The Caselton Family

So far the earliest Caselton family member has been traced to England and the county of Kent. This was William Caselton born in 1699. In 1832 and some five generations later   Richard Caselton was born in Eltham, Kent. He was the start of theVictoria and Saanich Caselton heritage.

In 1842 James Douglas of the Hudson Bay Co. established the trading post of Fort Camosun, later Fort Victoria, at the south end of Vancouver Island.  In order to establish a permanent settlement a call was put out for new employees, settlers and developers for the fort and the new colony of Vancouver Island.

Economic times were poor in south-east Britain in the mid 1800’s and the thought of an exciting challenge, full employment, and a chance to own a parcel of land (unheard of in Britain for the working class) caught Richard Caselton’s imagination. He jumped at the chance and signed on with the HBC and the long sea voyage to Fort Victoria.

Before leaving for the new world, Richard married his childhood sweetheart, Sarah Ann Williams, at a church in Wilmington, Kent. This was a double ring ceremony as Richard’s sister Jane married Thomas Flewin at the same time. The two newly wed couples together with Sarah’s father, mother and brothers and their wives and children boarded the HBC barque ‘Norman Morison.’ On August 16^th, 1852 at the quayside at Gravesend the ship slipped her lines and was on her perilous voyage to the new colony. There were fifty passengers onboard in addition to the crew.

The trip took four and a half months and experienced storms, bitterly cold winds, a near mutiny, a burial at sea, and even two women gave birth.1 The ‘Norman Morison’ arrived in Esquimalt Harbour on January 16^th, 1853. The Caseltons stayed on the ship until accommodation was found in the fort at Victoria.

At first, Richard Caselton and his family lived on the Hudson Bay Company’s farm at Cadboro Bay where he was employed. After a few years he acquired 27 acres of land at Royal Oak, in what was originally called the Lakes District in Saanich. They were one of the first settlers in the area. Here they raised their family of ten children: Maria, Henry, Frederick, Edith, Agnes, Annie (died in infancy), Adah (Dolly), Edwin, Charles, Alice, and Arthur.

The farm did not produce enough to support the large family so Richard found extra work in the Victoria town area. He also got ‘gold fever’ when the Caribou Gold rush was in full swing and joined the crowds of miners heading to the mainland to make their strike. It was reported that Richard actually walked to the Caribou, an effort that was mostly in vain.

In 1903 there where celebrations for Richard’s fifty years in Victoria. He died four years later in 1907 and was predeceased by his wife Sarah in 1899. Both are buried in the family plot at Ross Bay Cemetary.

Their daughter Maria married Laramie Wallenstein and they had a daughter and son. Richard and Sarah’s son Henry married Leonora Wallenstein2 and they had four children. Frederick married Elizabeth Glide and had three children. He was the manager of Haywards Funeral Home for a number of years. Edith married John Lovell Smith and produced one daughter. Agnes married Austin Sheather, Annie Louise died in infancy, and Adah (Dolly) married Erny Jeeves of the Jeeves Cartage family. Edwin never married. Charles married Alice Harris and had a son Charles who in turn married and had a son Charles who died at an early age of Muscular Dystrophy. Alice married Napoleon St. Onge and had one daughter. And the last child, Arthur, married and had a son Arthur.

The longest line of Richard and Sarah’s family is through son Henry. Henry and Leonora had four children, Henrietta, Florence, Reginald and Clarence. Henry managed the family farm when Richard moved into the city. By 1901 the two daughters were married. Sadly, in 1905, Henry suddenly died of a heart attack while working in the field on the farm. It was reported that Reginald, Henry’s three year old son, was found sitting in the field with his father’s head in his lap thinking he was asleep.

With two boys left to support, Leonora left the farm and went to San Francisco. This was unfortunate for the great San Francisco earthquake struck in 1906 and as a result son Clarence died in the aftermath because of a contaminated water supply. Leonora returned to Victoria with son Reginald. Here she married Charles Palmer, a member of the Victoria Fire Dept. and son of the prominent pianist Digby Palmer. Leonora died in 1941 and Reginald retained ownership of the family farm that was eventually sold around 1937.

Reginald attended the old North Ward School and Victoria High School. In 1924 he married Ida Lillian Mould, the great granddaughter of Richard and Jane Cheeseman who were also passengers on the third trip of the‘Norman Morison’. Reginald took over ownership and operation of the Brookleigh Dairy at Elk Lake until the start of World War II when he joined the Chart Depot staff at HMCS Dockyard. At the end of the war he worked for the Colonist newspaper and later became a real estate salesman for the firm of Pemberton Holmes. He died of a heart attack at an early age of 56 leaving his wife Ida,  two married daughters and four grandchildren. There are now six great grandchildren. Ida passed away in 1990 and both she and Reginald are buried at Royal Oak.

Including Richard and Sarah Caselton there have been six generations of the family that have lived in Victoria and the municipality of Saanich. While the Caselton name has virtually disappeared from the area, the genetic bond to those pioneering forefathers  (Caselton, Cheeseman, and Williams) has created a common tie of which our current families are very proud.

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1 One of these babies was Mary Cheeseman, born off the Galapagoes Islands. She married William Henry Williams whose off-spring married Richard and Sarah Caselton’s grandson.

2 The Wallensteins were German pioneers who came to the west coast from Chicago in covered wagons.

Submitted by M. M. Whitehead

The Cheeseman Family

Richard Cheeseman was born Sutton-at-Hone, Kent England in 1823. He was the son of James and Elizabeth Cheeseman.

As a young man of 26 he signed up with the Hudson Bay Company in its call for adventurous people to help establish the community at Fort Victoria on the southern end of Vancouver Island.

Richard sailed on the first trip of the HBC barque ‘Norman Morison’ embarking from Gravesend, London on the 20^th of October, 1849 and arriving at Fort Victoria on the 24^th of March, 1850. After a short time he signed on for the return trip of the ‘Norman Morison’ arriving back at Gravesend on the 20^th of February, 1851.  Richard must have loved the sea for he then took the second five month trip of the “Norman Morison’ back to the Fort. As if that wasn’t enough, he returned on the ‘Norman Morison’ back to England for a second time. This last time, though, was with a real purpose in mind.

Before his final and third trip to Fort Victoria, Richard married his childhood sweetheart, Jane Dyke. They embarked on the ‘Norman Morison’ on August 20^th, 1852 from Gravesend. It was a  perilous five month voyage that saw  storms, a near mutiny, a death and burial at sea, and two births, one of which was Richard and Jane’s daughter, Mary. Mary was born about one hundred miles off the Galapagos Islands. The ship arrived Esquimalt harbour on January 16th, 1853.

The Hudson Bay Co. granted Richard five acres of land near present-day Quadra and Caledonia streets. He built a road from the fort to his property that he named Chatham Rd. He and Jane, around 1854, acquired 214 acres of land between East Saanich Rd., West Saanich Rd. and Beaver Lake. According to many stories, it was Jane and daughter Mary that gave the name of ‘Royal Oak’ to the area.

Richard and Jane had three more daughters, Emma in 1854, Jane in 1857, and Cedra Cecelia in 1858.

Sadly, in 1862, Richard was killed when coming down his lane with his horse and carriage when his horse bolted throwing Richard to the ground. Jane was left with four daughters, the property, and the Royal Oak Hotel that the couple had recently built.

In 1864 Jane married James Bailey who owned Rose Hill Farm and in 1868 another daughter was born. They named her Hilinda. They also had a son who died in infancy. In 1871, James died of a heart attack. Jane then married John Durrance who owned and operated Spring Valley Farm located in the area on Durrance Rd. In 1872, Jane and John had a son and they named him John in family tradition.

Daughter Mary married William Henry Williams. The Williams family were also passengers on the third trip of the Norman Morison and were among the first pioneers in the Royal Oak area of what was then known as the Lakes District. Daughter Emma married William Henry Snider. Daughter Jane married Louis Napoleon Duval and they took over the ownership and operation of the Royal Oak Hotel. Cedra Cecelia married Pontein Joseph Goyette. Hilinda Bailey married Samual Henry Hulsman.  And Jane and John Durrance’s son married  Agnes Webb.                   .

It was Jane who donated land for the first school at Royal Oak and James and Jane both gave land for the construction of St.Michael’s and All Angels Church located on the West Saanich Rd.

Jane passed away in 1897 at the age of 66 and then seven years later, in 1904, John died. They are both buried in St. Stephen’s churchyard.

It is interesting to note that Mary and William Henry William’s granddaughter Ida Mould married Reginald Caselton thus tying together the Caselton, Flewin, Cheeseman and Williams families, all passengers on the last voyage of the ‘Norman Morison’.

Submitted by M. M. Whitehead