Dear lizt-ga;
Thank you for allowing me an opportunity to answer your interesting
question.
The Newfoundland 1921 census shows that JOHN NOFTALL, born in St.
John’s in 1876, and was 45 years old at the time of the census. His 44
year old wife AMY NOFTALL (born in Trinity in 1877), and 15 year old
daughter SADIE NOFTALL (born March, 1906 in St. John’s) also appear in
this census.
“Newfoundland 1921 Census, St. John's Pages 41-81”
http://ngb.chebucto.org/C1921/M8030/803003.shtml
Several other NOFTALL’s from the same vicinity appear in this portion
of the census:
“Newfoundland 1921 Census, St. John's West, Page 1 – 40”
http://ngb.chebucto.org/C1921/M8030/803008.shtml
I don’t know if this will be of any help or not, but this article
examines the 1933 book “Ballads and Sea Songs of Newfoundland” by
Elisabeth Bristol Greenleaf, a “volunteer teacher of the Mission
Summer School in Sally's Cove on the West Coast” who first arrived in
Newfoundland in 1920. In one portion of the book Greenleaf mentions
the discovery of an old man in Fleur de Lys named John Noftall, who
was a singer of traditional Newfoundland ballads. This may very well
be the same man mentioned in the census. In the book Greenleaf says of
Noftall:
“Another of the good singers of Fleur de Lys was Mr. John Noftall. He
was an elderly man who lived with his wife on a hill back from the
water. He no longer needed to work very hard for a living as their
children were all grown, married and getting along well. ... Mr.
Noftall was of the old school of ballad singers and put in a variety
of slides, trills,.grace notes, unexpected accents and other
variations, all of which add greatly to the effectiveness of rendition
but reduce the music writer to despair.”
“Canadian Journal for Traditional Music (1985)”
http://cjtm.icaap.org/content/13/v13art4.html
Using LDS FAMILY SEARCH I found a number of entries on various people
with the surname Noftall, but nothing on John. However, many of the
ones that did appear are from the same geographical area in
Newfoundland as the John Noftall I was able to find earlier.
LDS FAMILY SEARCH
http://www.familysearch.org/Eng/Search/frameset_search.asp
I hope this information helps get you on your way to discovering your
past. Good luck.
Below you will find that I have carefully defined my search strategy
for you in the event that you need to search for more information. By
following the same type of searches that I did you may be able to
enhance the research I have provided even further. I hope you find
that that my research exceeds your expectations. If you have any
questions about my research please post a clarification request prior
to rating the answer. Otherwise, I welcome your rating and your final
comments and I look forward to working with you again in the near
future. Thank you for bringing your question to us.
Best regards;
Tutuzdad-ga
INFORMATION SOURCES
“Newfoundland 1921 Census, St. John's Pages 41-81”
http://ngb.chebucto.org/C1921/M8030/803003.shtml
“Newfoundland 1921 Census, St. John's West, Page 1 – 40”
http://ngb.chebucto.org/C1921/M8030/803008.shtml
“Canadian Journal for Traditional Music (1985)”
http://cjtm.icaap.org/content/13/v13art4.html
LDS FAMILY SEARCH
http://www.familysearch.org/Eng/Search/frameset_search.asp
SEARCH STRATEGY
SEARCH ENGINE USED:
Google ://www.google.com
SEARCH TERMS USED:
NOFTALL NEWFOUNDLAND
://www.google.com/search?q=noftall+newfoundland&hl=en&lr=&ie=UTF-8&oe=UTF-8&sa=n&oq=noftall+newdoundland
“JOHN NOFTALL”
://www.google.com/search?hl=en&lr=&ie=UTF-8&oe=UTF-8&q=%E2%80%9CJOHN+NOFTALL%E2%80%9D |
