Wellington Delaney Moses

Sarah Jane Moses

"It is kept by a coloured man and his wife - the former, strange to say was very nearly going out with my dear Uncle - only his wife at last refused to let him go. They are very respectable people. He is a hair cutter & has a shop - the naval people especially patronise him (Mr Moses) & his wife has the reputation of being a first rate cook. They are probably one generation if not farther from being pure Negro, & Mr Moses calls himself an Englishman, which he is politically & therefore justly. She is a queer being, wears long sweeping gown without crinoline - moves slowly & has a sort of stately way (in intention at least) which is very amusing. Sometimes she ties a coloured handkerchief round her head like the American Negroes (she is from Baltimore) but on Sunday she wore a sort of half cap with lace falling behind, her hair being long enough to be parted. The language of both is very good. Mr Moses said to Captn Richards when he was arranging about our being taken in "The fact is Sir, my wife is the best housekeeper in the country except your's." Captn Richards begged he wd(sic would) make no exception in favour of Mrs R. who he was sure cd(sic could) not equal Mrs Moses!"

"One Sunday morning we were astonished to find a steamer entering the harbour from San Francisco. There was a regular colony of coloured men on board, who had come to settle in Vancouver Island, because at this time adverse feeling ran high against them in the States. They landed and some kneeling down prayed and asked for blessings who lived in a land of freedom under the red white and blue."

Notes

Wellington Delaney Moses was part of the first group of black American settlers to arrive in Victoria in 1858. Moses did not stay in Victoria long but settled with his barber shop in Barkerville where he died in 1890. Strangely, in light of Sophia's recollections of the couple, when Moses left Victoria he also left his wife, Sarah Jane (Douglas)* Moses.