Suitcase Travelers: British Immigrants

1860s to 1880s

Population of Pitt Meadows: Less than 100

This group of immigrants were extremely lucky. They were going to a country where the religion matched theirs, the spoken language was generally the language they spoke, and the government actively wanted them to come. It was still a hectic, scary thing to leave behind everything they had known, but they had it easy compared to other groups who would come later.

History of Pitt Meadows during that time

There was no Pitt Meadows municipality at this time. Originally, we were an unincorporated territory, with the first exploration happening in the area between 1837 and 1858. Settlers began arriving in the 1860s, many with land grants. They settled mostly along the Fraser River and in the Highland area off what would become Harris Road. Most of these early landowners worked their land and lived in the community, but others were speculators who eventually sold their land when the value increased as the C.P. Railway became a reality. In 1874, Pitt Meadows joined the Municipality of Maple Ridge and by 1896 would become unincorporated again (over dyking disputes). So, immigrants arriving in this area at this time were either arriving at Maple Ridge territory or unincorporated territory. (Don’t worry, we became a Municipality in 1914!). The first bride ever brought to Pitt Meadows was Mrs. Edward Cook who arrived in July of 1882. She is one of the women who arrived following her husband, who had already started to establish the family. There were no real roads, and if there were “roads”, they would have been rough and dirt. Most early immigrants to the area at this time came to farm the land or raise farm animals. These white settlers were exactly the type that the Government of the time wanted. To fill up the West with white British subjects.

How they would have gotten to Pitt Meadows during this time

To get from Britain to Pitt Meadows certainly was a journey in the early days. A person would take a boat with a 10 – 12-day journey across the Atlantic to arrive in Canada. Once here, you had to get across the country to British Columbia (not a province until 1871!), some travelled through the United States, and some would travel with their wagons across the country to get here. By 1885, the journey was easier, as one could hop on a train across the country and arrive here in a matter of days not weeks or months. This would help ease immigration into the West, and numbers slowly started to increase. Once they arrived in New Westminster, they would usually take a boat up the Fraser to their destination of Pitt Meadows. As Pitt Meadows is surrounded by water, arriving by boat at the time was the easiest way to arrive.

At this time there were very limited regulations around immigration in Canada. The first immigration policy after Confederation was the Immigration Act of 1869 which focused on protecting the immigrants on their passage to Canada and from being exploited during their time here. It was meant to be an open immigration policy to encourage settlement of the West.

What they would have brought with them

It was expensive to have items moved with you when you immigrated to Canada. Though some would come as a family unit, generally men would arrive first to prepare for their family’s arrival. Most of the items each person brought were usually what could fit into their suitcase or trunk. This meant that large home items like kettles, pots, or lanterns would not be brought, as one would hopefully buy some in the new country. The things most immigrants would pack away in their suitcases or trunks were photographs, letters, mementos, religious items, and clothing. If you were going to take up your trade in Canada, you would make sure your tools were packed. Generally, it was the light smaller items that could be kept, whereas the large bulky items would remain behind.

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A British Citizen (as Scotland is part of Great Britain) who had arrived during this period was John Blaney. His history follows.

Blaney Family History

John Blaney, who was born in Lanark Scotland in 1855, immigrated to the United States in 1885 and settled down in Pittsburgh. There he worked as a gardener for a steel tycoon Andrew Carnegie. It is also here that he met and married Mary Ann Christie. Soon after their marriage, they moved to California and then headed north to British Columbia, settling in Maple Ridge on CPR land (made available by Order in Council in 1885) in the Yennadon area. It is said that Mr. Blaney chose the Maple Ridge area on account of its good fishing. This is where his two younger children, David and Jessie were born and raised along with their older sister, Margaret.

In 1905, Mary Blaney passed away, leaving John to raise David and Jessie through their late teens. This he did and then the three of them moved to Pitt Meadows in 1908 and took up residence in a two-story white house he built on the family’s new 30-acre farm just to the north of Katzie Slough on the east side of Harris Road. It is also in this house that his son David would raise his family. The house stands today and is listed on the municipality’s heritage register.

In 1914, he became the first Reeve of Pitt Meadows, having faithfully served as Reeve in Maple Ridge beforehand. When his inaugural year as Reeve was done, Mr. Blaney turned leadership over to our second Reeve, William Reid, but continued to serve as councillor and would serve as Reeve again from 1926 through 1929 and as a councillor for another six years. He passed away in March 1948 at the age of 92 and is buried at the Maple Ridge cemetery.

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It is interesting to see how immigrants arrived in Pitt Meadows. Some came with the sole purpose of arriving and taking up land in Pitt Meadows, whereas others chose a more scenic route arriving precisely when they needed to.

Culture Days 2024.