Cortes Island Museum maintains informational files on subjects of local interest as a research resource. Contents of files may contain clippings or photocopied newspaper and magazine articles, correspondence (including printed email correspondence) and other non-archival material. This is a dynamic file, with changes made on an on-going basis.
Cortes Island Museum maintains informational files on subjects of local interest as a research resource. Contents of files may contain clippings or photocopied newspaper and magazine articles, correspondence (including printed email correspondence) and other non-archival material. This is a dynamic file, with changes made on an on-going basis.
Fonds consists of one scrapbook with 20 pages of photographs depicting Cortes Island people and places. Photographs, with penciled captions, are pasted onto the pages. Pages have been interleaved for conservation.
There are also nine loose photographs of relatives from a later accrual, and a file of textual records from a third accrual.
Eleanor (Christensen) Milne is a third generation Cortes Islander. Her parents are Mabel (Lowe) and Buster Christensen; her grandparents are Henry and Lydia (Heay) Hague. The Christensen/Hague families lived in the Manson's Lagoon area.
Custodial History
Album was donated to CIMAS by Eleanor Milne in 2004, and an accrual of nine photographs was donated in 2019.
Textual records were donated anonymously to the Museum in 2021 and have been described as part of this fonds as they are Milne/Hague family records.
Scope and Content
Fonds consists of one scrapbook with 20 pages of photographs depicting Cortes Island people and places. Photographs, with penciled captions, are pasted onto the pages. Pages have been interleaved for conservation.
There are also nine loose photographs of relatives from a later accrual, and a file of textual records from a third accrual.
"Four generation portrait. (L to R) Mrs. Hague (grandmother), Frances Lowe (daughter), Mrs. Heay (great grandmother), Mabel Lowe (mother). Mrs. Heay came to Cortes Island in the early 1890s and lived with her son Horace Heay (brother of Mrs. Hague) in the home he built at the mouth of Manson's Lagoon. In 1895 Mrs. Hague brought her daughters and stayed there too for a time until the Hague home was built on Manson's Lagoon." (from May Ellingsen Historic Photograph Collection: Album 2, p. 19). There is also another copy of this photo (2007.001.562) which has been digitized.
"Four generation portrait. (L to R) Mrs. Hague (grandmother), Frances Lowe (daughter), Mrs. Heay (great grandmother), Mabel Lowe (mother). Mrs. Heay came to Cortes Island in the early 1890s and lived with her son Horace Heay (brother of Mrs. Hague) in the home he built at the mouth of Manson's Lagoon. In 1895 Mrs. Hague brought her daughters and stayed there too for a time until the Hague home was built on Manson's Lagoon." (from May Ellingsen Historic Photograph Collection: Album 2, p. 19). There is also another copy of this photo (2007.001.562) which has been digitized.
"Mr. Hague in his row boat on Hague Lake. He was very fond of fishing. His boat house is on shore just right of centre of picture." (from May Ellingsen Historic Photographs: Album 2, p. 20) (Also in collection as 2007.001.722; digitized)
"Mr. Hague in his row boat on Hague Lake. He was very fond of fishing. His boat house is on shore just right of centre of picture." (from May Ellingsen Historic Photographs: Album 2, p. 20) (Also in collection as 2007.001.722; digitized)
"This shows the main road between Hague Lake and the Hague home property. Walking along the road are Mabel Lowe (L) and grandmother Mrs. Hague. The road had just been put in where there was only a trail before." (from May Ellingsen Historic Photographs: Album 2, p. 17) (Also in collection as 2007.001.723; digitized.)
"This shows the main road between Hague Lake and the Hague home property. Walking along the road are Mabel Lowe (L) and grandmother Mrs. Hague. The road had just been put in where there was only a trail before." (from May Ellingsen Historic Photographs: Album 2, p. 17) (Also in collection as 2007.001.723; digitized.)
Back, L to R: Mrs. J. Nixon, Mrs. R. McLennan, Mrs. Margaret Manson
Middle, L to R: Rose Manson, Anna Manson, Mrs. H. Hague
Front, L to R: Mabel Lowe, Nicol Manson, Eleanor Hague, Jack Manson
Description taken from May Elllingsen Historic Photograph Album p. 75. Although identified on the back as "taken at John Manson's farm", this was taken at the Nixon home on Twin Island.
Back, L to R: Mrs. J. Nixon, Mrs. R. McLennan, Mrs. Margaret Manson
Middle, L to R: Rose Manson, Anna Manson, Mrs. H. Hague
Front, L to R: Mabel Lowe, Nicol Manson, Eleanor Hague, Jack Manson
Description taken from May Elllingsen Historic Photograph Album p. 75. Although identified on the back as "taken at John Manson's farm", this was taken at the Nixon home on Twin Island.
Back of photo reads "Frank Heay. Grannie Hague's brother. Born Nebraska, died Vanc BC. Lived on Gambier Island." And also; "William Alexander Lowe, b. Dumfarline Mar 2, 1864, died London April 21, 1911."
Back of photo reads "Frank Heay. Grannie Hague's brother. Born Nebraska, died Vanc BC. Lived on Gambier Island." And also; "William Alexander Lowe, b. Dumfarline Mar 2, 1864, died London April 21, 1911."
Fonds consists of photographs of the Gorge Harbour Lodge and Lodge activities, the Corneille and Ballantyne families, and Gladys Ballantyne's house, Gypsy Hill.
Bobby (Elizabeth) Corneille Ballantyne (1914-2009) was born in Vancouver and moved to Cortes Island as a young child. She was 4 years old when her father died suddenly on Marina Island in 1919; she remembers that they had to wait 3 days for a Union Steamship to get the body. Her mother Tena (Sarah Christena) Corneille (1877-1949) bought a tourist lodge at the east end of Gorge Harbour in 1929, and ran it until 1936 with the help of her two teen-age daughters. Gorge Harbour Lodge offered accommodations in the main building or in tents, tennis and badminton courts, and excellent boating, bathing and fishing. Vacationers came up from Vancouver on the Union Steamships for a round-trip ticket price of $6.65. The annual Regatta was the main social event of the season, with people arriving by boat from Cortes and the surrounding islands. It featured boat and swimming races, and a dance in the evening.
Gladys Georgeson Ballantyne (1882-1964), first came to Cortes in about 1910. In about 1920 she bought a property in Whaletown (now 640 Whaletown Rd.) that she called "Gypsy Hill". She was one of the original members of the Whaletown Friendly Circle, later the Whaletown Women's Institute. Gladys, her son Bill, daughter Valerie and her fiance were all on Cortes building a summer cottage when the Depression suddenly hit. Their off-island jobs fell through, and they remained at "Gypsy Hill" for the duration.
Bill Ballantyne (1908-1993) was in the Merchant Marine from 1924-1929. When he was unable to find work on ships during the Depression, he took whatever jobs he could find hand-logging and fishing. Bill and Bobby Corneille were married in 1937. They and other young Whaletown residents formed the Gorge Harbour Dramatic Society to help raise funds to build a community hall, and Bill was the work boss of the building crew for the Gorge Hall. In 1941 they moved to Victoria, and after the war settled in Courtenay with their two sons Peter and Ross. In the late 1950s they returned to Whaletown on Cortes Island where they fished for many years on the gulf troller “Viking”. During that time many young “deckhands” spent time aboard during summer vacations. On retirement, Campbell River became their home.
Custodial History
Electronic records were downloaded in 2012 from an internet address provided by Peter Ballantyne. One photograph was scanned from a photograph temporarily loaned by John and De Clarke.
Scope and Content
Fonds consists of photographs of the Gorge Harbour Lodge and Lodge activities, the Corneille and Ballantyne families, and Gladys Ballantyne's house, Gypsy Hill.
