227_Hawaiians-Remembered.mp3
otter.ai
11.03.2024
no
Outline
Speaker 1 0:00
So one of our presentations last year, we presented a program called Saltspring islands of meeting women of Saltspring Island. And we made a booklet The DVD of those women. And today we're going to hear about one of those women from Wendy, great granddaughter, who's come to speak to us. Her great grandmother was one of the Pinaka Hawaiians who arrived on Saltspring one of the early pioneer groups settled in the Fulford area and on Russell Island, and left her mark on the on invite various adventures and involvement in the church itself. And so when Dias phoned us or we contacted her, she contacted me. And we ended up putting this program on today to honor our Hawaiian descendents of the island. If you think back a few weeks ago, at Fulford, church, there was a plaque put on this wall beside the church in dedication to the Hawaiian connect the pioneers of sultry island. So it's a great deal of pleasure that I welcome Wendy today. And we look forward to hearing her story. Thank you.
Speaker 2 1:14
I'm excited to be here. And I thank you very much for the invitation. I didn't know where the central hall was. So after lunch, we went to the Visitor Information Center. And they were describing and I said, Oh, you mean the place where they show the movie? So I've been coming here my whole life to Salt Spring and then over to Russell Island. And I would always drive by here, and what are they showing, you know, it's pretty current movie or whatever. So it's my chance to actually come inside this building, which is really cool. When I was interviewed on CBC, the first thing they did was introduce me as an expert. And then I was on the other end of the telephone picking up an expert, but I am an expert in is my family, and, and how we feel about how our family history has become such public knowledge. And so what I'm here to do today is to share the story of how our family has been impacted by the fact that Russell Island is now part of a federal park. And there's a lot of interest in what happens there and the people that were there. So as a family, we're learning how to gather more information about from each other, about what happened there from various generations, and then how to share that people have various scholars have started writing histories that include our family. And we are learning that it's really important for us to be prepared to make sure we are checking that that information is accurate. And so we were lucky this spring that Parks Canada wanted to do a series of oral histories. And I got the privilege of collecting those oral histories from family members. And oh, that was so exciting. If any of you have ever thought about collecting oral histories from within your own family, I really encourage you to do it or encourage somebody in your family to do it. It's not hard. And it's so worthwhile, even if it's only that one person in your family that learns more about your memories, but you get to share it and pass it along. So I got to interview 14 other people in my family. And most of them were older than me. And they they lived in a different generation than I did. And so they knew my great grandmother and my grandmother, which I didn't, even though I went to wrestle live and quite often. And so I got to learn a lot more about my family. As all I said to my sister recently. I never had grandparents well of course, I had grandparents, they just happen to have died before I was born. But I never felt like I had grandparents. And still we until we started all of this research. And still we had until we had to start sharing our story. And now through all of that. I feel like I have grandparents because I know them more and I know little details that have painted a picture. And that's very exciting for me. And it's exciting for everybody in the family. And then to be able to collect information and be able to take a picture of what they're like, has been really useful not only for us, but for Parks Canada. So I do have some information that I'll maybe hold up and then if you want to talk to me more later you can do that. title of my talk is Hawaiians remembered because that's what we are largely doing in in sharing information about our family is I'm sharing information about Hawaiian settlement in British Columbia. So thank Frank for getting the technology working for me now all I have to do is make sure i i get it right my end here. So, first of all, I want to let you know that my information sources include family oral histories, and data sharing, and the Saltspring Island archives, I hope that you all fully appreciate how valuable the resource your community has built, and how grateful those of us who don't live here are, that you have people who are up on the latest technology that you are sharing, you're collecting information, you're storing it, you're sharing it on the internet, you're making it available to a lot of people when I was doing research, and I went on to your oral history section. And I was able to listen to an interview with my dad who passed away eight years ago, you have no idea how moving that was for me. And I didn't even know it was there. And then to interview my other family members who and then compare the information that they shared, and it was. So it was another little piece of the puzzle that was put together. So we're very grateful as a family that salzburgerland Archives exists, that you are technologically advanced compared to what many other museums societies are. So thank you very much to all of you for that and for supporting the volunteers who do that work. Many years ago, Saltspring island off and Ted Koppel wrote a book called kidnapper. And that was our first introduction to people wanting to know our story. And I had to actually look the word connect up. Because I didn't wasn't quite sure what it meant, knew it had something to do with Hawaiians, but I wasn't sure what it meant. So it was not a term that was used. And that's something that Parks Canada asked us how we want to be referred to as connections or Hawaiians. And everybody I interviewed in the family said, Well, we're Hawaiian. We don't know that term. Kanaka. So when you read the information, we're Hawaiians author, Jean Marmande, who's a professor at UBC, wrote a book about Reema hoy, who was my great grandmother. And it's
Speaker 2 7:46
I've read it about six times, at least, because I have to keep rereading it to try and put all these different associations for different people on Saltspring into into order in my mind, but it's a very easy read. And it is available. It's through the Vancouver Island Regional Library, I donated a copy so that people that are interested can borrow it. She's also written recently a book called leaving paradise. And she co authored that with Bruce McIntyre, Watson. And if any of you have family members who came to the Pacific Northwest, with either the Hudson's Bay Company or some other trading company in the 1800s, this book is very hard to find. I do have a copy. That's mine. But it has a very comprehensive list of over 800 people that came and it has, when they came, where they came from, where they worked. So you're welcome to borrow that? Well, I'm here. Excuse me, there is a copy of the Saltspring library, I requested that they would order one. So the book is available in the library. Oh, excellent. Because it's a really valuable resource. And you might find some interesting stories about your own family members in there, who knows. And then Parks Canada has also been collecting data. And so the information that I'm sharing that comes from those sources and part of our journey was to be finding out why did why is even come to North America, right? What Why would you leave paradise? Did that people ask us all the time, like, Well, why did why did your ancestors come here? And so I've done a bit of reading and I also listened to some oral histories and not oral histories, but but audio recordings that came from your archives that really were helpful. So that information I'm going to share with you to give you some background. So over, over 1000 Hawaiians came to the Pacific Northwest between 1787 and 1898 1898 is when the Hawaiian islands became part Out of the US. And so that's why the that that date. And over time, several 100 remain here. And I'll go briefly over why they stayed. And there were a lot of changes happening in Hawaii. At the same time that companies were stopping in Hawaii to provision and look for laborers, the missionaries came to Hawaii. And they brought a lot of change with them. And part of what they did was they introduced the monarchy, to different cultural practices. And it changed the model of land ownership in Hawaii. And there was before people were subjects of the monarch, and they were accustomed to being heavily involved with agriculture, and in sharing the crops that they had between the monarchy and themselves, and it was a system that apparently works quite well. But when the missionaries came, they changed that. And the whole, by the mid 1800s, landownership became a private enterprise. And if you had not registered as an indigenous Hawaiian, and for the, for a chunk of land by I think it was 1848, you were out of luck. And you, you had to find a different way to look after yourselves. And at the same time in Hawaii, a lot of people were dying because of the diseases that came with all the new people that arrived. So there were a lot of things that were changing there, when the Hudson's Bay Company, and others would stop in Hawaii to.
Speaker 2 11:56
To get people that would work for them, they would contract with the monarchy. So they would have a written contract, usually for a period of about three years. And they were required to pay a certain amount of wages to the people that were in their employ. And they were they had to return them to Hawaii. And there was a financial penalty if they didn't do that. And so that was the incentive from the monarchy, that they would get their people back. And a lot of them came back. But then once around the mid 1800s, fewer of them decided that they wanted to stay because they would go back. And then they found that things had dramatically changed. And maybe they preferred to come back to a land where they had become accustomed and where they could dream a little bit more. So when they were here in the Pacific Northwest, the literature that I've read, says that they were valued as employees, because they were industrious. They were used to working for other people. And they had strong skills, both in farming and in seafaring skills. By the mid 1800s, the fur trade, which is what brought a lot of them out here, was in decline. And the Gold Rush was attractive to a lot of Hawaiians. And so some of them use the term jump ship, but they were already here. Some of them chose to leave their employment, leave their contract, and go as entrepreneurs into the gold rush. And that was, so some decided to stay because of that. And so that brought them out into a different part of society. At the same time, in the US, a lot of people were, were moving from the East Coast of the United States to the West Coast. And when they when they came, they brought their values and their prejudices, and their way of thinking along with them. And they brought a desire to change the legislation that Hawaiians and other people's would not have the same rights as everybody else. And so you have a group of people who've been coming to the area since the mid 1787, who were used to looking after themselves now, who had land who had partners who had families who have settled certain areas, and now they're being told you can't own land. You can't vote you don't have rights and you can't marry into the predominant society because you're different and you don't have the same rights. Altogether. 850 people are registered in the book that Jean barman has So that's the total number of people that we're talking about probably closer to 1000 is the estimate of people who came from Hawaii. And a few 100 of them actually stayed. Many of them had had, like partners. So they they were technically married or not, doesn't really matter. They have families.
Speaker 2 15:28
That's alright, we'll go with this one. In the San Juan Islands, that was the last piece of land. That was when the baton when the boundaries were established between Canada and the US, that was the last chunk of land that was in dispute. And there were a number of Hawaiian families that lived there. And when it was decided that that was part of the US, they moved north, and quite a few of them came to Saltspring Island. And so in 1880, there were roughly 13 families that lived in the Fulford area, Wilford and Russell Island and believe Pender as well. So 13 families of Hawaiian descent, that look in the area.
Speaker 2 16:30
And they had a had a strong influence on the creation of the social atmosphere in the southern part of Saltspring Island, just from what I'm reading, that's what I'm understanding. And even though we call them connect, because now they were a lot of people with mixed race who lived on Saltspring. It was, I think, probably seen as a safe haven. And a lot of those families still live here today, and are very proud to be Hawaiian, or of Hawaiian descent. William homea, had preempted land in Fulford Harbour. And after that, he also acquired Russell Island. Now, one of my research projects next will be to find out, did he actually preempt wrestle Island? Or did he buy it, or whatever. So the whole issue of preemption is one that I found to be very fascinating. The there were a lot of people in the mid 1800s, who were living in the Victoria area, and there weren't a lot of jobs for them. And it was getting to be a problem in Victoria. And they were also running out of water. They're familiar story, you know. And so I understand that Governor Douglas, decided that he has to do something about this, you know, you want to look at how are you going to create a sustainable economy for people who you're responsible for. And he put together a group of the Committee of 30 people who were tasked with finding some solutions to this problem. And they decided that agriculture was important. And he agreed with them, they had Russia to the north, which was a ready market for for foodstuffs, because at that time, they were having to bring it all the way across. And this would be a much cheaper market to be able to acquire food from. And but one thing they found out was that the land that had already been surveyed, had to be paid for in cash upfront. And so that was a problem. If you didn't have if you didn't have money, how were you going to be able to get into the business of producing, producing food. And so they recommended that Governor Douglas, set up a system of preemption, and that he could do that for unsurveyed. Land. It was a technicality. He couldn't change the law. But he had certain powers that he could create new rules. And so he traveled around Vancouver Island, and decided that shininess and Saltspring island would be ideal locations for an agricultural based economy. And so they set that up so that people could preempt land. And they he built in some flexibility so that if they couldn't pay for it within the two year period, which would if they were supposed to have that he had the flexibility to extend that period, which apparently he did for up to four to five years. And the conditions for preemption was that you had to you had to use the land for agricultural purposes. And you had to live on the land. And if you were absent for more than three months, then you lost it. And so they were people who because well, we all know that there's a lot of orchards here. Because it takes longer than a year or two to get an orchard established and producing enough fruit to pay your Dubai piece of land. That period was extended. But also, people would go to work in Nanaimo, in the in the, in the mines, but they had made sure they were back within three months, so that they could keep their land. So I mean, it's quite fascinating that even in those days, people had to travel to other jobs to come back and, and to be able to support themselves here when they got themselves established. So William, come there, planted an orchard on Russell Island, and those trees are still there. And we're still eating apples off of those trees is still bearing fruit, their Parks Canada is maintaining those orchards. They were pruned this spring. And one of the things that we were able to do as a family that summer was to start clearing some of the invasive plants within the orchard area. And what are the interesting things I found out about William homea was that he was the first and only person when British Columbia joined Confederation in 1871. He was the only one who was registered as a Hawaiian on the Census. Which I thought was interesting. So could you put your hand up if you have never been to wrestling? And that gives me a little bit of perspective? Oh, well. It's a very beautiful place. It's in our family. It's, it's like a dream, it's paradise. When we were kids, we could do anything we wanted. The only rule was, if you were going to be out on the water, you had to wear a life jacket. But otherwise, you could go and do anything, you could be gone for hours, you know, like our mothers knew we'd come back when we were hungry. It's, it's 40. It's just over 40 acres. And it's horseshoe shaped. And I'll tell you about other aspects as we go along. But there's there's a photograph of it, it's in the mouths of Fulford harbour, and it's now a federal park. And so any of you can go there as long as you find somebody that can take you out in your boat in their boat, and it's well worth the trip. And if you are mobility impaired. Next year, when they build the new dinghy dock, it'll be much easier for you to get there. Right now, you'd have to get out on hubs to help have somebody help you get out on the beach. But it's not impossible. And the walks on the island are very easy. You could take a wheelchair on those paths on the majority of them. And as of this year, you actually can go through the house so Maria Malloy, some people pronounce her name Mariah was an interesting lady. So can you imagine in the 1800s, you have a partner, and he you have seven children, and he disappears. That's what happened to Maria. Captain Abel Douglas was her first husband, and he was a sea captain. And he disappeared. And he actually ended up he didn't die right away. He ended up going off doing other things, as we now know. But she was a resilient lady. And she met and eventually married George Fisher, with whom she had six children. So I am from the Fisher side of the family. And what our family now has to do is make sure that we as we represent our family history to interested parties. We're researching more the Douglass side, because we don't know a lot about it. And we don't have a lot of family photographs to share. Because this is about this is the story of Maria McCoy, and all of her family. So that's part of the journey that we're going through in collecting data. George Fisher, his father was an Englishman, and his mother was from the couch and try and George Fisher died in as a result of a gunshot wound. I've seen the coroner's report from his death and he was quite young. His son was an infant. And he, George Fisher came from England. His family didn't want his son because his son was part first nations. And the First Nations family did not want him because he was part white. So luckily for George Fisher, his father had memes and he had a will. And he said that he wanted his son to be raised by, you know, the Catholic brothers in Victoria. So that's, and then that his son would get his assets. And so that's what happened. And George Fisher was, so he was raised as a Catholic. And he graduated from grade 12, in Victoria. And he is from St. Louis college where my dad also went to school. And believe me, there's lots of stories about the time, how they, how they did is a couple and other relationships that might have happened along the way, and who is connected to who, and there's people that when I was growing up,
Speaker 2 25:52
we didn't realize that we were related. All of my cousins that I interviewed. I mean, our biggest concern was, our parents didn't talk to us. And they didn't tell us stories, and they didn't share information. And we so wish now that they were here, so we could ask them more questions. Because there are people that we we like Mrs. King, who lives across him wrestle Island, and we always call her auntie Sophie? Well, we just thought that that was like an honorary title, we didn't know that we were actually related to her in some way. And other people, that same thing. So we're very grateful to historians, that they're putting all these pieces together and it's really important if you can share that information with your family you do.
Speaker 2 26:43
So, these are the children of Maria Fisher. Is there anybody here that is related to one of these people?
Unknown Speaker 27:01
I don't know.
Speaker 2 27:07
Have to find out that would be if replete kinds of networking and connections right that are so fascinating, because when I live in qualicum beach, and when I was speaking to the going to be speaking to the Qualcomm Beach Museum society, the local newspaper did a story about me and ran some photographs and cluding, one of mine, and this lady phoned me up from Nanaimo. Her name is Marilyn. And she's a Douglas. And I've never met her before. But she is a friend in Parksville, who said, I saw your picture in the paper. And so she took her the story with my photograph on it. And Marilyn took one look at this picture and looked me up in the phonebook and phoned me and introduced herself. And when you when you see the two of us together, you can tell we're related. Definitely. So you never know. And last year, when there was a lot of controversy over the caretaker issue of Russell island. There were several family members who read stories in the Times colonist, or in the Vancouver Sun. And they researched and followed up and we got connections that way. So it's, we're learning about our family history more and more as we go along.
Speaker 2 28:30
So when you go to wrestle Island, it looks very different than this now, obviously. But think about as you walk from the beach, up to the house, about what it used to look like, during my great grandmother's time, so they even the water was still a precious commodity, then she loved flowers. And the walkways coming up to the house had flowers up. There was a big flower garden up near the house. They survived through planting vegetables and growing strawberries and other berries. The the trees are when I when I was a kid, the trails were in slightly different places. And I go there now and it seems so open and airy as you walk anywhere on the island. But when I was a kid, the trees were a lot shorter as you can imagine. And, and a lot so they seemed a lot denser. And it was a scary thing to be walking down the center of the island. But conversely, in front of the house, it was very open because at that time, the field was still there. And that was that field was Hey for the sheep so our family has a Catholic background from several different streams of the family. Maria McCoy inherited wrestler Island denied to you know, to the house was built in 1905. This is a photograph of my grandmother, Mary Jane Fisher, her wedding in 1908. And the Reception The picture on the bottom right, that was Helen Russell Island. And when we had my and I think it was B Hamilton who gave my like, Mom and Dad these photographs when my mom and dad had their 50th wedding anniversary on WrestleMania and and and this is after we didn't own it anymore. She came to their reception and gave them these pictures. And it turned out they were my mum and dad's 50th wedding anniversary reception was, was in exactly the same spot. As his mom's wedding receptions, the trees are in there and everything. So it was pretty cool. So my grandmother had four children, until I was, oh, maybe I was married when I found out that she actually had four never heard about Pearl, she dies. And it was when my mom gave me this photograph, she didn't want to have a picture of a dead person in her house. And it's a picture of pearl in her coffin, as an infant, maybe a year old. And but I even knew that pearl existed. And when I was in Fulford earlier this summer and Emily showed me the list of where the graves are. And I found out that pearl died in 1913. So there was another little piece of the puzzle for us. We didn't know I've been asking everybody well, when was she born? And how did she fit into the family timeframe? And what are the other things that I learned? When I interviewed all my family was the effects of the war. I had never thought about how the two World Wars impacted our family and the history of wrestling. But in finding out who was doing what when I felt that they did have significant impact. And we never knew why my dad was so much younger than his two sisters. Well, they were born before the war he was born after that was a big chunk of time other people's love.
Speaker 2 32:19
So this is a picture of Maria McCoy in her middle years and again when she was in her 80s. And she would my cousin Marie, who's now in her 80s. She spent the whole summer and it was her job on Saturdays to water the flower garden. And at that time, you had to there was a well, the water wasn't potable. And so she had to take a bucket and carry the well water all the way up to the house and water the flowers. And then they would on Saturdays they would pick flowers to bring to the church and my grandmother and she my grandmother would roll over to Fulford and grandmother would clean the church and then put the flowers in there for Sunday. And that church still continues to play an important role in our family hearts. When my sister died, that was the first thing I did on the way from Vancouver, over here to Vancouver Island was I came through Salt Spring and I left flowers at the church for her. So that church is very important in our hearts. And so we were really touched when that plaque honoring Alliance was put up this summer. And so we're everybody else, everybody at people that came. And so we're very grateful that the role of Hawaiians in the Catholic community was acknowledged in that way. My grandmother, Mary Jane inherited the rest of the island along with several other family members. And for a variety of reasons it ended up that my dad and his two sisters inherited the island at the end
Speaker 2 34:04
and one thing that we've always known that became more understandable was that you know, lifelong wrestling was floods sustainable. We hear a lot today about sustainability. And but they truly lifted and they didn't have a lot of money, but they had everything they needed to survive. So there was water. And it was enough for the for the vegetable garden and the berry gardens. And they went across to the reserve on salt spring there was a beautiful spring there and I don't know if it's still there. But even when I was a kid, that's what we did was every couple of days we would take the boat across and go get the drinking water. And the they had sheep and my cousin John who's also in his 80s he talks about he lives in Victoria, and he talks about bringing his bicycle across The slide deck and taking it to Russell Island. And because the sheet kept everything, all the vegetation clear on the island underneath the trees, he could ride his bike anywhere he wanted on Russell island. So those of you who had been there now, you know, you can imagine it looked a little different. And my cousin Stan, my cousin Maria and my cousin Carrie, they all remember when it was pristine, when it was like a park because everything was just so the vegetation was kept down. And there was a lot of pride taken in keeping things in good condition. When, even when I was a kid, if somebody was coming to Russell Island, the captain of the Cytec, he would, he would take the whistle on the ferry to let you know that you had to come in to Fulford to pick somebody up. So that was a pretty cool thing that you did. And then if somebody was coming by car, they would go to Mrs. Kings orchard and park in the orchard. And they either flash their headlights, or put up a white flag to say coming in as well. The white slide was used for mail too, because the mail for the island was delivered to the kings. So there's all these signals, right because no such thing as cell phones those days. They apparently they would. They would sell their strawberries, their first spring strawberries in Sydney, because the berries were ready there two weeks earlier than anywhere else. And so they could get a premium price if they took them to Sydney. And they did have to buy certain goods, you know, like they needed flour and sugar and coffee and tea and things like that. And so they would sell extra produce, and then either barter, or use that cash and buy things that they absolutely needed. And of course, being an island, there's lots of seafood and and they ate everything. I remember my dad, well in some of my cousins too. They all they all have their favorite color color of surgeons that they like to eat well, you could offer me a suit, and then I'd love it for each shell. But I probably wouldn't eat that yellow stuff in the middle. And I don't think that I would really enjoy sea cucumber, but I have some cousins that do. But we always fished. And they talk about how they would go in the evening. Off the back side of the island. There's a big rock that slopes down to the water. And they take a lantern back there. And that's where they fish for cod. And they'd always get fish. And my older cousins talk about how Grappa Fisher didn't use a fishing rod. He used a sphere. And it was a point it's it wasn't a sphere that came like this. It was a sphere that was like, like had a problem like that. And so they would the fish would be down here, and they catch it like that and then folded under. So that's how they and my cousin Marie told me when I interviewed her. She said oh, I tried all summer I tried to get a fish with a spear and I finally got one. And I was so proud of myself and Grandpa said, Oh, you must be an old you could catch it. And she's devastated. She still remembers that ad. So you never know what comments you make, will be remembered. And they had all the regular kind of foul that you have. That photograph is my uncle label. And he's a Douglas. And he's the last family member that lives on Russell Island. And I remember I just loved him he would let me stand beside him when he played cribs because I would feel lucky. If I'm standing there he would when he lived there year round, and the house was heated by wood stove. And my brother's job when they went in the summer was to cut up all the firewood right behind the house that used to be a big woodshed. And Uncle labor would pull in logs that were floating by all winter. And he pulled them into the bay in front of the house and then they would cut them up. And they had this old wheelbarrow it was it had a wooden base and a big metal wheel and no sides and so they'd load all the firewood onto there and then truck it up into the into the woodshed. And I've recently learned that Uncle labelled originally in his in his early life he was a logger and my brothers talk about how he would meticulously look after his cross cut saw. So he would supervise the cutting of the wood on the beach, make sure the sod didn't get wrecked. And then make sure he had enough wood by the time everybody left. When chainsaws were invented. My cousin John decided one year that he would borrow he's going make the job easier for everybody. So he borrowed a chainsaw from a friend. And Uncle label said, well, we need to cut this tree down because it's leaning but and they were both convinced that they knew how to follow that tree without falling it onto the roof of the barn that it was right beside. Unfortunately, they were both wrong. And that was the end of the barn. Luckily, at that time, there were no sheep left. And but in hearing my brothers talk about what was in the barn, it was a large building, about 30 feet long. And my one brother, who's a carpenter, he remembers all the carpentry tools. My other brother who's a commercial fisherman, he remembers all the fishing gear. And my customer remembers that there was stuff for fixing shoes. So you get little pieces. But for everybody, it was a really special place. They weren't supposed to go there. But they all did. And but they were respectful. And it was an adventure just to go in, look around and not touch anything, but just to see what was there. And it was like mysteries. And unfortunately, when they cut the tree down and wrecked it, that's probably when I was about five, so I don't remember that part of it. And this gentleman in the drinking the pop. That's my cousin Stan. And he has some artifacts that were from the house. And just the other day he he dropped off a present for me and I just couldn't believe it. He he had an old commode that used to be on the island. And he decided that he needed to be the one to look after it in the future. So he brought it and gave it to me, which was really cool. And as I went around interviewing people and asking them, do you have anything from Russell Island, and it turned out lots of people did I thought there was only a couple of things that were there. I have the original kitchen cupboard with the kind with the bins, the pullout for the flour and the sugar. When the Andersons bought the island, they took it out of the house and it was in a shed and one time my dad and I were over there and they said, Would you like my dad looked at me said it'll fit in the boat. And he said, Okay, it's gonna fit in the van. Yes, thank you very much. And I took it home and had it professionally refinished. So I have a kitchen cabinet. My mom has a hot water bottle. And she has a number of paintings that were from the house with very elaborate gilt frames, my cousin has the same. So we know when you see the photographs and how formally everybody was dressed. Now I can picture what the inside of the house looked like, because I know that they had a beautiful dining table, because my cousin Carrie has that. And there was an oak table in the bedroom, little one. And my brother has a big triple mirrored dresser, that I don't know how it ever fit in that tiny bedroom on in wrestle island, but apparently it was from there. So we have this picture of a lot of quite ornate, high quality furnishings that they had in their homes. And so that again, helps to paint a picture of what their life was like.
Speaker 2 43:17
And drinking water is still a challenge in my dad and his two sisters saw the island in about 1960. That's about when the BC government decided that they would significantly tax waterfront property much higher. And my dad and his two sisters were just ordinary people, and they couldn't afford the taxes. And my mother doesn't like me to talk about this because because they hate to give it up. But when I talked to my dad maybe 15 years ago, and I asked him Do you have regrets? And he said no, it made a huge difference to all of our lives. And and we couldn't ask for anything better than now that it's a federal park. But water was a challenge, then you had to be very careful. And even now that it's a federal park, it's still a challenge. The Andersons put in caps with reservoirs for rainwater. And so that's what's used now in the house. And this summer, our family provided interpretive services in the house for four months. And we each took a week and anybody who wanted we had a list. And we went and stayed in the house for a week, which was just a dream come true. So even my youngest sister who was born after the island was sold, got to go with her young children and stay there and really experience what it's like if you always lived in a place where there's electricity where there's people who live close to you to go to somewhere like wrestle live and and even if you just go and sit on the porch, you will get a sense of the peace and serenity that people would have experienced there but you'll see Hear, you'll hear the water laughing on the beach, you'll hear maybe you'll hear somebody who's building a house across on Saltspring. You'll hear lots of birds. You won't hear the snakes, but you'll see them much to my chagrin, lots of hummingbirds, eagles, and oh
Speaker 2 45:29
mighty some MC, you might not see them, but they're there. And they were there when I was a kid. And they were there when George Fisher was there with my great grandmother. And he actually caught and cured these, these skins, and made collars and stools for the ladies in the family. So I have, I'm lucky to have two of them that my mother gave me. And you wear them like this with the, with the clips like that was very fashionable, but it's pretty cool. And I remember seeing the My mother used to get upset because we can't, we can't sit down in front of the house with our family, that was our spot. And every once in a while they run across the place where my mum would prepare the food. And she just thought that they were a nuisance and and we were told that if we read to the far end of the island, and that's where the make words. So we stayed away from that. And it's probably one way they could control the area we went to. So when we were kids, I mentioned earlier that we could go anywhere we wanted on the island. And and because I found the center part a little bit scary. And I think my other brothers and sisters did too. We had this personal challenge to get from the house, down to the PowerPoint, you know, with the shell beaches, it's a beautiful Shell Beach, and there's there's a spot there where the water gets really warm. And so the challenge was is to get all the way down without going in the bush. And there was some really dangerous cliffs along the way. At least that's our memory of my sister and I did it this summer, and we had to help each other through one spot. But so those were the kinds of things that we did as kids and down below the house, you'll see a spot on the rocks, where it's red, that's where we always had a counselor every night. My cousin Stan remembers being out there with grandmother at the end of the day. And there's little tide pools out there. And the water really heats up and she would go and soak her feet at night in those tide pools. And my brother Bruce, he told me the reason they had the fire where they did. So you come down from the house, and there's a bit of a dip in the rock. And then there's a shelf that comes up behind it. And then then it levels out. So the fire was right in front of there. Well, my brother said the reason it was there was because over that way on Saltspring is where the Forest Service Station was that was looking for forest fires. And you weren't supposed to be having fires at certain times of the year. But if we had a fire there, they'd never see it. So we were okay. But you'll still see the rocks are red there. So we would go out in the robots and catch crab. We'd go down the beach and dig clams. And then we come back and have a boiling pot of water and cook them right there and then sit on the dock and eat them. And I could never buy seafood because it just didn't taste right to me. It didn't taste the same. And it was plentiful. My cousin's telling me that there were no oysters. At first that they were introduced species. So you want to see it and see some of them but not too many. And there were they used to be a lot more clams. Then there were subsequently because there were commercial cleaning operations that came through the Gulf Islands and stripped a lot of the beaches of clams. They didn't eradicate them totally, but it diminished them. But there's a couple of spots on the island where they probably couldn't get in because the clams are bigger. I like the little clams anyways. And so when you come down from the house, and there's a beautiful little bay right there, that's where the dock used to be. And it was big cedar logs so they built out of found materials. This is an existing building, and it was the chicken coop. But you can see that they would have built it out of a variety of materials. And they I'm told that you know anybody on the island George Fisher or uncle label or whomever, if there was a piece of wood floating by they got it. They were out in the boats in Fountain wood. They got it right they used everything goods were traded. My dad is the gentleman on the left is gentleman in the middle wearing the dark couch and sweater is Felix Jack. And he and his wife lived on main island, and they would travel from there to couch and Bay. And they are First Nations family. And when we were growing up, we all had couch and sweaters that they knit for us. But they would stop and get well. And in later years, when there was a lot more of us, I'm told that my mom and my cousins would buy the sweaters from them. But they always left something. And they would always stay for a meal. And apparently, that started when when my great grandmother was alive. And there was a quite a bad storm when they were traveling partway along. And so they came to the door and asked if they could have permission to come ashore and, and stay on the island overnight. And so they slept on the front porch. And subsequent to that they would always sleep in the house. But as the years went by, they always stopped and they always had refreshments with us. And I do remember even as a kid them coming. And the big deal it was when they got a motor for their canoe. And one of my cousins has met their granddaughter who is a beloved artist now he lives in the Duncan area. And that's my brother Garth on the right. So we all had friends and family family came at different times over to wrestle Island. As you can see, there was a lots of fish and different friends and their families would also come and spend a week or two bear with us. That vote on the top left, that was Leon Kingsport V that they lived across on Salt Spring. And in his day, he was a commercial fisherman. And I remember going to Auntie Sophie's house and just wandering through her garden, she had the most amazing collection of driftwood. And she turned it into these animal creations. And I don't know what happened to her collection. I understand that something did, maybe somebody here can can tell me
Speaker 2 52:29
so that I mean it was it was a great collection. And it was always a real treat to go and walk through her garden. And I have some photographs, I always remember the little castle she had in there. So the island was sold, and then in about 1960. But Dr. Rohr who was a dentist from Hollywood who bought it. He and his family were very generous to our family. They felt that it was still our island, at hearts. And so they always welcomed us with open arms. We could go stay there whenever we wanted. And as I mentioned earlier, when when my mum and dad had their 50th wedding anniversary, we had a family reunion there and we were all there for three days.
Speaker 2 53:21
There are still connections being made amongst Hawaiian families. This summer, we had a gathering at Drummond Park in late August, and about 80 people came to that in the year before the Squamish First Nation, how the Hawaiian gathering it over 800 people came to that when they were there. And they had a delegation from Hawaii, who came to that function because in Hawaii right now, they're trying to strengthen their rights as an indigenous people. And so they're registering people to be native Hawaiians. And they came to Canada and they're going to different places around the world, asking people of Hawaiian descent to register so they can demonstrate to the US government, that they have no strength in numbers, and that people still care about their Hawaiian heritage and Hawaiian culture and preserving it is important. So I have a number of cousins who have already been gone through the process and formally been registered as Hawaiians. So we continue to have opportunities to connect with other families of Hawaiian descent. This is one of the markers at the St. Paul's church. My mom tells a story about that there were more markers in the cemetery there. And at one point there was a group she thinks it was the Boy Scouts, who went in to clean up the graveyard because it wasn't always kept as beautifully as it is now. And so every so often some group would go in and clean it up. And that one time, they decided to move a bunch of the markers and they disappeared, didn't get put back. But we all knew where, where the site was. Because we would go there, you know, every summer when we were on this a lot, and we would go and take flowers there. And so when my antibiotic died, this stone was put in that approximate spot too. So our family has a spot to visit. And to show you how technologically with it, your group is, I think it was like two days after that plaque was placed, that this picture was up on your website and some genius, amalgamated two photos, one historical photo and one photo from that event. And put them together. And I think it's just beautifully done. And I had to include it to show you how other people on Saltspring have such a and not just Saltspring. But people who've been to Hawaii have a very strong emotional bond to it as well. And one of the people who volunteered to help us with that event at Drummond Park owns the boat called the pond Tiki. You might have seen it, it looks like palm trees and stuff on it. And it can land on a on a beach. It's not a traditional vessel. But it was very handy. And he phoned me up and he said, I understand you're looking for volunteers to help take people out to vessel Island. And he said I'd like to help with that. And he took for loads of people his boat takes 15 people. He spent the whole day as a volunteer taking people out to wrestle Island. And before he started, he came up to me and he said, I was surfing in Hawaii earlier this year. And he said, You know, I know you're not supposed to bring sand back, because it's bad luck. He said, But when at the beginning of this summer season, he went to put on his bathing trunks and he noticed that they were a little heavy. And in the him it was full of sand. I guess when he was surfing, he must have worked out a few times. He said so I brought it back in all innocence. And he said so I don't think there was any bad luck attached to him. He said, Is there something that you would like to do with that, which was very moving for us. And so he took out his scissors. And he cut the bottom of that hammer open, we put it into a bag. And at that point dedication ceremony. The others that were there, spread it below the plaque. So there's some actual sound from Hawaii, so that it's from a non Hawaiian but somebody who understands the the spiritual importance of it. So that's a copy of the plaque that's there. As you come up to St. Paul's, it's along the walkway there. Very large brass plaque that really is a nice tribute. When Parks Canada took over the islands, one of the things they did was to host our family to come out to the islands to tell our stories. They wanted to gather information. And so these are some of the people that were there at that event. And we met people from the Douglass side that we'd never met before two people came even for the event on in August, people came from Prince Rupert, because they wanted to be with family. There was one lady who came and brought her granddaughter and her her granddaughter wanted her picture taken on the steps of the House last alignment. Because at this event, her parents and her some of her family members have their pictures taken there, because they have a picture of their ancestor on the steps of Russell island. So generations are having their photograph taken in the same place. So this is sitting on the front porch at Russell lab, and that's this summer. And you would if you were sitting on the porch had your back to the to the house you would be looking towards Saltspring. And to the left is is an open field. Now it's a grassy area now, but that was the area where the hay field was. So up until the mid 40s. At least there were a lot of sheep on the island. And they could roam anywhere except where it was fenced. So there was a fence around the hay field. There was a fence around the vegetable garden, a fence around the flower garden and a fence around the orchard. And the reason why there was a fence around the hay field was because they needed that hay for the winter. So even when I was a kid, we would cut that hay with with the hand side. But so it used to be able to see from one side of the island, straight through to the other. It's not that open anymore. But there is a nice big wide spot. And that's part of what Parks Canada has to decide. They're still in the development phase for the Gulf Islands National Preserve. And so what they have to do is decide what portion of Russell island will be set aside to as an example of Hawaiian settlements and British Columbia. And what portion of Russell island will be set will be set aside for a demonstration of the natural environment, and what portion will be set aside with no public access to preserve the environment. And I must say they have been very respectful of our family and consulted with us. So again, that's another picture of the grassy area, just beside the house. And those are grapes, that bush in the center that's grapes. And those were uncle labels, grapes, and we weren't allowed to touch those. And neither were realized to touch the peach tree that was against the side of the house. So since this photograph was taken, my husband and I are turned on wrestled on it was the first week in September. And while we were there, Parks Canada installed a number of large informational signs. So even though the house isn't open now, and probably won't be until June next year, you can go there and read the story of our salon and on those information panels. So they have made a commitment to protect the house and to keep it this is inside the house on the main floor. There was the kitchen and I'm standing there in the back door of the kitchen looking out towards Saltspring Island. And as you can see, they heated with the wood with the wood stove and that was the cook stove as well.
Speaker 2 1:02:12
So it wasn't a big house. It's not a big house. And I can't imagine what it would have been like to have that many children in that house.
Speaker 2 1:02:27
Okay, so the, what you're seeing here is the kitchen looking from the standing in the back door looking out towards looking out the front door and in the background there towards Saltspring Island. And they heated the house with wood and cooked on a wood stove. There was my cousin Stan remembers when running water was brought to the house in the mid 40s. That was a momentous occasion. And they converted the pantry into a bathroom and I never knew there was a bathroom there. Because only my grandmother was allowed to use the bathroom. We all use the outhouse. And when I went there in July in June, when when my daughter was the first one to go for her week. I first thing I had to do was go use the bathroom. Say I did and they went to visit my cousin Marie who's in her 80s That's it. Guess what, Marie? I use the bathroom.
Speaker 2 1:03:26
So she went to the island this summer. Just because she couldn't resist it. So when you walk through the kitchen, there's hardwood floor in the living room. And what you'll see now is just to the right of the door, it's one big room in there, but that used to be a solid wall and that was the bedroom on the right hand side and it's a very tiny room how they ever fit a bed and address in there. I don't know. My oldest my auntie Violet was born in that bedroom in 1908. The rest of her children were born in Victoria. There was a lot of room upstairs in the attic. And that's where I would grandkids stayed and they had big center mattresses on the floor. And it's not very big, but it's plenty big enough and that's where we when we went this summer that's where we all slept and kept our gear. So the stairs that go up there. I'm sure any building inspector would have a heart attack. They're above that wide. And there are those that steep and so they're original but there's there's a cupboard underneath the stairs like they fully utilize all the space but that's that's what the House consists of. So kitchen, living room, a bedroom, a bathroom, a little hallway that goes upstairs, and then the room upstairs when the Anderson spot rough Hello islands are with Dr. Barbara Russell Island, he built a house at the far end, a log house that some of you have been able to see and that's going to be removed if it hasn't been already. And Judith and Richard Anderson who do this is Dr. rowers daughter when they moved to counted it from us. First of all, they lived in the house that her dad built. And they brought everything with them, they had a harpsichord and everything was amazing all the stuff they brought, but they decided after a while that they'd rather live in the other house. And so they did some work to it updated the plumbing and make sure it has more water reservoirs and, and they have actually moved and lifted the old house instead, they prefer to live there. And so you'll see French doors in the living room, and they added those, which was a great addition. But that's about the only changes they made, they took out the wall between the bedroom and the living room, they made their bedroom upstairs, and then they put the French doors into the kitchen or into the living room. And that's about all the changes they've made. And one of the things that Parks Canada has to do now is renew the roof, and decide how much they're going to invest in bringing the building anywhere in your code. But preserving. So that house is over 100 years old, and it's still standing and it's still quite livable. That's looking out the living room window again. And Parks Canada also gave us the choice of what kind of display did we want to put in. So we supply them with the verbiage for the signage, and all the photographs. And they looked after producing them in both French and English. There's beautiful, beautiful trees, it's really nice walks, they're short walks, there's longer walks. There's well maintained trails, if you go over there, there is an outhouse down at the far end by the Shell Beach. So they've looked after people you can't stay there overnight. This bench is just down below the house. And it is my brother in law bills. And Parks Canada specifications and it's in honor of my my aunt and my dad and my sister. And of course, there's lots to see on the beach when I was a kid and we would be camping and you wake up in the morning and my first thought was, where's the tide? I hope it's because you were wanting to go and catch little crabs and minnows and look for all kinds of cool shells and and there are lots of tide pools therapy. If you've got grandchildren, great grandchildren, it's a great place to go and really look at the Marine Life. There's a lot of it's one of those places where you got the sandy beach, the Shell Beach, the rocky beach, and there's lots to see. And as you can see, it's pretty attractive place. So thank you very much for your attention. I hope you found it interesting. I'm happy to
Speaker 2 1:08:27
it's a it's a term that has been used for a long time. And it was used in the 1800s Apparently, I don't know where it how it originated. But it was a term that other people have been using for a very long time to denote people of partial Hawaiian background. Everyone
Speaker 2 1:09:07
they would have come on to tall ships. And when the Tall Ships visited Victoria, that was two years ago now. One of my cousin's worked with the Maritime Museum and we set up a booth there called the lions remembered to start sharing the story of Hawaiian supplement in British Columbia. And when all those tall ships arrived into the Inner Harbor, wow, was that powerful? Because, you know, I can just imagine my great great grandfather arriving on one of those ships. And in the he apparently he probably came in but it was in the mid 1800s And he got from a wahoo. It's a great area. We don't know for sure that that's my great great grandfather. The GMO boy, but that's the closest the J environment could could get for us to who it probably was and it tells to you in that book, what ships they came on to and where they came in, he originally went to Fort and photograph.
Speaker 2 1:10:20
occasion was originally. I think that's a mystery still. Like the ones that we have, that picture was off the Saltspring Island website, the one that was the amalgamation of two photographs. But when we came and had the back dedication, Emily had that photograph and was asking people if they could identify their ancestors from there. And if I understand correctly, if they understood if they knew what the vocation was, so I don't write about
Unknown Speaker 1:11:01
photographs
Speaker 2 1:11:04
of the Church, which would have taken place in 1885, when in addition, there is no district in the bell is clearly in the steeple. And when he did the restoration work on the pole and the fail, we discovered that the bell, in fact, was dated 1887. So we know the photographs have been taken after the veil was installed, so it could not begin the 1885 dedication, we're toying with a number of possible ideas. And I have to say that it was that that anniversary celebration that I thought maybe it was some kind of event gathering of an anniversary that brought everybody together. To celebrate this occasion, we played with the idea that it may have been marriages, because there's a few people holding flowers. But we don't have there's no truth record of multiple marriages. What we're trying to do is go through pictures and look at all and see if we can find a wedding that we can then report back to the church records is one of our districts and Frank has it on the website is a mystery. And we're always looking for people to give us some ideas on that. So if that means any battles with anybody would love to know your story. I would think so. But I mean, again, it's hard to tell how much style there was in those days. Spring. Probably if you had a hat in those days, you know, you weren't for a long time.
Speaker 1 1:12:52
Thank you very much. That was very good when you talk about your family history, a great deal of pride, and also your cultural heritage and we really enjoyed it. Have you a copy of our 50 Women of sultry? Well, I'll give you a DVD and a copy of the book and your great grandmother's in it. Both pictorially and a story read one of the women at the time. So that half the Historical Society in New York city great.
Unknown Speaker 1:13:25
reminder that our next reading will be November the eighth