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William Martin family fonds
https://search.heritageburnaby.ca/link/archivedescription66694
- Repository
- City of Burnaby Archives
- Date
- 1927-1940 (date of originals)
- Collection/Fonds
- William Martin family fonds
- Description Level
- Fonds
- Physical Description
- 26 photographs : 1 original photograph + 19 jpegs + 6 copy prints
- Scope and Content
- Fonds consists of photographs of the William and Ellen Martin family, pioneers of Burnaby.
- Repository
- City of Burnaby Archives
- Date
- 1927-1940 (date of originals)
- Collection/Fonds
- William Martin family fonds
- Physical Description
- 26 photographs : 1 original photograph + 19 jpegs + 6 copy prints
- Material Details
- 2 copy prints + 1 jpeg are duplicates to the original; 3 copy prints are duplicates to a larger copy print
- Description Level
- Fonds
- Accession Number
- 2011-11
- 2006-03
- 2012-03
- Scope and Content
- Fonds consists of photographs of the William and Ellen Martin family, pioneers of Burnaby.
- History
- William Martin and Ellen Ward met while attending school in Glasgow, Scotland. They married in 1916 while William was on leave from the Canadian Over-Seas Expeditionary Force. After the war, they immigrated to Canada with their two-year-old daughter, Margaret. They spent a few years in Vancouver where three more daughters were born: Barbara (later Punnett); Juanita (later Safarik); and Sally (later Forbes). With their four small daughters, they moved to Los Angeles where William worked as a craftsman for Samuel Goldwyn Studios. In 1926, they returned to B.C., where William purchased five acres of land on Spruce Street in Burnaby. Much of the land had been logged but not cleared. Dynamite was used to remove the large, burnt stumps. While William prepared the land for a new house, the family lived in a temporary building that was later used for a garage. The seven-room house that William built was one of the first houses on Spruce Street. During this time, William and Ellen’s two sons, Bill and Jackie, were born. The Martins made good use of their property. They kept chickens, ducks, and a goat, planted fruit trees, and had a large raspberry patch. The children enjoyed their large playground, much of it still heavily forested. In the winter they walked to Deer Lake to ice skate. They hiked Burnaby Mountain and sometimes walked to Capitol Hill where there was a recreation centre. All six children attended Douglas Road School and South Burnaby Secondary School. Margaret became a schoolteacher; Juanita and Barbara did office work after attending Sprott Shaw Business School; Sally became a public health nurse; and Bill and Jackie became doctors. Margaret taught in Burnaby schools for 27 years. Before her marriage, Sally served as a public health nurse in Burnaby for three years. Bill had an ophthalmology practice in Burnaby until his retirement. Margaret married Jack Greenall, the eldest son of another Burnaby family who lived on Nursery Street on a large property with a garden, greenhouse, and chicken house. Margaret and Jack had three children: Dr. Martin Greenall, Sharon (later Ingalls), and Diane (later Macnair). Margaret later married Peter Andrusiak and had two sons: Gordon and Peter. All of her children were raised in New Westminster. Margaret was active in her community and was awarded the New Westminster Citizen of the Year award in 1992. She died July 26, 2006, at the age of 89.
- Formats
- Records from accession 2011-11 exist only in electronic format - copied 2011
- Media Type
- Photograph
- Creator
- Martin family
- Notes
- Title based on contents of fonds
- Photo catalogue 525
Knight family subseries
https://search.heritageburnaby.ca/link/archivedescription64497
- Repository
- City of Burnaby Archives
- Date
- 1938-1982
- Collection/Fonds
- Burnaby Historical Society fonds
- Description Level
- Subseries
- Physical Description
- Textual records and photgraphs
- Scope and Content
- Subseries consists of newspaper clippings, manuals on health and training of talking birds, correspondence and photographs pertaining to "Bird Doctor" Virginia Knight and her husband Milton, the owners of Lakeview Aviaries in Burnaby.
- Repository
- City of Burnaby Archives
- Date
- 1938-1982
- Collection/Fonds
- Burnaby Historical Society fonds
- Subseries
- Knight family subseries
- Physical Description
- Textual records and photgraphs
- Description Level
- Subseries
- Accession Number
- BHS1992-53
- Scope and Content
- Subseries consists of newspaper clippings, manuals on health and training of talking birds, correspondence and photographs pertaining to "Bird Doctor" Virginia Knight and her husband Milton, the owners of Lakeview Aviaries in Burnaby.
- History
- Milton "Milt" Waller Knight was born in Canada circa 1904. His wife Virginia Harrington was born in Duluth, Minnesota circa 1905 and lived most of her life in Canada. Virginia was the first person in British Columbia to breed budgies when she began in 1932 and by 1939 she and her husband created the first crested budgie in the world. By 1942, Virginia was also housing two-hundred and fifty birds at the home of her mother, Mrs. N.M. Herington, which was located at 1775 West 13th Avenue in Burnaby. Milton and Virginia Knight moved into their own home during the war years but, as they could not get their large aviary moved, they were forced to sell their crested birds. When they started up in their birds again, they obtained some of their crested back. By 1948 they had created two types of crested: those with a miniature cockatiel crest and those with a crest like a crested canary. By 1950 they had created the crested in over twelve colours of budgie, including cobalt and yellow-wing greens. The Knights lived together at 3718 Sperling Avenue (later renumbered 5255 Sperling Avenue) and opened Lakeview Aviaries on their one acre property at Deer Lake where Virginia specialized in budgies (Budgerigars) and bred the first albino in Canada and the first crested variety in the world. She kept Java rice birds, button quail, red factor canaries, cockatiels, finches, love birds and twelve varieties of budgerigar. She was a member of the British Columbia Budgerigar and Foreign Bird Society. The facilities at Lakeview Aviaries included two heated aviary cages and three outdoor flight cages constructed by Milton. Lakeview housed the only "hospital" facilities in the city for cage birds, which featured an electrically heated, thermostatically controlled hospital cage. Virginia, known in the community as “the Bird Doctor” nursed many sick birds back to health free of charge for the Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals or SPCA. The Knights often donated their trained birds to sick and injured children, for Virginia believed, “Budgies do wonders for the kiddies. They make them forget their troubles and of course a happy mental outlook is a definite aid to better physical health.” The couple’s personal pets included eight different types of parrot, three talking budgies, a dancing bare-eyes cockatoo, three talking cockatiel, and “Hoppy” her pet owl. By 1952, they had a toucan and a macaw as pets. In later years, they added two small dogs. By 1965, Milton had over 25 years of service as a truck driver at the Vancouver Service Department. He was also an avid collector of antique watches and clocks. He reconditioned the timepieces, systematically restoring them to their original condition. He was a member of the National Association of Clock and Watch Collectors. Milt also treasured old music boxes and restored their large metal discs and rolls to “as new” condition. Milton Knight died March 7, 1966 at 62 years of age. Virginia Knight lived alone at 5755 Sperling Avenue after her husband’s death and continued her work at the Lakeview Aviary where she “doctored 700-800 [birds] a year free of charge (except medicine) and gave SPCA donations up to $1000 a year.” Virginia Knight passed away November 10, 1987 at 82 years of age.
- Media Type
- Textual Record
- Photograph
- Creator
- Knight, Milton
- Knight, Virginia
- Notes
- MSS117, PC510
- Title based on contents and creator of subseries