Showing 71 results

People and organizations
Family

Caple family

  • Family

Norman Caple came to Vancouver from Bristol, England, in 1888. He established a photography studio with his partner, Richard Trueman, and their studio produced many images of early Vancouver. In 1893, they dissolved their partnership and Norman Caple opened a stationery store on Hastings Street. Mr. Caple and his wife, Florence, had four sons: Leonard, who was killed overseas during World War One; Montague, a lawyer; Harold, a doctor; and Kenneth, who was the director of the C.B.C.'s operations in B.C.

Gammage family

  • Family

Albert Gammage was born in Owen Sound, Ontario, and became the postmaster of Michel, B.C. He married Martha E. Bridgett, also from Owen Sound, in Calgary in 1904. The following year he died suddenly and his widow was appointed postmaster for Michel in 1906.

Goepel family

  • Family

The Philip Dorset Goepel family was from Islington, Middlesex, England and Victoria, B.C.

Malkin family

  • Family

The Malkin family resided in England during the last half of the nineteenth century. James Malkin (1828-1894) was in the pottery business, Burslem. In 1884, two of his younger sons, James Frederic (1864-1950) and William Harold (1868-1959) emigrated to Canada and came to Grenfell Sask, where they attempted farming until 1889. Their elder sister, ‘Belle” Mary Isabella (1858-1926) joined them from 1886-1889 then returned to England. Fred and Harold remained in Canada with return visits to England. In June 1894 Harold and his youngest brother John Philip Davy ‘Phil’ (1878-1952) travelled to Grenfell where they worked at the Osmund Skrine general store. Fred was in Vancouver touting the greater future there. Skrine moved half his operations and the two Malkin brothers to Vancouver in January-February 1895. They were joined by their mother, Ann Elizabeth Malkin (1832-1919) and sister Mary Isabella in late March 1895. The family remained firmly in Vancouver from that date.

The brothers became deeply involved in the wholesale food business, and in 1897 W. H. Malkin et al. purchased Osmund Skrine and Company. The brothers expanded the company, W. H. Malkin & Company Ltd. into a leading BC commercial enterprise, dominating the wholesale tea, coffee and grocery trade, across British Columbia and Alberta until 1938, when in their 60s and 70s, the brothers sold out to Western Grocers Limited. The family was also active in community affairs. W. H. Malkin served as the Mayor of Vancouver from 1928 to 1930, gave the Malkin Bowl band stand in Stanley Park, was a Founder of the Vancouver Foundation and of the Vancouver Art Gallery. J. P. D. Malkin and his wife, Georgina, helped establish and support the Vancouver Symphony, and later he acted as the Director of the War Assets Corporation during World War II. J.F Malkin’s community contributions are not yet documented.

McCleery family

  • Family

Fitzgerald McCleery and his brother, Samuel, came to B.C. to join their uncle, Hugh McRoberts, who in 1862 transferred 160 acres of land on the north side of the north arm of the Fraser River (District Lot 315) to Fitzgerald. Samuel McCleery also bought property in the area (District Lot 316). The McCleerys were the first settlers in the area that eventually became the City of Vancouver.

McFarlane family

  • Family

The McFarlane family lived in Vancouver.

McGeer family

  • Family

Gerald Gratton McGeer (1888-1947) was born in Winnipeg in 1888. He moved with his family to B.C. four years later, where he attended public schools and, later, Dalhousie Law School. He was called to the Bar of B.C. in 1915. After four years as an MLA in the B.C. Legislature (1916-1920), McGeer resigned. In 1925, he was elected as MP to the House of Commons. In 1933, he returned to the west and was reelected to the B.C. Legislature. The following year he became Mayor of Vancouver (full dates as mayor are 1935-1936, 1947). In 1940, he was reelected to the House of Commons. Upon his retirement five years later, he was appointed to the Senate. He died in 1947 within months of being reelected Mayor of Vancouver. In 1917, he married Charlotte Emma Spencer of Victoria. They had two children, Patricia (b. 1921) and Michael (b. 1922).

McQueen family

  • Family

James McQueen and his family came to Vancouver from Dundas, Ontario, in 1891. McQueen, a businessman, served as alderman on City Council, 1897-1900 and 1902-03. His brother-in-law, Dr. James Wetham, built Wetham Block at the northeast corner of Cambie and Cordova Streets. He also established one of the first private boys' schools in B.C., in 1891, but it was unsuccessful and closed in 1893. McQueen's son, George, was a barrister and served for several years as a police magistrate and member of the Police Commission until his death in 1944. McQueen's daughter, Kate (1884-1982), graduated from McGill University (B.C. branch) in 1908 and taught English at King Edward High School until her retirement in 1944. She was active in many women's groups, serving as President of the University Women's Club, 1912-13. Miss McQueen was also an avid hiker.

Nightingale family, John P.

  • Family

John Preston Nightingale (d. 1938) and Ida Burritt were married in Vancouver in 1896. Nightingale was a wholesale and retail grocer who operated in Vancouver. He and his wife were both residents of Mount Pleasant, later moving to South Vancouver and then Burnaby.

Oppenheimer family

  • Family

The Oppenheimer brothers, Godfrey, Charles, David (1834-1897) and Isaac (d. 1922), were born in Frankfurt, moving to Victoria, B.C., ca. 1858. They then moved to Yale and established a firm that outfitted and supplied miners and mining camps. In 1862 Charles joined Moberly and Lewis to build a section of the Cariboo road. By 1863, the Oppenheimers had returned to Victoria. In 1885 David and Isaac moved to Vancouver and played a part in the incorporation of the city. They also established the first wholesale grocery operation on the mainland of B.C., in a warehouse located on the Southeast corner of Powell St. and Columbia Ave. Both were elected aldermen for Ward Five in the City's second Council; in 1888 David was elected mayor and Isaac re-elected an alderman. David was re-elected three times, resigning in 1891. In 1889, the brothers formed a company with Ben Douglas, J.R. Webster and H.V. Edmonds that secured a provincial charter to build an electric railway, a work which was completed in 1892.

Quine family

  • Family

Various members of the Quine family were early immigrants to Canada and New Zealand.
Radcliffe Quine (1826-1885) was a native of the Isle of Man who emigrated to America in 1844. After travelling extensively, he moved to Victoria, B.C., for the 1858 Gold Rush, and later moved to Seattle.
Francis and Mary Quine, brother and sister-in-law to Radcliffe Quine, emigrated to Kamloops in the early 1880s.
Another brother, Frederick Quine, moved to Point Levy, Canterbury Province, New Zealand by 1885.
Derril Quine, another relation, moved to the United States in 1885.

Simson family

  • Family

Calvert Simson, born in Penrith, England, in 1862, left London in 1883 and sailed to Victoria, arriving in 1884. From Victoria he went to New Westminster, where he worked as a night watchman for the Dominion Sawmill. He worked as a shopkeeper on the beach in Granville and later as a storekeeper at Hastings Sawmill until 1891. He was also Granville's last postmaster, from 1884 to 1886. Simson managed the Chandlery Department of T. Dunn and Co. from 1893 to 1902. In 1902 he moved to the Ship Chandlery Department of Boyd Burns Co. In 1908, Simson and Arthur Balkwill opened up their own company, Simson-Balkwill Co. Ltd. Ship Chandlery and Engineering Supplies. They remained in business until 1929 when they sold their interest to Gordon and Belyea Ltd. Simson died in 1958. Jean Chrow, sister of Calvert Simson, married William Chrow. She died March 4, 1948. Gordon Simson is the son of Calvert Simson.

Southcott family

  • Family

John James Southcott (d. 1933) was a native of Plymouth, England. He emigrated to London, Ontario, where he married Annie Caldwell in 1874. The Southcotts settled in Vancouver in 1889. J.J. Southcott operated a wholesale tea business.

Voight family

  • Family

Emil F. Voight was a mining engineer at Rossland and various other points in the Interior of British Columbia.

Mann family

  • Family

Alexander R. Mann (d. 1943) and Jennie Quinn Malcolm Mann (d. 1949) had three children, Alexandra (1910-ca. 1995), Hugo, and Kathleen (1915-1996). Alexander R. Mann was a railway builder and president of Northern Construction Company, Ltd., which he founded in 1904.
He was the brother of Sir Donald Mann, the Canadian railway contractor and entrepreneur associated with the Canadian Northern Railway. The Mann family lived in Vancouver, B.C., at 3690 Selkirk from 1912 to 1922, and at 1350 The Crescent ("The Hollies") from 1922 to 1943.

Beach family

  • Family

Biographical information unavailable.

Bell-Irving family

  • Family

The Bell-Irving family were descendants of Henry Bell Irving, a Glasgow, Scotland merchant. Bell Irving resided in Millbank, Dumfries County, and in 1851 he married Williamina McBean Irving. The couple had seven children, two of whom established the family in Vancouver. The eldest son, Henry Ogle Bell-Irving (1856-1931) and his brother, Dr. Duncan Bell-Irving, moved to Granville in 1885. The family retained properties in Scotland, which were administered by a trust after the death of Henry Bell Irving in or before 1863.

In Vancouver, Henry Ogle Bell-Irving went on to found and operate a number of prominent Vancouver businesses, including Anglo-British Columbia Packing Company and Bell-Irving Insurance. Dr. Duncan Bell-Irving practiced medicine in Vancouver for many years; in 1900 he joined his brother's firm, H. Bell-Irving Co. Ltd.

Cates family

  • Family

The Cates family, being the descendents of Captain Charles Henry (1859-1939), have been prominent in Vancouver shipping and ship building since 1886 and founded Charles H. Cates and Sons Limited, a towage and lightering firm.

Grimmett family

  • Family

The Grimmett family lived in Vancouver.

Grippo family

  • Family

Giovanni Grippo was born in Pietragalla, Italy in 1887, and immigrated to Canada in 1920, arriving in New York, U.S.A, on July 10, and Bridgeburg, Ont. July 11. Giovanni eventually settled in Vancouver where he lived at 1374 Gravely St., and worked for the Canadian Pacific Railway until his retirement in 1952. Giovanni's son Theodore celebrated his marriage with Nunzia (Nancy) Rago at Sacred Heart Church in Vancouver on September 28, 1930, and was granted Canadian Citizenship on June 11, 1948.

Homer family

  • Family

Joseph Attwood Reynolds Homer (1827-1886) was born in Barrington, Nova Scotia. He came to B.C. in 1858 via San Francisco. He became one of the first sawmill owners in New Westminster and had an active interest in the British Columbia Coal Mining Company. In 1860 he was elected to the first city council of New Westminster, and was a signatory of the petition sent to the colonial office from the members of the Hope convention of 1861 asking for a separate government for the mainland. In 1864 he was the first member to be elected by the City of New Westminster to the Legislative Council of the Crown Colony of B.C. Appointed High Sheriff of B.C. in 1866, he read the royal proclamation uniting the British crown colonies of Vancouver Island and B.C. In 1882 he was elected Conservative MP for New Westminster.

Jamison family, James

  • Family

James Jamison (obit. 1891), his wife Jennie, and seven children: Walter, James, Robert, Amanda, Eliza, Maud and Harriet, were pre-emptors of a farm located five miles from the town of Princeton on the banks of the Similkameen River. The family became involved in a lawsuit concerning title to the property in 1919.

Ledingham family

  • Family

The Ledingham family lived in Vancouver and owned a general contracting firm, G.W. Ledingham & Company.

McRoberts family

  • Family

Hugh McRoberts (1814-1883), a native of Belfast, was the first white settler of Sea Island. He purchased a farm there in ca.1861 after working on the Cariboo Road and pursuing careers in California and Australia. He later sold his farm and moved to New Westminster, where he established a dairy business. His daughter, Jennie (1841-1931), born in Australia, joined him at Yale in 1860 and moved with him to the Sea Island farm. In 1864 she married a Victoria City Councilman, Charles Edward Bunting (1828-1890), a native of Saint John, New Brunswick.

Miller family

  • Family

Jonathan Miller (1834-1914) was born in Melbourne, Ontario, and married Margaret Springer in 1855. He left for B.C. in 1862, with his brother-in-law, Benjamin Springer, for the Cariboo Gold Rush. His wife, Margaret, and children joined him in 1864. During that same year, he became a member of the New Westminster City Council. In 1871 he was appointed Granville townsite's first constable and government agent. In 1886, Miller became Vancouver's first postmaster, a position he held until 1909, when he retired at the age of 75.

Woodward family

  • Family

The Woodward family were early settlers in Vancouver, and owners of the Woodward's Department Stores Limited company.
Charles Woodward (1863-1937) was born in Beverly Township, Ontario, and after several business ventures in Ontario, moved his family to Vancouver in 1892. He opened his first store at what is now the corner of Main and Georgia Streets. In 1902, he incorporated Woodward's Department Stores Limited, a company formed with several other small businesses. At this time, a new store was built at Hastings and Abbott Streets. Over the next twenty years, various departments were opened within this store. In 1926, a second store was opened in Edmonton, and by the late 1940s, the company began to expand its operations throughout B.C. and Alberta.
Upon Charles Woodward's death in 1937, his son, William Culham Woodward, was appointed as president of the company. W.C. Woodward also served as Lieutenant-Governor of B.C. from 1941 to 1946.

Yamamoto family

  • Family

Wakichi Yamamoto and his family lived in Vancouver, where they owned and operated the Yamashima Cafe at 333 Powell St. from ca. 1917 to ca. 1929. The Yamamoto family also owned property at 763 East Pender St. as well as unimproved land elsewhere in Vancouver and in the Howe Sound area.

Charlesworth family

  • Family
  • 1873-1989

Fred Charlesworth (1873-1948) was born in England and emigrated to Canada with his wife, Sarah Ann (neé Heward) first settling in Edmonton, Alberta around 1910. He had been a railway worker and in Edmonton worked at a dairy. Around 1918, Fred and Sarah Ann moved to Vancouver, British Columbia where Fred worked in shipping for David Spencer Ltd. Their son, George Charlesworth met Mary Woodcock (1901-1989) in England and the couple married in Vancouver in 1919. George Charlesworth had been employed as a baggage foreman for the C.P.R. He began working for David Spencer Ltd. around the mid-1920s and later became the manager until his retirement in 1948. George and Mary Charlesworth had three daughters, Evelyn (1920-?), Ruth (1927-?), and Vera (1929-?).

Bloomfield family

  • Family
  • 1867-1986

Henry and Emily Bloomfield emigrated to Canada from England in 1887 with their children, Edgar, James, Charles, and Ellen. In 1891, Henry Bloomfield and his sons, Charles and James founded British Columbia's first art and stained glass business, Bloomfield and Sons Limited. The family designed, fabricated and installed numerous notable stained glass projects, including windows for the new Parliament Buildings, Government House and Christ Church Cathedral in Victoria. They moved their office to Vancouver following the great fire of 1898.

Carnwath-Anderson family

  • Family

The Carnwath family was one of Vancouver's early families. Charles H. Carnwath, originally from New Brunswick, lived in Vancouver from the 1880s and owned one of the first lumber companies in the city. Charles' wife, Phoebe Stewart, was from San Francisco. Charlotte Ferne Carnwath, one of their five daughters, married William Scott Anderson, a C.P.R. Ticket Office Clerk, and son of William and Matilda Anderson, also early Vancouver residents who originally came from the Barony in New Brunswick. Charlotte and William Scott Anderson resided at 5463 Larch Street.

Gow family

  • Family

Walter Melvin Gow (1879-1961) was a native of Guelph, Ontario. He came to Vancouver in 1898, where he operated a jeweller's and watchmaker's business. In 1902 he married Gertrude Coughtrey (1881- ), the daughter of Alfred Coughtrey (1849-1930) of St. Helens, Lancashire, who came to Granville from Yale in 1885.

Hill family

  • Family

The Hill family were Loyalists who came to Cape Breton Island from Boston. Albert J. Hill and Arthur Edmund Hill, the sons of J. L. Hill, came to B.C. in 1880 to work for the CPR. They were associated with surveys and construction in the Interior and on Vancouver Island, with the Coquitlam Water Works Company, and with New Westminster projects. In 1890 A.E. Hill was appointed superintendent of waterworks for New Westminster. In turn, he was associated with the Vancouver, Victoria and Eastern Railway, the Nicola, Kamloops and Similkameen Railway, the Grand Trunk Pacific Railway, and the British Columbia Electric Railway. He died in 1921. His widow and daughter corresponded with family members in Eastern Canada, and both were very active in the Presbyterian Women's Missionary Society.

Jenkinson family

  • Family

John Jenkinson emigrated from Lancashire, England to Vancouver in 1898. He worked as a meter reader for the B.C. Electric Railway Company.

Taylor family, Louis Denison

  • Family
  • 1847-1946

Louis Denison (L.D.) Taylor (1857-1946) served eight terms as Mayor of Vancouver. He was elected to office in 1911, 1915, 1924, 1925, 1926, 1930 and 1932, and held the position for a total of eleven years.

L.D. was born in Ann Arbor, Michigan, to Gustavus and Amy (nee Denison) Taylor ([1822]-1904). He had one sibling, Kate ([1850]-1931), who married Eugene Cooley (1849-1938) in 1871, and moved to Lansing, Michigan in 1872. Amy Taylor later joined her daughter in Lansing.

After graduating from high school, and working in various positions in Ann Arbor, L.D. Taylor moved to Chicago in 1891 to work for the Wabash Railroad. In Chicago, he met Annie Louise Pierce ([1867]-1928), the daughter of architect and American Civil War veteran Osborne J. Pierce ([18--]- 1912) and his wife Caroline ([1847]-1936). The Pierce s had another daughter, Winifred ([1872]-1919), a school teacher. Annie and L.D. were married on May 26, 1892.

In August 1896, L.D. was arrested for charges of embezzlement relating to his partnership in the North and Taylor Bank on West Madison Avenue in Chicago, and fled north to Canada. He arrived in Vancouver, on September 8, 1896.

Shortly after L.D. s departure, Annie gave birth to their first child, Theodore (Ted) Pierce Taylor (1896-1963). Annie and Ted did not join L.D. in Vancouver until 1901, when L.D. was managing the Circulation Department of the Daily Province. The following year, a second son, Kenneth (Ken) (1902-[19--]) was born.

In 1905, L.D. purchased The Vancouver Daily World newspaper. Although he lost the paper due to financial difficulties in 1915, he continued to publish various political and mining-related newspapers until the late 1930s.

In 1906, L.D. and Annie separated and she and the children went to live with Osborne and Caroline, who had moved to Los Angeles. They formally divorced in 1916, and L.D. married Alice Helena Berry ([1871]-1919), former Managing Director of The World. After Alice s death, L.D. never re-married.

Following in their father s footsteps, Ted and Ken both entered the newspaper/press business in Los Angeles. In the early 1920s, Ken was an editor at the Los Angeles Times. Ted was working for the Los Angeles Record and was a partner in the Los Angeles Press Service. Prior to that, he had also worked for the Times and had been a Hollywood press agent for a few years. After a brief marriage to Ruth Wing, Ted left for Paris in 1925, where he married Mary Beaton ([1906]-1925), daughter of Octavia Beaton (d. 1946), and worked for the Paris Times. Later that year, Ted and Mary had a daughter, Mary Louise (1925-[199-?]). Mary passed away as a result of complications during childbirth. Ted moved back to California with Mary Louise in 1928 and continued working as a journalist in Hollywood and Los Angeles. Mary Louise Taylor had a daughter and two sons, including Roy Denison Werbel.

During the Second World War, Ken was stationed at Camp Santa Anita in Arcadia California and Fort Lewis, Washington and worked on the camp newspapers. After the war, he continued his career as a journalist and lived in Seattle for a period of time.

MacLean family, Murdoch

  • Family

Murdoch MacLean followed the gold rush from 1898-1900. In 1900, he married Martha Munn, of Portage La Prairie, in Victoria. In 1907, MacLean was working as a baker in Vancouver. In 1934, he was a Managing Director of F. V. Sugar Beet Holding. MacLean's son, Lauchlan (Lauchie), was an employee of Canadian Pacific Airlines from 1950-1970.

McGlashan family

  • Family

The McGlashan family came to Vancouver from Scotland via New Brunswick. James Stanley McGlashan was a manager for several Vancouver buildings, including the Marine Building, from the 1930s to the 1950s. During World War II, he served as a Lieutenant-Colonel in the Vancouver Detachment of the Canadian Red Cross Corps.

McKinley family

  • Family

The McKinley family lived in Vancouver.

Mitchell-Dwelly family

  • Family

William and Ethel Mitchell-Dwelly lived in Vancouver until 1948, when they moved to North Vancouver. Interested in local history, they kept a variety of notes and clippings related to North Vancouver history. In World War II, William served with the Canadian Army, and during this time, Ethel lived in a boarding house run by Elizabeth Aston.

Munro family

  • Family

J.R. Munro came to British Columbia in 1888, and ran a contracting business in White Rock ca. 1920. His son, Donald G. Munro, served as postmaster of White Rock ca. 1968.

Pollay family

  • Family

The Pollay family lived in Vancouver, where George Pollay served as the city's first librarian from 1888-1890.

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