Black History Month February is Black History month when numerous events are held across Canada to honour and celebrate the contributions made by black people to this country. This year the theme is “Thirty Years of Black History: Honouring Black Brilliance Across Generations – From Nation Builders to Tomorrow’s Visionaries.” In 1926, historian Carter G. […]
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The Charismatic Hannah Maynard One of the most fascinating women in the history of British Columbia’s capital city was the matriarch of the Maynard family, Hannah Maynard. The Maynard family purchased a Cadboro Bay beach cabin from the Todd family in the 1880’s, where they were well known. Hannah, the matriarch of the family, an
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The Tragic Story of a Girl Called Blanche Her name is largely unknown today, but during her short sixteen years on earth, she experienced more trauma and sadness than is impossible to imagine. Eliza Blanche Baker (always known as Blanche) was born in 1860 in Surrey, England, but eventually came to Canada with her father,
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The Story of Four Sisters of St. Ann’s On Saturday, June 5th, 1858, the SS Seabird arrived in Victoria harbor with a very special cargo aboard. Among the passengers were four Sisters of St. Ann who had travelled to Fort Victoria from Montreal at the request of Bishop Modeste Demers. The bishop, the first Catholic
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Politics! Some Trivia There has been a great deal of political chit-chat lately, both North and South of the border between Canada and the United States. We are inundated with it on the daily news. Some true and some fake. What do we believe? So, I thought it might be a good idea to get
Adelaide Simpson – The Baker’s Wife When the Norman Morison arrived in Victoria, British Columbia, Canada, in a snowstorm in January 1853, Henry and Adelaide Simpson were among the many passengers aboard. Other families such as the Skinners and the McKenzies were also aboard to take up positions as farm managers for the Puget Sound
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Victoria’s Long Naval Connections The Royal Navy’s Colonial connection to British Columbia’s capital city, Victoria, goes back to the settlement days of the Puget Sound farming families in the 1850s. The Skinner Family Families such as the Langfords, the Skinners, and the McKenzies who had arrived in the colony to manage farms for the Puget
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Thomas Harris – Victoria’s First Mayor British Columbia’s capital City had one of the most colorful and controversial figures serving as the first Mayor. His name was Thomas Harris, and he served three terms in office between 1862 and 1865. A butcher by trade, he referred to himself as “just an ‘umble tradesman” who owned
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Flotsam and Jetsam (Early Characters in B.C.’s Capital City.) Many of the colourful transients who drifted into the capital city in the early days barely stayed long enough to guarantee themselves a place in the history books, but I recently discovered a few interesting examples. One was Polish-born, carriage driver Billy Barlow. In 1863, he
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A Christmas Miracle At least once in everyone’s life we need a miracle. The story of the one that happened over 180 years ago on a cold, crisp Christmas Eve in Victoria, British Columbia, Canada, has been told many times before but, in today’s world of unrest and uncertainty, it still bears repeating. It concerns
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