Identity area
Reference code
Title
Date(s)
- 1892-1976 (Creation)
Level of description
Extent and medium
123pp
Context area
Archival history
Public Archives Canada (now Library and Archives Canada) provided Kerby A. Miller with a reproduction of the diary per letter of 6 January 1976. The original manuscript was held by the Hon. J.W. Pickersgill, grandson-in-law of Martin Beattie. Copies of the diaries are held in Library and Archives Canada [reference number R7592-0-4-E, MG29-C59].
Immediate source of acquisition or transfer
Content and structure area
Scope and content
Materials pertaining to the Diary and Observations of Martin Beattie, 15 Dargle Road, Drumcondra, Dublin, Passenger per Numidian S.S., to Quebec - Leaving Liverpool on Thursday 28th April 1892- arrived at Quebec Sunday May 8th & proceeded to Victoria, B.C. & arrived there on Tuesday, May 17th 1892, a set of two diaries documenting the emigration voyage of Martin Beattie of Dublin to British Columbia in 1892. The diary describes his voyage by ship to Quebec, then by rail to Vancouver and by ship to Victoria. Beattie then obtained work for a survey party on northern Vancouver Island, which he found he was not suited for. Throughout the journal, Beattie provides his observations on the people he meets along the way, particularly indigenous people in Saskatchewan and on Vancouver Island, and describes his time working in the wilderness. Himself an Anglican, Beattie was critical of the Anglican missionaries at Fort Rupert and Alert Bay, noting that the missionary at Alert Bay was neglecting his charges to make money trading and had lost the trust of the local population. Beattie hoped to bring his wife and children out to Victoria, where he found the climate ‘second to none’.
The series includes Kerby A. Miller’s notes on the diary; correspondence from Public Archives Canada forwarding a reproduction of the diary; 1976 correspondence from the owner of the manuscript, Martin Beattie’s grandson-in-law Jack Pickersgill (former Canadian Secretary of State and president of the Canadian Transport Commission) providing family information (among many anecdotes, the letter reveals that Beattie ultimately settled in Kamloops, British Columbia with his family in 1893 where he served as an Indian agent for the Canadian government and also as an insurance agent); and a reproduction of the diary annotated by Miller.