Info on Manson's Landing Cemetery, Old Whaletown Cemetery, and New Whaletown Cemetery such as history of cemeteries, grave plots, names of those buried, etc; letters regarding cemetery approvals on Cortes, 1916-1926; Letter from the Cemeteries Division, Ministry of Consumer and Corporate Affairs, 1986; listings of the Cortes Island Cemeteries from the Campbell River Genealogy Club, 1993; Manson's Landing cemetery plan, 1995; Whaletown Cemetery plot list, 2008; Chapter 12, 32, and 34 of the Cemetery Companies Act; articles re cemeteries, 1990-2017; email about possible grave site on Green Mountain, 2013. Keywords: Beesley/Beasley, Southern Cortes Community Association, Seaford Development Ltd, Whaletown Community Club, Genealogy Club of Campbell River, Ellingsen; updated plot plan and lists of burials, 2023
Info on Manson's Landing Cemetery, Old Whaletown Cemetery, and New Whaletown Cemetery such as history of cemeteries, grave plots, names of those buried, etc; letters regarding cemetery approvals on Cortes, 1916-1926; Letter from the Cemeteries Division, Ministry of Consumer and Corporate Affairs, 1986; listings of the Cortes Island Cemeteries from the Campbell River Genealogy Club, 1993; Manson's Landing cemetery plan, 1995; Whaletown Cemetery plot list, 2008; Chapter 12, 32, and 34 of the Cemetery Companies Act; articles re cemeteries, 1990-2017; email about possible grave site on Green Mountain, 2013. Keywords: Beesley/Beasley, Southern Cortes Community Association, Seaford Development Ltd, Whaletown Community Club, Genealogy Club of Campbell River, Ellingsen; updated plot plan and lists of burials, 2023
Photographs, postcard, emails, articles, and notes containing info on: Whaletown Church, Reverends Douglas Kendall and Alan Greene; Klahoose; Chief Billy Mitchell; Manson family; Squirrel Cove; Boas family; Marg Sullivan's stained glass windows; and St James Church of the Columbia Coast Mission. A school handout announcing construction of church ready for Sunday Mass (among other things), 1979; a letter from Imperial Casket Company Limited, 1969
Photographs, postcard, emails, articles, and notes containing info on: Whaletown Church, Reverends Douglas Kendall and Alan Greene; Klahoose; Chief Billy Mitchell; Manson family; Squirrel Cove; Boas family; Marg Sullivan's stained glass windows; and St James Church of the Columbia Coast Mission. A school handout announcing construction of church ready for Sunday Mass (among other things), 1979; a letter from Imperial Casket Company Limited, 1969
Receipts for community hall related income and expenses, 1952-1972. Keywords: Southern Cortes Community Association, Manson's Landing Community Club, Cortes Barbeque Committee. Tax form, order form, 1970. Southern Cortes Community Association reports, 2009-2018.
Receipts for community hall related income and expenses, 1952-1972. Keywords: Southern Cortes Community Association, Manson's Landing Community Club, Cortes Barbeque Committee. Tax form, order form, 1970. Southern Cortes Community Association reports, 2009-2018.
Historical info on the Gorge Harbour Community Hall Society, the building of the Gorge Harbour Hall in 1933, and the Gorge Harbour Young People's Dramatic Socety, 1930s. Clippings about Gorge Hall events, taxes and community resources, 1962-2013. Broadway Musical Comedy itinerary, Gorge Hall, 1972. Vintage looking poster "Songs for Winter," Gorge Hall, undated.
Historical info on the Gorge Harbour Community Hall Society, the building of the Gorge Harbour Hall in 1933, and the Gorge Harbour Young People's Dramatic Socety, 1930s. Clippings about Gorge Hall events, taxes and community resources, 1962-2013. Broadway Musical Comedy itinerary, Gorge Hall, 1972. Vintage looking poster "Songs for Winter," Gorge Hall, undated.
Info on Southern Cortes Community Association, 1956-2017. Info on building a new Manson's community hall, 1978-1979. Clippings, and emails regarding hall, and full issue of The Howling Wolf, 1982-2019. Additional info on history of Manson's hall, grant application, and community hall and tax service.
Info on Southern Cortes Community Association, 1956-2017. Info on building a new Manson's community hall, 1978-1979. Clippings, and emails regarding hall, and full issue of The Howling Wolf, 1982-2019. Additional info on history of Manson's hall, grant application, and community hall and tax service.
Fonds consists of the personal, business and research records of May and Elmer Ellingsen. Textual records include personal and business correspondence; financial and legal records; information about local history; records and newsletters of various community organizations; records created by John Manson and by the St. James Ladies' Guild; maps; ephemera; and clippings about Cortes Island people and events. Fonds also includes photographs of the Manson family and other island people and places, and cassette tapes of oral history and music.
Fonds is arranged in 14 series: Correspondence; Financial records; Elmer Ellingsen records (business and personal); May Ellingsen personal records; Local history subject files; John Manson records; St. James Ladies' Guild records; Community organizations and services records; Cortes Island Museum & Archives Society records; Maps; Ephemera; Clippings; Photographs and Audio tapes.
Records from Accessions 2017.003 and 2019.002, which were processed after the other material had been arranged, have been interfiled.
3 meters of textual records
726 photographs
21 audio cassette tapes
Extent
252 cm
History / Biographical
Elmer Ellingsen (1913-2002) was born in North Vancouver to Sigurd and Gladys Ellingsen. After graduating from high school, he took a short course in business at Sprott Shaw College. In the early 1930s Elmer worked in logging and became a strong supporter of the trade union movement. He also had classical piano training in school, later turning to popular music; he played for many dances and parties until well into his eighties.
May Ellingsen (1914-2012) was born in Vancouver to George and Robina Freeman. Her maternal grandfather, Michael Manson, was the first person to pre-empt land on Cortes Island, in 1886. May grew up on Cortes and Hernando Islands until grade six, then moved to Vancouver with her family to finish her schooling.
May and Elmer met on Cortes in 1935 and were married on August 1, 1936. They built a float house and spent the next ten years in the Loughborough Inlet/Phillips Arm area where Elmer worked in his father's logging operations. While there, their children Shirley (1939), Bruce (1940) and Andy (1941) were born. In 1946 they moved to Von Donop Creek, where Elmer formed a logging partnership with Mike Herrewig and Scotty McKenzie. In 1950, he formed a new partnership with Erne Anderson for logging in the Whaletown area, and moved the floathouse to Manson's Landing lagoon. Two years later their floathouse was moved to its present location on Hague Lake.
After travelling from home to various logging operations, Elmer retired from logging. He bought a D8 Caterpillar tractor, backhoe and gravel truck and worked for the next forty years excavating, delivering gravel and moving things. He often worked with BC Hydro and BC Tel on pole installation, repair and maintenance.
Both Elmer and May were very active in community life. They sponsored weekly movie nights through the 1950s and square dancing in the sixties. May's many involvements included the Ladies' Guild, Women's Institute, Ratepayers Association, Post Office, Vancouver Regional Library development and Cortes Island Days. Elmer was a leading promoter of bringing ferry and hydro service to the island; he helped renovate Manson's Hall in the late 1970s, lobbied for road paving and helped initiate the Cortes Island Firefighters Assoc. in the 1980s. Both were founding members of the Cortes Island Museum and Archives Society.
Custodial History
Records were collected from the home of May and Elmer Ellingsen by Andy and Susan Ellingsen and by Bruce Ellingsen and donated to CIMAS. There are eight accessions in this fonds: 2007.001, 2007.002, 2007.003, 2007.005, 2008.002 and 2010.001, 2018.002 and 2019.002.
Scope and Content
Fonds consists of the personal, business and research records of May and Elmer Ellingsen. Textual records include personal and business correspondence; financial and legal records; information about local history; records and newsletters of various community organizations; records created by John Manson and by the St. James Ladies' Guild; maps; ephemera; and clippings about Cortes Island people and events. Fonds also includes photographs of the Manson family and other island people and places, and cassette tapes of oral history and music.
Fonds is arranged in 14 series: Correspondence; Financial records; Elmer Ellingsen records (business and personal); May Ellingsen personal records; Local history subject files; John Manson records; St. James Ladies' Guild records; Community organizations and services records; Cortes Island Museum & Archives Society records; Maps; Ephemera; Clippings; Photographs and Audio tapes.
Records from Accessions 2017.003 and 2019.002, which were processed after the other material had been arranged, have been interfiled.
File contains clippings of articles, mostly about growing up on Quadra Island, by Catharine Greene Tuck, the daughter of Canon Alan Greene of the Columbia Coast Mission.
File contains clippings of articles, mostly about growing up on Quadra Island, by Catharine Greene Tuck, the daughter of Canon Alan Greene of the Columbia Coast Mission.
Photograph of a group of people taken at Manson's Hall: Velma Bergman, Bob Martineau, Doug Morton, Mike Talbot, Mary Martineau, Jennie Morton, Lottie McDevitt, Peggy Talbot, Nesta Stackhouse, Meg Shaw, Eva Freeman, Emilie Hansen, Shirley Beaulieu, Otto Ellingsen, Doreen Reedel, May Ellingsen, Wilf Freeman, Irv Reedel, Dianne Hansen, Jimmy Hansen, Robbie Graham, Rollo Boas, Ernie Keen, Ken Hansen, Ann Dewar, Ev Summers, Jack Summers.
Photograph of a group of people taken at Manson's Hall: Velma Bergman, Bob Martineau, Doug Morton, Mike Talbot, Mary Martineau, Jennie Morton, Lottie McDevitt, Peggy Talbot, Nesta Stackhouse, Meg Shaw, Eva Freeman, Emilie Hansen, Shirley Beaulieu, Otto Ellingsen, Doreen Reedel, May Ellingsen, Wilf Freeman, Irv Reedel, Dianne Hansen, Jimmy Hansen, Robbie Graham, Rollo Boas, Ernie Keen, Ken Hansen, Ann Dewar, Ev Summers, Jack Summers.
