Some Reminiscences of old Victoria Part 12

"For Jack's the boy for work, And Jack's the boy for play; And Jack's the lad, When girls are sad, To kiss their tears away."

These good old days of 'Squimalt, I am afraid, are gone for ever with her prestige as a naval station taken from her. Shall we see her rise again as a commercial port, as a headquarters of the C.P.R.? Shall the echoes of commerce take the place of the echoes of Jack's laughter and song? Let us hope so, and so end my little reminiscences of 'Squimalt's early times.

Since writing this I have come across a cutting in my sc.r.a.p book from the _Colonist_ of May 17th, 1870, which gives the account of the arrival of the first and only flying squadron (under Admiral Hornby), which ever arrived here. By the by, we were promised flying squadrons in lieu of stationary squadrons on this station. When is the first to arrive? As there was a flagship here with two other vessels, at this time, my readers may imagine the number of men in Esquimalt harbor at that date; not less than three thousand five hundred, I am sure, and how lively this must have made Esquimalt and Victoria. The whole population, figuratively speaking, turned out to welcome these six vessels as they came in from Race Rocks under full sail. It was a beautiful sight. The _Zealous_ (armor-plated), Admiral Farquhar, welcomed Admiral Hornby of the _Liverpool_, flagship of the flying squadron.

[Ill.u.s.tration: First bridge over the Gorge.]

CHAPTER XV.

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 hea.r.s.e dug out of the mud, as also teams loaded with stones for monuments in the cemetery.

We will suppose the hea.r.s.e 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.

[Ill.u.s.tration: Quadra Street Cemetery.]

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 hea.r.s.e, 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 t.i.tle 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. t.i.tcombe, 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 munic.i.p.al 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 a.s.sessor'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.