Alexis Casanave

1845–?

pioneer Oak Bay landowner and dairyman

courtesy Oak Bay Archives

Casanave House and Sequoia Tree (c 1955)

Photo taken from municipal yard, looking north across school playing field

	Alexis Carni Casanave was born in France in 1845.1 As a young man, wanting to seek his fortune, he left for America where he spent time in San Francisco.
	At about age 17 he headed north to Victoria, British Columbia about 1862 (probably influenced by the Fraser River gold rush that started in 1858) and travelled the province as an itinerant gold prospector.
	With dashed hopes, he returned to San Francisco to reflect upon his future. His transitory visit through Victoria years earlier must have made an impression. With no gold fields beckoning, he decided to settle down.
	He headed back to Victoria in 1875 and turned to homesteading at about age 30. He bought 10.06 acres of John Tod's property alongside Bowker Creek immediately south of Cadboro Bay Road and began dairy and mixed farming. In his front yard he planted the seed of a Sequoia (Redwood) tree that he brought from California.
	In 1884 he married Elizabeth Coigdarripe, also from France.2 Together they raised a family of seven children, three of whom attended the district's first school.
	In 1906 Alexis Casanave was a signatory (one of 103) on a petition that resulted in Oak Bay being incorporated as a municipality.
	1910–1912 were boom years in Oak Bay. But this marked the beginning of the end for farmland in the municipality as it started making the transition from a rural to a residential community. In 1910 the Medical Health Officer condemned certain stables and piggeries on Casanave's farm and Council ordered the buildings removed.3
	World War I put an abrupt end to Oak Bay's boom years. But by the end of the war, the municipality was again planning for the future.
	In 1918 a municipal bylaw was passed to purchase 9.153 acres of Casanave's farmland for a new high school.4
	Casanave subsequently re-located to Gordon Head where he purchased and cleared some acreage to continue dairy farming.5
	In 1929 Oak Bay High was built on his former farmland. A year later, in 1930, another 1.5 acres of Casanave property was purchased for the high school grounds. Casanave was living in Long Beach, California, at the time of this purchase.6
	VICTOR CASANAVE.
	Casanave's son, Victor, lived on the remaining piece of farmland that included the main residence, outbuildings and a vegetable patch where he grew mangles for his cows. He also worked as a skate-sharpener at the hockey rink across the street, until it burned down in 1929.
	The hard time of the Drepression set in, and finding work was tough.
	In 1937, he tried continuing as a dairy farmer with Rosebank Dairy operating from his property. But this lasted just a year.
	By 1942, he was renting out the family home and living down the street at 2067 Cadboro Bay Road where he ran a repair shop.7
	In 1944, he was living at the back of the family home and working as a driller at Victoria Machinery Depot.
	In the late 1940s, plans for a junior high school were on the drawing board, and Victor's mangle patch was acquired for the school grounds.
	In 1951 Oak Bay Junior High was built, but the Casanave residence and outbuildings remained intact on a small strip of land alongside the junior high school. By this time Victor, no longer involved with dairy farming, was renting out the main residence and living in an outbuilding at the back of the property.
	The property was sold in1962.8
	In 1967 all these buildings were demolished to enlarge the school playing fields.
	Alexis Casanave's Sequoia tree, however, stands tall today. And at its base is a plaque that pays tribute to this pioneer Oak Bay settler.
	He is also remembered by Casanave Passage on the central BC coast north of Bella Coola.9
1 Scott, Andrew. The Encyclopedia of Raincoast Place Names (Madeira Park: Harbour Publishing, 2009) 111.
	2 Ibid.
	3 1910 Oak Bay Council minutes per George Murdoch's The History of the Municipality of Oak Bay
	4 1918 Oak Bay Council minutes per George Murdoch's The History of the Municipality of Oak Bay
	5 Jupp, Ursula. From Cordwood to Campus in Gordon Head: 1852–1959 (Victoria: Ursula Jupp, 1975) 36
	6 1930 Oak Bay Council minutes per George Murdoch's The History of the Municipality of Oak Bay
	7 1942, 1943 Victoria Street Directories
	8 Cauthers, Janet. Compiler and Editer. A Victorian Tapestry: Impressions of Life in Vicoria, BC, 1880–1914. Sound Heritage, Volume VII, Number 3. (Victoria: Aural History Program, 1978) 2.
	9 Scott. 111.
	The date of Casanave's death is yet unresolved. Scott, in Raincoast states 1928, but the 1930 minutes of Oak Bay Council say that Casanave was in California in 1930 at the time of the sale of 1.5 acres of his property. Casanave would have been 85 in 1930.

PHOTOGRAPHS

Casanave residence (highlighted) remained on former farmland until 1967 Aerial photo taken in 1954

Gary Wilcox photo

Alexis Casanave's Sequoia tree stands today, although the old school building are gone

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ARTIFACTS

1883 Oak Farm Invoice

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RECOLLECTIONS

Recollections may be abridged for length and/or clarity

In the early 1930s we lived on Fort Street — now known as Cadboro Bay Road — where the Casanave building is located, presently the office of Pacific Coast Credit Union.

The building we lived in was a combination storefront and dwelling. It had a large garden area with fruit trees, and sheds for chickens and a cow. It backed onto "the Creek" that still runs there.

From where we lived to the Casanave main house was a field where Mr. Victor Casanave grew mangles (a large turnip) for food for his cows. They were pastured in the field behind his home. There was a barn there, and a milk shed where Vic separated the cream from the milk.

As one of the kids of the neighbourhood, you might get lucky and receive a hockey stick from Mr. Casanave! It seems he had been the skate sharpener at the Patrick Ice Arena, recently burned down [1929], and had salvaged some used sticks. The Arena was right across from his property. Apartments are now located there.

— Phil Ballam, early resident on the Casanave property

see Phil Ballam's recollection of the early 1930s

* * *

Oh, how I remember that house.

My family lived in the 'big' house for awhile, both in the upstairs suite, and the lower suite, when my dad first came back from overseas. Even had my very own fireplace in my bedroom, and that was the one and only time I heard Santa (I know I did!!) on the roof.

I remember old 'Vic' who lived in a small, ramshackle (well, that's how it seemed to me then) 'shack' at the back. He was a gruff old thing, but had a heart of gold, and treated us kids so well.

I was about four years old when we lived there but I remember so well all the pear trees that lined the driveway - used to make ourselves sick eating so many of the pears - and the old chestnut tree that provided the ammunition for so many fun walnut fights.

The Oak Bay High School secretary lived there with her family, and although I can still picture her so vividly, I can't recall her name.

The picture of that beautiful tree brings back so many many more memories, indeed, happy memories.

— Patti Eacott (Elaine Delaney), OBHS class of 1960

* * *

When I was growing up in Montreal in the 1960s my mother used to tell me about a redwood tree that was planted by my great-grandfather. She told me that the tree was over one-hundred years old. I always wanted to visit that tree and I finally made it to the grounds of Oak Bay High School in 1987. Now that the internet age is here, I am so happy to have found more information about the tree and the dairy farm of Alexis Casanave at your website.

— Constance Squire, great, great, granddaughter of Alexis Casanave

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