Mysterious Kelowna grave marker reveals long history
For many years I walked by her grave, frequently considering the two words inscribed on the stone at the west end of an otherwise unmarked grave: “Our Kate.”
In Kelowna’s Pioneer Cemetery, there are other such markers which provide scant information and cry out for research: “Preston” and “Dad Prowse” immediately come to mind; they will be the subject of upcoming articles. The subject of this article is “Our Kate”.
Having decided to learn about “Our Kate,” I hoped it would not be a difficult task. I consulted my map of burials in what is now Kelowna’s “Pioneer Cemetery” and learned that “Our Kate” was “Kate Morrison”.
Her grave was Lot 8E, Row 9. My cemetery map showed two people named Morrison buried near “Our Kate”: John Morrison; buried in Lot 14, Row 9 and Annie Morrison; buried in Lot 15, Row 9. Since John and Annie Morrison’s graves are very close to “Our Kate,” I assumed that there was a connection between them and Kate Morrison.
A visit to the Pioneer Cemetery rewarded me with the details inscribed on John Morrison’s grave marker. This marker shows that John and Annie Morrison had a daughter named Kate: In Loving Memory of John Morrison Died March 1, 1919 Aged 60 Years Also of Kate Douglas Daughter of John and Annie Morrison Died October 11, 1904 Aged 16 Years ”At Peace With God” The City of Kelowna started keeping burial records for the municipal cemetery in September 1911, and so Kate Morrison’s burial is not listed in these records. I checked the British Columbia Death Registration Index for reference to Kate or Katherine Morrison who died in 1904. I came up with nothing.
I then looked at the 1901 Canada Census Records, looking for a Morrison family living in the Central Okanagan. I struck gold:
Morrison, John; head; born March 4, 1861; Born Scotland; Came to Canada in 1892.
Morrison, Annie; wife; born May 16, 1857; Born Scotland; Came to Canada in 1892.
Morrison, John A.; son; born March 28, 1886; Born Scotland; Came to Canada in 1892.
Morrison, Kate; daughter; born February 6, 1888; Born Scotland; Came to Canada in 1892.
Morrison, Thomas; son; born January 10, 1890; Born Scotland; Came to Canada in 1892.
I now had a record of Kate Morrison living with her parents and two brothers in 1901.
I checked several local history books and was again rewarded. On page 52 of “The History of Ellison District 1858 – 1958,” I found the following entry: “Our neighbouring valley, now known as Glenmore, was at one time known as Starvation Flats and later as Dry Valley.
“A number of hardy Scotchmen owned land there and took part in the community affairs of Ellison. The John Morrison family had bought land in 1901, where W. [Wallace] Bennett now lives, and called their home Glen More after their old home in Invernesshire, Scotland. Mr. Morrison was overseer of Guisachan Ranch, owned by Lord Aberdeen, from 1896 to 1903. There were two sons, John and Thomas and one daughter Katherine, who died in 1904. It was Mrs. Morrison who suggested the name of Glenmore for that district when a prize was offered for a more suitable name than Dry Valley and shared the prize with a Kelowna woman [Mrs. Walker] who made the same choice of name.”
Additional information about Kate Morrison and her pioneering family is found on page eight of “Glenmore – The Apple Valley,” published in 1958: “In 1888 William Duncan pre-empted two ? sections on the west side [of Glenmore] on which he built a cabin and dug a well. In 1902 the property was purchased by John Morrison (who now lives in Kelowna).
‘The following year, John’s father, mother, sister and brother moved in with him from Guisachan Ranch where the father, Robert [sic], had been overseer. A Kelowna contractor was employed to build a house into which the whole family moved. They got their domestic water from the well but ditched some irrigation water down from the little lakes on the mountain behind them and planted the first peach trees in Dry Valley [Glenmore]. They grew wheat and some oats and raised some cattle.”
Kate Morrison was living with her family, in what is now Glenmore, when she died.
Information provided in the cemetery burials records, 1901 Canada Census, and Ellison history book allowed me to piece together Kate Morrison’s family: her father John, mother Annie and brothers John and Thomas.
The British Columbia Vital Statistics records — for the November 6, 1919, marriage of John Alexander Morrison and Norma Jessie Tully – provided me with Kate Morrison’s mother’s maiden name – Annie Gordon.
I then realized that I was somewhat familiar with Kate Morrison’s pioneer family.
I suspected I knew a descendant of that Morrison family. A telephone call to lifelong Okanagan resident – and Life Member of the Okanagan Historical Society – “Jack” Morrison yielded more gold. Jack and his daughter Lisa quickly confirmed what I had located.
Jack and Lisa told me that Kate Morrison was Jack’s aunt. Kate had, indeed, died young.
They told me that Kathryn Douglas “Kate” suffered from polio.
John and Annie Morrison sought medical assistance and were prescribed medication for their ailing daughter.
They administered one dose of the medication. Kate Morrison took a dramatic turn for the worse and died the next day, October 11, 1904.
She was only sixteen years old and was survived by her grieving parents, John and Annie, and brothers John and Thomas Morrison.
Kate’s mother, Annie Morrison, died October 11, 1926. Her obituary is on page five of the Thursday, October 14, 1926 edition of the Kelowna Courier and Okanagan Orchardist: “Mrs. [Annie] Morrison, who was 68 years of age, while a native of Huntly, Aberdeenshire, Scotland, was brought up from early childhood in the County of Inverness and she possessed all the typical characteristics that give a Highlander a marked individuality. She married the late Mr. John Morrison in 1884 and emigrated with him and her young family to Manitoba in 1892.
“After three years in that province, the Morrison family moved to Kelowna in 1895, Mr. Morrison having received the appointment of manager of Guisachan Ranch, then owned by Lord Aberdeen.
“Strong and active when she first came to Kelowna, Mrs. Morrison suffered a very severe illness about twenty-five years ago [1901], which left indelible traces behind it, and in 1904 she received a terrible shock through the untimely death of her only daughter, a promising young girl of sixteen, a blow from which she never completely recovered.”
We now know “Our Kate’s” name, details of her family and the tragic circumstances of her premature death in October 1904. While these details are certainly important, the simplicity of Kate Morrison’s grave marker – “Our Kate” – peacefully resonates, 113 years after her death.
The author is grateful to Jack Morrison and Lisa Morrison, for generously providing information about Kate Morrison and her family.
They also provided a photograph of Kate Morrison and her family.
Robert Michael Hayes is a life-long resident of Kelowna and is a descendant of the pioneer Clement and Whelan families. He is a life member of the Okanagan Historical Society.
This article is part of a series, submitted by the Kelowna Branch, Okanagan Historical Society.