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Charles Ross and Isabella Ross
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Hudson's Bay Company employee
Charles Ross and his wife Isabella travelled throughout western Canada for twenty-six years (1818-1844) working at various Company posts. In 1843 they were transferred to Victoria for Charles to supervise the construction of Fort Victoria. After Charles' death in 1844, Isabella became one of Oak Bay's five original landowners and the first registered female landowner in British Columbia. |
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Flora Victoria Ross
(c 1916)
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Granddaughter of Charles and Isabella Ross with daughter Flora Victoria Ottaway Marrison (grandmother of Fern Perkins) and son Alan, taken at 831 Newport Avenue.
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| "I have written around ten chapters about the Ross family. | ||
| Unfortunately there are errors in circulation that I have not had time to follow up on, such as 'Capt. McNeill may have been Isabella's father' or Isabella was the 'first white woman'. There is also a land document with an incorrect date that is filed in the wrong year, which makes a difference to land titles. That may have been corrected, I hope. Even BC vital statistics has changed my grandmother's last name because her full name is too long for a computer and Marrison keeps being changed to 'Morrison', Ottaway to 'Ottawa' etc. | ||
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When I saw your site
I thought it better to get the correct information in print before mistakes are made from incorrect sources. |
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| When I saw your site I thought it better to get the correct information in print before mistakes are made from incorrect sources. All of my research is documented from proven archival sources and confirms our family's oral history passed from Bishop Cridge to my grandmother, in the photo, who told me. | ||
| What follows is a brief summary for you. | ||
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PHOTOGRAPHS
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Do you have any photos of Charles or Isabella Ross?
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ARTIFACTS
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Do you have any artifacts related to Charles or Isabella Ross?
NEWSPAPER ARTICLE, ETC
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RECOLLECTIONS
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Recollections may be abridged for length and/or clarity
| Born in Scotland, 1794, Charles Ross travelled to Canada 1818 as a clerk with the Hudson's Bay Company. He met and married Isabella Merilia Mainville in 1822 in Lac la Pluie. He was 28, she was 15. They travelled back and forth across Canada from 1823 until 1837 establishing forts in New Caledonia. Charles became a chief trader as Isabella bore 6 children, provided survival skills training and rescued them from many perils along the way. | ||
| They travelled with Dr. John McLoughlin in 1837-38 from Red River to Fort Vancouver on the Columbia River, WT [Washington Territory] where they were all baptised. A lot happened in the meantime but that is too long for an online encyclopedia. Charles became chief factor at Fort McLoughlin and Merilia Passage was named after Isabella. They were friends with Capt. McNeill and his family as well as all the other HBC families. We are friends to this day with the McNeill descendants. | ||
| When Fort McLoughlin was ordered closed, they were transferred to supervise the building of Fort Victoria in 1843. That made them the first Métis family in Victoria. They lived in the HBC Officer's home at the corner of what is now Fairfield and King George Terrace. | ||
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John and Isabella
received nothing from Charles' estate. [It] was divided amongst the younger nine children with the youngest receiving the largest share. James Douglas executed the estate. |
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| After the Fort was completed in 1844 Charles died of acute appendicitis on June 27. He was buried in the gully at Johnson Street and later moved to Pioneer Square. John, their eldest son, took over as second in command to Roderick Finlayson, who became acting in Ross' place. | ||
| John and Isabella received nothing from Charles' estate. Isabella, pregnant with their tenth child, William, who was born in the Fort, was designated what apparel she would need and resources to care for the young children. John was left nothing as he was considered self sufficient. | ||
| The Ross estate was divided amongst the younger nine children with the youngest receiving the largest share. James Douglas executed the estate. They were friends of the Rosses, but did not live in Fort Victoria until 1849, 5 years after Charles' death. | ||
| When Isabella and John's siblings were able to travel in 1846, they moved to Fort Nisqually, WT. There they started a farm which is now the golf course at Fort Lewis Military Base. |
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| After about 7 years in Nisqually, John and Isabella returned to Victoria and he purchased Oakland Farm with his new wife Genevieve Plamondon. | ||
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Ross Bay and the cemetery
are named after her. She also named Fowl Bay for the waterfowl . . . and it somehow changed to Foul Bay. |
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| Isabella purchased Ross Farm and her house was at the corner of what is now Ross Bay Cemetery. The barn can be seen in the background of a picture [in the Archives] of the first burial in the new Ross Bay cemetery in 1872. | ||
| Isabella worked the farm from 1853 to 1876 with her son and daughter-in-law, Alexander and Mary Ross. After his death Isabella and her two widowed daughters-in-law struggled until it was too much, perhaps about 1880 when Mary Ross remarried and Genevieve moved. | ||
| Isabella was French Canadian Métis/Ojibway and a woman. She spoke French and some tribal dialects, but limited English. To have been the first woman landowner in Victoria (Ross Bay), Oak Bay (Harling Point) and BC was amazing. | ||
| Ross Bay and the cemetery are named after her. She also named Fowl Bay for the waterfowl...and it somehow changed to Foul Bay. The best theory is the 'foul weather' that caused trouble for ships dropping anchor. | ||
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Do you have any recollections of Charles or Isabella Ross?
If yes, please share them by using the form below
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SUBMISSIONS
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Do you have any
photos, artifacts or recollections of Charles or Isabella Ross? |
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You can email us, with attachments if available |
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You can use the Online Submission Form, below
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Thank You!
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