, he took part in an expedition led by his son John Peyton Jr., which ended with the capture of a Beothuk woman named

Demasduwit Demasduit ( 1796 – January 8, 1820) was a Beothuk woman, one of the last of her people on Newfoundland. Biography Demasduit was born , near the end of the 18th century. It was once believed that the Beothuk population had been decimated by c ...

and the killing of her husband

Nonosbawsut Nonosbawsut (died March 1819) was a leader of the Beothuk people. Family head and partner of Demasduwit, born on the island of Newfoundland (present-day Newfoundland and Labrador, Canada). Sometimes referred to as Chief Nonosbawsut, his stature wit ...

, who was attempting to negotiate her release. The last known living Beothuk,

Shawnadithit Shanawdithit (ca. 1801 – June 6, 1829), also noted as Shawnadithititis, Shawnawdithit, Nancy April and Nancy Shanawdithit, was the last known living member of the Beothuk people, who inhabited Newfoundland, Canada. Remembered for her cont ...

, spent five years as a servant in the Peyton household. Peyton Jr. was tried for the killing of Nonosbawsut and was found not guilty by the jury, with the judge concluding that "... (there was) no malice on the part of Peyton's party to get possession of any of (the Indians) by such violence as would occasion bloodshed." Peyton Sr. was accused of violence against the

Beothuk The Beothuk ( or ; also spelled Beothuck) were a group of indigenous people who lived on the island of Newfoundland. Beginning around AD 1500, the Beothuk culture formed. This appeared to be the most recent cultural manifestation of peoples w ...

s in retaliation for the theft of supplies from his fishing stations; John Bland, the magistrate at Bonavista, recommended that he be expelled from the Bay of Exploits. Peyton died in the Bay of Exploits in 1829. His grandson, Thomas Peyton, later served in the Newfoundland assembly.

References

1749 births 1829 deaths Fur traders {{Newfoundland-politician-stub