Ethel (1869-1957) and (Thomas) Henry (1869-1952) Varney took up a pre-emption in Varney Bay in 1897 and had nine children. They lived on their homestead for about 50 years.
Varney, who was rumoured to come from a titled English family, was well known in the community and sometimes referred to as "Lord Varney." He held various government jobs and led some projects such as a road-building crew in the community.
A number of their children died tragic deaths. Philip and James died in a boating accident at the mouth of Quatsino Sound, and Fred passed away in a plane crash in Port Hardy.
Ethel and Henry are buried in the Royal Oak Burial Park Cemetery in Victoria BC.
Their daughter, Dinah Varney, born on the North Island in 1907, never married. She helped care for the homestead
and even into her old age was still taking care of a large garden. A
strong and self-reliant pioneer woman, when she was 57 she was still
running a 12 mile trap line, and was known for bringing down 19 cougars.
#VarneyBay #QuatsinoSound
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| Dinah Varney's house in Varney Bay by the mouth of the Marble River - undated. | BC Archives F-05834 |
#VarneyBay #QuatsinoSound
hello Brenda, great website, I love history, especially old photos, have you ever researched west coast history? Ucluelet area?
ReplyDeleteA friend of ours did a short video clip on a local whose family has history here, namely the old Port Albion cannery, his dad had a store and we children from the reserve use to walk there as we would get candy from the store owner. he loved children.....
Thanks Vi -
DeleteI focus on the North half of the Island, generally because a lot less has been researched there. On the West Coast I usually only go as far South as Tahsis. Thanks for the feedback. Check out my Facebook page too for a daily historical photo!
great photos and short articles......
ReplyDeleteThank you so much for your story! As this is my family. Dinah was my great aunt. I have fond memories of her when she would come to Comox and stay with us. She always had amazing story’s to tell us. Again thanks for the history!
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