The following text may have been generated by Optical Character Recognition, with varying degrees of accuracy. Reader beware!

April 1997 WEST VANCOUVER HISTORICAL SOCIETY Pago 7 FEATURE PRESENTATION REPORT The Lawson Years - First True Pioneers of West Vancouver By: Anne Vernon MARY CHAPMAN, long-time Archives Volunteer Coordinator for the Historical Society, stepped into the breach when our speaker for the February meeting was unable to meet his obligations. As always, Mary did an excellent job and the audience gained new insights to the early days of the Lawson family and of West Vancouver History. John Lawson (1860 - 1954) was bom on his parents’ Ontario farm where he lived and worked for the next 27 years, after which he was hired by the Canadian Pacific Railway as a Conductor, based in Donald, B.C. His duties required that he travel between there and Vancouver so John wrote to his fiancee, Christina Smith, to suggest she come to Donald as he was sure she would find work. She did and worked in the CPR boarding house, winning renown for her pies. John and Christina were married in Kamloops in August 1888, settled in Donald and produced three children. Unfortunately one, Robert, died in infancy. Eventually the company decided that Revelstoke would be the new divisional point so the Lawson’s moved there where a second son, Duncan, was bom. Other members of the Lawson and Smith families had also moved west making a large, closely knit, growing family group in B.C. The importance of family education caused the family to move to Vancouver in 1903, and buy a house in Pacific Street where they soon settled into the routine of school and church life. During one of his earlier trips to Vancouver John Lawson had read about the “plan of the new town of ‘Newcastle’ immediately outside of the narrows of Burrard Inlet”; however he took no action until, in 1905, his curiosity got the better of him. Together with his brother-in-law, Sandy Smith, he rowed across the inlet at the Narrows and landed on the shore where they came to a large piece of cleared ground, an abandoned house, bam, and about 30 neglected fmit trees. John was thrilled with his find and brought his family over to see it. Then and there he determined to find out who owned the land so that he could put in a bid for it. The property had belonged to ‘Navvy Jack’, a Welsh sailor who had married one of the daughters of a local chief. He cleared land, built a house and bam and planted fmit trees. He also ran a gravel business from the mouth of the Capilano River - still today there is a size of gravel known as “Navvy Jack”. Eventually the temptation of the Great Gold Rush was too much for Jack and he left his property with Mr Keith as security for a $2,000.00 “gmbsteak”. However his luck ran out and he died in the Caribou resulting in his land being sold at auction in 1906 -with John Lawson being the lucky purchaser. In 1907 John Lawson retired from the C.P.R. and was able to devote more time to his own pursuits. So began the shaping of the community which was to become West Vancouver. John Lawson’s energy and enthusiasm ensured that the town on the North Shore would be developed but he soon saw that would take place only if there was transportation from Vancouver so, being the man he was, he organized a ferry service, built a pier at Hollybum and oversaw the clearing of Surely the Lawsons.........must be recognised as the true pioneers of West Vancouver. Keith Road for carriage travel. He also constmcted wooden sidewalks and ensured that all of his prospective buyers were given tea and bread, free of charge, by Christina and the family. C^hurch services were held in their home until the first school, built on land donated by Mr. Lawson, met worship needs. For $1.00 Mr Lawson also donated the property for the erection of the first Municipal Hall. In 1912 the 700 inhabitants of the new townsite decided to leave the District of North Vancouver and “go it alone” - thus West Vancouver was bom. This was followed on January 1, 1914 by the beginning of the Pacific Great Eastern Railway service to Dundarave. Mr Lawson was appointed Post Master to the community so the next thing of interest to him was the installation of a West Vancouver telephone service. BC Tel insisted that 56 subscribers would be required before they would supply a service, so a petition to get the required number of customers went around the community. As they were six short Mr. Lawson volunteered to take that number of lines himself, but BC Tel must have been impressed by his public spiritedness for they did not hold him to his offer - instead they appointed him Telephone Agent. With World War I the real estate business came to a stand still. At age 57 John Lawson enlisted in the army in order to prevent his land being repossessed for unpaid taxes. The death of their only son, Duncan, a few weeks before the war ended must have been a great blow to the whole family. Life more or less returned to normal for the Lawsons when John was demobilised. He continued his real estate business, took up his duties as Post Master and oversaw house to house mail delivery in 1931 when he was 71. In 1939 World War II began and, as usual, Mr Lawson was in the thick of it. He was employed by the North Vancouver Shipyard as a rivet sorter -claiming that at the age of 83 he had to be the oldest rivet sorter in Canada! Also in 1939 daughter Gertmde built the house at 680-17th Street -the home of our Museum and Archives and the centre of much of West Vancouver’s history. John and Christina made their home with Gertrude until in 1954 he died at age 94 and the following year she also died - at age 88. A pioneer is defined as “someone who opens up a place so that others will follow”. Surely the Lawsons, a family blessed with more than their share of courage and vision which they always put to the community’s good, must be recognised as the true pioneers of West Vancouver.