ACTUAL BEAUTHUK RECORDING

SANTU TONEY

Santu Toney is a bit special in Beothuk history because she has preserved the only spoken Beothuk words. Because of her we know what Bothuks speech sounded like (Even if we cant understand it). She was an Indian woman who in 1910 was interviewed by American Anthropologists Frank Speck. Frank Speck studied various North American native cultures and was apparently particularly interested in Santu Toney as it was the first indication that he had that the Beothuks never became extinct in 1829. Santu Toney said that her father was a Beothuk and her mother a Micmac and that she was seventy five years old. She apparently is not listed in any census data and she never had a lot of information about the Beothuks themselves so I am assuming that she lived most of her life more like European settlers in Newfoundland (And later the United States) people rather than the way that natives lived.

But she recorded a song for Frank Speck that was apparently a nursery rhyme that her Beothuk father sang to her as a child. It was apparently low quality (It was 1910 after all) and saved on a wax cylinder. Today its not possible to understand any of the words.

But the recording is still in existence. In particular there is a copy that the public can listen to at the Rooms museum in St Johns Newfoundland. I believe that I can get a copy and well display it here as I build my website