198_Morris-Mike_Reverend-Wilson.mp3

otter.ai

11.03.2023

no

Unknown Speaker 0:00
I guess I've known Mike for 60 years, we're in the same graduating class together with Patti and Jackie and things like that. And we just had lunch together. And I think it would be more enjoyable. If we redid lunch before. We're telling you some of the stories about sinking in the harbor and Mike's boat on the steamer came around and the boat didn't completely sink, we only sank to a boat here. And then we go back to school and missiles and had no sympathy for so. We were very interesting class. I think it was the most energetic of all the classes that came. So we've known Mike and being good friends and stayed in contact with all of the group. And those times. And Mike, as you probably know, is the great grandson of Reverend Wilson, who was probably, I guess, without doubt the most important record keeper in the history of Saltspring. Maybe. So Mike has come today, we talked him into coming and we've been prepping him telling him not to panic and not to worry about anything and he wanted some vodka in his water, but I don't think we're gonna allow that. So, Mike, if you want to go out, we promise not to burn his soul

Unknown Speaker 1:14
Well, well, thank you, George. When I got the email, as seen in the newspaper, this great historian was coming down to talk to your people. I really panicked. I just had 40 fits. And then I heard my cousin, Bob Tolson sitting right down here was coming up from Victoria and Chris is going to talk about his also his great great grandfather. And he's here to check on me to make sure that I don't say anything wrong. You know, my I guess a better introduce myself again, I'm Mike Morris. I was born July the 28th 1935. The lady Mental Hospital with Dr. Russian attendance. Now they tell me, Bob rush over here. His son looks very much like him. And 1935 I can tell you really if if that's really looked like you know, when we were having lunch today and we were talking about and arrived early still it still exists between Fulford and Ganges but it's a lot of fun. And Charlie Samson, my good friend is here and of course he lives just up the road here. George laundry, my good friend, He lives down and Fulford George said, you know, he said to my grandson, my grandson, someday is going to be the king of Saltspring Island. Charlie looked right at him and said, Well, he better moved to Ganges. So the rival is still there. The last time I was here, was about 26 years ago. And actually I said a few words, I came down with Joe Garner, who had written many books, never choppy rope about Saltspring, Island, etc. And I said a few words in but I really can't remember what to wear. Anyhow, I'm going to talk a little bit about great grandfather, Wilson. Some of it's pretty boring, but I'll try and throw something in. There's one thing I want to tell you before I start, you know how I'm gonna go back before he got here, actually. And I was always concerned that he had these Indian schools. And of course, you know, all the bad things. You've heard about Indian schools through the years. And I thought, Oh, my goodness, my great grandfather, I hope he wasn't one of those people. Well, he wasn't when I was working in Alert Bay, I talked to a lady called Mrs. can mirror up at the church. And she said, Oh, yeah, the waka Nish girls school in Sioux Sainte Marie, I went there. And it was just wonderful. It was just wonderful. And that was made me feel a little better. Bob Morris, my cousin two years ago, he visited Sioux Sainte Marie, and he went to the Xing walk home, which is now the Xing walk University. And Bob was standing on the grounds. Looking around and this great big Native Indian fella came up to him and said, What are you doing here? Bob said, well, great, Reverend Wilson, the Great was my great great grandfather. And he said to fella said Come with me. He said he was never so welcomed. He was showing all over the place. He showed her grand great grandfather preached, he was showing all the old buildings offered place to stay overnight, didn't want him to leave. I told him to contact me. And I've actually my wife and I have been invited to go to their reunion back in Sioux Sainte Marie next year, which I hope to attend. How about that but anyhow, we'll get Get on with it. I'll get on with the boring prior to this, I think it is. Reverend Wilson was my great grandfather and I have a copy of his journal, which is right here and a lot of people have seen him, came to Canada in 1868 and formed the shame walk home and the walker Nash home for Indian boys and girls. He was an accomplished missionary. And he taught the Ojibwe people. He also taught them. He didn't get into just the word of God. He taught them how to be carpenters, how to be Bootmakers and how to live in the world of the white man, as he called it them that Chief chinwag had requested off him. He even went to Louis resells trial in 1985, and sat four feet from Louis Riel. He was actually there to protest against Louis Riel being charged. He felt that the native people in those days had their own rights. And the church and government of Canada was wrong. However, he wasn't successful. And you know what happened to Louis Riel he did many pictures and the book is here. Of all his experiences on the prairies and he traveled everywhere. Everywhere he went. He did sketches, pencil sketches, watercolor paintings, and they were most interesting also, very many interesting cartoons and stuff of the antics of his 10 family of 10 children. He had five sons and five daughters. My grandfather of Flossie, Mrs. George Bordeaux, she later became was the eighth child of 11. And 1872, Reverend Wilson decided that he had to raise more funds. So he took the chief back to England now the chief, I call them chief bungee jump, because I can't pronounce boeken or what got C. And he took the chief back to raise funds. And at that time, he had an interview with King King Edward, who was at that time the Prince of Wales and the Prince of Wales presented him with a metal. And off all this trip back there, he raised 740 pounds for his Indian School, which I didn't really don't know how much that is, but it was a pretty good amount in those days. The 1892 Grandpa great grandfather's health started to fail. And the doctor advised him to go to another place. Get out of the all lap there was too much stress. He in fact, he was almost having a nervous breakdown. He says isn't his diary. But he doesn't put it in at words. They debated whether they should go to Texas, or British Columbia. So he had visited, they had visited friends down in Texas. And they found that it was far too hot down there. The temperature was I'll say 92 degrees. I don't have to say 35 Celsius because I'm sure everybody here knows what 95 degrees is. So he settled for British Columbia. First of all, he said that it was too hot in Texas. It was a foreign country, and he wanted to remain under the Union Jack. So he decided to come to British Columbia, which are the land of fruit and flowers and genial climate. He writes in his in his diary, and I'll quote it, perhaps this was a mad thing to do. We sent two of our children as an advanced guy guard to spy on the country. When Ufford AJ team and Luellen 16 years old. In early September, we received first letters from our young pioneers, and most enthusiastic were they about the glories of the new country. The result was Reverend Wilson decided to make the move and orders were sent at once to purchase land, build a house cottage and stable. They took all the furniture, which amounted to a whole railroad car, carload 125 crates and all. At the enormous cost of $200. The last to leave was great grandfather, my grandmother Flossie, who was 15 years old, and Nona who was a year younger. First there was a voyage by steamboat to Port Arthur, then long railroad journey across the prairies and over the Rockies until at length they made their home and Wilkinson road. Reverend Wilson stayed for only two weeks, as he was asked by the bishop Solomon to return to the Xing walk home for one year to make out for the winter. Now, you know how we talked about you said such a genial climate and how lovely it was here in BC. And great grandma

Unknown Speaker 10:48
wrote a letter to her husband in December. And this is exactly what the letter says. A strange and most unexpected change has come over my dream of a balmy and windless British Columbia. I have never passed through two days of such utter misery. The Void is green, and mostly roots and everything in the house froze the food, the water, the milk, and saddest of all to me. The lots of my lovely houseplants. The snow blew in every crack and corner and the wind was terrific. The weather was better for a short time, and we all felt more cheerful. Then in late January, Arctic weather sat in the snow being four feet deep, and like glass falling to several points below zero. It indeed seemed a terrible and quite unexpected winter. Well, Reverend Wilson gets his letter and he says, Well, I better get back there. So in March, he starts out in the train, and he gets stuck in swiftcurrent for 40 hours to get put off in the side. And then as they're traveling through the Rockies, there's still many many snow slides. And he's held up for another 15 or 20 days. And he finally gets back to Victoria. When he on his return to return to Victoria. He kept an open house and he had a lot of people there. And many Garden Parties, invitations, and this is writing again out of invitations to their home was greatly prized by the officers from the ship's birth in a squire metal Esquimalt Harbour. Apart from the warm hospitality they receive, there were five very attractive, unmarried Wilson girls. I remember talking to my grandmother Flossie. This is a long time ago and she told me there was a young utility Lieutenant named winter, who is paying her a lot of attention to her and how angry she became when her young brothers chanted if winter comes can floss be far behind. Grandmother was only 16 years old. Although the doctor told him to retire and enjoy a new country off he went exploring the Gulf Islands. And here we go. This is right out of his diary again, which some of you probably heard when we're at the 110 anniversary. Sunday. He's very precise Sunday February the fourth 1894 at 10:20am. I set I first set foot on Saltspring Island, having come over in a small boat from Cooper Island, directed by the bitten courts. I went at my solitary way from fifth Sofia spay up through the woods to Mrs. Stephens boarding house, which is just over here, as you all know, in is belongs to the Cunningham's was it over 110 years ago. We had dinner and word was sent out to the neighbors. There would be a service at St. Mark's Church, which is also just over here. In spite of short noses, there were 22 persons assembled. On returned Victoria, he called the bishop and told him of his visit to Saltspring. In the course of a very short time, the bishop offered him the parish of Saltspring Island and the steppin being $500 from the mission fund and $400 from the people per year. Reverend Wilson immediately went to the island and started looking for suitable land to purchase traveling by carriage all over the island from the north end to the south end Fulford and M to central finding the most suitable place where we are here and When we're talking the golf course is his farm. That's where we're talking about. Finally deciding to be the most suitable place would be 100 acres of farm formerly owned by a colored man named Buckner. And now for sale by Mr. Bosca, which of Victoria, the price tag was $1,200 that by paying cash, he got it considerably cheaper. There was a rickety old log house on the property with a mud chimney, and two or three old apple trees. I put some pictures up the back and I see some of them have redone this rickety old log house. And there was no fences around the whole place and it was bush and swamp. He was advised to burn the old house down but he thought he could use it. The doors had been left open and cattle and sheep had evidently been in and out. Well. On April the seventh, Norman his son and Wilson settled in the log shanty. Now, you gotta remember if you see that picture, the log Chandi Boyle boy was pretty brave. I mean, I wouldn't even want to go camping. But anyhow, they hired another young man to do some plowing, they sent to Victoria for a number and set to work Lane floors, making petitions and adding a kitchen at the back. They built a chicken house and fenced in one quarter of an acre adjoining the house for a garden. They sowed seed and planted a few fruit trees. The place was too small for the large family 10 of them still at home in Victoria. So he devised an idea to dismantle some of the home in Victoria that had recently been added to and redirect them on Saltspring island. He hired a man called Mr. Gray and Mr. Gray agreed to bring the building bringing the fruit trees and bring all the furniture to Saltspring island by barge, to the service bay for $225. Now there's a deal. Everything was in place on the skull and drawn by tuck to Vesuvius Bay dents carted by wagon, two and a half miles to their new home to their new home, which was just down the road here. By Christmas 1894 They are settled and fairly comfortable and enjoy a holiday together. 1895 We have one 100 acres of land, a new barn which costs $225 One horse, two cows, one calf, eight sheep, three pigs and 28 chickens. Early in the year I bought out my Saltspring Island pamphlet which I see is for sale up there a reproduction of it and if you haven't got one I'm gonna push it. This just really something to wonderful to read. Anyhow, he brought out the pamphlet which the government paid him $100 For. There was no doctor on the island for the time and his services were frequently in request. Because he was well versed in medicine his services were required to deliver babies set broken bones and attend many other sicknesses. September The 13th. Archie my son was keen on Huntington and gauge two men, David Stark and another inquest of deer they got three deer. October 16. Two more and an October the 18th. Norman got his first deer. A large number of salmon were caught seven monsters for them over 30 pounds. Numerous pheasant in grocery shot. Boy I sure hope they did this in season. I mean they were really going out of here. September 15 1894. Here we go. On September the 15th 1895. Our daughter, Evelyn Grace Wilson was united in marriage at St. Mark's Church to Charles W. Tolson descendants sitting right there. November 24, we had a narrow escape of being burned out. Plus, he sprained her ankle badly and was sleeping on the sofa in front of the log fire with no one beside her. The drapy on the mantelpiece caught fire and blazed up to the ceiling. considerable damage was done before it could be extinguished. At 96 our farm is gradually assuming shape. We're getting the woods slashed, and preparing for spring plowing. We have at this time is getting bigger. Three cows 15 pigs, 110 fouls. And early in January we purchased a good team, Frank and peel and old Duke was lent to the fishers. He died under the care. Flank was a horse. He wasn't a person. January the third, there was a large earthquake at 10:30pm. He writes the point Alice Bridge, which was in Victoria accident was on May the 26th with 59 people and an overloaded street car where ground flossing and Nona were fooling around and they didn't get on this street car. And so therefore, they didn't go down and get killed and thank goodness for that. Because of they had I wouldn't be here. tell you this story.

Unknown Speaker 20:38
Our first agriculture show was held October the 14th. At the new public hall, near our house having just been built. We're in it right now. Where we are. We took eight first and three second prizes for fruit. Norman Tucker's prize for horse racing, philosophy, first prize for writing and Keith first prize in the foot race. 1897 the Klondike excitement began this summer, and everybody's off to the gold rush. We add a new wing on our on our existing building, we add a large bedroom for ourselves. And we both study and also two rooms upstairs for the boys was a cost of $140, which Mrs. Walker kindly advance the money to pay for it. We moved in October 29. There was a bad accident on the Hill, which is just over here on April 13, with Jeffrey Scott's team. He had Mr. Child o'clock for 10 days as a patient. And Mr. Ray Walter had his leg broken. St. Mary's St. Mark's ladies guild was formed November the 1898. He slowly getting rid of daughters and five oh, remember 1898 Her daughter Kathleen was married to Frank Scott. On Saturday, February 12 1:30pm. At St. Mark's Church. That's too and of course, you people there's showing the land back there of where all the family had the land. And then of course, they moved out later to Scott Pruett. What happened here I'm going to tell you was just a week after their wedding on the following Saturday, a very sad catastrophe happened and Ganges harbor. It was a wild and stormy day, and late in the afternoon Harold Scott and Freddie Smedley started from the wharf in a small Skiff to return to their home just across the bay. Frank Fisher, a boy of 12 years old, found the skiff broken up on the shore. The search was once instituted and late in the afternoon, two bodies were found stranded on some submerged rocks near the house owned by Colonel Craig. Colonel Craig's place would have been the end of Churchill Road, that's where it is. The funeral took place February the 23rd. And to this day, there's a large memorial window in St. Mark's Church for that. Another interesting thing about this, the wife and I get Adam a few people receive it we get the beaver magazine, which is history of Canada. One day we're looking at it and there was a note in there from England can't think of the part of England where it was waste giving me a skull but that's okay was from England. And there was a large monument there in this in this grave Islington, in Islington, there was a large monument showing up to fredley Smedley and Scott and they didn't know what it was all about. So we wrote him a letter and axiom we've, this quotation I just read to you, we sent that back to them. So they had the history of what that was. Here we go again, November the eighth, when Alfred was married to Frederick Henry Walter, at St. Mark's Church, Fred and Fred to Henry Walter. They call them Fritz, that he was one of these naval fellows. Isn't that right? Go ahead, and I got that right, good. Now, you talk about your congenial weather in BC. The first there had been a heavy snow like this is at 99. January a heavy snow line of 22 inches deep. And guess what? The Reverend had to shovel snow. Instead of going to church. Llewellyn left for Dawson City, ran out of money and had to have some money sent to him to get them back. Keith is Nanaimo this year, working for $35 A month as a teamster, I guess the teamsters union wasn't in existence at that time at $35 a month. But that was good money really. Another one of the same part. You won't believe this and he wrote this. The two cent the three cent stamp that government, the government reduced your knowing the price of posted today, the three cent stamp, they reduced it to two cents. And on the stamp to commemorate it, they put all a map of the British holdings in the world. Now at that time, I figured that stamp had to be about that big, at least. The Boer War was in eighth 1900 the Boer War was in full swing this year with 1000 Canadian troops President Krueger fled September 12. The cost of the war was 100 million pounds to England. The Whelan enlarge the dining room by altering the backstory stairs. New local boat, Iroquois commenced running Victoria to Nanaimo taking in the islands. Oh, here we go. Just getting rid of another daughter. Evelyn arrived. One Oh, pardon me Not quite. Evelyn arrived from England, May 4, and on May 25, sold 160 acres to eg Bordeaux. That was my grandfather. He also started a large statistical map on Saltspring Island. A huge windstorm, knocked down nine large trees. This is an interesting one. Mr. Bullock, who everybody here has probably heard about him, started the lawsuit against Mr. Collins to recover $4,329 All the islanders were in favor of Mr. Collins, but he had to go to jail for nine months. Guess he couldn't pay the money. Now we have he says we have to work horses and Babs for the buggy. Three cows three calves 10 pigs and 300 Falls. Going there's a little rooster he really, really added. He says we had an incubator this year and tried three hatches but there are not successful. Well, that's why it wasn't successful. The rooster was very busy. We sold part of our farm to be Lundy. Mr. Collins, 1901 Mr. Collins got out of jail, and the whole island was rejoicing. Keith was working on the city of Nanaimo. It's a boat, and July was so cold we had to put a fire in the drawing room. August the temperature went up to 90 degrees. flossy unknown I went camping on August the 21st. No servants, returned August 23. September 4, a new hall in Ganges was built. October 4, he goes to Victoria and reviews his first moving pictures. When you think we will we got now frank here is talking about scanning and all this stuff. He's reviewing which is not not that long ago. His first moving pictures. Another huge storm 26 trees in front and nine on the back fall down. Some of them on the chicken house, damaging the chicken house, chickens and rabbits and feathers everywhere. Green victory Victoria died January 22 1901 1902. If I'm getting boring, he doesn't live this long. I'll be over purchasing 1902 Three engagements this year Luellen to Maggie, Flossie to George bar and Ellen Nolan at the Fred Croft and we're now here's one that's very interesting. How many people here put up their hand when we were at the 100 and 10th year celebration of the farmers Island Institute. How many people were there? Whoa, lots of you. Well, and Mr. Beggs was the emcee. Correct. Remember that? Well, I'll tell you. That guy was a fake. Because it says right here are late member and Speaker of the House of Commons. Mr. JP booth died at the end of February and was buried at St. Mark's cemetery March the first, James Dunsmuir and the Premier and 30 members of parliament attended the funeral. So the man though claimed to play JP booth he certainly wasn't him. Okay.

Unknown Speaker 29:48
King Edwards coronation. We talked about the gold 1903 Louella and Keith went to the Yukon in the spring and left in May and returned On September 26, blue Elon had acquired two gold claims on Ruby Creek and propose getting Saltspring Island his former syndicate and return with Him in the spring. No one a Crofton married garland don't across northern Nona Wilson marries Frank Croft, Fred Croft in September the 17th one to go he's got rid of Florida. February the 26th. A Party of Five started for the Yukon, consisting of Llewellyn Dr. Baker, Frank Scott W. chowder Scott and Joe Knight and Gil gold was found but not in paying quantities. On September the 26th, the party all returned exceptionally well. And that's another story. Our Florence daughter, or Florence Muriel was married to George Bordeaux at 3:30pm. On Friday, March the fourth as my grandfather, well, all the girls are married. Mother and father and Norman are all alone at Barnes beach. They have no servant, and they do all the work for themselves. Norman now basically owns a Barnes Ray farm with a few shares with his father, which is getting in very good shape. We now have 25 acres under cultivation, an orchard of 350 trees, excuse me, and we're gradually building up a dairy and poultry business with this the fruit than we hope to become quite profitable. That sound of his diary. However, I've got some more here. It's not really about his diary is about me. And I thought they might kind of enjoy it. When we arrived in the ferry today, I pulled in there and and I noticed I was talking to Bob Baker and the other day and I noticed Bob Baker and his family in 1896 had built the first wharf for the Iroquois that was coming in there. 57 years later, Laurie Goodman and myself, did what we called a mud survey. This mud survey was for the Vesuvius fairy, which was going to be the first ferry running from the Soviets to cropton. And my uncle Keith also on the Vesuvius lodge at that time, driving up the road here to the golf club. I noticed only about 11 Old fruit trees. far cry from the original 350 and Uncle Norman, of course, he turned that into a golf course. Now my first experience with the golf course. I was very young and Dermot Kroc and Fred Morris, Ray Morris and mcMMO. It took me with them. I thought I was going to learn to play golf. That wasn't my job. My job was to run ahead and chase the sheep off the field and mapped the greens in those days where they were kind of a sand and oil. And I had to run it down. They had a map and I had to map that because the sheep had sort of big potholes all over it. So I had to that was my job and my first job experience at golf so I didn't learn much about golf. Traveling up the road. I was quite disturbed to see the old windmill gone at Ganges napkins Road, which is now Summerside. My grandfather, Tom Morris, worked for a hardware company in Victoria. And he sold and erected windmills on Saltspring Island. And this was one of them. And that's why I was a little upset. My Uncle Fred Morris tried to purchase it from Tommy Scott, but she would not sell it. So now as far as I'm concerned, I don't know where that windmill is. Maybe you people do. It's gone but it's certainly a part of Island history. I'm very sorry to see that go. My uncle Norman also owned the land from where the village market now stands and the upper Ganges road center down to Oh, the name was hob days so I was down the road quite aways and my job there was to repair the repair the snake fences and that was blowing around over the hill and down at the orchard keep those snake fences going. Uncle alarm and I call Michael Norman because no you've seen great uncle Norman right but so, Uncle Norman Anyhow, he. He gave me a lot of work. And I think he kind of liked me because one of his policies was sometimes if he really liked one of the relations, he gave them a piece of land. When they got married nicely, he gave my Uncle Fred the piece of land where the hobbies were. So he came to me and he said, Michael, you and Pat are getting married. And I would like to give you a piece of land. And I said, Oh, well, where is it uncle normally said walks out long harbor. He said, where you pat and go over fishing and borrow the boat all the time. And he said, I'd like you to have that piece of land there. I said, Gee, Uncle Norman. You know, there's no roads out there. There's water on both sides. The taxes are $10 a year. And, you know, I really know I don't want it. He said, Well, what would you like? Uncle Norman was not a rich man. I'm sure he sold half an acre somewhere. I said, Well, I'd really like a toaster. And I got a toaster. And I've still got that toaster as a doorstop up in Nanaimo. And that piece of land is where the BC Ferries to Vancouver stands now. Don't ask me to ever get into real estate. Down the road. Kingfisher Cove property was formerly owned by the Devon lock, or it was the Devon Lodge, and was owned by my wife's family Nelson Beth Degnan. Met Peterson. Degnan was the matron of the old lady Smith hospital for 16 years and was very industrial and mutual informing the new hospital. Across the road is harbor House Hotel, which is run by Fred and my aunt Nona Croft and married 1903 And no one was really the matriarch of the family. She had three boys and four girls and all their names began with D. Dermot Desmond Donovan, who we called paddy girls during die Denise and dulci. They all work the hotel and the farm which supplied the food and vegetables for the hotel. I remember great gatherings there with all my cousins. Going out further out to Scott Road, ramp calf lives. She married Frank Scott in 1898. As I said they farmed the land extensively, and I attended their 15th wedding anniversary in 1948. After the farm was abandoned, I used to get loads of apples from the orchard to make large quantities of cider. Stan Rogers of Rambo Road, was a master cider maker. And he was the one that taught me the process. Downtown Ganges the telephone office. Now the telephone office is actually I don't know what it is now. It was the United Church. Then it became the Legion I believe it's a store now of some kind. And just pass out there was a little building. This is where my mother was telephone operator. She told me the story one time, I'd use the number five queue because that was our phone number to tell the story. Mother was there at night. And the board lit up. And a lady there English said five Q please. And my mother said I'm sorry that lines busy. minute later the phone rang five Q please. I'm sorry. That line is busy. rang again right away. Five Q please. I'm sorry that line is busy. It was Mrs. Kingsbury but Santro me houses on fire. Of course mother recently pulled the plug and put it through to five Q which was the volunteer fire department am I doing all right here you enjoying this going up the hill Ganges hill at Drake rode which I believe is now the Ganges glass Emporium was where my grandmother Morris Eaton had her tea room. And next door was pop Eden and grandmother Morris's home the Eaton home. And next up the hill is the Ganges Bed and Breakfast which is at the arch yellow building there. And it was one of my parents first homes, and they sold that place in 1939. For $600. I got the bill for the money. I haven't got the money

Unknown Speaker 39:33
in behind Drake road. Maybe Bob or somebody here can remember because I can't quite remember it. I went there in grade one. There was a school there and it did become a Catholic. became the Catholic Church. Well, that's where I went to in grade one. And the teacher. I can't remember her name. But she knew that Reverend Wilson was my great, great grandfather. And she decided that we're gonna have a Christmas play. And my part in it was to come out on the stage and I was very nervous. And I had a nice little collar around me. And this is what I said. When I grow up, I want to be a minister. As you can see, I'll preach good sermons, I am sure and visit all the sick and poor. And that was my speech. Grade One. Christmas play. never forgot it. Mind you, I didn't become a minister as you can see.

Unknown Speaker 40:45
Continuing up, Ganges Hill, we come to the Seabreeze motel. This is site of the first audit court on Saltspring Island, which I was showing frank here. That was the home of George Bernard Ellen Flossie, married in 1904. That's my grandparents. They had two boys Jack and Ted and two girls Phyllis and Gladys. Gladys been my mother who married Ray Morris from Fulford Hey, so I'm okay. Dad's from Fulford, mom's from Ganges I can go across that line anytime. George was a carpenter and worked in the construction of the trading company. He fell off the roof there and you know how high that roof is. He built six cottages on the property, and they were rented out mostly all year around the 1947. My uncle Ted took over the audit court and added for one room cabins and one small cottage for all year around. In 1952, Uncle Ted left the audit court to go back to the Navy as a bomb Demolition Expert. This was his love of his life, as he'd grown up in all the CPR ships in the Navy, all through the war and this was his love of his life. And so he went back into the Navy. My dad and mom, Ray and guided Morrison took over the audit cord. My uncle Ted was killed in 1952 by a Japanese mine on Bunnell Island. My dad then went logging with Chuck Brenton to make an extra dollar to improve the audit court. He was killed the same year, slogging up on Mount twang. But now my grandmother and my mother are completely devastated. mother remarried in 1953. To Walter McDermott. They sold the place in 1956 for $8,000. Now on the phone over, here we go, George, we're going to focus now on the Fulford, the Morris Eaton family purchased the White House in the early 1924. It had erode Howard house license at that time, and there was rooms for Post Office Store in a pub popping my step grandfather played the saxophone and grandmother played the piano and they played that many dances in Fulford and Ganges. They sold the place in 1929. To Mrs. callington and she in turn rented it to Mr. Kingsley. This is when it was destroyed by fire. Now, I'm going to tell you one more story bump, one and a half. One and a half. I was pretty raucous young fellow. And you remember when I was told you I was taught how to make cider, this type of thing? Well, I was making cider and shall we say selling it. And I was cutting Christmas trees illegally and selling them and there was a RCMP fell on the island at that time called Gordon Graham. And he hated me. He really hated me. And he was going to get me. In fact, he told me I'm going to catch you and I'm going to send you to Brannon lake in Nanaimo is just a boy School of just being built for criminally minded young fellas like you, and that's where I'm gonna get you. Anyhow, he caught me. He caught me for the trees, and he caught me for for selling cider illegally, and we went to court. And we'd gotten into court and went in and he read all these charges against me. And that was fine. And turned around, the judge said to me, are you guilty? Or you not guilty? And I said, I'm guilty, Your Honor. The judge slammed down the hammer really hard and he said, that will be a $6 fine and $3 court costs. And I said I can't pay that right now. My Uncle Fred was there. And he jumped up and he said, Can I pay it? Your honor? He said yes, you can pay it for it tomorrow. Uncle Fred paid that. Were going out to the police station. And a policeman grabbed me and he shook me violently. And he said what's going on? Did you catch the Jaypee doing something wrong or what? And I said no sir but he's my grandfather

Unknown Speaker 45:24
he didn't know that we should have fixed him just another one one thing I'll say before I finish

Unknown Speaker 45:33
I'm very pleased to be here I hope you enjoyed us kind of boring but you know when they're talking about all this land that my family owned all this land terrific mount on the on the golf course the whole works. So this lodge Fulford in all of this land and back here, and the only land patent I still own on this island is right back here. There's two little lots they're not the only ones we own. And they're paid for. Thank you very much

Unknown Speaker 46:17
any questions? No questions? Good. FOSS. Flossing was my she was the last one to be married. flossing.

Unknown Speaker 46:37
Your county, your county, your county? Let me see. Okay, you haven't helped me here but I haven't. First when I've heard net next. No, no. No, Kathleen, next, then Nona. Then Fossey? That's five? Eight. I was right all the time. Thanks, Bob.

Unknown Speaker 47:10
Thanks very much, Mike. And actually being an islander myself. This brings back all kinds of memories. Because when my mom first came to the island about 1929 She went visited and then worked at Harbor house and her first teaching job, she lived aboard a house and walked up the divide school to teach all the names I'm familiar with. And Mrs. One of the Mrs. Crawford's was my piano teacher. Anyway, thanks very much, Mike. And I appreciate you coming down from the Nymo to visit with us and I'm sure we'll have a visit during the break. So thanks very much.

Unknown Speaker 48:00
Just one note, there are some pictures and things on the back table, and reproductions of the sort of sales pitch brochure. They're everywhere else and quote, are on the back. And it sounds like a marvelous place this Saltspring island, but they're available at the back.

Unknown Speaker 48:16
I was just asked the question. Why did you ever leave this island? Well, in 1954, and George Patton, all of us and Jackie over there going to school, and we all couldn't, there was only 1200 people on the island, and we couldn't wait to get off and go on make our fortune. Most of us did go away and we did pretty good, you know, didn't make pretty good fortune. There's only one problem. We can't afford to come back.