Page 2 - Kathleen's parents and their history

Peter O'Reilly after 1860. Image courtesy of BC Archives C-03910.

Before telling you about Kathleen and her life as a little girl, it is interesting to understand how she came to live at Point Ellice House. Why are you living where you live? Probably it is because of decisions that your parents made.

Kathleen's mother and father were not from Canada. In those days, most people that lived in the tiny town of Victoria had arrived from Britain (including England, Wales and Scotland) and Ireland, which was owned by Britain. British Columbia was a colony of Britain. This means that it was not yet part of Canada. It was a wild country with few people in it, but for those who had a lot of courage and determination, B.C. was viewed as an exciting world of opportunities.

Her father, Peter O'Reilly was an Irishman who came to work as a gold commissioner in B.C. This means he was in charge of how gold should be collected. However, because he had worked for the police in Ireland, he was quickly given other important responsibilities such as being the justice of the peace. Although his work took him all over the province, he often came to Victoria and would be asked for dinner at "Fairfield House". This was where the Sir Joseph Trutch lived, who was a very important man in B.C. politics at that time.

His sister, Caroline, had just arrived in Victoria, when Peter O'Reilly came for dinner. There were many more men than women in Victoria. Men wanted wives, so it was unusual to find such a beautiful and intelligent woman who was not married. Peter O'Reilly could not help noticing such a charming woman and they decided to get married in 1863.

For the first few years of their life together they lived between three cities: Victoria, Yale and New Westminster. It was during this time that Kathleen's older brother Frank was born.

But what about Kathleen?…