The Parlour - Victorian Family

The Helmcken family grew up through the fur trade, the colonial era, and British Columbia’s entry into Confederation with Canada.  They saw the railway cross Canada and they saw Victoria grow from a small village into a small city.  The lives and deaths of the Helmcken children contain drama and the reality of everyday life in a dramatically changing world.   Their parents lived in a log cabin across a bay from a small fur trade post run by their grandfather.  Three of the children died.  So did their mother. 

The land around their home became part of a gold rush, and then the home of a new colonial government lead by their grandfather.  Father left home to negotiate a union of the land with something called Canada and returned to them.  He abandoned politics in order to be with them and watched them grow.  He was there when they married and when they faced their own crises.  In return they cared for him in old age, and preserved his memory. 

Tea party in the Helmcken garden
BC Archives, A-06831

Dr. Helmcken on his 95th birthday.  Amy and Dolly are in the photograph
BC Archives F-9749

Christmas at the Helmcken House, ca. 1902