Our Past is your Present!

Angus Carmichael Fraser, logger, lumber contractor, Richmond Councillor

Great-grandfather to Barbara Nielsen, one of the directors of the Sea Island Heritage Society, Angus Carmichael Fraser was born in Lower Canada (Quebec), in 1844. He died at the Vancouver General Hospital in 1906 from complications from a cold. He was educated at Escuminac and in 1868, he moved west via the Union Pacific Railway. He lived in British Columbia and Washington State where he worked the logging industry. In 1873 he returned to Addington, Restigouche County, New Brunswick where he married Annabella Nicholson Smith. Annabella was the daughter of Malcom and Catherine Smith. After getting married, Angus and Annabella first moved to Victoria, then to Vancouver, British Columbia in 1875.

In 1878, the Fraser home, built on the edge of the forest on what is now the northeast corner of Carrall Street in Vancouver, was destroyed by fire. In 1881, they bought a large farm on Sea Island (Richmond) from Samuel and Fitzgerald McCleery. They named the farm Rosebery. In 1882, Angus served as a councillor in Richmond and, with J.H. Todd of Victoria, built the Richmond Cannery.

They had ten daughters, Annie Nicholson Fraser (1876-1879), Margaret (Greta) Draney née Fraser (1878-1952), Winnifred Arkell née Fraser (1880-1969), Bertha Jane Cook née Fraser (1882-1937), Katherine (Katy) Mildred McIntosh née Fraser (1883-1949), Ruth Olive Dichmont née Fraser (1885-1948), Hilda Mary Thomas née Fraser (1887-1952), Cora May Fraser (1890-1938), Edith Fraser (1891-1893), and Annabelle (Belle) Maude Gosse née Fraser (1894-1976).

Hilda Mary Thomas (née Fraser) was Barbara Nielsen’s grandmother. Hilda had seven sons with Ernest Webb Thomas. The fourth son, Roy “Daryl” Thomas (1919-2007) was Barbara’s father.

To view the Fraser family tree on Ancestry or obtain further information, contact Barb Nielsen at barbaralynnnielsen@gmail.com.