1957 Grade 1 Class, St. Peter's School, Upper Island Cove

My name is Randell Mercer. I was a member of the Grade 1 Class that began school at St. Peter's All-Grade School, Upper Island Cove in September 1957.  Back then, there was no kindergarten program; we began school as 6-year olds (most of us were born in 1951, with probably a few from 1950). I remember that first day, as we gathered in the grade 1 classroom at the back of the ground floor of the original school on the site of the current St. Peter's school. For some reason, I remember the pot-belly stove that kept us warm during those chilly winter months. We met our 1st grade teacher Violet Mercer (Mrs. Drover), or was it Mary Margaret Drover (Mrs. Tiller) – I'm not quite sure????   Most of us (those who are still around) have celebrated or are looking to celebrate our 67th birthday this year. Congrats for making it this far!


I am now retired and am living in Gander, having moved there to work in 1977. Over the years I have maintained contact with Upper Island Cove. I have siblings living there today. My parents, Graham Mercer and Dorcas Bishop, are now passed. My father was very much aware of the ancestry of most families, and oftentimes he shared this information with me orally. In the latter years of his life, I recorded some of it, and since have collected quite an extensive store of information from many other sources. As many of us do, I began to create a family tree. My initial focus, of course, was my Mercer and Bishop roots. And in both cases, I have been able to recreate my family lines, dating back to the original settlers at Upper Island Cove in the 1700s.

During that process, it became so obvious that most of us who were born in 1951 and earlier are very much inter-connected though our family lines. This is primarily because Upper Island Cove, like many of its neighbouring communities, had limited access to other places at that time; hence the circle of marriage was predominantly confined to the local area. My own family roots, dating back to the 1700s, include not only Mercers and Bishops, but Good, Reid, Coombs, Lundrigan, Crane, Young, Barrett, and so on. This is most likely true for all of us who began Grade 1 in 1957.



Several years ago, in 2007, I launched the Upper Island Cove Family Roots Website. The intent was to post most of the family roots materials that I had gathered on a secure website, and to make it accessible to others, who could be linked to any of the UIC Family Lines that were provided on this website. I was also interested in making the site a place where old family and community photos could be posted and shared. Probably most importantly, it would be a place to record some of the history of the community, through stories and other items of information that the users would share and enjoy. I have since launched a Facebook site and this Blog site as supplementary parts of the Upper Island Cove Family Roots Project (links are provided in the menu bar to the right). I hope you take a moment to visit all three sites. Your feedback would be appreciated.

The number of visitors to the Upper Island Cove Family Roots Website, in the beginning, was modest; its existance was not well known, and I did little to promote it. However, during the past several years, it has become a place where many regularly visit and share. Currently, there is information on the website relating to more than 17,000 individuals (past and present), involving hundred of family lines from more than 1500 different sources /contributors, with some 1800 electronic images (documents & pics). Membership to the site is limited, and currently stands at about 250. Only those, for whom I can confirm an existing family line, are granted membership status. To date several of our former Grade 1 classmates are active members – Alice Coombs, Aubrey Drover, Lloyd Bishop, Cecil Newman, Raymond Mercer, Florence Mercer and myself. I would invite everyone in the group to visit the Website. If would have an email address for any of our classmates list below and care to share with me, it would be appreciated – I would like to send this message to them or, on the other hand, you could forward it directly.

Membership status enables that person to not only view all the material provided (photos, stories, family trees), but to edit and add materials pertaining to his/her immediate family group (i.e. parents, siblings, spouse and children). Information pertaining to ancestors and others must be forwarded to me for posting. One of the things I want to ensure with the site is that the information is authentic (with a reference source for the information recorded there) and accurate.



My reason for contacting you!!!!!


This site can serve the purpose of helping to keep our children and future descendants, more and more of whom are living in places far removed from this community, in contact with the family and community history of their roots at Upper Island Cove.

What a better place to start then to get the 1st graders of 1957 involved in a class project?? Where are you now? Do you know where others from the group are now? And can you add something to the Upper Island Cove Family Roots Website – an old family photo, an old community photo, story that you recall from a parent or grandparent, and anything that would help tell the story of Upper Island Cove and your connections there.


Let me start by attempting to recreate the class list from memory (something that I am more and more suspicious of with the passage of time!!!). I know that I won't be able to recall all our classmates, but here's what I do recall, along with some detailed information that others have shared:
1.  Mildred Adams
2.  Lloyd Bishop - Moved to Carbonear, NL
3.  Randell Bishop (b. Dec 4, 1950)
4.  Alice Coombs - Moved to Bishop's Cove, NL
5.  Brenda (Cattie) Coombs - Moved to Toronto, ON
6.  Wayne Coombs (b. Nov 28, 1951; d. Aug 15, 2010) - Family moved to New Perlican, NL
7.  Calvin (Drum) Crane 
8.  Charles (Charlie Pop) Crane 
9.  Linda (Stick) Crane 
10. Randell W. (Drum) Crane (b. Nov 3, 1951)
11. Randell A. (Claver) Crane (b. Apr 26, 1951)
12. Aubrey Drover (b. Sep 19, 1951) - Family moved to St. John's, NL
13. Gwenie Drover (b. Mar 28, 1951)
14. Ray (Dooley) Drover 
15. Marina Lynch 
16. Ron (Fairy) Lynch 
17. Edith (Tootch) Mercer (b. Oct 1951)
18. Eldred Mercer - Family moved to Dunville, NL
19. Florence (Me) Mercer 
20. Isabelle (Nish) Mercer (d. Jun 22, 1999)
21. John Mercer (Johnny) (b. May 5, 1951; d. Nov 1, 2016)
22. Max (Tootch) Mercer (b. Sep 1951) - Moved to South River, NL
23. Murial (Stink) Mercer 
24. Paul (Tootch) Mercer 
25. Ralph (Be I) Mercer 
26. Randell (Fessa) Mercer (b. Jul 22, 1951) - Moved to Gander, NL
27. Raymond (Ray) Mercer 
28. William Thomas (Tommy Brave) Mercer (b. Jan 8,1951; d. Sep 4, 1975)
29. Velma Mercer (b. May 5, 1951)
30. Annie Newman 
31. Cecil Newman 
32. Howard Newman 
33. John (Johnny Miller) Williams 
34. John (Johnny Mosh) Young (b. 1950)
35. Llewelyn Young - Moved to Deer Lake, NL


There may be others (I always thought that there were about 40 of us; please add to or correct any information referenced in the list)


Looking forward to hearing from you......


Prepared by Randell Mercer in 2012; Revised Apr 2019
rmercer.uicfamilyroots@gmail.com


Llew Young provided this photo recently. It appears to be Diploma night at the end of Grade 6. Who do you recognize in the picture, other than Llew Young rceiving his diploma from teacher Willie Greeley?