I imagine it's the other way around for us. George Calvert, the first Lord Baltimore, founded the Colony of Avalon, the first English colony in Newfoundland (in today's Calvert and Ferryland area on the Southern Shore). He had a wonderful start - giving Catholics the right to practice their religion freely. But he hated the weather here
and moved south, establishing Baltimore and Maryland. There was a lot of that back then (and today, I suppose) lol - but there was certainly no concept of being a Newfoundlander or an American so I don't think they really count.
There was a lot of population movement between the Irish in Newfoundland and Boston throughout the subsequent centuries, especially from St. John's and the Southern Shore to Boston. By this time, there was some concept of being a Newfoundlander as we're known as such still today there. For example, one of the comments on the BBC's coverage of that airport singalong by Newfoundlanders delayed in Pearson:
The most recent, significant population shift between us was also from Newfoundland to the United States. During WWII, the Americans had bases throughout Newfoundland and Labrador and many thousands of Newfoundland women married American servicemen (our wartime archives show local women were anxious to get an American man, who were thought to have excellent teeth, treat their wives gently and provide well, and offer the chance to get out and see the most exciting country in the world at that time - Hollywood! Microwaves!). Most people my age (30s) have an Aunt or two who did that, and though it did happen, it was much less common for the couple to settle here.
They have some well-known offspring:
Quote:
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Christina Aguilera's father was born in Guayaquil, Ecuador, while her mother, a Newfoundlander, has German, English, Irish and Dutch ancestry. Aguilera's parents met while Fausto was serving at Earnest Harmon Air Force Base in Stephenville, Newfoundland. They were both Catholics.
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http://cs.mcgill.ca/~rwest/wikispeed...a_Aguilera.htm
(There are some locals who milk it, hilariously:
http://www.jimfidler.com/index.php?o...id=226&lang=en)
So there are a lot of Americans whose ancestors came from Newfoundland, certainly more than live in Newfoundland today - especially in New England and environs, as well as military towns elsewhere in the country. The inverse does exist to some extent, especially among children born out of wedlock, put up for adoption, etc. here, but certainly not to a comparable degree.
To give you some idea of how many it could be, prior to 1949, Canada - obviously - recorded us as foreign-born residents. Counting only those who were Newfoundland-born, not their children, by the 1920s we were over 10% of the population in some regions, especially Cape Breton and other parts of Nova Scotia. There were thousands of us in Toronto, Montreal, etc. There would've definitely been more of us in New England, though accounting for a smaller relative portion of New England's population. But it'd still be hundreds of thousands of people today.