OKANAGAN HISTORY: PART 1 Francophone farmers play large role in early settlement history
Special to The Daily Courier
Their names often appear together — Fasciaux and Gruyelle. They conjure up the image of a Quebec City law firm, a Parisian perfumery, or remind me of my elementary school days, when I first came upon the names of Canadian explorers and fur-traders, Pierre-Esprit Radisson (circa 1636-1710) and Meedard Chouart Sieur des Groseilliers (16181696), known to generations of Canadian students as “Radishes and Gooseberry.”
Little has been written about Fasciaux and Gruyelle, although they played important roles in our local history during their brief Central Okanagan residency. They deserve to have their stories told.
According to the 1901 Canada Census for Assiniboia East, The Territories (Saskatchewan), Odile Fasciaux was born in France in 1877, and came to Canada in 1900. In those 1901 census returns, Fasciaux was living in the household of Henri Gruyelle, who was born in France in 1875 and came to Canada in 1894. This census shows Henri living with his widowed mother, Camille Gruyelle (born in France about 1841), brother Joseph and sisters Marie, Matilde, Margret, and Madeleine. The Gruyelle family soon after settled in the Central Okanagan accompanying Odile’s friend, Henri Gruyelle.
Genealogical and historical records verify that Henri Gruyelle (his surname is sometimes misspelled as “Greyelle” or “Guyelle”) was born in France on Sept. 21, 1875, son of Henri Gruyelle and Camille Creepin. Odile Fasciaux was born at Orchies, France, on Oct. 3, 1877, son of Odile August Fasciaux and Hortense Marie Catherine Glorieux.
Henri Grueyelle was thus about 19 years old when he accompanied his family to Canada, and settled in what is now Saskatchewan. Odile Fasciaux would have been about 23 years old when he came to Canada. Young and with good economic prospects, Fasciaux and Gruyelle had promising futures awaiting them, in the Central Okanagan.
Francophone settlement in what is now Kelowna dates back to the early 1860s, when the French-born Roman Catholic Oblate priests, Fathers Pandosy and Richard — resident at the Mission of the Immaculate Conception (“Father Pandosy Mission”) — encouraged French-speaking Roman Catholics to locate to the Central Okanagan.
Laurence, Lequime, Christien, Lacerte, Blondeau, Gillard, Boucherie, Denis, Calmels, and Ortoland were some of our area’s first non-Indigenous settlers. The Central Okanagan was very “French” in those early days.
Fasciaux and Gruyelle represent the second wave of Francophone settlement, starting in the 1880s — bringing the Lefevre, Berard and Gagnon families to the district — and continuing into the early years of the 20th century.
Fasciaux and Gruyelle came to the Central Okanagan in the early years of the 20th century and acquired land that had formerly been part of the Oblate Mission of the Immaculate Conception.
Founded in 1860, the Mission grew steadily during subsequent decades, as hundreds of acres of good farm and ranch land were acquired by the Roman Catholic Church, forming the large and successful Mission Ranch. At its peak size, this agricultural enterprise consisted of more than 2,200 acres.
By the 1890s, following the 1891 death of the Mission’s founder, Father Pandosy, there was movement afoot for the Roman Catholic Church to divest itself of some of its agricultural holdings.
Much of the Mission was closed down in 1896; the land was sold in 1897 to resident priest Henry Eumelin. This sale did not include the original 1860s buildings or some of the newer structures and the land upon which they were located.
The church maintained ownership of the Mission buildings, for use by the local community, including religious services. At that time, in the late 1890s and into the early years of the 20th century, there was no Roman Catholic Church in nearby Kelowna. For several years at the beginning of the 20th century, there was also no resident priest in the Central Okanagan, the parish relying on visits by priests from nearby Vernon.
Father Eumelin resided on the Mission property and tried to continue the tradition of using this land for agriculture, including growing of recently-introduced tobacco, predicted to be the 20th century’s up-and-coming crop.
Giving up on farming, in 1902 Father Eumelin sold most of his Mission holdings to Odile Fasciaux and Henri Gruyelle, for the reputed sum of $35,000 (some records indicate that the selling price was $15,000). The Roman Catholic Church — through the Bishop of New Westminster — retained more than seven and a half acres for its own use.
With the sale of some of its Mission properties, the Church severed connections to much of the original Mission site.
Fasciaux and Gruyelle settled into their new roles as Okanagan ranchers; they were serious about their Central Okanagan ranching endeavours.
On page 47 of “Anthony Casorso, Pioneer Kelowna Rancher,” published in “The Thirty-Second Report” (1968) of the Okanagan Historical Society, author Margaret (nee Casorso) Greening wrote:
“In 1902 my father (Anthony Casorso), Henry Gruell (Gruyelle) and Odele (Odile) Fasciaux, drove about three hundred head of two- and three-year-old cattle which were to be sold to Mr. J. Graves. Seventy of these belonged to the Casorsos and the rest of the cattle belonged to Gruell and Fasciaux. The cattle were to be fattened by Mr. Graves and then shipped to Pat Burns and other (beef) buyers throughout Canada ... Mr. Graves paid by cheque immediately for the cattle. Then they returned to Vernon where they spent the night.
“In 1904, my father and Henry Gruell accompanied by Odele Fasciaux travelled by horseback to the Douglas Lake Ranch where they purchased seven bulls from Mr. Graves. Leaving early in the morning on their return trip they travelled approximately thirty-five miles that day, spending the first night at Falkland, the second night at the O’Keefe Ranch with the O’Keefe family. The next day they rode into Vernon after going through a cloudburst on their way. That night was spent in Vernon leaving early the next morning for home...”
Details of the lives of these Okanagan pioneers will continue next week.
This article is part of a series submitted by the Kelowna Branch, Okanagan Historical Society. Further information is welcome at P.O Box 22105 Capri P.O., Kelowna, BC, V1Y 9N9.