settler n Cp OED ~ 2 'colonist' (1788-), DAE 1 (1739-). A permanent resident of coastal Newfoundland and Labrador as distinguished from a seasonal migratory fisherman; LIVYER, PLANTER.
1795 REEVES 67 They say, that heretofore much encouragement had not been given the settlers, to continue in the island, and therefore regular governors, as in other colonies, had very seldom been appointed to them. 1836 [WIX]1 168 The people, too, with whom the first settlers and their immediate descendants may have had contact, or intercourse, have attributed much to the formation of the dialect, character, and habits of the present settlers. 1861 DE BOILIEU 222 I have already remarked that the settlers in Labrador were hospitable in the extreme. 1869 HOWLEY MS Reminiscences 4 The only settler at this time near the mouth of the Terra Nova was an old man named Stroud... He was one of that type of old Englishman originally brought out as a youngster by some of the mercantile firms. 1883 ibid 1 The settlers, or rather squatters, on the West Coast particularly in the Codroy Valley and Bay St George, had up to this time no legal claim to the lands they occupied. 1912 Nfld Qtly Dec, p. 26 I visited the churchyard in which the 'rude forefathers of the hamlet sleep' for the purpose of witnessing among the tombs that of the late Mr Steer, the first settler of the place and the grandfather of the well known merchants of the capital. Leaving Anchor Point we journey through Deadman's Cove, where I met an old settler named Chambers who told me that in the old days partridges were very numerous in that part of the country. 1916 GRENFELL 35 Once the die is cast, a house built, a fishing-room established, a fur path secured, the settler here, like the limpet on our rocks, finds moving to a distance almost an impossibility. 1974 CAHILL 22 They figured settlers were nothing but trouble, wanting land grants and concessions and finally to run the show themselves.
