Some early settlers in Kippens were Alexander Lafitte and his wife Nancy (nee Bourgeois). Nancy and Alex were married in 1874, and they eventually had seven children: Mary, Charlie, Emile, Joseph, Remi, Frank, and Tom. “Red” Dougal MacIsaac and his wife Emily (Nee Parsons) moved to Kippens from Port au Port in 1871. Their children were William, born in 1872, Johnny and Walter (twins) born in 1873, Catherine Ann and Mathilda (twins) born in 1876, Millage, Richard, Dougal, and Emily.
Another early setter was Peter Young. He came to Kippens with his brother George, but George did not stay here. They were of French descent. Peter stayed and married Elizabeth March. Their children were Alex, George, Charles, Sam, Kate, Agnes, Juliann, and Fred.
The Doucette name was also heard here in the mid-nineteenth century. The Doucettes arrived in Kippens from Cheticamp, Nova Scotia. “Bourgeois” is still a common name in Kippens, but it is rarely heard elsewhere. E.R. Seary, in his book Family Names of the Island of Newfoundland, states:
The families of Bourgeois on the west coast are probably all descendants of Charles-Raymond, a native of France who, having married an Acadian, settle at St. George’s. It is also a family name of Acadia, of the Magdalen Islands through which many Acadian Settlers to Newfoundland passed, and of St. Pierre.” Alexander was, and still is, a common surname in Kippens. Seary states one early instance of a man by the name of Alexander. He was John Alexander, and he was a fisherman at Indian Head around the year 1791.
The Gabriel name is also common in this area, as are the names Gaudon and Gaudet. E.R. Seary gives an instance of a man named Ignace Gaudet from Margaree, Nova Scotia, who settled here around 1855.
The family name White is said to have originated in Acadia, although the name probably originated as “LeBlanc” and then took on the English translation.
The people who settled here lived on the banks of what is now called St. George’s Bay. It was only in later years, when a road was put through, that people moved further up from the beach, and built houses in the community.