Revisiting Julia Smithson
Last week’s article provides a backdrop for this week’s examination into the life of Julia Smithson.
An Indigenous woman born in British Columbia about 1852, Julia came to the Central Okanagan Valley with her husband William Cross Smithson about 1869. They raised their family near presentday Orchard Park Shopping Centre.
William Cross Smithson died in the British Columbia Hospital for the Insane (New Westminster) on Nov. 11, 1880, survived by Julia and their five children. A sixth child, Peter, was born to Julia Smithson three months after William’s death.
Five years after William Cross Smithson’s death, Julia “widow of Smithson” and Joseph Levesque (Levaque) had a daughter Henriètte, born Sept. 17, 1885 and baptized Sept. 27, 1885. Julia and Joseph also had a son James, born April 1888 and baptized May 6, 1888. I have not located additional information about Henriètte or James which might provide crucial information about Julia’s earlier life, including the place of her birth and possibly a pre-marriage surname.
Julia Smithson died in the Kelowna Hospital on Oct. 18, 1912.
Al though Julia lived in the Central Okanagan for more than 40 years and raised her family here, there is no obituary in Kelowna’s two weekly newspapers. Julia’s BC Death Registration records the aforementioned place and date of death, cause of death (pneumonia), her age (60 years), usual place of residence (Rutland), occupation (cook) and the date of her burial in the Kelowna Cemetery.
Julia’s daughters — Rosa, Eusebia and Adeline — married and had families locally. Her sons — William Cross junior, Frederick and Peter — died unmarried and without known issue. The Smithson surname has died out locally.
The City of Kelowna took over the management of the former Anglican burial ground in 1911. The first recorded burial in the newly-designated Kelowna Cemetery was Lucy Whelan, who died Sept. 10, 1911. Julia Smithson is the 29th entry in the City of Kelowna burial records for that cemetery. A 1980s transcription of these records provides little information about Julia:
— Age at Death: 60 years
— Religion: Methodist
— Birth Place: Unknown
— Date of Birth: Unknown
— Place of Death: Kelowna
— Date of Death: Oct. 18, 1912
— Date of Burial: Oct. 19, 1912; Lot #45,
Row #3
Government records, including the Canada Census, indicate that she was born in British Columbia about 1852, possibly as early as 1850 and as late as 1854. On other government documents — including the birth, marriage and death registrations of her children — Julia’s given name is frequently not included. If listed on those documents, she is referred to as “Julia,” “Julia Smithson” or “Julia Indian.”
In spite of the apparent paucity of specific information about Julia, we can
attempt to put together a plausible story of her early life.
Last week’s column about Julia Smithson referenced an article about Frank Bouvette, husband of Julia and William Cross Smithson’s eldest daughter, Rose Evelyn. Important genealogical information is included in this article:
. . . He (William Cross Smithson) became interested in gold placer claims (at or near Barkerville). I don’t know how successful, but he moved down to Yale early in 1865. There he was married in 1867.
The following year Rose Evelyn Smithson, our mother, was born, just before Christmas 1868.
The family moved from Yale to Okanagan Mission shortly after . . .
Years ago, I checked the marriage registers of St. John the Divine Church (established 1863) at Yale but could not locate reference to the 1867 marriage of Julia and William Cross Smithson. More research is required to verify this marriage.
If the place and date of Julia’s marriage — Yale in 1867 — are accurate, she was about 15-years-old when she married Smithson and 16-years-old when their first child, Rose, was born at Yale.
It is unlikely that Smithson would have encountered Julia during his years at Barkerville, as she would then have been a child. If Smithson moved to Yale about 1865 and married in 1867, he probably
met Julia at Yale in the mid-1860s, when she was in her early teens.
If Julia was married at Yale in 1867 and was still in her early teens, it seems probable that she was living with her family, at or near Yale. If that is true, we can research for her Indigenous origins in that part of B.C., focussing on Indigenous communities in that region.
I am comfortable in believing that Julia (surname unknown) was born about 1852 at or near Yale. This, of course, needs to be proven through more research which might shed light on her family.
Unfortunately we never hear from Julia herself. Scant details about her life are provided by other people, including non-Indigenous men who collected the Canada Census data or penned her 1912 British Columbia Death Registration. Julia’s “voice” was not recorded.
History has largely ignored Julia Smithson as with other Indigenous women of that era. Her early life, before she met and married English-born William Cross Smithson, has not been recorded on official documents. Government records — including the Canada censuses and Julia’s British Columbia Death Registration — provide no detailed information about her earlier years, including her place of birth and details about her Indigenous origins and family.
Julia Smithson remains one of Kelowna’s relatively-unknown pioneers. She has not been given her rightful place in our history books, probably because of her Indigenous ethnicity and gender.
Julia’s grave was unmarked until her great grandson, the late Phil R. Dickson of Edmonton, had a stone grave marker placed on her final resting place, a physical reminder that Julia lived and died here and played an important role in our history.
The Kelowna Branch of the Okanagan Historical Society operates on the unceded traditional territory of the Syilx people. It gratefully acknowledges their traditional knowledge, the elders and all those who have gone before us.
This article is part of a series, submitted by the Kelowna Branch, Okanagan Historical Society. Additional information would be welcome at P.O. Box 22105, Capri P.O., Kelowna, B.C., V1Y 9N9.