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March 30. 1833, at the age ofsixty-thrce. The community is described in Lovell's 1871
Pro\'i"ce ofNewfoundland Direclory as a large fishing scnlemc.nt at the head of
Conception Bay. in the district ofHarbour Main, forty miles from St. John's and six
miles from Bngus by road. Its population of480 included sixt)'-seven farmers, two
planters (John Costigan and John Scanlan). and one schoolteacher (James Heam).20 Mary
Bernice Doyle. in her study ofthe history ofthe settlement oflhc head ofConceplion
Ba),:u found the first listed inhabitant to be James HeddcniOn in 1766. By 1803. there
\\ere twcnty-fivc people listed. including members ofthe Cole and Whelan families. who
resided thcre since 1778. These surnames and six more ofthe fourteen listed are still in
existence today in Colliers. Doylc found thc populalion ofCollicrs to be continually the
lo\\csi for all settlements at the head ofthe bay. Colliers had a population of301 in 1836.
and from 1860 until 1976 the population nuctuated between 400 and 840 with a
nineteenth century high of 706 in 1884.
In 1804, there were 49 farmers with 154 cuhivaled acres, and local production
yielded 2,609 barrels ofpotatoes, 300 cattle, 1,194 barrels of capclin, and 1,220 quintals
ofcured codfish. According 10 Doyle, in the earliest days of the eighteenth century the
people lived almost totally on herring and potatoes. The inhabitants were first fishermen
then funners. and as there was poor production in the fisheries from 1860 to 1890, most
men were famlcr-fishcrmen. Occupational pluralism characlerized the working life ofthe
20 Lowll's Pro\";nce ofNeufoundJand D;recloryfor 1871 (1871; London. ON:
Genealogical Research Library. 1984).
21 Mary Bcrnice Doyle. "The History ofthe Settlement oflhe Ilcad ofConception Ba)'.
M. A. Thesis (History) .Memorial Uni\"crsity of l ewfoundland. 1971.
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