The Odd Fellows Ball: Dancing Until Dawn in Agassiz, British Columbia (1896)
In May’s letters from December 1896, she shares how settlers in Agassiz, British Columbia gathered for the Odd Fellows Ball: an all-night social event that offered warmth, music, and connection during a long Fraser Valley winter. In two letters home, May Wright describes dancing until dawn, winter travel by wagon, and the everyday realities of life at Hazeley Ranch.
This post is all about going to a ball and partying until early into the morning, challenging winter weather, and making plans for springtime.
The Odd Fellows
The Odd Fellows are one of the oldest and largest fraternities in the world. Their belief is that close friendships among one another and working together in communities will make a difference in the world and to individuals. Discussion around politics or any other debates are forbidden in the lodges so that everyone is welcome.
Agassiz Odd Fellows Lodge – #28 Agassiz Cheam Lodge
Agassiz’s Odd Fellows lodge was created in May 1894, less than two years before the Wright siblings arrived in Canada. Noteable members at the time of the letters included Harry Fooks, Evan Probert, Lewis Arthur Agassiz, and James Burkitt. The names bolded below the group photograph, were members who were active members at the beginning of the lodge in 1894. They also likely attended the same Odd Fellow’s ball that May and her siblings attended.
Back Row: Frank Baker, George Joynt, Lawrence Oglivie, Alex Webster, George Vance, Evan Probert, Harry Fooks
Middle Row: N. Morrison, Bert Horwell, Harry Calvert, Jim Grant
Front Row: Albert Greyall, Jack Welch, Ed Dezelle, Emile Lambert, Peter Greyell, Beauchoux
After the Ball
This photograph was taken at the the same time period in Agassiz, British Columbia after one of the town’s balls, likely an Odd Fellows ball.
Letters
May’s Letter to Mother- December 5, 1896
Hazeley,
Agassiz, B.C.
December 5, 1896
My dearest Mother,I am rather tired this evening as I had rather a short night last night, we all went to the Oddfellows ball, & we didn’t get to bed till twenty minutes past six this morning & I was up again before ten. I got all my cleaning done before the boys got up. They got up at two this afternoon & had breakfast at three.
It is the event of the season so we stayed to the end of it. It was really very nice, everyone behaved so well & danced nicely, there were about 30 people there, we danced in the hall & had supper at the Bella Vistal we had a most exciting drive in. It was pitch dark, so dark that I couldn’t even see the horses, but Mr. George said he could see the road just in front of us, anyhow he managed to drive us quite safely, the only mishap being that the wagon reach came in two , & it took us about twenty minutes to fix it, I had to get out & hold the horses whilst the boys lifted off the wagon — & fastened up the reach; we got in plenty of time all the same, as the dance began very late, about ten o’clock. Cecil quite came out, he made great friends with Mrs. Farwell, she is such a nice little woman,
You ask about our dog in your last letter, Jack knows them all, Major is a colley & devoted to me, Parson is something like Granly very black & curly, Siwash is the pup, he is about six months old & belongs to Cecil, he is a beautiful dog a cross between and a colley & sheep dog; Susan is Mr. George’s dog & she has a pup of three weeks old.
The cold weather broke up about five days ago & it has rained incessantly since, the house has leaked worse than every, but to-day it has been a little better, we had two or three good sleigh rides before the snow went. I don’t know when Cecil is going to write to Father about our prospects here, I really don’t knowhow much money we should want to carry us on for another year. I don’t think much of — what Cecil says is perfectly fine. It is a great mistake to sell our pigs & cattle in the spring, as we left them with the fall they would cost us nothing & be worth than double, we have got sixteen pigs now & they are doing well.
I really want to go to be as I have to be up early to walk in to church by ten o’clock. The C.P.R. is out of working order again & there are no through trains so there is no knowing when you will get letters, but I think next week will be time enough for Christmas letters.
Much love,
Your affectionate daughter,
May Wright.
May’s Letter to Mother – December 9, 1896
Hazeley,
Agassiz, B.C.
December 9th, 1896
My dearest Mother,
A very happy Christmas & New Years to you all, it is almost impossible to write to-night as all the boys are talking. I wonder what you will think of the photographs I am sending you; will you tell Aunt Hester & Jack I will send them some when I can get some more, but Wadds is so slow, these only arrived a few days ago and they were taken in September. I will send you the other proofs to see, but I don’t at all like them.
We have had one day of beautiful fine weather & the rain has come again; we all went up to the station yesterday to see of Miss. Jameson (Mrs. Farwell’s cousin; the boys have all been mad about her she has sked me to go & stay with her in Victoria next year.
There was no service on Sunday as the trains were wrong again, five went through on Sunday night & service then they have been about five hours late.
I have been writing heaps of letters & have got ever so many more to write so I have very few brains or ideas left. Mr. George has been fearfully bad with toothache again, sometimes he has a week pretty free from it, but then if he gets cold or wet he is bad as ever, & it is so hard to make him take care of himself.
I am doing the washing again now, as the Chinaman did it so disgracefully badly, some of the last week he did came back dirtier than they went; Father got quite the wrong idea of the way they work.
I really must go to bed. Ever so much love to everybody.
Your affectionate daughter,
May Wright
Agassiz Weather, Travel, and Isolation in Winter 1896
Winter in 1896 shaped nearly every aspect of daily life for settlers living in and around Agassiz, British Columbia. In her letters, May Wright repeatedly returns to the challenges posed by weather, unreliable trains, and the sense of isolation that accompanied life in the Fraser Valley during the colder months.
Although the cold snap had recently ended, May writes that it was quickly replaced by “incessant” rain. The changing winter conditions brought new problems, including leaking roofs and muddy travel routes, even as the snow that had enabled sleigh rides disappeared. For early families like the Wrights, winter was not a single, static season but a series of changing hazards all of which affected work, travel, and morale.
Travel during the winter months was unpredictable. May’s account of the wagon ride to the Oddfellows Ball shows just how unpredictable even short trips could be. Travelling in darkness, unable to see the horses, the group relied on familiarity with the road and luck. When the wagon’s reach broke, they were forced to stop in the dark while repairs were made, with May herself holding the horses steady. These moments reveal how physical risk was an accepted part of everyday life, particularly for women who are often assumed to have remained safely indoors.
Train travel offered little more reliability. The Canadian Pacific Railway, a new and vital lifeline connecting Agassiz to the rest of the province, was frequently “out of working order” during the winter of 1896. May mentions repeated delays, missed church services, and uncertainty over when letters might arrive. These disruptions heightened the sense of isolation felt by settlers, cutting them off not only from transportation but also from news, religious life, and communication with loved ones back home.
These letters show how winter intensified the distance between communities, both physically and emotionally. Even as social events like the Oddfellows Ball brought moments of connection and celebration, they existed against a backdrop of unreliable infrastructure and environmental hardship. May Wright’s letters remind us that isolation in pioneer British Columbia was deeply woven into the rhythms of everyday life
Why The Hazeley Letters Are A Treasure of Early
Canadian History
These letters were nearly destroyed as they were passed through multiple sets of people to tell the story of the Wright family.
After arriving at the Agassiz Harrison Museum, it was clear that these letters were rich in local history, captured the early years of the town with great specificity, and offered a peek into the family and settler life in 1896.
Letters like these humanize the settler experience. They show the daily lives of the people who lived during this time and make it more relevant to people today.
Through transcription and research of these letters, new insights into settler life and the town have been discovered.
- Frozen Solid: The Wright Siblings’ First Winter in Canada, 1896
- Gold Mines and a Winter Trip to Yale, B.C.
- Autumn in Agassiz 1896
This post was all about wagon ride on a dark tonight, dancing until dawn, and writing home to the family in England in 1896.
Jodie Foerster is a history student at the University of the Fraser Valley and a Museum Assistant and Researcher at the Agassiz-Harrison Museum and Archives. She specializes in British Columbia's settler history and archival storytelling. Learn more on the About page
