Glassey, Sarah

Identity area

Type of entity

Person

Authorized form of name

Glassey, Sarah

Parallel form(s) of name

    Standardized form(s) of name according to other rules

      Other form(s) of name

      • Sarah Wessel
      • Sarah Glassey

      Identifiers for corporate bodies

      Description area

      Dates of existence

      13 Nov 1881- 20 October 1962

      History

      Sarah Wessel, was born to John Wessel and Agnes Henry (Hamana) in New Westminster on November 13, 1881. Mr. Wessel who hailed from Amsterdam, Holland, came to Canada as a mariner travelling by way of Cape Horn. He married Agnes, daughter of Henry and Catherine Hamana, recent Hawaiian immigrants to Canada, and together they had three children: Hermina, John Jr. and Sarah, of which Sarah was the youngest.

      In 1879, the Wessels moved to South Pender Island where her father was installed as a shepherd with James Alexander, brother to Richard Henry Alexander, manager of the Hastings Sawmill in Vancouver. Her mother Agnes left their family after the birth of Sarah in New Westminster. Her father soon thereafter divorced his wife and entered both Hermina and Sarah into St. Anne’s Convent in Victoria, while her brother John Jr. stayed with their father on South Pender Island. John Wessel Jr. died at the age of 10.

      In 1906 Sarah made her first visit to her sister Mrs. Hermina Taylor in Hazelton, BC. In 1910, she made a second trip up to the Kispiox Valley and after experiencing the excitement of “progress” in this region brought by the construction of the Grand Trunk Pacific Railway, she fell in love with this country and decided to stay. Not wanting to live with her sister and her family, Sarah Wessel decided to act upon a new law (enacted in 1911) which gave women the same right as men to pre-empt land. So in 1911 Sarah Wessel became the first single woman to pre-empt 160 acres of Crown Land in British Columbia in the Kispiox Valley. It took her a year to build her house after which she began to clear another 3 acres of land with the help of a local Gitxsan Elder.

      While homesteading, Sarah met and was courted by Herbert “Bert” Glassey. It was Bert Glassey who gave Sarah a .22 rifle and her brother-in-law Hugh Taylor who taught her how to use it. Sarah Wessel became so proficient with this homesteading tool, that she was known throughout the Kispiox Valley for having shot more birds than any man in the area! Sarah Wessel, alone but for her little fox terrier, lived on her land for three years before selling it in 1914 to a local cattle rancher who had also purchased lands adjacent to hers. That same year Sarah Wessel married Bert Glassey in Hazelton and together they moved to Quesnel, BC where Bert took up a position with the Hudson’s Bay Company.

      In 1918, the Glassey’s moved from Quesnel to Prince Rupert. In 1934 they again moved from Prince Rupert to Atlin only to return to Prince Rupert eight years later. A pioneering resident of Prince Rupert for 36 years, Mrs. Sarah Glassey was active in the Imperial Order Daughters of the Empire and the Order of the Royal Purple. She was also a member of the Women of the Moose and an honorary member of the Royal Canadian Legion. In April of 1961 Sarah Glassey was presented with a medallion from Vancouver’s 75th Anniversary Committee for having been a resident of Vancouver before the arrival of the first passenger train to Vancouver in May 23, 1887.

      Herbert Glassey passed away after a prolonged illness on October 17, 1962. After his funeral on October 20, Mrs. Sarah Glassey came home, lay down and quietly passed away. Sarah and Herbert Glassey had no children.

      Places

      Kispiox, BC; Hazelton, BC; Quesnel, BC; Prince Rupert, BC; Atlin, BC; Vancouver, BC; Victoria, BC.

      Legal status

      Functions, occupations and activities

      Mandates/sources of authority

      Internal structures/genealogy

      Contact Archivist for genealogy chart.

      General context

      Relationships area

      Related entity

      Taylor, Hermina (20 June 1878 – 3 February 1972)

      Identifier of related entity

      2009.5.1

      Category of relationship

      family

      Dates of relationship

      Description of relationship

      Hermina Taylor was Sister to Sarah Glassey.

      Related entity

      Baxter, Violet (1906 - 20 January 1985)

      Identifier of related entity

      2009.5.4

      Category of relationship

      family

      Dates of relationship

      Description of relationship

      Violet Baxter was Niece to Sarah Glassey.

      Related entity

      Glassey, H.F. (15 August 1882 - 17 October 1962)

      Identifier of related entity

      2009.5.2

      Category of relationship

      family

      Dates of relationship

      Description of relationship

      H.F. Glassey is Husband to Sarah Glassey.

      Related entity

      Taylor, Hugh (1874-1921)

      Identifier of related entity

      2009.5.1

      Category of relationship

      family

      Dates of relationship

      Description of relationship

      Hugh Taylor is Brother-in-Law to Sarah Glassey.

      Related entity

      Baxter, Bob (7 May 1905 - 3 June 1955)

      Identifier of related entity

      2009.5.4

      Category of relationship

      family

      Dates of relationship

      Description of relationship

      Bob Baxter's wife Violet Baxter was Niece to Sarah Glassey.

      Related entity

      Taylor-Baxter Family (1874-)

      Identifier of related entity

      2009.5

      Category of relationship

      family

      Dates of relationship

      Description of relationship

      Access points area

      Subject access points

      Place access points

      Occupations

      Control area

      Authority record identifier

      2009.5.2

      Institution identifier

      UNBC

      Rules and/or conventions used

      Status

      Final

      Level of detail

      Partial

      Dates of creation, revision and deletion

      Language(s)

      • English

      Script(s)

        Sources

        Budd, Robert. "Voices of British Columbia: Stories from the Frontier". Vancouver: Douglas & McIntyre, 2010.

        Maintenance notes