Shanawdithit - Early Life With The Beothuk

Early Life With The Beothuk

Shanawdithit was born near a large lake on the island of Newfoundland in about 1801, a time when the Beothuk population was dwindling. Their traditional way of life was affected by encroaching European settlements on the island and they also suffered from European diseases against which they had little or no immunity. The Beothuks were also slowly being cut off from the sea, which was one of their food sources. Beothuks had long avoided Europeans. Trappers and furriers regarded the Beothuks as thieves and would sometimes attack them. As a child Shanawdithit was shot by a white trapper while washing venison in a river. She suffered from the injury for some time, but recovered.

In 1819 Shanawdithit's aunt Demasduwit was taken by the British and the few remaining Beothuks fled. In the spring of 1823 Shanawdithit lost her father, who died after falling through ice. Most of her extended family had died from starvation, illness, exposure and British attacks. Sick and hungry, Shanawdithit, her mother and sister sought help from nearby trapper William Cull and the three women were taken to St. John's, Newfoundland, where Shanawdithit's mother and sister died of tuberculosis.