I was glad to find this story, I have been trying to piece together my family history. Emily May was my Great Great Grandmother. Most of my family has passed except for my mother and uncle so the only source I have had to work with has been BC archives. I just wanted to say thank you.
Annie Oakes was born Annie Mcmahon on July 29, 1880 in Monahan, Ireland, the daughter of Peter Mcmahon and Bridget Ward. Her family came to British Columbia, Canada around 1912. In 1940 Annie married John Wesley Oakes, formerly of Ontario, Canada. He was the son of John Wesley Oakes Sr. and Catharine Spies. Annie and John resided on Homer Street in Vancouver, British Columbia. On January 7, 1943, Annie was admitted to the "Provincial Mental Hospital" in Essondale, B.C. She died there, in her 74th year on May 9th, 1954 and two days later was buried in Woodlands Cemetery. Her burial arrangements were handled by Garden Hill Chapel of Port Coquitlam, B.C.
May she rest in peace now that she is not forgotten.
Raymond Allen was my Great Grandmother's Uncle. He was born at Sunday Pt., in the town of Yarmouth, Nova Scotia in 1856. He left for the gold fields in the Big Bend country of British Columbia around 1876 and worked a placer mine. His death certificate states he died at the Home for the Aged in Coquitlam, BC, and was buried in Institutional Cemetery. I was curious why all his personal information on the death certificate was from his 'Commitment Papers' at Essondale and a little research led me to this site.
He is my grandfather but our family never knew him. He married Martha Jane Allen as stated and my father, John Walter Cochran was born on June 26, 1901 in this union at Alden, Iowa. John Whiteside Cochran divorced Martha Jane (Mattie) Cochran when my Dad was about 2 years old. My Dad never knew his father or ever got to meet his step siblings, Grace and Leonard Cochran who were born in Canada. My Dad died on March 23, 1999 at Friendship Village in Waterloo, Iowa and is buried at the Garden of Memories Cemetery in Waterloo, Iowa. He was nearly 98 years old.
EDWIN CLAY BLAIR , my 3x great-uncle, was born on 12 September 1862, in North River, Colchester County, Nova Scotia, to Robert Blair and Jane Blair [Lynds]. He was a youngest son of a baptist farmer. His father was descended from Ulster Scots who were the first settlers of the area. His mother was of Irish descent but had also been born and raised in North River.
When Edwin reached adulthood, he immigrated to the USA where he worked for his brother Thomas H. Blair who was the founder of the Blair Camera Company. Edwin managed several of their stores including locations in New York, Philadelphia, and Chicago. He was also a photographer. He married and had a son. Despite all his accomplishments and assets, he began to suffer mental illness, and it cost him everything. His wife divorced him, and he left to Canada. Here he was in and out of treatment for years. During the times that he was well he was a traveling photographer. He loved Canada and taking photographs of real life people. I feel during this time he was following his real dreams and maybe he felt free in a way that he didn't in the States. Today his photos document the time period in which he lived. I have found over 40 photographs so far, in 8 museums including, The British Library in England, The Alberni Valley Museum in BC, The Saskatchewan Rail Museum, The Autry Collection, The Peel Library of Alberta, and Glencoe Museum. And I keep finding more. He is recognized by the Manitoba Historical Society as a photographer of the 20th Century.
Edwin spent his old age in Essondale. His death certificate only says he suffered from “paranoia”. I don't know what those years of his life were like for him. His grave was among those that were desecrated in this cemetery although his name is recorded on the memorial in Woodlands Park. I thought it was a shame that there wasn't more to remember him by.
You can see some of my uncle's photography through the following links:
Peter Rukavina, Prisoner OF War #691 at the Edgewood Internment camp.
He was admitted to the Hospital on 1 April 1916.
Born May 1887 at Quatian?, Austria. Died after an accident on the hospital grounds, when a chimney failed and fell upon him fracturing his pelvis, resulting in massive hemorrhaging, he died on the 1st of March 1940. His normal home was in Kamloops, B.C. worked primarily as a logger.
Father: Joe Rukavina
Not the first patient to be seriously hurt by the infrastructure and not the last; rare to be killed though :(
Edgewood Internment camp was operating from:
19 August 1915 until 23 September 1916; unknown how long he was incarcerated there, since the records were all destroyed.
Mary Ann Quail was born in Cornwall, Ontario on December 16, 1853 and baptized in St Columban Roman Catholic Church, Cornwall. She lived near Cornwall with her family until the late 1890's. She married Stephen A. Enfield, born in Wisconsin (1864), in the early 1890's and had a son Joseph in 1896. He died the same day and Mary Ann did not have any more children. Stephen and Mary Ann subsequently moved to and lived in Nelson, B.C. Stephen died in 1926 and is buried in Nelson, B.C. Mary Ann died in 1943, her death certificate states that bshe died of "exhaustion" and "senile dementia".
John Kuzyk was born in Austria 27 May 1894, and died 13 December 1923 at Essondale, in Coquitlam. He spent the last 57 months of his life at Essondale. Immigrated to Canada in 1910. His home prior to Essondale, was in Clinton, B.C. When the First World War broke out he was interned in the Mara Lake Internment Camps, near Sicamous, and he was released from the camp in 1917, with conditions. Father was: Dan Kuzyk, and the death certificate states that he was married, but she has proven to be elusive to find. Sadly the records of the Internment camps were all destroyed by government order in 1954.
"My grandfather recalled that his aunt went to Alaska during the gold rush and died there, but until recently we did not know that she took her daughter, Naomi Lorimer, with her. Naomi was appointed a guardian in Juneau in 1906. The 1910 census shows she was paralyzed and could not speak. She was institutionalized around 1919, and died of pulmonary tuberculosis in 1928. We do not know why no one came to collect her after her mother died. Thank you for making a record of the exact location of her burial."
I was glad to find this story, I have been trying to piece together my family history. Emily May was my Great Great Grandmother. Most of my family has passed except for my mother and uncle so the only source I have had to work with has been BC archives. I just wanted to say thank you.
Annie Oakes was born Annie Mcmahon on July 29, 1880 in Monahan, Ireland, the daughter of Peter Mcmahon and Bridget Ward. Her family came to British Columbia, Canada around 1912. In 1940 Annie married John Wesley Oakes, formerly of Ontario, Canada. He was the son of John Wesley Oakes Sr. and Catharine Spies. Annie and John resided on Homer Street in Vancouver, British Columbia. On January 7, 1943, Annie was admitted to the "Provincial Mental Hospital" in Essondale, B.C. She died there, in her 74th year on May 9th, 1954 and two days later was buried in Woodlands Cemetery. Her burial arrangements were handled by Garden Hill Chapel of Port Coquitlam, B.C.
May she rest in peace now that she is not forgotten.
Is it possible to find out any further information on Annie Oakes? Is there an actual grave marker? Thank you so much for any assistance.
Raymond Allen was my Great Grandmother's Uncle. He was born at Sunday Pt., in the town of Yarmouth, Nova Scotia in 1856. He left for the gold fields in the Big Bend country of British Columbia around 1876 and worked a placer mine. His death certificate states he died at the Home for the Aged in Coquitlam, BC, and was buried in Institutional Cemetery. I was curious why all his personal information on the death certificate was from his 'Commitment Papers' at Essondale and a little research led me to this site.
He is my grandfather but our family never knew him. He married Martha Jane Allen as stated and my father, John Walter Cochran was born on June 26, 1901 in this union at Alden, Iowa. John Whiteside Cochran divorced Martha Jane (Mattie) Cochran when my Dad was about 2 years old. My Dad never knew his father or ever got to meet his step siblings, Grace and Leonard Cochran who were born in Canada. My Dad died on March 23, 1999 at Friendship Village in Waterloo, Iowa and is buried at the Garden of Memories Cemetery in Waterloo, Iowa. He was nearly 98 years old.
EDWIN CLAY BLAIR , my 3x great-uncle, was born on 12 September 1862, in North River, Colchester County, Nova Scotia, to Robert Blair and Jane Blair [Lynds]. He was a youngest son of a baptist farmer. His father was descended from Ulster Scots who were the first settlers of the area. His mother was of Irish descent but had also been born and raised in North River.
When Edwin reached adulthood, he immigrated to the USA where he worked for his brother Thomas H. Blair who was the founder of the Blair Camera Company. Edwin managed several of their stores including locations in New York, Philadelphia, and Chicago. He was also a photographer. He married and had a son. Despite all his accomplishments and assets, he began to suffer mental illness, and it cost him everything. His wife divorced him, and he left to Canada. Here he was in and out of treatment for years. During the times that he was well he was a traveling photographer. He loved Canada and taking photographs of real life people. I feel during this time he was following his real dreams and maybe he felt free in a way that he didn't in the States. Today his photos document the time period in which he lived. I have found over 40 photographs so far, in 8 museums including, The British Library in England, The Alberni Valley Museum in BC, The Saskatchewan Rail Museum, The Autry Collection, The Peel Library of Alberta, and Glencoe Museum. And I keep finding more. He is recognized by the Manitoba Historical Society as a photographer of the 20th Century.
Edwin spent his old age in Essondale. His death certificate only says he suffered from “paranoia”. I don't know what those years of his life were like for him. His grave was among those that were desecrated in this cemetery although his name is recorded on the memorial in Woodlands Park. I thought it was a shame that there wasn't more to remember him by.
You can see some of my uncle's photography through the following links:
-BRITISH LIBRARY OF ENGLAND (Images of Canada)
https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:At_River_John,_Nova_Scotia,_Augu...(HS85-10-34532).jpg
-ALBERNI VALLEY MUSEUM
http://portalberni.pastperfect-online.com/39526cgi/mweb.exe?request=reco...
-PEEL LIBRARY OF ALBERTA
http://peel.library.ualberta.ca/postcards/PC003630.html
-GLENCOE MUSEUM
http://ww2.glenbow.org/search/archivesPhotosResults.aspx
-THE AUTRY COLLECTION
http://collections.theautry.org/mwebcgi/mweb.exe?request=record;id=PE213...
-ARCHIVES OF ALBERTA
https://hermis.alberta.ca/paa/PhotoGalleryDetails.aspx?CollectionID=2&st...
-MILLET AND DISTRICT MUSEUM AND ARCHIVES
http://www.albertaonrecord.ca/is-mil-1-398
MANITOBA HISTORICAL SOCIETY
http://www.mhs.mb.ca/docs/photographers/
Peter Rukavina, Prisoner OF War #691 at the Edgewood Internment camp.
He was admitted to the Hospital on 1 April 1916.
Born May 1887 at Quatian?, Austria. Died after an accident on the hospital grounds, when a chimney failed and fell upon him fracturing his pelvis, resulting in massive hemorrhaging, he died on the 1st of March 1940. His normal home was in Kamloops, B.C. worked primarily as a logger.
Father: Joe Rukavina
Not the first patient to be seriously hurt by the infrastructure and not the last; rare to be killed though :(
Edgewood Internment camp was operating from:
19 August 1915 until 23 September 1916; unknown how long he was incarcerated there, since the records were all destroyed.
Mary Ann Quail was born in Cornwall, Ontario on December 16, 1853 and baptized in St Columban Roman Catholic Church, Cornwall. She lived near Cornwall with her family until the late 1890's. She married Stephen A. Enfield, born in Wisconsin (1864), in the early 1890's and had a son Joseph in 1896. He died the same day and Mary Ann did not have any more children. Stephen and Mary Ann subsequently moved to and lived in Nelson, B.C. Stephen died in 1926 and is buried in Nelson, B.C. Mary Ann died in 1943, her death certificate states that bshe died of "exhaustion" and "senile dementia".
John Kuzyk was born in Austria 27 May 1894, and died 13 December 1923 at Essondale, in Coquitlam. He spent the last 57 months of his life at Essondale. Immigrated to Canada in 1910. His home prior to Essondale, was in Clinton, B.C. When the First World War broke out he was interned in the Mara Lake Internment Camps, near Sicamous, and he was released from the camp in 1917, with conditions. Father was: Dan Kuzyk, and the death certificate states that he was married, but she has proven to be elusive to find. Sadly the records of the Internment camps were all destroyed by government order in 1954.
"My grandfather recalled that his aunt went to Alaska during the gold rush and died there, but until recently we did not know that she took her daughter, Naomi Lorimer, with her. Naomi was appointed a guardian in Juneau in 1906. The 1910 census shows she was paralyzed and could not speak. She was institutionalized around 1919, and died of pulmonary tuberculosis in 1928. We do not know why no one came to collect her after her mother died. Thank you for making a record of the exact location of her burial."
Gail Strevy
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