October is Women’s History Month in Canada.
In New Westminster, we have found a great number of stories that feature women and we have used these stories as parts of various local historical themes. There are many from which to choose, but a selection of examples will illustrate Women’s History Month.
The Corps of Royal Engineers who founded this city, many of whom stayed on in the area after the Corps was disbanded, included women and children. This meant the Royal City had, as part of its base population, many complete families who added their personal backgrounds to the community.
As the town was just getting off the ground in 1859, we note Caroline Kennedy, who, for a while, was the only woman in the place, sat at the first religious service in the city, held on the banks of the Fraser, in the company on that day of a large group of men. Kennedy went on to be a prominent resident for many years.
The family of Captain William Irving is frequently noted as an example of families who arrived and took up residence in the new town on the mainland. Their arrival in 1865 saw Elizabeth with her children, four girls and a boy, become members of the community and thoroughly involved in the town’s activities for many decades.
Included in the numbers of people in large and small families, here to homestead or open a business or work for others, who moved into the region, were folks of different races, ethnicities, countries and cultures. The women of all these possibilities were involved in all aspects of town, as is well documented in early newspapers and other accounts.
The women of the First Nations groups nearby, along with First Nations men, were also part of the community and were active in trading handmade goods and participating in events.
This city has had a vast array of individuals, female as well as male, who made their marks, large or small, as the place evolved from a rough cluster of tents and crude shelters to a town of homes and buildings with societal and cultural needs. Be sure to follow the parts of this story that is “women’s history.”
