PRADS African Night a Success: Part 2

The Peace River African Descendents Society (PRADS), which was started in 2009, held cultural experience with dinner and music on Saturday, Feburary 20th. Laura Gloor of the Museum had been invited to talk about black pioneers in the area. The information from her wonderful presentation has been reproduced here in two parts!

Part 2: The Kelly Family

The timeline for the Kelly family is uncertain. It is believed that Mr. and Mrs. Dan Kelly brought their family to Peace River in the 1920's. We can only speculate that the Kelly family were likely part of the original wave of Black American immigrants to Canada's West between 1908 and 1911. Dan Kelly was known as "Nigger" Dan, years after Dan Williams, who was also known by that name.

Dan Kelly hauled the honey wagon in Peace River (an essential service that pumped out residential outhouses ). He and his family lived just outside the Belle Petroleum Centre in a house still standing today. This same house was purchased from the Kelly's by Dave and Johanna Steedsman in 1937 and Dave also took over the job of hauling the honey wagon. Near this home was a popular sledding hill for the children of Peace River colloquially known as "Nigger" Hill even as late as the early 1960s.

Unfortunately, none of the names of the other members of Dan's family are known, except that one of his daughter's name was Emma. It is known though that his three daughters had beautiful singing voices. It seems the family moved to Toronto to give the girls a better chance to pursue their singing careers and that Dan later returned to Peace River on his own. He lived with a single mother in town, and it was believed that a child resulted from this union.

Here are some more pictures from the PRADS event:

The band, Ezeadi Onukwulu & One Human Race, had everyone up and dancing!

PRADS African Night a Success!

The Peace River African Descendents Society (PRADS), which was started in 2009, held a dinner and cultural experience on Saturday, February 20th. Laura Gloor, of the Museum had been invited to talk about black pioneers in the area. The information from her wonderful presentation has been reproduced here in two parts!

Part 1: Dan Williams:(Source: Delayed Frontier by David Leonard, p. 124, 138-146)

Dan Williams was a prospector in the late 1800s and remained in the Peace Country after the gold rush dwindled. He was known, in the parlance of the times, as "Nigger" Dan and took up residence in Fort St. John, BC circa 1870s. His reputation was varied depending on who you spoke with. It ranged from a travelling author saying he was a "pioneer, cook, trapper, vagrant, idler or squatter..." to being known for his generosity to government surveyors. He continued prospecting with partners, but also traded across the river from the Hudson's Bay Company (HBC) at Fort St. John.

He was also well known for his gardening skills. In a Dominion Land Surveyor's journal that first mentioned him as well as the botanist, John Macoun, speak of his flourishing garden of vegetables and grains.

In 1873, the Hudson's Bay Company told Dan Williams that the land on which he resided was theirs and he would have to move. Dan refused and even posted a sign dividing his property to read:

DAN WILLIAMS

A Loyal British subject

Who objects to be trodden upon

By any man except

Her Gracious Magesty Queen Victoria

The dispute grew until 1879, when Dan Williams injured horses belonging to the HBC that had wandered onto his land. He was also reported to have issued death threats against HBC employees. The two employees he had threatened, captured him and tied him up but he escaped and fled to his cabin. When they approached, he fired gun shots at them and they retreated. Dan was eventually apprehended and brought to trial at Fort Saskatchewan on July 1880. The charges involved the shots fired at the HBC horses and employees.

No Hudson's Bay Company employees were allowed on the jury due to bias. Dan did not have a lawyer, but rather his companion in prospecting and a man, "Banjo Mike" McDavidson. In his final argument, McDavidson was reported to have said regarding Dan's intent to injure the Company's employees: "...Dan Williams at a distance of one hundred yards can take the eye out of a jack-rabbit at every pop. Gentlemen, if Dan Williams had the slightest intention of hariming Mr. McKinlay, he [McKinlay] would not have been here today to tell you the amusing little story whereby he gives you credit for some sense of humor without paying much compliment for intelligence."

It was thought the jury had sympathy for Dan Williams as a David against the Goliath of the HBC and he was acquitted of all charges. Dan returned to his life in the Peace Country.

It was reported he died in the middle of February 1887 in a cabin by the Finlay River.

Stay tuned for Part 2: Dan Kelly!

For now, here are some photos of the African Night taken by Natalya Verosovaya:

The first part of the evening was delicious dinner, afterwards, Laura Gloor gave her presentation.

After the dinner and presentation by the Museum, there was a drum circle.

Noted Author and Historian David Leonard coming to Peace River Museum

 We are very excited to be hosting David Leonard (photo courtesy of www.lieutenantgovernor.ab.ca), who has a extensive knowledge of settlement and surveying in the Peace Country.

The event begins at 1pm on Saturday, February 27th at thePeace River Museum, Archives and Mackenzie Centre (10302 99th Street).

David will be speaking specifically about surveying in the Peace River area in conjunction with our current exhibit from the Land Surveyor's Association, "Making Their Mark: The land surveyor's role in the peaceful and orderly development of Alberta"

David Leonard has authored books such as, "The Last Great West: The Agricultural Settlement of Peace River Country to 1914", "Delayed Frontier: The Peace River Country to 1909" and "The Lure of the Peace River Country, 1872-1919" (with Victoria L. Lemieux). He will be bringing a selection of his books, which will be available for purchase during the event and are also in the Museum's Gift Shop on a regular basis.

We're online!

In September 2009, the Peace River Museum, Archives and Mackenzie Centre received a grant from the Archives Society of Alberta to help our Archives advance to a new phase. Canadian archives have a standard for describing their records known as RAD (Rules of Archival Description). As we continually striving to increase our level of service as a research facility, the move towards RAD is an important one. It gives us the ability to share our records with the rest of the country!

And as of February 1, 2010 six sets of records from our Archives are officially online with the Archives Society of Alberta's database and can be viewed at: Archives Network of Alberta!

The database contains descriptions of these six records and the Archives will continue to update new descriptions as they are completed. Let us know your impressions!

The Archives Network of Alberta is eventually uploaded to CAIN (Canadian Archival Information Network) which gives us a national presence! We are very excited to have started this new process in making our records available online.

Public Input for Updated 12 Foot Davis Grave Site Invited

The Government of Alberta, Northern Sunrise County and the Town of Peace River have partnered together to update the site around the 12 Foot Davis grave site including also the Dr. Greene Cairn and the Peace River Provincial Recreation Area. Tonight (January 27, 2010) there will be an Open House inviting the public to give their input on the proposed upgrades to the site. The Museum will also be on hand to pass along historical information about 12 Foot Davis, the grave site (see photograph below for original headstone) and of Dr. Greene as well.

The Open House will run for 4-8 pm at the Belle Petroleum Centre (www.bpcentre.ca/Contact.html).

Alternatively, you can go online to www.tpr.alberta.ca/parks/consult/. The link for the 12 Foot Davis park is near the bottom. Here you can view the different concepts and a map of the sites to be upgraded. There is also a online survey form where you can give your input. The deadline for giving input is set at March 26, 2010.

EDIT (January 27): Please accept my apologies for the error in this blog. The Open House was at the Provincial Building in Peace River and not the Belle Petroleum Centre.

Digitized Newspapers Available at Peace River Archives

The Peace River Museum, Archives and Mackenzie Centre has recently embarked on a project to digitize its collection of Peace River Pilot, Peace River Record, Peace River Standard, Northern Gazette and Peace River Record Gazette. The project is complete and available to researchers on-site at the Archives. The digitized collection includes the Peace River Pilot from 1910, the Peace River Record from 1914-1943, the Peace River Standard from 1917-1922, the Northern Gazette from 1932-1939 and the Peace River Record Gazette from 1943-1983.

The collection has been made into OCR (optical character recognition) pdfs which allows users to do searches by keyword or by date(s). Reproductions of specific articles for private research only are available at a cost of 35c per page.

This project will be of great benefit to all researchers allowing for easier searching and also protecting the microfilmed collection from deterioration from use. For more information, please call the Peace River Museum and Archives at (780) 624-4261 or email us at museum@peaceriver.net.

Making Their Mark

Our new travelling exhibit from the Land Surveyors Association has officially been launched! "Making Their Mark: The land surveyors role in the peaceful and orderly development of Alberta" is a wonderful exhibit which combines text, photographs and artifacts to bring to life the experiences of the early Dominion Land Surveyors all the way up to what surveying is like today. It includes a full sized tent showing the tools and supplies of an early surveyor. On display from the Museum's collection are rocks and fossils from Dr. F.H. Sutherland, an avid collector of Peace River's history.

Thank you to everyone who came out to our exhibit launch, to Ross Metcalfe for helping to host the opening event and to our local ALS members for helping to set up the display.

"Making Their Mark" will be on display until March 30, 2010

Happy Christmas and a Merry New Year!

The Peace River Museum, Archives and Mackenzie Centre would like to wish you a very happy holiday season. We also extend a huge thank you to all of our volunteers, members and donors that have helped the Museum and Archives continue to grow and preserve the history of Peace River.

Our Christmas hours are:
Dec. 26 - Open (10 - 4:30 pm)

Dec. 27 - Closed

Dec. 28-31 - Open (10 - 4:30 pm)

Jan. 1 - Closed

Jan. 2 - back to regular hours (Monday - Saturday, 10 am - 4:30 pm)

Happy 90th Birthday Peace River!

On December 1st, 1919, Peace River became a town. Here we are 90 years later celebrating the contributions made by so many people even before the inauguration of our township. Along with the wonderful work Beth Wilkins has been doing in the newspaper and on CKYL, here are some of the highlights of Peace River's history:

1792-93 - Sir Alexander Mackenzie winters at Fort Fork

1877 - After moving their post up and down the rivers near

the junction of Peace and Smoky, the Hudson's Bay

Company moves their post where the Town of Peace River

now stands.

1886 - The Anglican Church sets up the first mission on

Shaftesbury Trail

1888 - The Roman Catholic Church sets up St. Augustine

mission on Shaftesbury Trail

1898 - The North West Mounted Police make a permanent

post at Peace River Crossing
1903 - The St. Charles is the first steamboat on the Peace

1906 - Allie Brick becomes Peace River's first MLA

1909 - Peace River's townsite is surveyed

1912 - Peace River's first public school opens

1911 - Peace River holds its first agricultural show

1914 - First meeting of the Village council

1914 - Peace River's first hospital, the Irene Cottage Hospital,

opens

1916 - Railway trestle over the Heart River is completed

1917 - The Peace River Women's Institute is organized

1918 - Railway bridge is completed

1919 - Peace River is incorporated as a town

1926 - Constable Burstall and Louis Bourass complete a census

of the area

1930 - The Peace River Municipal Hospital opens

1932 - Peace River holds its first Stampede and Rodeo

1935 - Pat's Creek floods it's banks

1942 - The U.S. Army moves into Peace River in preperation

for builing the Canol Pipeline

1954 - CKYL opens

1958 - Peace River floods

1965 - The Peace River Auxiliary Hospital opens

1967 - The Peace River Centennial Museum opens

1968 - Peace River's traffic bridge is completed

1968 - Peace River Correctional Centre opens

1972 - Peace River floods

1992-93 - The bicentennial anniversary of Sir Alexander

Mackenize's journey is celebrated

1997 - Peace River floods

2004 - Peace River hosts the Alberta Summer Games

2009 - Peace River celebrates its 90th Anniversary