The Tait Brothers
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Pioneer Oak Bay / Vancouver Dairymen
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photos courtesy Carol Cannon, great granddaughter of Robert John Tait
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Two Scottish brothers, James and Alexander Tait, were pioneer dairymen in Oak Bay long before the municipality was incorporated in 1906. A portion of their farmlands became playing fields for both Willows School and Oak Bay Junior High School. A third brother, Robert, was a pioneer dairyman in Vancouver. | ||||||||||
With family roots in Berwick, Scotland, their grandparents immigrated to Canada about 1830. | ||||||||||
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About 1830, William Tait and his wife Elizabeth and their four sons emigrated from Scotland to Canada and settled in Quebec.
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The oldest son, Thomas, was about 13 when they emigrated. | ||||||||||
In 1846, when he was about 29, Thomas married Mary Cheyne in Montreal, where they had nine children including three sons; James (b 1850), Alexander (b1858) and Robert (b1862). | ||||||||||
In 1879, James married Normanda Mckenzie in Glengarry, Ontario. | ||||||||||
With both his parents now deceased, James and Normanda relocated to Manitoba. His two brothers, Alexander and Robert likely travelled with them. | ||||||||||
Robert married Jessie Garvie in June, 1883, and they had three children in Manitoba. | ||||||||||
Alexander married Christina Sutherland in December 1883 and they had three daughters in Manitoba: Flora May (b1884), Annie Lillian (b1886) and Jennie (b1889). | ||||||||||
The three brothers and their families probably moved to Victoria about 1890, as Robert John Tait's third child was born in Manitoba in 1889 and his fourth child, Robert Ernest Tait, was born at the Royal Jubilee Hospital in Victoria on June 4, 1891.
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ROBERT JOHN TAIT. | ||||||||||
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In 1892 or 1893, Robert John Tait and family moved back to Manitoba, and then returned to British Columbia in 1895, settling in south Vancouver (Sea Island) and retiring in Marpole. |
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The Robert J Tait Elementary School in Richmond (Lulu Island) sits on his former farmland. | ||||||||||
Robert was a dairy farmer, but he was also an entrepreneur. | ||||||||||
He built houses which he rented, and also started the building of the Marpole Theatre (now the Metro Theatre). He died in 1930, before the theatre was finished, but it was completed by the family and operated by his wife Jessie.* | ||||||||||
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After Robert died, Jessie collected the rent from the rental houses. |
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On one occasion she was robbed of $7,000 and badly beaten but survived to live almost ninety years. | ||||||||||
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ALEXANDER GEORGE TAIT. | ||||||||||
After arriving in Victoria about 1890, Alexander Tait established a dairy farm in Oak Bay on Milton Street. His property extended from Milton Street to Bowker Creek immediately south of the junior high school. | ||||||||||
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In 1892 a fourth daughter was born, Violet Maud | ||||||||||
In 1901 Alexander and Christina adopted William Douglas Tait after Alexander's brother, James, died that year. | ||||||||||
In 1902 a fifth daughter was born, Alexandrina Belle.1 | ||||||||||
In 1906 Alexander Tait was one of the signatories on the petition to incorporate Oak Bay as a municipality. He was a founder of the Presbyterian Church and one of the elders who built Oak Bay United Church. | ||||||||||
Alexander's wife, Christina, died in January, 1913. | ||||||||||
The family dairy farm operations continued into the early 1930s. | ||||||||||
Alexander died in November, 1935. | ||||||||||
A portion of his property was purchased by the school board to extend the junior high school playgrounds. A small bridge over Bowker Creek accessed this playing field.2 | ||||||||||
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1 Alexandrina Belle shortened her name to Ina and was Miss Tait, the art teacher at Oak Bay Junior High School. She died in 1979. | ||||||||||
2 On the north side of the creek, before Oak Bay Junior High was built in 1952, was the dairy farm of Alexis Casanave, which began operating in 1875. | ||||||||||
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JAMES TAIT. | ||||||||||
After arriving in Victoria about 1890, James and Normanda Tait settled in Oak Bay with their seven children. He built their house1 in 1893 and established a dairy farm in the Estevan area. | ||||||||||
In 1894, their eighth child, William Douglas Tait, was born in Victoria. | ||||||||||
James' wife, Normanda, died in September, 1897. | ||||||||||
James died in January, 1901. His youngest son, William Douglas Tait, was then adopted by James' brother, Alexander. | ||||||||||
Willows School is built upon former James Tait farmland. | ||||||||||
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1 James Tait's house at 2435 Musgrave Street is standing today, and is a surviving example of a tradesman's house in late 1800s Oak Bay. | ||||||||||
Our gratitude to Tom Miles and Carol Cannon
for sharing their family histories
PHOTOGRAPHS
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ARTIFACTS
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RECOLLECTIONS
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Hello, This is for Carol Cannon. I am also the great granddaughter of Robert J. Tait. Not sure how we may be connected because I never had much information but I do have a picture of Robert J. Tait and Jesse on their home on I believe Sea Island. Be interested to know our connection. | ||
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There is an error [now corrected] in regards to the location of the Robert J Tait Elementary School. It is not on Sea Island but rather on Finlayson Drive in north Richmond on Lulu Island. RJ Tait did have a farm on Sea Island as well as a few others around Lulu Island. There is also a Tait Waterfront Park located along the Fraser River just north of the school. https://www.richmond.ca/parks-recreation/parks/parksearch/park.aspx?ID=140 | ||
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