Life in Victoria and Agassiz, BC in 1897 | The Hazeley Letters

This post continues the Hazeley Letter series, a collection of family correspondence written in 1896-1897 by the Wright family living in Agassiz, British Columbia, Canada. These letters provide a rare look into everyday settler life in the Fraser Valley during the early days of the community.

By June 1897, the Wright siblings were settled into their farming life. Everyday housework, a full social life, and the constant worries of the Fraser River flooding or the train schedule being delayed shaped their community. During this time, May Wright, takes a trip to Vancouver and Victoria where she describes new social events, travel, and reconnecting with acquaintances from their home country of England.

These letters reveal not only family concerns and finances, but how these young settlers navigated work, opportunity, and expectations in early colonial British Columbia. It also shows how young middle-class women could travel, participate in social events, and build connections beyond the domestic sphere.

Life in Victoria, British Columbia in 1897

When May wrote these letters, Victoria was the political and social center of British Columbia. The city drew visitors across the province with its churches, clubs, and social gatherings. It was also an important space for networking and community.

May’s descriptions of boating, church services, and learning to ride a bicycle reflect what life in a growing urban center in the late nineteenth century was like. It also demonstrates how young middle-class settlers maintain social customs even when living across the world.

Here she learns how to ride a bicycle for the first time. Cycling was becoming very popular for young middle-class women in the 1890s. For women like May Wright, learning to ride represented both recreation and the ability to be independent within Victorian social norms.

Travel Between Vancouver and Victoria in 1897

Travel between Vancouver and Victoria in the 1890s relied primary on coastal steamships crossing the strait of Georgia. In the last post, May details her experiences crossing the strait aboard the SS. Charmer. These steam ships are owned by the Canadian Pacific Navigation Company which also owns the trains that pass by her home in Agassiz, B.C. Related read about Victoria – When the SS Tynemouth Arrived in Victoria: The Story of B.C.’s Most Famous Bride Ship

Family Networks and Opportunity in Early British Columbia

These letters also illustrate how settlers relied heavily on personal connections to establish themselves and survive in Canada. May writes about connecting acquaintances from back home with new ones she had met in Canada. Many of her interactions involve connections to people back home in England.

St. Barbabas Church

May being from a clergy focused family, could always be found in a church regardless if on vacation or not. While in Victoria she visited St. Barnabas Church which was one of several Anglican parishes servicing the growing population of James Bay in the late nineteenth century. Church services played central roles in the lives of British settlers as they provided both community support and religious instruction.

What Happened to Jack Wright After the Hazeley Letters?

Jack Wright appears frequently in the Hazeley Letters as the oldest brother of the Wright family navigating early adulthood in British Columbia. Like siblings, Cecil, May, and Harold, he was expected to contribute to the family’s efforts to establish themselves in the Fraser Valley. Jack is back in England in 1897 at the age of 22 taking the next steps in his life.

Later records show that Jack remained closely connected to the Wright family’s activities in the region. While the letters capture him at a transitional moment of returning home and receiving advice from his sister, his later life reflects the broader story of young man following his family’s long-standing Anglican tradition of serving as clergy.

Jack was educated at Eastbourne College in England and the Lincoln Theological Seminary, Lincolnshire. He was ordained in 1900 at the Lincoln Cathedral by Bishop King and became an Anglican clergyman.

Jack’s Military Service

Jack served in the British Army during the First World War. He entered the army as a private and was promoted to captain. He took part in major campaigns in France and received the Croix de Guerre with Palms. This award is in recognition for acts of bravery during wartime which suggests Jack had a distinguished military record.

Immigration and Religious Career

After WWI Jack served in the London Diocese. Later he made the journey across the Atlantic and immigrated to the United States of America in 1931 where he lived for the rest of his life. His American Episcopal journey began in the parish of Pontiac and he served as a rural missionary in South Country for sever years. He later became rector of St. Matthew’s Episcopal Church in Rhode Island where he served for over seven years.

Marriages

Jack’s first marriage to Effie ended when she lost her battle to cancer. Later on Christmas Day in 1929 he married Miss. Katherine Canada in Providence, Rhode Island.

Family Connections

At the time of his death in 1948 both his sisters, May & Dorothy, were alive and living in Shropshire, England. His brother Cecil was alive and living in South Africa. He was predeceased by his brother Harold and his parents Edith and John. Jack was also survived by his wife Katherine Canada. Neither of his marriages resulted in children.

Funeral and Death

Jack lived until the age of 73 and died after two heart attacks on May 13, 1948. He was a prominent member of his community and his funeral was held at the church where he was rector, the St. Matthew’s Episcopal Church in Jamestown, Rhode Island. His service was conducted by the clergy from multiple surrounding churches and officiated by the Bishop of Rhode Island. His final resting place is at the All Saints Cemetery.