Clarenville
There is no definite date for the first settlement of what is now
Clarenville. It is known that William Cowan owned a sawmill at Lower
Shoal Harbour around 1848 and this was bought by Joseph Tilley and
James Summers of Hants Harbour. They settled here. Settlers also
arrived at Dark Hole ( or Dark Harbour). The families that made up
this community were the Balsoms, Pearces, Vardys, and Seawards.
Settlers also arrived at Brook Cove ( the Burseys ) , Broad Cove (
the Strongs, Adeys) , and Red Beach ( the Stanleys ). These five
communities became part of a new community known as Clarenceville in
1892 when the railway came through. There are two versions of the
origin of Clarenville's name. It has been attributed to a memorial
to the Duke of Clarence, eldest son of the then Prince of Wales (
later King Edward VII ) who died in 1892. The other version is that
it was named for a son of Prime Minister Sir William Whiteway.
However, Sir William had no son by that name. By 1901 Clarenville
was the way everyone spelled the name and it has remained that way.
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.