Ellen
was a daughter of Samuel
Tufts, a United Empire Loyalist whose forbears came over from
England to America on the Mayflower.
Chased out of Massachusetts at the time of the
Revolution, the Tufts family settled in Halifax, N.S., in 1776, at a
spot still known as Tufts Cove.
Adventurous Ellen decided to move to the other side of
Canada, and, in 1862, set sail from Halifax for Boston, then south
around Cape Horn, up to San Francisco and on to
Esquimalt.
As petite, fine featured Mary Ellen Tufts stepped off the
gangplank onto the strange land of British Columbia at Esquimalt
Harbour,
her appearance concealed her strong pioneering spirit and intestinal
fortitude one she would need as Matron on the isolated Race Rocks
where she raised nine children.
Ellen's
days at the lighthouse on the barren rock must certainly have been a
challenge for the young mother as her only
neighbours
were the barking sea lions and noisy seagulls.
According to letters in the Victoria archives, she depended
mainly on rain for fresh water supply and any supplement had to be
delivered along with fresh meat and provisions on the boat, Sir
James Douglas.
Letters from the lighthouse state that the meat and
provisions were sometimes inedible on arrival.
A letter of May 10, 1870 from Thomas states that he and his
wife and family had not been off the rocks to enable them to
purchase clothes and necessities for the family of eleven for two
years and nine months.
Source:
FootPrints Pioneer Families of the Metchosin District, Marion
I. Helgesen editor
