Fonds contains nine photographs depicting members of the Gibson and Palmer families who lived in Squirrel Cove; one large map (6 x 3 feet) showing the preemptions and homesteads of early Cortes settlers; and an account written by Etta (McKay) Byers of her Christmas in 1927.
9 photographs : b&w
1 map : 188 x 92 cm
5 pages of textual records
History / Biographical
Donald Palmer went to school on Cortes Island in the 1960s. His father, James Palmer, was born in 1927 to Elizabeth (Lizzie) and Cliff Palmer, who lived on the homestead of Lizzie's parents, Agnes and James Gibson, in Squirrel Cove. Their large property was on the uphill side of the road across from Tork Road.
Custodial History
Donated to CIMAS in July, 2020, by Donald Palmer
Scope and Content
Fonds contains nine photographs depicting members of the Gibson and Palmer families who lived in Squirrel Cove; one large map (6 x 3 feet) showing the preemptions and homesteads of early Cortes settlers; and an account written by Etta (McKay) Byers of her Christmas in 1927.
Fonds consists of sixty prints and slides dating from 1951 to 1971. It includes scenes of of Cortes Island school students, logging, and the Union Steamship. Most photographs are from the Whaletown area. There are 16 slides of a logging camp at the Quatam River in Ramsey Arm, BC.
The Maclean family (parents Don and Doris, and children Janice, Heather and Ian) lived in Whaletown from 1961 to 1973.
Don Maclean's parents, John and Edna Maclean, lived for many years in Edmonton, Alberta. When their son came home from the war they bought property near Coulter Bay and moved to Cortes Island. Don Maclean became a fisherman, eventually living on his fishing boat.
Doris Lancaster Maclean was born and raised in Victoria, B.C. In the late 1940s she answered a call from the Anglican Church to come and do Vacation Bible School with the Columbia Coast Mission on Cortes and nearby islands.
Doris and Don married in 1954. They moved to Cortes Island in 1961 when Don was hired to operate the Columbia Coast Mission boat, the "Alan Greene". They lived in the Mission house in Whaletown, next to the church. Don Maclean acted as a Lay Reader for the Columbia Coast Mission in the 1960s when no clergymen were available, holding services in the three Anglican churches on the island.
In 1967 the Diocese sold the "Alan Greene" and the Macleans were required to move out of the mission house. Maclean built a house on the beach of what used to be called Jardine’s property, although by this time it was owned by a cousin of Doris Maclean. He was hired as the Industrial First Aid man on site for the building of the Whaletown Ferry dock and after that worked as a clam digger.
The Maclean family left Cortes in 1973 and moved to Regina, SK. The house that Don built was rented for a couple of years and then sold and moved to a new location; it burned down a few years later.
Custodial History
Twenty-seven photographs and 15 slides were mailed to CIMAS by Janice Maclean Kerr in 2019; two more photos were mailed in Apr. 2021; 16 slides were mailed in Sept. 2021
Scope and Content
Fonds consists of sixty prints and slides dating from 1951 to 1971. It includes scenes of of Cortes Island school students, logging, and the Union Steamship. Most photographs are from the Whaletown area. There are 16 slides of a logging camp at the Quatam River in Ramsey Arm, BC.
