sa国际传媒

A picture frame on the wall of my hallway displays a 1927 newspaper article with a photograph of a firm-looking white haired woman. The headline says, 鈥淥ne of Victoria鈥檚 pioneers passes.鈥� She was my mother鈥檚 grandmother.

I am a direct descendant of three pioneer families to Victoria: Robert and Hannah (Taylor) Elford, Thomas and Lavinia (Parmiter) Shotbolt and William and Mary (Warnes) Heathorn.

We, like the vast majority of Canadians, were immigrants. My maiden name was Glover. The Glovers emigrated from the Lowlands of Scotland in the mid-1800s. An interesting story explains how my grandfather was named John Carruthers Glover.

My grandmother Eliza (Brown) Catterall was born on May 7, 1867 at Pembroke, Ont. Her father John Brown was born in 1809 and died in 1906 in Ontario.

My paternal ancestors arrived in Nova Scotia from New England in 1760 in a group known as Planters. They were pre-Loyalist but became known as sa国际传媒鈥檚 first immigrants from the continent of America.

Let鈥檚 start near the beginning, with my fifth great-grandfather, Jean Etienne Wadin. He was one of the original four partners of the North West Company. He married Marie Joseph Deguire, a First Nations woman.

In 1911-12, my immigrant grandparents came from Ukraine with three young children, by ship to Eastern sa国际传媒, then train to Edmonton (no sleeper car!), then wagon (horse drawn) 50 miles north to a cousin鈥檚 homestead.

Welcome to our celebration of sa国际传媒鈥檚 150th birthday 鈥� a special section made possible by you, our readers. We asked for stories of families, of memories and more.

Dear Helen: What do you know about black seeds, called nigella, that are used in baking? Is this a聽plant that can be grown here? H.E.

Norbert Gilmore, 75, retired to Victoria two years ago and left behind a 鈥済lorious garden,鈥� a big home and a big career in Montreal as one of sa国际传媒鈥檚 premier experts in HIV, AIDS and Hepatitis treatment and research.