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Historical Notes Biographical Sketches HISTORICAL NOTES AND BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCHES 1B4B - 1935 BY RDBIE L. REID, I<..C., LL.D. PAST GRAND MASTIrR "" BRAND HIBTBRIAN, 193B-1945 Printed by Chapman & Warwick Ltd. Vancouver, B.C. CHAFFER i FREEMASONRY IN BRITISH COLUMBIA BEFORE THE GRAND LODGE: THE NINE OLD LODGES The Fur Trading era in what is now the Province of British Col- umbia came to an end in 1858. Not that the trade in ~Irs ceased at that time or for many years after, but it ceased to be the governing factor of the territory. With one exception, no trace has been found of Freemasonry in British Columbia during this period, and that a very faint one. When Dr.W.F. Tolmie came t0Vancouver Island in 1859 from Fort Nisqually, in what is now the State of Washington, and made his home at Cloverdale, near Victoria, he brought with him a wooden "carrying’case," adorned with a square and compass and other Masonic emblems. Whether he was a Freemason or not we do not know, but we have no reason to helie~ that he was; and we know that his son, the late Hon. Simon F. Tolmie, was not a member of the Craft. At one time, in 1902, he did apply for admission toVictoria Lodge and was accepted, but he withdrew his application "for family reasons." When, after the letter’s death, the assets of the estatewere sold, this "carrying-case" was bought by Bruce A. McKelvie, a well-known journalist, a non-mason, and presented by him to the late Dr. Frank Patterson, a member of Prince of Wales Lodge, No. iO0~ at Van- couver, B. C. After Bro. Patterson’s death,¯ his widow presented it to her husband’s lodge, which proudly preserves it as a priceless memento of the days long gone by. The first great gold rush to British Columbia was in 1858. In California the frenzied activity that followed the gold rush of 1849 had died down. The time when gold was to be had for the taking had passed, and men were looking for a new Eldorado. The California mines had moved into the big business stage. In 1857 rumours were current that gold had been found in the North, on a hitherto almost unknown river called the Fraser. It was said that the Hudson’s Bay Company was digging out mil- lions; that it was a second California, Thetalk of gold being found on the bars along the river sounded good tothe California miners. Early inthe spring of 1858 convincing evidence of the wealth of the Fraser came to San Francisco. About 800 ounces of fine gold, said to have been sent down by the Hudson’s Bay Company, was received at the United States mint in San Francisco. It was not a very large amount, as gold values went in those days, but with the decline of gold shipments from the California mines it was sufficient to start a rush to the North. A hardy band of gold-seekers sailed for the Fraser River and found gold near Fort Hope and Fort Yale. When news of their success reached Cali- fornia, others quickly followed on their trail, seeking"the ne~ Eldorado - the golden realm of thrice ten thousand hopes."(1) The Fraser River gold excitement had begun. Soon a veritable city of shacks and tents clustered about the Hudson’s Bay fort at Victoria; acity had sprung up there, like Jonah’s gourd, almost in a single night. (I) The New Eldorad0, by Kinahan Cornwallis, London, 1858~. p. 151. -2" OUR FIRST MASONIC LODGE. There were Freemasons among the new-comers, most of whom, Whether they were citizens of the United States or of other countries, had learned the lessons of the Craft according to the American practice in the Lodges of the State of California. As soon as they got settled in Victoria they wanted a Masonic Lodge ~n their new home. Being on British soil, they naturally expected that they would have to have a Lodge with an English charter. There were sufficient English Freemasons in the little city to encourage that idea. There was urgent need for a Lodge, to act as a centre for Freemasons and their fraternal and benevolent duties, and this need was all the greater because Victoria was not an old and settled community. The town boasted a newspaper, the Victoria Gazette, published by journalists from San Francisco, and in its issue of July 10, 1858, the following item appeared:- The members of the Ancient Order of F. & A. Masons in good standing are invited to meet on Monday July 12th at 7 o’clock, P.M. in Southgate & Mitchell’s new store, upstairs. The object of the meeting is to consider matters connected with the permanent inter- ests of the order in Victoria. The reference to "F. & A. Masons" marks the writer as having been taught FreemasonrF in the United States. An English Freemason would have used the contraction ’~.F. & A.M." This has led many to believe that J. J. Southgate, an Englishman, who presumably inserted the advertisement, had been connected with the Craft in California, but no other evidence of such connection has been discovered. (2) (2) Joseph Johnson Southgate came to Victoria early in 1858 and started business on Wharf Street as a merchant and importer. He must have had good connections in England, for we find him acting as a contrac- tor for supplies to the Naval Forces stationed at Esquimalt during the San Juan incident. He was a public-spirited citizen and was one of the prime movers in the formation of the Victoria Hook and Ladder Com- pany. In 1860, when Vancouver Island and the neighbouring islets had their own legislature, Southgate was elected representative for Salt Spring Island. He was re-elected in 1863. The Colonist (January 4, 1865), speaks of his ability as a legislator in these terms: "Mr. Southgate has a gooddeal of Dr. Tolmie’s utilitarian characteristics, but it is evident from the frequent absences from the House thathe is more inclined to practice them in private than in public business. When he speaks, ~hich is we must confess, rarely, he is generally sensible and to the point." In 1865 he was resident in New Westminster, where, it is said, he was Secretary to Governor Seymour. In 1867, at the first election after the union of the two colonies of Vancouver Island and British Columbia, he was elected to the Legislative Council as member for Nan- a!mo. Later he returned to England, but revisited the Province in 1883. He died in England on October 4, 1894, at his residence, Es- quimalt House, Grove Park Road, Chiswick, London, the name of which is reminiscent of his adventures in the Far West. No doubt the Freemasons had discussed the possibility of es- tablishing a Masonic Lodge in the gold regions of the North on shipboard, as they travelled from San Francisco to Victoria, but when they arrived they found no building there that could be used for a public meeting, let alone by a Masonic Lodge~. Then, during the summer of 1858, Bro.~ J. J. Southgate and his partner, Mitchell~, erected a two-storey building at the South-east corner of Yates and Langley streets. It was evidently built hurriedly, but the upper storey furnished a meeting place where Freemasons and others could assemble and discuss matters of mutual in- terest, The building only stood for four years, when it was torn down to permit the erection of the building which still stands on the lot today.~ This was afterwards occupied by Hibben & Carswell, and later by Diggon-Hibben Ltd. As soon as the new building was ready for occupancy, Bro. Southgate inserted in the Victoria Gazette for July 10, 1858, the notice already quoted above. At least seven Brethren, perhaps more, met in the new building to discuss Masonic matters, pursuant to this notice. Those whose names we have were J° J, Southgate, George Pearkes, (3), William Jeffray (4), (2) Cont?d. We know little of his experiences in Freemasonry. He was a Past Master of Victoria Lodge. On his visit here in 1863, he was made an Honorary Member of the Lodge. (3) George Pearkes, the first practising solicitor in the Colony of Vancouver Island, was a native of Guildford, Surrey, England. His father was Ec~ard Henry Pearkes, who, with his family, came to Upper Canada and settled at Port Hope, in Durham County, where he died in the early sixties. The mother then came to her son in Victoria.~ She died there on February 10, 1861. George studied law in Toronto, and was admitted as a solicitor and attorney there on August 25, 185~. Then he went to the United States, and the Cali- fornia gold rush took him to San Francisco, where he was admitted to the California Bar on July 23, 1852. The State census of 1852 has this item: "P~arkes, George: age 25; lawyer: previous residence, Port Hope: then residence, San Francisco County." The San Francisco directories for 1852, 1856, 1857 and 1858 mention him as a practis- ingattorney; that for 1856-7 as being in partnership with W. Fred Green. Later, in Victoria, the two were again partners. In 1855Pearkes became a member of Occidental Lodge, No.~ 22, San Francisco, and in that year was made S.D. He took his dimit from the Lodge. This explains his joining Vancouver Lodge, No.~ 421, 0d April 30,-~ 1869, Pearkes married Mary Elizabeth, eldest daughter of John Dorman.~ In the fall of 1870 he was seri6usly ill for many weeks.
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