Joseph Poirier was born in 1829 in Quebec. After many adventures
his life came to its close at his home a continent away in Sooke in
1898. A century-after his death, it is fitting that the legacy of
his family is remembered by the naming of a school built on land
near to Poirier's own pre-emption.
As a youth, French-speaking Joseph Poirier set off with others
from his Quebec village to join the fur traders heading west.
Traveling the Canadian route, the voyageurs reached the settlement
at Red River in what is now Manitoba. From there, they took a more
southerly course and reached the Hudson's Bay Company's western
headquarters. Fort Vancouver, on the Columbia River.
A French Canadian community had developed of Hudson's Bay Company
�migr�s and their native wives, south of the fur-trading fort, in
the-nearby wide fertile valley of the Willamette River. When the
Oregon Treaty of 1846 declared this area as a part of the American
Republic, many of the �migr�s of Quebec origin decided to move
north into territory which still remained as British domain. The
Hudson's Bay Company posts at Fort Langley and Fort Victoria were
natural destinations.
Joseph Poirier joined a wagon train traveling north. Among those
in his group were Jean Baptiste Brule, also from Quebec, who had
married Marguerite (originally from the T'Sou-ke First Nations
people) in Fort Vancouver. Marguerite Brule had a son Joseph
Iroquois, from a previous marriage, and this son together with his
wife Mary Ann, of the Kalapooya nation in the Willamette Valley,
journeyed northward in the family group.
Jean Baptiste Brule and his family settled on the East bank of
the Sooke River. Joseph Poirier first learned of work in the area
falling timber for the-sawmill of Sooke's first independent
immigrant settler, Scottish Captain W. C. Grant. Poirier soon
followed.
Brule's lead, taking up the land now known as Milne's Landing.
During the Leechtown gold rush-of l864, Poirier and Brule rafted in
sheep and cattle to their riverside base to provide mutton and beef
for sale to the miners enroute to the goldfields.
Poirier married Ellen, one of the young daughters of Mary Ann and
Joseph Brule. Building a cabin on the river flats, the couple began
raising their family, ultimately to include the births of fifteen
children. By the mid-1880's, Joseph Poirier sold this riverside land
to Edward Milne Sr, and moved his family to property on what is now
known as Grant Road, near its junction with Otter Point Road.
The firstborn of Joseph and Ellen Poirier's children was also
given the name Joseph. When-he grew up, Joseph Jr worked in the
sealing industry, then took up a section of land at today's West
Coast Road and Kemp Lake Road, where he established a reputation as
a farmer and as a steam engineer. He married Mary White, daughter of
Aaron Denton White and Catherine "Owechemis" White, of
West Coast native origin. Joseph Poirier Jr. and his wife Mary had
four daughters and three sons. Besides Poirier, their descendants'
names readily recognized in the area today include the George Goudie
family, the Walter and Claude Cook families and the Jessimans.
Joseph and Ellen's second son Adolphus Poirier, went sealing with
his brother, and the two were part of a consortium which purchased
the first sleek east-coast built vessel "Agnes MacDonald"
for use in the sealing industry. A story was told, only half in
jest, that Joseph Poirier Jr., a gregarious man with many attractive
sisters, brought home shipmates each year from the sailing ships to
visit his family, until all his sisters were married.
Best known of the families in Sooke perhaps from this
seal-hunting history, were Isobel Poirier's marriage to Andrew
Davidson, and Ellen Poirier's marriage to Thomas Robinson. Son James
Poirier married A1ice White, daughter of Aaron Denton White and
Catherine; well known among their descendants today is the-Richard
Poirier family of Jordan River.
Harry Dilley married into the Poirier family, and Dilley family
descendants are also well-known in Sooke. Lidgates, O'Mearas and
McMillans, too, are among the many Poirier family names. The Poirier
daughter who left the largest number-of descendants however, was
Sarah who married seaman Mandus Michelson and produced five sons;
Mandus, Earland, Paul, Eric and Rolf. The couple's daughters has
also left their mark - the eldest, Sarah married William Vowles;
Lily married Jimmy Goudie and then Alf Haywood; Agnes married John
Bush, then Claude Dilley; Christine married Jack Blight; and Marie
married Art Hay.
The extended Poirier family eventually came to represent what was
probably the-largest workforce in the district. Lily Haywood, now
well into her eighties, reminisces today of Ellen Poirier "I
still remember Grandma Poirier. She was a little lady wearing black,
very strict, who always spoke French."
Bringing this family forward another generation includes
great-grandchildren to number in the hundreds. Among the best
recognized in Sooke, perhaps, have been the fourteen children of
Sarah Michelsen and William Vowles.
In early generations, the Poiriers gained an enormous local
reputation for their skills as woodsmen, fishermen, hunters and
farmers. Today they continue-to carry on these roles in addition to
others - in the fields of business, arts and culture and community
leadership. One example of contribution to community development
would be that of a grandson of Joseph-Poirier, Eric Michelsen,
Besides his occupation of lumbering, Eric Michelsen developed Broome
Hill Golf Course into a successful-enterprise, and was serving as
elected president of Sooke Community Association when he passed away
in 1973.
The impact and legacy of the Poirier family is immense - in
citizenry of the area, in their many years of work in the varied
industries of the district, and in their contributions to the
development of the region.