"Royal Oak Avenue" found 5 records

Scope and Content: Fonds consists of photographs that belonged to the Brown family. Photographs depict Ed Brown, his wife Jennie, and their children at their homes on Royal Oak Avenue and McKay Avenue; Brown's trucking company; and other Burnaby locations and events.

Repository: City of Burnaby Archives

Date: 1912-1920

Collection/Fonds: Ed Brown Family fonds

Physical Description: 12 photographs: 7 b&w jpgs.; 4 sepia jpgs., 1 med. b&w print.

Description Level: Fonds

Access Restriction: No restrictions

Reproduction Restriction: May be restricted by third party rights

Accession Number: 2008-03

Scope and Content: Fonds consists of photographs that belonged to the Brown family. Photographs depict Ed Brown, his wife Jennie, and their children at their homes on Royal Oak Avenue and McKay Avenue; Brown's trucking company; and other Burnaby locations and events.

History: The following is copied from an article written by Brown's grandson, Jim Ervin, for "Old Autos" in 2003, in an article entitled "Grandfather was a trucker...": The roots of my family run deep in Burnaby, especially on my mother’s side. It was her father, my grandfather, who started one of Burnaby’s first trucking businesses, E.S. Brown’s Transfer. I could find no record of when he actually began operations but I have pictures to show that he was using horses before he had trucks. One of my enclosed pictures dates from about 1910 since I know the birth dates of his two oldest daughters and they are in the picture as very small children. He met and married my grandmother, whose maiden name was Jennie Birtch, from Ontario, and I still have relatives back east from both branches of the family. They were married on Sept. 27, 1905. But where, I can’t say. They had their first child, Hazel, born April 2, 1908. Then came seven more daughters but no sons to help with the family business. The business was located at the family home at 3131 Royal Oak Ave. in South Burnaby. That was close to the top of one of the steepest hills in Burnaby and must have made for a real test of man and machine to drive it, especially in winter. The children loved it for sleigh riding but probably not father. My mother, Inez, was the second oldest daughter, born Oct. 9, 1909. She would have been born, along with her sister Hazel, in the big house shown in the picture and built by my grandfather. But this house was to later burn down. That’s when Edward Sadler Brown decided to move his family from the side of the hill to the top and much closer to the main road, Kingsway. Most of the area was forest at that time and one of Ed’s first jobs was to haul shingle bolts out of the forest, with a team of horses. Please don’t ask me what a shingle bolt is but my mother knew and used to have to grease the skids placed on the logging trails for the loaded sleds to be pulled out on. One time, as she told me, there was a huge forest fire and my grandfather barely escaped with his life and one last load. Later, when the area had been cleared, he helped to build the Oakalla Prison Farm, now replaced by town-houses on Royal Oak Ave. This job led to him becoming the first contractor to haul the license plates made by the prisoners. Some of these plates would be worn by Ed’s own trucks. The trucks, which he eventually acquired, included some pretty obscure makes such as Hufman, Garford, Stewart (which my mother often said was no good), Gotfredson and the more common names of Chevrolet and GMC. A Ford Model T would probably have been too light for the kind of hauling Ed was doing in the 1920s. I always thought that his main cargo was coal and coke, but I received quite a surprise with some recently discovered information. It started when I was removing boxes of general junk from the house to the garage to make more space. One of those boxes broke open and one item which came out wasn’t junk by any means. It was a copy of a business card for Brown’s Transfer, a company which hauled coal, coke, wood and did furniture moving as well. My mother often described my grandfather as a “go-getter” for business. I believe I see what she meant. Never was I so glad to have a cardboard box break open and to retrieve such an important item. My mother was a saver like you wouldn’t believe, a habit which the Great Depression drilled into her. In another box containing old receipts, I found a copy of one from Brown’s Transfer which offered even more insight into the company. The receipt isn’t dated but only the last number of the year required filling in on the form. And this dates it as issued sometime during the 1920s. The surprising thing is the amount of items sold by my grandfather. Not just coal, wood and coke anymore. Now he was into sand, gravel, cement, brick lime, tile and sewer pipe. Furniture moving seemed to be sort of a sideline, mentioned in smaller letters at the bottom. But notice some of the other items on the hand written receipt. There’s lumber, grass seed, paint, glass, a loan (spelled lone) on painting a house. I’m not sure that I understand that one or the payment on house or the one about the toilet. But it’s obvious that this was a man who knew how to make a buck in many ways. He was almost his own building supply store, it would seem. Also mentioned on the form is an office location at 4009 Kingsway. The building is no longer there but it did survive into my life time. Often, my mother would point out to me where the office once was on the north side of Kingsway, near McKay Ave. Still standing, though, ist he old family home at the former address (now changed) of 3131 Royal Oak Ave. That’s where my mother and all seven of her sisters were born. These were the “swampers” on dad’s trucks, a job hard enough for a man. Ed did hire men as well to work as drivers and even employed his own mechanic. But for the girls, it wasn’t really a paying kind of job. “Some times he would buy us an ice-cream cone,” my mother would say. In those days, parents wanted large families to help with all the work which needed doing. Payment in dollars and cents just wasn’t usually part of the deal. I never knew my grandmother, Jennie, who died in 1946 at age 61, an early age to go but likely reflective of a lifetime of hard work and too many children. However, I did know my grandfather who lived into his 70s.His company came to a rather sad end, as related by my mother, in the dirty 30s. Apparently a certain sister of my grandmother, great aunt to myself, reported to the local school board that grandfather was supplying them with an inferior grade of coal for the schools. Then the school board cancelled his contract and that put him into bankruptcy. Whether the story is true or not doesn’t seem to matter much any more since no one who could have known is still among the living. Ed Brown, the industrious, rugged individualist did make a small come-back in the early 1950s with his own plumbing business. The details of that enterprise, I don’t know. But I do remember his old International panel truck he used. People such as my grandfather made a great contribution to Burnaby.

Media Type: Textual Record; Photograph

Notes: Title based on contents of fonds; BHS298

Ed Brown family subseries

https://search.heritageburnaby.ca/link/archivedescription40

Repository: City of Burnaby Archives

Date: [1916]-[1920]

Collection/Fonds: Burnaby Historical Society fonds

Description Level: Subseries

Physical Description: 3 photographs

Scope and Content: Subseries consists of photographs of the Brown family.

Repository: City of Burnaby Archives

Date: [1916]-[1920]

Collection/Fonds: Burnaby Historical Society fonds

Series: Community Archives Collection series

Subseries: Ed Brown family subseries

Physical Description: 3 photographs

Description Level: Subseries

Reproduction Restriction: May be restricted by third party rights

Accession Number: BHS1992-38

Scope and Content: Subseries consists of photographs of the Brown family.

History: Ed Brown and Jennie Birtch Brown had five daughters: Dickie Brown (later Catli), Flossie Brown, Laura Brown (later Francescini), Reta Brown, and Elsie Brown (later Nykyfork). Ed owned and operated E.S. Brown's Transfer trucking company, located at 3131 Royal Oak Avenue.

Media Type: Textual Record; Photograph

Creator: Brown, Ed

Notes: Title based on contents of subseries; PC298

Harry Stanley Bate fonds

https://search.heritageburnaby.ca/link/archivedescription65612

Repository: City of Burnaby Archives

Date: 1924-1926

Collection/Fonds: Harry Stanley Bate fonds

Description Level: Fonds

Physical Description: 7.5 cm of textual records.

Scope and Content: Fonds consists of textual records mostly pertaining to the Burnaby Police Commission. Included in the fonds are publications, meeting minutes and reports.

Repository: City of Burnaby Archives

Date: 1924-1926

Collection/Fonds: Harry Stanley Bate fonds

Physical Description: 7.5 cm of textual records.

Description Level: Fonds

Record No.: MSS143

Accession Number: 2010-09

Scope and Content: Fonds consists of textual records mostly pertaining to the Burnaby Police Commission. Included in the fonds are publications, meeting minutes and reports.

History: Harry Stanley “Stanley” Bate was born April 16, 1895, in London, England, the son of Florence Ellen Barnes and Harry Symonds Bate. Florence and Harry Bate immigrated to Canada in July of 1913. Bertha “Bunny” Sawyer was born February 10, 1889, in London, England, the daughter of Ellen and Willard Sawyer. She sang in a choir at the Crystal Palace, where she met Stanley Bates. Bunny and Stanley were married on August 5, 1917, and were only together for two days before Stanley was sent overseas. Bunny followed her in-laws to Canada alone. Stanley joined them a full two years later. The young couple bought their first house at 2137 Royal Oak Avenue in Burnaby. Their first child, Kathleen Frances Bate was born at home on March 15, 1920. On July 22, 1921, twins Kenneth Willard Stanley Bate and Gordon Bate were born but unfortunately only Kenneth survived. Stanley Bate worked as a salesman and was a member of the Burnaby Police Commission for over half a decade, beginning January 28, 1924. By December of 1925, he and his family of four had moved to 2331 Grey Avenue in Burnaby. Their daughter Kathleen Frances Bate married Joseph Norton Would on December 19, 1942, and gave them four grandchildren: Robert Norton (Staff Sergeant R.N. Would), Carol Frances, Barbara Elaine, and Gordon Lawrence Would. Bunny and Stanley’s son Kenneth married Madge Mathews. Kenneth worked as an undertaker at Woodlawn-Bowell in New Westminster and he and his wife kept in close contact with his extended family. Harry Stanley Bate died April 6, 1945. Later, Bunny married her second husband, George Loomes. Bertha Sawyer Bate Loomes died December 27, 1976.

Media Type: Textual Record

Creator: Bate, Harry Stanley "Stanley"

Notes: Title based on contents of fonds; MSS143

Marriage book for John Leonard Norton and Margaret Knight

https://search.heritageburnaby.ca/link/museumdescription15316

Repository: Burnaby Village Museum

Date: 27 Sep. 1947

Collection/Fonds: Margaret Norton fonds

Description Level: Item

Physical Description: 1 booklet

Scope and Content: Item consists of a twelve page marriage book that includes a certificate authenticating the marriage of John Leonard Norton to Margaret Knight at Vancouver Heights United Church on September 27, 1947 along with other details of the ceremony.

1 image

Repository: Burnaby Village Museum

Collection/Fonds: Margaret Norton fonds

Description Level: Item

Physical Description: 1 booklet

Material Details: textured card stock cover with six pages; printed both sides; folded in half and bound to cover with single cord at centre fold

Scope and Content: Item consists of a twelve page marriage book that includes a certificate authenticating the marriage of John Leonard Norton to Margaret Knight at Vancouver Heights United Church on September 27, 1947 along with other details of the ceremony.

Subjects: Documentary Artifacts - Certificates

Names: Norton, Margaret Knight; All Saints Anglican Church

Accession Code: BV020.34.5

Access Restriction: No restrictions

Reproduction Restriction: May be restricted by third party rights

Date: 27 Sep. 1947

Media Type: Textual Record

Scan Resolution: 600

Scan Date: March 22, 2021

Scale: 100

Notes: Title based on contents of item; All Saints Anglican Church was located in Burnaby on Royal Oak Avenue

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Baptismal certificate for Margaret Knight

https://search.heritageburnaby.ca/link/museumdescription15315

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Ed Brown family fonds

https://search.heritageburnaby.ca/link/archivedescription97218

Ed Brown family subseries

https://search.heritageburnaby.ca/link/archivedescription40

Harry Stanley Bate fonds

https://search.heritageburnaby.ca/link/archivedescription65612

Marriage book for John Leonard Norton and Margaret Knight

https://search.heritageburnaby.ca/link/museumdescription15316

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Baptismal certificate for Margaret Knight

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Ed Brown family fonds

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Marriage book for John Leonard Norton and Margaret Knight

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