St. Bernard's-Jacques Fontaine is a

town A town is a human settlement. Towns are generally larger than villages and smaller than cities, though the criteria to distinguish between them vary considerably in different parts of the world. Origin and use The word "town" shares an ori ...

in the

Canadian province Within the geographical areas of Canada, the ten provinces and three territories are sub-national administrative divisions under the jurisdiction of the Canadian Constitution. In the 1867 Canadian Confederation, three provinces of British North ...

Newfoundland and Labrador Newfoundland and Labrador (; french: Terre-Neuve-et-Labrador; frequently abbreviated as NL) is the easternmost province of Canada, in the country's Atlantic region. The province comprises the island of Newfoundland and the continental region ...

. The town had a population of 433 in the

Canada 2021 Census The 2021 Canadian census was a detailed enumeration of the Canadian population with a reference date of May 11, 2021. It follows the 2016 Canadian census, which recorded a population of 35,151,728. The overall response rate was 98%, which is sli ...

, a drop from 470 in 2011.

History

The town of St. Bernard's-Jacques Fontaine was

amalgamated Amalgamation is the process of combining or uniting multiple entities into one form. Amalgamation, amalgam, and other derivatives may refer to: Mathematics and science * Amalgam (chemistry), the combination of mercury with another metal **Pan am ...

in 1994 from two small fishing communities.

St. Bernard's

Incorporated as a town in 1967, the community was known as Fox Cove until 1915. The name was changed to differentiate it from two other communities with the same name. St. Bernard's appears to have been settled in the early 19th century by the Johnson, Stewart and Whelan families. These were primarily

Anglican Anglicanism is a Western Christian tradition that has developed from the practices, liturgy, and identity of the Church of England following the English Reformation, in the context of the Protestant Reformation in Europe. It is one of th ...

fishermen and as with many Newfoundland communities, as

Roman Catholic Roman or Romans most often refers to: *Rome, the capital city of Italy *Ancient Rome, Roman civilization from 8th century BC to 5th century AD *Roman people, the people of ancient Rome *'' Epistle to the Romans'', shortened to ''Romans'', a lette ...

fishermen began to settle there the populations diverged. St. Bernard's became predominantly Roman Catholic, while the nearby communities of Jacques Fontaine and Bay L'Argent became predominantly Anglican.

Jacques Fontaine

Incorporated as a town in 1986, this small fishing community is located near the base of the

Burin Peninsula The Burin Peninsula ( ) is a peninsula located on the south coast of the island of Newfoundland in the province of Newfoundland and Labrador. Marystown is the largest population centre on the peninsula.Statistics Canada. 2017. Marystown, T ensu ...

on the east side of

Fortune Bay Fortune Bay () is a fairly large natural bay located in the Gulf of St. Lawrence on the south coast of Newfoundland, Canada.Bay L'Argent Bay L'Argent ( ) is a town in the Canada, Canadian Provinces of Canada, province of Newfoundland and Labrador. The ferry MV Marine Trader has a port in Bay L'Argent servicing the Newfoundland outport, isolated outport of Rencontre East with anothe ...

. The origin of the name is uncertain, perhaps deriving from an early French settler, although it appears on many early maps as Jack (or Jack's) Fontaine. Earliest known mention of the location is by

James Cook James Cook (7 November 1728 Old Style date: 27 October – 14 February 1779) was a British explorer, navigator, cartographer, and captain in the British Royal Navy, famous for his three voyages between 1768 and 1779 in the Pacific Ocean an ...

during his survey of Newfoundland on July 16, 1765, he recorded in his log: "At 7PM anchored with the best bower in a bight called Jack Fountain, in 10 fathoms water and moored with the small anchor and hawser. At noon weighed and came to sail." The earliest known settler was a Reuben Buffett. Two of his children were born at Jack Fontaine according to the Grand Bank Methodist Church Records. Charlotte was born 19 December 1819 and Ambrose was born 21 Nov 1823. The first recorded census in 1863 labels the community as Tank Fontaine with a population of 33 residents. In 1935, there were 125 residents, noting the most common family names as Johnson, Pardy, Allen, Harris and Brushett. In the early 1980s, the population of Jacques Fontaine reached 200, most people finding employment in the inshore and long liner fisheries.

Demographics

In the 2021 Census of Population conducted by

Statistics Canada Statistics Canada (StatCan; french: Statistique Canada), formed in 1971, is the agency of the Government of Canada commissioned with producing statistics to help better understand Canada, its population, resources, economy, society, and cultur ...

, St. Bernard's-Jacques Fontaine had a population of living in of its total private dwellings, a change of from its 2016 population of . With a land area of , it had a population density of in 2021.

References

*Newfoundland Vital Statistics, 1753–1893, Family History Library, 35 N. West Temple Street, Salt Lake City, UT 84150 USA, Burin, Grand Bank (Methodist), Birth 1817–1860, Vol. 108, p. 5, Record no. 16, Name: Charlotte Buffett {{DEFAULTSORT:Saint Bernard's Towns in Newfoundland and Labrador Fishing communities in Canada

History

St. Bernard's

Jacques Fontaine

Demographics

See also

References