Chapter 15

OLD QUADRA STREET CEMETERY.

"Yet even these bones from insult to protect, Some frail memorial still erected nigh."

"Each in his narrow cell forever laid, The rude forefathers of the hamlet sleep."

--Thomas Gray.

I must first apologize for altering two words in this quotation from this most beautiful poem that caused the celebrated General Wolfe to say that he would rather be the author of it than have taken Quebec.

I am moved to write these lines by the fact that these bones require protecting from the vandalism of certain persons unknown, also I have been approached by pioneers several times to write about this desecration of the last resting-place of our pioneers.

It was in 1859 or early '60 that the Quadra Street Cemetery was opened, all the bones from the cemetery on Johnson and Douglas Streets being exhumed and carried to Quadra Street in carts. I have stood several times and watched the operation of digging up and carting away of the remains from the first cemetery. It was situated on the corner of Johnson and Douglas Streets, the brick building on the south-west corner being built on the site, and it must have extended into the streets also, as some years later skeletons were found by workmen digging trenches for water pipes. There were many naval men buried there, and the dates on some of the headboards and stones in Quadra Street Cemetery show an earlier date than the opening of it, there being two burials from war vessels, one in 1846, H. M. S. _Cormorant_, and one in 1852. These early dates show that Her Majesty's vessels were in Esquimalt at that time. Naval men and Hudson's Bay Company's employees were the large majority of those buried in the first cemetery. As a boy, I had a great weakness for funerals, and living only a block from Quadra Street, I attended scores in my day. I naturally liked the naval funerals best, for there were soldiers and sailors, and bands of music, with three volleys over the grave, so I missed few. The funerals came from Esquimalt, generally by water, in large boats propelled by oars, and landed at the Hudson's Bay Company's wharf.

By the inscriptions, a large majority were young men and sailors, and many were the result of accidents in Esquimalt harbor by drowning.

I well remember the funeral of Captain Bull, of H. M. surveying ship _Plumper_, who died at the age of twenty-seven years, the coffin being fastened to a gun carriage and pulled by bluejackets. The state of Victoria's streets at that time was such that it required a deal of power to propel any vehicle, and especially was this the case with Quadra Street. I have often seen a funeral come to a dead standstill and the hearse dug out of the mud, as also teams loaded with stones for monuments in the cemetery.

We will suppose the hearse has been dug out, and in the cemetery near the grave, in many cases men might be seen bailing out the grave, one below and one on top; especially was this the case with the Roman Catholic ground. And I have known when it was necessary to hold the coffin down in the water with shovels or have a man get down and stand on the coffin until enough soil was thrown on it to keep it down. What must the friends have thought at this time, as the dirty water was forcing its way into the coffin? In the majority of burials there was no grave-case, which helped to make matters worse.

I have always paid periodical visits to this cemetery, the chief reason being that my mother was buried there when I was fifteen years old. She expressed a wish to be carried to her grave instead of being taken in a hearse, and it was the first instance I can remember in Victoria, although it may have been done earlier.

Both Bishops Cridge and Garrett, the clergymen who conducted the burial services over her, are alive to-day.

Some four years ago, I had a marble headstone put on her grave, which was enclosed with a fence, and last fall I saw it there although buried in weeds. A few weeks ago a lady friend asked me if my mother's name was Jane; for that she had, in walking through the cemetery, come across a stone which must have been hers. I went up to investigate, and after some hours' search found the stone, but the enclosure was gone, and I had a time locating the grave, to replace the stone. In compiling the information given in this article, I made many visits lately, and I can say that it is a disgrace to a civilized community to have the last resting-place of Victoria's pioneers in such a condition--marble and sandstone monuments lying in all directions, broken either by falling over naturally, or with rocks by some vandal.

It is a mistake to suppose that there are few remaining relations of these long-buried dead. At least there are fifty per cent. of them represented by relations to-day, as I shall show later on, and I hope the state of affairs as here related, may cause them to move at once to right matters.

I might say that the individual plots were owned outright by the relations, and others, for they have certain title to them. Individual comments are made on all those that I know or knew of, and several large, heavy stones I could not lift to get inscriptions, as they lay on their face. In several cases wood headboards have outlived stone, the inscription on the former being more legible than the stone. The action of the elements in many cases has entirely erased some, especially from sandstone, although newer than the wood boards.

One of the inscriptions I have read many a time as being quaint, was so far as I can remember, thus:

". . . Physicians were in vain; Till Christ did please to give her ease, release from all her pain."

John S. Titcombe, pilot; monument erected by I. O. O. F.; died 1869, aged 41 years.

Matthew Hollow, died Feb. 28, 1871, aged 39 years; erected by Victoria Lodge, I. O. O. F.

Thos. Pritchard, died Oct. 31, 1883, aged 79; also Margaret his wife, died Dec. 3, 1871, 64 years. Note--This is the most pretentious monument in the cemetery. They leave grandchildren.

James Orr, died 1871, aged 32 years; buried by St. Andrew's Masons and I. O. O. F.

Alice Heathcote, wife of J. W. Hutchinson, jailer; died March 30, 1868, aged 27 years.

Margaret Langley, wife of Edward Langley; died 1866; leaves relatives.

James McCulloch, engineer steamer _Sir James Douglas_; died April 2, 1870, aged 46; also Margaret, wife of above, died Dec. 3, 1871, aged 64 years; also Wm. M. Doran, mate of same ship, who was accidentally drowned in Victoria harbor, July 7, 1868, aged 45 years; erected by officers and men of steamer.

Jessie Russell, wife of Robt. J. Russell (Russell's Station); died Aug. 29, 1860, aged 42.

John Wilkie, Wharf Street merchant; died April 28, 1871, aged 38 years.

James Murray Reid (Reid & Macdonald), partner of Senator Macdonald, and father of Mrs. W. J. Macdonald.

James Hepburn, died April 16, 1869; 58 years.

Nathaniel Milby Hicks, clerk C. M. C., died Oct. 31, 1870, age 52. (Member of first municipal council Victoria city.)

Capt. John W. Waitt, father of late M. W. Waitt; died 1870, aged 67.

Frederick and Arthur--children of Mrs. J. W. Williams.

Thos. Carter, of Hillside Farm, died 1869, aged 52 years; was husband of Mrs. C. Booth (and father of William Carter, provincial assessor's office). Note--Mr. Carter contracted a bad cold in the cemetery at the funeral of a brother Mason, and was heard to remark in an undertone to a friend as he was looking down into the grave, "And who will be the next?" Strange to say, he himself was the next, for within ten days his brother Masons met there to bury him.

Mrs. Harriet Jameson; died 1868, aged 18 years.

John Work, Chief Factor of H. B. Co., died Dec. 22, 1861, aged 70; and his son, Henry, died June 19, 1856, aged 12 years. (John Work was well known to all old-timers.)

Cecilia, wife of J. S. Helmcken, M.D., died Feb. 4, 1865, aged 30 years; also Douglas Claude, died Jan. 17, 1854, aged 3 months; Margaret Jane, died March --, 18 months; also Ogilvy Roderick, died March 5, 1 month--children of the above. (The wife of Dr. J. S. and mother of Dr. J. D. and H. D. Helmcken, and Mrs. -- McTavish and Mrs. Higgins.)

Martha Coles; died March 13, 1865, aged 30 years.

Geo. Hooper; died March 15, 1865, aged 53 years.

Jane Neely; died April 1, 1865, aged 28.

Wm. Brooke Naylor; died Oct. 2, 1866, aged 42; sheriff of Vancouver Island. (Has a son here, Brooke Naylor.)

Cecilia Cameron, wife of David Cameron, C. J. of colony; died Nov. 26, 1859; also David Cameron, C. J., died May 14, 1872, aged 68 years.

Jno. Walton; died June 17, 1867, aged 55 years.

Abner H. Francis; died -- 25, 1872, aged 59 years.

Chas W. Wallace, died March 13, 1865, aged 65; Jane Adison, died Feb. 5, 1854, aged 25 years; Kate, died July 11, 1869; Abby, died April 2, 1866; Edward, died Jan. 22, 1864; Charlie, died July 19, 1867--wife, children, father and sister of Charles W. Wallace (father of Mrs. E. E. Blackwood).

Mary Kamopiopio, wife of Wm. R. Kaule Lelehe; died Dec. 20, 1865, age 16. (Native of Hawaii.)

Henry Courtenay; born Oct. 27, 1869, died Sept. 14, 1871; 2 years. (Drowned at Burrard Inlet.)

Helen Amelia Dallas; born Feb. 20, 1859, died Jan. 24, 1860. (Granddaughter of Sir James Douglas.)

Barbara, wife of Thomas Mann; age 25 years.

Mary F. Semple; died Oct. 4, 1866; 1 year 10 months.

Wm. Honey; died Dec. 3, 1866, age 54 years.

Caroline Harrey Ewing; died June 3, 1864, aged 45 years.

Lucinda Mary, wife of Robert Grienslade; died Dec. 6, 1868, age 18 years.

Harriet, wife of Thomas James; died Oct. 19, 1868, aged 18 years.

James Wilson Trahey; died Dec. 2, 1868; 38 years.

Isaac Cameron; died Feb. 6, 1870; 29 years.

John B. McClearn; died Jan. 29, 1870, age 42.

Andrew Phillips; died Jan. 24, 1870, age 10 years.

Bridget, wife of Timothy Roberts; died Nov. 7, 1872, age 40 years.

John Bowes Thompson; died Aug. 6, 1870, age 49.

Hy. Francis Lee; died June 22, 1872, age 36 years.

Charlotte Dandridge; died March 7, 1863, age 70 years.

B. A. Wolsey. (Erected by her father.)

Hugh Cavin Walker; died May 16, 1868, age 26 years.

Freddy, child of J. W. and M. A. Williams; died March 31, 1870, age 4 years.

Wm. Emery; died May 2, 1871, age 33 years.

C. A. Schmid; died Nov. 29, 1871, age 48 years.

Charlotte, wife of John Holden; died March, 1863, age 28 years.

Naval Corner.

Monument erected to officers and men of H. M. S. _Satellite_--Daniel Evans, John Stanton, James Butland, John Willmore, Richard Stone, all drowned June 6, 1860; Wm. Brewer, died 1856; John Blackler, died 1859; Wm. Kett, died 1859; Richard Brown, died 1857; William Stout, died 1858; William Bell, died 1858; George Kembery, died 1860.

Monument to men of H. M. S. _Sutlej_--George Lush, John Guff, Edward Tiller, Joseph Neckless, died 1863 and 1864.

Monument to Benjamin Topp, H. M. S. _Cormorant_; died Oct. 22, 1846, age 40.

John Miller, H. M. S. _Thetis_, drowned in Esquimalt harbor June 3, 1852, age 22; W. R. Plummer, H. M. S. _Thetis_, age 23; James Smith, H. M. S. _Thetis_, age 31; Charles Parsons, H. M. S. _Thetis_, age 35--all drowned between Esquimalt and Victoria harbors, Aug. 22, 1852. Note--This headboard is wood, and although nearly 50 years old, is in splendid preservation, painted white with black letters, which stand out as plain as the day they were put on.

Monument to men of H. M. S. _Plumper_--James D. Trewin, died June 12, 1858, age 32 years; George Williams, Feb. 4, 1858, age 37 years.

Monument to William Johnson, H. M. S. _Hecate_; died Jan. 3, 1862.

Monument to men of H. M. S. _Sutlej_; died 1864 and 1866--Thomas Depnall, John Reese, George Crute, William Douglas, Albert Gilbert, Alexander Borthwick.

Monument to men of H. M. S. _Tribune_, 1865.

Chief Engineer of H. M. S. _Sparrowhawk_; died 1866.

Paymaster of H. M. S. _Devastation_; died 1864.

Engineer of H. M. S. _Topaz_; died 1861.

Commander Robson, of H. M. Gunboat _Forward_; died 1861, from effects of fall from his horse.

Engineer Charlton; died 1861. (Accidentally shot himself.)

Captain John A. Bull, master of H. M. surveying vessel _Plumper_; died --, 1860, age 27 years.

Granite monument to Edwin Evans, only son of Rev. E. Evans, D.D., age 20 years.

I have already given an account of this young man's death and burial in one of my former reminiscences; how he was drowned off Beacon Hill one December day. He undressed and swam out after a duck he had shot, got caught in the kelp and was drowned, his poor father walking up and down the beach all that night, calling "Edwin! Edwin! My son!" He was buried in a snowstorm, and great sympathy was shown by the public, by the crowds which filled the cemetery that day. Dr. Evans was Methodist minister when the church was built that is now being demolished.

Monument to Frederick Pemberton, Edward Scott, Eber and Grace, the four children of Bishop Cridge, who all died within two months, from diphtheria, in 1864-5; also his sister, Miss Cridge.

Jane, aged 47, wife of Thomas Lea Fawcett, and mother of Rowland, Edgar and Arthur Fawcett, the latter of London, Eng.; died January, 1864.

Thomas H. Botterell; died 1866, age 27 years.

Eliza A., daughter of George and Isabella Simpson; died 1872, aged 16 years 8 months (sister of George Simpson, H. M. customs.)

James Murray Yale, chief trader, H. B. Co.; died May 7, 1871, age 71 years.

Charlotte B., wife of Joseph Corin; died July 12, 1863, age 24 years. (She was the wife of partner of Charles Hayward.)

Elizabeth Caroline, wife of Edward G. Alston; died January, 1865, age 27 years. (Mr. Alston was registrar-general.)

Charlotte, wife of John Dutnall (John Dutnall was sexton of Christ Church, and formerly in charge of one of the H. B. Co.'s farms. Has a brother at Albert Head, farming.)

Antonia Hernandez; died March 22, 1862, age 32 years.

Henry Proctor Seelie, of London, England; died July 23, 1864, age 24 years.

Cecil, fourth son of G. T. Gordon; died April 20, 1861, age 5 years 4 months.

Anna Maria, widow of the late William Yardly; died March 5, 1864, age 59 years. (Mother of Mrs. Hy. Wootton.)

Samuel Hocking; died Sept. 15, 1862, age 37 years 8 months.

Louis Richards, native of Cornwall; died Oct. 21, 1872, age 21 years.

James Brown, of Kingston, Canada; died Feb. 9, 1873, age 37 years.

Alexander Deans; died October, 1858, age 17 months.

Mary Jane Deans; died July 8, 1868, age 5 years.

John Spence; died Sept. 29, 1865, age 67 years.

Mrs. Johnson, wife of J. H. Johnson, engineer H. B. Co. steamer _Beaver_; died Dec. 22, 1858. (Johnson Street named after him.)

George Leggatt--headstone is illegible.

Barbara, wife of Thomas Mann; age 25 years.

John Miles; died January, 1861; age 35 years.

William Wallis; died Jan. 3, 1862.

Ann Sayward; died August 17, 1870, age 46 years. (Mother of Walter Chambers and Joseph Sayward.)

James Chambers; died Dec. 7, 1859 (father of Walter Chambers), age 38 years.

Joseph Austen; died July 2, 1871, age 89 years. (A pioneer of 1858, and also of San Francisco, where he was a prominent member of the "vigilance committee." When he was made a judge, sentenced men to death during the stirring times of the early fifties in that city.)

John Parks; died June 6, 1862, age 27 years.

Millicent Page, wife of William Page; died Feb. 19, 1864, age 55 years.

Kenneth Nicholson; died Nov. 10, 1863, aged 35.

John Sparks, killed by explosion on steamer _Cariboo_, Aug. 2, 1861, age 28 years.

John Murray; died May 6, 1872, age 44 years.

William Henry Downes; died June 17, 1872, age 47 years.

Thomas, son of W. H. and A. J. Huxtable; died Feb. 8, 1869, age 4 years 9 months.

Anne, wife of Joseph H. Brown; died Aug. 16, 1871, age 31 years.

Jos. H. Brown; died July, 1869, age 39 years.

William and Edith, two children of William B. and Eliza Townsend; died in 1868 and 1871. (William B. Townsend was mayor of Westminster.)

Hannah, second daughter of John and Christiana Kinsman; died Feb. 26, 1865, age 7 years. (Daughter of the late Alderman Kinsman.)

Agnes Laumeisler; died Sept. 4, 1861, age 36 years.

Cecil Montague, second son of W. A. G. Young; died June 22, 1865, age 5 years. (Mr. Young was colonial secretary in 1865.)

Roman Catholic Section.

There are very few of the monuments left standing here. Besides those naturally destroyed by time, many have been broken by stones into many pieces.

Carroll monument.--This, the second largest and costliest in the cemetery, has been very badly used, but it is also one of the oldest. Erected by Ellen Carroll, in memory of her beloved husband, John D. Carroll, died July 11, 1862, age 38; also in memory of her beloved babes, George Washington, born Feb. 22, 1860, died same day; John Thomas, born July 26, died same day; Mary Margaret, born Sept. 29, 1862, and died same day. (Who could blame this bereaved wife and mother if she didn't long remain a widow?)

Sosthenes Driard, a native of France, born 1819, died Feb. 15, 1873. (This marble stone was in several pieces, and difficult to read, but I persevered, as he was so well-known a man in early days, as mine host of the Colonial Hotel and afterwards of the Driard House.)

Marie Manciet; died Oct. --, 1868, age 21 years.

Mary Hall; died May 31, 1860, age 40 years. (This headboard is one of the best preserved in the cemetery; the black letters stand out as clear and bright as if just executed, but the white paint has nearly disappeared.)

W. L. Williams; died Dec. 17, 1862, age 20 years.

Jane Forbes; died July 22, 1859, age 26 years.

John Clarke; died Dec. 27, 1860, age 31 years.

James Farrelly; died Jan. --, 1866, age 28 years.

Maria Ragazzoni; died --, 1864.

Marie Newburger, died --, 1861, age 12 years.

Dr. N. M. Clerjon; died Feb. 25, 1861; age 53 years.

To the memory of my darling little Eva, who died July 14, 1863, age 7 years and 5 months; also her infant brother, age 3 days. J. S. Drummond (on a large flat stone.)

Charles H. Blenkinsop, H. B. Co.; died March 22, 1864.

Sacred to the memory of John Wood, from his wife--1864. Note--This is one of the best preserved headstones and enclosures in the cemetery, the latter being of iron, and 43 years old. My friend, Mr. Higgins, in his book "The Mystic Spring," gives the story of this clever actor, and his wife also, so I will not enlarge on it.

John Sparks, age 28 years; killed by the explosion of steamer _Cariboo_, Aug. 2, 1861.

Smith Baird Jamieson, killed by the explosion of steamer _Yale_--April, 1861; Archibald Jamieson, and James Baird Jamieson, killed by the explosion of steamer _Cariboo_ in Victoria harbor, Aug. 2, 1861, three brothers, sons of Robert Jamieson, Brodick, Isle of Arran, Scotland.--I refer my readers to Mr. Higgins' book for the story of these brothers also. I remember the morning of the explosion of the _Cariboo_. It woke up the whole town. I think her bones lie in the mud alongside Turpel's ways in Songhees reserve.

William Alexander Mouat, chief trader H. B. Co.; died April 11, 1871, aged 50 years; also Clarissa Elizabeth, daughter of the above, age 8 years. (Father of Mrs. Richard Jones.)

Eleanor M. Johnston; died Feb. 27, 1872.

Elizabeth A. Kennedy; born at Fort Simpson, Nov. 1835, died at Fort Victoria, February, 1850; also Dr. John Kennedy, chief trader, H. B. Co., died 1859, age 52 years; also Fanny Kennedy, age 25 years; James B. Ogilvy, died Dec. 23, 1860, aged 5 years; John D. B. Ogilvy, Victoria Lodge, No. 783, F. & A. M., age 30 years; died May 12, 1865. (Father, mother, daughter and nephew, and Dr. Kennedy had two sons, one master of the Colonial school in 1859, and one clerk in H. B. Co.'s store.)

William Wright; died July --, 1870, age 53 years.

John Hender Wood, master of ship _Ellen_; died May 12, 1868, age 41 years.

George H. Booth; died Sept. 1, 1867, age 1 year 8 months. (Wood headboard is in good state of preservation.)

Henry Francis Lee; died June 22, 1872, age 36 years.

Mary Ann Dougherty; died Sept. 5, 1863.

Paul Medana; died Nov. 14, 1868.

James Webster; died Sept. 15, 1862, age 37 years 8 months.

Millicent Page, wife of Wm. Page; died Feb. 19, 1864, age 55 years.

Kenneth Nicholson; died Nov. 10, 1863, age 35 years.

Charles Dodd (Chief Factor H. B. Co.); died June 2, 1860, age 52 years.

Eleanor M. Johnston; died June 2, 1860.

Victoria's First Cemetery.

The finding of the skeletons in the excavation of Johnson Street this week, recalls the last find nearby, a few years ago, in laying waterpipes on Douglas Street, and I find, in referring to an article I wrote five years ago on clippings from the _Victoria Gazette_, Victoria's first newspaper, that "the Council have ordered the removal of the bodies from the cemetery on Johnson Street to the new cemetery on Quadra." I can well remember seeing this removal; the bones where the bodies were not entire being thrown into carts, and taken to the Quadra Street Cemetery. I might state that with the exception of a few Hudson's Bay Company's employees, those buried there were men from Her Majesty's fleet at Esquimalt. This may seem a long time ago for vessels of war to be at Esquimalt, but by the tombstones in Quadra Street Cemetery, I find there were some of the seamen from H. M. S. _Cormorant_ buried in 1846. One of these was Benjamin Topp, and also John Miller, of H. M. S. _Thetis_, who were drowned in Esquimalt harbor; also W. R. Plummer, James Smith, and Charles Parsons, all drowned between Esquimalt and Victoria, August 22, 1852; also James D. Trewin and George Williams, February 4th, 1858. These were all removed to Quadra Street the following year.