Susan recorded life in early British Columbia’s southern interior. Her writings present wonderful insights into the lives of the aboriginal peoples and the settlers.
Susan Moir Allison Born in Ceylon
Susan was born September 1845 in Colombo, Ceylon, daughter of Stratton Moir and Susan Louisa Mildern. Her father was a British colonial service employee and later plantation owner. After his 1849 death, Stratton Jr., Jane, and Susan moved back to England with their mother.
In 1857 Mrs. Moir married Thomas Glennie and agreed to emigrate to Canada. Her son stayed in London to continue his studies. After their long journey via Panama, and brief stay at Victoria and New Westminster, they travelled the Fraser River by steamer to Fort Hope.
British Columbia Aboriginal and Pioneer Life Recorded
Built in 1848, Fort Hope was a Hudson Bay Company fur traders’ outpost. Thomas Glennie quickly selected 160 acres of arable land. With dreams of becoming a country squire, he arranged construction of ‘Hopelands’. The family moved into the large log house in November.
Thomas squandered money on parties and misadventures. To pay his substantial debts, the family’s household furnishings were auctioned off. After Susan’s sister Jane married Royal Engineer Edgar Dewdney in 1864, Thomas arranged to sell the property, then disappeared.
Susan and her mother lived with Jane and Edgar in New Westminster in 1865. With a small legacy, they started a school back in Hope. They learned during that time that Susan’s brother Stratton died of yellow fever in the West Indies.
Susan Louisa Moir Married John Fall Allison
Susan Louisa Moir married John Fall Allison, twenty years her senior, in September 1868. John had worked the gold fields in California as miner and merchant. He arrived in Canada during the gold mining excitement of 1858.
She and John lived in an isolated area where they started their family. She gave birth to fourteen children with her husband and a Native woman in attendance. All of the children lived to maturity. She wrote about not only the serious side of life, but included stories such as the one about her dog Towser who learned to rock the baby’s cradle.
Susan occasionally visited her mother in Hope, but the demands on her time were many. Besides housework and cooking, she tended gardens, did bookkeeping at John’s store, and learned the invaluable tasks of curing fish and drying venison. She related the stories of her ventures with the children who fished and gathered berries. Of utmost importance during the summer was preservation and storage of foods for winter.
Susan Allison Learned the Chinook Language
Keenly interested in the lives and stories of the Similkameen people, Susan learned Chinook. The Chinook language was originally used to facilitate trading between aboriginal groups. Later, the language that included words from various tribes, and was easy to learn, also included French and English words. Susan recorded stories told by the Similkameen as well as her observations of their customs.
John Allison was often away working government contract jobs to establish mule trails, taking cattle from the ranch to markets or prospecting. With help of Similkameen servants, Susan carried the responsibilities of the home. She related the horror of their home burning and another great loss during the 1894 flood.
Widowed at age 52, Susan Allison continued to manage the cattle ranch. Her mother and sister died in 1906. Then, in 1911, with two of her children deceased and the others living their lives elsewhere, she sold property and moved to a small house. She moved to Vancouver to live with one of her daughters in 1928.
Susan Allison’s articles on Princeton’s history were published by “The Princeton Star” (“Similkameen Star”) in 1923. Several Native peoples’ legends were printed in 1925 by the Okanagan Historical Society. The “Vancouver Sunday Province” published a series of her reminiscences in 1931. “Immediately they attracted attention, not only for the flavour of the pioneer period which they managed to convey, but also for their literary quality”, commented historian Margaret A. Ormsby.
Pioneer Woman Known as “Mother of Similkameen”
Susan Allison, known as the “Mother of Similkameen” in the Princeton area, enjoyed a visit to the hills in celebration of her 90th birthday. She died in Vancouver in February 1937 and was buried beside her husband on Allison property.
Sources:
A Pioneer Gentlewoman in British Columbia: The Recollections of Susan Allison edited by Margaret A. Ormsby, Published by University of British Columbia Press 1976
Class Acts: Influential Women of the South Okanagan
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