Ten Historic Towns Twillingate Information
Less bound to one merchant than Fogo, Twillingate had a number. Like Fogo it benefitted from the inshore fishery of Notre Dame Bay and the Labrador fishery in summer, the seal fishery in winter. Its economy was also augmented by trapping in the interior along the Exploits River.

Throughout the Eighteenth Century the population of Twillingate, then the furthest settlement on the English shore, was less stable than that of Fogo. While in 1738 their populations were the same, in 1786, after a bad fishery, Twillingate's population fell to one-third of Fogo's. That bad year broke the migratory fishery and saw the establishment of a local fishery requiring locally-based merchants to supply the fishermen and export their catch.

Again it was principally an operation of English merchants out of Poole in Dorset. The most substantial of these w asJohn Slade w ho made a great contribution to the community but who, like many of the merchants, eventually returned to England. It was the planters rather than the merchants who stayed and gave a personal continuity to the town. Among the important planters were the Peytons. John Peyton served as Justice of the Peace for Twillingate and is famous for his part in the capture of the Beothuck Desmasduit (Mary March) during which her husband Nonosbausut was murdered. Twillingate was one of the northern islands to which the Beothuck would venture in summer in their search for fish and seabirds. It was also the haunt of earlier aboriginal peoples among thenl the Dorsets whose remains have been found at Back Harbour.


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