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Ellen
was a daughter of Samuel Tufts, a United Empire Loyalist whose
forbears came over from England to America on the Mayflower.
Chased out of Massachusetts at the time of the Revolution,
the Tufts family settled in Halifax, N.S., in 1776, at a spot still
known as Tufts Cove. Adventurous
Ellen decided to move to the other side of Canada, and, in 1862, set
sail from Halifax for Boston, then south around Cape Horn, up to San
Francisco and on to
Esquimalt.
As petite, fine featured Mary Ellen Tufts stepped off the
gangplank onto the strange land of British Columbia at Esquimalt
Harbour, her
appearance concealed her strong pioneering spirit and intestinal
fortitude one she would need as Matron on the isolated Race Rocks
where she raised nine children.
Ellen's
days at the lighthouse on the barren rock must certainly have been a
challenge for the young mother as her only
neighbours
were the barking sea lions and noisy seagulls.
According to letters in the Victoria archives, she depended
mainly on rain for fresh water supply and any supplement had to be
delivered along with fresh meat and provisions on the boat, Sir
James Douglas. Letters from
the lighthouse state that the meat and provisions were sometimes
inedible on arrival. A
letter of May 10, 1870 from Thomas states that he and his wife and
family had not been off the rocks to enable them to purchase clothes
and necessities for the family of eleven for two years and nine
months. Source: FootPrints Pioneer Families of the Metchosin District, Marion I. Helgesen editor |
BC Archives Image F-07264
