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Our Past is your Present!

We are a non-profit organization focused on promoting, preserving, and being a strong, active resource for all things of heritage value on Sea Island in Richmond, British Columbia. Join us to learn about the history of Sea Island and its residents, past and present.

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Pioneers Family Tree Project

Pioneers display table at Sea Island reunion 2022.

PROJECT OVERVIEW

The Sea Island Heritage Society has been compiling the history of all people who lived on Sea Island in Richmond, British Columbia from 1870 to date. From the Society’s research (family interviews, public records and archives), our volunteer genealogists have compiled family trees of many of the early pioneers on Ancestry. And, as the Society continues its research, we add more names to the list of pioneer family names.

To get more information about any of our pioneer families, or their family trees, please contact Barbara Nielsen at barbaralynnnielsen@gmail.com.

List of Pioneers on Ancestry

Through our research, we learned that Richmond started on Sea Island. On November 10, 1879, when Letters Patent were issued to incorporate the Corporation of the Township of Richmond at the request of 25 early settlers, the first order of business was to hold an election and form a council to run the fledging municipality. The election was held at the home of Hugh Boyd and Alexander Kilgour - two pioneers who lived on Sea Island - and as required in the Letters Patent, a “Warden” and seven Councillors were elected.

Hugh Boyd was the first Warden of Richmond, a title later replaced by Reeve and then Mayor. Council meetings were held in the dining room of the Boyd house on Sea Island until a better venue could be provided.

For more interesting stories, here is a list of the pioneers with family trees on Ancestry so far.

Sea Island Pioneers on Ancestry
Adachi Elliott King Paddington
Alexander Elston Kingston Paxton
Anthony England Kirkbride Reid
Asari Errington Koyanagi Richards
Baba Erskine Kynaston Rorison
Baxter Ferguson Laing Shannon
Bicknell Ferris Langston Sasaki
Brough Fish Leversage Scales
Bing Fraser Lovegrove Scratchley
Blair Frontin MacArthur Sherwood
Blanchard Fukushima Mackie Slack
Bloomfield Garripie Magee Sirr
Boyd Gillespie Mah Sloan
Bowman Gilmore Maikawa Stark
Brock Goodmurphy Matsumoto Steele
Brough Gordon May Stewart
Buckingham/Meneice Goulding/Montgomery McAstocker Stokes
Butler Grauer McBride Tait
Carripie Hack McDonald (Irish) Teasdale/Pardy
Carscallen Hallaby McDonald (Scottish) Thomas/Fraser/Draney
Charlton Hall McDougall Thomas/Nielsen
Colburn Hamalock McGinness Thomas (Welsh)
Cooke/Hirst Hammell McLellan Thompson
Cooney Hardwick McMillan Timms
Cornish Hayward McMyn Turecki
Cranswick Henderson McRae Tuttle
Day-Smith Higo McRoberts Whitaker
De Beck Hill McCleery White
Dinsmore Hodder Miller Whittle
Doherty Hoggard Mole Williams
Donegani Honeywill Musto Williamson
Draney Irwin Murphy Wood
Drobott Jones Nagata Youdall
Eastman Keatley Nakazawa
Eburne Ketcheson Nicholl
Edinger Kilgour Opp

Featured First Families

Our goal is to feature or add different pioneer families pages periodically, while continuing to add the family trees to Ancestry. To learn more about each family, click any of the cards below.

Click any of the buttons below to read more about each subject.