James Goudie

Birth details
Date of Birth: 10 Sep 1808
Date of Birth: Stromness, Mainland, Orkney, Scotland
Father: Peter Goudie
Mother: Sally Goudie

Baptism details
Date of Baptism: 25 Sep 1808 ^[S] 
Place of Baptism: Stromness, Mainland, Orkney, Scotland

Marriage details
Date of Marriage: Abt 1835
Place of Marriage: Ft. Colvile, Oregon Territory, B.N.A.
Spouse: Catherine Jane Shwayip

Children
Sarah Goudie (3)
Margaret Goudie (12)
James Goudie
John Goudie (14)
Myra Goudie (8)
Jane Goudie
Mary Jane Goudie

Marriage details
Date of Marriage: 1858
Place of Marriage: Ft. Victoria, Vancouver Island, B.N.A.
Spouse: Jane Fydler

Death details
Date of Death: 23 Apr 1887 ^[S]
Place of Death: Victoria, Vancouver Island, British Columbia, Canada 

Burial details
Place of Burial: BLK H Plot 69 E 21A Ross Bay Cemetery, Victoria, Vancouver Island, British Columbia, Canada ^[S]

James Goudie [1808-1887] Hudson's Bay Company blacksmith and miller: Orcadian Scot, b. September 18, 1809 and baptized September 25, 1809 in Stromness, Orkney, North Britain [U.K.], d. April 23, 1887 at his residence on Blanchard St., Victoria, B. C., associated with: 

Fort Colvile (1830-51) blacksmith and miller.

As the Goudies of Stromness had been blacksmiths for generations, James Goudie probably found himself working at the forge from an early age. As a 13-year-old James was listed on the 1881 Orkney Census as the servant to Robert Clouston. However, that did not prevent a 19-year-old James from seeking adventure by joining a seasonal whaling vessel, which took him to the Davis Straits in 1828.

Nonetheless, back in Stromness, necessity dictated that he return to his inherited profession and so, on May 6, 1829, he joined the] Hudson's Bay Company as a blacksmith for five years.

Leaving behind a widowed mother, two sisters and a married brother for the last time, he sailed to York Factory (York Factory is located near the mouth of the Hayes River approximately 250 kilometres southeast of Churchill) made his way across the continent and spent the winter of 1829 at a Peace River fort. That winter, the new working environment dictated that he learn French; additionally, that winter he learned to play the violin which he built himself. (His violin playing was to last for many years as, for example, in 1849, he asked John Charles who was passing though Fort Colvile [sic] on the Columbia Express, to obtain a fiddle (or strings? verify) for him. In 1830, after reaching Fort Colvile, he began a twenty-year career as a blacksmith at the Hudson's Bay Company gristmill. Naturally, the mill became synonymous with Goudie's name because of his years as the fort’s miller grinding grain from not only the fort’s extensive farms but also local farmer's fields. In 1843 he constructed a new two-story mill that was rebuilt in 1872 and finally burned in 1914. (the stones are in the Cheney-Cowles Memorial Museum in Spokane.)

Before 1835, James chose a wife from the village of Schwenetekoo [“Keep Sounding Water” or Kettle Falls] and began raising a family in 1835. He retired in 1851 and in December of that year, visited Fort Victoria, no doubt to see his daughter, Sarah, and son-in-law, George McKenzie, a millwright by trade. The following year, 1852, the 43-year-old retired blacksmith decided to move the remainder of his family to Victoria,

The journey, according to son-in-law McKenzie, was of epic proportions and took a year. Forty packhorses carried their goods south to Walla Walla and then to Vancouver where they picked up goods they had ordered from England a year earlier. They then followed the Cowlitz route to Fort Nisqually and finally crossed the strait in three canoes to Fort Victoria, James carried on transactions with the Company until 1853, the same year his wife died and continued to live with George McKenzie [1875 Voters List] Rose Creek Farm [freehold], possibly until after the death of his eldest son James who had been killed in an event known as the “Waddington Massacre” at the head of Bute lnlet. From 1868 James Goudie [1875 Voters List] was listed as a saw sharpener at various locations in Victoria and had settled on Blanchard Street where he died in 1887. He, along with his second wife who died the following year, was buried Ross Bay cemetery, Victoria, Block H, Plot 69, east of road, 21,A.

James Goudie had two successive wives and seven children. Before 1835, he chose as his wife, Catherine, Schwayips [Kettle Falls] (c.1819-53). Their children were: Margaret 1835, John 1836—1914, James 1837—1864, Sarah, Mira 1846, Jane 1847, Mary 1848.

Catherine died November 29, 1853 in Victoria not long after they arrival. On August 31, 1861, he married Stromness widow Jane Fiddlar or Fydler (c.1815-88) at Fort Victoria. Jane died in Victoria on July 16, 1888.

James Goudie [1809-1887]