Editorially speaking…
One of the joys of historical research is that it's like a treasure hunt. You never know what the next document or deed, the turn of a page of an old newspaper, or a tip from a reader might lead to.
This nugget from the Nanaimo Free Press was sent along by a friend who’d been researching coal mine history at Vancouver Island University. It concerns lost treasure—the real thing.
In May 1895, Nanaimo resident Hugh Allen ordered a new coat from J.R. Wray, then conducting business as a tailor and clothier in the Johnston Block. After wearing the suit a few times, Allen became aware of a “small hard lump” in the wrist band of his coat. Suspecting it to be “some foreign substance of no value,” he ignored it rather than damage the coat by cutting the material.
Three years passed. By early summer 1898, the coat had been much used and was beginning to show signs of wear. Upon returning from a hunting trip to Gabriola Island, Allen resolved to determine once and for all what was rubbing against his wrist, and, splitting the material, he removed a stone.
But this was no ordinary rock—it sparkled in the moonlight.
All that glitters is not gold... —www.gia.edu/diamond
Allen went straight to a jeweller, who identified it as a diamond valued at between $75 and $100 dollars ($28-3800 today) that he’d placed in a setting for J.R. Wray, who’d since moved to Vancouver. Allen, who was publicly commanded for his honesty, contacted mainland newspapers who ran the story, and he was waiting for Wray to contact him to reclaim the diamond.
It was known that the tailor had realized it had gone missing—apparently, he’d spent a week ransacking his shop without success!
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A recent article in the Times Colonist about historic Annandale House caught my eye.
This 1898 heritage home in Oak Bay is up for redevelopment. The manor, also known as Sir Charles Tupper House, sits on prime land that’s ripe for subdivision. So far, if approved by Council, it’s expected that the house, which has been allowed to run down, will be lifted and turned on a new foundation. In other words, saved.
Sir Charles Tupper, Father of Confederation. —canadaehx.com/
Sir Charles Tupper,by the way, was the last surviving Father of Confederation. A more dubious claim to fame was his 10-weeks as Prime Minister—one of the shortest terms in Canadian history.
But that’s not what piqued my interest; it was the mention of architect John Tiarks, whose biography noted that he was popular for designing “villas of the better class and residences of country gentlemen”. Such, indeed, is the case of my neighbour, the Keating Farm house.
Andrew Keating’s fortune couldn’t save him and his sons from being among the victims of the sinking of the coastal liner, S.S. Islander. —Wikipedia
Wealthy Andrew Keating commissioned Tiarks to design him an almost church-like manor on the site of a rustic log cabin. For some reason, the cabin’s still there—totally enveloped by the large, two-storey house of today.
There’s a peephole upstairs where you can get a glimpse of the cabin’s shake roof!
As it happened, Andrew Keating and both of his sons were drowned in the sinking of the S.S. Islander in Alaska’s Lynn Canal, in August 1901. Less than a week later, Tiarks was also dead as a result of injuries sustained in a bicycle accident in Victoria. He was just 34.
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Since our currency (you remember paper money, don’t you?) hasn’t yet been updated, HRH Queen Elizabeth II still reigns as our money monarch. Before the Royal Canadian Mint can issue new bills bearing the likeness of HRH King Charles III, it’s being suggested that, instead, they use a Canadian. Like we do on the reverse of present-day currency.
And I have the perfect candidate for that honour: Terry Fox.
Let’s start a campaign to truly honour the young man who has captured Canadians’ admiration more than any other. I can’t think of a better way than on our bills—before they go out of fashion altogether in this age of paperless money.
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