14
Martin Castle Junior at 5 years old1868
Victoria, B.C.
15
Monique O'Reilly and Martin Castle JuniorMartin Castle Junior married Monica or Monique O'Reilly. Monique was the illegitimate daughter of Peter O'Reilly and his aboriginal housekeeper, Gertie Jennie. Gertie was probably a native of Vancouver Island.
"Monique was educated in the white man's ways and the English language. Gertie Jennie taught her the native tongue and culture; her father Peter O'Reilly introduced her as a court interpreter. She moved to the mainland from the Island." (5)
Martin and Monique had seven children, one adopted. Their daughter Florence had a little newsstand across from the Anglican Church in Yale. Her newspaper ad reads, "Miss Florence Castle – Fruits, Confectionary, Cigars, Soft Drinks. News Stand Opposite Church, Yale, BC" (6)
Yale was a boomtown, with opportunities for all who wanted to work. It is likely that Michel, Martin and August went to work for the Canadian Pacific Railway that was being built at the time. August's death record states that he was a retired CPR Trackman. (7)
5 Castle Family Notes 1, page 1.
6 Possibly the West Yale Review, September 9, 1911
7 BC Vital Statistics Death Record
16
James McLinden, Father of Maggie McLinden Castle1890
Yale B.C.
17
The Many Marriages and Extended Family of August CastleYoung August may have briefly fallen in love, or perhaps this was an arranged marriage. He married, at the age of 18; 7 to a 20-year-old girl named Matilda Edwards, the granddaughter of the old chief of Yale, Chief Emmit Liquitum. At least, the record states that he was 18, but if his later records have his true age, he may have been 24, as his death record states that he was born in 1864, and married in 1888. Many records of the time have discrepancies. 9 Family oral history states there were four chiefs present; three are recorded, Chief Pierre Ayessik, Chief Liquitum (her grandfather), and Chief Rene. 10
For an unknown reason, this marriage was annulled, and there were no children from it.
August married again before 1891, to a very young 11 Margaret "Maggie" McLinden; and family oral history agrees that she was the "love of his life." 12 Maggie and August Castle had five children: Frank, Ellen, Martin Herbert III, Arthur Alfred, and Margaret Pearl. Margaret was the daughter who would become the victim of another murder/suicide. Frank is the son who was drowned, circumstances unknown. 13
But heartbreak for August would come long before then. His beloved wife Maggie died young, in 1904; the cause is not known at this time. .
Now a widower with a family of five children, August married again, this time to a woman who had four children from another marriage. We do not know if Sophie George had her other children before or after she married August. Her other husband was August's nephew, James Andrew, the son of his sister Ellen Castle. In any case, the children that Sophie had with J. Andrew are not included in the children of August Castle, so they may have been born later.
The marriages of August take this shape:
1: Matilda Edwards
2: Maggie McLinden
3: Sophie George
4: Annette Emma MacMillan
Sophie & August had three children; Agnes Hope, Henry Austin, and Ruth Mae.
August's last and final wife was Annette Emma MacMillan. Emma had been married twice before, so had children from two marriages that August was happy to accept into his growing family.
Emma's first husband was Peter MacMillan, and their five children were Rosie, Jeanette, John, Maria, and Margaret. Jeanette had a child (Vera) with Alfred Castle, and later married Leonard Clare, the son of Clara Clare.
Her second husband was James McLinden, 14 and their four children were Winnie, James, Fred, and Ernest. Fred is well remembered in Yale for his paintings, and some of his descendants still live in the area.
When Emma married August Castle, they had three more children; Irene Katherine, Elsie Ruby, and Grace Virginia.
The extended Castle family is large and cannot, of course, be fully outlined here.
8 Stated on his Marriage record, age 18, would make him born in 1860, not 64
9 The 1891 Census states his age at 19, which cannot be right, as that would put his birth year at 1872; very young to have married Matilda in 1888.
10 Oblates Marriage Certificate
11 The 1891 Census records wife Maggie Castle as 15 years old, with a daughter, Isabell, 2 months old
12 Castle Family Notes 2, page 2
13 Date unknown, his death record has not been located.
14 James later married Janet Little, and their daughter Lillian married into the Florence family of North Bend. The Florence biography is featured on another Community Memories project titles 'Fraser Canyon Basketmakers', produced by the Yale & District Historical Society
18
The Tragic Murder of Louise Margaret Pearl Castle CreightonMargaret Pearl Castle married the son of a local merchant, Francis Henry Creighton, in 1920. They lived in the Ward home, a tiny historic home now known as the Shilson House. 15
At the time of these events Margaret and Frank were separated.
Margaret and Francis had five children; Mary Francis, Thelma Eris, Frank Castle, Vera Isabell, and Gertrude Irene. Thelma died as a young child; this is not her story, but that of her unfortunate mother. Daughter Mary was 22, and was already married and living elsewhere when this happened.
The sad day was December 13th, 1944, and it was little Frank Castle Creighton's 12th birthday. Nine-year-old Vera was visiting elsewhere overnight, but a cousin of theirs was present in the house.
The little house had only two bedrooms, so Frank, who was sick in bed, his 3-year-old sister Gertie, and the visiting cousin were all in the children's bedroom. Margaret and Francis had separated, and she was living alone in the house with her children.
From accounts of the time, it appears that Margaret had been associating with a 52-year-old railroad worker named Constantine Kukulniak. Family information states that Margaret had told Kukulniak that she wanted to break it off with him, as she was thinking about getting back together with her husband. He was understandably hurt.
Allegedly, Margaret had attended a party at Saddle Rock given by her cousin Jim Kirkpatrick, without inviting the wounded Kukulniak. The result was a jealousy that apparently angered him to the point of murder.
Newspaper accounts of the inquest recount Kukulniak's break-in at Joe Sujick's house, a war veteran who had army rifles in his residence. The killer stole a rifle and ammunition, and waited outside of the Creighton home for her arrival.
Late into the night, when the children were settling down for the night, Kukulniak burst through the door of the house and angrily confronted Margaret with the gun. After a few heated words were exchanged, she told him, "I don't care what you do to me, but leave the kids out of this!", and turned to walk toward the children. He shot Margaret through the back. She was killed instantly. 16
The bullet narrowly missed Frank, who had been heading for bed with a sore throat. Kukulniak then told Frank to go back to bed. Frank wrapped his toddler sister in a bathrobe, and escaped out of the window, helping his cousin out as well. He raced over to the Castle home to warn his Aunt, Irene Jensen. Family accounts tell of the shot heard as Frank was relating this story to his aunt.
Constantine Kukulniak had gone into the bathroom to commit suicide, and succeeded. The police report said that he was decapitated by the shot to his head. Further newspaper reports said that Kukulniak had a wife and child back in Russia but this has not been verified.
This sad story scarred the Creighton children and the community. The children have had to live under a cloud of suspicion that their mother might have brought this upon herself. Their father fostered them with the Hicks family in Lytton, because he was too busy working to be able to care for them himself, but he visited them every weekend.
The children have since grown and married, but carry this episode with them to the end of their days. Frank died late in 2003, but was affected to the end of his life, and as he lay dying he finally recounted to his sister Vera the exact events of that painful day.
15- The Ward or Shilson House is part of the Historic Yale Museum Site. The Castle home is now the building that houses the Historic Yale Museum. The site also includes the Anglican St. John the Divine Church, and the Shilson House is situated directly across the railroad tracks south of the church.
16- Personal communication from Vera Creighton Murphy, told to her by Frank as he lay dying in 2003.
19
The Castle Family continuedThe Castle Saga continues through births, marriages and deaths, though none so traumatic as the murders and suicides.
The Castle family was known to all residents of Yale who remember the 1930's to the '60s. Walter Chrane recalls when Martin Castle Jr. passed away on the CPR train while being transported to the Vancouver Hospital in 1938.
Many also remember Martin III, the son of August Castle, who was known as Deaf Martin. He lived in a small house that was constructed of the fine wood taken after the courthouse was torn down. This little house was situated between the main Castle house and the church, later owned by the Barry family. David Hope remembers dashing through the Castle property as a child, and of Martin firing off his gun through his porch roof to scare the kids away. Police were called, and the gun was removed.
August Castle grew old, and all of the children married and moved away. August went to a rest home in Surrey, where he eventually passed away in 1969 at the age of 104.
The Castle house was rented out for a while, and even became a party house for a short time. It was eventually rescued as a heritage home by the formation of the Yale & District Historical Society, who persuaded the B.C. government to make the house into a museum and Historic Site, which is visited by many people every year.
15 The Ward or Shilson House is part of the Historic Yale Museum Site. The Castle home is now the building that houses the Historic Yale Museum. The site also includes the Anglican St. John the Divine Church, and the Shilson House is situated directly across the railroad tracks south of the church.
16 Irene Katherine Castle Jensen, daughter of August Castle
20
William Henry 'Johnny' Ward Teamster, Hotelier1880
Yale B.C.
21
The Ward FamilyWilliam Henry Ward
1823-1915
Teamster, Hotelier
William Henry "Johnny" Ward came from Digby, Nova Scotia to Yale during the gold rush. He didn't prospect for long, becoming a teamster, driving wagons for his own freighting business. He made trips from Yale to Barkerville for many years, and was a familiar sight on the Cariboo Waggon Road.
When the construction of the Canadian Pacific Railway put him out of the freight business, he went into the hotel business instead. One of his hotels was situated right across the tracks from the church, and his house was just past that, up the hill from the BC Express Company (formerly Barnard's Express).
At the age of 63, Johnny married his common-law-wife and mother of his children; 33-year old Alice Squalabia, a Tait woman of Yale. They had six children;
Their daughter Mary Alice married David James Creighton, and they lived in the Creighton/Castle house, which is now the Historic Yale Museum.
Mary Alice and David Creighton's son Frances Henry married Margaret Castle, thereby joining the families of Ward/Creighton/Castle for all time. Margaret was later the victim of a murder/suicide, her story is elsewhere in this storyline.
When Johnny Ward grew too old to care for himself, he moved in with his daughter Louise Sturdevant's family, where he passed away in 1915.
22
Rail Road Hotel on Douglas Street in Yale1908
Douglas Street, Yale
23
Mary Alice Ward Creighton Grandmother of Frank Castle Creighton1885
Yale B.C.
24
The Creighton FamilyMerchants and Landowners
DJ Creighton 1857-1930
FH Creighton 1891-1967
This family's history in the area began with David James Creighton, who came to Yale from Ireland. He was the son of a farmer, and held great value for land. He bought as much of it as he could, and owned an orchard in Yale as well as a hotel, restaurant and store.
He worked as an expressman and teamster on Front Street, and was partnered with John McKinnon in ownership of the Oriental Hotel. He also rented his orchard out to Cheng Foo.
He was already a hotel & store keeper by the time he married Mary Alice Ward in 1885. They had four children, Moses Dundas, Francis Henry, Alice MJ, and Amy Lillian. Amy died at birth.
Francis Henry Creighton, would eventually marry Margaret Castle, later the victim of a murder/suicide, told elsewhere in this exhibit.
The Creighton house is the building which is now the Historic Yale Museum. It was passed down from DJ Creighton to his son Francis, who then in turn gave it to his father-in-law August Castle to house his large family. Francis and his wife Margaret were then living in his grandfather Johnny Ward's house, which is also still standing and is part of the Historic Yale Site.
Francis had many occupations besides looking after his father's hotel, post office & store. He worked for the CPR and prospected for a while. In the 1940's he worked at the Yale Toll Booth (on the Fraser Canyon Highway), and also on the aerial ferry between North Bend and Boston Bar. From 1946 into the 50's he was the timekeeper for the Public Works office.
He was a veteran of the First World War, serving his time in France with the Canadian Railway Troop out of Calgary. He also volunteered as an official observer for the Royal Canadian Air Force during World War II, and recieved an Appreciation Award in 1945.
David Creighton passed away in 1930, and his son Francis lived to be 76, dying in 1967.
25
Yale Pioneer Cemetery1858
Yale B.C.
26
Charles Evans1839-1871
Pioneer and Delegate to Yale Convention
Charles Evans was a delegate for Yale during the Yale Convention in 1868. Yet to his family, and the town of Yale, the mere word delegate does not convey his importance to the community.
Born in England around 1839 he immigrated to Canada in the latter part of the 1850's. The knowledge of a new beginning, and relatives conveniently at hand, helped make the decision to relocate to Canada.
By 1862 he was employed as a bookkeeper in Canada West, now Ontario. In the same year he and two friends made the decision to venture to the Pacific Coast. The rumours of gold strikes in the Cariboo may have impacted this decision, yet after his arrival in the new colony he never ventured much beyond Yale.
Upon reaching Yale he rapidly integrated himself into the community. Working as a bookkeeper for Barnard's Express he met his wife, Jane Wells, who was the sister of Barnard's harness maker.
In 1863 Allen Wells, Jane's brother, sent for his wife in Ontario while residing in Yale. Embarking on this journey was Allen's wife, his wife's sister and Allen's sister, Jane.
Jane and Charles married in 1866. By the time of his marriage Charles held the position of manager of Barnard's Express, and magistrate of Yale.
Holding a keen interest in politics, he very much desired for British Columbia to join with the rest of Canada. His avid support for confederation and his position as magistrate of Yale was probably of central importance for his being placed as a delegate in the Yale Convention. Although the convention's importance has been lost with the passing of time it dealt with key issues and had the support of the colonists as a whole.
Charles and Jane had three children, each only a year apart in age. They name their first child John Allen, probably in honour of both Charles father and Jane's brother. Charles also invested in real estate while dabbling in farming. Undoubtedly he had had great dreams and inspirations for himself and his family.
Charles died suddenly on March 17, 1871, leaving his wife with three infant children and the memories of what could have been. He is buried in the Yale Pioneer Cemetery. His is a presence that does not fade away, his contribution to Yale and the province of British Columbia ensures that his presence remains.
From: http://collections.gc.ca/yale/people/evans.htm
27
'The Mystic Spring, and other Tales of Western Life' by DW Higgins1904
British Columbia
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