Early Portuguese from British Columbia



Early Portuguese from British Columbia

Bittencourt Family

Estalon Jose Bittencourt

Bittencourt was probably one of the first 40 settlers that arrived in Salt Springs or he may have arrived shortly after the first wave . The Victoria Gazette, on the 22nd of November 1859 reported: “ We are informed that the number of actual settlers now on Salt Spring is 40, a majority whom are putting up buildings and making other preparations towards permanently establishing themselves as agriculturists upon their claims.” There are sources mentioning the Bittencourt presence on the island as early as 1861.

Charles Khan in the “Story of an Island, puts the arrival of the Portuguese around 1860. “The Vesuvius-Central area was settled mainly by two groups: Blacks mostly from California, and Portuguese. Thirteen Black settlers arrived in 1859, and several others joined them the next year. The Portuguese—John Norton, Delarvo Norton, Estalon Jose Bittencourt, and Manoel Bittencourt—also arrived around 1860. “

Jose Estalon from Salt Spring Islands was one of the first Bittencourt to arrive in Canada (his brother Manuel Antoine may have come with him). He was born in the Azores on the 9 of September 1839. One of his ancestors said he was born in Ponta Delgado in Sao Miguel . Source:

Jean Barman in “The Remarkable Adventures of Portuguese Joe Silvey” mentions: Estalon and Manuel Bittancourt came from the Azores via the Australian gold rush of the early1850s. Sometime thereafter they persuaded their fellow Azorean John Norton to join them on Salt Spring Island…”

The Bittencourts seemed that had a serious influence in bringing some Portuguese to the island. Although, Charles Khan,

Pretends in his book that John Norton was the one who influenced in settling in the island. (Khan mentions on the advice of another Portuguese, John Norton, he moved to Salt Spring and became a successful entrepreneur).

If we had a doubt who influenced who, we know where E.J settled.

“On Salt Spring, the intrepid Portuguese brothers, Manoel Antoine (Antonio?) and Estalon Jose Bittencourt, held prosperous sections in the vicinity of Vesuvius Bay.” Source Salt Spring Saga

Later on he may have acquired more land. We know that the Bittencourt family settled on the land of an Afro-American called William Robinson from New-Jersey who was murdered in 1868. We can assume that they took possession of the land after that year. We have to remember that they were already living in the island way before the murder we may assume they may just have expanded their land assets from their previous holdings. The land of both parties were near each other close to Vesuvius Bay. Source:

Charles Khan mentions that “Vesuvius Bay, in the north end of the Island, was largely dominated by Estalon Jose Bittancourt, a Portuguese born in the Azores in 1845.”

After many years it is hard to separate some facts from legend. Charles Khan writes; “ in some ways Bittencourt was a romantic figure. According to one story, he went to sea at about fifteen by swimming to a sailing ship. Whem he reached Vancouver Island, he was refused shore leave but swam ashore at Royal Roads.”

There is no denying all the influence that Bittencourt in the early development of the Island.

E.J Bittencourt played a major role in transporting people to the area “settlers brought sailing vessels with them, and some, such as E.J Bittancourt, provided transport service for their fellow Islanders. Most people, however, relied on the traditional Salish canoe… source “Story of an Island” It may be possible that E.J came to the island on his own schooner. How he was able to buy a big boat after only a few years in Canada shows his truly amazing entrepreunial spirit.

In the book of Salt Spring Saga we also learned that Bittencourt used his schooner also to transport arms to defend the island. The author mentions the numerous skirmishes between the settlers and the natives. The Bittencourt Schooner played a major role to defend the island from the antagonistic natives. “In 1861 the Bittencourt Schooner made the perilous run to Victoria, from Vesuvius Bay, It will include in the return cargo revolvers, rifles and ammunition.”

He also contributed to the building of the St. Paul’s Roman Catholic Church.

According to Bea Hamilton author of the book Salt Spring Island there were 4 catholic families in the island which seem to be a low number but there is five names who were mentioned as contributors to the building of this beautiful St. Paul’s rock church still standing today on Fulford Harbor, it was built between 1880-1885. “E.J Bittencourt, who had the first store in Vesuvius: John pappenburger, first mail carrier from Beaver Point: John King: Dick Purser and Michael Gyves Sr., of Burgogne Valley.”

He also had a stone quarry. Khan talks on his book about the Caldwell brothers working on the sandstone quarry of Estalon Bittancourt in Vesuvius. He also mentions about the quarry of Bittencourt which opened in 1886. He said the “sandstone going into the Esquimalt graving dock, the seawall of Victoria’s inner harbour, and the San Francisco mint. “ Bittencourt split his sandstone from the bedrock with wedges , placed it on six-wheeled carts, and winched it down a ramp onto scows. In 1913 the quarry still employed twenty-five East Indians…”

In the 1891 census E.J Bittencourt was listed as the only General Store of the island.

According to Khan the store opened in 1873 on the site of the today’s Vesuvius Inn parking lot. Thirteen years later he added a post office. He also notes, “During his life on the island, Bittancourt operated sandstone quarries, farmed, mined coal, and built several fine houses. In 1878, Father Gustave Donckele from Saanich Mission said the first mass on Salt Spring in a private chapel on the second floor of Bittancourt’s house. About ten years later, Bittancourt built a chapel in a separate building, which he called the “Ark.” This building was still standing in 1998.

His zeal for his religion seems characteristic of the people from the Azores.

He was married to Catherine in 1901 who was born in Ontario. He was a dry good merchant. He died in Vesuvius Bay on May 1 1917. He had many sons and daughters. They were: Lawrence, Francis, Frederick, George, Rosalia, Elizebeth, Agnes, Laureta, Source and more detailed info: (Victoria Census 1901)

The author Eric A. Roberts talks about the giants of Salt Springs and he mentions the special contribution to the settling of the island by the Portuguese pioneers: “… it is easy to do less than justice to the many groups of which the pioneer community was composed. One such group deserving of special mention were the Portuguese brothers Manoel Antoine and Estalon Jose Bittencourt and Joao and Del’Arvo or Delarvo Norton. In View of the contribution they made to the progress of the island by hard work, personal industry, initiative and enterprise, a brief reference to the Portugal they left may not be out of place.” The author goes on to explain the poor economic and political state of Portugal left behind by the pioneers.

The author goes on and he said: “The Bittancourts and the Nortons made excellent settlers. In the initial phases, the Bittancourt schooner was the one link between Salt Spring and Victoria. The will and the resolution of the two families never weakened during the dark times of the Indian troubles and they won esteem and respect of the community, which their successors have retained most worthily.”

Source Salt Spring Saga

In the back of the book cover the author also says: the Portuguese, the Kanakas (Hawaians) and the rich, warm story of the coloured people from strife-torn U.S.A, who carried the torch of learning on the island when times were perilious,”

According to Khan “ Until the thirties , only about 4 families lived in Vesuvius village. Some of Estalon Bittencourt’s children stayed in the Bittencourt homes near today’s Vesuvius Ferry terminal site. In 1918, Arthur and Nancy Inglis bought ten acres, put up cottages and tents, and took up tourists.”

One map drawn by a teacher in 1912 shows 4 houses owned by the Bittencourts three are listed as A. R. Bittencourt. One can ask himself if any of the Bittencourt kids had houses on the Island besides his nephew Abraham.

There is also a Museum called the Bittencourt Museum on the island. I assume it is related to the same family.

Manoel Antoine Bittancourt

Brother of EJ Bittencourt and father of Abraham Reid Bittencourt also from Salt Spring Islands.

In the book of Charles Khan, “Salt Spring the Story of an Island”. There is a map of the houses of the island. But there is no mention of any of them belonging to Manoel. There was three houses belonging to his son Abraham

Abraham Reid Bittencourt

He was the nephew of Estalon . He also lived in Salt Springs but he was a second generation Portuguese he was born in Vancouver Island. His father was Emanuel (Manuel Antoine Bittencourt).

The following information was from the book of Charles Khan, “Salt Spring the Story of an Island”. Khan said Abraham Reid Bittancourt was running a store in Ganges Hill since 1900. There is a picture of his store circa 1907 on page 146 .It was a beautiful house. Bittancourt sold his store in 1910 to G.J. Mouat and Company held by Jane Mouat and her son Gilbert James.

On page 148 there is a picture of the boat of Abraham. His boat according to the author was called the Victor. He had also a boat called Winamac. It was used to chase rumrunners but he also used it probably also for fishing and carrying animals back in forth to the market.

On page 157 there is a map of the island and the emplacement of the settler’s houses. A teacher drew this map and we can see three houses belonging to Abraham Reid all near Ganges Harbor. We do not know if his father owned any of them because his name is not mentioned. It is also possible that some members of his family were staying in his houses and one of those buildings was probably a store. On the map there was 148 houses. Water was supplied to his buildings by a pipeline, which took water from Ganges Hill from a spring.

He was serious land owner that may have made somewhat wealthy for those days. He was also one of the first one owning his own car. He had the distinction to be according to Khan to have received the first speeding ticket in 1913 a fine of $15.00.

Reid Bittencourt was also a talented house builder. He may have build his own property because he did not lack skills. He build one house that according to the author was the largest of the time, a twelve room mansion.

On page 210 of the same book we see Abraham with his son Lyndell cutting logs from a very large tree with a fancy machine called the “Wee MacGregor”. The picture was taken in 1931. He may have bought the machine to cut wood to sell to the homesteaders.

Joseph Bettencourt.

Joseph Bettencourt. He was born in Flores Azores and he later changed his name to Jos Flores. He had a twin brother called Charlie. He arrived in Canada when he was 16 years old. On November 30, 1886 he married Marguerite Kwitkwitlinak in Kamloops, BC. They had the following children: Jimmy, Johnnie, Joe, Manuel, Maria, Bill, Frank, Kathern (spelling?) Louis.

Source:

He settled in the Fraser Valley.

Joseph Silva also known as Portuguese Joe Silvey

He was living in Stanley Park in 1867. He married a woman called Khaltinhat grand-daughter of the chief Khiapilano.

Egmont, the northernmost settlement on the Sechelt Peninsula, was founded in 1880 by a legendary half-Scottish, half-Portuguese seaman and trader named Joseph Silvia Simmonds. He had worked for the Hudson's Bay Company, prospected in the Cariboo and built a saloon in Vancouver before arriving in Egmont where he married a Native woman, Lucy Kwatleematt. Simmonds later dropped his surname and used the name Silvey. His descendants still live in the Egmont area.

H1/11/26 Sylvia, Domingo, m, h, m, 17 Apr 1874, 27, BC, RC, Fisherman.

H1/11/27 Sylvia, Josaphine, f, wife, m, 28 Dec 1879, 21, BC, RC.

H1/11/28 Sylvia, Joseph, m, son, s, 2 Jun 1897, 3, BC, RC.

H1/11/29 Sylvia, John, m, son, s, 9 Nov 1898, 2, BC, RC.

Reed Island

H1/11/30 Sylvia, Joseph, m, h, m, 16 Mar 1820, 80, POR, to Can: 1860, RC, Fisherman.

H1/11/31 Sylvia, Mary, f, wife, m, 11 Jan 1825, 75, BC, RC.

H1/11/32 Sylvia, Antoney, m, son, s, 10 Apr 1884, 17, BC, RC.

H1/11/33 Sylvia, Manuel, m, son, s, 1 Mar 1887, 14, BC, RC.

H1/11/34 Sylvia, Henry, m, son, s, 23 Jan 1890, 11, BC, RC.

H1/11/35 Sylvia, Rosalia, f, dau, s, 2 Feb 1892, 9, BC, RC.

John Enos

We often lunch on the rocks in Mellstrom's Cove where Spanish and British sea captains repaired their sailing ships. We gaze up at Notch Hill and think of the peaceful life of Nanoose's first settler, John Enos who raised sheep and cattle on these slopes, and the far more tumultuous life of the Giant Powder Company who later would build there a gunpowder production plant and a townsite, wharf and railway to support it.

He was from the Island of Santa Maria and helped build the bridges of Nanaimo ( Manuel Azevedo)

John Norton

John Norton was born in the Azores on the 4 Aug 1823.

He settled the area north of the hospital in Salt Spring Islands. He had a farm there. (Salt Spring archives). He was married to Annie a black lady from San Francisco. Norton when he was 44, he was listed as a widow we may assume that his previous wife had died and he married Annie when she was only 18.

See the list of his family members below.

H1/05/01 Norton, John, m, h, m, 4 Aug 1823, 77, POR, to Can: 1859, RC, Farmer.

……Rems: MR: John Norton, 44, r.SSI, b.Azores Is., wid, farmer, RC, s.o.Antonie & Marie mar Annie Robinson, 18, r.SSI, b.San Francisco, CA, USA, WM, d.o.Henry W. & Margaret, 8 Dec 1873, Cowichan District.

H1/05/02 Norton, Annie, f, wife, m, 24 Jul 1836, 64, USA, to Can: 1858, RC.

H1/05/03 Norton, John J., m, son, s, 23 Sep 1871, 29, BC, RC, Farmer.

H1/05/04 Norton, Dorothy, f, dau, s, 7 May 1879, 21, BC, RC.

H1/05/05 Norton, Walter N., m, son, s, 23 Sep 1880, 20, BC, RC.

H1/05/06 Norton, Albert A., m, son, s, 30 Apr 1882, 18, BC, RC.

H1/05/07 Norton, Elsie M., f, dau, s, 23 Sep 1886, 14, BC, RC.

H1/05/08 Norton, Robert P., m, son, s, 10 Jan 1889, 12, BC, RC.

H1/05/09 Norton, Maud B., f, dau, s, 26 May 1891, 9, BC, RC.

H1/05/10 Norton, Pearl V., f, dau, s, 27 Jun 1893, 7, BC, RC.

H1/05/11 Norton, Grace, f, dau, s, 17 Nov 1896, 4, BC, RC.

H1/05/12 Norton, Joseph, m, son, s, 3 Jul 1899, 1, BC, RC.

Victoria Cencus 1901

(source )

Gregorio Gonzalves

Jan 13, Salt Spring Island, of consumption, Louisa, wife of John NORTON.  She leaves a family of 3 

             small children. (from The Victoria Daily Standard, 1873, Death Notices) source We may assume this was a wife of Jonh Norton the Portuguese men.

John Norton was also in court for the death of William Robinson. There was a book written about this case of an African American killed on the island. The book has been examined in detail. An Indian as convicted for the murder. A convicton widely debated and controversial. Some may seem to be pointing to John Norton as the potential murderer. (source )

Joe Gonzalves He was from Madeira Island. He came to British Columbia in 1874 via San Francisco to take care of an uncle named Gregorio (Joe) Fernandez from the same island in Portugal. He lived in Stanley Park and later in Pender Harbour. His son Alfred tried to lay claim on the land of Stanley in 1923 in front of a judge. Joe had also another daughter called Matilda.

Around 1876 he gave his property in Brockton point to Joe Gonsalves” I tried to find out if my father sold it out to Gonsalves,”recalled Elizabeth, “but from what I could learn he did not; he just left it.” According to Barman,

Joe Gonsalves went on to make his living as a fisherman at Brockton Point until 1904. In that year he bought a general store at Irvines Landing, at Pendour Harbour on the Sechelt Peninsula, where some of his descendants still leave. Barman

His (Charles Irvine) holdings were sold in 1904 to a former sailor and fisherman from the Madeira Islands, Joe Gonsalves. After a family quarrel, Joe sets out in his early teens to see the world, stowing aboard a ship that took him around the world, stowing aboard a ship that took him around South America to Guyana where he had to disembark with smallpox. A year later he travelled to San Francisco, then to Vancouver. There he married Susan Harris of the North Vancouver Salish Nation.

After purchasing Charles Irvine property for six dollars an acre, Joe, Susan, Their five daughters, and son Alfred moved to Irvines Landing.

Across the bay Joe also obtained a 160 acre pre-emption that he called his “farm.”

Many years later his daughter Theresa named the community situated on the site of his homestead “Madeira Park” after her father’s

Homeland.

They said that their store was the only one in Pender Harbour until 1914 when Robert Donley built his at Donley’s Landing.

This was a very isolated village and the few families living in the area intermarried. Those families were the jefferies, Gonslaves, Dames, Warnocks, Duncans, Reids, and Wrays. In the book Wilfred “Tiffy” remembers a Halloween prank he and his friends played on Joe Gonsalves: “We took a bunch of old corn stalks and put them on the hotel verandah and somebody got a couple of dog fish and thresw them in. The next morning, of course , Mr Gonsalves complained, so the policeman came to have a look. His remark was, it must have been an awful high tide last night.”

A legend persists that the first non-Native to occupy the Pender Harbour area was a Chinese who began a fish saltery at the mouth of what became Irvines Landing. An Englishman known as Charlie Irvine (for whom the Landing is named) is more commonly recognized as the first settler. Irvine built a log trading post at the Landing, then joined the excitement of the Klondike gold rush. He sold his property in 1904 to an enterprising sailor and fisherman, "Portuguese Joe" Gonsalves, and his North Vancouver Salish Nation wife, Susan Harris. Joe and his son-in-law Theodore (Steve) Dames (a burly Russian seaman married to the Gonsalves' beautiful daughter Matilda) really developed the area. They built a deep-sea dock, general store, post office and hotel/saloon at the head of the wharf. The Union Steamship Company made this a regular stop, the beginning of Pender Harbour's real presence on the map.

Irvine sold the property in 1904 to John and George West, who sold an 80-acre parcel to "Portuguese Joe" Gonsalves, a enterprising sailor and fisherman. Joe and his son-in-law Theodore

History of Pender Harbour on the Sunshine Coast in BC Canada

... He arrived in Pender Harbour with Matilda, Theodore, and Joe Perry. ... Madeira Park,

where early settlers would row to for picnics and ballgames, was named by Joe ...

history.html - 29k - Supplemental Result - Cached - Similar pages

THE ARRIVAL OF PORTUGESE JOE

On Sept. 1, 1904, Matilda Gonsalves and the Russian sailor Theodore Dames were married in  Vancouver. Later that year, Matilda's father, Joe Gonsalves, and her new husband bought half of John and George West's Irvine's Landing property. Gonsalves  was a sailor and a fisherman from the Madeira Islands off Spain who suposedly left his home as a stowaway at an early age. In Canada, one of Stanley Park's many squatters, he was known as "Portugese Joe". He arrived in  Pender Harbour with Matilda, Theodore, and Joe Perry. Perry, also a sailor, was a large and powerful black man from the Azores who was known in Irvine's Landing as a kind and gentle person.

     Gonsalves and Dames, with Perry as an employee, expanded Wests' supply post to include a hotel and saloon while Gonsalves continued to fish his seine boat, the Hermosa , with Perry as a deckhand. Gonsalves and Dames expanded their enterprise to include a deep-sea dock, barbershop, general store, post office, and Pender Harbour's first public telephone. Fire eventually  destroyed the two old wooden buildings, and Garden Bay became the community's business centre. The BC Archives lists the death of a Joseph Gonsalves, on June 3, 1939 in Vancouver, at 82 years of age. He is survived by many Pender Harbour descendants. Theodore Dames  passed away in Irvine's Landing on March 2, 1935, at 68.

source history.html

Peter Smith

He probably came in 1858 according to his son Pete Junior. He followed the Fraser River to Cariboo Country during the gold rush. He came back and built his house in 1860 in Stanley park. He was also named Portuguese Pete. His Portuguese name may have been Pedro. His son did not know his Portuguese name which seems to be strange. He was married to an Indian woman . Daughter of Shwuthchalton.

He was living in Stanley Park in the spring of 1867 with Joe Silva and Joe Fernandez. He had a daughter called

Mary de Kosta she was married to a guy named Frank De Kosta. Peter Smith died around 1905.

He used the island to render blubber from the whales that he caught around the islands.

His wife was called Kenick and he lived with her family in Stanley Park.

At Fishermen's cove once stood a small thriving village of settlers.  In the 1920's, squatter eviction trials were held.  The inhabitants could stay only if they could prove their residence of 60 years or more.  Many of the early pioneers were buried here.  The lighthouse was built in 1916.

Joe Fernandez was from the island of Madeira in Portugal. His real name was Gregorio. He lived in Stanley Park. He was living there in 1867 according to the testimony of an Indian named Thomas Fisher.

Historian Manuel Azevedo said he remained a bachelor the rest of his life.

He also had a general store in Gastown near Jack Gassy. “ Among the other Gastown businesses was a general store that served both millworkers and Natives, who could land their canoes on the long float jutting out from the store and trade furs for other goods” He was a former Cariboo miner and he may have been one of the guys who jumped ship with the mor famous Joe Silvey.

But before we jump to this conclusion we need to remember that the Azores were far away from Madeira and the American whalers used to stop in the Azores to recruit sailors not Madeira but anything may be possible.

One of the persons who knew him well was the eldest daughter of Joe Silvey , Elizabeth. Both families lived near eachother in gastown and Joe Silvey owned a bar not very far. “Elizabeth referred affectionately to Fernandez, who also

went by the nickname “Portuguese Joe,” as her uncle, although he was not a blood relative. Another of Joe Silvey’s children recalled that Fernandez “ had gold earrings; I saw them myself; it was an old custom with sailor men.”

According to Jean Barman it’s with the encouragement of Fernandez that Silvey opened a saloon nearby .

From the Vancouver Voters List we learn the precise location of the store which was described as “ being in at the west end of the beach, on the north east corner of Abbott and Water Streets.” The store probably operated around 1870.

Frank Miranda connected itself, in his early years in Canada, apparently with two well-known Portuguese families, which lived in Gas-Town before his arrival. One was Joe the Portuguese or Joseph Silvey (probably Silva), and the other Joseph Gonzalves and his uncle Gregorio Fernandez. In that pioneer epoch, besides those and other Europeans there were many indigenous people and some of Chinese background.

His uncle Gregorio Fernandez brought his nephew Joe to become his heir, for he was ill, and a year later he died.” There was a drunken brawl, or fight, and Fernandez got mixed up in it and somehow, and got a cut on the leg, and gangrene set in; he died. I was a little girl, but I can just remember it. I think he was put in jail at (new) Wesminster, and died there.” Elizabeth Silvey

“Portuguese Joe had shot another Portuguese and then hidden on Siwash Rock for a time until his hideout was discovered.” (Vancouver Voters Lists of 1886) This may be the brawl that she was talking about. He may have been in jail for that crime. It will be interesting to know who that Portuguese was and if he died of his injuries. There was a few Portuguese living in the Vancouver area at that time.

Later on his store was sold to Benjamin Henry Wilson a gentleman from Nova Scotia.

Portuguese Joe Lewis He was arrested and released for the murder of a constable. Source

Joseph Morais owned and operated a hotel, restaurant and miners exchange in 1861 in Victoria.

Source Jean Barman

John Silva

We learn some details about this Portuguese from Cape Verde from the historian Manuel Azevedo in the book of

Jean Barman “ The Remarkable Adventures of Portuguese Joe Silvey”. He said that Silva of Gabriola Island, planted what may have been the province’s first apple orchard on Mayne Island.”

Joe Perry

Joe Perry. Perry, also a sailor, was a large and powerful black man from the Azores who was known in Irvine's Landing as a kind and gentle person.

     Gonsalves and Dames, with Perry as an employee, expanded Wests' supply post to include a hotel and saloon while Gonsalves continued to fish his seine boat, the Hermosa , with Perry as a deckhand. See above for source

Delarvo Norton

Brother of John Norton lived in Salt Spring Islands. We do not know much about him except that he came with his brother in the early years of

John Silver

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