Nicholas Guy (
fl.
''Floruit'' (; abbreviated fl. or occasionally flor.; from Latin for "they flourished") denotes a date or period during which a person was known to have been alive or active. In English, the unabbreviated word may also be used as a noun indicatin ...
1612 – 1631) was one of the first settlers at the
London and Bristol Company's
Cuper's Cove, colony in
Newfoundland
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 ...
, and was the father of the first
English
English usually refers to:
* English language
* English people
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Peoples, culture, and language
* ''English'', an adjective for something of, from, or related to England
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child born in Newfoundland and subsequently all of the country of
Canada
Canada is a country in North America. Its ten provinces and three territories extend from the Atlantic Ocean to the Pacific Ocean and northward into the Arctic Ocean, covering over , making it the world's second-largest country by to ...
.
Most likely born in
Bristol, England
Bristol () is a city, ceremonial county and unitary authority in England. Situated on the River Avon, it is bordered by the ceremonial counties of Gloucestershire to the north and Somerset to the south. Bristol is the most populous city in ...
, Nicholas Guy was a member of the first group of settlers to journey to Newfoundland for colonization. In the winter of 1612 - 1613 there were sixty-two people were living in the colony, and during that winter eight deaths were recorded and one birth, a boy born to Nicholas Guy and his wife on 27 March 1613. It is believed that Guy relocated to the sister colony of
Bristol's Hope when it was established in 1618. Sometime before 1630 Guy had moved again to
Carbonear to fish, farm, and trap furs, on land belonging to Sir
Percival Willoughby. A letter written by Guy to Willoughby on September 1, 1631
[Middleton Manuscript, Mi x 1/57, University of Nottingham] indicates that Guy had become Willoughby's agent in the development of his land, which consisted of the northern part of the peninsula between Conception and Trinity bays.
The Guy family remained the predominant planter family in Carbonear throughout the seventeenth century. The 1677 census lists both Jonathan Guy (probably Nicholas's son) and Nicholas Guy (likely Jonathan's son) living there with their families. Jonathan owned, among other things, four dwelling houses, two boats and a vegetable garden and kept seven head of cattle, eleven sheep and 3 hogs. Nicholas had one dwelling house and two boats and kept six head of cattle and 4 hogs.
Although unproven, it is likely Guy was a close relative of
John Guy, the first Governor of Newfoundland.
External links
Biography at the ''Dictionary of Canadian Biography Online''Nicholas Guy's letter to Sir Willoughby
English emigrants to pre-Confederation Newfoundland
People from Bristol
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