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Descendents of William Messer (4 Dec 1799 – 21 Sep 1874)
and Alice (or Alison) Brown (~1795 – 19 Sep 1877)

Third Immigrant Generation
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14. John Wood Coburn . Son of Andrew Wood Cockburn (Coburn) & Elizabeth Messer. Born 30 Aug 1859 in Harvey. Died 13 May 1939 in Vancouver, BC. Occupation Lumberman.

 

    John and his first wife, Ellen Little, and family moved to Vancouver Island, BC, approximately 1885.   He was a lumberman, and after Ellen's death he married Ellen Cowie in 1899 in Victoria, BC.   From his second marriage he had two sons, one was Wallace Coburn, a medical doctor.

 

    In 1901 Census, for Victoria, BC, John was living in Victoria and his occupation was listed as Railroad, passenger con.

 

    From "The Herald", 14 Oct 1893:   "John Coburn, of Victoria, BC, is here on a visit to his many friends and relatives.   Mr Coburn formerly resided here, but left about 8 years ago, and he now holds a lucrative position on the Vancouver Island Railway."

 

    From "Nanaimo, The Story of a City", published by Nanaimo and District Museum Society, 100 Cameron Road, Nanaimo, British Columbia, 1983.   Page 16:   "John Coburn, a well-known logger, operated a sawmill at Cassidy in the early 1900's.   In 1908 he opened a new logging operation known as the New Ladysmith Lumber Company in East Wellington.   His railway covered a total of 12.00 miles with two locomotives and five logging cars.   The logs were hauled from Mount Benson to the mill at East Wellington where lumber was sawn.   The lumber was then loaded on to railway cars to be transported to Brechin Point Rail Siding.   A widely known and colorful engineer on this operation was Charlie Snowdon, nicknamed "Broom Handle Charlie".   He ran the first "lokey" on Vancouver Island.   In 1926, the business was sold to Nanaimo Lumber Company and the mill was relocated at Quarterway."

 

    (Information from Annabel Cowie to Kenneth L. Coburn -- The BC Archives in Victoria has John Wood Coburn's diaries and papers, which are most interesting.   It is not possible to remove them from the Archives so you must travel to Victoria to look at them.)

 

    He first married Eleanor "Ellen" Christina Little, daughter of David Little & Margaret Ann Herbert, 13 Dec 1882 in York Co., NB By Robert Nairn, Presbyterian. Born 3 Oct 1861 in Harvey. Died 6 Nov 1895 in Nanaimo, B.C.

 

    Witnesses to marriage were Ebenezer Little and Ellen Coburn.

    Listed in BC Vital Stats as Christina.   Died at Nanaimo, BC at age 34 years, on 6 Nov 1895.

    They had the following children:

  80   i.   Lila Maude Coburn

  81   ii.   Dora Pauline Coburn

    He second married Ellen Cowie, daughter of Alexander Cowie & Sarah Hastings, 8 Feb 1899 in Victoria, BC (At The Home Of Her Sister, Mary King). Born 1868 in Ont. Died 4 Jul 1950 in Vancouver, BC.

    They had the following children:

  82   i.   Lorna Mae Coburn

  83   ii.   Wallace Andrew Coburn (Dr.)

  84   iii.   Glenn Gideon Coburn

 

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