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Joseph Despard Pemberton

Male 1873 - 1916  (42 years)


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  • Name Joseph Despard Pemberton  [1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11] 
    Residence 1869  Victoria, British Columbia, Canada Find all individuals with events at this location  [9] 
    Born 21 October 1873  Hackney, London Find all individuals with events at this location  [1, 2, 4, 6, 7, 8, 11] 
    Gender Male 
    Baptism 28 May 1875  Kensal Green St John the Evangelist, England Find all individuals with events at this location  [3] 
    Residence 1876  All, England Find all individuals with events at this location  [10] 
    Residence 1891  Victoria City Yates Street Ward, Victoria, British Columbia, Canada Find all individuals with events at this location  [2] 
    Marital Status: SingleRelation to Head of House: Son 
    Residence 1901  Victoria (City/Cité), Victoria, British Columbia, Canada Find all individuals with events at this location  [6] 
    Marital Status: SingleRelation to Head of House: Son 
    Arrival 17 Dec 1904  Liverpool, England Find all individuals with events at this location  [11] 
    Departure New York, New York, United States Find all individuals with events at this location  [11] 
    Residence 1911  Nanaimo, British Columbia, Canada Find all individuals with events at this location  [8] 
    Marital Status: MarriedRelation to Head of House: Head 
    Died 30 August 1916  Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada Find all individuals with events at this location  [1, 7] 
    Buried Victoria, Capital Regional District, British Columbia, Canada Find all individuals with events at this location  [1] 
    Person ID P673  Despard Only
    Last Modified 26 Sep 2020 

    Father Joseph (Joe) Despard Pemberton,   b. 23 July 1821, Dublin, County Dublin, Ireland Find all individuals with events at this location,   d. 1893, Oak Bay, Capital Regional District, British Columbia, Canada Find all individuals with events at this location  (Age 71 years) 
    Relationship natural 
    Mother Theresa Jane Despard Grantoff,   b. 1843, Camberwell, Surrey, England Find all individuals with events at this location,   d. 24 August 1916  (Age 73 years) 
    Relationship natural 
    Married 2 Jan 1864  West Brompton, England Find all individuals with events at this location  [12, 13] 
    Family ID F165  Group Sheet  |  Family Chart

    Family Helen Mary Yoder Baiss,   b. 14 January 1881, Reno, Parker County, Texas, United States of America Find all individuals with events at this location,   d. 26 May 1938, Victoria, Capital Regional District, British Columbia, Canada Find all individuals with events at this location  (Age 57 years) 
    Married 1 Dec 1904  Victoria, British Columbia, Canada Find all individuals with events at this location  [5] 
    Children 
     1. Philippa Despard Pemberton,   b. 11 Jun 1897, Victoria, British Columbia Find all individuals with events at this location,   d. 1991, British Columbia, Canada Find all individuals with events at this location  (Age 93 years)  [natural]
    Last Modified 26 Sep 2020 
    Family ID F166  Group Sheet  |  Family Chart

  • Notes 
    • http://www.royalengineers.ca/pembertonjd.html

      Born near Dublin, Ireland, 23 July 1821, son of Joseph Pemberton and Margaret Stephans. Married 1864, London, to Theresa Jane Despard Grautoff (b 1843 England; died 24 Aug 1916, at the age of 74, in Victoria, BC, Canada)
      In 1855, Pemberton brought his sister Susan, and his favorite uncle, August Frederick Pemberton, back from England with him.
      Returned from England in 1864 aboard the Brother Jonathan with wife Theresa. (source Maritime Plaque Page)
      Died 11 Nov 1893, at the age of 72 in Oak Bay, near Victoria, BC, Canada

      In 1849, the British Colonial Office had suggested to the Hudson's Bay Company that it submit a proposal for the government and colonization of Vancouver's Island.
      A year later, on December 9th, 1850, Joseph Despard Pemberton wrote to The Hudson's Bay Company seeking employment as "…a Surveyor and Engineer of thorough business habits and energy… with reference the Colonization of Vancouver's Island…". He was 29 years old.
      "The certificates of Mr. J.D. Pemberton having been taken into consideration, it was ordered that he be engaged as Surveyor for Vancouver's Island at an Annual Salary of 400 pounds for a term of three years with a premium of such sum as the Governor and Committee may approve at the end of that period not exceeding 500 pounds provided they shall consider his services and conduct perfectly satisfactory. It is understood that he shall make himself generally useful to Mr. Douglas in all colonization business. This engagement is to be a charge upon the Colonization Fund to be held in Trust by the Company. It is also understood that the Company is to provide an outfit of the requisite instruments at a cost not exceeding 100 pounds - to pay Mr. Pemberton's expenses of conveyance to the Island - and that the salary and commencement of the contract shall date from his arrival on the Island". --The Hudson's Bay Company's Minutes of January 22, 1851
      Final instructions were issued to him on February 15, 1851 to proceed by Royal Mail Steam Packet leaving South Hampton on the 17th - only two days later - to Chargres, and from there to cross the Ithmus of Panama, and take the first available ship to San Francisco. From San Francisco he was to "proceed either by the monthly mail steamer… or by an occasional sailing vessel" to the Columbia River where he would probably arrive at Astoria, and thence find his way "either by mail boat or by canoe" to Fort Vancouver. The Officer in Charge there would provide the means of conveyance to Fort Victoria on Vancouver's Island. On arrival at Fort Victoria he was to report to "Mr. Chief Factor Douglas".
      So it was that on June 24th, 1851, after an extremely eventful journey of more than four months, Joseph Despard Pemberton moved into the wooden palisaded Fort Victoria to take up His Hudson's Bay Company appointment as Surveyor for Vancouver's Island.
      He was to play an integral part in the development of the area, laying out Victoria's town site, surveying from Sooke to Nanaimo, and detailing the topography and natural resources. After serving as Surveyor-General to both the Colony of Vancouver's Island and Fraser's River, he later became a member of the first Legislative Assembly.

  • Sources 
    1. [S1204286855] Canada, Find A Grave Index, 1600s-Current, Ancestry.com, (Ancestry.com Operations, Inc.).

    2. [S1208132620] 1891 Census of Canada, Ancestry.com, (Ancestry.com Operations Inc), Year: 1891; Census Place: Victoria City Yates Street Ward, Victoria, British Columbia; Roll: T-6292; Family No: 18.

    3. [S1202922436] London, England, Church of England Births and Baptisms, 1813-1906, Ancestry.com, (Ancestry.com Operations, Inc.), London Metropolitan Archives, Kensal Green St John the Evangelist, Register of Baptism, p87/jne2, Item 002.

    4. [S1202924948] England & Wales, Civil Registration Birth Index, 1837-1915, FreeBMD, (Ancestry.com Operations Inc).

    5. [S1204430569] British Columbia, Canada, Marriage Index, 1872-1935, Ancestry.com, (Ancestry.com Operations Inc).

    6. [S1208132683] 1901 Census of Canada, Ancestry.com, (Ancestry.com Operations Inc), Year: 1901; Census Place: Victoria (City/Cité), Victoria, British Columbia; Page: 15; Family No: 136.

    7. [S1204286853] British Columbia, Canada, Death Index, 1872-1990, Ancestry.com, (Ancestry.com Operations Inc).

    8. [S1208139148] 1911 Census of Canada, Ancestry.com, (Ancestry.com Operations Inc), Year: 1911; Census Place: 7 - Oak Bay, Nanaimo, British Columbia; Page: 13; Family No: 139.

    9. [S1230851257] Canada, City and Area Directories, 1819-1906, Ancestry.com, (Ancestry.com Operations, Inc.).

    10. [S1204591281] London, England, Electoral Registers, 1832-1965, Ancestry.com, (Ancestry.com Operations, Inc.).

    11. [S1202875737] UK, Incoming Passenger Lists, 1878-1960, Ancestry.com, (Ancestry.com Operations Inc), The National Archives of the UK; Kew, Surrey, England; Board of Trade: Commercial and Statistical Department and successors: Inwards Passenger Lists.; Class: BT26; Piece: 230.

    12. [S1202926489] London, England, Church of England Marriages and Banns, 1754-1921, Ancestry.com, (Ancestry.com Operations, Inc.), London Metropolitan Archives; London, England; Reference Number: p84/mry1/005.

    13. [S1204286919] England & Wales, Civil Registration Marriage Index, 1837-1915, FreeBMD, (Ancestry.com Operations Inc).


 

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