IN VANCOUVER, BRITISH COLUMBIA

 

Samuel Oakley

          1896 is the earliest date that Samuel appears in the Vancouver Directory. He and his son Isaac started a furniture business at Main, near Hastings called “Oakley & Son”. Samuel and Isaac kept the business going for a few years. Isaac also continued to work for the CPR and by 1910 he and his brother Samuel opened Oakley Heating & Sheet Metal Company. Samuel Sr. continued with the cabinet making and at the time of his death, he also ran a small tool repair business at 5th and Main. 

         For a family that went through many moves across Canada and the US they were a family that helped and supported each other.  Samuel raised his first wife's brother, Isaac and found him work with the railway.  Samuel also helped to raise the family of his second wife (and first wife's brother), again finding them work with the railway.  Sam's daughter Sarah carried on the tradition by helping to raise her younger siblings after her mother died  in 1880.  Her youngest brother was only a year old when his mother died and descendants of George said Sarah was more like mother to him.

The Province May 26, 1910

           At the age of eighty Samuel was hit by a streetcar and killed after leaving daughter Sarah’s home at 12th & Spruce. He had a habit of standing in the middle of the streetcar tracks to wave down the streetcar with his cane. Being too impatient to wait for grandson Leck to walk him to the train stop had tragic results. Unfortunately, this particular evening the streetcar driver did not see Sam. The details of the accident are graphically recorded in the corners report from the inquest.  Results of the inquest were published in the newspaper:

The Province Oct 2, 1912

 

Vancouver Daily World Oct 3, 1912

The following obituary appeared in the Province October 3, 1912 

 

The Province Oct 5, 1912

 

           Samuel was the glue that held his family together.  By 1920 all the sons had moved away from Vancouver, most settling in the Kamloops area but Samuel Jr. moved back to Michigan.  Sarah stayed in Vancouver, as did sisters Beryl and Blanche.

                This map shows the various moves Samuel made after he arrived in Canada in the summer of 1855.  He first settled in Kingston, Ontario before moving to Cobourg, Ontario; Winnipeg,  Manitoba;  St. Paul's, Minnesota; Virginia and finally Vancouver.  Most of these moves included children, 4 large  paintings plus whatever other treasures he had, these moves would have been significant.  His jobs with various railroads account for his many moves and hopefully these jobs included free or reduced freight charges!.