14
All Hallows Musical Ensemble & Choir 19041904
All Hallows in the West, Yale, B.C.
15
Royal Drawing Society Certificate17 June 1905
All Hallows in the West, Yale, B.C.
16
Daisy Dodd, Daughter of William Dodd1899
All Hallows in the West, Yale, B.C.
17
Reverend Charles Croucher1899
All Hallows in the West, Yale, B.C.
18
Reverends Croucher and Underhill,All Hallows Chaplains
Charles Croucher 1843-1917
Canon Harold J. Underhill
The story of Reverend Charles Croucher and Reverend Canon Harold J. Underhill is intricately linked with that of the All Hallows Girls School in Yale. All Hallows came about through the efforts of Bishop Sillitoe and three sisters that came over from Ditchingham, England and formed a mission school for native girls that later expanded into a finishing school for white girls from throughout Canada and even the United States. There they received a stellar education, and demand was high for admittance. The school was closed in 1920 with the advance of finishing schools within more populated regions than Yale.
Reverend Croucher served Yale from 1892 to 1917. He attended to services within Yale, All Hallows and the surrounding areas that did not have a regular minister. A recollection of the harrowing route he often had to travel demonstrates his devotion to the cause. In 1885 Croucher was in charge of Ladner's Landing and Maple Ridge, traveling the twenty four miles between the two localities to administer services. "Mr. Croucher nearly lost his life in his efforts to perform this double duty. Returning from Ladner's Landing, the tide running swiftly out and the wind blowing against it, the boat capsized, and after struggling for three quarters of an hour in the deadly cold water, Mr. Croucher's cries were heard." 1
In 1892 he moved to Yale and took up residence in the rectory, tending to the needs of the communities within the area. In the Children's Corner of the All Hallows in the West publication at Easter Tide, 1909 it describes a welcome change in the girls' routine. "At 11 o'clock we used to go to Church every other Sunday, as Mr. Croucher has to take services in places where they have no priests, but this year we can go every Sunday, as Mr. Underhill is here too."
The arrival of Mr. Canon Underhill to take over many of the duties concerning All Hallows must have been a welcome relief to Croucher who was responsible for overseeing so many communities. Within his parish were the communities of Mission, Agassiz and North Bend. Upon occasion Croucher would "give us elder girls a treat and [take] us to Hope, B.C. for two weeks. We slept in the parsonage, with Mrs. H. Goddard as chaperone." 2
Underhill was the chaplain of All Hallows School for seven years. He and his wife are recalled with affection in any memoirs pertaining to the school. Born in England, he moved to Vancouver after obtaining his priesthood in 1878. After departing Vancouver he moved up to Yale in 1907 and became the chaplain for the School. From Yale he went onto Maple Ridge and then St. Alban's Church in 1917.
Rev. Charles Croucher remained Yale's minister until his death in 1917 at the age of 74. Reverend Canon Harold J. Underhill did not retire from his chosen profession until he was 77 years of age. Two years later, at the age of 79, he was admitted into the St. Paul's Hospital after a week long illness and shortly thereafter died. Both are remembered as pioneer ministers of B.C.'s past.
1 H.H. Gowen Pioneer Church work in British Columbia: A memoir of Bishop Sillitoe. Pg 161.Yale & District Historical Society Archives
2 "Yale - Through Pioneer Days, An Open Letter." From Yale & District Historical Society Archives
19
St. John the Divine shortly after the 1950 renovation.1955
Yale B.C.
20
Reverend Alexander David Pringle1859
Church Services in a Tent
One does not need a place of worship for religious devotions. British Columbia in 1859 was of limited civilization, the further north one headed the more rustic the environment. Yale was no different then, the Fraser River Gold Rush was still on and many miners felt few pangs about the lack of a proper church to worship within. But, a church was being built, whether the miners were willing to disrupt their days to see it erected or not.
Reverend Pringle, or the many others that conducted services throughout B.C.'s history, did not let the lack of a church stop them. Rather, Pringle conducted the second church service in Yale in a tent that was erected in the same location where St. John the Divine was later built, and still sits. The first service was conducted by Colonel Moody.
Pringle came over from England in 1859. He wrote to his father and his wife, Mary Louisa Pringle, about the journey from England and his situation in Hope. Mary Louisa later joined her husband in B.C. Pringle likely traveled out of Hope and conducted services in neighbouring communities such as Yale.
Considered Hope's pioneer minister he was also responsible for establishing one of the first ‘libraries' in the Fraser Valley. In 1859 he opened a small library and reading room for the people of Hope and surrounding communities. (1)
1- Davies, John. "Enthusiasm waxed, waned for B.C.'s pioneer missionaries." Valley Magazine. June 25. 1975. Pg 6-7.
21
St. John the Divine Anglican Church during 2001 Renovation.16 October 2001
Yale B.C.
22
Reverend William Burton Crickmer1860-63 Term
Yale's First Dedicated Minister
Reverend Crickmer was the first permanent minister to serve Yale. He was sent there in 1859 by Bishop George Hills in order to establish schools and churches within the community. At the time Crickmer was sent to Yale he was quite happily established in Maple Ridge, for the rectory there was spacious for him and his wife, Sophia, and their daughter Nellie.
By 1860, he and his family were comfortably living in Yale. Utilizing all that was at their disposal they did not let the lack of a church deter them, officially opening services on June 10, 1860. They set up ceremonies in an old store front as a temporary solution. Crickmer then began work on the present structure of St. John the Divine, which was completed in 1863. While stationed in Yale Reverend Crickmer would travel upriver and hold services in various communities along the way. Bishop Hills would often accompany him on these trips.
Reverend Crickmer returned to England in 1862, so did not witness the official opening of the church in 1863. Crickmer and his wife had traveled over from England a mere three years earlier on the HMS Plumper, yet their short duration in the colony left a lasting symbol through the formation of St. John the Divine Church in Yale.
23
St. John the Divine five years prior to its second renovation.1863
Yale B.C.
24
Reverend H.B. ReeveReverend H.B. Reeve was in Yale from 1862 to 1865. When Reverend Crickmer returned to England in 1862, Reeve was pulled away from his work with Chinese people to administer to Yale. Officially opening St. John the Divine on April 19, 1863 he was the first of many to deliver sermons within its walls. Reeve originally came to B.C. as a missionary for Chinese miners and workers in the 1860's and likely returned to this type of work following 1865 when he left Yale.
Reverend Charles Blanchard
Served in Yale for a very brief period in 1881, likely as a temporary minister between the loss of Reverend J.B. Good and the arrival of Revered Horlock
Reverend C.J. Yates
Reverend Yates served Yale for upwards of 13 years, replacing Reverend Croucher after his death in 1917. Yates remained in Yale until 1930, when his departure left the church without a regular minister for two years. Perhaps because of the absence of a clergyman in Yale, Yates returned during the summers of 1931 and 1932 to administer to the church until Reverend Greene arrived in 1932
Reverend Heber Hannington Greene
1888-1968
The last permanent resident clergyman in Yale he arrived in 1932 and delivered services in St. John the Divine for more than 10 years, until 1943. After that, Reverend Scudamore travelled between Hope and Yale to conduct services. The rectory, where the ministers would have lived, was also torn down around this time owing to decay and the lack of permanent placements to occupy it.
A 1946 article reads, "Rev. Green held Armistice Service in the St. John's Church on Sunday, November 10. The service was well attended."1 The article suggests that Greene would have come to Yale as one of the 'traveling' ministers. To the people of Yale his arrival must have been considered that of a long time friend returning for a visit. For Greene, who held the tiny church in great esteem, would have felt a similar emotion. He once said of the quaint old church that "though her light has been dimmed at times, it has always shone."2
Reverend G.C. Turner
Reverend Turner was a temporary minister in Yale around 1943. His time here was overlapped with that of Reverend Greene. Turner's was an essential role, filling in to administer to the people of Yale after the loss of having a full-time minister.
Reverend H.B. Scudamore
Reverend Scudamore was the minister for Christ Church in Hope and St. John the Divine in Yale from 1944 to 1955. He and his wife were very active in social functions pertaining to both Hope and Yale. Scudamore taught Sunday School and his wife was the treasurer of Christ Church. They also attended the meetings of the elected officials for St. John. Old timers in both Hope and Yale fondly recall Reverend Scudamore and his wife.
Reverend Pope, Chappel and McMullan
Yale was now frequented by ministers traveling to her, not from her as they once had. Yale's position in B.C. was diminishing and the fateful day when the decision would be made to halt visits from ministers' altogether was inevitable. Reverend Scudamore's last service in the Old Church did not spell the end of a 'permanent' traveling minister that would come up from Hope. The next minister, Reverend W.D. Pope was associated with St. John for eight years. For seven years from 1964 Reverend S.G. Chappel drove the 22 kilometers to Yale. The final two years were attended to by Reverend McMullan before the decision to close her doors for all but special services.
1- By Dorothy Clare, Yale Correspondence articles, Ashcroft Journal (?), social column;
2- "Edifice is Full of Historical Associations with B.C. History." Daily Province, June 1, 1940
25
Reverend John Booth GoodTimeless Testimony
A favoured minister throughout the Fraser Canyon, appreciated by all, especially the N'Laka'pamux (Thompson) people, for his unstinting dedication to the cause. Reverend Good was a well liked minister who served Yale from 1866-67; upon his final sermon he recalled all those that attended as "all my old staunch Yale attendants - husbands, wives and children, with pretty well the whole Spuzzum village and many Natives from below." 1
While Good was establishing the Anglican Mission in Lytton in 1867, Reverend David Holmes took over his placement in Yale. Good's ability to administer to native peoples prompted the Thompson first nations to request that he open up a mission in Lytton. Reverend Good returned to serve Yale from 1873-1880.
While attending to the people of Yale Good was constantly concerned for those he left behind in Lytton. "He fretted about the lack of ministration to the people with whom he had lived and worked so closely and gave the Indian followers great credit for remaining '…true and loyal to their first instructions of the faith'." 2
Good made the rectory in Yale his home for six years and the only time he was able to determine for himself how those in Lytton fared was when Bishop Sillitoe briefly assigned him to other duties. Reverend Good need not to have worried about the Lytton missionary for his replacement was Richard Small, a man who would shortly make a name for himself that followed in the vein of Good's; admired and liked by all.
The decision to move to Yale might have been difficult for him owing to the tragedy that struck his life a year earlier. On October 1st, 1872 his daughter passed away in Lytton due to inflammation of the brain, as the result of a fall. Both he and his wife were anguished over the loss of their four-year-old daughter, Elizabeth Booth Good. "A child of rare beauty and singularly attractive winning ways, and to me she was so precious that perhaps nothing could have been taken from me that would have been harder to surrender than this holy and blessed child, and not less dear was she to her mother, whose name was the last upon her lips before they were closed in death on October 1, 1872. We buried her within the fence of the fence of our Indian Church, just opposite the east window, and can thus see her little grave from the parsonage." 3
Good remained in Yale until 1880. It was also in 1880 that he published a dictionary of English, Chinook and Nlaka'pamuxcin. It was the first systematically compiled record of the Nlakapa'muxcin language. In addition to this he also translated the Lord's Prayer. 4
It was in the latter part of the 1860's that John Booth Good had volunteered to work on the mainland, moving to Yale as a temporary centre in 1866. Within the year he would become the native peoples' preferred choice, an honour that led him to establish a mission in Lytton at their urging. Good touched the lives of all he administered to and is remembered for his selfless devotion to the Anglican faith.
1 Laforet, Andrew and Annie York. Spuzzum: Fraser Canyon Histories, 1808-1909. Vancouver: UBC Press, 1998 pg 108
2 Williams, Cyril E.H. & Pixie McGeachie. Archdeacon on Horseback, Richard Small 1849-1909. Merrit: Sonotek Publishing Ltd, 1991. Pg 39
3 Williams, Cyril E.H. & Pixie McGeachie, Pg 37
4 Laforet Andrew and Annie York.
26
Spuzzum Anglican Church1860
Spuzzum, B.C.
27
Reverend David Holmes1937-1915
Priceless Contribution to Native Records
Reverend Holmes replaced John Good in Yale in 1867 and served there until 1873. Owing to the fact that he administered to a variety of people upon taking over Good's post at Yale, he kept separate baptism and confirmation records for aboriginal parishioners; "his entries for the years around 1868 are an important record of the population of Spuzzum and Yale at that time." 1
As a matter of fact, he kept one of the only really comprehensive records of the native people of Spuzzum and Yale that exists to this day. Most Department of Indian Affairs records were burnt in a fire at the Lytton Indian office years ago, lost forever to history. The Catholics kept good records but they are largely unavailable today.
David Holmes, upon his arrival in Yale, had just come from St. Augustine's College in Canterbury. Immediately upon setting up residence at his new post it came to his attention that there had been plans to set up a schoolroom at Yale, a plan that had come to naught due to lack of funds. "Holmes, however, felt the importance of a school and began operations in the parsonage." 2 With the Bishop sending him a bit of money for supplies, and a few benches, from there "he went to work." The school, within a few weeks, was attended by approximately thirty pupils.
Like his predecessor, Holmes took an active interest in the affairs of the native people in the area. During the 1870's the Spuzzum people "were not only attending services but also singing in the choir and studying the liturgy." So much so that on "New Years Day, 1870, Holmes wrote to the Bishop: "The next enterprise that seems to meet my attention is a small chapel for Spuzzum…If a friend in England could be prevailed upon to give £10 for this purpose, it would be sufficient with Indian help, and I would assist them to construct it." 3
Upon arriving in Yale, Holmes not only concerned himself with the minds and souls of the local first peoples, but intervened in their traditional ways of dealing with sickness. "In the late 1860s David Holmes had presented medicine and theology as two connected parts of one European system of power, with himself in control of both. In a N'Laka'pamux house where he interrupted the work of a sexwne?m, Holmes entered into a competition with the healer." 4
Whether this decision was a wise one or not it was undoubtedly done in a sense of duty and for what he believed to be the better good. Holmes, although young when he arrived to take over the responsibility of administering to the people within the Yale area, was guided by a sense of responsibility combined with the knowledge that the Roman Catholics too were looking to impart their beliefs on the Natives throughout B.C.
1- Laforet, Andrew and Annie York. Spuzzum: Fraser Canyon Histories, 1808-1909. Vancouver: UBC Press, 1998 pg 108
2- Peake, Frank. A. The Anglican Church in British Columbia. Pg 70
3- Laforet, Andrew and Annie York Pg 115-6.
4- Laforet, Andrew and Annie York, pg 24.
 |
 |
 |
 |