To the editor,
My cousin and I are tracing our family history during the lockdown in the U.K. and have discovered that a great uncle of ours emigrated to Canada and settled in Victoria but descendants moved to Nanaimo.
Frederick Lee was my grandmother’s brother, he was born in St. Albans, England in 1883. He was shown on the 1891,1901 and 1911 census in St. Albans. His mother’s maiden name was Sarah Spratt. We understand that he emigrated to Canada in September 1912. By the Prairie census of 1916 he was married to Eva Lillian Baker and living in Regina with no children. As a result of research I discovered a death certificate for May 1956 in Victoria for Frederick Lee, mother’s maiden name Sarah Spratt. I discovered an obituary in the local paper. Among the family members, a niece was named, off his wife’s side, Eva Lillian (Queenie) Tyre of Victoria. Frederick Lee’s wife died in Victoria in 1982.
Then we discovered that Queenie had died in 1997 in Comox and her death certificate showed Marguerite Stewart, a daughter living at the time in Nanaimo on Craig Street.
Sadly I found out through local paper obituaries that Marguerite died in 2013. My plea is that any descendants who have an interest in family history contact me through the Nanaimo News Bulletin.
Hopefully we can share photos and piece together info.
Derek Roft, Birmingham, U.K.
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