History Helps Volume One, Number 1, December 2000
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• Welcome
• Obituaries Database
• Birthday Contest
• Land Pre-emptions and Land Grants
• Future Features of my Website
• How to "unsubscribe"

Welcome to this newsletter. Nothing fancy, and maybe nothing that catches your fancy. We shall see.

My expertise lies in the history of the community where I live, namely Ladner and the municipality of Delta, so much of what I discover has that slant to it. At the very least, it concerns the Province of British Columbia. But, we all know that there are larger applications to many of the interesting sources that we come across.

I welcome suggestions and in-put, so if you've found a really useful resource that other researchers might benefit from, please send me an e-mail, and I'll include it if I think it has merit. At this point, I'm open to a variety of items being included here. And, since I have a commercial web site, and publish my books, you can expect the occasional plug for my products.

First Plug of this New Adventure

On my website I now have available a database of obituaries of Delta residents, and former residents, compiled from the newspapers between 1880 and 1922. The sources for the late 19th century were the newspapers of Vancouver and New Westminster. In the 20th century, I relied primarily on The Delta News, The Delta Times, and, for the period of World War One and immediately following, the Weekly Gazette and the Daily Columbian.

The database contains the obituaries exactly as they appeared in the newspaper, which means some are barely a couple of lines, while others contain a complete listing of who sent what floral tribute. There are over 200 surnames in the list, and over 300 entries.

I have also, where necessary, searched out deaths in the B. C. Archives, or the gravestones at Boundary Bay Cemetery, or the National Censuses. Usually this was necessary in order to supply a given name for a married woman or for a baby or young child. It wasn't always possible to locate that extra bit of information, and so, some individuals are woefully poorly identified.

In addition, not everyone's death was noted in the newspaper with an obituary, and to fill that gap somewhat I have included at the end a list of obituary-less individuals, gleaned from the Deaths Index at B. C. Archives.

Lastly, the database can be downloaded from my site, for the price of $10.00, which, of course, needs to reach me in the mail. Details, if you need more, can be found on my website Delta History On-Line.

A Contest Win! Win! Win!

My website Delta History On-Line will be one year old on December 20th. "Healthy and growing" would be a good description, and I'm proud of it (due mostly to the web designer, Jones Maps & Diagrams Ltd., here in Ladner).

Anyway, to celebrate, I'm giving away one copy of "Ladner's Landing of Yesteryear: Two Heritage Walks in the Historic Village" to each of the first ten people (no spamming please) who send an e-mail on December 20th to the address below, with the correct answer to the following question:

To which Lower Mainland city was Ladner and all of Delta most closely connected in the late 19th century? Hint: This city had hoped to become the capital of the new Province of British Columbia, but lost out.

Send your answer by email to me at gwen_szychter@yahoo.ca.

Land Pre-Emptions and Land Grants

A recent, rather public, debate in my own community had a positive downside for me: a reminder that there are sources of information that we may not have explored yet. But they're not easy to access.

The former, land pre-emptions, are available at the Provincial Archives in Victoria at B. C. Archives On-Line. Search the Textual Records Catalogue, and when the next window appears, on the Search Form enter "pre-emptions" or whatever else you wish to hunt for.

Unfortunately, just the most generic information is available on-line. That means that you have to present yourself bodily in the Reference Room of the Provincial Archives.

Pre-emption plans (or maps, as they are also called) can contain significant information about the geography of the area, as well as other details of interest. They can also be problematic, as I discovered, when labeling and naming is not necessarily compatible with modern-day naming.

Warning: on the third Wednesday of each month no reference services are available at the Provincial Archives.

The second source, which in British Columbia, is applicable right up to modern times, is the Crown Land Registry Services, Ministry of Environment Lands & Parks, Province of British Columbia, accessible online at Crown Land Registry Services.

This is a new find for me, and, therefore, something I've not entirely explored

Future Features of History of Delta, British Columbia On-Line

1. A free obituary look-up service for inquiries related to the Lower Mainland newspapers. This covers deaths that occurred in Vancouver, North Vancouver, New Westminster, Surrey, Coquitlam to name only a few.

2. Listings for Delta (includes Ladner's Landing, Boundary Bay, East Delta, Westham Island, Canoe Pass, Port Guichon) from the B. C. Directories published in the 19th century, starting with the one issued in 1882.

3. Pages for my future books (Tsawwassen, Boundary Bay Airport including Vancouver Wireless Station, the farmlands), with photos as they materialize. Who am I kidding? They don't materialize; I have to really scrounge sometimes to find photographs.

Don't want to receive this newsletter?

Easy. Just send an e-mail to me. Click on reply and say "No more newsletters." I'll get the message.

Warmest wishes of the season to everyone!

Gwen Szychter

P.S. I hope to send one of these newsletters out at the beginning of each month, which will then coincide with the monthly update of my website, which, of course, as a marketing strategy, I'll also be telling you about.

Newspaper Obituary Database coming to

History of Delta, British Columbia On-line

Delta History On-Line

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