From: usha@saltspring.com
To: suemouat@hotmail.com; elaineosterberg@hotmail.com
Subject: Re: Abbott history
Date: Sun, 27 Sep 2009 16:54:22 -0700
Fred Abbott is in one of the photographs in the SSIA - from the book 'Early Snapshots of Salt Spring Island', page 97
(and online, at saltspringarchives.com/stevens/130.htm - he is second from left; identified by Mary Inglin)
I think I remember Denise Crofton having been able to recognise Cecil Abbott's photograph in the Bullock Collection ... (her uncle, Ernest Crofton lived with Cecil Abbott on arrival on SSI in 1899 - Ernest Crofton later married Harry Bullock's sister Mary)
Denise Crofton is now 96 years old and in Lady Minto, in Extended Care. Might she know more of the Abbotts?
In my research notes, for Abbott, I note the following:
There is an 1897 April Parish & Home Church Monthly magazine news mention: "Messrs. Abbott have purchased ... (about 5 acres of) land on Ganges Harbour and intend erecting a residence." In the July 1897 issue it is recorded that "Mr. Reid Bitancourt, contractor and carpenter, has his hands more than full at present, having houses to erect for Mr. E. J. Bitancourt, Mr. H. W. Bullock, Mr. J. Scovell and Messrs. E. and F. Abbott." That would be Fred, with brother Edwin.
On the SSIA Tape #4, it is mentioned that Reid Bittancourt built for Edwin and Cecil Abbott, on Beddis Road; and that Edwin was in the Jameson Raid (in the Boer War; Dec. 29, 1895 - Jan. 2, 1896).
On the 1898 list of voters, there are two Abbott names; Edwin Alexander Abbott, and Frederick Ernest (both located in the Ganges Harbour area, each as a Farmer) - no Cecil.
However, Rev. Wilson, in the SSI P&H of June 1899 mentions that "Mr. Edwin Abbott arrived on the island May 9th, and is stopping with his brother at the Stevens boarding house", without specifying whether this was Frederick or Cecil; whichever it was, the Messrs. Abbott are not yet residing in their intended residence, possibly not yet built?
(Despite Fred having been photographed at the Stevens' boarding house, the brother mentioned may have been either Fred or Cecil - by the May 1899 issue of the SSI P&H, the Salt Spring Islanders of the time had learnt of Cecil's possible first arrival: "Mr. Cecil Abbott, lately from England, has arrived on the Island. His brother Edwin is at present at the Jubilee Hospital, down with typhoid fever, but is recovering, and hopes to be soon back at Ganges Harbour." Edwin had been "expected back to the Island shortly" earlier - mentioned in the SSI P&H March 1899 issue)
Re Fred Abbott: Rev. Wilson mentions in his diary, for April 8 1900, "Edwin & Fred Abbott arrived on Island." (Presumably from having been temporarily off-island).
(The diary was begun in 1911 during his sojourn with his wife in California; and the SSIA has the section online, covering "OUR LIFE ON SALT SPRING ISLAND, B.C. February 4th, 1894 to November 24th, 1909" but also continues thereafter with news from Salt Spring sent via letter from his extensive family living on Salt Spring)
In March 1901, Reverend Wilson records that Cecil Abbott was collecting for "a memorial window to Queen Victoria to be placed in St. Mark's Church, at the western end, over the font".
In the May 1901 issue, "C. Abbott" is recorded as having leased Mr. W Robertson's North End farm with Mr. W Bryan, and they "are now living there"; and one of the two wardens at "St. Mary's Church" (in the south end) is "C. Abbott". I note that these two C. Abbott's may not be one and the same.
In 1907, Rev. Wilson's diary records, for Oct 9, that "C. Abbott came out from England to help Father. He was licensed as a lay reader by the Bishop." (Rev. Wilson refers to himself as 'Father'.) This may, of course, be Cecil Abbott, if he had returned to England since his arrival on Salt Spring in 1899. However, to alert assiduous researchers, in the St. Mary's cemetary records there appear two other Abbotts: Eleanor Clarabel Abbott born Neepawa Manitoba August 6, 1907 - June 6, 1994 and Rev. Charles Leo Abbott born Hereford England May 5, 1889 – July 29, 1970. How very bothersome, to have two C. Abbotts on one island in the same era.
Lest you suspect that they were one and the same, in 1911, Rev. Wilson's diary records that "Mr. Abbott is engaged to Miss Champion". Cecil Abbott had been married to Mary Bullock since 1901...
I thrive on such minutiae! Ah well. (FOOTNOTE: see below)
(As a lively aside, the Reverend was informed of this engagement while off-island, via a letter from Salt Spring sent by his daughter Evelyn. Miss Champion was helping the Reverend's youngest daughter Nona with her 4 children, all with same initial D. On September 2nd, Nona wrote "Miss Champion has left me - went off to Victoria, I suppose to get married.")
Having Abbott "to assist" Rev Wilson was now able to hold services at St. Mark's, St. Mary's, the Divide, Ganges, Cranberry Marsh, North End & at Beaver Point. (However, after the Reverend Wilson retired in 1909 (living in California, and finally moving to Victoria), the services at the Divide, Cranberry Marsh, North End, and Beaver Point schoolhouses seem not to have been kept up regularly. The continuing news of Salt Spring, as sent to the Reverend by letter, is recorded in his diary.)
In 1913, when the Reverend visits Salt Spring, a 'Mr. Abbott' drives the Reverend around Salt Spring in a motor car provided by Gavin Mouat.
(If lay reader C. Abbott was the Abbott who became Rev Charles Abbott, and not Cecil of the Messrs Edwin, Fred, & Cecil Abbott, had become a Reverend between 1909 and 1913, the Reverend wilson would surely have called him Reverend Abbott, not Mr. Abbott; so if this was Charles Abbott his helper, who became the Reverend, he was not yet ordained?)
The C. Abbott whose name is attached by the Sidney Review - in 1936 - to the church bell, might just possibly refer not to Cecil Abbott, but to Charles Abbott?
You can visit the online SSI P&H index (so far - periodically under construction. If you'd like it faster, bug me. Tia Lesche is still kindly doing it, when I feed the scans to her.)
<http://saltspringarchives.com/wilson/ParishandHome/index2.htm>http://saltspringarchives.com/wilson/ParishandHome/index2.htm
You can search through the Reverend's diary also, at <http://saltspringarchives.com/wilson/diary.html>http://saltspringarchives.com/wilson/diary.html
(The SSIA has always been a wonderful resource, and only becomes more and more astoundingly useful. Thanks to all!)
Usha
PS
FOOTNOTE: To confuse the issue - North End and South End - further, uniforms for the south end soccer team were apparently donated by "Cecil Abbott" , resident of the north end - see the caption to the photograph titled "Fulford Upstarts win McPhillips Cup 1911" and donated by possibly jubilant south ender Pat Lee! <http://saltspringarchives.com/garydunn/Sports/pages/65.htm>http://saltspringarchives.com/garydunn/Sports/pages/65.htm
PPS
Re Edwin Abbott having served in the Boer War:
I believe some Boer War veterans got SSI land as veterans; it has been said that at Musgrave Landing two neighbours got land as veterans of the Boer War - one having fought for the Boers, the other against. Being myself descended from both sides, and of pacifist leanings, I rather like that story, and would love it to be verifiable truth! Very Salt Spring. Possibly very Canadian?
On 26-Sep-09, at 8:18 PM, Sue Mouat (by way of Salt Spring Island Archives) wrote:
Thank you,Marguerite,for the email you forwarded from Elaine. St.Mark's was consecrated in 1892 before the Abbott brothers arrived. I have never found a reference to Fred in the parish records but Cecil is often mentioned. He and his wife were very active in St. Paul's Anglican church in Ganges. Cecil sometimes took services for Rev.Bastin if the latter was sick or away. The bell was rescued after St.Paul's was destroyed by fire. It then went to St.George's. I am hoping to see it put up at St.Mark's as All Saints (the old St.George's ) has a bell from Holy Trinity in Vancouver. The Abbott bell was cast in Boston by the Hooper Co. in 1860. I thought possibly the Abbott bell had been used up at the Cranberry school where Mr.Wilson sometimes had services. We have a photograph of a bell there. It was also out at the Scott farm for a time when Mrs. Scott was unwell and wanted her husband to come in from the farm. I have no idea when the bell came to Salt Spring or where it came from. Bishop Barry Jenks is active in the archives at Christ Church and is doing some research on St.Paul's for us and might come up with some material that the diocese has but not us.
Thank you too,Elaine. I read your interesting article,a copy of which we have in our archives.
All the best,Sue
From: <mailto:mlee3@shaw.ca>mlee3@shaw.ca
To: <mailto:suemouat@hotmail.com>suemouat@hotmail.com
Subject: Abbott history
Date: Sat, 26 Sep 2009 15:56:28 -0700
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Hi Sue...just rec'd this...interesting but not what you are looking for. I think this email should be in the Abbott file for future reference...What do you think?
Enjoy your day...Marguerite
----- Original Message -----
From: <mailto:elaineosterberg@hotmail.com>Elaine Osterberg
To: <mailto:mlee3@shaw.ca>mlee3@shaw.ca
Sent: Saturday, September 26, 2009 2:28 PM
Subject: RE: Abbott history
Hello Marguerite, It was nice to hear from you and to read your interesting bit about the Abbott Churchbell donation. I must appologize for not getting back to you sooner but I was hoping I would have had some information by now. I took your advise and spent about 2 weeks going through all the articles and pictures in the Salt Spring Archives and found it most interesting. I did find several quotes and pictures about the Abbott's while living on Salt Spring Island. When I first read your email, I figured that Cecil Abbott must have had something to do with the bell and sure enough I came across a small article in Sue Mouat's Sidney Review Archives - "September 16, 1936 - New bell for St. Marks (C.Abbott) to hang under present one"
I wrote to all the Abbott's in England hoping that I might learn something from one of them, especially Clive as he seems to know the most about the family history but to date I have not heard anything so I assume they knew nothing about it.
For the little I know about Church bells, usually there is a maker's mark on the bell to say who the manufacturer is and if that could be found it may lead to where it was made and that would be help. Are there still 2 bells hanging and if so it would be the bottom one? If it was made in England it could be presumed that Cecil would have brought it over with him when he left England around the turn of the Century -1899 - and to my knowledge he never returned to England. How big is the bell? Cecil's brother Fred (my grandfather) is listed as one of the builders of St. Mark's church (I didn't find a date for that) but I'm sure that if Fred helped build the church, Cecil did too. Cecil worked in the church collecting the money, etc.
Anyway, if you are able to find out any more information, I would be pleased to hear from you. I would love to get back to Salt Spring and spend more time there. It has been a great summer and we have had a couple of nice getaways down to Yellowstone Park and the Arches in Utah and then in July up to the Queen Charlotte Islands.
Bye for now and best wishes,
Elaine Osterberg
604-434-0736
From: <mailto:mlee3@shaw.ca>mlee3@shaw.ca
To: <mailto:elaineosterberg@hotmail.com>elaineosterberg@hotmail.com
Subject: Abbott history
Date: Tue, 21 Jul 2009 08:48:26 -0700
Hi Elaine
I have been volunteering at the Salt Spring Archives and was asked for some information. Perhaps you can help me. Apparently a church bell was donated to the Anglican Church (St Mark's) near Central by the Abbott's. This is mentioned in Reverend Wilson's diary. They are trying to find out some of the history of the bell...when it came, where it came from etc. Do you have anything in your research that would help us?
Thanks for any help you can give us. You might be interested in the Salt Spring Archives website. A huge amount of information and photos are posted on the site including Rev. Wilson's diary.
Enjoy your day...Marguerite