Frances Creek (flowing into Forster Creek)
Previous names: No 3 Creek
Frances Ewart Forster was just one year old when her father, Harold Ernest Forster, … requested that the Chief Geographer of the province name the creek after his daughter.
According to all sources, Frances Creek is named after Frances Ewart Forster, who was just one year old when her father, Harold Ernest Forster, then a member of the Provincial Legislature, requested that the Chief Geographer of the province name the creek after his daughter.1 The story isn’t quite that simple, however, as I also found firm evidence that No 2 Creek (what became Forster Creek) was regularly called “Frances Creek” for years before Frances herself was born.
As a quick note: I can’t be the only one who has been caught out in the past between the spelling “Frances” and “Francis”. As a rule of thumb, “Frances” is the feminine form of the name, so if you remember that the creek was named after a little girl, and that “Frances” is a traditionally girl’s name, you’ll never have problems with spelling again!
I have been unable to find as much definitive information about Frances’ life as I would like. Much of what I have found is intertwined with her mother and grandmother, so I thought I’d tell Frances’ story as best I could by telling the story of her mother and grandmother as well.
Frances’ Grandmother: Medora Ann Hume (née Brogden) (1860-1947)
Medora (Dora) Brogden was born in Ontario, and married in December 1877 to Alexander Hume in Waterloo.2 The couple lived in Galt, Ontario, and Alexander is listed on the 1881 census as a manufacturer,3 and in 1891 as a labourer in a grocery.4 The couple had three children, with their third (Jack) being born some ten years after his siblings.
In May 1898, Alexander Hume arrived in Golden, having been hired by Harold Ernest Forster to manage Forster’s newly purchased ranch in the Windermere Valley (then Gordon’s Ranch; later Firlands).5 It is assumed that Forster had met Hume at some time back in Galt6 – the two went to the same school there, although not at the same time (they entered ten years apart).7
The entire Hume family moved to Firlands, with Dora taking over as housekeeper at Firlands, which she ran, “Like an English country manor.”8 Dora is remembered by her family as being “pretty straight,” and very devout, but she was also a keen painter, and was good friends with the Group of Seven’s Emily Carr.9
Frances’ Mother: Medora Wardlaw Forster (née Hume) (1885-1989)
Dora’s second child, and only daughter, was also named Medora, although she went by the name Meda. Meda Hume spent her early life in Ontario before joining the rest of her family in moving to the Windermere Valley when she was twelve years old. She and her elder brother, Frank, enjoyed a great amount of freedom, particularly in the first year after they arrived, going horseback riding and making their way over to the McKay Ranch north of Sinclair (Radium Hot Springs) to pick up the mail. Meda was, by her own recollection, “a real tom boy.”10
Meda went on to attend All Hallows School at Yale for at least two and a half years (the first mention found is January 1900; the last in January 1903).11 She returned to Firlands for her holidays.
Meda’s family life is somewhat convoluted. In the spring of 1905 it was announced that her father, Alexander, had left Forster’s employ to move to Lacombe, Alberta, where he initially went into real estate and later into farming.12 Later that year a newspaper notes that Dora, Meda and the youngest, Jack, were leaving Firlands to live in Victoria, where Alexander had started a business (this is likely a misprint, as this is the only record of Alexander not being in Lacombe).13
The three (Dora, Meda and Jack) returned to Firlands just a few months later, accompanied by Harold Forster.14 In August 1906 Meda and Jack are once again reported as leaving for Lacombe, “where they will reside with their father in future.” 15 Meda returned to Firlands again in December,16 although it seems that Jack stayed behind, as he was enrolled at school in Lacombe in 1909.17
Dora, meanwhile, continued to be employed as housekeeper at Firlands, although she visited her husband at Lacombe on least one occasion.18
Meda Gets Married
In June 1912, at the age of 27, Meda married Harold Forster (then age 43) at Firlands.19 Interestingly, the one newspaper notice that I found about the event, in The Province out of Vancouver, describes Firlands as the home of “the bride’s parents.”20 By this time, Meda’s father had been living in Lacombe for about seven years. No mention of the marriage could be found in the more local – ie. Cranbrook – newspapers.
Meda is described by her grandchildren as being somewhat free spirited. Her granddaughter, Helen Perry, remembers her as being, “quite lively and outgoing. I could see her teaching the Chinese houseman how to dance.”21 Perry also recalls that Meda was a “typical Victorian era woman, always quite cultured. She taught us all table manners and made us sit up straight. She played the piano until she was 100 and lived to 103.”22
Frances Ewart Forster (1913-2003)
Frances Ewart Forster was the first of Meda and Harold’s six children (Ewart was Harold’s grandmother’s maiden name). She was born 23 March 1913 at Firlands, and it was when Frances was perhaps just over a year old that her father, then member of the Provincial Parliament, made the request to the Chief Geographer of the province for what was then No 3 Creek to be named after his daughter.23 This is a period in which many geographical name changes and allocations were being made: the official decision on the name of Frances Creek is announced in January/February 1915, at the same time as Dunbar and Templeton,24 and shortly before the announcement of the name “Forster Creek” in March 1915.25
Frances Forster and her mother, Meda, 1916 at Firlands Ranch. Windermere Valley Museum and Archives, c938.
Little else has been found about Frances’ early life. She is not listed as living with her family on the 1921 Canada Census,26 nor is she listed with her grandparents in Lacombe.27 I was unable to find any remembrances from Frances in her own words.
A Tangled Web
Lacking much information from Frances’ perspective, her story can best be continued in connection with her mother and her grandmother.
Dora, who at the time of Meda’s wedding was still housekeeper at Firlands, continued living there for an unknown period after the wedding itself. By 1916, however, Dora had joined her husband at Lacombe,28 with Dora’s father also living with them at the time of the 1921 census.29 Alexander passed away after a long illness at Lacombe in November 1928,30 and Dora sold their home there in 1931.31
The Forster family, 1920. Left to right: Frances, Thora, Harold Forster, Meda seated with Richard on her lap, and George. Dora is standing behind. Windermere Valley Museum and Archives, C1078.
Meanwhile Frances’ mother, Meda, had a tumultuous relationship with Frances’ father, Harold Forster. According to her family, Meda, “left him several times, going back and forth between the ranch and her parents’ home in Lacombe.”32
In June 1925, twelve year old Frances was awarded a prize as the second highest competitor by the Forestry Department of the Province for an essay entitled “Save the Forest.” The presentation was done at Firlands, and Dora was also in attendance and is noted as having, “taken an important part in instructing the growing essayist in the written course of education.”33
According to family lore, Meda left Firlands with her children in 1925 and never saw Harold again.34 In June 1926, Meda is living as the head of her own household in Lacombe in a house next to her parents.35
A New Life in America
That September (1926) Meda and her children, Frances, George, Thora, Richard, and Alan moved to Spokane with the intention of becoming American citizens.36 According to border crossing records, their last permanent residence was Lacombe, and the passage of the children was paid for by their father (Frances was 13 years old at the time).
Just two months later, in November, a court case had been heard in which Harold Forster had sued John C Powles, of Wilmer, for $100,000 damages in a suit “for alleged alienation of the affections,” of Meda. The judge’s decision of this suit was reserved, and I was unable to find any follow-up recording his decision.37
Meda and her family returned to Alberta in August 1928, having lived in Spokane for two years.38 Their return to Canada may have been prompted by the ill health of Meda’s father, Alexander. At the time of Alexander’s death, in November 1928, Meda is mentioned as living in Lacombe.39
A Move to Penticton
In 1930, Meda purchased property in Penticton and moved there with her children,40 withdrawing her application for American citizenship on 11 July 1930.41 By this time Frances was seventeen years old, and her youngest sibling, Alan, was seven. It was during the following year (1931) that Dora sold her home in Lacombe, and moved to join her daughter and grandchildren. Dora lived with Meda until her death in 1947.42
Once in Penticton, Meda led a busy life. She joined the Women’s Auxiliary for St Saviour’s Anglican Church, and was president from 1955 to 1957.43 She was also a part of a Ladies Choir in Penticton, and “took her place on the line at the packing house for the Penticton Cooperative Growers for eight years during the war.”44
A Public Face
In later accounts of her life, Meda glosses over the tumultuous period before arriving in Penticton, summarizing the reasons for her move that, “Since there was no school nearby [to Firlands] lessons were taken by correspondence but eventually I had to leave the ranch during the greater part of the year while my children when to school at Penticton.”45
This is clearly an oversimplification, although perhaps an understandable one. A cynic might note that Meda’s eldest, Frances, was seventeen by the time the family moved to Penticton, so the pretense of her being in Penticton for the sake of her children’s education was perhaps a bit of a stretch. But it was also far more socially acceptable that Meda moved to Penticton for the sake of her children’s education than for her to have chosen to leave her husband.
Meda was also always very careful when speaking publicly about Harold. In an article written in 1967, in which the author relies heavily on Meda’s memories of her husband, Meda summarizes Harold’s death: “While I was away [at Penticton] in 1940 tragedy struck. Our home, Firlands, with all our treasures burned to the ground. My husband and his house guest, John Lundy, lost their lives in the fire.”46
Years later writer Dorothy Isted, in an article about Harold published in The Columbia Valley Pioneer, comments that Meda’s summation, “was delicately put. By this time Harold Forster was an alcoholic. He and John Lundy lived and drank together, rarely leaving the kitchen choosing to sleep there as well.”47
Nonetheless Meda, in that 1967 article, goes on to comment that, “When I look back to the delightful years spent at the ranch, first as a girl and then as wife, I became increasingly aware that my husband, Harold Forster, was a very talented man… it seemed that he had the gift of learning by observation, by reading or a sense, more than common, of being able to do almost anything.”48 It’s unclear how much of this is Meda’s words, verbatim, and how much the author, Eric Sismey, editorialized.
Frances’ Adult Life
But back (as much as we can) to Frances. In March 1940 the three Forster women – Meda, Frances, and her sister Thora – are all listed on the voting list in Penticton.49 Frances and Thora both continued to live with their mother, with Frances working as a stenographer at a fruit packing house.
Frances was married on 18 April 1941 to Henry (Harry) Edward Cao Yolland, then a bookkeeper at an automobile garage.50 There seems to have been some long standing family connection between Frances’ and Henry’s families: Henry’s father, Field Yolland, was at one time Reverend at the Anglican Church in Golden, and is listed in July 1930 as a contact on Meda’s border crossing records.51
Even after her marriage, details of Frances’ life are hazy. She and Harry had three children, Lynne, Gordon, and Gail. In May 1952, the Penticton newspaper notes that Harry and his brother both, “arrived at the home of Mrs M.W. Forster on Friday and left on Sunday accompanied by Mrs Yolland, Lynne and Gordon for Trail, where they are taking up residence.”52 Frances and her children were again visiting Penticton the following year, in May 1954, when once again Harry, “motored over to fetch him” accompanied by both his brother and another male relative (the newspaper states his father, but Field Yolland had passed in 1930).53 Why Harry’s male relatives saw need to accompany him goes unexplained.
We continue to get glimpses of Frances’ life through her regular visits with her mother, Meda. These glimpses are brief. By 1955 the Yolland family were living in New Denver,54 while in July 1956 Frances is noted as being “of Vancouver.”55 Later that year the Yollands were living in Nakusp,56 where they remained for some time (Frances is noted as living there in 1967).57
By 1986 Frances was living in Penticton with her mother,58 and she was still there at the time of Meda’s death, in 1989.59 Frances’ husband, Henry Yolland, passed away in Nakusp in May 1995, at which time he is still listed as being married to Frances (explicitly not divorced, widowed or separated).60
In the 1993-1994 season, Frances is listed as the secretary for the Penticton branch of the Okanagan Historical Society,61 and there is no indication that she had since left Penticton.
Frances passed away in Penticton in November 2003, and a grave marker was added to the same plot as her grandmother and her mother.62 Although the eldest, she was the last of her siblings to pass. There is no record that she ever returned to the Windermere Valley after she and her family left in about 1925.
Frances Creek
The names Frances Creek was very quickly adopted in the Windermere Valley as a more official sounding name compared to the generic “No 3 Creek.” The eagerness in which the new name was taken up was likely helped by there being a number of mining properties located up the creek, notably the Isaac and the Lead Queen, but also the McLean, as well as a stretch of promising agricultural land, then being farmed by (among others) John Hurst and Harry Ogelston.63
The Other Frances Creek
As mentioned at the outset, there is firm evidence that No 3 creek was not the first creek in the area to be known as Frances Creek. Numerous survey maps for lots along No 2 Creek (now Forster Creek) label that waterway as “Frances Creek” or “No 2 Frances Creek” instead, with the dates of these maps stretching as far back as 1894, and as recent as 1912 (see “Other Resources” section at the end of this post for a full citation list of these).
An 1894 survey map with “Frances Creek” labelled: Lot 380 was surveyed for the Columbia and Kootenay Railway and Navigation Company in June 1894. Crown Grant no 490/69, (8 June 1894), British Columbia Crown Land Grants, Vol 69 (no 0397/0069-0495/0069), 1893-1894. FamilySearch database, img 682 of 727 (cropped).
At first as I came across these maps I thought they were a typo. These survey maps are not individually dated, and I figured that they had been drawn up later (ie. after Frances Creek was named in 1914) and that the name “Frances” was mistakenly included rather than “Forster.” That assumption was dashed when I found a dated record, from 1896, labeling Frances Creek (No 2 creek) by name.64 With this evidence, combined with some seven separate survey maps with “Frances Creek” labelled, it is clear that the name “Frances Creek” was locally known.
Certificate of Pre-emption Record for Lot 2577, dated 7 September 1896 and describing the lot as being “near Frances Creek.” In Crown Grant No 1171/109, British Columbia Crown Land Grants Vol 109 (no 1156/0109-1252/0109), 1899-1900. FamilySearch Database, img 133 of 789 [cropped].
There are a huge number of unanswered questions pertaining to this original Frances Creek. For example, the name appears on these survey records, but not once in contemporary newspaper records or official government reports: in all other sources the creek is referred to as “No 2 Creek”. I also have no explanation for where the name for this original “Frances Creek” comes from. I’ve checked census records, as well as some genealogy records, but nothing obvious came out. I’m hoping an answer will eventually appear now that I’m looking for it!
This evidence does, however, potentially complicate the naming of the current Frances Creek. The original name “Frances Creek” had been used well before Forster moved to the area, at a time when Firlands was still known as Gordon Ranch. Forster also very likely knew about this original name of Frances Creek: he had been living in the area for over a decade before his daughter was born, and at least one of the properties he purchased (Lot 2579 in 1900) has “Frances or No 2 Creek” labelled on the survey map.65
One might speculate that Forster may have named his daughter after this Frances Creek, or that the Chief Geographer accepted the name of “Frances Creek” for No 3 Creek in part because there was already a local tradition of the name “Frances Creek” in the area. Such a tradition might also help to explain why a creek was named after a one year old.
As to why No 2 Creek was not just officially given the name Frances Creek, which would have made a lot more sense, it’s difficult to say. Frances Creek is technically a tributary of Forster Creek, so it could be that Forster himself had a preference for the creek being named after himself to be the more principal waterway. Unfortunately it’s unlikely we’ll ever know for certain.
The next post will be the first in a series on Forster himself. In case it wasn’t clear, Forster was a rather complicated figure, so there are two posts about him (the latter entirely about his death), and one devoted to the history of Firlands. Starting the year off with a deep dive!
See Also
Charles T Dunbar
Templeton
Harry Ogelston
John Hurst
Lead Queen Mine
Isaac Mine
McLean Mine
Footnotes
Other Resources
Mentions of Frances Creek (No 2 Creek), in chronological order, in British Columbia Crown Grant records:
In The Windermere 
Another fine historical report. Thanks for posting.
LikeLike