Series MS-0182 - Correspondence

The series consists of letters inward and outward of James Murray Yale and family; letters inward of John Duncan Manson (Yale's son in law) and transcribed copies. The series also includes a photocopy of a manuscript by James Andrew Grant and Helen Beatrice Yale Kempster titled "An Unsung Pioneer, Life and Letters of James Murray Yale and his 30 Years at Fort Langley,"

James Murray Yale was born near Lachine, Quebec in 1798. At the age of sixteen, he entered the service of the Hudson's Bay Company [HBC] as clerk. Yale came west to Fort Wedderburn in Athabaska country with John Clarke in 1815. In 1821, he was put in charge of Fort George, New Caledonia, and seven years later began over thirty years of service at Fort Langley. In 1859, Yale was granted a year's furlough, after which he retired in Victoria, where he died at his home, Stromness, West Saanich, on May 7, 1871.

One of Yale's daughters, Aurelia, married John Duncan Manson in 1857 at Fort Langley. From 1858 until the winter of 1863-1864, Manson was chief trader at Fort Fraser. In 1864, the Mansons settled in Victoria. Aurelia's daughter, Isabella, married James Andrew Grant. Helen Beatrice Yale Kempster is the grand-daughter of Isabella Grant. In January 1931, Aurelia Manson died in the home of Mr. and Mrs. J.A. Grant.

This series consists of letters inward and outward of James Murray Yale and letters inward of John Duncan Manson. The original letters, which were among Aurelia Manson's possessions when she died, have been copied and transcribed by the Yale/Grant family and their secretary, Eva Reinhard, and were intended for publication. The original letters were donated by Helen Beatrice Yale Kempster in 1973. The copies came into the possession of Reinhard's son, Otis F. Reinhard, who donated them to the Provincial Archives in 1966.

The series also includes a photocopy of the manuscript of James Andrew Grant and Helen Beatrice Yale Kempster: "An Unsung Pioneer, Life and Letters of James Murray Yale and his 30 Years at Fort Langley," no date. Mrs. Kempster retained the original.