Happy Birthday Vancouver!* (125 years)

Incorporated 1886: and at that time the Population was 1000.

Panoramic view of Vancouver, wiki photo

At the first council meeting - one of the first items on the agenda was to procure 1000 acres of military reserve land from the Federal government for a park. This Park is now called "Stanley Park" - Vancouver's equivalent to Central Park in NYC.

May 28 a volunteer fire department was formed, and sixteen days later, Vancouver city was decimated by fire in 20 minutes. Up to 28 people died and one thousand wood structured buildings were obliterated.

Back then, the sidewalks were also wood, which along with the wood framed buildings, were fuel to the fast moving fire. The volunteer fire department only had buckets and shovels to work with which obviously limited their effectiveness.

The city was demolished, but not the spirit of those surviving it.

One week after the fire, a steam pump with four rolls of hose was ordered and sent from Port Moody, hauled over miles of dusty dirt roads by a team of horses.

Ten days later there was another large fire - at a fish oil plant - the firemen had to pull the fire pump to the site themselves, due to a lack of horses. They weren't able to save the building, but they were able to contain the fire and save what was left of the City...not that there was much left to save.

City hall was set up in a tent.

City of Vancouver archives photo

Vancouver city police were hired, and badges were made from USA silver dollars - one side smoothed flat and VCP engraved over top and a pin clasp soldered on the reverse side.  They needed the police to enforce the newly passed bylaws, one of which was that bicycles must limit their speed to 8 mph.

The Oppenheimer family, Jewish immigrants from Germany - via California - started a food wholesale business in a brick building they built downtown .  This building is now Bryan Adams recording studio - the oldest brick building in the city.

Personally, after living in the old 1912 brick building in the West End, I doubt that I would risk it in such an earthquake prone area.  That's just asking for trouble.

The 1886 census taken shows that men outnumbered women - 2/3 of the population were male -  the average age - 26.   Interestingly enough, in those days of census taking - there was found to be more "dressmakers"in town than any other occupation for women. 

In 1886 - "dressmaker" was the euphemism for "prostitute".....due to the sensitivities of the census takers.

Two years after the great fire, St Luke's hospital was opened by the mayor (one of the Oppenheimers) and the first Nursing School was established and run by Sister Frances Redmond.

Frances Redmond did her formal nurse/midwife training at Laval University, Quebec, and moved to Vancouver with her husband Dr. Wm Charles Redmond of the Royal Navy Reserve.  She practiced Midwifery and Nursing in the homes of her patients in the community and supervised nursing students, working from the Hospital which was then connected to St James Anglican church.

Fifteen years after it's incorporation, the population had increased to a little under 14 thousand persons.

Today, the population is almost 600K in Vancouver proper, and a little over 2 million in Metro Vancouver.

Wiki picture

My father was a journeyman carpenter and worked on many of the now-prominent buildings in Downtown Vancouver before moving to the Interior to fulfill his dream of building his own Resort....his best friend was an architect who designed many Vancouver buildings.  My father's brother was an Ironworker and worked on many of the highrises and bridges in the area.

I myself was born in the Landmark Hospital of St. Paul's in the West end - one of the very few who can say they are *actually* from Vancouver.

St Paul's Hospital wiki photo

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*Reference material for this blog taken from an article in the Sun and also the History of Metropolitan Vancouver website and the BC history of nursing website.

Babies in the 1800s : Family History

Both Grandparents on both sides of my family were born in the 1800s.  I can't imagine what life was like back then, but certainly it goes without saying that it is a lot different than now.  



My Grandfather's Grandparents Circa 1890

 I don't talk much about my Irish side of the family in my blog - yet -  because there isn't much written down.  Most of what I know doesn't even come from my Father....it comes from my Mother - the Dutch side.   She was best friends with my Father's sister, so all I know about the Irish side, came from my Aunt via my Mother.

 On the other hand,  my Dutch side is well documented, thanks to my Grandmother....and also my Mom's sister, who loved to ask a lot of questions, and perhaps encouraged my Grandmother to write everything down.  

 I recently came into contact with a distant Cousin in the Netherlands who sent me the family's unofficial pedigree....which traces back to "Karel de Groete" or his more popular name - Charlemagne  - on my Grandfather's Mother's side.  My Grandfather's Father's side goes back to only the 1500s.   

  I have always found history incredibly fascinating.  If you haven't looked into your past and dug around into family history.....do it before any of your family members pass on, because by the time you get to the age where you *want* to know these things....they won't be there for the telling. There are so many things I would love to ask my "midwife" Grandmother.

Rien Poortvliet's book

Anyway.  When I was living in East Bay, CA area, I bought a book for my Grandfather.  It was called "In my Grandfather's House" by Rien Poortvliet.  It is the story of Rien's family history, complete with illustrations....all the way back to the mid 1500s!  It tells of the life of your every day person in the Netherlands - Dirksland and Rotterdam to be specific  - which are in South Holland - where my Grandparents hail from.   I am sure his descriptions accurately portray how my own Grandparent's began their lives.

Bassinet on the floor

Only 100 years before G&G were born, it was not unusual to have most of your children die within months of delivering - if not during the delivery.  Giving birth was probably the most dangerous thing a woman could do in her entire life.  But they would do it routinely.    Looking back on my family's genealogy, I find at the turn of the century, 100 years before my Grandfather was born, approximately half - or more -  of the children didn't live past age 2. Some families only one baby survived.  Of the ones that lived, few reached 16 years.   Statistics weren't any better when my Grandfather was born.

In the book "In My Grandfather's House" - the grandparents (4th generation removed) lost EIGHT babies before the author's Grandfather (3rd generation removed) survived.  They would try everything to prevent this - laying their stockings in the form of a cross when they went to bed, Apothecary's wares, quack medicines and donkey's milk.....nothing changed the situation.  It really makes me wonder at the grief some of our ancestors went through....not knowing why their babies wouldn't live....

 Once born, babies spent the first few days tightly swaddled so they couldn't even move a muscle.  The baby was usually put in a cradle close to the ground - which was a very drafty place back then.    At night the child would sleep in a built in bed on the wall just above the foot of the parents bed...just above the unwashed feet of his parents.   When he cried, his mother gave him a "flokker" which is another name for "soother".

They made it by soaking a piece of bread in milk, then adding sugar.   This mixture was piled on top of a square piece of cotton and then tied shut with a thread.    If the baby continued to cry after given a "flokker" - it would be dipped in brandy.   When the baby was about four months old, poppy seed would be added to the flokker mixture....in other words - the baby was simply drugged.

I remember as a student nurse in the 1970s - attending a circumcision (and I will have LOTS to say about that subject!)  that they made a similar little "flokker" with a gauze square and a sugar cube in it - dipped in brandy!!! - given to the baby to suck on while the circumcision was being done - with NO anesthesia whatsoever.  Torture and drugging of babies several hundred years later.  Talk about lack of progression! However, at least in Europe, circumcision was and is not the norm.

Back in the early 1800s, the WET diapers were not washed out....they were just hung to dry in front of the stove (along with the dirty wet socks!) and then reused.  Knowing what a pail full of wet diapers smell like...and then let sit for a few days......I can just imagine the stench!

  When a child got sick, the medical profession was no help.   If infectious diseases were making the rounds, people would sprinkle vinegar in front of the bed. In order to avoid infections himself, the MD would smoke a pipe of strong tobacco.   People would put a dog in the bed of a child with a "weak chest" in order for the dog to "take over the ailment".

It's funny to think that only 2 decades before my Grandfather was born, there was no such thing as an Oil Lamp - the main means of lighting for my Grandmother's night time deliveries!

My grandpa died  at age 100 on my birthday.  He would be surprised to see what progress our world has made.

I am just glad to be living today.   

Labour Day (USA: Labor Day)

It's origins are with the labor movement in Canada.

April 14, 1872 a parade was staged in support of the Toronto Typographical Union strike when they were trying to negotiate down to a 58 hour work week.  Their boss at the newspaper, had the Union Leaders arrested under an old obsolete never-used law. 

Another demonstration was arranged in support of the arrested Union Leaders the first weekend in September and on September 5, 1882 - a demonstration was also arranged in support for what was going on in Toronto -  in New York City.

Labor Day Parade - Buffalo NY - circa 1900

Both the Canadian Prime Minister John Thompson and U.S.A. President Grover Cleveland, on July 23, 1894,  declared a National Holiday  - Labor/Labour Day.

As an RN in Canada...my official FT workweek hours are 35 hours per week (140 hours over 4 wks flexible hours per union contract).  I can't imagine having to fight to reduce my work week down to 58 hours per week.

For this, I am thankful to our Union, and today - voice my appreciation.