Open Collections

Array     BRITISH
COLUMBIA
PICTORIAL AND
BIOGRAPHICAL
VOLUME I
WINNIPEG—VANCOUVER—MONTREAL
THE S. J. CLARKE PUBLISHING CO.
1914 I
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REMARKABLE  career is that  of  Sir  Richard
McBride, who at the age of thirty-three years, when
A($f most young men are taking the initial steps that lead
H / to prominence, became premier of British Columbia
and has ever since filled this office. There is probably no public man within the confines of the province who is better known than Sir Richard and there is certainly no
one whose record has won greater admiration and the absolute indorsement in larger measure of the major portion of the population
of the province.
Sir Richard McBride comes of a well known British Columbia
family, his father being Arthur H. McBride, who held a distinguished place among the earlier pioneers of British Columbia. He
was a son of the late Thomas McBride, of County Down, Ireland,
where his birth occurred June 26, 1835, in the city of Down, where
he later completed his education. In 1854, when nineteen years of
age, he joined the Royal South Down Militia, in which he won the
rank of color sergeant and pay sergeant. He proved an excellent soldier, being imbued with the highest military sense of honor, and for
five years he remained with his regiment. He then decided to go to
British Columbia because of the stories which had reached him concerning the gold discoveries in the Fraser river district. Visiting
eastern Canada, he made his way thence to California, where he
remained for two and a half years, arriving in British Columbia in the
spring of 1863. Going direct to the Cariboo district, he there engaged
in mining through the summer on Williams and Lightning creeks and
at the latter location acquired, in partnership with others, a large
claim but owing to the difiiculty of working it, they had to abandon
the enterprise, although the indications of high-grade ore were excellent. At the close of the mining season Mr. McBride returned to
Victoria, having enjoyed but indifferent success in his mining venture. He then accepted a position as sergeant on the police force
and, advancing quickly in the service, soon became head of the department. Upon the demise of Captain Pritchard, in 1870, Mr. McBride
was appointed to fill the vacancy and remained in that position until
5
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1878, when he was appointed to the office of warden of the provincial
penitentiary at New Westminster, which had just been completed.
At the same time he received a commission as justice of the peace
under the jurisdiction of the sheriff of New Westminster.
On the 8th of November, 1865, Mr. McBride was united in marriage to Miss Mary D'Arcy, a native of Limerick, Ireland, who
belongs to the Roman Catholic church, while he was a member of the
Church of England. Mr. McBride was always an ardent disciplinarian, and great credit is due him for founding the militia regiments
of both Victoria and.New Westminster, giving his services gratuitously for a number of years as drill instructor to these regiments
and bringing both to a high state of efficiency. Fraternally Mr.
McBride was a member of the Masons and the Ancient Order of
United Workmen. His long and honorable public career brought
him great credit, and the high sound which the family name enjoys in
British Columbia is but a recognition of his valiant efforts on behalf
of the general public and is now worthily carried on by his distinguished son, Sir Richard.
It was in the family home, then being maintained at New Westminster, British Columbia, that Sir Richard McBride was born
December 15, 1870. He attended grammar and high schools in his
native city until he reached the age of sixteen years, when he entered
Dalhousie University at Halifax, Nova Scotia, being graduated from
that institution with the degree of LL. B. in 1890, when but twenty
years of age. Returning to British Columbia, he then read law
under T. C. Atkinson, while subsequently his preceptor was the Hon.
Angus J. McColl, the late chief justice of British Columbia. In July,
1892, Sir Richard was called to the bar and began practice as junior
member of the firm of Corbould, McColl, Wilson & Campbell at New
Westminster. This relationship continued until 1898, after which
Sir Richard practiced alone until 1895. He then formed a partnership with W. J. Whiteside, which, however, was dissolved the next
year when he became connected with H. F. Clinton, who has since
passed away. After the death of Mr. Clinton, Sir Richard formed
the firm of McBride & Kennedy. He was named king's counsel in
1905. The ability which he displayed won him distinguished honors
along professional lines and further indicated his fitness for political
preferment. Questions of vital importance regarding municipal, provincial and national affairs have always had the deepest interest for
him and of such he has been a close and discriminating student.
In 1896 Sir Richard entered the political arena, unsuccessfully
contesting New Westminster in the Dominion general election.   In 1898 he was returned as a member of the British Columbia legislature for Dewdney Riding, at the general election, as a supporter of
the Turner government. On June 21, 1900, he was called to the
executive department of the provincial government, entering the cabinet as minister of mines, but owing to a difference on a matter of
policy, he resigned from the government the following year. Going
again before the people, he was reelected by acclamation and in 1902
chosen leader of the opposition in the legislature, becoming premier
of British Columbia on June 1, 1903, having since been returned to
power at the general elections of 1907, 1909 and 1912 and holding
this office at present. He sits as senior member for the city of Victoria and besides being premier holds the portfolio of minister of
mines. It was he who won for the conservative party such a glorious
victory in this province. He introduced party lines in provincial
politics when he becamle premier in 1903 and in that way became the
head of the first liberal-conservative government of the province.
In September, 1896, Sir Richard married Miss Margaret McGillivray and to them have been born six daughters.
One of the foremost statesmen of the Canadian west, Sir Richard
was in attendance at the coronation of Their Majesties, King George
and Queen Mary. In 1912 merited distinction came to him when,
as one of the birthday honors, he was created a Knight Commander of
St. Michael and St. George. He was invested with the insignia of
this distinguished order by His Royal Highness, the Duke of Con-
naught, the governor-general, at Victoria, in October, 1912. Another
distinguished honor was conferred upon Sir Richard McBride on
March 22,1913, when the degree of LL. D. was conferred upon him
by the University of California.
1
I    Hetofe jFrantfe Jtotuson
lEWIS FRANCIS BONSON has many claims to
honor and distinction, for he is a veteran of the
Crimean war, was for many years an able member
of the English Corps of Royal Engineers and came
as a pioneer to British Columbia. The retirement
which he is now enjoying in his home in New Westminster is well deserved, for it rewards many years of honorable and
faithful labor. He has reached the advanced age of eighty-two and
his life has been upright and honorable in all its relations, serving
as a source of courage and inspiration to all fortunate enough to
come within the close circle of his friendship. He was born in Peeblesshire, Scotland, on the Tweed river, May 10, 1831, and is a son of
Henry and Marion Bonson, both of whom were representatives of
old Scotch families, the father having been for many years in the
employ of Sir Thomas Gibson Carmichael, owner of Castle Craig. •
Lewis F. Bonson acquired his education in the public schools of
Kirkurd and at the age of fifteen entered upon a period of apprenticeship to the joiner's and wheelwright's trade. Having completed
it, he went in 1849 to Edinburgh, where he worked as a joiner until
1851, when he went to London, remaining in that city for three years.
In 1854 he joined the Corps of Royal Engineers at Woolwich, thus
beginning a connection which brought him success and distinction
in later years. After a short time spent in Chatham he was sent in
1855 to the seat of the Crimean war, serving until peace was declared
in 1856, when he was transferred to the garrison of Gibraltar for
five months. At the end of that time he returned to England and
two months later was detailed for special service in Central America.
Returning in 1858, he spent three months in England and then
started for British Columbia by way of the isthmus of Panama and
up the Pacific coast. He brought with him a party for the purpose
of preparing the barracks and quarters for the detachment of engineers who were following by way of Cape Horn and who arrived
in 1859. Mr. Bonson continued in the engineering service until 1863,
winning by his ability and his comprehensive knowledge of the profession a position of honor and distinction and recognition as a
11
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t atsKaMBMHM
JLetofs jFranci0 TBonaon
man of superior attainments and powers. In 1863 he received his
honorable discharge from the Royal Corps and retired to private
life, turning his attention to contracting and building at New Westminster, a city which numbers him among her most honored pioneers.
He took a great interest in the advancement and growth of the community and did able work of reform and improvement during his period of service as road superintendent for the provincial government,
a capacity in which he acted from 1876 to 1880. He afterward engaged for a short time in the liquor business but disposed of this in
1892 and purchased a farm of three hundred and seventy acres at
Keatsey, nine miles from New Westminster. He continued to improve and develop this property along modern lines for a number of
years, finally disposing of it in 1905, when he retired and returned to
New Westminster, where he still makes his home.
On the 12th of July, 1858, Mr. Bonson was united in marriage
to Miss Jemima Urquhart, a native of Cromarty, Ross-shire, Scotland, and they became the parents of six children: Marion; Robert;
Henry, who has passed away; Charles; James; and Nellie.
Mr. Bonson is a conservative in his political beliefs, and his religious views are in accord with the doctrines of the Presbyterian
church. He is well known and widely beloved in this community,
where his venerable age, combined with his many sterling qualities
of mind and character, endear him to all with whom he comes in
contact. In his earlier years he met the world confidently and courageously, making his own way upward in it along worthy pathways,
and in his old age he reaps a just reward in widespread esteem and
respect and in the confidence and good-will of many friends.
ufifiha
■HT)i.liL».Hl1Wlll    ■■■■■■■ I;
.1  u
JoJm Putter mtiin
|OHN BUTLER TIFFIN, one of the prominent
J™A and substantial citizens of Vancouver, lives now
Wi practically retired from active business, although
|H he still holds the position of president of the Red
Cedar Lumber Company, Limited. He is one of the
pioneers of British Columbia, having come here in
1877, and since 1878 he has been successfully engaged in the lumber
business, having done much to ward, building up this industry and
bringing to the world's attention the vast resources of the province.
John Butler Tiffin was born on November 24, 1848, in Kent
county, Ontario, and is a son of Thomas and Elizabeth Tiffin. The
father was one of the first settlers in what was known then as the
"old fields" in the southern part of Kent county. John B. Tiffin was
educated in the public schools of Ontario and for a number of years
farmed in that province, until in 1877 the spirit of the west lured him
to British Columbia, and he has never had occasion to regret this
step, for it proved the corner stone to an active and successful career
which not only brought him prosperity but proved a valuable part
in opening the resources of the country to the world. In 1878 Mr.
Tiffin engaged in the lumber business and has ever since been engaged
in that line, having now for a number of years been president of the
Red Cedar Lumber Company, Limited, although he has practically
retired from active business. He is also a stockholder in a number
of other important companies here.
Mr. Tiffin has always taken a deep interest in public enterprises
of value and for a time served as a director in the Vancouver Exhibition Association. He gave further evidence of his public spirit
by accepting office as license commissioner for Vancouver in 1908
and is also an ex-president of the Vancouver Amateur Driving Assor
ciation. He is a tory in politics, strong in his views and stands for
those things that make for the good of the country. His religious
faith is that of the English church. Fraternally he belongs to Cascade Lodge, A. F. & A. M., and he is a member of the Canadian Club.
Careful of his own interests and considerate of those of others, Mr.
Tiffin has attained to prosperity, his every action being worthy of the
15 16 31otm Outlet mtiin
highest commendation. He is greatly interested in the upbuilding of
his province along various lines, such as the improvement of stock,
horses, cattle, etc. He has generous humanitarian principles and
suffering humanity, especially children, always touch an answering
chord in his heart. Mr. Tiffin is a loyal and faithful citizen of Vancouver and, as he has proven his worth, enjoys the confidence, esteem
and respect of all who have had occasion to meet him in a social or
business way. I
II
111  George &otiertgon <§orbon
M
G
m
3g3g§£|j|EORGE ROBERTSON GORDON, financial agent
S? S?    at Vancouver> devoting his time largely to his duties
as executor of several estates and also to the handling
of private interests, was born at Goderich, Ontario,
September 1, 1861. His parents, James and Mary
Ann (Gordon) Gordon, were both natives of Ireland, the former born in County Fermanagh and the latter in County
Armagh. The father learned the carpenter's trade there and in 1855
crossed the Atlantic to the new world, becoming a resident of Goderich, Ontario, where for thirty-five years he conducted business as a
contractor. He filled the offices of town assessor and building inspector for a number of years and passed away in Goderich in 1892,
at the age of sixty-seven years. His wife arrived in Canada in early
womanhood and they were married in Hamilton. She passed away
a number of years before her husband, dying in 1875, at the age of
forty-two.
At the usual age George R. Gordon began his education as a
public-school student in his native city and passed through consecutive grades to the high school, from which he was graduated before
entering mercantile circles in 1876, at the age of fifteen. He was
first employed as a clerk in a general store in his home town, spending his time in that way until 1881, when he removed westward to
Manitoba. Owing to ill health while in that province, he soon returned to the east and remained in Ontario until 1884, when he
located at Spence's Bridge, British Columbia, remaining there for a
year. In 1885 he embarked in merchandising at North Bend, British
Columbia, in partnership with E. Johnston, but in the spring of
1886 sold out to his partner and came to Vancouver, which was then
a small and unimportant town, known as Granville. Here he has
resided continuously since and with the growth of the city has been
closely associated, watching its development from early days and
taking active part in its progress. He began merchandising here in
March, 1886, but was burned out by the fire which occurred on the
13th of June of that year. Nothing daunted by this calamity, however, he secured another stock of goods and was soon again engaged in
19 business, in which he continued until 1900, winning a substantial measure of success through all the intervening years, for his trade increased
with the growth of the city, his straightforward and honorable business
methods securing him a gratifying patronage. With the opening
year of the century he closed out his business and turned his attention to other pursuits becoming secretary of the Terminal City
Building Society, the City of Vancouver Building Society and the
Burrard Building Society, the last named being the only one of the
three now in existence. He resigned his position as secretary in 1911
and at the present time is executor of several estates, while his private
interests also make large claim upon his attention and energies. He
is the holder of much valuable business and residential property in
Vancouver and is the owner of a fine farm of one hundred and twelve
acres at Langley, British Columbia, which is devoted to the production of fruit, the raising of stock and poultry and to dairy interests,
each branch of the business bringing to him a substantial return. His
has been a life of unfaltering energy and close application, in which
there have been few leisure hours, and his wise utilization of his time
and talents has brought him to a most creditable and gratifying position among the leading business men of the city.
Mr. Gordon was married, in Clinton, on Cariboo road, British
Columbia, October 18, 1887, to Miss Susan E. Mclntyre, a daughter
of John and Anna (Kilpatrick) Mclntyre, both of whom were
natives of Stewartstown, Ireland. The father died in Vancouver in
June, 1900, at the age of eighty-three years, and Mrs. Mclntyre
is still a resident of this city. Although now in her eightieth year,
she is still hale and hearty, retains her faculties unimpaired and is
as alert and active as a person many years her junior. Unto Mr.
and Mrs. Gordon have been born two children: Irmgarde, who is
a graduate of the Vancouver high school and the Ontario Ladies
College of Whitby; and Alva Mclntyre, who is a student at McGill
University.
Mr. Gordon is a conservative in politics and has been an active
and stalwart advocate of party principles. He has voted in every
municipal election ever held in Vancouver and for nine years he was
a member of the school board of this city. He became one of the
founders of the Pioneer Society of Vancouver, of which he is now
serving as treasurer, and no man is more familiar with the history
of development, progress and improvement here than he. He holds
membership in Pacific Lodge, No. 26, I. O. O. F., in which he has
passed through all the chairs, and was grand representative to the
sovereign grand lodge in 1902-03.   He is prominent and popular George Eooertson <$or&on
21
in the club circles of the city, connected through membership with
the Canadian and Progress Clubs. Both he and his wife are active
and prominent members of Wesley Methodist church and take helpful interest in various lines of church and charitable work. Mr.
Gordon is now serving as a member of the board of trustees of the
Ferris Road, Trinity and Dundee Street Methodist churches. His
wife is active in the Ladies Aid Society of the Wesley Methodist
church, has been a member of the directorate of the Children's Aid
Society for six years and is active in the home work of that organization. In fact, both Mr. and Mrs. Gordon are possessors in large
measure of that broad humanitarian spirit which reaches out in helpfulness and kindliness to all, and their labors have done much toward
making the world better and brighter for the unfortunate ones.
I    Militant Cftarle*
)ILLIAM CHARLES, Pacific coast pioneer, Hudson's Bay Company factor, scholar, artist, prominent
figure in the early history of British Columbia and
one of the "trail blazers" who marked the way for
later civilization and development, was a native of
Scotland, born at Inverleith Row, Edinburgh, March
5, 1831, a son of John Charles, one of the early factors of the Hudson's Bay Company.
William Charles was educated at Hill Street school and Edinburgh University, having there laid the foundation of a later broad
education and culture which was characteristic of the man throughout
his subsequent career.
He came to the Pacific coast from Edinburgh by way of Panama
in 1852, and was for a time in the employ of Breck & Ogden, of Portland, Oregon, and two years later, or in 1854, entered the service of
the Hudson's Bay Company. He was stationed at different times at
old Fort Vancouver on the Columbia river, Fort Hall, Utah, and at
Fort Boise. He was transferred to Victoria in 1858 and was subsequently in charge of Fort Hope, Fort Yale and Fort Kamloops.
In 1874 he was promoted to the grade of chief factor and placed in
charge of the Victoria establishment. He is mentioned very kindly
by Bancroft, the historian of the Pacific coast, for having contributed
much valuable data respecting Oregon and British Columbia, and his
name also appears frequently in the old Hudson's Bay correspondence, which has been collected and preserved in the British Columbia
Provincial Library.
Later, in 1874, he was made inspecting chief factor of the western
department, an important post, including in its jurisdiction all the
Hudson's Bay establishments in and west of the Rocky mountains,
retaining this position up to the time of his retirement in 1885, thereafter residing permanently in Victoria to the time of his death, which
occurred May 21, 1903, in his seventy-third year.
He was of the old stock of the Hudson's Bay Company, dating far
back in the history of that remarkable and powerful organization. As
before mentioned, his father was a chief factor, having been identified
25 with the company's operations in Rupert's Land. His name appears
among the members of the Hudson's Bay councils, which may properly
be regarded as "fur trading parliaments,"—at Red River in 1835 and
1839, and again at Norway House in 1840, at the first of which the
late Duncan Finlayson presided, and at the latter two of which Sir
George Simpson was the presiding officer. It is also affirmed that his
mother, William Charles' grandmother, was the daughter of one
of the high officials at Fort York or Churchill on Hudson bay at the
time of the French invasion, at which time she was taken a prisoner
to France but subsequently released.
Although William Charles did not participate prominently in
public affairs and was comparatively unknown to the younger generation, to those who knew him well in early days and who had business
or social intercourse with him, he appealed most strongly, and the
warm ties of friendship were never broken.
His name was a synonym for honor and personal integrity. In his
official capacity, his duties were performed with that competency and
conscientiousness which constituted the character of the man, bringing to both his business and social activities acute intelligence and
wide knowledge.
He was a man of fine artistic taste, and many of his sketches portrayed, not only the promise of high accomplishment as an artist,
but illustrate in an originally clever way the many phases of fur trad-,
ing fife of the frontier wilds. He was a close student and wide reader,
with a fondness for natural science, with a particular liking for
natural history, and owned one of the most carefully selected libraries
in the province. Had he been so disposed he could have left very
interesting historical and literary reminiscences, but like so many
of his contemporaries who were so splendidly equipped by mentality,
education and experience, owing to the more practical turn which
trading life gave, he was indifferent to the opportunities which lay
before him in that direction, which all students of western pioneer
life must deeply regret. As a man he preferred a life of quiet retirement, whose allegiance was to his old friends, endeared to them as he
was by sterling qualities of heart and mind.
Physically, he was in his prime, vigorous, powerful, capable, of
great endurance and wonderful feats of travel which seem almost
unbelievable in this day of modern facilities. In talking of the hardships of reaching the Yukon, he used to laugh at the stories of some
of the "tenderfeet" of later days. On one occasion while at Fort
Vancouver upon the arrival of a ship he was ordered to report to Fort (KHilliam Cfjaties
27
York, and on four days' notice undertook the journey, going up the
Columbia river, past the present site of Revelstoke, thence up the
Canoe river and through Yellowhead Pass, out to the plains, whence
he took the Saskatchewan, and so on to his journey's end. These
were the common, and not the uncommon experiences of the rugged
life led by Hudson's Bay men, which few men would undertake or
undergo at the present day with improved modes of travel.
On October 3, 1859, Mr. Charles married Mary Ann Birnie, a
native of Astoria, Oregon, and a daughter of James Birnie, at one time
identified with the Hudson's Bay Company, but who subsequently
severed his connection and took up government land on the Columbia
river at Cathlamet, Oregon, to which he devoted the remainder of his
life, and died on the farm thus established.
Mr. Charles was survived by Mrs. Charles, two daughters and a
son: Mrs. Eberts, wife of the Hon. David M. Eberts, K. C, former
attorney general of British Columbia; Mrs. Worsfold, wife of C.
Worsf old, superintendent of the Dominion public works department
at New Westminster; and William B. Charles, of Kamloops, British
Columbia.
Mrs. Charles possesses to a remarkable degree those charming
traits of mind and character with which her husband was so liberally
endowed and which endeared them both to their hosts of friends. Her
social life, while most unostentatious, is a pleasure and a joy to both
her friends and to herself. Mr. Charles' death marked the parting
of another link in the chain of hardy pioneers whose lives and work
unite the past with the present and whose sterling integrity, industry
and faith in the future, contributed so much to the present well being
and prosperity of the province of British Columbia and added so
much of credit to its history.  i  STofin gnbreto Utt
[OREMOST along any line of activity to which he gave
his attention, John Andrew Lee has become one of
the substantial men and leading merchants of New
Westminster, conducting one of the largest department stores in this city and being at the head of
numerous other important commercial and financial
institutions. An indication of the position he holds in regard to business development is given in the fact that he serves at present as president of the Board of Trade and, moreover, has held for three terms
the office of mayor during a most momentous period in the history
of the city, promoting and bringing to realization such important
measures as the new harbor plan and the survey of the city. He was
born in Mount Forest, Ontario, on February 11,1868, a son of Samuel
and Marjory (Donogh) Lee, the former a native of Londonderry,
Ireland, and the latter of County Sligo, that country. They were
brought to Canada by their respective parents as boy and girl and
attained their majority in Ontario, where they subsequently married
and located in York county, that province, the father engaging in
farming. He subsequently turned his attention to merchandising, with
which line he was identified in later life. He died in 1883, highly
esteemed and respected in his community, his wife surviving him until
1897.   Both were devout members of the Methodist church.
John Andrew Lee received his education in the Toronto public
schools, his course, however, being cut short, as he had to leave school
at the age of thirteen in order to earn his own support. At that early
age he secured a position in the dry-goods store of Robert Simpson
in Toronto, a relationship which continued for some years. During
that time he rose through the various departments in the store to
an important position, becaming manager of a branch of the business.
In 1890 he resigned his position in order to come westward and test
out the stories he had heard about the greater opportunities of
that region. Going to San Francisco, California, he there remained
a little less than a year before removing to Virginia City, Nevada,
where for nine months he was employed in a store, when he was
tendered a position by Haley & Sutton, the predecessors of Gordon Drysdale & Company.   Haley & Sutton were organizing their
31 32
3[ofm an&teto lee
business at that time and Mr. Lee took charge of the store for them,
this being in 1891. In 1893 the firm sold out to Gordon Drysdale &
Company and Mr. Lee then engaged in the real-estate and insurance
business, remaining in that line for one year. In the summer of 1894
he proceeded into the Lillooet country, where he engaged in mining.
As he expected to gain rapid success, he did not shun.the hardest of
work and day by day set out with pick and shovel to seek his fortune.
However, the reverse of success was to be his, this venture proving
only a means of losing his savings. With the coming of the snow
he came to New Westminster to recuperate his fortunes and accepted
a position with Alexander Godfrey, a hardware merchant, as bookkeeper, remaining in this connection until 1896, when he returned to
San Francisco to accept a position in a dry-goods house, which he
retained until 1900. That year marks his return to New Westminster
and subsequently, in September, 1903, Mr. Lee bought out the business of the Standard Furniture Company, devoting his attention to
its development and upbuilding. In the following December, however, he sustained a heavy loss, his store being completely destroyed
by fire, but with his characteristic spirit of energy he immediately set
up again in business, his new place being opened in May, 1904. In
the following four years his establishment expanded rapidly under his
able management and in 1908 he was forced to provide larger quarters,
buying at that time his present commodious business block. During
the years 1911 and 1912 he added dry goods and various other departments and has now one of the most modern and up-to-date department
stores in New Westminster. In 1912 the growth of the business made
it imperative to add another story to his building and he at the same
time renovated his place throughout, instituting numerous conveniences for his customers and making his department store one which
rivals any metropolitan establishment. An indication of the extensive
business done is given in the fact that his pay roll runs from eight
luindred to eleven hundred dollars weekly. His rapid success along
this line is entirely attributable to his innate ability, his ready understanding of business conditions and the needs of the public, his sound
judgment and the honorable methods which prevail in the store. Moreover, he has trained a force of employes with whom it is a pleasure to
deal. It is but a master mind which in so short a time can create and
can successfully conduct so large an institution, and Mr. Lee's ability
for organization is readily recognized in business circles, his services
having been enlisted by numerous other enterprises which have largely
benefited thereby. He serves at present as president of the Modern
Office Supply Company of Vancouver and holds the same position 3[oim 3nPteto lee
33
in relation to the National Printing & Publishing Company, which
publishes the New Westminster Daily News, this journal having-
largely benefited and increased in prestige by his wise counsel and
direction. He is also president and manager of the Dominion Match
Company of New Westminster. He is connected with other corporations, too numerous to mention, holding a number of directorships op
various boards.
In 1897 Mr. Lee was united in marriage to Miss Mildred Major,
a daughter of C. G. Major, of New Westminster, and to them have
been born two children, Dorothy Mildred and John Ormsby.
That a man of the ability and characteristics such as Mr. Lee
possesses should become closely connected with the public life of his
community is but natural, and it may be said of him that along official
lines he has done work of at least equal importance. For three terms,
beginning in 1910, he served as mayor of New Westminster, promoting during that time some of the most important measures undertaken
in the interests of the city. He may be called the father of the ordinance which provided for the resurveying of the city and it was he
who initiated and fostered the new harbor plan which will give to New
Westminster one of the finest and most capacious harbors on the Pacific coast. His political affiliation is with the conservative party and
his interest and standing in the organization is evident by the fact that
he serves at present as president of the Conservative Association of
British Columbia. He is also president of the Union of Municipalities
of British Columbia and holds the same important position in relation
to the Board of Trade, in which he always can be found in the front
ranks of those who leave no stone unturned to promote industrial and
commercial expansion. He is a member of the Westminster Club, of
the Burnaby Lake Country Club and the British Columbia Golf and
Country Club at Coquitlam, the two latter connections giving an indication of his means of recreation and relaxation. He is prominent in
the Masonic order, being a member of King Solomon Lodge, No. 17,
A. F. & A. M.; Westminster Chapter, R. A. M.; Westminster Pre-
ceptory; and Gizeh Temple, A. A. O. N. M. S., of Victoria. To
estimate the value of the labors of Mr. Lee in their effect upon the
advancement and development of New Westminster is practically impossible, but that he has been among the foremost forces to bring
about the present prosperous conditions is readily conceded by all.
He is highly respected and honored in his community, as he is a man
who has not only striven for individual success but has given as much
time and thought to promote general measures which have proven of
the utmost benefit to the general public.  U
1 n
*m
-    - ■     ^
- —r^s^^aa  Cfioma* jFranfe paterson
[NE of the successful and prominent men in Vancouver
at the present time and one whose personality, execu-
Oj§< tive ability and sound judgment have been felt as
fifes forces in the development and upbuilding of the
city's commercial interests is Thomas Frank Paterson, president and manager of the Paterson Timber
Company, Ltd. lELe was born in Thamesford, Ontario, on the 19th
of November, 1867, and is a son of Alexander and Agnes Paterson,
pioneers in Middlesex county, Ontario, and also early settlers in Bruce
county, in the same province. They have now for a number of years
made their home in Vancouver.
Thomas Frank Paterson acquired his education in the public
schools of Bruce county and in the high schools at Goderich and
Clinton, Ontario, and after laying aside his books taught in the
schools of Bruce county from 1888 to 1892. He later attended
Guelph Agricultural College and from that institution went to Toronto University, graduating in 1896, with the degree of B. S. A.
and receiving the highest honors in his class, acting as valedictorian.
In the fall of 1896 he lectured for the British Columbia government
on agriculture and upon the formation and maintenance of a series
of farmers' institutes throughout the province, similar to those then
in profitable existence in Ontario. He was afterward on the editorial
staff of the Vancouver World, serving from 1897 to 1898, and in the
fall of the latter year purchased a one-third interest in the Canadian
Pacific Lumber Company, Ltd., of Port Moody. In 1902 he and
his brother, W. Innes Paterson, formed the Paterson Timber Company, Ltd., of Vancouver. Of this firm Thomas F. Paterson is now
president and managing director. In association with his brother,
W. I. Paterson, he also purchased in 1907 the plant of the Cascade
Mills, Ltd., and he is also president of this concern. In addition to
this he is president and managing director of the Terminal Lumber
& Shingle Company, Ltd., of Vancouver. He is vice president of
the Burrard Publishing Company, Ltd., publishers of the Vancouver
Sun, and a director in the Forest Mills, Ltd., of British Columbia,
and in the Colonial Pulp & Paper Company, Ltd., these connections
37
]i indicating something of the scope and extent of his interests and of
his high standing in business circles of the community.
On the 1st of October, 1902, Mr. Paterson married, in New Westminster, British Columbia, Miss Mary Olive Tait, a daughter of the
late T. B. and Eva Tait, the former at one time a prominent lumberman in Burk's Falls, Ontario, where he controlled the business
operated by the T. B. Tait Lumber Company. Mr. and Mrs. Paterson have four children, Evelyn, Gladys, Ethelwyn and Phyllis.
Mr. Paterson is a member of the Presbyterian church and fraternally is affiliated with the Masonic order and the Independent
Order of Odd Fellows. He is a liberal in his political beliefs and
is affiliated with the Vancouver Commercial Club, being ready at all
times to cooperate in any movement for the promotion of the commercial growth of the city. He has resided in British Columbia for
the past sixteen years and has been during most of that time one of
the great individual forces in the business development of Vancouver,
for the influence of his personality and his unusual ability have been
felt as a community asset as well as a factor in his individual prosperity. He holds the respect of his business associates, the warm
regard of his friends and the confidence and esteem of all who are
in any way associated with him. 11
I  Jtotiert Herr Houlgate
iN FINANCIAL and industrial circles the name of
Robert Kerr Houlgate, of Vancouver, is well known
and his business is of an extensive and important
character. He was born at Whitehaven, England,
September 11, 1868, and is a son of William and
Jessie M. (Kerr) Houlgate. The father was a
banker of Whitehaven, remaining for about half a century as manager of the Cumberland Union Bank of that place, his labors in that
connection being terminated by his death in 1903. He was for many
years a captain in the volunteer artillery and held many positions
of trust and honor of a public or semi-public character. In fact, he
was one of the leading and influential residents of his community,
bis worth and ability being widely acknowledged.
Robert K. Houlgate was educated at Ghyll Bank College, at
Whitehaven, England, and throughout his entire life has been more
or less closely connected with financial interests. When his textbooks were laid aside he entered the employ of the Cumberland
Union Bank at Whitehaven in the capacity of clerk and was advanced
through various grades in that bank and other financial institutions
until 1894, when he became manager of the London City and Midland Bank, Limited, at Morley, Yorkshire, England. He continued
there until 1898, when he came to Vancouver, British Columbia, to accept the position of assistant manager for British Columbia of the
Yorkshire Guarantee and Securities Corporation, Limited, of Hud-
dersfield, England. Within the year he became manager and so continues to the present time, controlling and directing the important
interests of that company in this province. This corporation, which
is capitalized for two million, five hundred thousand dollars, established its branch in Vancouver in 1890. They are a mortgage company and do a general financial and investment business, buy and
sell municipal bonds, manage estates and act as trustees and executors. They also buy and sell for clients vacant and improved properties in Vancouver, Victoria and New Westminster. In 1908 Mr.
Houlgate as manager of the Yorkshire Guarantee and Securities
Corporation, Limited, became general agent for British Columbia for
41
../'"
M 42
Bo pert iftett houlgate
the Yorkshire Insurance Company, Limited, of York, England, representing fire, employers' liability, accident, plate glass and live-stock
insurance and so continues to date. Mr. Houlgate is also general
investment agent for the company in the province and in this connection he is conducting a large and rapidly growing business. They
have extensive, safe and conservative investments in ■ the province
which Mr. Houlgate has placed for them. He is also agent for the
Home Insurance Company of New York, representing fire and automobile insurance; agent for the Vancouver Land and Improvement
Company, Limited; the Vancouver Land and Securities Corporation,
Limited; the estate of Isaac Robinson; the estate of Town and Robinson, and also has other financial interests. He is likewise president
of the Mainland Transfer Company of Vancouver and of the Pacific
May-Oatway Fire Alarms, Limited, of Vancouver. He is also an
officer of a number of corporations subsidiary to the Yorkshire Guarantee and Securities Corporation, Limited, and he has valuable
real-estate holdings. What he has undertaken and successfully accomplished places him among the foremost financiers and business men of
the province and his efforts have been of a character which have promoted public prosperity as well as individual success.
Mr. Houlgate has taken an active part in all matters pertaining
to the growth and development of Vancouver and British Columbia
since coming to the new world. He is interested in everything pertaining to civic welfare and his efforts have been resultant factors
along many lines of benefit to his adopted city. He was a director
of the old Tourist's Association, which was absorbed into the Progress Club and which did much for Vancouver, exploiting its resources
and advantages and making known its opportunities and its possibilities. His publicity work has been resultant and Vancouver has
every reason to number him among her builders and promoters.
On the 31st of January, 1906, Mr. Houlgate was married in
Vancouver to Miss Mabel G. Willox, a native of Heme Bay, England, and a daughter of Thomas and Mary Willox. In politics Mr.
Houlgate is a conservative but not an active party worker. He
belongs to the Vancouver and Vancouver Royal Yacht Clubs of
Vancouver, the Westminster Club at New Westminster, the Union
Club of Victoria and the United Empire Club of London, England.
It is an acknowledged fact that he occupies a central place on the
stage of business activity and all concede that merit has won him the
laurels which he has gained. f k
	  Captain Clarence punter 3Be pecfe
5APTAIN CLARENCE HUNTER DE BECK,
one of the leading and representative citizens of New
Westminster, may be said to have been one of the
foremost factors in the development of the rich lumber resources of British Columbia. He was a pioneer
here in the sawmill business and when he began operations, there were but two establishments, the old Moodyville and the
old Hastings mills, when he erected the Brunette Saw Mills, which
for years was the largest in the province and which still is one of the
best paying ones here. Captain De Beck is a native of New Brunswick and was born in Carleton county, August 21, 1855. He is a
son of George and Eliza Ann (Dow) De Beck, both natives of New
Brunswick, whence in 1868 they came to British Columbia among
the western settlers. They made their way by boat from New York
to the isthmus of Panama which they crossed, and then again took
ship up the coast to Victoria. Two months later they came to New
Westminster where the father engaged in logging in Burrard Inlet,
where he was accidentally killed while engaging in that occupation
about two years later. The mother is still living and is remarkably
hale and hearty and in full possession of all her faculties at the age
of ninety-nine years.
Captain Clarence H. De Beck was educated in the public schools
and at St. Louis College in New Westminster and when only thirteen
years of age he secured a position to drive stage at a salary of fifty
dollars per month and board. After coming to New Westminster he
continued in school until his father's death, at which time he engaged
to work in logging camps in various positions, being, however, always
connected with clerical work. He thus continued for about six years
when he returned to New Westminster and, buying two teams, engaged in teaming, being largely occupied in the construction of the
penitentiary and asylum. He continued successfully in this line of
work for three years and made it his principle when going out in the
morning never to return without earning ten dollars for the day and
he remained out until that purpose was accomplished. Subsequently
he and his three brothers, Howard L., Warren and George Ward,
45
"* ft 46
Captain Clarence gurnet De iBztk
built the Brunette Saw Mills in Sapperton which under their able
management were developed until they were conceded to be the best
paying lumber mills in the province. In 1889 Captain De Beck sold
his interest in these mills but although he had already attained a competence, he could not endure inactivity and two years later purchased
a tugboat and engaged in the towing business. In 1894 he sold out
and in 1896 engaged in work on the government snag boat Sampson,
remaining in the federal service for about ten years. When the King
Edward dredge boat was finished in 1897 he was placed in charge of
that vessel and so continued until 1906, when he left the government
service. Following that period he and his son-in-law, C. W. Tate,
established and built the Fern Ridge Lumber & Shingle Mills in the
Langley district, which they developed into an important industry.
Captain De Beck in 1912 sold his interest in these mills and on the
1st of January, 1913, bought the Royal City Shingle Mills, which he
is now operating.
In February, 1879, Mr. De Beck was united in marriage to Miss
Emily Jane Edwards, a native of Sapperton and a daughter of William Edwards, who was one of the Sapperton miners who came to
British Columbia in the early days, in advance of civilization. Captain
and Mrs. De Beck have two children: Mabel Evaline, the wife of
N. M. Mattheson, collector of customs at New Westminster; and
Violet Winifred, who married C. W. Tate, who is in charge of the
Fern Ridge Lumber Company. It was on May 20, 1912, that the *
family circle was broken by death, when Mrs. De Beck passed away.
In his religious affiliations Captain De Beck is a Presbyterian and
gives stalwart support to that organization. One of the pioneers of
this district, he has done important work in promoting progress and
especially in founding a large and prosperous industry which has
grown to magnificent proportions as the years have passed. All that
affects the welfare of New Westminster and the province finds in
him an interested supporter and he is ever ready to give of his time .
and money in order to promote worthy public enterprises of permanent value. It is to such citizens as Captain De Beck that the present
prosperous conditions in British Columbia are largely due, and the
honor, esteem and confidence which is given him is therefore well
merited.
& m
—s-  VH
ffitm. Robert ©ungmutr
ON.   ROBERT   DUNSMUIR,   characterized   as
H "British Columbia's most valued citizen," was an
Wfa early pioneer, active in the development of the
resources of the province and as a railway builder,
and equally well known because of his generous
friendship for the poor and his prominence in the
political councils of both the province and the Dominion. His friends
were legion and the circle embraced many of the distinguished citizens of the east as well as of the west. The memory of his strong
and useful life, of the sincerity and simplicity of his character, will
not soon be forgotten. His record might well be compared with that
of the day with its morning of hope and promise, its noontide of
activity, its evening of completed and successful effort, ending in
the grateful rest and quiet of the night.
Robert Dunsmuir was born in 1825, in Hurlford, Ayrshire, Scotland, where his father and grandfather were coal masters. He was educated in the Kilmarnock Academy and in 1847 he married Johanna,
daughter of Mr. and Mrs. Alexander White. Soon afterward he
started with his young wife for Vancouver island, in the interests of the
Hudson's Bay Company, to open up the coal lands of the Fort Rupert district. The project was not entirely successful and in 1854 he
returned to Nanaimo to assist in the development of the mines that
later became the holdings of the Vancouver Coal Company. In 1864
he was placed in charge of the Harewood mine by Messrs. Wallace,
Southgate and others. In 1869 he discovered croppings of coal on
Departure bay, sunk a shaft but failed to locate the main coal body.
However, after a long and tedious search he foimd the seam under
the roots of an upturned tree in the dense forest, and on this spot
were developed the rich Wellington colleries. This discovery worked
a revolution in the coal trade of the province, as the coal proved to
be the highest grade that had been discovered on the Pacific coast and
its fame soon spread. Admiral Farquhar, Captain Edgerton and
Lieutenant Diggle became interested in the mine, which proved to
be an unqualified success from the first. In 1878 Mr. Dunsmuir
purchased the interests of Admiral Farquhar and Captain Edger-
49
i
, ton and in 1881 bought the Chandler mine at South Wellington and
in 1883 became the sole owner of the Wellington mine by purchase
of Lieutenant Diggle's holdings, paying for an original investment
of a few thousands nearly three-fourths of a million dollars.
His next great enterprise was the construction of the Esquimalt
& Nanaimo Railway, and the negotiations in connection with this
project between Mr. Dunsmuir and the Marquis of Lome, then
governor general of Canada, resulted in the settlement of the long-
existing differences between the province and Dominion, the amicable adjustment being largely due to the foresight and sound common
sense of Mr. Dunsmuir. The railway, begun in 1884, was opened for
traffic in 1886. Two years later Mr. Dunsmuir began the development of the Comox mines in connection with the Southern Pacific
Railway. His numerous interests included a fleet of sailing and
steam vessels and he was the chief owner of the Albion Iron Works.
He was also largely interested in the Canadian Pacific Navigation
Company and was the chief shareholder of the Victoria Theatre. He
served as president of the Esquimalt & ^fanaimo Railway, of the
Albion Iron Works and the Victoria Theatre Company and was a
director and shareholder in various other enterprises throughout the
province. His business affairs were of such volume and importance
as to constitute an essential and valuable feature in the development
of the northwest, and while'he achieved an individual success, he also
largely promoted public progress and prosperity.
While in no sense a politician, Mr. Dunsmuir took quite a prominent part in public affairs. In 1882 he was elected senior member
for the Nanaimo district, was returned in 1886 and in August, 1888,
was gazetted president of the council, a position which he occupied to
the time of his death. On account of his broad grasp of affairs his
opinions were often sought concerning the larger public questions
affecting the whole Dominion, and he numbered such men as Sir
John Macdonald, Sir Charles Tupper and other leaders of Dominion
administration among his warm personal friends.
Mr. Dunsmuir died April 12, 1889. On the day of the funeral,
from an early hour in the morning, the streets were thronged with
people from every part of the province who had come to pay their
last respects to the man who had done so much to promote the best
interests of their common home and who showed by his deeds—for
he was ever a man of deeds rather than words—the loyal spirit which
he ever maintained toward the land of his adoption. He was a member of the Caledonian, the Pioneer and St. George societies and was
extremely popular in those organizations.   Death gives the perspec-
!CH
<uam.m
am  52
IDon. moDett Dunsmuir
was always the most approachable of men. He had a kindly greeting
for everyone and was as ready to give a hearing to the humblest man
in the community as the highest. The amount of good he did in the
country will be realized now that he has gone. It will be found that
British Columbia has lost a large-minded, an enterprising and public-
spirited citizen and the community a man who did his duty in every
relation of life manfully and conscientiously. Shall we ever see his
like again?"
V I
,
F ^Uib. ■ ■jttffPg.. iuijj.1) >*mmmmmm»tmmmmmmmm STofm Harolb ^enfeler, IB- 2L, *. C
[OHN HAROLD SENKLER, senior partner in the
Jgyy) firm of Senkler, Spinks & Van Home, barristers of
vM Vancouver, has attained high rank in his profession
\? ( and is almost equally well known in political and athletic circles. In fact the interests of his life are varied
and evenly balanced, making his a well rounded character. He was born in Brockville, Ontario, July 24, 1866, a son of
Edmund John and Margaret McLeod (Cumming) Senkler. His
education was acquired in St. Catharines Collegiate Institute, in
Upper Canada College, in Toronto University, from which he won
his Bachelor of Arts degree in 1889, and in Osgoode Hall. Thorough
preliminary studies qualified him for the practice of law. He was
called to the bar of Ontario in 1892 and the following year came to
British Columbia, being soon afterward called to the bar of this
province. He has continuously remained in practice here for twenty
years and success has attended his efforts, owing to his thorough and
careful preparation of his cases, his strong and forceful presentation
of his cause and the logic of his arguments. In 1905 he was appointed
a king's counsel and since 1909 he has been at the head of the firm
of Senkler, Spinks & Van Home, one of the strongest practicing at
the bar of Vancouver, their ability being attested by the large and
distinctively representative clientage accorded them. In 1904 Mr.
Senkler was appointed a royal commissioner to revise and consolidate
the rules concerning the practice and proceedings of the county courts
and the supreme courts of British Columbia.
Moreover, his prominence in other connections makes him one of
the foremost citizens of his province. He was chairman of the board
of conciliation of the British Columbia Copper Company's employes,
to which position he was appointed in 1910. He has declined appointment to the position of gold commissioner and also as commissioner
to the Yukon.
In politics Mr. Senkler is well known as a liberal and has always
taken an active interest in the vital political questions of the day. He
has been for some years president of the Vancouver Liberal Association.    He unsuccessfully contested Vancouver for the local legis-
55 56
3fo5n ^aroID g>etifelet, IB* a., ft* C.
lature at the general election of 1909, heading the liberal candidates
at the election, and,for the house of commons at the general election
of 1911. While his party is in the minority, he is one of its recognized
leaders and his opinions carry weight in its councils.
In June, 1895, in Vancouver, Mr. Senkler was united in marriage to Miss Margaret Hargrave Richards, the youngest daughter
of the late Hon. A. N. Richards, Q. C, and ex-lieutenant governor
of British Columbia. The children of this marriage are two sons and
four daughters. The parents are members of the Anglican church
and are interested in much that pertains to the moral progress of the
community. It has been said by a renowned philosopher that the
next most important thing to working well is playing well, that the
individual should enter with all possible zest and interest into his recreations, and this Mr. Senkler does, having a veiy extensive acquaintance in athletic circles. In 1908 he was appointed a member of the
Canadian Olympic committee and for years was captain of the Vancouver Cricket Club and Vancouver Rowing Club. He has won fame
by his skill in athletics and after a long series of honors previously
gained he won the all around championship in athletic games at
Toronto University in 1886-7. He belongs to the Vancouver Club
of Vancouver and the Union Club of Victoria and his social qualities
render him popular in those organizations. He not only takes part
in their social features but also in the movements therein instituted
for the welfare and benefit of the two cities.
l-uiuj.iiiww^h. iiui-i . i. mi in  wmmmmmmmmmt I
,
F ■ ^-L i.J[li S Sfe ■' "^" iL-JJURJMJ'———■ i>enrp Gtracp Ceperlep
II
jHILE practically living retired, Henry Tracy Ceperley still retains the presidency of Ceperley, Rounse-
WljJjj fell & Company, Limited, insurance, loaning and
\sl financial agents. His attention, however, is now
largely given to his private interests. His activities in
former years, however, have proven factors in the
city's upbuilding and he belongs to that class of representative western men who have recognized the eternal truth that industry wins
and have made industry the beacon light of their lives. Centuries
ago a Greek philosopher said: "Earn thy reward; the gods give
naught to sloth;" and this admonition has been verified in all the ages
which have since run their course.
Mr. Ceperley was born in Oneonta, New York, January 10,1851,
a son of Martin and Desiah (Winnie) Ceperley, the family coming
of Dutch ancestry. Henry T. Ceperley was the youngest of sixteen
children, of whom but four are now living, and is the only one of
the family in British Columbia. The parents both passed away in
the state of New York, the father at the age of eighty-two years and
the mother when sixty-five years of age.
In the public schools of his native city Henry T. Ceperley pursued his early education and afterward attended Whitestown Seminary, but at an early age was thrown upon his own resources and
whatever success he has achieved and enjoyed is attributable entirely
to his enterprise, capable management and diligence. In early manhood he began teaching in the country schools of Otsego county,
New York, where he was thus engaged until 1871, when he went
to Winona, Minnesota, where he became connected with the produce
and commission business. After five years spent in that city he went
south to New Mexico, entering the employ as cashier and bookkeeper of a large construction company engaged in building that
portion of the Atchison, Topeka & Santa Fe Railroad between Las
Vegas and Santa Fe. He spent three years in the southwest and in
1883 went to Montana, where he formed a company for handling
cattle. In addition he also established an insurance business in Livingston and thus made his initial step in the insurance field, in which
59
'. 60
%)entg Ctacp Cepetlep
he has steadily advanced until his firm now controls a business of
large proportions, exceeding all others in British Columbia.
Mr. Ceperley came to this province in 1886 and soon thereafter
formed a partnership with A. W. Ross for the conduct of a general
real-estate and insurance business. This partnership was continued
until 1891, when Mr. Ross sold his interest to Mr. Ceperley and
returned to Winnipeg. The latter continued the business, which has
grown to be the largest in British Columbia. While the present firm
of Ceperley, Rounsefell & Company, Limited, carries on a general
real-estate, financial and mining brokerage business, their principal
strength lies in the insurance work, which has become very extensive
all over the province. They are the general agents for the Phoenix
of London and for the Liverpool & London & Globe. The success
of the company has been due in large measure to the efforts and the
administrative.direction of the president, who has constantly sought
out opportunities to extend the connections of the firm, his practical
ideas and plans bringing about tangible results. In 1910 Mr. Ceperley retired from active participation in the business, although he
retains the presidency of the company. He has other large personal
business interests that require his time. He is the president of the
Vancouver Milling & Grain Company, of which he is one of the
organizers and incorporators. This concern was established to conduct the exportation of grain and flour and is the only business of
the kind in the province and is doing a large and rapidly increasing
business. Mr. Ceperley is also managing director of the British
America Development Company and was one of the provisional
directors of the Bank of Vancouver during its incorporation. He
has recognized and utilized opportunities which others have passed
heedlessly by and in the promotion of his business interests has advanced public prosperity and progress as well as individual success.
Mr. Ceperley has been married twice. In 1882, at Winona, Minnesota, he wedded Miss Jennie Foster, of that place, who died in
Winona in 1892, leaving two children: Ethelwyn, the wife of J. E.
Hall, managing director of the Vancouver Milling & Grain Company; and Arthur T., who is connected with the Jobes Milling
Company of Portland, Oregon. For his second wife Mr. Ceperley
chose Miss Grace Dixon, of Mount Clemens, Michigan. The family
home is at Burnaby Lake, a suburb of Vancouver. Mr. Ceperley is
cast in heroic mold, being six feet and three inches in height and
weighing two hundred and forty pounds. He is a most genial, companionable gentleman and has gained a host of warm friends during
his residence in the northwest.   He is a member of the Vancouver
-Cs- tyzmp Cracp Cepetlep
61
Board of Trade and was for a number of years a member of its
council. In his earlier years he was an active member of the Masonic and Knights of Pythias fraternities. He is now identified
with several of the leading clubs, for two years was president of
the Terminal City Club, is a member of the Jericho Country Club
and of the Vancouver Golf Club. The spirit of American activity
and enterprise has led him out of humble surroundings into most
important business and financial relations, and British Columbia
has profited by his efforts and his public spirit.
i
- ---"-*—»  i
/«  i>enrp &♦ totaling
IENRY   S.   ROWLING,   president   and  managing
H director of the Vancouver Real Estate Company,
W) has been successfully engaged in the real-estate business at Vancouver for the past decade. He is a
worthy native son of British Columbia, his birth
having occurred at New Westminster on the 3d of
February, 1864. His parents were William Henry and Mary (Russell) Rowling, the former born in Truro, Cornwall, England, on
February 9, 1826, and the latter in Dorsetshire, England, on November 19, 1832. In that country their marriage was celebrated. William H. Rowling came to British Columbia, in 1858, as a corporal
in charge of the commissary of the Royal Engineers who were engaged on the boundary survey. He was for a time at New Westminster and subsequently settled on the north arm of the Fraser
river, at a place now called Rowlings, which was named for him. He
took up a military grant of one hundred and sixty acres where now
is South Vancouver and there spent the remainder of his life. He
had also bought up a number of other military grants. The date
of his settlement in South Vancouver was the 2d of September, 1868.
Mrs. Rowling, who came to Canada two or three years after her
husband, died not many years later. By her marriage she became
the mother of seven children, of whom two are deceased: Rose, born
August 8, 1858, who married William Copeland and died July 12,
1891; and Thomas G., born April 14, 1869, who died September 23, 1893. Those living are: James W., born October 14,
1862, who is a resident of South Vancouver; Henry S., of this review;
Priscilla A., born February 24, 1866, the wife of Peter Byrne, who
is the Indian agent at New Westminster; William Henry, whose
birth occurred September 2, 1867, and who makes his home in California; and Elizabeth J., born August 24, 1874, who resides with
her sister, Mrs. Peter Byrne, at New Westminster.
Henry S. Rowling attended the public schools of New Westminster in the acquirement of an education and subsequently
embarked in the log contracting and lumber business, being engaged
in logging along the Fraser river and the coast, and in many parts
65
^i^AHrU^M^M^f^'^-' 66
i^entg &♦ IRonjIfng
of the province. About 1890 he opened for transportation, mostly
tugging and logging, the Burnett river, the outlet of Burnaby lake,
which empties into the Fraser river at Burnett Mills. This feat
was by many considered impossible, but that waterway has now been
in continuous use for more than twenty years. Mr. Rowling continued his operations in that field of activity until about 1908 and
then embarked in the real-estate business, in which he has been
engaged to the present time, being now president and managing
director of the Vancouver Real Estate Company. He deals in all
kinds of city and suburban property and is the owner of two business
blocks and much business and residence property. He has a six-
story reinforced concrete building on Hastings street, East, which
comprises stores and a rooming house, and is now erecting a five-
story apartment house at the corner of Vernon and Albert streets.
On the 14th of February, 1910, at Vancouver, Mr. Rowling was
joined in wedlock to Miss Mary Houston, of San Francisco, by whom
he has two children, William Norman and Mayo Mary. Fraternally
he is identified with Lodge No. 8 of the Independent Order of Odd
Fellows and also belongs to the Loyal Order of Moose. He is likewise a member of the Press Club and the Exhibition Association.
During his entire fife, or for almost a half century, he has remained
a resident of British Columbia and his labors have been a potent
factor in the growth and development of this region. 'II
t  Ulexan&er $eer*
jMONG the men who were active in inaugurating and
Aw shaping the agricultural development of the section
»3 around New Westminster was numbered Alexander
Peers, one of the first to preempt land in this locality and who for many years was known as a successful and able farmer. His death, therefore, on the
12th of November, 1899, deprived the region of one of its real pioneers and, although the later years of his life were spent in retirement, his contributions to general development and growth were
important and substantial.
Mr. Peers was born in Woodstock, Ontario, in 1837, and was a
son of William and Hulda Peers, the former a prosperous and substantial farmer in that province. In the acquirement of an education Alexander Peers attended public school in Woodstock and later
entered Victoria College at Cobourg. He afterward obtained his
teachers' certificate and for some time engaged in teaching in eastern
Canada, coming west about 1869 with the determination to seek his
fortune in the newly developed province of British Columbia. After
his arrival he preempted land at Chilliwack and remained in that
vicinity for about thirteen years, turning his attention to agricultural
pursuits. He engaged in general farming and stock-raising and success steadily attended his well directed and practical labors until he
became finally one of the representative, substantial and prosperous
agriculturists in that vicinity. Eventually, however, he sold his ranch
and came to New Westminster when it was a mere village, buying
property and engaging in poultry raising and gardening. He followed this occupation not so much in order to gain a livelihood as
that he might be active, as idleness was irksome to him and, after
he had abandoned it, he lived retired in New Westminster, where he
became widely and favorably known as a man of genuine personal
worth, effective public spirit and high standards of business and personal integrity.
On the 31st of May, 1874, Mr. Peers married Miss Margaret
Wells, a daughter of Allen and Martha Wells. Mrs. Peers survives
her husband and makes her home in New Westminster.   She is a
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flletanPet Peers
descendant of old United Empire Loyalist stock and as a young
woman came to British Columbia, watching through the years the
great change which has practically transformed this region and revolutionized its business conditions. She is interested in questions of
general importance and in everything relating to the welfare and
growth of the city where her excellent qualities have gained her a
wide and representative circle of friends.
Mr. Peers gave his political allegiance to the liberal party and
was a devout member of the Methodist church, guiding his upright
and honorable life by the principles in which he believed. He was a
strong advocate of temperance and did a great deal to promote this
cause throughout the province. Throughout the period of his residence here he witnessed practically the entire growth and development of New Westminster and the surrounding country and his
public-spirited work in the general interests of the community made
him widely and favorably known. His death therefore removed from
the city one whom it could ill afford to lose, a man whose strength
of purpose and undaunted energy found expression in earnest and
well directed work in the promotion of civic development and in the
support of projects and measures for advancement and growth.
S£CffKP*>»ii
■^"■cX^au. v?-a&T&C->
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'se-e^d  I
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II
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li
irrnrihi  fotm P. Prtflijt, c. e.
iMONG the engineers and railway contractors of the
Canadian northwest there is no name that has a higher
Ai/M    sound than that of John B. Bright,*who as member
\S (    of the firm of Bright, McDonald & Company, of Vancouver, has been connected with some of the most
important construction work in the Dominion.   While
he has attained a remarkable personal success, much of the work which
he has accomplished has had a far-reaching effect in the general development and the opening up of new regions and territories.   He was
born in Woolsthorpe, Lincolnshire, England, June 27, 1860, a son of
James and Harriet Annie Bright, and educated in country and private
schools.   Showing early in life an inclination for engineering work,
he then was articled with S. & W. Pattison, of Sleaford, railway
contractors, devoting his time to studying engineering feats and problems and making himself acquainted with the details and business
routine of the profession.    The year 1882 marked his arrival in
Canada and upon his coming here he joined the engineering staff of
the Canadian Pacific at Winnipeg, going in the same year to the mountains, where he engaged in the location and construction of the mountain division, being so employed until 1887.   In that year he left the
services of the Canadian Pacific Railroad, becoming connected with
construction work of the Oregon Pacific in the Cascade mountains.
In 1888 he was locating for the Oregon Railroad & Navigation Company in Oregon and Idaho and also was employed in construction
work of the old Seattle, Lake Shore & Eastern Railway.   Returning
to Canada, he was then appointed by the department of public works
of the Dominion government as engineer of roads and bridges for the
Northwest Territories, receiving his commission in 1889 and so continuing until his resignation in 1897, when he joined the engineering
staff on the Crows Nest branch of the Canadian Pacific.   After completing this line he became connected with the Great Falls & Canada
Railway and also did important work on St. Mary's irrigation canal.
In 1900 he had charge of building the bridges on the Ontario & Rainy
River Railway between Port Arthur and Fort Francis, and after the
completion of this work in 1903 began contracting on irrigation work
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3lolm IB* TBiiQbU €* <B*
in southern Alberta and railroad work in Crows Nest Pass for the
International Coal & Coke Company. In 1904 the Canadian North-
em Railroad Company entrusted him with contracts to be executed
between Battleford and Edmonton and in 1905 and 1900 he devoted
most of his time to contract work on the Nicola valley branch of the
Canadian Pacific. In 1907 he was awarded the contract on the Great
Northern cut-off from Westminster to Blaine, and he also built in that
year the Eburne Westminster branch for the Canadian Pacific, In
1908 he began work on the Esquimalt & Nanaimo extension from
Wellington, Vancouver island, and in 1910 handled the contract for
the Cameron Lake section on the Alberni extension of the Esquimalt
& Nanaimo Railway. In 1912 he built the scenic road from Laggan
to Lake Louise and is at present double tracking the Canadian Pacific
Railroad.
In 1907 Mr. Bright was united in marriage to Miss Mabel Amelia
Hard in inn and they have one son, Richard Aubrey, and two daughters, Muriel Aubrey and Phylis Mary. He is a Mason, belonging to
Mountain Lodge No. 9, a member of the Terminal City Club and
finds recreation in fishing and shooting. The family residence is
located at No. 1948 Comox street and there Mr. and Mrs. Bright
extend a warm-hearted hospitality to their many friends. A public-
spirited man thoroughly aware of the obligations of citizenship, Mr.
Bright takes a deep interest in all questions of public welfare and supports many worthy enterprises undertaken in the interest of the public.
He has done important work in bringing about the advancement and
development of vast sections of the Dominion and his life's labors cannot be too highly estimated in the effect which they have upon prevailing conditions.
j I
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II!  &lexanber &o&ert JHann
JANCOUVER has numbered Alexander Robert Mann
V among its citizens but little mor^ than a year.    His
My name, however, is a f amiliar one throughout the province of British Columbia, the entire west, and also
through the province of Ontario, for as a railroad
builder his work has drawn to him the attention of the
people of many sections which his labors have opened up to development and improvement. There is no single agency as important in
the upbuilding of a country as the introduction of railroads, which
annihilate time and space and bring the residents of a new country
into close contact with older sections, thus providing them with a
market. Since he started out in life as a young man still in his teens
Mr. Mann has been connected with railway building operations.
A native of Ontario, Mr. Mann was born at Acton, on the 21st of
July, 1861, a son of Hugh and Ellen (Macdonnell) Mann, both of
whom were natives of the highlands of Scotland. The father came to
Canada in 1836, settling in Halton county, Ontario, where he engaged
in farming until his death. The son pursued his education in the
public schools of Acton and afterward worked on the home farm until
1879, when at the age of eighteen years he removed to Winnipeg,
where began his association with railroad construction work, in which
he has remained continuously to the present time. In 1884-5 he was
employed on the construction of the Canadian Pacific Railway through
the Rocky mountains. In 1886 he built a part of the Manitoba &
Northwestern Railway for the Canadian Northern Railway. In all
the years which have since come and gone his duties and activities have
increased in volume and importance until his work has made him one
of the empire builders of the west. In 1887-8 he was engaged on
railway construction work for the Canadian Pacific in the state of
Maine, and in 1889 he built a part of the Northern Pacific from
Morris, Manitoba, westward. About that time he also engaged in the
lumber business at Fort Francis, Ontario, and in 1890 he was awarded
the contract for the building of a part of the Long Lake and Regina
branch of the Canadian Pacific Railway. In the succeeding year he
built a part of the Calgary & Edmonton Railway from Fort McLeod
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to Edmonton, Alberta, and in 1892 his work included the construction
of a part of the Soo line of the Canadian Pacific from Estevan into
Regina. In 1898-4 his activity in railway building in British Columbia began, when was awarded him the contract for a part of the
Canadian Pacific Railway branch from Nakusp to New Denver in
the Kootenay. In 1894 he engaged in handling ore in the Slocan
district and so continued until 1897, when he again engaged in railway
construction work, building a portion of that part of the Columbia &
Western Railway between Robinson and Midway in 1898. After the
completion of this contract he returned to Port Arthur, Ontario, where
he was engaged on the building of the Rainy River branch of the
Canadian Northern Railway until 1901. He also became extensively
interested in the lumber business at Rainy Lake and on the Turtle
river. In 1902 he built the line of the Canadian Northern Railway
from Neepawa and McCreary and in 1903 built the Greenway branch
of eighty miles for the Canadian Northern Railway.
Mr. Mann had operated under his own name up to that time, but
in 1904 he formed the Northern Construction Company, Ltd., of which
he became president and so continues. The first contract awarded
him under the organization of the present company was for the building of the James Bay road from Toronto to Sudbury, Ontario, which
contract was completed in 1906. In the same year he again took up
construction work for the Canadian Northern Railway in British
Columbia and built the Goose Lake branch of that road. Since that
time he has been continuously engaged in construction work for the
Canadian Northern in this province, having now some seventeen hundred miles under construction for that road. The importanpe of his
work cannot be overestimated. As a railroad builder he has opened
up new districts to settlement and to civilization; he has solved difficult engineering problems, has worked out the answer to important
questions involving broad and thorough scientific knowledge as well as
practical skill, and has achieved notable success in the tasks that he
has undertaken. Aside from his railway building operations he has
various financial interests. He is still extensively connected with the
lumber business and is the owner of farm lands all over western
Canada, among his farm holdings being a tract of fifteen hundred
acres in Milford, Saskatchewan. Since 1912 he has made his home
Vancouver.
It was on the 17th of June, 1907, that Mr. Mann was united in
marriage at Owen Sound, Ontario, to Miss Jennie Malcolm, a daughter of Robert Malcolm of that city. They now have one daughter,
Alix, born August 28,1910.   Mr. Mann is a member of the Carleton
* giesanDet Robert flpamt
81
Club of Winnipeg, the Albany Club of Toronto, and the Commercial
Club of Vancouver, and he also holds membership in the Presbyterian
church. The nature and importance of his work as railway builder
has made him known throughout the greater part of Canada, and his
name figures prominently in the field of labor which he chose as a life
work. His power has grown through the exercise of effort; his ability
has developed as he has called forth his latent energies, and in all he
has manifested those qualities of leadership which have not only
enabled him to direct the labors of those under him but have also been
manifest in the initiative spirit that has recognized and improved
opportunities that others have passed heedlessly by.
fl
I,
J  ST  Penjamin Single? Rogers;
1REAT leaders are few.   The mass of men seem content
Gto remain in the position in which they are placed by
(vji birth, circumstances or environment. Laudable ambits 1 tion, ready adaptability and capacity for hard work
are essential elements of success, and in none of these
requirements has Benjamin T. Rogers been found
lacking. It is not a matter of marvel, therefore, that he occupies a
preeminent position among the builders of the northwest, for the real
promoters of a country's growth and greatness are they who found and
conduct its prosperous business enterprises. In this connection the
name of Mr. Rogers is inseparably interwoven with the annals of
British Columbia. As a sugar manufacturer and capitalist he has
won not only provincial but national reputation, and moreover is
entitled to distinction as one whose success has not been allowed to
warp his finer sensibilities or crush out the kindly impulses of nature.
On the contrary his prosperity has been to him the means of enlarged
opportunity and endeavor on behalf of his f ellowmen, and his worth
in these particulars is attested by the consensus of public opinion. A
native of Pennsylvania, Mr. Rogers was born in Philadelphia, October
21, 1865, and is a son of Samuel B. and Clara Augusta (DuPuy)
Rogers, who were also natives of the United States. The father was
engaged in the sugar refining business in Philadelphia and subsequently went to New Orleans, where he conducted a large refinery
under the name of the Planters Sugar Refining Company, remaining
in active business in the Crescent citv until his death in 1883. His
wife came to Vancouver some years afterward and made her home with
her son, Benjamin T., until her demise in the year 1910.
Excellent educational opportunities were accorded Benjamin T.
Rogers, who after attending the Phillips Academy at Andover, Massachusetts, pursued a technical course in the plant of the Standard
Refinery Company at Boston, Massachusetts, where he mastered the
subject of sugar chemistry. He then accepted the position of chemist
in his father's plant in New Orleans, but he had been identified with
the business there for less than a year when his father died. Samuel
B. Rogers had been a personal friend of Mr. Havemeyer, the sugar
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'Bettfamfn Cfngleg JRoger*
1
king of New York, so that Benjamin T. Rogers entered the Have-
meyer & Elder Sugar Refinery at New York with the object of
acquainting himself with all departments and every phase of the business. He began boiling sugar and gained a knowledge of all the
processes of manufacture, working his way steadily upward until he
became assistant superintendent and eventually superintendent, in
which capacity he was serving when he withdrew from that company
after seven years' connection therewith. He was ambitious to engage
in business on his own account, prompted by an initiative spirit that
has been one of the strong elements of his success. In 1890 he came
to Vancouver and organized the British Columbia Sugar Refining
Company, Ltd., of which he became the president. The new enterprise was started on a limited scale. He built a small plant on the site
still occupied and with the growth of the city has annually enlarged
the plant until they now have a capacity of twenty times their first
annual output. Mr. Rogers has always acted as manager of the business. His entire fife has been devoted to this industry and his success
has been phenomenal. The secret, however, is not far to seek—it lies
in the thoroughness with which he mastered every phase of the business
and in the technical training which qualified him for the scientific
understanding of the process used. He has ever been watchful of all
details pointing to success, has carefully directed and guarded his interests and has been seldom if ever at fault in estimating value in any
one point or condition of the business, so that he has been quick to discard the non-essential and at the same time utilize the essential to the
fullest extent. He has never deviated from the high aim which he set
up in connection with the trade and he has justly earned the place
which he now occupies as one of the foremost business men of British
Columbia.
On the 1st of June, 1892, Mr. Rogers was married at Victoria to
Miss Mary Isabella Angus, of Manchester, England, and they have
seven children: Blythe DuPuy, Mary Angus, Ernest Theodore, Els-
beth, Phillip Tingley, Margaret and Forrest.
Mr. and Mrs. Rogers are members of St. Paul's Anglican church.
Mrs. Rogers takes a very active part in its work and is in hearty sympathy with her husband in his support of charitable and benevolent
projects. He served for two or three years as vice president of the
Vancouver General Hospital and Mrs. Rogers is a member of its
Woman's Auxiliary, of which she was the president for many years.
Mr. Rogers votes with the conservative party, but is never active in
politics. He finds recreation in shooting and fishing and through his
social connection with various leading clubs throughout the country,
HI
j^,„ 'Benjamin Cinglep Rogers
87
holding membership in the Vancouver, Terminal City and Royal Vancouver Yacht Clubs of Vancouver, the Union Club of Victoria, the
Manitoba Club of Winnipeg, and the Mount Royal Club of Montreal.
He was one of the first members and is now commodore of the Royal
Vancouver Yacht Club. His success now gives him leisure for participating in those things wjiich are a matter of interest and recreation.
His ability and his personal worth have made him widely known
throughout the country from eastern to western Canada, and he is
accorded that tribute of respect which the world instinctively pays to
the man who controls fate and carves out his own fortune, employing
methods which never seek nor require disguise.
l\l  fl
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If  Sfame* &Uan (graijame
CANADIAN history, embracing commercial development and civilizing influences, has its root in the
C>§3 work of the Hudson's Bay Company and the enter-
vifea prising men who inaugurated and controlled its
affairs. A great system, embracing all the features of mihtary organization with business enterprise, was taking advantage of the opportunities offered in
this land for fur trading. Its representatives were not a class of
adventurers; they who were in control of its interests in America
were men of splendid business capacity, of sound judgment, of keen
discernment and of unfaltering enterprise, and in the establishment
of the great commercial undertaking with which they were connected
they also laid the foundations of Canada's civilization and its present
progress and prosperity. Prominent in this connection was James
Allan Grahame, whose last days were spent in honorable and well
earned retirement in Victoria. He was born December 22, 1825, at
Raeburn Place, Edinburgh, Scotland, his parents being James and
Lillias (Allan) Grahame, the former well known as a writer and
contributor to the Signet.
While pursuing an academic course of study James A. Grahame
was a classmate of Sir John Reid, R. N., for many years a resident of
Vancouver. He was eighteen years of age when he entered the service of the Hudson's Bay Company as an apprentice clerk under contract for five years with a progressive salary of twenty, twenty-five,
thirty, forty and fifty pounds per annum. On one of the company's
sailing vessels he crossed the Atlantic in 1843, arrived at Hudson's*
Bay and thence traveled overland by way of Norway House to Fort
Garry, where he spent the succeeding winter. He performed all the
duties incident to his position and gradually increased in usefulness,
so that larger responsibilities were given over to his care. Having
been appointed to the Pacific coast department, he crossed the continent accompanied by Joseph McKay and others, journeying by way
of Edmonton and Yellowhead Pass and down the Columbia river to
old Fort Vancouver, Washington, where was located the principal
depot of the company, then in charge of Dr. John McLoughlin, who
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was succeeded by Sir James Douglas. On the site of the present city
of Portland, Oregon, Mr. Grahame first met the Hon. M. T. W.
Drake, later of Victoria, and this constituted the beginning of a
friendship that endured as long as life lasted.
In 1858 Mr. Grahame was promoted to the position of chief trader
and continued at Fort Vancouver until 1860 or until the dispute
between Great Britain and the United States concerning the boundary line was settled. He then closed up the affairs of the Hudson's
Bay Company at that place and turned over the fort to the United
States military authorities, after which he made his way northward
to Victoria, which city he had previously visited on several occasions.
Later in the same year, however, he started for his native land, traveling by way of the Panama route. He made an extended visit in Great
Britain and during that period his eighteen years of able administrative efficiency and loyalty were rewarded by promotion to the rank
of chief factor. The following year he returned to the new world
and, traveling by way of Montreal and St. Paul, eventually reached
the Norway House department at the north end of Lake Winnipeg,
one of the company's most important posts, there assuming charge as
chief factor. In 1867 he again visited British Columbia, traveling
by way of New York, Panama and San Francisco, and while en route
he participated in the ceremonies commemorating the birthday of the
confederation at Hamilton, Ontario. On his arrival he at once took
charge at Quesnelle and Fort St. James, New Caledonia, and brought
to bear the same systematic and progressive management in the conduct of the company's interests at this place that he had previously
displayed. In 1869 he was summoned to London and crossed the
country over the Central Pacific, which was the first trans-continental railway opened. He completed the journey from Victoria to
London in nineteen and a half days, being the quickest passage on
record up to that time. He was in England at the time the first
Riel rebellion occurred.
Mr. Grahame again came to Canada in May, 1870, at which time
he assumed entire charge of the interests of the Hudson's Bay Company on the Pacific coast. In 1872 he was once more called to London and, traveling over the Union Pacific Railroad, encountered the
terrific snowstorms of that memorable winter, the journey from San
Francisco to New York consuming twenty-six days. Upon his return
to America in May of the same year he saw the ruins wrought by the
great Chicago fire which had occurred in the previous October. While
in London Mr. Grahame had been promoted to the position of sub-
commissioner, which rank he retained until 1874, when he was once
•'"^tmrm 3[ameg Allan (grahame
93
more called to London and was appointed chief commissioner with
headquarters at Fort Garry, now Winnipeg. He entered upon the
duties of that position on the 1st of June, following the retirement
of Hon. Donald A. Smith, now Lord Strathcona and Mount Royal.
During the period of his management as chief commissioner, the
building of railways, the influx of immigration, the adjustment of
tariffs and customs worked a revolution in the company's business
and furnished opportunity for the exercise of his unusual and superior
administrative faculties. He remained as chief commissioner until
1884, when he retired and removed to Montreal. After three years
he came to Victoria, where he lived continuously from 1887 until
his death, one of the honored and respected citizens of the province
whose life work was one of recognized value in the development and
civilization of the country.
Mr. Grahame was married twice. He first wedded a daughter of
the late Chief Trader Birnie, and one surviving son, James Ogden
Grahame, is now a resident of Victoria. His second wife, who survives him, was a daughter of the late Hon. John Work and is a
niece of Hon. David Work, Canada's oldest senator. Of the children of this marriage, Harry M. Grahame, former alderman of Victoria, and two daughters, Lillian and Margaret, survive.
Mr. Grahame's prominent position with the Hudson's Bay Company made him known throughout the Canadian provinces and his
acquaintance also broadened through his Masonic connections, for he
was one of the most prominent representatives of the order on the Pacific coast. He was one of the organizers of the grand lodge of British
Columbia and in 1872 served as deputy grand master, his removal to
Manitoba preventing him from receiving further honors in that connection. He joined the craft in Multnomah Lodge, No. 1, A. F. &
A. M., at Oregon City, Oregon, was there also a member of
Clackamas Chapter, No. 2, R. A. M., and likewise belonged to California Commandery, K. T., of San Francisco. In early days he
served as master of the lodge at Fort Vancouver and he was
an honorary member of the Vancouver and Quadra Lodge, No.
2, of Victoria, serving as master of the latter prior to the formation of the grand lodge. During his extended travels he participated
in many notable Masonic events in Canada, Great Britain and the
United States and was many times honored with appointment to
the position of grand representative, while other honors and offices
were conferred upon him. Death called Mr. Grahame June 19, 1905,
when he was eighty years of age, and the following tribute was paid
to him editorially by the Colonist:   "We are chronicling today the
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death of James A. Grahame, for years well known to the citizens of
Victoria and more especially to the older generation. He belongs to
what may be spoken of as the old 'brigade' of the Hudson's Bay
Company, now nearly all departed and including such contemporaries as Dr. Tolmie, Joseph McKay, Roderick Finlayson, A. C. Anderson, John Henry Work and others who came to the west about
the same time and assisted in the pioneer work of fur trading and as
citizens of the province in its subsequent development. The names
of these men must live in the early history of the country not only
as factors of a great commercial company but in a national sense as
builders and founders—nation makers—along with Dr. McLoughlin
and Sir James Douglas, the two guiding spirits of the western division of the Hudson's Bay territory. The latest of this band of pioneers to depart the land of their adoption and making had for some
years ceased to take active interest in affairs and was best known as a
retired citizen and a figure of the past. He did his work in the days
gone by as a pioneer and as a 'trail blazer.' The present generation
can but faintly understand the strenuous nature of the life he in
common with men designated 'the lords of the forest' led. There
was much that was picturesque and fascinating about the lives of
these men, and if they had left us more in the way of reminiscence
about their fives and the country as it was under their rule, we would
have the materials for a great history and works of fiction as engrossing as those of Fenimore Cooper. They were, however, as a rule
prosaic men and not given to making memoirs, and as a consequence
of their modesty have deprived the historian of much that he would
be glad to possess."
Mr. Grahame was a member of the Episcopal church, although
brought up in the Church of Scotland, and was prominent in social
organizations, belonging to the Union Club of Victoria, the St. James
Club of Montreal and the Manitoba Club of Winnipeg. He had
wide acquaintance among men of prominence throughout the country and was honored and respected by all because of the sterling
worth of his character and his notable achievements. He was generous in his charities yet extremely modest and unostentatious in his
mention of any beneficence. He stood in all things as he did in his
connection with the Hudson's Bay Company—the embodiment of
the spirit of progress and improvement, loyal to his duties, faithful to
his trust and honorable at all times and in every relation.
"S&T   Jotfepf) Matter Jiejfarlanb
OSEPH WALTER McFARLAND is a pioneer
Jr J of Vancouver to whose credit may be attributed the
(W establishment and development of many of the more
\j ( important features in the upbuilding of the city and
province. He has figured prominently as a railroad
builder, was the promoter of the waterworks and the
electric lighting projects of Vancouver and the builder of the first
large private dock. All these and many more tangible evidences
of his public spirit and his business ability can be given and indicate
how closely he has been identified with the history of the northwest.
A native of Niagara, Ontario, his parents were John and Amelia
McFarland, both representatives of old United Empire Loyalist
families who were pioneer settlers on the Niagara peninsula. Mrs.
McFarland was a daughter of George Keefer, one of the original
builders of the Welland canal.
In primary and grammar schools of Welland county, Ontario,
Joseph W. McFarland pursued his education and after putting aside
his text-books went to Massachusetts, where he was employed in
connection with the construction of the Hoosac Tunnel by F. Shan-
ley & Company, builders, the project being financed by "Boss" Tweed
of New York. This was his initial experience in the business world.
He left Massachusetts in 1878 and returned to Ontario, settling at
Hamilton. He became associated with the Great Western Railroad there and also in London, Ontario, remaining with that corporation until 1880, when he resigned to enter the service of the
Northern Transit Company of Port Huron, Michigan. Following
their failure in 1881 he returned to the Great Western Railway
Company at Detroit, Michigan, where he continued until 1884, when
he came to British Columbia. In the intervening period, covering
almost three decades, he has been a most prominent factor in promoting public improvement and progress. He had charge of railway construction as manager for H. F. Keefer and built forty miles
of the Canadian Pacific Railroad from Kamloops to Shuswap lake.
In 1885 he returned to Victoria and had charge of the construction of the Esquimalt & Nanaimo Railway at Shawnigan Lake.   In
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the latter part of 1885 and the early part of 1886 he built, under the
same management, the line of the Canadian Pacific from Port Moody
to Coal Harbor and English Bay. After his work was finished in
1886 he joined the late George A. Keefer in organizing the Vancouver Water Works Company, of which he was elected secretary
and manager, thus actively controlling the business until it was acquired by the city in 1892. It was also in 1886 that in connection
with the late David Oppenheimer, the second mayor of Vancouver,
he organized the Vancouver Electric Illuminating Company, Limited, of which he was elected secretary. This became the nucleus
of the present British Columbia Electric Company and was the
initial movement for the electric lighting of the city. He also with
other old-timers organized the Vancouver Wharfage & Storage Company, Limited, of which he was made the secretary. This company
built a wharf at the foot of Carroll street, being the first large private dock to be used for public purposes in the city. The Canadian
Pacific Railroad disputed their rights to this dock and after an
accident which destroyed it the property was abandoned to the railroad company. In 1886 Mr. McFarland organized the North Vancouver Electric Company, Limited, and was elected secretary. This
company proposed to generate electricity from the Capilano river
for power purposes for the city of Vancouver. Closely associated
with various projects looking to the development and utilization of
the resources of this section of the country and in large measure
foreseeing and meeting the needs of the growing city, Mr. McFarland became recognized as one of the foremost factors in Vancouver's
improvement and upbuilding. In 1892 he established a real-estate,
insurance and loan business which in 1894 was organized under a
joint stock company known as Mahon, McFarland & Mahon, Limited, of which he was president, so continuing until 1911, when he
retired from active business, the company having been absorbed by
the London & British North America Company, Limited, one of
the largest and strongest financial institutions in Canada. Mr. McFarland is now giving his attention to his invested interests only,
managing his private affairs, which have grown in extent and volume.
In addition to the other interests previously mentioned he was in
early days secretary of the Nicola Valley Railway Company, of
the Chilliwack Railway Company and of the Shuswap & Okanagan
Railway Company.
On the 15th of November, 1888, at Detroit, Michigan, Mr. McFarland was united in marriage to Miss Margaret T. Day, a daughter of the late David and Jane Day of Ogdensburg, New York. 3fogepf) Salter ^cjFatlanD
99
In religious faith they are Anglicans, holding membership in Christ
church. Mr. McFarland is a conservative in politics but has never
been an active worker in party ranks. He is a charter member of
the Board of Trade of Vancouver and in that connection has been
interested in many movements of progressive citizenship. He is also
a charter member of Cascade Lodge, A. F. & A. M., of Vancouver
and he belongs to the Vancouver Club, the Vancouver Lawn Tennis
Club, the Shaughnessy Heights Golf Club and is president of the
Jericho Country Club, all of Vancouver. He is likewise a member
of the Union Club of Victoria. During the twenty-nine years of
his residence on the coast he has witnessed remarkable changes as
the work of development and civilization has been carried forward.
His labors have constituted an important element in the improvement of transportation conditions by rail and he has also seen a
marked change in marine transportation, for in 1885, when he made
his way by water from Victoria to Vancouver, he left the former
city at seven o'clock in the morning and arrived at Sunnyside Slip
at nine in the evening—a trip that is now made in four hours. Along
all lines of improvement the changes have been just as great, and
Mr. McFarland's name stands high on the roll of those who have
contributed much to Vancouver's upbuilding.
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10SEPH A. RUSSELL is the nestor of the Vancou-
Jver bar and ranks second to no representative of the
jp<    legal profession in this city.   Honor and respect are
[Big    accorded him and have been worthily won, and there
is none whose practice more fully embodies the high
ideals of the profession in its purpose to conserve
and protect human rights and liberties.
Mr. Russell was born at Newcastle, New Brunswick, on the 11th
of September, 1866. He is a son of Mathew and Sarah Ann Russell, of whom more extended mention is made in connection with
the sketch of F. R. McD. Russell on another page of this work. He
supplemented a course of study in Harkins' Academy at Newcastle
by a course in Dalhousie University, in Halifax, Nova Scotia, which
conferred upon him the LL. B. degree in 1887. He was a law student of the late Hon. A. G. Blair, Q. C, and was called to the
bar of New Brunswick in October, 1887. For a few months he
practiced in his native city and then came to British Columbia in the
spring of 1888, making his way direct to Vancouver. The same year
he was called to the bar of this province and entered upon the active
practice of his profession in the city which is still his home. He
associated himself with the firm of Yates & Jay, of Victoria, opening a Vancouver office which was conducted under the name of Yates,
Jay & Russell. A year later he purchased the interest of his two
partners and continued alone in practice for several years. He was
then joined in a partnership by the late J. J. Godfrey, brother of
William Godfrey, manager of the Bank of British Columbia, under
the name of Russell & Godfrey. In 1896 he formed a partnership
with his brother, F. R. McD. Russell, under the style of Russell &
Russell, and on the admission of a third partner the firm name was
changed to Russell, Russell & Hannington, so continuing until 1911,
when Mr. Hannington's health compelled him to limit his practice
to his former field at Nelson, British Columbia. At that time G. E.
Hancox was taken into the firm. At the beginning of the present
year (1918) Joseph A. Russell retired from practice for at least a
year's rest, and the firm is now Russell, MacDonald & Hancox and
103
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3fo0epl) & Hu00ell, JUL. IB*
Russell, Mowat, Hancox & Farris. His comprehensive knowledge
of the law placed J. A. Russell among the men of eminent learning
in the legal profession, while his ability to accurately apply its principles gave him power as a barrister and counselor that placed him
among the foremost representatives of the profession in the province,
particularly in matters pertaining to marine insurance, shipping and
criminal law.
For nine years Mr. Russell filled the position of police magistrate of the growing city of Vancouver, and aside from duties thus
directly connected with law practice, he has had other business interests, being heavily interested in the salmon canning industry for several years. For a long time he has been interested in timber, holding
substantial interests in two large lumber companies, and he is now
interested in other industries, including the Vancouver Ship Yard,
Ltd., and the Burton-Shaw Manufacturing Company, Ltd. He
owns claims and is very active in coast mining for gold and copper,
and the keen analytical power and ready discernment of the lawyer
are also effective forces in recognizing the possibilities of a business
situation and the utilization of these possibilities in the attainment of
success. Mr. Russell was one of those who conceived the idea of
establishing the Vancouver Horse Show and became one of the
founders and active promoters of the association, of which he has
been a director and an exhibitor from its inception.
In the field of sports Mr. Russell is well known, and for many
years was president and captain of the Vancouver Rowing Club.
He stroked the crew for four years without a single loss. He is a
member of the Vancouver Tennis Club, Vancouver Athletic Club,
and was for some time president of the Pacific Northwest Amateur
Athletic Association. He likewise belongs to the Brockton Point
Athletic Club, has been master of the Vancouver Hunt Club since
its inception in 1888, and is a member of the Canadian, Vancouver,
Jericho Country and Minoru Clubs. He is a recognized leader in
political circles and deeply interested in civic affairs of the city
and province, but owing to his extensive practice and many private
interests he has not found time to become openly identified with
these. He is, however, a close student of the signs of the times and
of the vital and significant questions of the day, and his opinions
upon any such point elicit interest and consideration.
In Vancouver, in 1892, Mr. Russell was married to Miss Jessie
Millar, a daughter of James Millar, a prominent merchant of Halifax, Nova Scotia, and they have one child, Flora McDonald Russell,
who has been an exhibitor at the horse show for the past six years. jjoisepi) & ftu$geil, JUL* IB*
105
Such, in brief, is the life history of Joseph A. Russell, whose prominence as a man and as a citizen is unquestioned, while public opinion
places him in the front rank among the barristers of Vancouver and
the province.  :—=-
	
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Ifytnvv 3Babfe
^N PIONEER times Henry Davis settled near Langley,
on the Fraser river, and during the many years which
elapsed from that period until the time of his death
he remained an active and honored citizen of this
locality. To him the section owes the development
of one of the finest farms in this part of British
Columbia and many other valuable contributions to its growth and
progress and thus it was that in his passing it lost a valued, useful
and representative citizen. In the course of years his business interests became extensive and yet he did not allow the accumulation
of wealth to mar his kindly nature, his courtesy and his geniality
and he was never known to take advantage of the necessities of others
in anv business transaction.
Mr. Davis was born in Ireland, March 15, 1848, and is a son of
James and Susannah Davis, the former a substantial farmer of Der-
rylane, County Cavan. In that section of the Emerald isle Henry
Davis spent his childhood but when he was eleven years of age he
crossed the Atlantic to America, settling in Wellington county,
Ontario. There he grew to manhood, gaining during this time a
knowledge of the best and most effective agricultural methods, and
about a quarter of a century before his death moved to British Columbia, where he long remained an honored and respected citizen. For
a number of years he engaged in contracting on some of the roads
which were built early in the history of the settlement of the section
around Langley but he afterward turned his attention to farming
near Langley, developing an extensive and productive ranch which
for over twenty years he continued to improve and cultivate, a substantial fortune accruing from his well directed labors. He became
one of the most extensive landowners and prosperous ranchers in this
locality, owning besides his home farm another tract in the Surrey
municipality, and he made his name honored and respected as a
synonym not only for successful accomplishment but for high standards of business and personal honor.
On the 6th of January, 1892, at Hollen, Ontario, Mr. Davis was
united in marriage to Miss Lizzie Henderson, a daughter of George
109
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i])enrp Daute
and Harriet Henderson, the former a mill owner and farmer in
that vicinity. Mr. and Mrs. Davis became the parents of three children, Margaret, Leslie and Roy, who live with their mother at New
Westminster.
Mr. Davis was a devout member of the Methodist church and he
gave his political allegiance to the conservative party, being stanch
in his support of its principles and policies although never active as
an office seeker. He died upon his ranch, January 13, 1901, and his
passing was widely and deeply regretted in a community where he
had made his home for over a quarter of a century and where his
many excellent qualities had endeared him to all who came within
the close circle of his friendship. If success means a long and useful
fife, a peaceful and contented fireside, steadily increasing prosperity
in business and growing esteem among neighbors and associates, then
Mr. Davis has been a successful man, as he was a worthy, honorable
and useful citizen. i
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I  OTattorb ©ouglag ^omerleb Eoriston
WALFORD DOUGLAS SOMERLED RORISON
is well and prominently known in business fife of
Vancouver as vice president of R. D. Rorison & Son,
Ltd., and in military circles of British Columbia as
one of the most distinguished, efficient and able officers in the Canadian Army Service Corps, also being
commissioner of the Boy Scouts for the mainland of the province.
The basis of his success has been the same in both lines—natural talents
and powers well developed along constructive and modern lines, a
keen, incisive and liberal mind, sound and practical judgment, and
these qualities, dominating his character, have made him one of the
best known and most representative men in the city of Vancouver at
the present time. He was born in Renfrew, Ontario, on the 15th of
October, 1877, and is a son of Robert Douglas and Charlotte (Walford) Rorison, extended mention of whom will be found on another
page in this work.
Walford D. S. Rorison acquired his education in the public
schools of Renfrew, Ontario, and Winnipeg, Manitoba, and at Manitoba College in Winnipeg. He came to Vancouver, British Columbia, in 1899 but, having determined to follow the profession of a
mining engineer, went to Longboro Inlet, where for a year he was
associated with the Cuba Silver Mining Company as assistant to the
engineer in charge. At the end of that time he returned to Vancouver and took up the study of law, in which he continued for one
year. However, his father's business had in the meantime grown to a
point where it required more time and attention than Robert D. Rorison could give it personally and he accordingly persuaded his son to
give up the idea of a professional life and to cast his lot along business
lines. The association between father and son which was then
formed continues to the present time and has been productive of excellent results. The business was first conducted under the name of
R. D. Rorison & Son and was later incorporated as R. D. Rorison &
Son, Ltd., with Mr. Rorison of this review as vice president. The
various projects promoted and operated by this company are given
extended mention in the biography of Robert Douglas Rorison in this
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Waltotti Douglas ^omedeO Bori0on
work. The son has been a helpful factor in the building up of the
concern, in the establishment of the policies which have made it great,
and he has shown conclusively that his choice of a life work was a
fortunate one, his business ability being of an unusual order. Situations calling for executive power, for quickness of action, for comprehensive grasp of detail are handled by him in a systematic and able
way and his developing powers have aided greatly in the building up
of the great concern with which he is connected and also in the promotion of general business activity in Vancouver.
It is not alone along business lines, however, that Mr. Rorison has
done splendid work, for from an early date in his career he has been
interested in military affairs and is today one of the most distinguished
and able army officers in western Canada. As a boy he was captain
and drill master of his schoolmates and while at college he kept up his
interest in military affairs and in athletics as a means of military
supremacy. After coming to Vancouver he became actively associated with the militia and enlisted as a private in D Company, Sixth
Regiment, Duke of Connaught's Own Rifles. He rapidly passed the
various examinations and went through all the ranks of non-commissioned officers and in 1907 took at the same time the examinations for
the ranks of lieutenant and captain, being granted his certificates on
the 4th of July of the same year. His warrant was signed by Earl
Grey, September 26, 1907, and he received his equitation certificate
January 10, of the following year, taking active command of D Company, Sixth Regiment, in which he had originally enlisted as a private.
This command he resigned in 1911 and was put on the Corps of Reserve of D Company, later taking command of H Company of the
same regiment. Again he went on the Corps of Reserve and in January, 1913, attended the school of instruction for the Canadian Army
Service Corps, passing the lieutenant's and captain's examinations and
being granted his equitation certificate on the 10th of May, 1913.
After the camp, which was concluded June 14, 1913, he was transferred to D Squadron, Thirty-first British Columbia Horse, with
instructions from Lieutenant Colonel Charles Flick to organize the
first troop of cavalry on the lower mainland at Eburne, British
Columbia.
As an officer Mr. Rorison has been very efficient and capable, for
he possesses the necessary executive and administrative ability and
power of control, combined with the personal characteristics which
make for popularity among his men and with his superior officers as
well. These latter respect and admire his undoubted ability and he
has received many marks of honor and distinction in recognition of his
h.
__ Waltoib Douglass ^ometleD Hotison
115
constructive and able military service. Though a junior officer, he
was appointed to command a company at the military maneuvers held
in connection with the tercentenary celebration at Quebec in 1908,
being the only officer appointed from the mainland of British Columbia to represent the infantry at that celebration. This was a high
tribute to Mr. Rorison's efficiency as an officer and was accorded to
him in recognition of definite work which he had accomplished along
organizing lines.
In 1910 Mr. Rorison became interested in the Boy Scout movement and active in the work of that organization in Vancouver. In
the following year he had the pleasure of entertaining in his home
Lieutenant General' Sir Robert Stephenson Smyth Baden-Powell,
who in 1908, on his first visit to British Columbia, organized the Boy
Scouts in this province. From him Mr. Rorison obtained at first
hand complete information on the objects and ideals of the organization and this greatly stimulated his interest and activity, so that in the
fall of 1911, upon the resignation of Major Tite as commissioner of
the Boy Scouts for the mainland of British Columbia, he succeeded
the latter in that office and so continues to the present time, having a
record for constructive and systematic work along this line which
cannot be surpassed in the Dominion. When he took charge in 1911
there were only seventy-five boys who were active members of the
Scouts, while at the present time there are three hundred on the active
list in the cities of Vancouver and North Vancouver alone. On Lieutenant General Sir Robert Baden-Powell's last visit to the province
he praised highly Mr. Rorison's work and recommended its continuance along the lines on which it had been begun, for he recognized the
organizing ability of Major Tite's successor and his thorough efficiency
in the work.
On the 8th of July, 1908, Mr. Rorison was united in marriage to
Miss Lucy Wyman Wright, of Renfrew, Ontario, a daughter of
Orange Wright, a native of that city, where he is serving as a customs
official. The Wright family came from England to America in colonial times, settling at Boston, where they resided for a number of
years. They, however, were United Empire Loyalists and during
the American revolution moved to Canada, settling as pioneers in
Ottawa valley, Ontario. Mr. and Mrs. Rorison have two children:
Charlotte Amy Wright, who was born May 19, 1909; and Robert
Douglas, born April 28, 1911.
Mr. Rorison is a member of St. John's Presbyterian church and is
connected fraternally with the Independent Order of Odd Fellows,
belonging to the Renfrew, Ontario, lodge, of which his father is a
-4 116
Waltoitt Douglass %ometleD motion
charter member. A man of forceful personality, varied interests, keen
and well developed qualities of mind, he is recognized as one of Vancouver's representative citizens, the value of whose work along military
and business lines it is almost impossible to estimate. By reason of
the mature judgment which characterizes all of his efforts he stands
today as a splendid type of the prominent capitalist and man of affairs
to whom business is but one phase of life and does not exclude active
participation in the many other vital interests which go to make up the
sum of human existence.
i  ft!
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: ?X?zr*^ *m-=:
=tr~rT"Mni" ii— neat* 3Xot»ertcfe Jftnlapson
)ODERICK FINLAYSON, who for a half century
Rwas in the service of the Hudson's Bay Company,
fflj died January 20, 1892, when in the seventy-fourth
' lvl year of his age. His birth occurred at Loch Alsh,
Ross-shire, Scotland, on the 16th day of March,
1818, his parents being Alexander and Mary (Morrison) Finlayson. He pursued his education at the place of his birth
while spending his boyhood days in the home of his father, who was
a sheep and stock-raiser. On leaving his native land he sailed from
Glasgow for New York in July, 1837, as a passenger on one of the
old time sailing vessels and arrived at his destination after a tedious
voyage of forty days. Through the influence of a relative in New
York city he received an appointment in the Hudson's Bay Company's service as apprentice clerk. He proceeded immediately to
the head office of the company, then located at Lachine on the St.
Lawrence, and spent some time at a desk, but a vacancy occurred
whereby there came to him the chance of appointment to a station
called Fort Coulonge, on the Ottawa river. There he spent the winter of 1837-8 and was initiated into the mode of trade carried on by
the Hudson's Bay Company. In 1838 he was placed in charge of the
station at Fort William and there remained until 1839, when he was
directed to join the men sent to the Columbia district on the west
slope of the Rocky mountains in order to take possession of part of
the Russian territory on the North Pacific for trade purposes. This
was leased from the Russian-American Fur Company by the Hudson's Bay Company. The party proceeded westward by water most
of the way and after six months spent en route finally reached Fort
Vancouver, now in the state of Washington on the Columbia river.
It was then the head station of the Columbia district. In the spring
of 1840 the Hudson's Bay Company employes boarded the historic
Beaver on Puget Sound and proceeded along the coast, Mr. Finlayson thus passing Vancouver island, which was to be his future home.
The party proceeded on up the coast to Fort Stickeen in Russian
territory, which by agreement they took, and later, under command
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120
UloDericlt JFinlapgon
of Chief Factor Douglas, later Sir James Douglas, went to Sitka,
the head station of the Russian-American Company. Subsequently
they proceeded up the Taco river and established Fort Durham,
erecting a fort and making other necessary arrangements for their
stay there. Mr. Finlayson was placed second in command of the
fort, Chief Factor Douglas returning in the Beaver.
In the autumn of 1841 Mr. Finlayson was relieved and transferred to Fort Stickeen, now Wrangel. In 1842 he was sent as
relief clerk to Fort Simpson and when Forts Stickeen, Durham
and McLaughlin were abandoned Mr. Finlayson was ordered south
with the party to the southern end of Vancouver island reaching Victoria harbor on the 1st of June, 1848. They commenced building a
fort with the forces of the abandoned forts, having three officers and
fifty men. C. Ross was placed in charge, with Mr. Finlayson as
second in command. The two vessels, the Cadboro and Beaver,
remained as guard vessels until the fort was built. There was nothing but dense forest on the water along the harbor. They cleared
some land on which to grow vegetables and cereals and the work of
making a habitable place thus continued. In 1844 Mr. Ross, who
was in command, died and Mr. Finlayson succeeded him and was
placed in charge of Victoria. During this period he had many brushes
with the Indians but finally subdued them and taught them the power
and danger of firearms. During this period Mr. Finlayson created
what became the Indian Reserve, which existed until a recent date.
The Indians were all taught to respect British justice. Three large
dairy farms were established at this time and farming operations conducted on an extensive scale, so that men-of-war and other vessels
could purchase supplies. A gristmill was opened at Esquimalt and
also a lumber mill. The head depot for the Hudson's Bay Company
was established here. About this time the forty-ninth parallel was
declared the boundary between United States and Canada. The fur
returns for England cleared from Victoria direct to England from
that time on. In 1849, when Chief Factor Douglas, later Sir James,
was sent to Victoria from Fort Vancouver, Washington, Mr. Finlayson was relieved of his onerous duties to a certain extent. He
beeame head accountant and continued to act in that capacity until
1862. In 1851 Mr. Douglas became governor of the island of Vancouver and Mr. Finlayson was appointed by him as a member of the
legislative council, his commission being signed by Queen Victoria
in that year. In 1850 he had received his commission as chief trader
and in 1859 received his commission as chief factor of the Hudson's
Bay company.
'-~~!&£y=^>^~-'^*m-^r-r'f^rrt-r--~>'>^-~' "■■■"   ■  »■.■■■■■ inuii.m in Ho Derick jFinlapsson
121
From 1852 Mr. Finlayson had added extensively to his purchases
of land, which he cleared, fenced and drained so that he was able to
lease his property on good terms. In 1861 he returned to his native
country for a visit and found his parents alive and well, but both
passed away the following year.
Mr. Finlayson, at his own request, was appointed to superintend
the Hudson's Bay Company's affairs in the interior of the island.
This was in 1862 and he continued in that position until he retired
from the service and spent the remainder of his days looking after
his private interests. In 1878 he was elected mayor of Victoria,
which office he filled for one term, and in that position, as in the othei
places of public trust which he had filled, he made an excellent record.
In 1849 Mr. Finlayson was united in marriage to Miss Sarah
Work, a daughter of John Work, a Hudson Bay factor and a native
of Ireland. Mrs. Finlayson died January 25, 1906, having for fourteen years survived her husband. Their family consisted of seven
daughters and four sons. No history of the northwest and its development would be complete without reference to Roderick Finlayson,
who as a representative of the Hudson's Bay Company played a most
active and important part in the development of this section of the
country. As the years passed on he embraced his opportunities for
judicious investment and became one of Victoria's wealthiest and
most prominent citizens, having accumulated much valuable real
estate in and near the city. No man saw more of the process by
which Victoria and the province grew and developed than Mr. Finlayson, whose attachment to the Hudson's Bay Company made him
a witness of all that pertained to the welfare and upbuilding of the
northwest. He was beloved and respected by all, so that his death
was a blow to the community. The news of his demise brought a
sense of personal bereavement to many of the homes of the city and
a flag on the city hall hung at half-mast, showing that one of the leading and honored residents of Victoria had passed away.
'I    Babtiv C Proton
~NCE starting in the business world David E. Brown
has advanced step by step, overcoming all difficulties
and obstacles and achieving success through merit and
ability. He is now president of D. E. Brown, Hope
& Macaulay, Limited, in which connection he has won
for the company a creditable and enviable reputation
in the insurance loan, investment and real-estate field. His knowledge of matters essential along those lines is comprehensive and exact,
and with added executive force he has gained a large and desirable
clientage. The place of his nativity was Owen Sound, Ontario, and
the date, March 20, 1855, his parents being George and Margaret
Brown. After attending public school at Owen Sound and Fergus,
Ontario, Mr. Brown sought and obtained employment with the Great
Western Railway in Canada, being connected with that corporation
for five or six years. He continued in railway work with the Hamilton
& Northwestern until that corporation was absorbed by the Northern
Railway of Canada, and the system was called the Northern & Northwestern Railway of Canada, for whom he continued as agent, traveling auditor, cashier and accountant at the lake ports, thus serving until
1883. In the latter year he accepted the position of local freight
agent for the Canadian Pacific at Winnipeg, continuing so until 1886,
when he was transferred to Vancouver, British Columbia, as district
freight and passenger agent. He subsequently became assistant general freight and passenger agent of western fines, his jurisdiction extending east as far as Port Arthur and Fort William. In 1892 he
became general agent for the Canadian Pacific in the Orient, and for
fourteen years did important work for the company in that section of
the globe as general manager for Asia, with headquarters at Hong
Kong. Returning to Vancouver in 1906, he became general superintendent of the company's Pacific steamers, holding that office for one
year. Upon his retirement on a pension from the Canadian Pacific
in 1907, following twenty-four years in the service of that corporation, he established himself as an insurance and financial broker in
Vancouver, also doing a general railroad and steamship business,
organizing the firm of D. E. Brown & Company.    For a year the
125 126
DautO OB. OBrouin
business was conducted under that style and was then incorporated
as D. E. Brown & Macaulay, Ltd., and reorganized in 1918, under
the style of D. E. Brown, Hope & Macaulay, Limited. Mr. Brown
was elected president of the company and he is still filling that position. As its chief executive officer he controls and directs the policy
of the firm which has gained a substantial position in connection with
insurance, loans and investments, and also has operated in the real-
estate field. They handle for the Canadian Pacific Irrigation Colonization Company, farm lands in British Columbia, Alberta, Manitoba
and Saskatchewan. They are passenger agents also for the Canadian
Pacific Company's railway and steamship fines, doing a general railway and steamship passenger business as agents for all trans-Atlantic
and Pacific lines. They are also passenger agents for the Southern
and Union Pacific, the Oregon Short Line, and the Oregon-Washington Railroad & Navigation Company, better known under the name
of the "Harriman system." They maintain a branch office in London,
England, and their business along these lines is so large that the firm
is conceded to be one of the foremost in the province. Aside from the
activities of the company, Mr. Brown owns individually considerable
real estate in British Columbia.
The political indorsement of Mr. Brown is given to the conservative party. He has for a considerable period been identified with the
Masonic fraternity, in which he has taken the degrees of the Scottish Rite. He is an Anglican in religious faith. Mr. Brown is a
prominent club man, being a member of the Terminal City, Vancouver, Shaughnessy Heights Golf and Vancouver Country Clubs of
Vancouver; the St. James Club, of Montreal; and the Thatched
House Club, of London.    Mr. Brown resides at Shaughnessy Heights. jr*;; i I
m* i9lll!&x^r~.^~*^*im*m-*—c~,. glexairtier &tetoart iWonro, 0L M., C. iW.
MAN of broad scientific attainments in the field of
A his  profession  and  with   comprehensive,   practical
Jl knowledge and skill to serve as the foundation upon
vv\3 which he has built success, Dr. Alexander* Stewart
Monro is already occupying a position of distinction
in professional circles as a member of the firm of
Brydon Jack, Monro & Cumming. The consensus of public opinion
places them in the front rank and Dr. Monro is especially well known
as an eminent surgeon.
He was born at Rattray, Perthshire, Scotland, May 1,1872, and is
a son of William and Margaret (Stewart) Monro, who were also
natives of Perthshire. The father engaged in the building and contracting business at Rattray until 1872, when he crossed the Atlantic
to the new world, settling at Toronto, Ontario, where he was engaged
in the lumber manufacturing business, remaining there until 1882,
when he removed westward to Winnipeg, where his remaining days
were spent, his death there occurring in the same year. The mother
also died in Winnipeg.
Dr. Monro was a young lad when his parents removed with their
family to the west and after attending public and high schools of
Winnipeg he entered the Manitoba University in preparation for a
professional career and was graduated from the medical department
with the class of 1896, at which time the degrees of M. D. and C. M.
were conferred upon him. To theoretical training he added the broad
practical experience which came through his service as interne in the
Winnipeg General Hospital, with which he was thus connected for a
year. He also spent eight months in the Brandon Hospital and then
came to the western country in December, 1896, acting as surgeon for
the Canadian Pacific Railway Company at Kamloops for a year and
a half. In February, 1898, he arrived in Vancouver, where he at once
entered upon active practice, and has since successfully followed his
profession, his skill and ability increasing as the years have gone by.
In 1903, in addition to his private practice, he acted as assistant to the
noted Chicago surgeon, Dr. Alexander Hugh Ferguson. He has ever
been a close and discriminating student and has carried his researches
129
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fllesanDer &tetoatt c^onto, c®. D„ C» Q®*
and investigation far and wide into the realms of medical and surgical
science. He has done considerable post-graduate work abroad, having studied in London, Vienna, Paris and other foreign cities, where
he has gained knowledge of the methods of practice of some of the
most eminent physicians and surgeons of the old world. He is now
specializing in surgery, practically giving his entire attention to that
branch of his profession, in which he displays notable skill. In addition to a large private practice he is acting as a member of the surgical staff of the Vancouver General Hospital, and is surgeon to the
Great Northern Railway Company. He holds membership in the
North Pacific Surgical Association, the Canadian Medical Association, the Vancouver Medical Association, of which he was president
in 1910-11, and the British Columbia Medical Association, of which
he was secretary for several years, while in 1913 he was honored with
the presidency. He is also interested in fruit growing, having a fine
ranch in the Okanagan valley.
In Victoria, British Columbia, in 1900, Dr. Monro was married
to Miss Edith McCrossan, a daughter of Thomas McCrossan, one of
Winnipeg's pioneer merchants and an alderman of that city in 1882.
Mrs. Monro is an accomplished musician, who has studied largely in
this country and also in Vienna. She is a member of the Vancouver
Musical Club and is well known as a harp artist.
While not an active worker in party ranks, Dr. Monro votes with
the liberal party. He is well known in Masonic circles as a member
of Cascade Lodge, A. F. & A. M., and has also taken the degrees of
the Scottish Rite. Something of the nature of his interests and recreation is shown in the fact that he holds membership in the Vancouver,
University, Terminal City, Jericho Country and British Columbia
Golf Clubs, while his life principles have their root in the teachings
of the Presbyterian church, his membership being now in St. Andrew's. It has been said of him that he meets every demand of a
successful physician in his scientific training and comprehensive
knowledge, in his practical experience, in his unfailing courtesy and
good cheer. Moreover, he is ready for any emergency, steady nerves
and hand enabling him to skilfully perform the most delicate operation. Gradually he has advanced in his profession until his opinions
have largely come to be accepted as authority by other representatives
of the medical fraternity.
^.^wi^-.
wt* ,
I
	  g>am prtgfjouge
BRIGHOUSE, son of Samuel and Hannah
'^Kf Brighouse, was born at Lindley, Huddersfield,
CI C Cp Yorkshire, England, January 13, 1836. His pater-
cB k-<J £5 nal ancestors were for generations residents of Huddersfield and filled important offices in the gift of the
crown and the people. His great-grandfather was
sheriff of that county and his father, who was a large farmer, was
parish overseer and occupied a position on the board of poor-law
guardians. His mother's family, the Mortons, originally Scotch, had,
in the latter part of the sixteenth century settled at Lindley, where
they subsequently established the pottery industry, for which that
place is so well known, and which the family still control. Our subject was educated in his native town and at the age of eighteen years
took charge of his father's farm, which he continued to manage until
he left England. He had not himself formed any definite plan of
coming to America, as for a young man he was prospering well at
home, but in consequence of a promise previously made to his cousin,
John Morton, he decided to try his fortune in the new world. At this
time the fame of British Columbia was being sounded throughout
England and the cousins determined to come to this country. On
May 8, 1862, they sailed from Milford Haven for New York on the
Great Eastern. From New York they went to San Francisco via
Panama, and from there came to British Columbia, going direct to
New Westminster, which they reached late in June of the same year.
After remaining there a few days they went to the Cariboo region,
by the Harrison-Lillooet route. They remained at the mines only
one month owing to the inclement character of the season and the fact
that all the best claims were taken up. They returned to New Westminster in October, having completed the round trip on foot. On the
4th of November they came to the shores of Burrard Inlet, where the
city of Vancouver now stands and where they had, in conjunction with
William Hailstone, purchased five hundred and fifty acres of land.
Here the three partners passed the winter, having erected a log
house and a small barn. During the wet season they worked hard at
clearing the land.   The parcel of land they then purchased is known
133 *■*"?■
e
134
^am 'Brigfrouase
mm
now on the plan of Vancouver townsite as No. 185. Their house was
the first white habitation erected on the shores of Burrard Inlet, and
Mr. Brighouse had therefore a clear claim to the title of the "oldest
inhabitant." They lived on good terms with the Indians and only
once, and that shortly after they came, was there any attempt on the
part of the Indians to commit theft. On this occasion they complained to Colonel Moody, who sent for Chief Capilano, who caused
the stolen articles to be returned. Mr. Brighouse brought the first
cook stove to the shores of the Inlet, carrying it on his back. Shortly
after settling in their log house he and Mr. Hailstone began the work
of cutting a trail across the peninsula from the site of the old Sunny-
side Hotel to False creek, and this they completed before the beginning of the next summer. In the spring of 1863 the partners put in
a crop of vegetables. During the same year they leased a large parcel
of land on the Fraser river, where the McLaren-Ross mill later stood
and farmed this in conjunction with their own tract. In the autumn
of 1864 Mr, Brighouse, who had examined the farming country in
the Fraser valley and had foreseen how valuable it must become, purchased six hundred and ninety-seven acres on Lulu island, in what
is now some of the most valuable agricultural land in the province.
His land included the site on which the town hall now stands. At the
time he acquired this estate there were no white settlers on the island.
In 1864 he and his partners in the Burrard Inlet property leased their
farm and Messrs. Morton and Hailstone went to California. Mr.
Brighouse, however, remained in British Columbia and continued his
farming pursuits with ever increasing success. In 1866 he bought
another property called Rose Hill, near New Westminster, and this
he made into a dairy farm. This and the Lulu island farm he continued to operate simultaneously from that time until 1881. In 1867
his lease of the land where the McLaren-Ross mill stood expired and
he did not renew it owing to the fact that he then had all the land of
his own he could handle. He found that the dairy farm at Rose Hill
and his Lulu island farm were working together admirably so he
invested heavily in them. In 1870 his barn on Lulu island, the
largest on the river, burned with the entire crop. When he got the
land well under cultivation he started raising stock on a large scale
and was especially anxious to improve the quality of farm cattle in
this country, and through the purchase and introduction of some thoroughbred stock he was very successful in this direction. He served
in the second council of Lulu island, having been appointed by that
body to take the place of a member who had left the province. He
had been requested previously to stand for the council but had always
J-BI
.-anBss-irnffWW.-*" -» ■* « 'TJr»M
gumuut'f •%»am TBtigJjouse
135
declined and now only accepted at the urgent solicitation of the councillors. During 1869 and 1870 Mr. Brighouse was one of the active
workers for the confederation with the Dominion but opposed the
adoption of the Dominion tariff. In 1881 he leased his farms on the
Fraser and returned to his property on the Inlet. He found that
the persons to whom the land had been leased had departed some time
before, the Indians having burned their barns and stables. Shortly
prior to this two hundred acres of this property had been sold, so that
there now remained among the three partners three hundred and fifty
acres. Mr. Brighouse immediately began the work of clearing the
land and let contracts for that purpose. He felt confident that the
Canadian Pacific Railway would be extended from Port Moody and
he realized how valuable the property had become. When the extension of the line was decided upon, they gave one third of their land
to the company, according to agreement, and the work of cutting the
balance into lots and building streets through it was at once proceeded
with. Mr. Brighouse was ever keenly interested in Vancouver's prog
ress and welfare. He was one of the most active workers in securing
the first charter, and in 1887 he was elected by acclamation to represent ward 1 in the city council and accepted the position of acting
chairman of the board of works. He also sat in the council during the
following year and filled the chairmanships on the same committees
as in the previous year. He was recognized as one of the most energetic and broadest-minded members of the council, and it was largely
through his efforts as chairman of the board of works that the affairs
of the city were so well conducted. Mr. Brighouse made two visits to
England and in November, 1911, made his final trip, going to his
birthplace, Huddersfield, where amid the environment of his childhood and many cherished friends he passed quietly from this life,
July 31, 1913.
»
11
it
1  I  Henrp Valentine Cbmonte
)HE prestige of the Edmonds name has been so long
established in the province of British Columbia, and
especially in the city of New Westminster, that no
introduction is necessary to recall one of the foremost personalities that shaped the early history and
development of the institutions and business affairs
of this city. The late Henry Valentine Edmonds, whose place and
influence in the history of British Columbia deserve especial prominence, was born in Dublin, Ireland, February 14, 1837, and died
in Vancouver, this province, on the 14th day of June, 1897. He was
the second son of William and Matilda E. (Humphries) Edmonds,
both natives of Dublin. On the paternal side the descent is traced
from an old English family that settled in Ireland during the early
days, and on the maternal side the ancestry is French Huguenot, the
forbears escaping from France at the time of the St. Bartholomew
massacre and the subsequent persecution of the Huguenots.
Until his twelfth year the late Mr. Edmonds was educated in
the schools of his native city, Dublin, and then the family removed
to Liverpool, England, where he attended the High School Mechanics Institute. He later went abroad on the continent and was a
student in the famous Moravian Institute at Neuwied on the Rhine,
finishing his education in Dresden, Saxony. His early business
career was spent in Liverpool, and later in London. While in the
latter city he joined the First Surrey Volunteers, the first of the
new corps established in that city, but upon the formation of the London Irish Volunteers he joined his national corps. Passing rapidly through the non-commissioned ranks, he was selected by the
Marquis of Donegal, the colonel commanding, as ensign of a new
company, especially formed for the marquis' son-in-law, Lord Ashley.
On receiving this appointment, July 5, 1860, Mr. Edmonds was
attached to the Third Battalion Grenadier Guards for drill instruction, and passed with a first-class certificate. On April 13, 1861, he
was promoted to a lieutenancy, and held this rank until he resigned
in April, 1862, in order to come to British Columbia. At that time
he stood second on the list for succession to the captaincy. Lieutenant
Edmonds took part in the celebrated reviews held in 1860 in Hyde
139
I 140
l^entg valentine <2;DmonD0
f f
\
1      I
Park, in 1861 at Wimbleton, and in 1862 at Brighton, under the
late Lord Clyde. One day, after he had taken part in a parade,
he was with part of his company when the London Bridge fire
occurred, and he and his men rendered material service in keeping
the grounds clear so that the firemen could work freely.
In May, 1862, Mr. Edmonds sailed from England, and on the
following 4th of July arrived in San Francisco. He was there
during the great rejoicing occasioned by the passage through congress of the Pacific Railway bill. In the same year he came on to
Victoria and thence to New Westminster, where his career of usefulness was to henceforth be so conspicuously wrought out. For
twenty-five years he was one of the foremost real-estate and insurance men of New Westminster, doing business with nearly all of
the property holders of the city. At the same time he gave his efforts
gratuitously to the advancement of all the best interests of the city.
He was active in the organization of the Royal Columbian Hospital
and the Mechanics Institute, and his services as secretary, treasurer
or president were always in demand. On the formation of the Board
of Trade in New Westminster he served as its secretary for the first
year, and had much to do with carrying out the details of the board's
organization, later being its vice president and for many years continuing as a factor in its work. He gave freely of both means and
time for the proper celebration of such annual events as the Queen's
anniversary, and also for the reception of distinguished visitors that
came to the city He worked hard in committee and in private to
make these occasions a credit to the city. He is honored as the originator of the May Day festival throughout the province and the first
celebration of that day was held in his city.
He helped to organize the Howe Sound Silver Mining Company and the Fraser River Beet Sugar Company. In 1878 he and
other public-spirited citizens organized the Fraser Valley Railway
Company, of which he was made secretary. Later this became the
New Westminster Southern Railway Company, in which he continued his interests. In December, 1867, he was appointed clerk
of the municipal council and during the seven years of his incumbency of that office all the city's business was performed without
any legal costs to the community. He himself drew up all the bylaws and did all the work necessitated by the incorporation of the
city.
In December, 1872, Mr. Edmonds was selected as the agent of
the government under the Walkem government. In addition to the
exaction of his private affairs, he performed all the duties of this
kfr
iLkJ£
... i .■.i-imiTg..
T^rgjTOpp*»««" I^entg valentine OBDmonDg
141
office for the district of New Westminster until January, 1876,
when, on the advent into power of the Elliott ministry, it was decided
to apportion the duties of agent to several officers. Mr. Edmonds,
thenceforth, until July, 1880, retained the office of sheriff and gave
a most creditable performance of its work. He enjoyed the confidence of the entire legal profession and no suits were ever brought
against him nor did he bring any, except such as were entirely justified and eventuated in his favor.
In 1870, on the organization of the New Westminster Rifle Volunteers under the late Captain Bushby, Mr. Edmonds was appointed
adjutant, which position he held until 1874 when, on the formation
of the No. 1 Rifle Company, he was gazetted as captain, the following memorandum being a part of his record: "Formerly lieutenant
London Irish Volunteers, holding A-l certificate for efficiency, and
remained in command until May, 1875, when he retired retaining
rank of lieutenant."
Mr. Edmonds served his city both in council and as its honorable
mayor and also stood for the provincial legislature, as an independent
candidate, but was defeated. In 1883 he received the appointment
of justice of the peace for New Westminster city and district.
Throughout his career in this city his confidence in the future and
the boundless resources and possibilities of New Westminster, city
and district, and the entire Fraser River valley, was unshaken, and
he gave evidence of this confidence by his extensive investments in
both the city and district and especially at Port Moody and what
has since developed into the phenomenal city of Vancouver He had
large sawmill interests and timber tracts and mines in the province.
He was a large shareholder in the New Westminster Street Railway,
and the Vancouver Electric Railway & Light Company. His benefactions were large, and of material value. He gave Vancouver the
site for its most pleasantly situated public school and the beautiful site
for the Episcopal church and parsonage, and to New Westminster he donated a public-school site. His activity and philanthropy
were always manifest in the work of the Episcopal diocese of New
Westminster and the "Churchman's Gazette" records his repeated
benevolences.
In November, 1867, Mr. Edmonds was very happily married to
Miss Jane Fortune Kemp. She was born in Cork, Ireland, the
eldest daughter of Thomas P. Kemp, of that city. They became the
parents of the following children: William Humphries; Henry
Lovekin; Beatrice Elvina, who married W. A. Monro; Walter Frethj
and Mary Gifford, who married C. M. Marpole, of Vancouver.
il
—  1
II 1«
™B^^B>2f&to;
,^r,.-vwir »in.i«rir.w..- I  iMi.i. T^J.' —»—
i^^  — George ^tefaenson Harrison
)HILE George Stevenson Harrison has been a resident of Vancouver only since 1905, he has within
\X / * ^a* Period won recognition as a strong and force-
VV \9) ful element in that business activity upon which is
based the present progress and prosperity of the
city. He is today manager of the Vancouver branch
of the Merchants Bank, the first branch of that institution to be
established in British Columbia. He was born at St. Mary's, Ontario, June 25, 1875, and is a son of the Hon. David Howard and
Kate (Stevenson) Harrison. The father, who was of English
descent, was born in London township, Ontario, June 1, 1843. He
pursued his education in the University of Toronto and in McGill
University at Montreal, receiving from the latter institution the
degree of M. D. Having thus qualified for the practice of medicine
he followed his profession for some years at St. Mary's, Ontario.
He then removed to Winnipeg, Manitoba. He also became a recognized leader in politics and was first returned to the provincial legislature at the general election in 1883. In August, 1886, he was
invited by Mr. Norquay, then premier of Manitoba, to join his administration, was sworn in as a member of the executive council and
appointed minister of agriculture, statistics and health. He occupied that position with the government until December, 1887, when
on the resignation of Mr. Norquay he was appointed premier by
Governor Aikins and continued in that administrative position until
January, 1888, when he resigned the premiership on the defeat at
the polls of Joseph Burke, a member of his administration. He
has done much to shape the public thought and action, and in guiding
the destinies of the province wrought many noted reforms and improvements.
Liberal educational opportunities were accorded George Stevenson Harrison, who after pursuing a course of study in the Manitoba
College entered the employ of the Merchants Bank of Canada at
Winnipeg in 1893. He has since been continuously connected with
that bank and his twenty years' service as one of its representatives
indicates his efficiency, his loyalty and his reliability.   In 1905 he
145
I 146
<£>eotge §>teuen#on JDarrteon
came to Vancouver where he entered upon arrangements toward the
establishment of a branch for the Merchants Bank which was here
opened in February, 1906. He became its manager and has since
controlled the interests of the institution which is one of the strong
financial concerns of Vancouver. He also has individual connections,
being a director of the Vancouver Financial Corporation, Limited.
In 1906 Mr. Harrison was married to Miss Mary Ellen Davis,
of Sarnia, Ontario, a daughter of Canon Davis, of the Anglican
church. Their two children are Katherine Elizabeth and David
George. Mr. Harrison is a member of the Vancouver and Jericho
Country Clubs and is prominent and popular in the social as well
as the business circles of the city. His record is one which any man
might be proud to possess for in his entire business career he has
never made engagements that he has not kept nor incurred obligations that he has not met. He enjoys in full measure the confidence
and high regard of colleagues and contemporaries.  '
J
ic^i^Txy
fiB^*
fJtV^<Biyfr^r|r-CT»i ,   ■ .«!».—|«»yw JXobert ^teben^on
I HE life history of Robert Stevenson if written in detail
would present some interesting features of mining experience in the northwest. As a mine owner he is well
known, having made extensive investments in mining
property. His home is now at Sardis, British Columbia, and Williamstown, Glengarry, numbers him
among its native citizens, his birth having there occurred on the 28th
of July, 1838. He is a son of Samuel and Susan Stevenson, both of
whom are deceased. They were farming people and under the parental
roof their son Robert spent his boyhood days, his education being
acquired at the convent and grammar schools of Vankleek Hill, in
Prescott county, Ontario. When his younger days were over he
came, in early manhood, to British Columbia, arriving here in the
month of May, 1859, during the time of the gold excitement in the
northwest. He found, however, that reports had been much exaggerated and feeling that he could not obtain a fortune in the mines he
proceeded to what was in those days called Washington territory, now
the state of Washington, in which he remained until he joined the
celebrated Collins expedition bound for the Similkameen country and
led by Captain Collins, a noted Indian fighter. The western country
in those days was one vast, trackless forest, hence the difficulties to
be encountered can in a measure be understood. The party had to
make trails through unknown woods, had to cross rivers and climb
mountains. This was the first white party to pass from the salt water
to the interior, going in by way of the famous Snocolomie Pass. They
crossed the pass on the 2d of June, at which time there was ten feet
of snow, our subject trying to touch bottom with a ten-foot pole, but
failing. That the party of thirty-four might proceed it was necessary
to dig a ditch two and a half feet wide and two and a half feet deep
and fill it in with brush to form a footing. The party proceeded down
the Yakima river and crossed where the town of Parker is now located.
During all the journey they were harassed by unfriendly Indians who
objected to the white men's intrusion into their possessions or hunting grounds. As Mr. Stevenson recalled this trip and in retrospect
saw the country of those days he marvelled at the progress made.   At
149
II 150
Robert §teuen#on
v!
that time between the Cascades and the present town of Midway, a
distance of two hundred and fifty miles, there was not a white settler.
The party reached Fort Okanagan, the fort of the Hudson's Bay
Company, on the 16th of June, 1860. Two days later this fort was
abandoned and Mr. Stevenson is today the only living man who was
present at its abandonment. The Indians were on the warpath and
had Mr. Stevenson and his party rounded up for five hours, but they
fought their way out without losing a man. They reached Rock Creek
mines on the 22d of June, 1860, and there Captain Collins made a
speech and left the party.
Mr. Stevenson engaged in prospecting for some time and then
occurred the Rock Creek war, the miners refusing to comply with
the law by taking out a license or recording claims. Governor Douglas
went to the locality to settle the trouble and in recognition of the part
which Mr. Stevenson had taken all through the difficulty Governor
Douglas appointed him customs officer at a salary of two hundred
and fifty dollars a month. Then came the great Cariboo gold excitement. Mr. Stevenson sent in his resignation as customs officer and
started at once for the Cariboo. He had received information that
horses were in great demand there, so he bought a large number, drove
them into the country and disposed of them at a handsome profit. He
was one of ten men who took any money into the Cariboo. He bought
into the Jordan claim in the fall of 1861 and on the 3d of November of
that year left for Victoria," traveling with the party of the later Governor Dewdney, now a resident of Victoria, reaching Yale on the 5th of
December, and Victoria on the 15th of that month. While in Victoria
Mr. Stevenson met the famous "Cariboo Cameron," who had just
landed in Victoria with his family. This was on the 2d of March, 1862.
Mr. Stevenson introduced Cameron to Mr. Wark, the chief factor of
the Hudson's Bay Company, and was instrumental in his getting credit
for goods to the amount of two thousand dollars. Mr. Stevenson
went back to the Cariboo on the 23d of April, 1862, Cameron following in July. The former had heard of unclaimed ground and was
forced almost to drive Cameron to assist in staking this. However,
on the 22d of August, 1862, the Cameron mine, one of the richest mines
of the Cariboo, was staked by Mr. Cameron and Mr. Stevenson. Mr.
Cameron wished to name it for Mr. Stevenson but the latter had his
way and it was called the Cameron claim. On the 2d of December,
1862, there were seven shareholders in the mine: John A. and Sophia
Cameron, Robert Stevenson, Richard Rivers, Allan McDonald and
Charles and James Clendening, all now deceased except Mr. Stevenson.   Mrs. Cameron died on the 28d of October and her body was
k^t^ts^g^^ggfn^^tm^rm; f--"'''""' "   "■"■■'" ■**
mm K-
Robert ^>tetoen0on
151
placed in a cabin outside of Richfield to await a chance to take her
home for burial. On January 31st, at a temperature of fifty degrees
below zero, Mr. Cameron had the body removed to Victoria, where
a provisional burial was made until later in the year when the remains
were taken to Cornwall, New Brunswick, Mr. Cameron almost spending a fortune in accomplishing his end. He was notably successful
as a miner for a considerable period but eventually lost all he had,
and drifted back to Cariboo, where he died poor and was buried in
the old mining camp. It was on the 2d of December, 1862, that the
rich gold strike was made on the Cameron claim, Mr. Stevenson rocking out one hundred and fifty-five dollars from thirty-five gallons of
gravel. It was after this that Mr. Cameron took his wife's remains to
Victoria, Mr. Stevenson accompanying him, and the burial there took
place on the 8th of March. Mr. Cameron offered twelve dollars a
day in addition to a sum of two thousand dollars to any of the men
who would accompany him, but all were afraid of smallpox. Mr.
Stevenson, however, went and paid his own expenses. When they
were on their way out of the country the cold was intense and everywhere along the road they found many dying of smallpox. While
en route they lost their food supplies and their matches and suffered
untold hardships but at length reached Victoria on the 7th of March.
On November 7th, the body of Mrs. Cameron was started for the east
via Panama for final burial.
After the funeral services at Cornwall Mr. Stevenson returned
to the Cariboo in 1864 and took active part in mining affairs. During the stirring days from 1861 until 1864 and even up to 1877 he held
interests in various famous claims including the Cameron, Prince of
Wales, Moffat, the Bruce and many others, and is so thoroughly
familiar with the history of mining development in that section of
the country that Sir Mathew Bigbee said of him that he was the best
posted man in the Cariboo country.
Mr. Stevenson went to Chilliwack and there married Miss Caroline E. Williams on the 26th of July, 1877, since which time he has
been engaged in farming and mining. He is the largest individual
mine owner in the Similkameen country and has large holdings at
Leadville, two groups of claims at the Great Nickel Plate and is an
extensive owner at Copper Mountain, his claims amounting altogether
to more than forty.
Unto Mr. and Mrs. Stevenson have been born four children:
Clarinda Elizabeth, a teacher of Chilliwack; John Edison, living on a
farm at Chilliwack; Roberta E. L., the wife of James Watson, B. A.,
principal of a school at North Vancouver; and Robert Bryant.
'
:¥( 152
Robert §>teuen#on
i
i i
Mr. Stevenson is among the very few now living who are entitled
to be numbered among the real pioneers of British Columbia, for he
has endured innumerable hardships and gathered wide experience
when the resources of the province came to the attention of the world.
There is nothing which characterizes him better than the way the
Indians called him, the "Man Afraid of Nothing." He climbed the
most rugged crags and would enter the wildest canyons. He swam
horses across the Similkumeen river hundreds of times and also across
the Thompson and the Okanagan when there were dangers on every
hand. Mr. and Mrs. Stevenson now occupy a beautiful home on a
farm of two hundred and fifty acres at Sardis, the large and commodious house being one of the landmarks of the region and the
property a show place famed as a model establishment of its kind.
The history of both of them links the present with the pioneer days,
and though both are advanced in age, they are still strong and robust,
clear of brain and active bodily and mentally. Both are great workers
in the Methodist Episcopal church. When a young man out among
the hills, alone with his God and nature, Mr. Stevenson made a study
of religious matters and has ever adhered to those deep-rooted conclusions which resulted from his meditations. He has never dissipated,
never used tobacco, and to these things and his life in the open air
may be attributed his present splendid state of health. A man five
feet seven or eight inches tall, he weighs over two hundred pounds
and at the age of seventy-five has an energy and business acumen
which many a successful man of half his age might well envy. In his
political views he is a conservative. He belongs to Princess Lodge
of Masons at Montreal and is a charter member of the Royal Order
of Orangemen of Princeton. He also belongs to the Vancouver Mining Club. He is one of the few men remaining of the early days, a
picturesque character because of his many and varied experiences in
connection with the mining development of the northwest. He can
relate most interesting incidents of the early days, of the fife lived
by the miners, and he is one of those who have prospered by labor
and Judicious investments, his mming and other properties being
extensive and valuable. 1
■
111
I
11
r
— I *&■>*£■ f*JP *?^V7
^
//<r in^ud   ■    I.   C7Lou-6( ji
tL'^^Tl>i---vaff^=g^^i-^.^.M-.^-^~u.i.i .i»»». Wfjoma* Jlapter Ifyibbtu
jHOMAS  NAPIER HIBBEN, prominent citizen,
pioneer merchant and founder of the house of T. N.
T&S Hibben & Company, the oldest established and con-
wd tinuously conducted mercantile business in Victoria,
and one of the coterie of men whose fine faith in the
city's future laid the foundation for the subsequent
development from the crude trading post, as they found it, into one of
the most prosperous communities, and the acknowledged beauty spot
of the Pacific coast, was a native of Charleston, South Carolina,
where he was born August 12,1827.
He was educated in the schools of his native city, and in 1849, in his
twenty-first year, was attracted by the gold excitement to California,
making the long arduous journey in the familiar prairie schooner of
those days. For a time he engaged in mining and prospecting, but
finding the rough life not to his liking, he settled in San Francisco,
where he established a book and stationery store, which he conducted
successfully until 1858, when he sold the business to Bancroft, who
afterward became widely known through his authorship and publication of Bancroft's History of the Pacific Coast. In the same vear
Mr. Hibben came to Victoria, and in partnership with Mr. Carswell
purchased the Kurskis Book Store, which they conducted together
until 1866, when Mr. Carswell retired and Mr. Hibben assumed entire
control of the business. Later, however, Mr. Kammerer and Mr. Bone,
the latter of whom had grown up in the business from an errand boy,
were taken into partnership.
The original store on Yates street was in 1861 removed to Government street, where larger quarters were required, and recently the
fine office and store structure, known as the Hibben-Bone building,
was erected to accommodate the rapidly growing trade.
Mr. Hibben's keen foresight and confidence in the city's future
prompted him to make considerable investments in real estate and the
subsequent remarkable advances in values were ample confirmation of
his judgment. Mr. Hibben was for over thirty years a familiar figure
in the life of Victoria, although he never sought nor held public office,
in fact steadfastly refused to accept honors in this direction.   But no
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project which spelled advancement social, civic, educational' or commercial to his adopted city, ever lacked his hearty indorsement and
cooperation. Personally he was affable, courteous, generous to those
less fortunate than himself, and in his every-day life typified the old-
school Southern gentleman.
On January 21, 1864, Mr. Hibben on a visit to England, married
Miss Janet Parker Brown, a daughter of John and Elizabeth (Gilchrist) Brown, and a short time later they returned by way of the
Panama route to Victoria, where a home was established to which he
was ever devoted. Mr. and Mrs. Hibben became the parents of four
children: Mary R., the wife of W. D. Claussen of California; Estelle
Theus, the wife of T. Claussen of California; and Thomas Napier and
James Parker, both of T. N. Hibben & Company.
While Mr. Hibben was always keenly interested in affairs of a
public nature, his greatest pleasure was in promoting the happiness
of his own family, and his time outside business hours was devoted to
them almost to the exclusion of all other interests. He accomplished
much in the business world, and won his friendships by kindly sympathy and thoughtful consideration, but his greatest depth of affection was reserved for his family.
He was a member of the Pioneer Society, the Board of Trade
and the Reformed Episcopal church, and a strong supporter of the
late Bishop Cridge when he seceded from the established church, and
formed the Reformed Episcopal congregation in Victoria. Mr. Hib-
ben's death occurred January 10, 1890, and his passing was the occasion for expression of deep regret from the thousands who had known
and respected him for his many sterling traits of character.
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HERE is no citizen of Vancouver who has worked
Tmore assiduously for the interests of British Colum-
Jj bia than William McNeill—in promoting industrial,
wv manufacturing and railway projects, which constitute the foundation of the material greatness of this
province—and few men of today are more conversant with every phase of its history, or have contributed more largely
in intellect, effort and capital to its advancement.
Mr. McNeill was born in Inverkip, Renfrewshire, Scotland, on
the 2d of April, 1867, his parents being John and Catherine (McTag-
gart) McNeill. On his father's side he is descended from the McNeills of Barra, the Highland clan whose battle cry was "Victory or
Death." The McNeills trace their origin back to Neil Og, who
flourished about the year 1800. His son, Neil Og, fought in the battle of Bannockburn, and was granted lands by Robert Bruce. Roderick McNeill, head of the clan in 1759, was killed as a lieutenant with
Fraser's Highlanders at Quebec in 1759. The family parted with the
estate of Barra in 1840. On the mother's side, Mr. McNeill is
descended from the Campbells of Argyle, his maternal grandmother
being a pure Campbell.
Coming to America in 1888, Mr. McNeill completed his education
at Hamilton College, New York state, where he remained for three
years, after which he came to British Columbia, where he joined the
provincial government service, and after seven years spent in the
treasury, mining, and lands and works departments, he resigned to
enter private business in Vancouver. He then became vice president
of the Vancouver, Westminster & Yukon Railway Company, and
secretary of the Stave Lake Power Company, Limited. Between
the years 1904 and 1908 he purchased the right of way for the V., V.
& E. Railway & Navigation Company, negotiating for their right of
way into the city of Vancouver. In the autumn of 1908, Mr. McNeill
secured in London and Montreal the investment of a large amount of
capital to develop the power plant on the Stave river. In the following year the Stave Lake Power Company sold all its assets to the
Western Canada Power Company, of which company Mr. McNeill
159 UUUiam ^cjiaefll
is a director and manager. He is also at the present time actively
interested in the development of the hydro-electric company that is
building a power plant on Hocsall river and the power line to Hays-
port, Port Edward and Prince Rupert. He has also large holdings
in fruit lands on the lower' mainland and timber interests in various
parts of the province and is a stockholder in the Vancouver
Horse Show Association, in which he has been interested since its
organization.
On December 6, 1898, in Victoria, Mr. McNeill was married to
Minnie Jean, third daughter of the late William McGillivray Mun-
sie, one of Victoria's oldest and wealthiest citizens. They have two
children, Catherine Margaret and William Ronald Dunn.
Both Mr. and Mrs. McNeill are well known in club circles, Mr.
McNeill being a member of the Vancouver Club, Royal Yacht Club,
Jericho Country Club, Vancouver Golf & Country Club, Vancouver
Tennis Club; and the American Universities Club, of London. Mrs.
McNeill holds memberships in the Georgian Club, Women's Musical Club, Studio Club, Jericho Country & Golf Club and Vancouver
Tennis Club. In religion Mr. McNeill is a Presbyterian, being a
member of the board of Westminster Hall Theological College. His
labors have constituted an important element in public progress, and
his name should be engraved high on the roll of those who have been
most active and helpful in promoting the development and upbuilding of the west.  •afTHWTrFTafifWBmma
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...    iLiUUmjULLJLimiJ George JBougla* prpmner
lEORGE DOUGLAS BRYMNER, one of the honored and representative citizens of New Westminster,
is a typical man of the age, alert and enterprising,
a student of conditions and of significant problems,
and a cooperant factor in all that makes for the
development and substantial growth of city and
province. He is now manager here for the Bank of Montreal and
as such a leading figure in financial circles. He was born at Melbourne, in the province of Quebec, on the 3d of December, 1857, and
is a son of Douglas Brymner, LL. D., and Jean (Thomson) Brymner, both of whom were natives of Greenock, Scotland, where they
were reared and married. Two children were born there and in 1857
the family came to Canada, settling on a farm near Melbourne,
whence in 1867 they removed to Montreal, where the father became
assistant editor of the Montreal Herald. In 1870 he was appointed
Dominion archivist and removed to Ottawa to take up the duties of
his office, filling that position to the time of his death, which occurred
in 1902 at the home of his son George D., in New Westminster, while
on a visit to this city. He was then a man of seventy-nine years,
but remained active to the time of his death. During his service as
archivist he was honored by the Queen's University with the degree
of LL. D. He was a man widely known and universally esteemed
and honored. His broad knowledge and his public spirit brought
him into contact with intelligent men throughout the country and
among that class his warm friendships were formed.
George D. Brymner spent his youthful days under the parental
roof and in the acquirement of his education attended successively
the Melbourne public school, the Montreal and Ottawa high schools
and St. Therese College, in which he became a student in order to
master the French language. His initial step in the business world
was made in 1874 in connection with the Bank of Montreal. He
entered the Cornwall, Ontario, branch of that institution and subsequently was with the Bank of Montreal in Stratford and Almonte,
Ontario, where he served as accountant. When the branch bank in
Vancouver was established he was sent with Campbell Sweeny to
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George Douglas iBrpmner
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open this Pacific coast department. Mr. Brymner continued as
accountant at Vancouver until the opening of the New Westminster
branch in April, 1888, when he was sent to this city as a sub-agent
of the branch here and soon afterward his capabilities won him
recognition in advancement to the position of manager, in which
capacity he has served continuously for a quarter of a century. The
upbuilding of the institution is attributable to his capability, enterprise and thorough understanding of the banking business. He recognizes the fact that the institution which most carefully safeguards
the interests of its patrons is the most worthy of patronage, and in
following that course he has won for the Bank of Montreal at New
Westminster a liberal and growing patronage. He is today one of
the best known men in this section of the province and is a recognized
authority on all financial matters and problems.
In 1881, in Stratford, Ontario, Mr. Brymner was united in marriage to Miss Anna Elizabeth Harrison, a daughter of the late
William Dyne Harrison, one of the well known pioneer farmers
of that section, who married Miss Lucy Tye, a member of one of
the oldest pioneer families of Ontario. Mr. and Mrs. Brymner
have become the parents of three children, but only one is now living,
Ethel Dyne, the wife of F. A. Macrae, manager of the Bank of
Montreal of North Vancouver. Mr. Brymner is prominent and
popular in club and social circles, holding membership in the Westminster Club, the Jericho Country Club, the Burnaby Lake
Country Club and the British Columbia Golf Club at Coquitlam.
Notwithstanding the extent and importance of his business affairs,
he finds time to cooperate with many measures and activities which
have bearing upon the material, intellectual and moral progress of
the community. He is a member of the New Westminster Board
of Trade and for some years served as president of the organization.
He is one of the public-spirited men of the city, and there has not
been an industrial enterprise established or any movement for the
good of the community inaugurated in which he has not been a
forceful factor, contributing in large measure to the work of public
progress and improvement. He and his wife are members of the
Church of England and in other ways he has done much to stimulate
the welfare of city and smTounding country. He has served as
treasurer of the Royal Agricultural & Industrial Society since its
organization in 1889, and for the same length of time has been a
member of its board of managers. His breadth of view has recognized not only possibilities for his own advancement, but for the
city's development, and his lofty patriotism has prompted him to George Douglas iBrpmner
165
utilize the latter as quickly and as efficiently as the former. He has
mastered the lessons of life day by day until his post-graduate work
in the school of experience has placed him with the men of sound
judgment and notable ability, giving him a place of leadership in
public thought and action.
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¥MONG the many enterprising business men who are
^2 interested in handling mining and timber properties
c5 /\ c5 and who also conduct a loan, insurance and general
c3 «** CO real-estate business, is numbered James Z. Hall, of
w Vancouver, who dates his residence here from 1885,
at which time the city was a village known as Granville. He has since been an interested witness of its development and
growth and has at all times borne his part in the work of general
progress and improvement. He was born near Toronto, Ontario,
February 12, 1863, and is a son of John and Isabella Hall and a
grandson of James Hall, of Leeds, England, who was one of the
pioneer settlers of Ontario.
In the acquirement of his early education James Z. Hall attended
the public schools of Toronto and afterward continued his studies in
the grammar school at Niagara, Ontario. He started in the business
world in connection with the building industry, remaining for a few
months in his father's employ in Ontario. In the meantime, in 1882,
he secured an intermediate grade B certificate from the Niagara grammar school, entitling him to teach and later in the same year he came
to British Columbia with the intention of following that profession.
He made his way to New Westminster where he found that salaries
paid to teachers were so small that he deemed it unwise to secure a
school. He therefore worked in the building line for three or four
months and subsequently entered the employ of T. R. Pearson &
Company, of New Westminster, in the stationery business, continuing in that employ for about four years. In 1885 he came to
Vancouver and opened a branch store for T. R. Pearson & Company,
conducting the business at the time of the great fire of 1886, which
destroyed the store. The business was shortly afterward sold to the
British Columbia Stationery & Printing Company, at which time Mr.
Hall took over the management of the Vancouver branch of the real-
estate business of Major & Pearson, of New Westminster, who
established their branch in Vancouver after the fire. His four years'
experience in that connection proved to Mr. Hall that he might win
success if he operated independently along the same line and in 1890
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he started in business on his own account, handling loans, insurance,
real-estate, mines and timber. He is today one of the oldest representatives of this field of activity in Vancouver and in the twenty-three
years of his connection with the business has made continuous progress
and won substantial success. In 1910 the business was incorporated
as J. Z. Hall & Company, Ltd., with Mr. Hall as the president, which
office he has since filled. He is familiar with all the various phases of
the different departments of his business, knows thoroughly the natural
resources of the country as to mining properties and timber and has a
good clientage in his loan, insurance and real-estate departments.
On the 1st of November, 1893, in the Church of the Redeemer at
Toronto, Ontario, Mr. Hall wedded Miss Jessie C. Greer, a daughter of Samuel Greer, one of the distinguished citizens of the province
of British Columbia, who for ten years fought the Canadian Pacific
Railway for possession of his preemption at Greer's Beach in the city
of Vancouver, the estimated value of the property reaching several
millions, the Canadian Pacific attempting to dispossess him. Mr.
and Mrs. Hall have become parents of four children, Libbie C, Kathleen Alaida, Jessie Mildred and Winnifred Myrtle. In religious
faith Mr. Hall is an Anglican and his position upon the temperance
question is indicated by his membership in the Good Templars and
the Royal Templars. His political support is given to the conservative party and his military experience covers service with the
Volunteer Artillery Corps of New Westminster for three years.
After removing to Vancouver he often walked to New Westminster
to drill. On one trip he left Vancouver at 4 o'clock in the afternoon and should have arrived at his destination at 7 P. M., but it
began snowing and eighteen inches had fallen by the time he reached
there at 9 P. M. He drilled two hours and walked back to Vancouver, arriving home at 4 o'clock in the morning. There are few
who would have shown such devotion to military duty. This spirit of
fidelity has always been characteristic of Mr. Hall, whose friends
know him to be a faithful, reliable man in every relation of life, so
that the highest regard is entertained for him by all who know him. 1
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iERHAPS no resident of Vancouver has a more interesting history than that of William H. Soule,
whose record has been most varied. His history if
written in detail would present many a chapter more
interesting than any to be found in fiction. He was
born in Eastington, near Stroud, Gloucestershire,
England, March 16, 1833. This was four years before Queen Victoria ascended the throne. For thirty years he sailed the seven seas
and then spent between three and four decades with the Hastings
Mill Company of Vancouver. He was but a boy of fifteen when
he sailed from Gloucester, as an apprentice to Price & Company,
lumber dealers of Quebec, on his first ship, the barque Carolina, and
remained on her two years, making two round trips annually between Gloucester and Quebec. It was a strange coincidence which
brought him on his first voyage to the land which many years afterward was to become his place of residence. He next went as a
common seaman on the barque Resolution, of Liverpool, which sailed
for a cargo of cotton to Apalachicola, a cotton port in the southern
United States. In 1855 he was a member of the crew of the Edward
Bilton, on its voyage from Newcastle to Odessa for wheat, which
on the outward voyage was loaded with coal for Constantinople.
Discharging the cargo there, they proceeded on to their destination,
and Christmas day of that year was spent on the Black Sea. Captain Soule afterward shipped on an American vessel, the Massachusetts, which, after loading railway metals at Newport, Wales,
sprang a leak and would have sunk in the Bristol Channel had the
captain not beached her at Barrie island, near Cardiff, just in time
to save her from going down.
Captain Soule afterward went to Barcelona and subsequently
shipped upon a newly built vessel at Belfast bound for Hong Kong.
He next changed to an American ship which was loaded at tea ports
of the Orient, and on the Albatross went to Calcutta and back to
Boston. He next sailed on the Ganges to Calcutta, where the vessel
remained during the mutiny. A brother who visited him in Vancouver twenty years ago served throughout that period of hostility
173
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Captain TOIltam fy. ^oule
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between the English and the natives. Captain Soule witnessed some
wonderful fireworks, depicting one of the battles, Lucknow. The
combustibles, ignited by accident, made a display so novel to the
natives that they were greatly frightened and fled in all directions.
The memory of their ludicrous flight causes the Captain many a
quiet laugh to this day.
Not long afterward Captain Soule became mate upon a barque
which put out from Singapore for Bangkok and Siam, for rice, with
a Chinese crew and a supercargo of three boxes, each containing
ten thousand Mexican silver dollars belonging to one of the shipowners. The skipper and mate were the only whites. A day and
a half out the vessel sprang a serious leak and at once the compradore,
a Chinaman, and all the Chinese crew wanted to take to the boats
and make for the land. The exigencies of the occasion made it necessary that Mr. Soule threaten the Chinamen with pistols to make
them pump, while he too was- helping, in order to keep the vessel
afloat to reach Singapore. In August, 1862, he sailed from Liverpool on the Wild Hunter, of Boston. This proved to be the most
momentous voyage of his life, because it took him to San Francisco,
at which place he became a passenger on the Brother Jonathan, a
vessel bound for Victoria, British Columbia. From that city Captain
Soule went in the old Enterprise to New Westminster and met John
McLennan, who was purser on the boat and the first man he knew
in this country. After one night in New Westminster Captain Soule
proceeded to the gold fields, traveling by steamer from New Westminster to Fort Yale and thence on foot to Spuzzum Bridge, where
he spent the night on a bed of poles and boughs, and the following
day plodded on toward Williams creek, a distance of four hundred
miles, walking all the way save for a short steamer trip from Soda
creek to the mouth of the canal. At that time Joseph Trutch was
building a part of the Cariboo road under Jackass mountain, between
Boston Bar and Lytton. This they had to skirt. Captain Soule and
his companion, Mr. McLennan, found it a difficult walk over that
four hundred miles, for when they started each was carrying a pack
of one hundred and ten pounds. They saw many men going in and
met many others coming out, each with varying stories of success
or failure. Captain Soule was not successful in his search for gold,
and although he had a number of claims returned with no more than
he possessed when he entered the country. His ambition was to
accumulate money enough to buy a ship for use in the cotton trade.
At this time John Wheeler had a claim at Boston Bar, and Captain
Soule united with him to work it.    The claim was situated on the
\\ Captain TOUlam It), ^oule
175
old river bottom of the Fraser. They felled trees and whipsawed
the timber for their shafting and then sunk a shaft some forty feet,
but with indifferent success. They had a garden and grew their
needed vegetables on the surface, while but a few feet beneath, in
the gravel, they were taking out gold The precious metal was obtained only in small quantities but still there was sufficient to make
the labor worth while.
Returning to Vancouver, Captain Soule went on to Port Gamble
on Puget Sound and thence sailed to Honolulu with lumber. With
several others he then made a contract to build a wagon road over
Donald Highland. They were to be paid per rod, but worked so
fast that the contractor cancelled the contract, declaring they were
making too much money. In 1869 Captain Soule returned to Vancouver and, as he says, "stuck his stake" and has resided here continuously since. In 1871 he established himself in the business of a
stevedore, in connection with the Hastings mill, and carried on that
enterprise for about thirty-four years or until he retired to private
life about seven years ago. Under his management the business had
grown to such an extent that he had agents in the United States and
also in Europe.
On the 17th of January, 1878, Captain Soule was united in marriage to Mrs. Theresa Patterson, the widow of Captain Calvin Patterson, who at an early date had come to Vancouver, where he died
as the result of an accident. Mrs. Soule was born in Manchester,
England, but after the death of her parents came with her brother
to New York city, where she was educated and grew to womanhood.
Unto Captain and Mrs. Soule have been born two children: Alfred
Hastings, who is now a resident of Victoria; and Estelle Budding,
the wife of Alexander McKelvie. When the great conflagration
in 1886 devastated Vancouver and the home of Captain Soule was
reduced to ashes, he and his family removed to his boat, the Robert
Kerr, which lay at anchor in the harbor, making their home thereon
for a year or until a new house was erected at the corner of Powell
and Dundee streets. This was then an entirely different residential
section than it is at present and they made their home there for
about twenty years. In 1906 they removed to their modern and
commodious home at No. 1136 Pacific street, and here Captain and
Mrs. Soule are now spending the evening of their lives in honorable
retirement and pleasing surroundings. The old barque, Robert Kerr,
passed from his ownership to the Canadian Pacific Railway and was
for years used by that corporation as a "coal hulk" but was eventually
wrecked on the reef near Nanaimo, where her storm-shattered skele-
lift mn
III
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Captain William ty>. ^oule
ton is now passing into decay.    It was Captain Soule who owned
the first ship of Vancouver.
When the city of Vancouver was first created Captain Soule
was a candidate for its first board of aldermen, while his old friend
and associate, H. M. Alexander, was the candidate of the conservative party for the office of mayor. The liberals won the day, however, and both Captain Soule and his friend met defeat. Captain
Soule and his family are of the Episcopal faith. He assisted in the
erection of the first three churches in Vancouver and hung the bell
in the first house of worship. He is a valued member of the Commercial Club and also belongs to the Progress Club of Vancouver.
It has been said that "Captain and Mrs. Soule are known for their
kind-hearted hospitality and high moral standards, and their influence
for good will long be felt in British Columbia after the final act of
life is ended and the curtain has been rung down forever."
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>A |N THE fall of 1888 Joseph Henry Bowman took up
his residence in Vancouver and from that time to the
present has been an important factor in the growth
of the city, founding a notable work of public service
upon energy, public spirit and the ability which
commands opportunity. He is today one of the
foremost architects in the city, controlling an extensive and representative patronage, and his individual success is well deserved, supplementing as it does valuable work along public lines. He was born
in London, England, January 24, 1864, and is a son of William
B. and Margaret (Pearson) Bowman, the former a master builder,
who followed that occupation in London until his death in 1895. He
was a native of Cumberland county and descended from a long line
of seafaring people. He married Margaret Pearson, a daughter of
William Pearson, a sea captain of Whitehaven, Cumberland county.
Joseph H. Bowman acquired his early education at the Sir Walter
Singen school, a religious institution on High street, Battersea, London. This was later supplemented by an architectural course in the
department of science and art of the South Kensington Museum.
His first employment was as draughtsman for William Rendell, designer, with whom he remained for two years thereafter, entering
his father's employ at the end of that time. He remained active
in the building construction business until the early part of the year
1888, when he removed to Canada, where for a short time he was in the
employ of the Canadian Pacific Railway Company on construction
work in the mountains. When he resigned this position he went to
Donald, British Columbia, and was there active in general construction work until September, 1888, when he came to Vancouver. He
found a little village on the site of the present flourishing city but
he recognized a true opportunity and located permanently here, where
he has since remained an honored and respected resident. At this
time he had few assets beyond his ability in his profession and his
unwavering determination, but with characteristic energy he applied
himself to any work he could find to do, being variously employed
until 1897, when he became connected with the British Columbia
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3[o#epi) l^enrp TBotoman
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Mills, Timber & Trading Company, as draughtsman. He remained
with this concern for eleven years, rising to the position of head
draughtsman and evidencing at this time an unusual ability in his profession and knowledge of its details, upon which his present success
is founded. In 1908 he entered into business for himself and the
years since that time have brought him substantial success and prominence in his chosen line of work, he being today recognized as one
of the foremost architects in Vancouver. He makes a specialty of
school architecture and has designed and superintended the construction of many of the larger schools in Vancouver and vicinity, notably
those in South Vancouver. He controls a large and important patronage, for his ability is widely known and respected, his buildings
being always adequate and convenient, while showing rare beauty
of design and artistic workmanship.
On the 14th of November, 1892, in Vancouver, Mr. Bowman was
united in marriage to Miss Gertrude Mann, a daughter of J. W.
Mann, and they have become the parents of seven children, Ethel,
Dorothy, Phyllis, Evelyn, Sidney, Irene and Margery. Mr. Bowman
is a member of the British Columbia Society of Architects and belongs
to the Church of England, acting at,present as warden of the St.
John's church, Central Park. He has been for twenty-five years a
resident of Vancouver and for the greater portion of this time he has
lived in what is known as Central Park. When he located here on
seven acres of land which he purchased from the government he found
it a veritable wilderness and he has watched it grow into one of the
most attractive suburbs of Vancouver, a worthy addition to that thriving and beautiful city. Mr. Bowman has always taken a prominent
part in public affairs of South Vancouver, being a member of one
of the first school boards soon after the formation of this municipality,
and has been one of the greatest individual factors in its growth, the
influence of his work and personality being felt as a strong force along
many lines. His present position among the men of marked ability
and substantial worth in this community has been achieved through
earnest and well directed labor, for he has steadily worked his way
upward to success and prominence, the structure of his life standing
upon the firm foundation of honor, integrity and upright dealing. 1
I  Matter C <©rabelep
I ALTER E. GRAVELEY, now living retired in Vancouver, laid the foundation of his present substantial
financial position in indefatigable industry, thorough
study of every phase of his business, careful management and close application. He was born in Co-
bourg, Ontario, in 1853, a son of William and
Margaret (Boswell) Graveley, the latter the youngest daughter of
the Hon. Captain Boswell, R. N. The Graveley family came from
Yorkshire, England, to Canada in the early part of the nineteenth
century and settled in the province of Quebec, while Captain Boswell, leaving his native England, located in Ontario about 1810. Mr.
and Mrs. William Graveley spent their entire lives in the province of
Ontario.
Walter E. Graveley was educated in Cobourg in the private school
conducted by F. W. Baron, who had previously been principal of
Upper Canada College and was then conducting a private preparatory school for boys who desired to enter the British army or navy.
In 1873 Mr. Graveley went to Toronto and engaged in the marine
insurance business, there remaining until 1881. He next went to
Winnipeg, where he was connected with the real-estate and financial
business, spending two years in that city. In 1883 he removed to
Victoria, British Columbia, arriving there in the month of June. His
intention on coming west was to locate at the terminus of the Canadian Pacific Railroad, which was then Port Moody, but upon his
arrival on the coast he felt it would be advisable for him to locate in
Victoria. While in Winnipeg he was associated in business with
F. C. Innes, who also went to Victoria and they resumed their business associations there. After about two years they dissolved partnership and Mr. Innes came to Vancouver. Later he became head of
the firm of Richards, Innes & Akroyd.
In October, 1885, Mr. Graveley removed to Vancouver and
opened his office. This was about the same time that C. D. Rand took
up his residence in the city. The first real-estate advertisement ever
published in the interests of the future Vancouver, then Coal Harbor,
was printed in 1884 in a paper published at Portland, Oregon, called
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The West Shore. This article was prepared by Messrs. Graveley
and Innes and read as follows:
"Coal Harbor, the western terminus of the Canadian Pacific Railway in British Columbia, is a magnificent sheet of water about three
and a half miles long by one to two miles wide; is completely landlocked and accessible at all stages of the tide by the largest vessels
afloat. The following table of distances will give some idea of the
advantages this place possesses over all others as the site for a commercial city. Taking a common point on the Asiatic coast, Yokohama in Japan, the distance to points on the western shores of North
America are (nautical miles):
Yokohama to San Francisco   4470
Yokohama to Coal Harbor	
The distance from Yokohama to San Francisco by the route followed
by all vessels is really nearly eight hundred miles longer than the above,
vessels taking an extreme northerly route in order to obtain the advantage of certain winds and currents. This distance does not affect
the route to Coal Harbor but should properly be added to the San
Francisco route.
"The estimated distance from above points to Atlantic tide water
and various places is as follows (statute miles):
San Francisco to New York \  3390
San Francisco to Boston ,.... 3448
Coal Harbor to New York via Canadian Pacific Railway and
Montreal   3414
Coal Harbor to Boston  3197
Coal Harbor to Montreal   2842
The distance across the Atlantic is (nautical miles):
New York to Liverpool  3040
Montreal to Liverpool   2790
"From the above we see that the distance from Yokohama to
Liverpool is (statute miles):
Via San Francisco and New York 1   12038
Via Coal Harbor and Montreal  11111
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185
or nine hundred and twenty-seven miles in favor of the Coal Harbor
route; to this add the eight hundred miles above mentioned, making
the total distance by regular route from Yokohama to Liverpool, via
Coal Harbor and Montreal, nearly eighteen hundred miles shorter
than the San Francisco route. In a few years a railroad to Hudson
Bay will undoubtedly be in operation, making the distance by this
short route about twenty-six hundred miles shorter than by San
Francisco.
"Therefore, taking into consideration the fact that the Canadian
Pacific Railway is the shortest and only one crossing the continent
under one management, a glance at the above table of distances will
show that this terminal city from a commercial standpoint cannot
possibly have any successfid competitors.
"The town site is all that could be desired and it is doubtful if
a more beautifid and picturesque location could be found on the continent: looking north across the harbor, a magnificent view of snowcapped mountains is obtained, and to the south Mount Baker is seen
to better advantage than from any other point on the coast. In fact,
look where you will, an entrancing view of woods, mountains and water
meets the gaze. At the entrance to and fronting on Coal Harbor and
also on English Bay (a roadstead to the west) is a government reserve
which influential parties are now trying to obtain for park purposes.
The land being high, about one hundred and eighty feet above the
sea level, a grand view of Burrard Inlet, English Bay, Gulf of Georgia and surrounding country can be had. On the west or English
Bay side of this reserve is situated the famous Siwash Rock. This
park alone will yet attract thousands of pleasure seekers. Nature has
done much and when drives and squares have been laid out this park
will become as famous as some of the grand national parks in the distant interior of the continent. The town site is gently undulating,
with just sufficient slope for perfect drainage, and is covered with a
growth of fine maple and other trees. The climate is undoubtedly the
best on the coast: days warm and pleasant; nights pleasantly cool;
rainfall moderate. The country in this vicinity presents great attraction to the sportsman, the lakes and streams being full of trout; in
the woods deer, bear and smaller game, and on the mountains numbers of goats. Burrard Inlet and the adjoining waters of Gulf of
Georgia and Howe Sound are unrivaled for yachting and boating.
In fact this district is the sportsman's paradise. General Manager
Van Home has stated that the Canadian Pacific will spend many
millions in this place in the erection of wharfs, workshops, rolling
mills and depot and has given it as his opinion that the terminal city
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186
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will become one of the two largest on the Pacific coast. In the fall
of 1885 the Canadian Pacific Railway will be in operation from
Atlantic to Pacific, and as these buildings will have to be erected by
the time the road is completed, the expenditure of so much money
will certainly have the effect of building up a large town in an
unprecedentedly short time. The Canadian Pacific Railway will
employ at least two thousand men in their different shops and these
will have to be supplied with the necessaries of life, thus creating
first-class openings for business men of all classes. Within the next
year and a half large wholesale and importing houses will spring into
existence here, also foundries, woolen factories, furniture factories,
etc., and as a great portion of the grain grown in the northwest will be
shipped from this port, it will necessitate elevators. Business men
of all classes looking for good openings would do well to consider
these points. Plans of the town site are now being prepared and in
a few days lots will be offered for sale, and we must say that better
chances for investment were never offered. Lots that can now be
bought for a few hundred dollars will beyond a doubt be worth as
many thousands within a year or two. A large number of people
are looking for this property to come on the markets and hundreds
of thousands are planning investments here, and we have no hesitation in stating that lots must double in value within a few months
after any are first placed on the market. We would therefore advise
those looking for first class investments in real estate to come here
and see for themselves, and we feel sure that those who do so, after
a careful inspection, will be more than satisfied with the prospects.
Investments only of a few hundred dollars will yet return fortunes
to those who have the foresight to realize the future in store for this
place. It is only once in a long time that the public have such a
chance as the present, and we would recommend those that have money
to invest to investigate the merits of Vancouver or Coal Harbor
before making other investments. We will be pleased to furnish applicants with plans and prices; also any particulars they would desire,
but would prefer to have intending investors pay Coal Harbor a visit
and then call in and see us. In a few weeks we will open an office at
the terminus and will then be pleased to show visitors over the town
site and give them every possible information, but all letters sent to
present address will always find us. Innes & Graveley, real estate
brokers and financial agents, British Columbia Express Building,
Victoria, British Columbia."
On the 16th of March, 1886, Mr. Graveley purchased the first lot
sold by the Canadian Pacific Railroad, in the new town site of Van-
lv\ Salter gg, (fftatieleg
187
couver, and still has the receipt for the first payment and other papers
issued in the transaction. Mr. Graveley continued to conduct a real-
estate, insurance and loan business in Vancouver for many years, success attending his efforts as time passed on, owing to his judicious
investments, his keen foresight and his undaunted spirit of enterprise.
He is now living retired and has just returned from a several months'
tour around the world. He is the president and was one of the first
stockholders in the British Columbia Plate Glass Insurance Company, which was organized about 1903, and at all times he has been
interested in the material development of the city, contributing
thereto in no uncertain or limited degree.
Mr. Graveley was also one of the organizers and the first commodore of the Royal Vancouver Yacht Club, occupying the position of
commodore for three years. Upon his retirement he was made honorary commodore for life. He was one of the crew on the Canadian
yacht Countess of Dufferin that sailed in New York for the American
cup in 1876. He belongs to the Vancouver and Jericho Country
Clubs and has membership in the Church of England. In politics he
is a conservative but not an active party worker.
Mr. Graveley was married in San Francisco, in August, 1888, to
Miss Frances Moore, who was born in that city, of English parentage, and they have two children, Margaret and Eileen. Mr. Graveley
has never had occasion to regret his determination to establish his home
in the west, the land of limitless opportunities, and the wise use he
has made of the advantages offered by the country has placed him in
a most creditable and enviable position, while the honorable course he
has ever followed has firmly established him in public regard as one
of the most worthy and valued citizens of Vancouver.
ill  II
1  Cfjarles Cbtom Cliff
5HARLES EDWIN CLIFF, one of the wealthy and
leading citizens of New Westminster, has lived practically retired for more than a year, now giving his
attention almost wholly to the management of his
financial interests. During a long and active business career he has overcome obstacles and adversity
which would have discouraged many a man of less resolute purpose,
and his energy and perseverance have won their just reward. He
was the founder of the firm of Cliff & Sons, well known can manufacturers. His birth occurred in Kingston, Ontario, on the 28th of
May, 1854, his parents being George and Charlotte (Pearson) Cliff,
the former a native of Nottinghamshire and the latter of Sussex,
England. They came to Canada with their respective parents in
young manhood and young womanhood. George Cliff, the paternal
grandfather of our subject, settled in Montreal, while the maternal
grandfather, Allen Pearson, took up his abode in Kingston, Ontario.
The former was a surveyor as well as an architect, and he it was who
surveyed the macadamized York road from Kingston to Toronto.
The cut stone mileposts which he set along the boulevard are still
standing and will probably remain for many more years.
George Cliff, Jr., served a seven years' apprenticeship at architectural drawing and surveying under the direction of his father, and
in association with him built the city hall and many of the most
important buildings of Montreal and Kingston at that time. He
subsequently removed to Napanee and became a prominent factor in
building circles there, his demise occurring in that city in 1898, when
he had attained the ripe old age of eighty-four years. His wife passed
away when about fifty years of age. George Cliff, Jr., cast the
deciding vote which first put Sir John A. Macdonald into power.
The vote was then an open one and could be counted at any time
during the voting. A few minutes before the closing of the polls, one
of Macdonald's friends rushed to the shop of Mr. Cliff, telling him
that all the votes were in except those of himself and his workman, and
as Macdonald was one vote behind, he would be defeated unless Mr.
191
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192
Cyatles Cutotn Cliff
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Cliff and his workman cast their votes for him. The messenger was
told that the workman favored the opposition, but he urged Mr. Cliff
to use his influence with him, and thus Macdonald won the election.
Charles E. Cliff, whose name introduces this review, was reared
under the parental roof and attended the public schools of Napanee
in the acquirement of an education.    In his seventeenth year he was
bound out to a Napanee tinsmith for a five years' apprenticeship,
serving the first year for one hundred dollars, the second year for one
hundred and ten dollars, the third year for one hundred and twenty
dollars and the fourth and fifth years for one hundred and thirty and
one hundred and fifty dollars, respectively.    The remuneration did
not include board, and his father gave bond that he would not break
the terms of the agreement.   After completing his apprenticeship he
drew a salary of one dollar and twenty-five cents for a ten-hour day,
and in 1876 was married at St. Mary's and established a home on this
meager income.    For about five years he worked as a journeyman at
St. Mary's and later embarked in business on his own account.   Subsequently he spent about nine months in Chicago and thence went to
Bath, Ontario, where he established himself in business.    In 1888 he
came to New Westminster, British Columbia, making his way to this
province at the request of James Cunningham, the hardware merchant,
in whose service he remained for a year.    On the expiration of that
period he went to Nanaimo, there working as a journeyman for one
year and then returning to New Westminster.   Here he embarked in
business with two partners under the firm style of Corbett & Cliff.
Being dissatisfied with the management of his partners, however, he
signed away his interest for his release from the concern and was at
that time two hundred dollars in debt.    Mr. Cliff then started in
business alone, but disposed of his interests shortly prior to the Westminster fire of 1898, which wiped out his establishment, and he never
received a cent in payment therefor.    Nevertheless, though disaster
had now twice overtaken him, he started out anew with undaunted
spirit, and, cleaning out his chicken house, began making butter cans
for the New Westminster creamery.    After the cans were made he
would go to the factory and seal them after they were filled, receiving
fifty cents an hour for this work.    From this small beginning evolved
the extensive can plant of Cliff & Sons in East Burnaby, which now has
a capacity of from two hundred and fifty thousand to three hundred
thousand cans daily.    In February, 1912, Mr. Cliff retired from the
active control of the concern, at that time turning the business over to
his two sons, who have since disposed of the business to the American
Can Company.    He is a director of the Industrial Properties Com-
\\ Cljaties COtoin Cliff
193
pany, Limited, and now devotes his attention almost exclusively to
the management of his financial interests.
In 1876 Mr. Cliff was joined in wedlock to Miss Mary Edgely
Bickell, of St. Mary's, Ontario, her father being Thomas Bickell, who
for many years was a merchant in Quebec and subsequently became a
commercial salesman. In his political views Mr. Cliff is a conservative, and for about seven years he served as councilman in East Burnaby. His religious faith is indicated by his membership in Queens
Avenue Methodist church, to which his wife also belongs. The period
of his residence in British Columbia covers more than a quarter of a
century, and by his own efforts he has gained a place among the leading and representative citizens of the province. His record should
serve to encourage and inspire others, showing what may be accomplished when one has the will to dare and to do.
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10HN WALTER MACFARLANE, who has been
J successfully identified with the lumber business at
j§3 Vancouver for the past eight years, has large timber
$$ holdings both on the mainland and the island and is
engaged in buying, selling and surveying all kinds of
timber land. His birth occurred in Renfrew, Ontario,
in February, 1863, his parents being Duncan and Mary (McNabb)
Macfarlane, the former a native of Scotland and the latter of Ontario.
Both have passed away. Duncan Macfarlane came to Ontario from
Scotland, settling in Renfrew county, in the spring of 1825, under the
later Chief McNabb. There the remainder of his life was spent. He
was a prominent lumberman in Ontario for many years and manufactured the first lumber that was ever shipped from Canada to the Liverpool market.
John W. Macfarlane obtained his education in the graded and high
schools of his native town and subsequently learned the lumber business
under the direction of his father, cruising and operating along that
line in Ontario until 1905. In that year he came to Vancouver, British
Columbia, and embarked in the lumber business here, having since
accumulated extensive timber holdings on both the mainland and the
island. He is engaged in buying, selling and surveying all kinds of
timber land and does much purchasing for investors, having many
clients in the States, Eastern Canada and London. Mr. Macfarlane
is likewise the president of the Western Steam & Oil Plant Company,
Limited, a concern organized here in 1910 for the purpose of selling
and installing oil burning plants for power and heating purposes.
The company has been very successful, having placed plants in many
new and modern office and apartment buildings.
On the 30th of July, 1905, at North Bay, Ontario, Mr. Macfarlane
was united in marriage to Miss Edith Macfarlane, of Niagara Falls,
Ontario. They now have two children, Anna Lorna and Robert
Walter. Fraternally Mr. • Macf arlane has been identified with the
Masons for more than twenty years, being now a member of Western
Gate Lodge, A. F. & A. M.   He was a charter member of Sturgeon
197 198
3fo!w follaltet Macfarlane
Falls Lodge, No. 447. His religious faith is indicated by his membership in St. John's Presbyterian church. Attractive social qualities
render him popular and he has an extensive circle of warm friends in
Vancouver. fTT
!l  2Btmcan JUL jWariarlane
MONG the men of ability and substantial worth in
Vancouver is  numbered Duncan  M.   Macfarlane,
A$m who, in association with his brother, controls a large
S*3 business as a timber broker in this city and owns vast
timber tracts on the mainland and the island, their
holdings aggregating thirty-three thousand acres.
He was born in Renfrew county, Ontario, in 1866, and is a representative of a family which has been known and honored in that locality
since pioneer times, his father, Duncan Macfarlane, having received
a land grant from the gove