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Note: N6 Took the name AGNEW in 1747
His name spelt Vance in the testament dative of his father.
Builder of the present (ruined) house of Barnbarroch, 1771
James Boswell met John Agnew at Kirroughtrie (the Heron estate) on September 29, 1762. He described him as a genteel, ingenious gentleman.
The first title to be issued for the mines and metals on the Coast of Labrador was to John Agnew and his associates (Alexander Dun and George Stewart) in 1773. They neglected the terms of the grant and, as a result, forfeited their privileges.
“There was a copper mine opened about forty years ago [ie ca 1782], at Shoal Bay, fifteen miles south of St. John's, by a late Earl of Galloway, a Mr. Vance Agnew of Galloway, and a Mr. Dunn of Aberdeen, the Collector at that time of H. M. Customs at St. John's. The mouths of two shafts, one in the side of the solid rock, the other on the acclivity fifty or sixty feet above the level of the sea, as well as other remains of the works, are still to be seen. It is said to have been worked two years; and the ore, sent to England, yielded 80 per cent of copper. The richer veins took a direction under the level of the sea; and owing to the reported difficulty of keeping the mine dry, the undertaking was relinquished after an expenditure of 9,000 pounds. Cornish miners were brought purposely to the country. There are other parts of the coast adjacent, as well as inland, that exhibit the same proofs of abundance of copper as this close assemblage of veins -- of six feet wide at Shoal Bay.” (http://www.mun.ca/rels/native/beothuk/beo2gifs/texts/HOW19b.html)
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