2006026024
Sophie Purser King 1880-1975
Sophie standing and her sister Georgina.
Sophie's father was George Purser (about 1837-1883) known as the long-stocking Englishman because he wore knickers and long stockings. Sophie's mother was Sarah [Annie] Fisher Purser the daughter of a Cowichan chief.
Sophie's father died when she was 3 leaving her mother, Annie, to support seven children on the family home on Stowell Lake. She found work at the Inn in Fulford and for a time took Sophie to work with her. Her older brother felt this was too hard on their mother and arranged for Sophie to live and be schooled at the Sisters of Saint Ann Convent in Cowichan. She loved her time at the Convent staying there until she was 17. For the next seven years, she worked as a domestic in Victoria, Seattle and Tacoma before returning to the family home on Stowell Lake. It was there she met and married Leon King.