Category Archives: History

Stonehenge: Exhibition from a sacred place for all Britons

Modern geneticists have shown us that the past is much closer than most of us realize. We carry the genetic coding from previous generations in our DNA and it can be traced back 200,000 to 300,000 years. Adam Rutherford went further, proclaiming everyone with European roots descends from Charlemagne (as well as his most humble followers). His point being that the number of your direct ancestors doubles every generation you count backward. By the time you count back 33 generations—about 800 to 1,000 years ago—you have more than 8 billion ancestors. By way of contrast, the population of England is believed to have only been about 2 million in 1,000 AD. At that point you had 4,000 ‘ancestors’ for every living person. This means your genealogy is populated by the same people counted over and over again through different lines of descent.  If you are of English ancestry, something of even greater antiquity like the Stonehenge artefacts currently being exhibited at the Royal BC Museum in Victoria is definitely about your heritage. 

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Brian Scott, Sherman Barker & Isabelle LaPlante: on the Cortes Experience

Around 40 people turned out to the Cortes Island Museum on November 10 for the launch of a series of community speakers. The host, Brian Scott traced the idea for ‘Finding Home: The Cortes Island Experience’  to a conversation he had with Sherman Barker. 

“Sherman and I have known each other for a few years, it’s long other story, but he was up on Easter Bluff one day when Jane and I went up for a hike.  We’re chatting, and he started telling us his arrival story. It actually goes even further back to when he came as a kid.  He said, there’s lots of stories on the island here and if we don’t somehow capture them, we’re going to lose them.” 

“I thought it would be an interesting thing for the museum to do because the museum has artifacts that it’s saving and preserving and sharing with the public. Stories are artifacts as well. How do we capture those? Then it occurred to me, well, why don’t we do a speaker series? I approached Sherman and said, ‘Hey, what do you think? You want to be the first?’ And he’s like, ‘yep, It’s awesome.’”  

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Open House at the Whaletown Dock; Renovations Needed

There were 45 people on the Whaletown dock when Cortes Currents left half way through the Open House on Monday, September 16. Some were listening to Andy Ellingsen, a Director of Harbour Authority Cortes Island (HACI), talk about the current condition of the wharf and what needs to be done. Others gathered in small groups, eating the free pizza, sharing memories or their perspectives on the matter. HACI has owned the 110-year-old structure since 2009 and now it is in need of extensive repairs. 

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June 6-8, 1911: A point in time look at Cortes Island

Unlike most local histories, which often celebrate the accomplishments of prominent settlers, Canadian census records give us a quick peek into communities as a whole. 

The 1911 census is especially interesting for Cortes Island because, for the first time, all of the island’s 135 ‘settler’ entries are grouped together. Similarly, there is a segment for the 60 Klahoose First Nation residents in Squirrel Cove. There was also a second First Nation with a reserve on Cortes, but any relevant Tla’amin entries appear to be included with those from their main village to the south in what is now qathet Regional District. 

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Genealogical Records for Klahoose, European and Asian Cortes Island Families

The Cortes Island Museum has a genealogical database. It was compiled by Bernice McGowan, whose interest in genealogy was sparked by her mother’s research of their family roots. Coming to Cortes Island some 50 odd years ago, she was intrigued by the fact that so many of the island’s older European families seemed to be related. She has also dug up some census records for Klahoose, Japanese and Chinese residents.  

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