July 2003 - Vol Three, No.8

Happy Holidays!

July 1st is a national holiday for us in Canada. Although it is now called "Canada Day," I remember it as "Dominion Day," when I was growing up. I don’t know when the change was made, but perhaps by this time next year I’ll have looked it up (unless someone has the information already and sends it to me). So, happy Canada Day to all our Canadian subscribers! And to our friends in the United States, happy Independence Day (July 4th)! May we all come through these holidays safely!

A Railway in Delta

"The Delta Railway

From Our Own Correspondent
Victoria, Feb. 14 -- At a special meeting of the [Victoria] City Council to-day Ald. Munn moved resolutions that whereas the Delta, New Westminster and Eastern Railway Act, 1894, is now under consideration by the Provincial Legislature and contemplates the construction of a railway from English Bluff to Westminster Municipality with a branch running eastward toward Chiliwhack [sic] and the Upper Fraser: and whereas it is proposed to construct a railway and traffic bridge across the Fraser at New Westminster, which building would afford access to the above mentioned railway as well as to other railways into the City of New Westminster: and whereas the Victoria & Sidney Railway is nearing completion and it is proposed to establish ferry connection between Sidney on the above railway and the Delta, New Westminster and Eastern Railway at English Bluff and thereby establish quick communication between Victoria and New Westminster and the important farming settlements on the Upper Fraser; therefore in the opinion of this Council it is desirable that the Government of British Columbia give every encouragement and all reasonable aid towards accomplishing the above object.

Ald. Baker offered an amendment that the Company deposit $30,000 in bonds and provide for the forfeiture of this sum unless the Company transfer passengers between the two cities of Westminster and Victoria twice a day, the time of transfer not to exceed 3 1-2 hours.

The amendment was unanimously adopted and the resolution carried by a vote of 5 to 3."

Source: The [Vancouver] Daily News-Advertiser, 15 February 1894, page one.

History Website

A subscriber directed my attention to a website called Our Roots: Canada’s Local Histories On-line, which can be found at http://www.ourroots.ca/e/

I did a search for British Columbia, naturally, and came up with 30 pages of records (10 records to a page). A quick browse turned up entries ranging from "Catalogue of books in the Free Public Library of Victoria city" (1890) to "Province of British Columbia, information for intending settlers" (1886) to "The railway in British Columbia" by Edgar Dewdney (1876).

Definitely worth a look, but be prepared to spend a lot of time exploring the site. I didn’t try printing any of the items I found, but assume that is available since all the documents, etc., appear to be in the public domain.

One quibble: As a local historian, my expectation upon reading the title of the site, "Local histories on-line" was that I would find local histories of various communities. I would say, therefore, that this website, a collaboration between the University of Calgary and Laval University, closely resembles Early Canadiana On-line. Thanks very much, Annette.

St. Paul’s Hospital

The following describes the original St. Paul’s Hospital, Vancouver, B.C.:

"SISTERS OF CHARITY HOSPITAL

J. B. Blancet, architect, of Vancouver, Wash., is in the city with the plans and in a few days will call for tenders for the construction of a hospital for the Sisters of Charity of the House of Providence. The mother house of this body is at Montreal, but the headquarters of the Province of which British Columbia forms a part is Portland, Ore. Mr. Blanchet [sic] has built a number of hospitals for the Sisters, and thoroughly understands their ideas as regards architecture.

The building, when fully completed, will be 120 x 48 feet, with a large central tower, but for the present only part, 80 x 48 feet, will be erected, and until the balance is added the tower will be at one end of the building.

The basement will be of stone and the superstructure frame, of ornate design and finish. The basement floor will contain dining room, Sisters’ room, the receiving ward, furnace room, and an eight-foot wide corridor. The distance from floor to ceiling will be 10 feet in the clear. On a level with this floor will be the kitchen annex.

The first floor will contain an operating room, specially designed to secure perfect light, a surgical dressing room, dispensary, smoking room, two private wards for pay patients and two large wards for public patients. The distance from floor to ceiling will be 12 feet 6 inches.

The second floor will contain seven private wards, two public wards and a chapel. The height of the ceiling on this floor will be 11 feet 6 inches. The attic floor, with a height of ceiling of 9 feet 10 inches, will contain the convalescent room, the Sisters and the employees’ bed room.

Each floor will be provided with pantry, bath rooms, closets, etc., and will open out on to verandahs. The section proposed now to be gone on with is to be pushed to completion as quickly as possible."

Source: [Vancouver] Daily World, 25 April 1894, page 8.

A Cemetery That Has Disappeared

I don’t do genealogical research as such, but I am a volunteer for an "outfit" called Random Acts of Genealogical Kindness. If you aren’t familiar with this volunteer service, you can access the website at http://www.raogk.org/

An obituary that I was looking up stated that the deceased had been buried in Glenwood Cemetery, Langley Prairie. However, I’ve searched high and low and there is no evidence of a Glenwood Cemetery. Can anyone help?

Before you send me suggestions, let me list the sources I’ve already checked: the handful of extremely knowledgeable local genealogists; B. C. Archives; B. C. Cemetery Finding Aid; the Presbyterian church’s website, and the Langley Centennial Museum. The person requesting the obituary has explored the area where Glenwood had been located (the corner of 16th Avenue or North Bluff Road and 216th Street in Langley) and come up empty. Do cemeteries disappear? Can cemeteries disappear? Thank you in advance for any light you can shed on this particular "disappeared" cemetery.

Newspaper Advertising

In the spirit of "everything old is new again," here is a newspaper advertisement that speaks for itself:

"MATRIMONIAL

YOUNG LADY; age 24; accomplished; good pianist; has means; wishes to correspond with elderly gentleman, with view to matrimony; nautical man preferred. Address 52 Colonist Office, Victoria."

Source: The Daily Columbian, 10 April 1897, page four.