West Coast Region ~ Bay St. George District

Surnames

Jesso

THE JESSO FAMILY

This Newfoundland family in all probability originaed with Joseph Jessome 
of Petit Bras D 'Or, Cape Breton ( Name variations: Joseaume, Jesson, 
Jessom. Jassome, Jusseau, Josseau ) He arrived at Bay St. George sometime 
between 1826-38 although 1826-30 would constitute a more reasonable assumption.

One point of absolute certainty was his presence at Sydney, Nova Scotia on 
September 2, 1826, a date on which he delivered a land petition to the Cape 
Breton Government on behalf of his brother-in-law, Jacgues LeJeune or James 
Young. James had emigrated to Newfoundland in the spring of 1825. In 1838 we 
find Joseph living at or in the vicinity of Sandy Point with a family of 20.

There was also a single man named Louis Jesson who was likely his son. Some 
other Cape Breton families of the 1838 report were:

March, (Marche)
Renouf (Renaud)
Madore
Bernard
Haynes(Hynes)
Lucaw (Lucas)


During his visitation of Newfoundland 's Western Shores, the Anglican
Clergyman, the Reverend Edward Wix reported in 1830 that a contingent 
of 54 Acadians had recently arrived from Cape Breton and again 1835 Rev. 
Wix  reported that a large group of French Acadians had arrived at Bay St 
George since his visit (1830) while the possibility exists that Joseph Jessome's 
arrival was coincidental with the influx of some Cape Breton group between 
1830-38, it is felt he joined his brother-in-law at Bay St. George shortly after 
the loss of the latter's property in the autumn of 1826.

An 1858 rep on lists Alexander and Diasley (Didier?) Josseau each with a family 
of  nine members, excluding selves. This report, somewhat inclusive, fails to
recognize the following were also early residents of Bay St. George:

Alexander (Jr), Henry, Joseph. Peter, and William.

The following were almost certainly daughters of Joseph Jessome: Catherine who 
married Luke Benoit,  Marie who married Jules Benoit, Genevieve who married 
Desire Alexander, Ursula who married Eugene Gallant.

The Alexander name in 1858 not only may be the same individual listed at Indian 
Head (Stephenville) in 1871 in Lovell's Directory, but may also be the same 
person who eventually settled at Lower Cove on the Port au Port Peninsula. 
Lovell's Directory similarly points out that Daniel and William Jesso were 
residents at Bay of Islands in 1871. Were they a branch of the Bay St George 
group? Almost assuredly.

The above information was originally written by Allan Stride and published in the Newfoundland Ancestor, Vol. 3 no. 3, Summer 1987. The information was subsequently sent by Glenn MacDonald and Rick Gaudet to Cyril DuBourdieu who converted it to electronic form. The information was then transcribed and posted to the Internet in August 1998 by Stephen Baker.